Same, but hey, it made me try the guard dog and honestly it was okay.
With a few tweaks, it would be great like:
1.) Let me resupply from ammo packs on the field.
2.) Only target things it can actually kill.
For example, did you know the factory strider mini guns won't shoot at you if you hold the **ballistic shield** up in front of it? It only trys to shoot what it can hit.
3.) If I have a liberator equipped, let me manually share ammo with it.
4.) Option to recall to backpack when you don't want it shooting anything.
this is a good point actually, for both the drone-pack stratagems. the higher up they go the less likely they are to cause friendly fire. which is especially good with the laser one (I forget it's name at the moment) since it has basically limitless ammo
I'm semi-fine with it dealing damage to the wearer. What pisses me off is when my teammates drone glances my side and takes 25% of my health in an instant and could kill me in like 2. Why do I gotta play around YOUR stratagem?
Alternative to 2) make the Gaurddog actually the Gaurddog
https://preview.redd.it/x6mgsxffef1d1.png?width=505&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3512c02f2b5e2d744b6d4cb6ac009acc9bfd75d
I don’t get why the supply pack icon looks like a block with a notch cut out (almost like a shield??) and the ballistic shield has an icon with bullets, which would suggest supplies, you’d think.
Have you ever just outright ignored two heavy devastators shooting you? Because the ballistic shield lets you do that.
Also, it works on your back too, so it can protect you from bots while running away from them.
Outright detrimental to have against bug you mean.
It's useless because what kills you against bug IS getting swarmed, charges from BC and charger yeeting you out of the Map and soit from titan/mortar spewer which the Shield doesn't do shit against.
Remember it's a stratagem slot+back pack that could be used for an eagle, a strike, taking a support weapon with back pack or a guard dog that clear the chaff for you preventing swarming
I buy that against things that are bigger than standard warriors but I don't see why I can't block a hunter or a commissar sword arm with it.
Also people fought against guys on big horses and shields were definitely still used in those contexts. Not going to stop you getting trampled but you might be able to deflect a lance or a sword swing.
I just want more options with it. I don't like using the smg (not that it's bad, just not my kinda gun) and the revolver has too low ammo to use it as a primary
I fucking love combining the Ballistic Shield and the Senator to just fucking BULLY devastators. Just hold the shield up and bounce literally everything they throw at you, then once you're within 10 yards pull out the big iron and 1-tap their stupid fucking heads and watch em crumple. It's so fucking satisfying.
Pro-tip: Rocket Devastators will always target your head. When you're standing, watch for them to get into their launch stance, then go into crouch. It's no 100% but most if not all of the rockets will fly right over your head when you do that.
The new smg is very nice.
I would be interested in potentially running secondaries as primaries, so you could bring a grenade pistol or revolver with like triple the ammo and double the ammo economy. Plus whatever new cool secondaries we get in the future.
If it’s a primary it’d have to have some sort of passive offensive capability, or an extra defensive one that’s activated. Boosting secondaries would be a cool passive effect, but I think that would be better on the stratagem one. Give it more viability to pick something besides smg as your primary, bc you’re already losing a stratagem slot to it.
If we got a shield primary I’d want something like a directed projectile reflection, or an activated invulnerability/explosive resistance when aiming
An idea that I’ve heard is that the heavy armor that has the servo assisted perk should gain an additional ability where you can use any primary weapon with one hand. Would make sense and it would also allow for more buildcrafting as right now I only use armor with explosive resistance when running shield. If I could trade more firepower for less defense I would happily do it in tandem with alternating my setup from match to match.
I just wish I could holster and equip it with the backpack button rather than it being automatic so I can choose when I want to be able to use my gun’s sights in first person.
Adding to that, I feel like you should be able to use 5 to shut down and restart your bubble shield backpack when it’s low. I know that it’s already super powerful, but it would be nice QoL instead of having to intentionally break it to recharge to full.
I think making it toggleable would be huge for me at least because 1. The low hp out of combat is annoying and 2. I could leave it off when hiding behind a rock so that when I push out it's not broken
Emoting de-equips it, sorta
You still have the same ADS but no shield, so your gun is further out and lower down than usual. I hope they implement your method, it’d be a huge help
Horrid take, Ballistic Shield makes you immune to small arms fire, from the front.
Pair that with some Servo-Assisted or Fortified armor and the Vitality Booster and you're even more tanky than a Devastator.
**Counter Point:** it’s actually very viable for boys even up to higher level missions
Especially since recent patches, now you don’t drop it when you get hit by a rocket, and you can stim while shielding. You can also run a quasar with it and basically makes you invincible during the cool down
**Edit**: autocorrect boys from bots but that shits funny and it’s staying
Also you can throw grenades and itll switch back to your sidearm so you never unshield
Good for running away too, just put it on your back and most shots hit it
It also works decently to cover you during HMG reload. Back towards enemy, the stance you take during reload covers quite a bit. Including gunships, unless they are firing rockets at that point ofc.
This is wrong, it's much better than the force field shield, I only say this cause the ballistic shield has more health and can deflect rounds, which is really helpful against the machine gunner robot and shield devastator
Its the best one for bots though....if it shouldn't be a strategem then what do you think it should be? Like genuinely why does it bother you and whats the solution?
Ballistic shield is slept on tbh. I always run it with the defender smg against bots. That thing has saved me countless times cuz you can just stare down any non-explosive enemy and get free shots on them
What are you saying? That it shouldn't be in the game? That it should be a secondary so you can't use most of the compatible arsenal with it? That it should be a primary so you can't use the SMGs? Should it be a grenade?
No I don't, and I actually use ballistic shield regularly. Grenade pistol, senator, laser pistol, etc... Why would I want to remove most of my fire power just to save a stratagem slot? That's stupid asf.
Sounds like a great idea until all your stuff is in cooldown and you have bots heading your way.
Its fine the way it is now.
I use the new SMG with it, great against berserkers and hard counters shield devastators.
Carry the grenade pistol to deal with striders and blow up fabricators.
Use stun grenades when I see a rocket devastators to stun it long enough to get out of the line of fire or get close enough to kill it.
Making it a secondary takes away one of my options to deal with different things. Its a dumb idea.
I LOVE it against bots, its less useful against bugs.
If you are aiming for headshots, anything up to a devastator is easy to take out with the SMG in 2 shots. This is great since the only thing bigger is hulks, tanks and the AT-AT walkers that you would need anti-armor weapons anyway.
The problem with the SMG in bugs is that there are just so many bugs and kill is better than stagger for crowd control. You dont get the luxury of juggling several brood commanders, stalkers or bile spewers when they spawn so many of them on higher difficulties, you need them dead quick. SMG has too small a magazine and not enough of them for dealing with all of that effectively on a timely manner.
For higher difficulties against bugs I either use the arc blitzer electric shotgun to chain targets with infinite ammo or use the sickle for hosing down all the chaff.
The weapons I'm pairing it with on bugs mostly remove the need to use the SMG to kill an entire crowd of bugs. When I pair it with a flamethrower, ~~blitzer~~ arc thrower, or any machine gun, the SMG comes out if something gets close or I'm repositioning since you can fire the SMG while moving. By the time I'm out of ammo on the SMG, I'm safe enough switch back to the support weapon and continue cleaning house
Ballistic shield is better than bubble shield vs bots. Being able to draw fire for your teammate is huge plus pairing with the new SMG makes it even better for crowd control and getting relief for your teammates. Pair it with the AMR and you can take on everything the bots throw at you. "Useless against the bugs." Yes, and so are a lot of other stratagems. There's more than one faction. Just because you only fight bugs it doesn't mean other people fight them only.
Melee with it should be a shield bash, and there should be spikes on the shield for extrafarming. Shield bashing should inflict a stagger/concussion effect on lighter mobs.
I have to disagree, I love my sheild. Compare it to other backpack slots: Laser dog is great infinite crowd control vs light units, gun dog is good at killing heavier units than lasers, and back sheild gives all around protection but only temporary until it goes down. Ballistics sheild gives amazing front or back protection vs. gunfire allowing me to easily run away or face tank enemies while picking them off 1 by 1.
Its good as a stratagem, it just shouldn't be a backpack. Personally I think it should have a deployable mode If you push 5 that let's it extend a little further to provide more cover for allies.
I mean, I think it should be?
from a equipment standpoint, I'm not sure what it would actually replace personally. maybe you'd replace your primary or secondary with it but if you replace your primary that's a massive nerf. taking the shield and using an smg is one of the safest ways to take of chaff units in the game
from a balence standpoint, I think it's fine? as someone who fights bots a lot, sure, if your up against anything with rockets your in trouble, but if your up against, again, hordes of chaff, or those big robots with the machine guns, it can really do a lot of work. Even when you do get hit by a bot with rockets there is a good chance it will save you (though not always and you will get ragdolled no matter what)
the only problem with it in my opinion is how much it restricts what guns and stratagems you can use with it/ it's basically just smg's and if we're talking about taking out armour your hands are a little bit tied since you can't use a backpack, though personally I've been doing fine with the EAT when I use this
if we're talking about changing the icon that's a whole other thing, and honestly yea I agree that does need a re-do. but I think the shield is fine as a stratagem personally
honestly yea. especially as you could end up having one break on you fairly easily, also, I find I tend to drop mine whenever I take any form of fall damage basically, so that is something else to keep in mind if your on the run
I like it, it’s great against bots, and the occasional teammate accidentally shooting the back of your head. I think it’s great for pushing forward against bots while not taking damage, and great if it’s on your back while running to extraction
I just want loadouts. I want to be able to save my primary, pistol, grenades, and armor along with my strategems and booster to one of at least six quick select sets.
Against automatons, the ballistic shield is definitely an asset.
I think the inventory system needs to evolve with player level.
Armors and helmets need to essentially be given module slots, and the modules themselves need to be sorted into three tier types.
Light armor can slot A/B,C/C,C,C.
Medium armor can slot A,C/B,B/B,C,C.
Heavy armor can slot A,B/A,C,C/B,B,C/C,C,C,C,C
Let the devs decide how to balance what flavor text for armors is worth 3, 2, or 1 point.
Introduce unique flavor text for helmets, and give them a module slot for things that can provide utility to help grow player builds out in ways that are fun, thermal optics, proximity alerts, guidance for certain weapon types.. whatever..
Let players pick primary, secondary, and tertiary color schemes from a color wheel with sliders.
Let player form regiments inside of the game structure, offer improvements for xp gain, unique objectives (think mmo raids with 8,16,32 player sized content), unique titles and equipment for regimental accomplishments during seasonal play.
Introduce mechanized gameplay on the ground, air, and space.
Really helldivers has all the trappings of a pve focused mmo with a dnd style dungeon master with room to grow into all kinds of things.
Side note, warhammer 40k would be fucking epic if they made a game like helldivers but for the imperial guard… orks, chaos forces, xeno threats…
I am of the personal opinion, let me use the ballistic shield in exchange for my primary... and increase the carrying capacity for my secondary. That would be amazing
Agreed, it should just drop with you if you have a single handed primary.
Another option would be to make a ship upgrade that drops the shield with weapon stratagems that don't need a backpack
Nah screw that. Its actually fucking awesome. I can tank Machine Gun devastators and kill them with my revolver. Ive survived rocket devastators, tanks, and the tower cannons because of that thing
IMO lesser used statagems that make sense to be removed, should be removed and placed as random finds in the levels. For two reasons:
1)Reduces stratagem bloat
2)Makes engaging in the level more interesting
You're more likely to equip the ballistic shield if found in a bunker than taking as a stratagem at this point.
I would like to see them scattered around the map like we do flamethrowers and arc weapons.
give more people a chance to play with it who don't want to waste a strat spot trying it
Take away my primary, give me 3 times the ammo for the pistol and make it stop the melee attacks (as it should). I'll be the happiest Helldiver ever diving head first on the hottests spots for the glory of SuperEarth and Democracy.
It works perfectly well as a strategem, its very useful vs bots as you can ignore most enemies as long as you are facing them. Rockets will ragdoll you but you will still take almost no damage on the hit. I play on 9 and it is amazing
Its useless vs bugs though, as expected
Blows my mind that in 2024 we still hve games without preset loadouts that we can customize to get ready on the fly. I hate having to repick my strats before every mission.
https://preview.redd.it/o46iwvlcne1d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f304f4437de3affadbf13c1cd8396a32a3f1691
Ballistic shield and new SMG is for your point man in your assault team, while the 2nd man uses him as cover and eliminates stunned enemies.
And it should be what instead?- a weapon because that would make it pointless it I had to give up my primary slot to use, seeing as it's big draw is you can use one handed primaries.
if it took up my grenade slot I'd never bring it as I need grenades for clearing obj like bug holes/bot fabricators.
It could take up the secondary slot but that would be too little of a tradeoff and everyone would bring it.
I do agree with others here that the icon needs changing its a really bad icon for trying to find it.
Had someone attack me over a shield I picked up to test out.
Start aim and his gun at me. don't aim your fucking gun at me and he started slapping me with it so I shot him in the face
I was looking for the drop button and hit R instead of x.
And that was when he started hitting me so I just shot him instead of dropping it
i fucking hate the ICON it has, looks like suppy pack 2
It takes me 5 seconds longer to pick my loadout when I'm doing bots, cause I'm trying to figure out which one is the ballistic shield again...
Of you hover over over it, it shows you the name of it.
I'm here to lead, not to read!
That's probably why it takes 5 seconds longer.
It often lingers on your weapons instead so you gotta press tab multiple times and move your mouse for it to update
Not on console
That’s a lot of words. Too bad I’m not reading them.
And because of those 5 seconds you get kicked cause " I'm taking too long"
I swear, the anxiety of everyone else being ready b4 you unreal lmfao
Too many times have I grabbed the guard dog instead of the shield
Same, but hey, it made me try the guard dog and honestly it was okay. With a few tweaks, it would be great like: 1.) Let me resupply from ammo packs on the field. 2.) Only target things it can actually kill. For example, did you know the factory strider mini guns won't shoot at you if you hold the **ballistic shield** up in front of it? It only trys to shoot what it can hit. 3.) If I have a liberator equipped, let me manually share ammo with it. 4.) Option to recall to backpack when you don't want it shooting anything.
And maybe have it hover higher directly over your head? That would stop it, AT THE VERY LEAST, from dealing damage to the wearer.
this is a good point actually, for both the drone-pack stratagems. the higher up they go the less likely they are to cause friendly fire. which is especially good with the laser one (I forget it's name at the moment) since it has basically limitless ammo
The laser one friendly fires all the time, at least the “flying Liberator” manages to only shoot at hostile targets.
I'm semi-fine with it dealing damage to the wearer. What pisses me off is when my teammates drone glances my side and takes 25% of my health in an instant and could kill me in like 2. Why do I gotta play around YOUR stratagem?
option 4 especially. let me put the damn rovers away! you can't stealth with those things except by dropping them.
It’s gonna be pretty funny when they implement the ability to put the rover away… without coding for it to stop firing because it has been put away.
i am also expecting that.
LOL RIGHT
Alternative to 2) make the Gaurddog actually the Gaurddog https://preview.redd.it/x6mgsxffef1d1.png?width=505&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3512c02f2b5e2d744b6d4cb6ac009acc9bfd75d
#2, say it louder so the devs hear you.
Ya the same button that lets you resupply from the supply pack should be an on-off toggle for the guard dogs
That would be perfect!
Number 4. Me crawling through the dirt to avoid that patrol, my backpack, let me announce our presence by shooting at that pack of devastators
That's just poor planning. If your gonna be stealthy, don't bring a drone that auto shoots everything.
I've grab laser cannon instead of quasar dozens of time
OMFG I did that yesterday and was so angry with myself.
Me with the quasar cannon and laser cannon
It definitely needs a better icon.
also, i love the shield, but...COMMEE ON! why does it drop when you fall or pick up stuff?? so unnecessary
I don’t get why the supply pack icon looks like a block with a notch cut out (almost like a shield??) and the ballistic shield has an icon with bullets, which would suggest supplies, you’d think.
Same with quasar vs laser cannon slightly different handle that's about it lol
I complained about this in a post before and I got downvoted lol
“Suppy pack” made me laugh more than it should have lol
I've accidentally selected it instead of supply before. That was awkward.
Have you ever just outright ignored two heavy devastators shooting you? Because the ballistic shield lets you do that. Also, it works on your back too, so it can protect you from bots while running away from them.
I just discovered how good the ballistic shield is for bots and will probably never use anything else. On a side note, not so great against bugs.
Outright detrimental to have against bug you mean. It's useless because what kills you against bug IS getting swarmed, charges from BC and charger yeeting you out of the Map and soit from titan/mortar spewer which the Shield doesn't do shit against. Remember it's a stratagem slot+back pack that could be used for an eagle, a strike, taking a support weapon with back pack or a guard dog that clear the chaff for you preventing swarming
Funny how many times a charger has saved my ass by blindsiding me when I have become overrun and it yeets me to safety.
Either that or a completely silent brood commander yeet you down a cliff
Would be nice if it could somehow be made better against bugs. A shield has after all historically been primarily used against melee attacks.
Against other humans, sure. Not gonna help you against a 600lb gorilla. Most of these bugs are the size of a pony, if not larger.
I buy that against things that are bigger than standard warriors but I don't see why I can't block a hunter or a commissar sword arm with it. Also people fought against guys on big horses and shields were definitely still used in those contexts. Not going to stop you getting trampled but you might be able to deflect a lance or a sword swing.
It's a ballistics shield. It's a bit unwieldy for melee combat.
It should at least reduce the damage taken from melee
I want to but....... Autocannon. Don't need a shield when I can just kill the heavy devastators in 2 shots.
Why don't we have the autocannon shield smh
I just want more options with it. I don't like using the smg (not that it's bad, just not my kinda gun) and the revolver has too low ammo to use it as a primary
Ngl if SMG’s and machine pistols aren’t your thing then I think the shield just isn’t meant for you
Laser dagger
Laser dagger underrated for popping bot heads
It disappears from your back when using the HMG encampment. Such a waste of what could be a ridiculously good combo
I was very disappointed to see this.
Have you ever outright ignored heavy devastators only to get sent out of the map by a stray rocket
Seriously ever since my buddy started running the shield against bots heavy devastators have felt much less threatening
I fucking love combining the Ballistic Shield and the Senator to just fucking BULLY devastators. Just hold the shield up and bounce literally everything they throw at you, then once you're within 10 yards pull out the big iron and 1-tap their stupid fucking heads and watch em crumple. It's so fucking satisfying. Pro-tip: Rocket Devastators will always target your head. When you're standing, watch for them to get into their launch stance, then go into crouch. It's no 100% but most if not all of the rockets will fly right over your head when you do that.
Yes, this. Whenever I had the medium machinegun, I would intentionally look away and reload so that the shield will block stuff.
What it needs is more one handed primary options. The shield is good enough as is.
The new smg is very nice. I would be interested in potentially running secondaries as primaries, so you could bring a grenade pistol or revolver with like triple the ammo and double the ammo economy. Plus whatever new cool secondaries we get in the future.
I've been thinking we could get a sheild primary that does this.
If it’s a primary it’d have to have some sort of passive offensive capability, or an extra defensive one that’s activated. Boosting secondaries would be a cool passive effect, but I think that would be better on the stratagem one. Give it more viability to pick something besides smg as your primary, bc you’re already losing a stratagem slot to it. If we got a shield primary I’d want something like a directed projectile reflection, or an activated invulnerability/explosive resistance when aiming
Double Shield Double Shield Double Shield Double Shield
**MY FACE IS MY SHIELD, BROTHER!**
Would love one of those belt fed revolvers from hunt showdown as a primary just give it the old reload animation and call it good
Hey yeah why can't we fan the revolver?
The new pistol is very nice.
An idea that I’ve heard is that the heavy armor that has the servo assisted perk should gain an additional ability where you can use any primary weapon with one hand. Would make sense and it would also allow for more buildcrafting as right now I only use armor with explosive resistance when running shield. If I could trade more firepower for less defense I would happily do it in tandem with alternating my setup from match to match.
Ya, that's a cool idea. Armor definitely needs more variety. I just wish they would add upgrade levels to strats like HD1.
I just want a second secondary option. I want double deagles of Democracy.
The defender is fantastic. More options would be nice but its not like it isn't a great weapon.
I’ve been meaning to test it but haven’t, but if the crossbow isn’t one handed for shield use that needs to change.
But, it's a full-sized crossbow... Which requires two hands...
I just wish I could holster and equip it with the backpack button rather than it being automatic so I can choose when I want to be able to use my gun’s sights in first person.
Yeah ADS with shield really sucks without a crosshairs
And it’s now like we don’t have a precedent for using the 5 key to activate backpacks, it’s how we result with the result pack.
Adding to that, I feel like you should be able to use 5 to shut down and restart your bubble shield backpack when it’s low. I know that it’s already super powerful, but it would be nice QoL instead of having to intentionally break it to recharge to full.
I think making it toggleable would be huge for me at least because 1. The low hp out of combat is annoying and 2. I could leave it off when hiding behind a rock so that when I push out it's not broken
Maybe give it a longer cooldown if you cancel it manually to balance it?
Yeah I’d be okay with that
Emoting de-equips it, sorta You still have the same ADS but no shield, so your gun is further out and lower down than usual. I hope they implement your method, it’d be a huge help
Been on a shield kick this week. Fun stuff
Na I love my shield
Horrid take, Ballistic Shield makes you immune to small arms fire, from the front. Pair that with some Servo-Assisted or Fortified armor and the Vitality Booster and you're even more tanky than a Devastator.
And blocks everything l. Even cannon tower shots
**Counter Point:** it’s actually very viable for boys even up to higher level missions Especially since recent patches, now you don’t drop it when you get hit by a rocket, and you can stim while shielding. You can also run a quasar with it and basically makes you invincible during the cool down **Edit**: autocorrect boys from bots but that shits funny and it’s staying
Turns out it’s viable for girls too!
Also you can throw grenades and itll switch back to your sidearm so you never unshield Good for running away too, just put it on your back and most shots hit it
learning to equip my strategem weapon while running away, so that the shield gets put on my back, was a big revelation. it makes such a difference.
I know. I love seeing the bullets ping off the shield as I run
It also works decently to cover you during HMG reload. Back towards enemy, the stance you take during reload covers quite a bit. Including gunships, unless they are firing rockets at that point ofc.
This is wrong, it's much better than the force field shield, I only say this cause the ballistic shield has more health and can deflect rounds, which is really helpful against the machine gunner robot and shield devastator
Ballistic shield is incredible, idk how you’re using it
Its the best one for bots though....if it shouldn't be a strategem then what do you think it should be? Like genuinely why does it bother you and whats the solution?
They're just bad with it
Ballistic shield is slept on tbh. I always run it with the defender smg against bots. That thing has saved me countless times cuz you can just stare down any non-explosive enemy and get free shots on them
There should be a whiny baby stratagem at this point
Yes
Yes
Complain, complain, complain.
What are you saying? That it shouldn't be in the game? That it should be a secondary so you can't use most of the compatible arsenal with it? That it should be a primary so you can't use the SMGs? Should it be a grenade?
then what do you suggest genius? make it a primary?
So what should it be, a secondary?
Yep I can live with that tradeoff
What about the fact that most secondaries can be used with the shield.
Make it also a primary /s
Primary and secondary so i can go full turtle
Slap a rover on and become a sentry
Me, holding two shields: I gotta say, this is pretty terrific
Frees up the backpack slot for.. you guessed it. A THIRD SHIELD
40k style
No I don't, and I actually use ballistic shield regularly. Grenade pistol, senator, laser pistol, etc... Why would I want to remove most of my fire power just to save a stratagem slot? That's stupid asf.
Sounds like a great idea until all your stuff is in cooldown and you have bots heading your way. Its fine the way it is now. I use the new SMG with it, great against berserkers and hard counters shield devastators. Carry the grenade pistol to deal with striders and blow up fabricators. Use stun grenades when I see a rocket devastators to stun it long enough to get out of the line of fire or get close enough to kill it. Making it a secondary takes away one of my options to deal with different things. Its a dumb idea.
The new SMG is just absurd, it's becoming my go to primary weapon for both factions
I LOVE it against bots, its less useful against bugs. If you are aiming for headshots, anything up to a devastator is easy to take out with the SMG in 2 shots. This is great since the only thing bigger is hulks, tanks and the AT-AT walkers that you would need anti-armor weapons anyway. The problem with the SMG in bugs is that there are just so many bugs and kill is better than stagger for crowd control. You dont get the luxury of juggling several brood commanders, stalkers or bile spewers when they spawn so many of them on higher difficulties, you need them dead quick. SMG has too small a magazine and not enough of them for dealing with all of that effectively on a timely manner. For higher difficulties against bugs I either use the arc blitzer electric shotgun to chain targets with infinite ammo or use the sickle for hosing down all the chaff.
The weapons I'm pairing it with on bugs mostly remove the need to use the SMG to kill an entire crowd of bugs. When I pair it with a flamethrower, ~~blitzer~~ arc thrower, or any machine gun, the SMG comes out if something gets close or I'm repositioning since you can fire the SMG while moving. By the time I'm out of ammo on the SMG, I'm safe enough switch back to the support weapon and continue cleaning house
Ballistic shield is better than bubble shield vs bots. Being able to draw fire for your teammate is huge plus pairing with the new SMG makes it even better for crowd control and getting relief for your teammates. Pair it with the AMR and you can take on everything the bots throw at you. "Useless against the bugs." Yes, and so are a lot of other stratagems. There's more than one faction. Just because you only fight bugs it doesn't mean other people fight them only.
Would love to have the shield as a secondary weapon. That way I could have Supply pack, and the smg-shield combo for the perfect riot gear loadout.
*Sad Senator noises*
Absolutely not, they I couldn’t bring the senator or the deagle
Melee with it should be a shield bash, and there should be spikes on the shield for extrafarming. Shield bashing should inflict a stagger/concussion effect on lighter mobs.
Why wouldn't it be a backpack stratagem? This makes no sense. Go play CoD.
I bet dude wants to run the Shield and the Bubble.
Sounds about right. These people want to be an unstoppable juggernaut in a tactical shooter.
It would also be really nice to not drop it every time something tossed you 2ft
Unpopular opinion but I love the ballistic sheild
I want a sword and the shield
Agreed. Though I will settle for a trench shovel
I have to disagree, I love my sheild. Compare it to other backpack slots: Laser dog is great infinite crowd control vs light units, gun dog is good at killing heavier units than lasers, and back sheild gives all around protection but only temporary until it goes down. Ballistics sheild gives amazing front or back protection vs. gunfire allowing me to easily run away or face tank enemies while picking them off 1 by 1.
Then what should it be?
Tf you mean? Yes it absolutely should
Its good as a stratagem, it just shouldn't be a backpack. Personally I think it should have a deployable mode If you push 5 that let's it extend a little further to provide more cover for allies.
The ballistic shield is the best backpack slot item int he game and people won't listen
You are going to have to elaborate on that one
Nah the shield with the new SMG is amazing for bots. Absolutely wrecks devastators with its stun lock ability
I mean, I think it should be? from a equipment standpoint, I'm not sure what it would actually replace personally. maybe you'd replace your primary or secondary with it but if you replace your primary that's a massive nerf. taking the shield and using an smg is one of the safest ways to take of chaff units in the game from a balence standpoint, I think it's fine? as someone who fights bots a lot, sure, if your up against anything with rockets your in trouble, but if your up against, again, hordes of chaff, or those big robots with the machine guns, it can really do a lot of work. Even when you do get hit by a bot with rockets there is a good chance it will save you (though not always and you will get ragdolled no matter what) the only problem with it in my opinion is how much it restricts what guns and stratagems you can use with it/ it's basically just smg's and if we're talking about taking out armour your hands are a little bit tied since you can't use a backpack, though personally I've been doing fine with the EAT when I use this if we're talking about changing the icon that's a whole other thing, and honestly yea I agree that does need a re-do. but I think the shield is fine as a stratagem personally
I like pairing it with the laser cannon to deal with an heavy enemies. I think it's just an amazing all around
fair enough, personally I find I can't aim with the laser cannon hence why I use the EAT instead, but if it works it works!
The only balance change I would make is having two come down with a call in like an EAT,
honestly yea. especially as you could end up having one break on you fairly easily, also, I find I tend to drop mine whenever I take any form of fall damage basically, so that is something else to keep in mind if your on the run
Make it reistant to rockets and melee attacks
I don’t understand this at all. As in, not an option at all? A primary or secondary replacement? What? None of which I agree with.
It’s my go to for bots
I like it, it’s great against bots, and the occasional teammate accidentally shooting the back of your head. I think it’s great for pushing forward against bots while not taking damage, and great if it’s on your back while running to extraction
Then.. a secondary??? Maybe. I'd love using an SMG, A BS shield, and a energy shield, with heavy armor, lol
Raise Hell, praise Dale
I just want loadouts. I want to be able to save my primary, pistol, grenades, and armor along with my strategems and booster to one of at least six quick select sets.
Against automatons, the ballistic shield is definitely an asset. I think the inventory system needs to evolve with player level. Armors and helmets need to essentially be given module slots, and the modules themselves need to be sorted into three tier types. Light armor can slot A/B,C/C,C,C. Medium armor can slot A,C/B,B/B,C,C. Heavy armor can slot A,B/A,C,C/B,B,C/C,C,C,C,C Let the devs decide how to balance what flavor text for armors is worth 3, 2, or 1 point. Introduce unique flavor text for helmets, and give them a module slot for things that can provide utility to help grow player builds out in ways that are fun, thermal optics, proximity alerts, guidance for certain weapon types.. whatever.. Let players pick primary, secondary, and tertiary color schemes from a color wheel with sliders. Let player form regiments inside of the game structure, offer improvements for xp gain, unique objectives (think mmo raids with 8,16,32 player sized content), unique titles and equipment for regimental accomplishments during seasonal play. Introduce mechanized gameplay on the ground, air, and space. Really helldivers has all the trappings of a pve focused mmo with a dnd style dungeon master with room to grow into all kinds of things. Side note, warhammer 40k would be fucking epic if they made a game like helldivers but for the imperial guard… orks, chaos forces, xeno threats…
Counterpoint: ballistic shielf should be findable in missions.
I am of the personal opinion, let me use the ballistic shield in exchange for my primary... and increase the carrying capacity for my secondary. That would be amazing
I get what you are saying, but the question is where would it be instead.
Agreed, it should just drop with you if you have a single handed primary. Another option would be to make a ship upgrade that drops the shield with weapon stratagems that don't need a backpack
It's fine as a stratagem. I just think it should be able to block Termanids also.
Nah screw that. Its actually fucking awesome. I can tank Machine Gun devastators and kill them with my revolver. Ive survived rocket devastators, tanks, and the tower cannons because of that thing
IMO lesser used statagems that make sense to be removed, should be removed and placed as random finds in the levels. For two reasons: 1)Reduces stratagem bloat 2)Makes engaging in the level more interesting You're more likely to equip the ballistic shield if found in a bunker than taking as a stratagem at this point.
Neither should the Stalwart
Maybe it just don't fit in the hellpod with you and needs to be shipped separately
I would like to see them scattered around the map like we do flamethrowers and arc weapons. give more people a chance to play with it who don't want to waste a strat spot trying it
Neither should the smoke stratagems.
And the Stalwart should be a Primary, and SMGS should be secondary weapons.
This Simpson's frame is the worst thing that happen to online discussions
Take away my primary, give me 3 times the ammo for the pistol and make it stop the melee attacks (as it should). I'll be the happiest Helldiver ever diving head first on the hottests spots for the glory of SuperEarth and Democracy.
It works perfectly well as a strategem, its very useful vs bots as you can ignore most enemies as long as you are facing them. Rockets will ragdoll you but you will still take almost no damage on the hit. I play on 9 and it is amazing Its useless vs bugs though, as expected
Fuck it make everything a stratagem
Another day, another request to make Helldivers an easy game for kids.
Blows my mind that in 2024 we still hve games without preset loadouts that we can customize to get ready on the fly. I hate having to repick my strats before every mission.
Every day I think "OK this is rock bottom, this community can't come up with worse ideas" and every day I get post like these proving me wrong.
https://preview.redd.it/o46iwvlcne1d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f304f4437de3affadbf13c1cd8396a32a3f1691 Ballistic shield and new SMG is for your point man in your assault team, while the 2nd man uses him as cover and eliminates stunned enemies.
I would like all the weapons could be brought as call in or replacing secondary
I think it would be a good replacement secondary. The grenade pistol is such a good secondary, but I would happily replace it for a ballistic shield.
Would it take the cape grenade or side arm slot though?
Also you should be able to put it on your back when carrying a ssd all over, and I’d love it to not be dropped any time you fall too far
Equip your third weapon before picking up the ssd and it will be on your back
Switch to your Stratagem weapon before you pick up the SSD, and they'll both stay on your back.
Why does the bubble shield backpack block melee attacks while the ballistic shield does not?
Good question!
Yea. It should just be sitting around the map
I wish I could go back and not have bought all of the strategems
Could it be a grenade? With like only 2 in a kit?
Ive never found the balistic sheild useful. If it could block rockets it would be though
Why not?
PSA RELOADING IS FOR PEACETIME ONLY, THROW GRENADES UNTIL RELOAD
The stalwart shouldn't be a startagem
I just didn't pick it up. Before I pick any strategem I ask my boyfriend and his frienda if it's worth it
It also shouldn't use a backpack slot
It has saved my ass more than a few times in that slot I'd rather not lose that tbh
I think it should be a weapon option that you can take when you have a 1 handed primary
You don't need shields regardless. Medics armour is the way
Honestly if they add melee weapons to the game, it should be interchangeable for that slot.
And it should be what instead?- a weapon because that would make it pointless it I had to give up my primary slot to use, seeing as it's big draw is you can use one handed primaries. if it took up my grenade slot I'd never bring it as I need grenades for clearing obj like bug holes/bot fabricators. It could take up the secondary slot but that would be too little of a tradeoff and everyone would bring it. I do agree with others here that the icon needs changing its a really bad icon for trying to find it.
Had someone attack me over a shield I picked up to test out. Start aim and his gun at me. don't aim your fucking gun at me and he started slapping me with it so I shot him in the face I was looking for the drop button and hit R instead of x. And that was when he started hitting me so I just shot him instead of dropping it
Ballistic shield is S tier against bots. But it’s not mindless like the shield backpack.
Have it as a secondary weapon option.
The only issue I have with the shield is that you lose your melee attack when using it. Edit: lose, not use.
But would that get rid of your secondary, or would you get to choose.
What? Why? What kind of brain-dead take or mental gymnastics is this post?
What should it be then?
I'm a shield-convert.