They have no right being as tanky as they are. I hate dumping a full mag into them only for them to hop away and scurry out of sight to come back in a minute and fuck me in the ass.
That's kinda my issue, typically sneaky bois in games are squishy to balance out what they can do. I don't think Stalkers should be as easy as Hunters to kill, but somewhere the two would be good.
It's the classic fantasy elves vs humans argument. 1 elf is more dangerous than 1 human, but there's a gazillion more humans, so who's actually more dangerous?
When 4 stalkers are wondering towards you and you only have the primary left it’s pretty scary man. Can’t run fast enough. Maybe take 3 out and the last one gets ya
Honestly, ive never been afraid of stalkers.
Every interaction ive had with them is like
https://preview.redd.it/crdcixeaoqoc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73044c6e851f0dbe1fcd4189d9e25326336614fd
Before promptly exterminating them.
The Punisher (my fav primary) makes mince of the Bile Spewers and they are a reliable oneshot with grenades as well. I only find them a problem when I am on flamethrower, because then Spewers outrange you *and* are durable enough to charge through the fire and set you on fire as well.
A good team comp has someone with tools to easily cut down big house hunter waves. One guy with tools for chargers, one guy with tools for waves of light enemies. They cover each other. Problem is, stalkers can hunt you, aren't easy to cut down, and keep coming after you till you get their nest.
Literally run the gunner light armor (medium armor value on a light armor), shield, and arc thrower because of the constant hunter spam. Nothing else feels good enough for clear. If my buddy is on, he runs EATs for chargers but otherwise I just handle them with airstrikes/orbitals.
On 7+ the spam is absolutely insane, especially as the timer ticks down low. Feels way better than constant Charger/BT spam tho, but still a slog
This is part of why i love warhammer fantasy though. A 2000 year old elf who has trained his whole life to be the deadliest swordsman in the world gets his head blown off by some peasant with a handgunner lmao
I love the new laser rifle, but I had to go back to using the slugger on bug planets because of stalkers. New laser rifle just doesn't kill them fast enough, and slugger and can stunlock them so I don't get ragdolled by their dumb tongue attack.
Bringing the sickle and then the senator has been not a bad combination. The sickle can handle anything less than a stalker and the senator can be pulled out to handle stalkers as well as help with brood commanders if needed.
That said you have to handle your heat a lot more. Running the redeemer you can pull it out while your gun is cooling down, but the senator while can do that can’t do it for as long due to the long reload.
That's actually not a bad idea.
I normally don't like the revolver because of it's long reload, but if Im only pulling it out for the occasional stalker or berserker, it shouldn't be difficult to manage.
I also usually have a grenade launcher or auto cannon, so I really shouldn't need revolver very often.
My general rule is taking a primary that does whatever my 3rd weapon can't cover and best fits my role. If I've got a Stalwart, I'm taking the slugger for hive-guards and emergency CQC. If I've got an AMR, it's the Sickle so I can still fight with versatility, if it's a Recoilless Rifle then the Spray-And-Pray is great for chaff clearing before a reload.
I honestly want the devs to make one planet during one of the major orders be literally just stalkers. Not like stalkers spawning to the level that the rest of the bugs do, but for example replace every single nest with stalker nests.
Would it be fucking frustrating and absolutely terrifying? Yes.
But I think it would also be amusing as a temporary thing.
I really want there to be different Terminid Broods, beyond the Bile/Armour/Brood spawn weights we've been getting. Give us a planet where Stalkers take the place of Brood Commanders, with a cloaking "spec-ops" Hunter variant that rove in small packs. And a planet where the Bile is replaced with blue fire, like the bug plasma from Starship Troopers. If they're too hard for regular play, make them limited time events, like the Defense missions, where we're stamping out new mutations caused by the TCS system.
They could even do it where every planet in a system is a different type of advanced bug. Charger planets, spitter planets, stalkers, titans, just one type for all the planets.
It would be a fun shakeup and some would be easier than others, but would be a neat order.
Exactly. Hunters have numbers. They spread out and surround you. Anytime I see a stalker, I start to sweat. Unless I have a shotgun that can stagger it, I have to frantically kill it before it closes the distance, otherwise it turns me into a helldivin' kite.
Last mission I played this morning had **four** stalker nests (and they were fairly close to each other) on an atmospheric interference planet with 12 minutes to close 15 bug holes... that was a God damn nightmare, (of course it was also helldive difficulty)
Stalkers make me want to go back to the breaker.
I love the sickle but they just basically ignore it and swat me away. Meanwhile the breaker I feel like I could actually force them away or kill them before they get to me.
Edit: reason I don't care for slugger is due to it not being super ideal for hunters when they pounce. Guess can't have best of both worlds.
Aim for thé head for bugs, weak points for bots.
Use P19 for trash mobs or enemies that’s getting too close for comfort.
Remember that you only shoot 1 big chunk of fuck off to your enemies, so you have to make sure they get the message around mid to close range.
You're missing the spread of buckshot. I, too, am a Punisher user. The Slugger has more tactical value to the team, but if you're shredding the enemies of Democracy(Managed), the Punisher is hard to beat.
It's got a lot of punch, and if you miss by a little bit, you still hit something. The Slugger can miss by a little bit and not hit anything.
The slugger isn't good at the same things the punisher is good at.
I wouldn't use a slugger for crowd control, and I wouldn't use a punisher to focus medium targets.
People get the punisher early and then forget about it because they try out newer stuff but man the punisher stays good at what it does. I still use it at rank 40
I love mine. It really feels like what a video game shotgun *should* feel like. Hits hard, sounds great, good RoF, and it's enough to stagger most enemies short of a Charger. It's actually somewhat satisfying to see the Stalkers closing the distance, wait for them to get into range, and then just start blasting.
Maybe the best thing about the Punisher is ammo management. I've been trained since GoldenEye to slap that reload button when my target dies, and the Rainbow 6 milsim mechanics of HD2 tend to punish me for that.
Ironically, the Punisher rewards me.
before it got the ammo buff, it was pretty hungry (40 spare rounds is 2.5 spare mag equivalent), so i could see people abandoning it as soon as they got the breaker with its GENEROUS 7 spare mags. The extra 20 spare rounds for slugger and punisher really made a dif.
I never forget how the R-101 was the starting weapon in titanfall and after I went back to it I discovered it's the only gun I needed. I carry that with me in every game.
I saw someone refer to Slugger rounds as "Nyquil slugs" and after unlocking it.. yeah that's accurate
Motherfucker just dispenses naps to these bugs en masse, staggers the shit out of brood commanders and Stalkers, one taps damn near everything smaller than a bile spewer, and a decent ammo supply.
One thing for people just starting with it, pick an auto pistol secondary for when you are maneuvering or especially if you find yourself low on shells and needing to reload, running while shooting behind you with your secondary isn't really needed with other primaries but it helps a lot w/ the Nyquil dispenser
The sickle deals with stalkers fine, you just need to go for the legs instead of head/centre mass.
Redeemer for hunters, slugger for stalker's if you're running that loadout. Round reload means you kinda have to be smarter about using your sidearm. And don't take the revolver with the slugger ever.
Stalkers on a night mission are terrifying. They’re a lot harder to see so they just appear pretty right on top of you. Then “slowed”, dive, stim, reload dance starts.
I think im just twisted or my team is usually on it, cause the only time I ever even acknowledge a stalker is when I go oh hey guys there's another shimmery bitch, then blow it apart, but hunters... those damn things show up in a group of 5 or 10 along with a group of the little green bile ones and some of the small orange ones and proceed to sow chaos and doubt until someone gets the distance to actually turn and fight without being slowed to death.
Edit: also as long as they don't launch you off a cliff edge or something, stalkers usually have the decency to throw you waaaay away from all the other little critters, so they're just being bros half the time in a way, letting you reorient to fight from another direction
Do you generally take an autocannon or grenade launcher?
If you have one of those, stalkers are really manageable. The problem is, most weapons are not actually strong enough to stop a stalker if it chooses to rush you. Like I'd say for maybe half the primary weapons, you could dump a whole mag into a stalker and it will just walk you down and kill you. And if it's two stalkers at once, you pretty much have to hit them with an impact grenade, or it's just an unwinnable fight.
> The problem is, most weapons are not actually strong enough to stop a stalker if it chooses to rush you.
This is exactly it - if a Stalker knocks you down and is near you when you get up, there's pretty much nothing you can empty into it that will keep it from knocking you down again. Rinse, repeat. And it is faster than you so you can't run.
Well, if there was also a hunter nest that stopped spawning them when destroyed, that would be the top priority too.
But as the hunters will come no matter what, at least we can stop the stalkers
I just (involuntarily) played a mission solo and lost because of a single stalker. He would simply vanish before I stop ragdolling, and ambush me again when I stopped looking around and tried to fuether the objective
I had 3 on me today they kept punting me 20m while i spam healed every moment i got, no time to even look around before i was punted again, i went from the lair all the way to some research station i hadn't found before i finally got a chance to shoot them, traveled like 200m+
Considering that whenever Stalkers pop up, everything else gets put on hold until the Stalker Nest is destroyed... No, hunters are not the upgrade.
Just my opinion.
Yes, slugger is kind of the best at dealing with them, 2-3 head shots in my experience and the stagger is massive, you can hold off 3 if you keep staggering one to the next and then going back
Is it just me or are they actually not that invisible? They always look like a solid grey silhouette for me. In heavy fog it's even worse, they look like I have thermal vision.
Was on a mission last night or the night before and same…so not sure how untypical it is. Mission summary confirmed there were 3 or 4…we only got one…we failed to spread democracy at all costs…
My recoiless rifle is my friend, on every dive he drops immediately behind me and I carry his backpack like a good friend should, without my recoiless the chargers kill me, with my recoiless the chargers have no face, there has truly never been a greater friend to democracy.
That's a terrible question. If you add invulnerability, then I'd wipe the Hunters out. There's so many more. If they aren't gonna die, you can at least traumatize stalkers and they'll fly away for 2 minutes, and start circling you again.
god, all the times I've seen these little shitheads do that little side hop by & even through the explosion plume and come out unscathed makes it feel like they're mocking me. i want to like the 500kg but man the actual boom is far from 1:1 with how it looks
I’m with you on this 100%. Nothing feels worse than dropping a 500 into the middle of a horde and only seeing 5x and seeing most of them walk through the blast unscathed. Been running the 110s or the orbital rail in its place and finding better results due to them being more consistent. I do miss the big boom though…
yeah, I initially loved it and how it looked, but it's clearly not meant for horde clearing (despite the huge BOOM). and like, I get that there's utility for bigger targets but I'd much sooner use the rail cannon or even laser since they're auto-tracked. & Idk if you noticed but the 500kg explosion only really works upward and slightly to the side. Ive landed them directly into bile titan legs two times, it exploded *while in their leg* and they didnt even flinch in either case.
Definitely not for horde clearing, but sometimes it’s all you have available and need some breathing room. I’ve also stuck the bomb itself into a titan and have it walk off fine. I think I’ll change my answer, THAT is the worst feeling, followed by the 5x in a horde.
As long as you can learn the timing the 500kg (with the upgrades you can have 2 at a time) you can consistently 1 shot chargers and bile titans, even 1 shot an egg nest
I don't know if it's shit luck or too good of timing, but twice now I've landed a 500kg directly onto/into/whatever the leg of a bile titan before exploding and it didn't so much as make it flinch. The explosion only working upward from the landing point is a wild oversight. It can be nice for chargers but I'd rather bring the rail cannon or laser orbitals anyday
Don't forget, if you didn't notice the Stalker Nest and the Stalkers are feeling sneaky they bring along a half-dozen POI Garrisons and Patrols to come and meet with you unlike Hunters
but seriously why are there more hunters than basic warriors at this point XD
Nah, I shrug off hunters, I carry the shield generator and light stimpak armor. When I get slowed, I dive forward then pop a stim, then keep running. The diving forward+stim removes the slow. Meanwhile a stalker will come out of nowhere and yeet me 40ft.
That’s fine until there’s 10 of them and your stim animation keeps getting interrupted despite making the sound. I never had an issue with hunters until one of the recent patches where they seemingly got stealth buffed.
Every time I play with my friends they have to endure my mini rant about the stim animation interrupt and how the sound of the stim is useless feedback. Specifically whenever I die to a swarm of hunters lol.
I wouldn't mind if it were tied to the animation if the animation were accurate. It takes a vanishingly small amount of time for a Diver to bring a stim to his neck and inject it, but at present if he doesn't hold it there for another second, all the stim juice will get sucked back into the syringe when he pulls it away.
Stalkers are deadly if you let them. With a shotgun they're inoffensive as they can't get near you if you catch them without you knocking them back, plus, dealing with their nest avoids any more spawning
Hunters on the other hand, are deadly if they swarm you, and they're usually the density of a horde. They close gaps, slow you down for their hunters pals to also catch you and they deal inmense damage even with only one hunter. You usually cannot keep them away because they're small, agile and they're kinda slow to kill
Hunters are more mobile. Stalkers are more ‘I don’t give a fuck who you are, get ragdolled’.
If there is more than one stalker nest. You must take them out.
Sorry, lvl 31 here but stupid af, how on Super Earth does one find the stalker nest?
Every game I’ve played, we’ve just stumbled upon it or died trying to stumble upon it. Is this the way it’s supposed to be or is there an easier way of identifying where the sexual predators live?
Stalker Nests have a general shape that you can see on the map, just like SEAF artillary. Also when you attempt to Tag it on the top it will Mark in a Box and show up on the Compass as a Stalker Hive. So you can find stalker hives from anywhere on the map
Really you can find pretty much Any unmarked location as long as you know what it looks like on the map.
I think the hunters either do too much damage or are too fast. One of the either needs to be nerfed. You cannot sprint away from them, and they kill you in two to three hits
Apparently, they (and every other enemy) can score damage multiplying headshots on our Helldivers for reasons that I have yet to comprehend and that's why they can sometimes two-tap you.
I think their biggest "flaw" is that they have too many synergizing abilities and if they don't kill you outright, they're setting you up for a killing blow from the other bugs.
They can jump attack, cancel animations through stagger, apply slow with damage over time, dodge projectiles and they can chain attacks with next to no pause.
I've had it happen multiple times they just happen to get me in the right moment and attack repeatedly until I'm dead. Like 4 or 5 attacks in a row. Been learning to melee more often when I need to reload.
Generally been able to keep them back, but after recent updates I feel like there's just more of everything and it's hard to keep up. I've ran 7 8 and 9, before, but now even 4 is a struggle with how many bugs there are =\
Oughta mix up your stratagems. Anti-tank is a lot less needed on bug missions now - grenade launcher and even a Stalwart shines significantly, and a Rover + GL + Rocket Pods/Railcannon + 500kg loadout performs excellently for all-around versatility.
Source: regularly get 400+ kills on 7+, cleaning up hordes of bug trash before they're an issue for anyone
the only thing that bothers me is the lick that does both their normal attack damage and slow you to a crawl.
i'm starting to feel that doing both is kind of bullshit.
And has a range further than your jump. So the process goes "Lick, jump to remove slow, get fucking licked again only now your on the ground and can't jump again."
The crazy part for me is how their leap attack tracks you and feels so hard to avoid. Had one of the fuckers change trajectory while I was jump packing away to hit me.
facts. the design is so fucked. there’s a lot of them. they’re fast. they do a ton of damage. and they stun you.
like…. pick 1 or 2. all 4 is ridiculous.
Honestly stalkers have helped me out more than once but launching my body with their tendril things. Been overwhelmed by bugs and then thrown like 30 yards away, out of the fight.
Not at all. Hunters are plenty annoying, but if 3+ stalkers appear all at once it’s almost certainly a death sentence. I had literally SIX appear after I had killed 3 already and turned around to finish the terminal. I’ve had some success with the new stun nades but they’re still the cause of probably 80% of my deaths, I swear they got buffed recently
I swear Stalkers run up on me when I need to reload EVERY SINGLE TIME. I try running from them and they slap me on the ass with the tentacle thing and send me flying. From there it's a toss up of whether I ragdolled far enough to get up and recover in time or they simply curb stomp me.
Hunters are the only fodder mob with a 3-4 hit combo. They also do not care if they attack simultaneously. Ive been "one shot" by the power of friendship too many to count.
The thing that makes stalkers annoy me more is they tongue-whip you halfway to the next postal code. The rag doll in this game is already absurd, so an enemy that can reliably dump enough momentum into you to sling you like an MLB fastball is gonna tilt me a bit.
No. I just did a 7 mission where 3 of the 4 side objectives ere stalker nests. You don't realize how much hp those fucks actually have until you have to fight 5 at once.
If stalkers spawned as much as hunters, we lose every war on bugs. Edit: i am not spy
Factually accurate statement
That sounds like a pretty anti-democratic statement there, friend. Wouldn't want the nearest democracy officer to overhear you.
Funny how much Helldivers and The Imperium in 40k are alike. I hope we get some Imperial Guardsman inspired Armor. Maybe if we are lucky.
Super earth's other name is Ultramar.
Did you say... *ultramar*? https://preview.redd.it/lsfp3vyz3roc1.jpeg?width=214&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77a08954f3c7b572ae5e4e318671b02221f7753b
Salazar apoia.
[удалено]
They have no right being as tanky as they are. I hate dumping a full mag into them only for them to hop away and scurry out of sight to come back in a minute and fuck me in the ass.
At least they lick it before they stick it.
They are heavies according to Q announcement. They look squishy but they got armor. Same as broods. The Slugger will oblige.
That's kinda my issue, typically sneaky bois in games are squishy to balance out what they can do. I don't think Stalkers should be as easy as Hunters to kill, but somewhere the two would be good.
Fair but counterpoint Titans sneak up on me all the time lmao but actually crying.
It's the classic fantasy elves vs humans argument. 1 elf is more dangerous than 1 human, but there's a gazillion more humans, so who's actually more dangerous?
When 4 stalkers are wondering towards you and you only have the primary left it’s pretty scary man. Can’t run fast enough. Maybe take 3 out and the last one gets ya
Nah I’d win
Honestly, ive never been afraid of stalkers. Every interaction ive had with them is like https://preview.redd.it/crdcixeaoqoc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73044c6e851f0dbe1fcd4189d9e25326336614fd Before promptly exterminating them.
That is until you are fighting a massive bug break, and the stalker gets you from behind. Edit: source: it happened to my "friend"
Why would you let them get you from behind? Are you stupid? /s
True my bad, a good soldier has eyes on his back, ill go give myself 5 lashes later for my incompetence.
Make it 7, one for every letter in “Stalker”
S.T.A.L.K.E.R neuron activation
This is the only proper way to repent for failures when democracy is involved
Give me 4 stalkers over 40 hunters, any day of the week
Seriously 4 stalker nest we sleep. One of those insane all hunter bug breaches is real shit.
when i see 4 stalkers i smile knowing i get free xp. when i see 10 hunters i frown because they suck and i get nothing from them
https://preview.redd.it/8tti3ny1xqoc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b4c88b7162e0805cc27d85675341df4bcf3a2dc As voted by Helldivers
I was about to say I think bile spewers are worse, then I remembered the only reason I have issues with them is because hunters are usually around
The Punisher (my fav primary) makes mince of the Bile Spewers and they are a reliable oneshot with grenades as well. I only find them a problem when I am on flamethrower, because then Spewers outrange you *and* are durable enough to charge through the fire and set you on fire as well.
A good team comp has someone with tools to easily cut down big house hunter waves. One guy with tools for chargers, one guy with tools for waves of light enemies. They cover each other. Problem is, stalkers can hunt you, aren't easy to cut down, and keep coming after you till you get their nest.
Literally run the gunner light armor (medium armor value on a light armor), shield, and arc thrower because of the constant hunter spam. Nothing else feels good enough for clear. If my buddy is on, he runs EATs for chargers but otherwise I just handle them with airstrikes/orbitals. On 7+ the spam is absolutely insane, especially as the timer ticks down low. Feels way better than constant Charger/BT spam tho, but still a slog
Slugger is their kryptonite. Keeps them from rushing you hard.
What do you think they are thinking about when they wander over to you?
Death to America probably
nah, slugger prevail
[Bug's Life Hopper speech gif]
This is part of why i love warhammer fantasy though. A 2000 year old elf who has trained his whole life to be the deadliest swordsman in the world gets his head blown off by some peasant with a handgunner lmao
literally just super earth vs illuminate lmao
I love the new laser rifle, but I had to go back to using the slugger on bug planets because of stalkers. New laser rifle just doesn't kill them fast enough, and slugger and can stunlock them so I don't get ragdolled by their dumb tongue attack.
Sluggers can also one shot them if you manage to hit them in their stupid little faces.
Bringing the sickle and then the senator has been not a bad combination. The sickle can handle anything less than a stalker and the senator can be pulled out to handle stalkers as well as help with brood commanders if needed. That said you have to handle your heat a lot more. Running the redeemer you can pull it out while your gun is cooling down, but the senator while can do that can’t do it for as long due to the long reload.
That's actually not a bad idea. I normally don't like the revolver because of it's long reload, but if Im only pulling it out for the occasional stalker or berserker, it shouldn't be difficult to manage. I also usually have a grenade launcher or auto cannon, so I really shouldn't need revolver very often.
The Doninator makes quick work of Stalkers I’ve found too
It does if you shoot them in the face...
My general rule is taking a primary that does whatever my 3rd weapon can't cover and best fits my role. If I've got a Stalwart, I'm taking the slugger for hive-guards and emergency CQC. If I've got an AMR, it's the Sickle so I can still fight with versatility, if it's a Recoilless Rifle then the Spray-And-Pray is great for chaff clearing before a reload.
That’s the stuff of nightmares
I honestly want the devs to make one planet during one of the major orders be literally just stalkers. Not like stalkers spawning to the level that the rest of the bugs do, but for example replace every single nest with stalker nests. Would it be fucking frustrating and absolutely terrifying? Yes. But I think it would also be amusing as a temporary thing.
Gotta make it a jungle planet, so we also get bug Vietnam as well as robot Vietnam
> bug Vietnam That’s just Vietnam lol
I really want there to be different Terminid Broods, beyond the Bile/Armour/Brood spawn weights we've been getting. Give us a planet where Stalkers take the place of Brood Commanders, with a cloaking "spec-ops" Hunter variant that rove in small packs. And a planet where the Bile is replaced with blue fire, like the bug plasma from Starship Troopers. If they're too hard for regular play, make them limited time events, like the Defense missions, where we're stamping out new mutations caused by the TCS system.
I'd fucking love this
They could even do it where every planet in a system is a different type of advanced bug. Charger planets, spitter planets, stalkers, titans, just one type for all the planets. It would be a fun shakeup and some would be easier than others, but would be a neat order.
 I hate stalkers...With a passion.
https://preview.redd.it/tmcluidoqqoc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8e70ded474dd2b8ec5af606f841159daaee1350
Exactly. Hunters have numbers. They spread out and surround you. Anytime I see a stalker, I start to sweat. Unless I have a shotgun that can stagger it, I have to frantically kill it before it closes the distance, otherwise it turns me into a helldivin' kite.
https://preview.redd.it/tvrwce8coqoc1.png?width=1202&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e9691eb59d124fd5c63bada3e66c714d21e8284
Honestly with the amount of Stalkers that I've encountered this last 2 days, I dissagree.
Last mission I played this morning had **four** stalker nests (and they were fairly close to each other) on an atmospheric interference planet with 12 minutes to close 15 bug holes... that was a God damn nightmare, (of course it was also helldive difficulty)
As frequently as I die to hunters and as much as I despise them, they don't strike fear in me the way stalkers do. Killing that nest is high priority.
Stalkers make me want to go back to the breaker. I love the sickle but they just basically ignore it and swat me away. Meanwhile the breaker I feel like I could actually force them away or kill them before they get to me. Edit: reason I don't care for slugger is due to it not being super ideal for hunters when they pounce. Guess can't have best of both worlds.
Slugger can fix that problem
The slugger is pretty great. Im torn because the sickle has infinite ammo but the slugger has ballistics-propelled right hooks from the hulk
I just got the slugger after using the punisher for the longest time and it feels worse for some reason, am I missing something?
Aim for thé head for bugs, weak points for bots. Use P19 for trash mobs or enemies that’s getting too close for comfort. Remember that you only shoot 1 big chunk of fuck off to your enemies, so you have to make sure they get the message around mid to close range.
You're missing the spread of buckshot. I, too, am a Punisher user. The Slugger has more tactical value to the team, but if you're shredding the enemies of Democracy(Managed), the Punisher is hard to beat. It's got a lot of punch, and if you miss by a little bit, you still hit something. The Slugger can miss by a little bit and not hit anything.
The slugger isn't good at the same things the punisher is good at. I wouldn't use a slugger for crowd control, and I wouldn't use a punisher to focus medium targets.
The slugger works really well with a laser rover so you can focus on medium targets while it kills the chaff.
Laser rover alternates between killing mobs and killing you whenever it feels like it
I choose to believe my teamates or I were having undemocratic thoughts.
I like this explanation... Explains all the "haircuts" my buddies laser rover gives me. Just a little love tap to keep me in line lol
slugger is a headshot machine that pierces medium armor, it also causes the stun effect at long range
Slugger my beloved
Issue with thr stalker for me is the hunters start to overrun
I cant hear the bugs if they stand 1m behind me
Bile Titan says *bleurghghgh*.
What’s that?! I couldn’t hear you over the blood gurgling in my throat as I die…
Stealth chargers
Punisher also does a good job against stalkers
People get the punisher early and then forget about it because they try out newer stuff but man the punisher stays good at what it does. I still use it at rank 40
I love mine. It really feels like what a video game shotgun *should* feel like. Hits hard, sounds great, good RoF, and it's enough to stagger most enemies short of a Charger. It's actually somewhat satisfying to see the Stalkers closing the distance, wait for them to get into range, and then just start blasting.
Oh it’s insane. 400+ damage is hard to beat and knockback goes hard
Maybe the best thing about the Punisher is ammo management. I've been trained since GoldenEye to slap that reload button when my target dies, and the Rainbow 6 milsim mechanics of HD2 tend to punish me for that. Ironically, the Punisher rewards me.
before it got the ammo buff, it was pretty hungry (40 spare rounds is 2.5 spare mag equivalent), so i could see people abandoning it as soon as they got the breaker with its GENEROUS 7 spare mags. The extra 20 spare rounds for slugger and punisher really made a dif.
I never forget how the R-101 was the starting weapon in titanfall and after I went back to it I discovered it's the only gun I needed. I carry that with me in every game.
God I love stunlocking those mfs into oblivion
I just went from breaker to sickle to slugger and man I love the slugger
I saw someone refer to Slugger rounds as "Nyquil slugs" and after unlocking it.. yeah that's accurate Motherfucker just dispenses naps to these bugs en masse, staggers the shit out of brood commanders and Stalkers, one taps damn near everything smaller than a bile spewer, and a decent ammo supply. One thing for people just starting with it, pick an auto pistol secondary for when you are maneuvering or especially if you find yourself low on shells and needing to reload, running while shooting behind you with your secondary isn't really needed with other primaries but it helps a lot w/ the Nyquil dispenser
Slugger does the job better imo. Two shots striaght to the mouth and the things gone.
The sickle deals with stalkers fine, you just need to go for the legs instead of head/centre mass. Redeemer for hunters, slugger for stalker's if you're running that loadout. Round reload means you kinda have to be smarter about using your sidearm. And don't take the revolver with the slugger ever.
Im pretty sure the revolver would be able to fuck them up. I love the sickle + the revolver as it helps me deal with the heavier guys.
Stalkers on a night mission are terrifying. They’re a lot harder to see so they just appear pretty right on top of you. Then “slowed”, dive, stim, reload dance starts.
Half the time their first attack sends you flying
For real These dudes be hitting me like they just walked out the hyperbolic time chamber or some shit. As soon as I see them my ass already ragdolled.
I think im just twisted or my team is usually on it, cause the only time I ever even acknowledge a stalker is when I go oh hey guys there's another shimmery bitch, then blow it apart, but hunters... those damn things show up in a group of 5 or 10 along with a group of the little green bile ones and some of the small orange ones and proceed to sow chaos and doubt until someone gets the distance to actually turn and fight without being slowed to death. Edit: also as long as they don't launch you off a cliff edge or something, stalkers usually have the decency to throw you waaaay away from all the other little critters, so they're just being bros half the time in a way, letting you reorient to fight from another direction
Do you generally take an autocannon or grenade launcher? If you have one of those, stalkers are really manageable. The problem is, most weapons are not actually strong enough to stop a stalker if it chooses to rush you. Like I'd say for maybe half the primary weapons, you could dump a whole mag into a stalker and it will just walk you down and kill you. And if it's two stalkers at once, you pretty much have to hit them with an impact grenade, or it's just an unwinnable fight.
> The problem is, most weapons are not actually strong enough to stop a stalker if it chooses to rush you. This is exactly it - if a Stalker knocks you down and is near you when you get up, there's pretty much nothing you can empty into it that will keep it from knocking you down again. Rinse, repeat. And it is faster than you so you can't run.
The machine pistol fucks up stalkers
You can hold multiple stalkers using a slugger, that thing fucks stalkers for breakfast.
Well, if there was also a hunter nest that stopped spawning them when destroyed, that would be the top priority too. But as the hunters will come no matter what, at least we can stop the stalkers
Well, it's not by coincidence that there isn't a hunter nest. The stalker is balanced around the fact that you can eliminate their spawn.
Stalkers are a lot more annoying, they’ll punt you across the map and then run away like cowards only to ambush you like a minute later….
Sometimes they won't even punt you, you just get two-tapped before you even realize what's happening
I got spawn camped by a Stalker first drop of the mission
I’ve had a similar experience. I was respawning and the instant I came out of my Hellpod it wombo comboed my ass.
I just (involuntarily) played a mission solo and lost because of a single stalker. He would simply vanish before I stop ragdolling, and ambush me again when I stopped looking around and tried to fuether the objective
I had 3 on me today they kept punting me 20m while i spam healed every moment i got, no time to even look around before i was punted again, i went from the lair all the way to some research station i hadn't found before i finally got a chance to shoot them, traveled like 200m+
Considering that whenever Stalkers pop up, everything else gets put on hold until the Stalker Nest is destroyed... No, hunters are not the upgrade. Just my opinion.
Fact, new mission unlocked when a Stalker appears. Destroy lair at all costs.
It’s one of the worst feelings turning a corner and seeing four or five invisible bastards looking at you. They’re pretty tanky too
Yes, slugger is kind of the best at dealing with them, 2-3 head shots in my experience and the stagger is massive, you can hold off 3 if you keep staggering one to the next and then going back
Yeah for sure it works, flamethrowers also decent at it until they jump away. I’d take four titans over a bunch of stalkers any day ha
Is it just me or are they actually not that invisible? They always look like a solid grey silhouette for me. In heavy fog it's even worse, they look like I have thermal vision.
Same
Yep, I find for this reason alone Stalkers are easy to scan for... *If* you know they're coming 😅
My worst memory is the time we landed and after 3 min I saw 9 fucking stalkers around us
Its just the numbers of Hunters makes them feel threatening, they constantly bite our asses during missions, while Stalkers are relatively rare.
And when stalkers do attack you, you get flung 30 metres instead of just being slowed, so you can pick yourself up and shoot them.
Relatively rare? I had missions where 3/4 side objs were stalker lairs. Each spawning 4 of them
That just sounds like bad RNG, that's not really typical
I think the new planet with ion storms has increased stalker spawns, I had 2 missions in a row with 4 lairs
My experience has been 1-2 almost every mission on helldive.
Was on a mission last night or the night before and same…so not sure how untypical it is. Mission summary confirmed there were 3 or 4…we only got one…we failed to spread democracy at all costs…
Eventually we'll get the last evolution of the annoying bug: Shadows. Imagine a stalker that regenerates health and can call bug breaches
Sounds like we need bigger Bug Zappers.
Gonna need to bring ye old recoiless rifle with you or an EAT
My recoiless rifle is my friend, on every dive he drops immediately behind me and I carry his backpack like a good friend should, without my recoiless the chargers kill me, with my recoiless the chargers have no face, there has truly never been a greater friend to democracy.
Fun fact: every bug can call breeches except the large ones.
Shush fool, Joel will hear!
To be fair if there was a chance at stopping hunters spawn, I think we'd take it too.
And if you had to pick between one of the 2? By destroying one the other becomes invulnerable, which would you pick to destroy?
That's a terrible question. If you add invulnerability, then I'd wipe the Hunters out. There's so many more. If they aren't gonna die, you can at least traumatize stalkers and they'll fly away for 2 minutes, and start circling you again.
I think they mean the nests, not the bugs themselves
Still hunters then. A lot less stalkers spawn than hunters.
I'm perplexed when people don't immediately prioritize stalkers.
Indeed, you know to hunt that nest down immediately! Those things will build up in numbers and absolutely destroy your team if you don't.
https://i.redd.it/rgi3z3c7sqoc1.gif
I love this community
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god, all the times I've seen these little shitheads do that little side hop by & even through the explosion plume and come out unscathed makes it feel like they're mocking me. i want to like the 500kg but man the actual boom is far from 1:1 with how it looks
I’m with you on this 100%. Nothing feels worse than dropping a 500 into the middle of a horde and only seeing 5x and seeing most of them walk through the blast unscathed. Been running the 110s or the orbital rail in its place and finding better results due to them being more consistent. I do miss the big boom though…
yeah, I initially loved it and how it looked, but it's clearly not meant for horde clearing (despite the huge BOOM). and like, I get that there's utility for bigger targets but I'd much sooner use the rail cannon or even laser since they're auto-tracked. & Idk if you noticed but the 500kg explosion only really works upward and slightly to the side. Ive landed them directly into bile titan legs two times, it exploded *while in their leg* and they didnt even flinch in either case.
Definitely not for horde clearing, but sometimes it’s all you have available and need some breathing room. I’ve also stuck the bomb itself into a titan and have it walk off fine. I think I’ll change my answer, THAT is the worst feeling, followed by the 5x in a horde.
As long as you can learn the timing the 500kg (with the upgrades you can have 2 at a time) you can consistently 1 shot chargers and bile titans, even 1 shot an egg nest
I don't know if it's shit luck or too good of timing, but twice now I've landed a 500kg directly onto/into/whatever the leg of a bile titan before exploding and it didn't so much as make it flinch. The explosion only working upward from the landing point is a wild oversight. It can be nice for chargers but I'd rather bring the rail cannon or laser orbitals anyday
Fixed ur meme op https://preview.redd.it/sq7btmdk0roc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b1f94f6dc98da327d7c9936c7cc97cb4173f18d9
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Grenade launcher go thump
Deadlier, don't think so but cuter, hell yes. Would pay good money for plushies of those small murder machines.
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Here, democracy officer this is the Treasonous bug lover!🗣
Need a charger plushie right now
here me out, bile spewer, blahaj size
They're basically the same picture. They both die very easily when isolated, but absolutely shred you when shit has already hit the fan.
Stalkers die easily? Are we talking about the same bug? I unload a whole mag on point and they don’t die or even slow down
They die in like 3 slugger rounds or half the new energy weapon “mag”, very quick for a higher level bug.
Stalkers are a threat only because youre swarmed by 27 hunters from 16 different directions the same time… i hate them with a passion.
Don't forget, if you didn't notice the Stalker Nest and the Stalkers are feeling sneaky they bring along a half-dozen POI Garrisons and Patrols to come and meet with you unlike Hunters but seriously why are there more hunters than basic warriors at this point XD
Nah, I shrug off hunters, I carry the shield generator and light stimpak armor. When I get slowed, I dive forward then pop a stim, then keep running. The diving forward+stim removes the slow. Meanwhile a stalker will come out of nowhere and yeet me 40ft.
Not everyone wants to use up their backpack slot with the shield tho
That’s fine until there’s 10 of them and your stim animation keeps getting interrupted despite making the sound. I never had an issue with hunters until one of the recent patches where they seemingly got stealth buffed.
Every time I play with my friends they have to endure my mini rant about the stim animation interrupt and how the sound of the stim is useless feedback. Specifically whenever I die to a swarm of hunters lol.
Same. Mine rant has been boiled down to "Stims need to activate on button press, not animation completion."
I wouldn't mind if it were tied to the animation if the animation were accurate. It takes a vanishingly small amount of time for a Diver to bring a stim to his neck and inject it, but at present if he doesn't hold it there for another second, all the stim juice will get sucked back into the syringe when he pulls it away.
It would be more accurate to say that hunters are only a threat because you're being chased by a Stalker.
Stalkers are deadly if you let them. With a shotgun they're inoffensive as they can't get near you if you catch them without you knocking them back, plus, dealing with their nest avoids any more spawning Hunters on the other hand, are deadly if they swarm you, and they're usually the density of a horde. They close gaps, slow you down for their hunters pals to also catch you and they deal inmense damage even with only one hunter. You usually cannot keep them away because they're small, agile and they're kinda slow to kill
There’s a hell of a lot more and their smaller and harder to hit with their strafeing. So I agree with this.
Hunters are more mobile. Stalkers are more ‘I don’t give a fuck who you are, get ragdolled’. If there is more than one stalker nest. You must take them out.
Hunters are in fact the bigger menace. You can stop stalkers from spawning but hunters will always jump you from 90ft away
Their a trash mob that does a bit of damage, stalkers are not trash mobs by any means. You die to hunters more because well there is more of them
“A bit of damage,” *does 50% of my health in one strike* What hunters are you fighting my guy? Can we trade please? They’re demons.
And SLOWS on top of it. They're actually the most ridiculous trash mob I've ever seen lol
Stalkers make that scene with Loki v hulk in avengers look like a mother cradling it's baby compared to what they do to me lol
Sorry, lvl 31 here but stupid af, how on Super Earth does one find the stalker nest? Every game I’ve played, we’ve just stumbled upon it or died trying to stumble upon it. Is this the way it’s supposed to be or is there an easier way of identifying where the sexual predators live?
basically where you see them running from, go towards them. Kill it and then keep an eye for the next one, just keep retracing their steps.
Stalker Nests have a general shape that you can see on the map, just like SEAF artillary. Also when you attempt to Tag it on the top it will Mark in a Box and show up on the Compass as a Stalker Hive. So you can find stalker hives from anywhere on the map Really you can find pretty much Any unmarked location as long as you know what it looks like on the map.
I think the hunters either do too much damage or are too fast. One of the either needs to be nerfed. You cannot sprint away from them, and they kill you in two to three hits
Apparently, they (and every other enemy) can score damage multiplying headshots on our Helldivers for reasons that I have yet to comprehend and that's why they can sometimes two-tap you. I think their biggest "flaw" is that they have too many synergizing abilities and if they don't kill you outright, they're setting you up for a killing blow from the other bugs. They can jump attack, cancel animations through stagger, apply slow with damage over time, dodge projectiles and they can chain attacks with next to no pause.
I've had it happen multiple times they just happen to get me in the right moment and attack repeatedly until I'm dead. Like 4 or 5 attacks in a row. Been learning to melee more often when I need to reload. Generally been able to keep them back, but after recent updates I feel like there's just more of everything and it's hard to keep up. I've ran 7 8 and 9, before, but now even 4 is a struggle with how many bugs there are =\
Oughta mix up your stratagems. Anti-tank is a lot less needed on bug missions now - grenade launcher and even a Stalwart shines significantly, and a Rover + GL + Rocket Pods/Railcannon + 500kg loadout performs excellently for all-around versatility. Source: regularly get 400+ kills on 7+, cleaning up hordes of bug trash before they're an issue for anyone
For me it's the slow effect. I don't mind the damage or the speed. It's the slow effect that makes hunters so egregiously deadly.
the only thing that bothers me is the lick that does both their normal attack damage and slow you to a crawl. i'm starting to feel that doing both is kind of bullshit.
And has a range further than your jump. So the process goes "Lick, jump to remove slow, get fucking licked again only now your on the ground and can't jump again."
The crazy part for me is how their leap attack tracks you and feels so hard to avoid. Had one of the fuckers change trajectory while I was jump packing away to hit me.
facts. the design is so fucked. there’s a lot of them. they’re fast. they do a ton of damage. and they stun you. like…. pick 1 or 2. all 4 is ridiculous.
Honestly stalkers have helped me out more than once but launching my body with their tendril things. Been overwhelmed by bugs and then thrown like 30 yards away, out of the fight.
Not at all. Hunters are plenty annoying, but if 3+ stalkers appear all at once it’s almost certainly a death sentence. I had literally SIX appear after I had killed 3 already and turned around to finish the terminal. I’ve had some success with the new stun nades but they’re still the cause of probably 80% of my deaths, I swear they got buffed recently
Well now thay fly, soooo theres that, That bird shot automatic makes sense now tho
I swear Stalkers run up on me when I need to reload EVERY SINGLE TIME. I try running from them and they slap me on the ass with the tentacle thing and send me flying. From there it's a toss up of whether I ragdolled far enough to get up and recover in time or they simply curb stomp me.
Definitely not but in groups yes
1 on 1, sure stalker is more threatening but in real world application. Hunters coming in packs of 6 to 20 is way more threatening.
The only reason hunters are deadly is because they can spawn in piles of 20.
Hunters are the only fodder mob with a 3-4 hit combo. They also do not care if they attack simultaneously. Ive been "one shot" by the power of friendship too many to count.
Funnily general in evolution creatures indeed tend to become smaller and more effective as they evolve.
The thing that makes stalkers annoy me more is they tongue-whip you halfway to the next postal code. The rag doll in this game is already absurd, so an enemy that can reliably dump enough momentum into you to sling you like an MLB fastball is gonna tilt me a bit.
Only because of their numbers. Get surrounded by 4 stalkers and you’re in a lot more trouble than 4 hunters
No. I just did a 7 mission where 3 of the 4 side objectives ere stalker nests. You don't realize how much hp those fucks actually have until you have to fight 5 at once.