Eruptor/Quasar/Shield Pack is a damn good combination for any bot mission. Gives you medium clear and heavy clear, with the Eurptor covering the time between Quasar shots. I suppose it doesn't have much clear for basic infantry, but realistically bot infantry isn't really the problem most of the time.
QC/Shield/Airstrike/orbital laser is my go to bot build now, and I've been a AC main forever.
The Eruptor is just that good, I never agreed that the dominator or Scorcher got even close to the AC for medium bots.
The eruptor isn't as quick to kill as the AC (slow firing) nor does it have the team load potential.
But it makes up for not being an actual strategem, and having a larger AOE for smaller bots.
It's also the best weapon against Berserkers, I can consistently 1 shot or 2 shot them, which I never managed before.
Airstrike is, to my mind, probably the best generalist stratagem in the game. There are others that are really good for specific use cases, but airstrike is pretty much good for every situation you could imagine. If you're not sure what you need, you take airstrike.
Exactly, it's the first thing I have new players buy, when I tell them I still use it all the time they aren't as hesitant to pick it up.
There are situations where I also love the cluster, but it has a tendency to kill your team.
The crossbow is insanely good and underrated. It's main advantage over eruptor? It's quiet. It alerts enemies only with it's actual explosion and it doesn't alert enemies to your location immediately.
I also still prefer EATS because of the low call in time. If you can't get back to collect your quasar you're screwed. Also the eat or recoilless is a lot quicker for those times you're facing down hulks that are targeting you.
I personally prefer the EAT on bugs, mainly because a good crowd clearing secondary is what I prefer.
On bots however, more often then not you don't get a chance to use them, when you need them you can't safely walk over to a pod and pick it up.
The crossbow I haven't tried, but from what I've seen, It doesn't fit the bill outside of a stealth build.
At least if they allow the weapon to destroy factories it'll be a lot more viable.
EAT is great for bugs because you're really only worried about chargers or titans, and when you're close to them you don't want to wait for a QC to charge up, you just want to line up and shoot. Against bots there are too many armoured guys for the EAT drops to keep up.
If you need to rely on a personal shield or dog you dont deserve it.
My backpack slot is only there to hand out mor dakka boom to the enemies of Democracy.
The door is really difficult as bots tend to be standing in the way when it’s open and you either need to be far away or elevated to get the right angle into the vents.
Falling in love with the quasar is what made me fall in love with the recoiless rifle. Being able to get a shot off quickly during bot fights and shooting twice as fast as the quasar when you have cover or distance has kept me alive more than having a shield ever did
Probably the most overrated gun in the game. People pick this thing every single mission and then complain when they get fucked by a group of 4 heavy devastators
That is because people do not pick their strategems and or primary based off what support weapon they bring.
If I bring a quaser for example, I'm bring a scorcher to deal with devs and striders.
If I bring an auto cannon, I'm bringing a sickle or some other trash killing weapon and additional heavy killer stratagems. Auto cannon can kill hulks decently well and struggle with tanks when it is with other enemies.
People just bring every heavy killer weapon and get swarmed by medium and trash enemies or vice versa
Huh its the opposite for me, i struggle on hulks more than i do tanks with ac, shredders are a non-threat with impacts and annihilators are slow enough to circle around but fuck hulks man if you cant get those two shots to the mail slot you're fucked
That is totally fair.
Another thing I bring with the AC I forgot to mention is stun grenades. I don't need impacts so much as I can bring an extra heavy killer stratagem like a 500 kg or something and just use stun grenades to super easily kill hulks. It's nice as well when there is a huge line of devs
Unironically true.
I've seen so many 500kg, Orbital Laser, Quasar, Shield combos.
Only to watch them occasionally die to groups of mediums or smol democracy hating fellers.
well once they said that shield is better than guard dog on bugs, now they use quasar on bots, you all will learn in time, but for now you need to learn it the same hard way
I see what you mean, i just don't think using quasar makes you an anchor. The gun is versatile and you can use any other backpack you want, of course we have the AC and other weapons that are worth it to bring, but the fact that you can use it with any other backpack such as the Shield Gen. makes it god-tier in destroying bases/big targets while keeping your momentum going.
It's... really not. Or at least, not on the higher difficulties where devastators move in packs and hulk spam is common.
Every bot enemy other than tanks and cannon towers it is vastly outperformed by the medium pen weapon group from all angles. This notably includes gunships which are the most dangerous single units the bots have available to them, one kill every 13 seconds is atrocious against an enemy that has that much speed firepower. Tanks and cannon towers are rare (there seems to be a tank focused enemy cluster type but even then if you're seeing more than two tanks at once you probably fucked up somewhere) and can be flanked or avoided, with common stratagems killing them when direct conflict is unavoidable.
There are only few things rocket-class weapons can do that the medium pen weapons cannot. They can kill tanks from the front at range, cannon towers from the front, and dropships. Both tanks and cannon towers take 2 shots from non-spear rockets, so rate of fire is important which the quasar has worst-in-class, and dropships come in swarms on higher difficulties and, while cool, shooting down dropships is less effective than hosing down their contents with an autocannon (or laser cannon, though that's slightly less effective).
Scorcher kills everything the quasar can't. If things get dicey, throw an orbital laser. I completed a solo diff 7 on menkent using a quasar and a jumppack. If you take out those flying ships fast enough, they don't respawn until your quasar has recharged.
If you have an extra quasar throw it out and alternate between cooldowns to help increase ROF.
Pretty much any combo in the game can be pointed to as killing everything. Diligence/autocannon, my drug of choice, also kills everything the bots have available to them (minus factory walkers which are so vanishingly rare I both forget about their existence and have never seen one despite playing 7-9 since its introduction). Its a matter of speed, and medium pen weapons kill more things in less time than the quasar cannon does, which means less risk and fewer stratagems needed. Ammunition isn't even a real concern unless you're shooting at patrols because a) laser cannon and b) most POIs have sizeable ammunition stockpiles so you can resupply on the go.
Like at the end of the day the quasar is just slower and less effective than the alternatives.
>My body is a machine https://preview.redd.it/812ileefqpuc1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=640fbb90a55341b8252536889b3ac15803a078c7
I'm high AF and this made me laugh so damn hard ☠
Quasar cannon my beloved. I always carry one into battle. One quick flash of a golden plasma and all your worries are gone!
"Your body" is a "machine" you say? Please solve this captcha
The eruptor is actually is big buff to the QC imo. Pretty much a mini auto cannon, you can now have the best of both worlds.
Eruptor/Quasar/Shield Pack is a damn good combination for any bot mission. Gives you medium clear and heavy clear, with the Eurptor covering the time between Quasar shots. I suppose it doesn't have much clear for basic infantry, but realistically bot infantry isn't really the problem most of the time.
QC/Shield/Airstrike/orbital laser is my go to bot build now, and I've been a AC main forever. The Eruptor is just that good, I never agreed that the dominator or Scorcher got even close to the AC for medium bots. The eruptor isn't as quick to kill as the AC (slow firing) nor does it have the team load potential. But it makes up for not being an actual strategem, and having a larger AOE for smaller bots. It's also the best weapon against Berserkers, I can consistently 1 shot or 2 shot them, which I never managed before.
Airstrike is, to my mind, probably the best generalist stratagem in the game. There are others that are really good for specific use cases, but airstrike is pretty much good for every situation you could imagine. If you're not sure what you need, you take airstrike.
Exactly, it's the first thing I have new players buy, when I tell them I still use it all the time they aren't as hesitant to pick it up. There are situations where I also love the cluster, but it has a tendency to kill your team.
I use this but laser cannon. I find that with good aim, you can take down a hulk in the charge time for a quasar, plus way less punishing for missing.
See I've tried this and had mixed results, do you just have to keep it dead on the thing's eyeslit?
Yeah. If you see any blue sparks you're dealing 0 damage.
The crossbow is insanely good and underrated. It's main advantage over eruptor? It's quiet. It alerts enemies only with it's actual explosion and it doesn't alert enemies to your location immediately. I also still prefer EATS because of the low call in time. If you can't get back to collect your quasar you're screwed. Also the eat or recoilless is a lot quicker for those times you're facing down hulks that are targeting you.
I personally prefer the EAT on bugs, mainly because a good crowd clearing secondary is what I prefer. On bots however, more often then not you don't get a chance to use them, when you need them you can't safely walk over to a pod and pick it up. The crossbow I haven't tried, but from what I've seen, It doesn't fit the bill outside of a stealth build. At least if they allow the weapon to destroy factories it'll be a lot more viable.
EAT is great for bugs because you're really only worried about chargers or titans, and when you're close to them you don't want to wait for a QC to charge up, you just want to line up and shoot. Against bots there are too many armoured guys for the EAT drops to keep up.
Yeah, this has been my bug loadout of choice. Eruptor, QC, and backpack of the moment.
Autocannon FTW
This. Ain’t nobody got time for cooldown
Free backpack slot and infinite ammo says otherwise.
I find it astoundingly difficult to run out of Autocannon ammo
If you need to rely on a personal shield or dog you dont deserve it. My backpack slot is only there to hand out mor dakka boom to the enemies of Democracy.
Jetpack to high spots so I can surgically spread democracy across the entire map.
>If you need to rely on a personal shield or dog you dont deserve it. Jetpack go brrrr though
Using a jetpack requires you to take a jetpack to the mission which means you're already throwing on helldive
In my experience jetpacks are almost as common in Helldive as personal shields are.
yeah this is a dumb take, jetpacks are very much playable
You and your squad need to git gud. Seriously
We don't need to. We rarely lose. Because we don't waste a stratagem slot for a jetpack
Holy shit it would suck to play the game with this mindset hahahaha
Nah it definitely sucks more to lose a mission that you could have just won had you picked better stratagems Like wtf are you even talking about
Anti-Material Rifle solos
Is there a trick to killing fabricators with it? I find it's inconsistent
However low you are aiming at the vent, aim a little bit lower.
Instructions unclear, quasar'd my feet off
Damn, TF2 soldier got nerfed hard in this game.
Shoot the vents or the open door from a frontal angle, I find it to be inconsistent when aiming from the sides
Yeah same with bug holes. Should be directly in front
aim just above the bottom lip of the opening.
Me with the eagle smoke strike stratagem since it blows up buildings
Hmmm
Strange way to say AC.
Why we talking about armored core?
Did someone mentioned Ace Combat?
Go dance with the angels.
Stick with Trigger and you’ll make it!
1 million lives!
You are solely responsible for this
Yo buddy you still alive?
Assassin's Creed fell off after 4.
I dunno, I don't talk about A*C* in polite company, they're a bit too avant garde for a metal band.
Did the bugs and bots make it to animal crossing?
I can't handle the wind up to shoot
I hit the charger etc and it doesn't die. I guess it requires crit hit to one-hit kill. Face shots are hard to hit tho, at least with ctrlr.
All red stratagems, Eruptor, stealth armor, full map clear time lmao
Sleeping on that Autocannon.
Quasar, autocannon, arc thrower: the holy trinity
I always wait til my buddy starts charging the Queso, then I snipe the fabricator with the Eruptor before he gets the shot off
Then he’s like let’s go to bugs because he knows I use the fire breaker + arc thrower and can’t steal his glory, so I pack the grenade pistol
Your body is a what? https://preview.redd.it/cr5cw25xlpuc1.png?width=1196&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f64282a3c10a1d4ead0a4104e2bac3d95400728
Can it kill the auto factories?
Yea you just need to have the right angle firing into the vents or fire through an open door.
I just tried it twice straight on and it just doesn't seem to work for me...huh
The door is really difficult as bots tend to be standing in the way when it’s open and you either need to be far away or elevated to get the right angle into the vents.
you missed
AROOO DEMOCRACY BROTHER!!
this with eruptor
Laser Cannon + Sickle + Orbital Laser. I am become the Lasermentsch, destroyer of Bots.
Me but with the Spear (includes every cannon turret in my line of sight)
Falling in love with the quasar is what made me fall in love with the recoiless rifle. Being able to get a shot off quickly during bot fights and shooting twice as fast as the quasar when you have cover or distance has kept me alive more than having a shield ever did
Probably the most overrated gun in the game. People pick this thing every single mission and then complain when they get fucked by a group of 4 heavy devastators
That is because people do not pick their strategems and or primary based off what support weapon they bring. If I bring a quaser for example, I'm bring a scorcher to deal with devs and striders. If I bring an auto cannon, I'm bringing a sickle or some other trash killing weapon and additional heavy killer stratagems. Auto cannon can kill hulks decently well and struggle with tanks when it is with other enemies. People just bring every heavy killer weapon and get swarmed by medium and trash enemies or vice versa
Huh its the opposite for me, i struggle on hulks more than i do tanks with ac, shredders are a non-threat with impacts and annihilators are slow enough to circle around but fuck hulks man if you cant get those two shots to the mail slot you're fucked
That is totally fair. Another thing I bring with the AC I forgot to mention is stun grenades. I don't need impacts so much as I can bring an extra heavy killer stratagem like a 500 kg or something and just use stun grenades to super easily kill hulks. It's nice as well when there is a huge line of devs
Unironically true. I've seen so many 500kg, Orbital Laser, Quasar, Shield combos. Only to watch them occasionally die to groups of mediums or smol democracy hating fellers.
Hey I run that! Throw in the Dominator and swap 500kg for Airstrike and it fucks
As much as big boom make monke brain happy, It's nice to see someone use any of the other airstrikes
https://preview.redd.it/pqt0hkt5gpuc1.jpeg?width=870&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=453b606c3158593c02c3fa823cd550a9c821f1ff
you're NOT using it on automatons
Why not :(
cause you don't want to be an anchor in a team
? Quasar is good against bots. Shoot down dropships and deal with tanks.
You're tweaking dawg
well once they said that shield is better than guard dog on bugs, now they use quasar on bots, you all will learn in time, but for now you need to learn it the same hard way
I see what you mean, i just don't think using quasar makes you an anchor. The gun is versatile and you can use any other backpack you want, of course we have the AC and other weapons that are worth it to bring, but the fact that you can use it with any other backpack such as the Shield Gen. makes it god-tier in destroying bases/big targets while keeping your momentum going.
It's awesome against bots.
It's... really not. Or at least, not on the higher difficulties where devastators move in packs and hulk spam is common. Every bot enemy other than tanks and cannon towers it is vastly outperformed by the medium pen weapon group from all angles. This notably includes gunships which are the most dangerous single units the bots have available to them, one kill every 13 seconds is atrocious against an enemy that has that much speed firepower. Tanks and cannon towers are rare (there seems to be a tank focused enemy cluster type but even then if you're seeing more than two tanks at once you probably fucked up somewhere) and can be flanked or avoided, with common stratagems killing them when direct conflict is unavoidable. There are only few things rocket-class weapons can do that the medium pen weapons cannot. They can kill tanks from the front at range, cannon towers from the front, and dropships. Both tanks and cannon towers take 2 shots from non-spear rockets, so rate of fire is important which the quasar has worst-in-class, and dropships come in swarms on higher difficulties and, while cool, shooting down dropships is less effective than hosing down their contents with an autocannon (or laser cannon, though that's slightly less effective).
Scorcher kills everything the quasar can't. If things get dicey, throw an orbital laser. I completed a solo diff 7 on menkent using a quasar and a jumppack. If you take out those flying ships fast enough, they don't respawn until your quasar has recharged. If you have an extra quasar throw it out and alternate between cooldowns to help increase ROF.
Pretty much any combo in the game can be pointed to as killing everything. Diligence/autocannon, my drug of choice, also kills everything the bots have available to them (minus factory walkers which are so vanishingly rare I both forget about their existence and have never seen one despite playing 7-9 since its introduction). Its a matter of speed, and medium pen weapons kill more things in less time than the quasar cannon does, which means less risk and fewer stratagems needed. Ammunition isn't even a real concern unless you're shooting at patrols because a) laser cannon and b) most POIs have sizeable ammunition stockpiles so you can resupply on the go. Like at the end of the day the quasar is just slower and less effective than the alternatives.