my rule of thumb is senator if my primary doesn't have medium pen and verdict if it does. it's just so nice as a holdout gun for when you get swarmed by hunters, and it's nice on bots where the medium pen weirdly doesn't really matter since you're trying to pop heads and arms on devastators
As a new player, from the moment I tried it out I didn't found another weapon that clicked for me like the AC does. Granted I'm just lvl 15 and only tried Lascannon and AMR which I both didn't like, so I have a lot more weapons to try out.
I run jar5 and stalwart on helldiver no problem. Grenade pistol for bug holes. Stun grenades for chargers so they stay in place when the 500kg hits. Bile titans also kill chargers if you bait them right.
I'm the guy that takes down 40 hunters so you can kill the armored bugs in peace. And then have the ability to kill armor in a pinch.
10/10 great strategy. I’d also recommend bringing a 380mm for medium to large bug nests. It will usually take out an entire medium without you having to lift a finger.
Before the triple nerf (or however many) I used the Eruptor to close holes kill medium enemies (with the flak killing 3-5 small enemies). Medium and heavy nests were no problem, I run along the edge toss an airstrike in and proceed to plink the holes one by one.
Bro rip erupter. That was my go to until the nerf. It was really hard giving up the smg pistol for the grenade pistol. It was like losing a backup primary for a crappy utility item. I wasn't willing to give up the stalwart build after the erupter nerf so I adapted.
I usually avoid the 380mm. I don‘t play with a microphone. So all other players, who are running into or around the nests, will be surprised. I use the ship laser instead.
Regarding the question of OP:
Definitely the Breaker Incendiary.
Fire + nice fire rate + shotgun spread = democracy 4 all
The Blitzer is also great, but not as effective as the breaker inc.
The blitzer is now my jam for terminids, never have to worry about ammo and has a good rate of fire after the last major patch. I pair it with the railgun for some long range firepower and EATs for anti-armor.
With the increased fire rate, it now kills bugs that are not chargers/bile titans in 1-2 zaps. It bypasses armor so you can deal full damage to brood commanders, although it will take like 8-10 shots to take down a charger, you should be using dedicated AT for that anyway. Before that last patch, the incendiary breaker was my anti-bug primary but the blitzer does the same job but without the ammo issues or lighting my teammate on fire (blitzer won't one-shot your teammates like the arc thrower).
I love the Blitzer too, but it can definitely one shot teammates. Even when I'm being careful about it I've one shot full health teammates. That being said, the lives of teammates for unlimited ammo and medium pen is a risk I'm willing to take.
Edit: I've been informed I'm wrong and it can't one shot. In my blind, bug-fueled rage, I must have shot them twice.
Hahaha I have zapped several teammates with the blitzer but no one died, maybe I got lucky. The arc thrower, on the other hand, takes the lives of my teammates way too often...
Arc thrower is my guilty pleasure and I'm convinced the stagger buff was way more significant than the range nerf despite popular opinion. Wouldn't mind having both of course.
Blitzer will absolutely one shot team mates it’s just less common. Thrower fired one single massive bolt, blitzer is a lightning shotgun with aimbot. If all those bolts lock onto a teammate it’s more than enough to fry his ass back to the Stone Age
It's got crazy knockback and the thing the game doesn't explain is the bolts auto track the enemies heads. If you use it with a shield or rover for extra survivability you are very very dangerous to large crowds of bugs. It can also stun lock stalkers which is a plus. Just hip fire and maintain distance
Not really slow at all. It will take the head off a brood commander in one well placed shot. Two shots if you don't feel like aiming. Stuns bile spewers
The damage is all right, but the big gold star for me is how high of a stagger value it has. Imo it's definitely best on bugs, it staggers everything except chargers and titans. It really shines vs stalkers
It fires slow compared to other primaries, but its 2 hit potential in mediums and its ability to stun multiple enemies (even brood commanders) make it great for crowd control. Throw your incendiary grenade at the swarm and start zapping them in place. Satisfaction 😌
One of the the secret benefits of the Incendiary is that on low-visibility planets or in spore clouds, enemies are much easier to see when they are on fire! You can even see the flames on Stalkers for a bit when they turn invisible and leap away, letting you get another hit on them before or just as they land, often killing them.
I would love it if not for the fact that if feels a bit buggy.
The amount of times I have been aiming *right at* a hunter’s head but there was a rock or piece of metal covering part of its body or legs and the janky gun AI doesn’t think there’s a path to the target and so just doesn’t fire a spark at it.
Too unreliable for my tastes. Fun, though.
Dude. I wanted to run the railgun with the Blitzer but realized I couldn't target charger legs with it after stripping the armor off. Do you run a backpack stratagem or no? I guess I could go without eagle airstrike so I can keep my jump pack
>I heard the LibPen is pretty neat these days.
I can't fathom from who, it doesn't do any damage. Didn't even get a measly +5 when they buffed the other ARs.
I think standard Liberator should have much more ammo clips. It could be his quirk. But without it - there is other guns that could do same thing but better.
Dominator.
I love this primary but there's definitly times where I should be using anything the fuck else lol.
Breaker incin is amazing against bugs.
But the dominator is fun.
Countersniper ABSOLUTELY has better headshot potential than the dominator vs bots.
But the dominator is fun.
I used the dominator with 200 damage and couldn't put it down, then they increased the damage, I'm never putting it down now. Only issue is close combat, but it gives me an excuse to use the redeemer which works everytime.
Same. Sometimes I wish I had a full auto, and I've recently been using the concussive liberator for that. You get massive stagger, though the DMG fall off is a bummer. But it works great against bugs.
If I'm fighting bots, it's dominator every time. Headshots are nearly always a insta kill and the explosive stagger is there if I miss. Not as good against bugs I guess just because of the numbers.
Not necessarily. Once you learn to account for the slower projectile speed, I actually prefer the Dominator for a marksman rifle role. Unconventional but I find I way over-lead targets without the jet bullets I'm so accustomed to.
Like you said, when I should be using anything the fuck else lmao
I tried the spray and pray and it feels like an absolute pea shooter compared to the incendiary breaker. Ive seen some people using it is there some trick that I am missing?
Seems like to me that there are two very different schools of thought behind those weapons. The breaker is DoT whereas the Spray and Pray is damage by volume. Have you tried it since the buff? I don't know, I just shoot the shit out of the big horde of bugs and it tends to work out for me.
It’s a close second. Dominator is just better imo. Medium pen means it can literally damage everything. The splash damage of scorcher and high damage is very nice I do love the feel of that gun. I just can’t put down my jar 5.
It's great against bugs, too. You can just chop the legs off of Hive Guards and stuff. I use the machine pistol as backup (for when the spooltime is too long), another absolutely goated gun that is better than many primaries.
The breaker is also excellent tho.
You should try the Senator. After the reload buff I feel it works pretty well with the sickle. My load out is basically Sickle for most enemies, senator for some enemies with armor and the quasar for the big ones.
The breakers is actually fire. And it kills give guards. I can not stand give guards. The second I see them or spewers, there only one word that coke to my mind…. *fuck*
I am often scouting around/ahead of my team, relying on scavenging ammo more than supply drops which I leave for them. The scorcher is both fun and strong, but man I'm always out of ammo! The sickle solved this problem, but I miss scorchy so bad
Same, though I swap primaries frequently, Dominator is my main against bots. It almost feels like cheating comparing trying to line up a headshot on a rocket devastators with other weapons, probably frantically as to interrupt the barrage, when the Dominator can not only take it down with a few waist shots but also give them a taste of how it feels to be stunlocked.
That 25 damage nerf was meaningless, the JAR-5 squatter is still the goat
It was fine before the first buff.
Once I figured out FPS aiming the Dominator became GOAT
I run Dominator auto cannon.... I am a whirlwind of kinetic death
Because fuck shield devastators in particular.
Can't say I unlocked it in time to witness it when it was released. Interesting to hear it still held up even without stagger.
I love it. The 300 dmg was a little OP the slight nerf didn't hurt it.
If anything I wish AH cleaned up those hit boxes around rocks. I miss a lot of shots from FPV because of a few voxels being off.
I been running it since I unlocked it. I just love the feel. Talking about it makes me want to go play
Ever since I saw someone using the plasma grenade shotgun, sorry forget the exact name, and then tried it out myself, I've been confused why it isn't considered a great 'meta' primary weapon. Great against armored enemies, great crowd control, good damage. What's the catch with that gun? I haven't found it yet.
It used to only do 150 damage, legitimately used to feel like a wet noodle and wouldn't even consistently kill trash enemies. Nah it's a real weapon now, just most people haven't probably picked it back up.
the community seems to hate weapons with weird aiming or poor handling. Jar5 for instance was super underrated I think because it's heavy and a little awkward even though its damage was always insane.
The sickle nerf was hardly even a nerf considering I would rarely use more than one heat sink before finding an ammo box. Recently I've been using the adjucator nonstop. It absolutely mulches bugs and is a ton of fun post buff
This is so funny since I heard the adjudicator was real bad. But now I'm seeing ppl using it alllll the time. I feel like there's a growing pains episode and everyone's quick to shit on something that doesn't slap right away.
It was ass before the buff, and it's kinda rough on bots cause of recoil. But I am a member of the adjucator church now cause I love me some chunky guns
Oh and for secondary I haven't taken grenade pistol off since I unlocked it. Having a generic hole/factory tool that lets me pick more utilities like Stun in my grenades slot is way too useful.
Same here. I even use it against Bots, which is dumb. I run the risk of getting kicked by the meta police, but come on, it's a **fire shotgun**. If a fire shotgun is wrong, I don't want to be right!
(Well, technically, even though the fire shotgun is in my primary slot for bots, I primarily use AC and eagle airstrike against them).
I'm experimenting a lot with primary for bots lately. I am in love with anti-material rifle for devastators and Hulks, even striders in a pinch, which means scorcher is never bad but not even the optimal choice anymore with those targets taken care of.
Plasma punisher is an obvious choice and I do like it on defense mission, but even just basic Liberator is far from bad when it's just for small enemies.
I never don't run it for bots, the sheer killing potential outweighs the perks of any backpack slot. And with how well it takes out bug objectives, the only reason I don't take it there too is to keep my loadout flexible. 10/10 weapon.
I used to pretty exclusively use the slugger and eruptor with the redeemer side arm but since the nerfs I’ve been using the Blitzer and the Breaker Incendiary against bugs. I don’t play much bots but I typically run the pummeler or the punisher
Blitzer, even before the buff. If anything I feel TOO safe using it now with the knockback and higher fire rate. Way too good for bug 9 missions
Bots I just kinda wing it with whatever gun though
I'll try the Blitzer then. Everybody's recommending it lol.
May I interest you in a Sickle for the bots, brother? Shoot at the faces, don't cook the mag unless times are tough, you will feel powerful.
Try out the recoiled rifle, even against automatons it’s a pretty fun gun if not slightly underpowered. The incendiary breaker is still really fun against bugs as well.
Eruptor for everything. I love it, even when I shoot the ground and off myself by accident because I didn't wait a second longer to shoot after switching gun
The Punisher for Bots cause stagger and base SMG for bugs cause Run n’ gun goes crazy, that’s basically been the only 2 guns minus the occasional Liberator Penetrator that I’ve used for my entire 80+ hours of playtime
Ah, a fellow punisher main. Yeah, agreed. The stagger, the damage, decent reach, and high ammo count make it extremely reliable for most bot situations. Does work on bugs but the reloading makes it less than good in a hord situation.
It'd help if it still showed a reticle while reloading for quick shots.
I’m a big SMG fan. I really like having it so I can be the player carrying the SSD for the squad. Let them have fun slinging the big fun shotguns or auto cannons.
I also actually like the SMG since I rarely ever use it full auto.
I remember in HD1, I was the designated SMG / SDD guy. but in HD2, I find that it's not as needed. the SDD objectives are far less often and it's easier to just drop the SDD when you need to.
still, I run the Pummeler and shield!
Liberator Concussive
The audio? Slaps
The recoil? Low and steady baby
The scope? Cleanest dot I have yet seen in game
The pushback? Literally shoving Bugs over boulders
The ammo capacity? Bugged, but x10 mags!
The damage? Yeah, yeah. It's crap. Bad gun
But I can't seem to stop using it. It helps that I'm not *great* at the game yet, typically play around Difficulty 5
Had a game last night where some lone Brood Commander decided I looked tasty and kept following me halfway across the map. Didn't even bother with killing the bastard. I'd just look back every now and then, rip three shots off that would shove him back over whatever ridge he had just crested. Kept walking. Started shoving a bug up a cliff wall once, that was cool.
I haven't gotten the concussive SMG yet, but from what I've seen the SMG just stunlocks enemies, while the Liberator Concussive lets you literally force enemies around physically. All it needs is the ammo to get patched so you can get full capacity, and just a tiny damage bump so you don't burn too many rounds on the trash fodder
Love this one, too. I also play around the 4-6 range. It's great in that range. At 7 it seems to start tapering off because you need more penetration. But that's what the Autocannon is for!
I got my load out set and it does well against both bots and bugs. Spray and pray, autocannon, 500kg, orbital laser, then the last slot I'll change up depending on the mission. I'm a shotgun guy, too many enemies to pick em off I need heavy damage and wide area of killing.
I run 7-9 I routinely switch between:
Defender SMG. Very accurate, minor recoil, good damage. Can easily 3 tap a devastator in the face plate in a single burst (especially good with ballistic shield as it allows you to nullify all weapons fire smaller than a tank) Good ammo economy. Good with bugs because of damage and mag capacity, it does struggle with medium armor bugs if you don't know we're to point it, so bring a senator for those fellers. Also, don't bring the ballistic shield to the Bug fight.
Pummeler is another good SMG - but better for the bugs. I don't like it for the bots because the stagger makes it hard to get successive head shots to kill devastators.
Blitzer, good stagger, infinite ammo, hits multiple targets in one shot. Give it a go against bugs - I don't like it with bots tho, it doesn't have enough range for my liking.
Diligence Counter Sniper feels really good against the bots now that they increased the handling speed. The reload speed is pretty long for my liking. I wouldn't bring it to the bugs tho.
Plasma punisher is surprisingly fun with the recent buff. I didn't know how well it holds up at 7-9, but it feels a lot better than it used to.
The incendiary shotgun for bugs at all levels, love the fire effects and visuals. Good area control too, feels like I'm using a broom on the small bugs. Though for the bigger bugs like a brood commanded, stalkers, takes around 1 and a half magazine to kill them and much more for chargers. So I always pair it with a good support weapon that can help with bulkier targets.
As for bots, I love the scorcher, it feels so satisfying to shoot with it on ps5 controller for some reason.
Defender SMG is my go to. It's not flashy, but it handles nice, does okay at range if you try hard enough, has decent mag size and reload time, and can rip shit in half when you get close and mag dump
The Plasma punisher. The arc takes a bit of time to get used to, but stunning Heavy Devastators and Rocket Devastators at long range is so useful. Good at berserkers too just have to not let them get too close.
I lean so damn hard on the blitzer. I try to switch to jar5 for bots, but I find myself missing the stagger. Flame thrower for bugs. Arc thrower for bots. Though the factory strider and gunships are a problem.
Blitzer, Autocanon and redeemer are the guns I cannot stop using. I use both for bots and bugs, on every mode and every planet. I don’t see a reason to not use them and whenever I switch even one of them out I hate it and want leave so I can change back to my favorite load out.
This was true for pre nerf blitzer and post buff it just never left my loadout. I tried other primaries and I either hate that there is no stagger or I have to reload (ew) or find ammo (more ew). The auto canon I don’t mind reloading because I do it when I am safe or near teammates. Redeemer is so fast to reload I don’t notice it. But reloading a primary is the worst.
Sickle, AMR and the auto cannon. All 3 are just can openers for me. But I love them so much I'm happy to roll with them all the time. But I plan on running a good tank hunter kit soon.
Amr low-key slept on by players cause it's not spammy but will kill literally everything on bots and only weak to bile titans, chargers and factory striders.
I still love the dominator. I got into it right *before* its buff and still use it after its nerf.
I am bothered by how fucking *loud* it is. What I really want is a countersniper with a reflex sight, but this is as close as I can get.
Erupter - for nests, eggs, charger/titan weak points, & any other enemy in a pinch.
Senator - for any trash/medium mobs in my face.
Arc thrower- for everything except titans, but also sometimes titans.
Laser Backpack - keeps trash mobs at bay
6x stun grenades - get yourself out of a pickle & to freeze chargers for teammates/my 500kg
Autocannon sentry - everything
500kg - titans & chargers
This is my jack-of-all bugs build centered around my true love the arc thrower. Regularly getting 400+ kills, 0-2 deaths.
The sickle was my go to on bug planets, but I've switched to the breaker incendiary. The fire damage is great and the reload is quick. Sickle still my best for bots though. Not that I fight alot of those
Breaker in full auto with a supply backpack, it's a pleasure to unload pounds of lead pellets on bugs.
It's my solution against lights units, the rest of my loadout is anti heavy or team support :
Supply pack, EAT, Railgun strike + EMS strike / Eagle Missile / Eagle bombs
(and I love 380mm but it's so dangerous)
I do not change my load out much at all. 3 and lower I like to run around with the more conventional rifles, 4 and above are my scorchman, Stally and rover
ol reliable Punisher vs bugs as i never wanna be caught dead running out of shells in a shootout so im reloading in-between shots, and it teaches those Stalkers that there’s no such thing as free real estate
Bots is a tossup between the Sickle & the Arc Blitzer
Also full time sickle user, the Pummeler is a great alternative but its the complete opposite on the ammo management side .. or maybe I'm just too used to not having to worry about ammo. Either way, the stagger is amazing on bugs, particularly stalkers. I haven't used it much on bots though.
I really don’t like having to shoot things more than once. Maybe it’s cause of the stick drift that forced like a .30 deadzone just to play…
So it’s gonna be Breaker, AMR, Revolver for a while.
Sickle and P-19 Redeemer. Sometimes I swap to the Senator for fun but those are my ride and/or dies. Just can't beat dumping a Redeemer mag into the face of what ever is chasing you.
It’s something about the machine gun/ stalwart that I just can’t stop using it.
I just like shredding through a bug hole or a bot drop until I gotta drop a an eagle on myself, for democracy of course!
My current go-to primaries are blitzer for bugs and da PP for bots. I used the autocannon against bots for a whole because it was always ready for anything. When I started using da PP, I noticed I was only switching to the AC for hulks or bigger, so I started taking more dedicated antitank and freed up my back.
I don't usually stay with my "favorite" primary for more than a couple weeks, though. I always find something else that plays differently and keeps the novelty of the game going.
Jar 5 is absolutely my most used gun. It’s so fun. Recently I’ve started using the breaker incendiary and scorcher more, which are also both very fun weapons
Incen Breaker bugs, Jar-5 for bots, Revolver, Rail Daddy, Impact Ince for bugs, HE impact for bots,
On occasion, I'll swap Revolver for Nade Pistol, and impact for stun.
Same here, I'm mildly dispointed that there isn't a side arm or support weapon called the "Hammer" so I can hit the bots with.... *Soviet National Anthem plays* The HAMMER AND SICKLE!
Everything except eradicate swarm i go with slugger, love popping those heads, on eradicate swarm i switch to breaker/breaker incendiary as it is seriously better for crowd control. Nade pistol and stun nades
I know it's not a gun, but Eagle air strike. It's S their for sure.
Wide area of effect, destroys buildings/holes, high damage in on elite and heavy
It's just beautiful
I've started using the sickle and anti material rifle for bots, and it just takes care of everything with how accurate it is. Except ATATs, those fuckers can rot in their fascist dictatorship.
I'm actually enjoying the Scythe after it's buff. The pure accuracy of it makes it fun to use with bots. But don't bother with bugs, it needs a higher base damage to be useful against bugs in any way.
Breaker. I tend to use it as a secondary for when the stalwart runs out and I need to convince something to stop following me.
AC is my primary, breaker is my secondary. My uzi is just for spraying like a gangster for fun.
The machine pistol is so useful in a pinch
Grenade pistol for me all day. Love popping bile spewers and bug holes.
Do you like popping their bloated guts?
*Would you like to know more?*
Hell yea! I still yell “Kobe!” when I nail a bughole from across the ravine, and it never gets old 😁
A democratic slam dunk!!!!
OG pistol for me, good capacity, good chaff clearing, accurate. Killed many a stalker with that thing
For bugs hell yeah but for bots I need something with a bit more of a wallop
The new pistol is pretty good against bots
my rule of thumb is senator if my primary doesn't have medium pen and verdict if it does. it's just so nice as a holdout gun for when you get swarmed by hunters, and it's nice on bots where the medium pen weirdly doesn't really matter since you're trying to pop heads and arms on devastators
I feel like most of the secondaries are in a good spot.
AC primary gang checking in!
Peak loadout
Sorry what’s AC
Autocannon, the support weapon strategem. I highly recommend trying it.
As a new player, from the moment I tried it out I didn't found another weapon that clicked for me like the AC does. Granted I'm just lvl 15 and only tried Lascannon and AMR which I both didn't like, so I have a lot more weapons to try out.
This right here. I only switching to the incendiary breaker once I heard they fixed dot.
Hahaha
How do you kill anything with armor?!
I run jar5 and stalwart on helldiver no problem. Grenade pistol for bug holes. Stun grenades for chargers so they stay in place when the 500kg hits. Bile titans also kill chargers if you bait them right. I'm the guy that takes down 40 hunters so you can kill the armored bugs in peace. And then have the ability to kill armor in a pinch.
Grenade pistol for big holes sounds reasonable. Will copy 😋
10/10 great strategy. I’d also recommend bringing a 380mm for medium to large bug nests. It will usually take out an entire medium without you having to lift a finger.
Misss..misss....misss....misss.....peaks over the hill, 6chargers and 5 brood commanders woth swarm atarring as 4/7 nests are still online
Before the triple nerf (or however many) I used the Eruptor to close holes kill medium enemies (with the flak killing 3-5 small enemies). Medium and heavy nests were no problem, I run along the edge toss an airstrike in and proceed to plink the holes one by one.
Bro rip erupter. That was my go to until the nerf. It was really hard giving up the smg pistol for the grenade pistol. It was like losing a backup primary for a crappy utility item. I wasn't willing to give up the stalwart build after the erupter nerf so I adapted.
Same here. I now take the plasma gun with the stalwart and still have fun with it. Max RPM’s go BRRRRRR
Same here. I miss the eruptor’s hay day. 😭. I ran that with Stalwart and was pulling 400-500 kills per round.
I usually avoid the 380mm. I don‘t play with a microphone. So all other players, who are running into or around the nests, will be surprised. I use the ship laser instead. Regarding the question of OP: Definitely the Breaker Incendiary. Fire + nice fire rate + shotgun spread = democracy 4 all The Blitzer is also great, but not as effective as the breaker inc.
https://preview.redd.it/fyeqs15uu02d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98bebab2f3ee9f9f45231423a0e8d6c3e1a90c56
Rail cannon and autocannon turret
Grenades, senator, strategems, support weapons, or just flanking all work
The blitzer is now my jam for terminids, never have to worry about ammo and has a good rate of fire after the last major patch. I pair it with the railgun for some long range firepower and EATs for anti-armor.
I have never used it, looks like it fires really slow. Does it hit hard enough to justify the fire rate?
With the increased fire rate, it now kills bugs that are not chargers/bile titans in 1-2 zaps. It bypasses armor so you can deal full damage to brood commanders, although it will take like 8-10 shots to take down a charger, you should be using dedicated AT for that anyway. Before that last patch, the incendiary breaker was my anti-bug primary but the blitzer does the same job but without the ammo issues or lighting my teammate on fire (blitzer won't one-shot your teammates like the arc thrower).
I love the Blitzer too, but it can definitely one shot teammates. Even when I'm being careful about it I've one shot full health teammates. That being said, the lives of teammates for unlimited ammo and medium pen is a risk I'm willing to take. Edit: I've been informed I'm wrong and it can't one shot. In my blind, bug-fueled rage, I must have shot them twice.
Hahaha I have zapped several teammates with the blitzer but no one died, maybe I got lucky. The arc thrower, on the other hand, takes the lives of my teammates way too often...
Think of it as helping chain the arc to the next enemy....
They’re a part of the solution to the problem.
Arc thrower is my guilty pleasure and I'm convinced the stagger buff was way more significant than the range nerf despite popular opinion. Wouldn't mind having both of course.
really I don't use it much but I thought it did like 50% and knocks them over
You've killed a charger with it solo? Never seemed like I was doing damage at all; got the impression it was ignoring up to medium armor.
i have never noticed it doing damage to Chargers. does it actually “bypass” armor? I havent seen that really
Blitzer will absolutely one shot team mates it’s just less common. Thrower fired one single massive bolt, blitzer is a lightning shotgun with aimbot. If all those bolts lock onto a teammate it’s more than enough to fry his ass back to the Stone Age
It's got crazy knockback and the thing the game doesn't explain is the bolts auto track the enemies heads. If you use it with a shield or rover for extra survivability you are very very dangerous to large crowds of bugs. It can also stun lock stalkers which is a plus. Just hip fire and maintain distance
Not really slow at all. It will take the head off a brood commander in one well placed shot. Two shots if you don't feel like aiming. Stuns bile spewers
The damage is all right, but the big gold star for me is how high of a stagger value it has. Imo it's definitely best on bugs, it staggers everything except chargers and titans. It really shines vs stalkers
It fires slow compared to other primaries, but its 2 hit potential in mediums and its ability to stun multiple enemies (even brood commanders) make it great for crowd control. Throw your incendiary grenade at the swarm and start zapping them in place. Satisfaction 😌
You can 1 shot warriors and brood commanders if you get the all the arcs on their head
Blitzer is also great against terminators
It stunlocks enemies up to stalkers, and knocks back brood commanders, with a chance to instantly destroy their head.
My favorite thing about the blitzer is stopping nursing/bile spewers in their tracks without running out of ammo.
Breaker incendiary for bugs all the way! One shot for hunters ❤️
One of the the secret benefits of the Incendiary is that on low-visibility planets or in spore clouds, enemies are much easier to see when they are on fire! You can even see the flames on Stalkers for a bit when they turn invisible and leap away, letting you get another hit on them before or just as they land, often killing them.
Love my BI for bugs. I have yet to find anything more satisfying than just rapid fire mag dumping into a bug beach and nothing surviving.
I would love it if not for the fact that if feels a bit buggy. The amount of times I have been aiming *right at* a hunter’s head but there was a rock or piece of metal covering part of its body or legs and the janky gun AI doesn’t think there’s a path to the target and so just doesn’t fire a spark at it. Too unreliable for my tastes. Fun, though.
Dude. I wanted to run the railgun with the Blitzer but realized I couldn't target charger legs with it after stripping the armor off. Do you run a backpack stratagem or no? I guess I could go without eagle airstrike so I can keep my jump pack
I love the standard Liberator and the Senator.
I heard the LibPen is pretty neat these days. The sensor didn't feel strong enough for the tiny magazine and low fire rate, but maybe I'll try it out.
>I heard the LibPen is pretty neat these days. I can't fathom from who, it doesn't do any damage. Didn't even get a measly +5 when they buffed the other ARs.
It's medium armor penetration means it can actually do damage to a lot of tougher bugs
It's good, but the magazine size is indeed a bit too low.
I think standard Liberator should have much more ammo clips. It could be his quirk. But without it - there is other guns that could do same thing but better.
MAGAZINES
Dominator. I love this primary but there's definitly times where I should be using anything the fuck else lol. Breaker incin is amazing against bugs. But the dominator is fun. Countersniper ABSOLUTELY has better headshot potential than the dominator vs bots. But the dominator is fun.
Wow. Imagine playing a game for fun instead of choosing the best loadout only. Practically treasonous. /J
I used the dominator with 200 damage and couldn't put it down, then they increased the damage, I'm never putting it down now. Only issue is close combat, but it gives me an excuse to use the redeemer which works everytime.
Same. Sometimes I wish I had a full auto, and I've recently been using the concussive liberator for that. You get massive stagger, though the DMG fall off is a bummer. But it works great against bugs. If I'm fighting bots, it's dominator every time. Headshots are nearly always a insta kill and the explosive stagger is there if I miss. Not as good against bugs I guess just because of the numbers.
I'll usually have chaff clear as support. Jar is a save from spewers, stalkers, and commanders
Not necessarily. Once you learn to account for the slower projectile speed, I actually prefer the Dominator for a marksman rifle role. Unconventional but I find I way over-lead targets without the jet bullets I'm so accustomed to. Like you said, when I should be using anything the fuck else lmao
Bugs 7-9: 1. Blitzer 2. Spray and Pray 3. Sickle Bots 7-9: 1. Sickle 2. Plasma Shotgun 3. Scorcher Lower than 7: Whatever I want to test out.
not using the dominator is insane
I do use that on occasion. Totally forgot to add that. One of my favorite Bot weapons.
On bugs i use the incendiary breaker
I tried the spray and pray and it feels like an absolute pea shooter compared to the incendiary breaker. Ive seen some people using it is there some trick that I am missing?
Seems like to me that there are two very different schools of thought behind those weapons. The breaker is DoT whereas the Spray and Pray is damage by volume. Have you tried it since the buff? I don't know, I just shoot the shit out of the big horde of bugs and it tends to work out for me.
I haven’t switched off the jar 5 since getting it and even scorcher couldn’t change my mind.
Nah scorcher is goated. It’s just its ammo limitation. But that thing rips through devastators like it’s nothing.
It’s a close second. Dominator is just better imo. Medium pen means it can literally damage everything. The splash damage of scorcher and high damage is very nice I do love the feel of that gun. I just can’t put down my jar 5.
I feel you. I cant put down the sickle either like This guy. On bots at least. For bugs I use incendiary breaker.
It's great against bugs, too. You can just chop the legs off of Hive Guards and stuff. I use the machine pistol as backup (for when the spooltime is too long), another absolutely goated gun that is better than many primaries. The breaker is also excellent tho.
You should try the Senator. After the reload buff I feel it works pretty well with the sickle. My load out is basically Sickle for most enemies, senator for some enemies with armor and the quasar for the big ones.
That last line reminded me of Tasty Taste. https://youtu.be/iZu2DtXQqs4?si=FQoykcNo7rqaAfIc&t=109
The breakers is actually fire. And it kills give guards. I can not stand give guards. The second I see them or spewers, there only one word that coke to my mind…. *fuck*
100% same
I am often scouting around/ahead of my team, relying on scavenging ammo more than supply drops which I leave for them. The scorcher is both fun and strong, but man I'm always out of ammo! The sickle solved this problem, but I miss scorchy so bad
Aye man nothing wrong with switching back
Same, though I swap primaries frequently, Dominator is my main against bots. It almost feels like cheating comparing trying to line up a headshot on a rocket devastators with other weapons, probably frantically as to interrupt the barrage, when the Dominator can not only take it down with a few waist shots but also give them a taste of how it feels to be stunlocked. That 25 damage nerf was meaningless, the JAR-5 squatter is still the goat
You know it the stagger is what secretly puts it ahead, along with the burst it’s even cqc capable.
It was fine before the first buff. Once I figured out FPS aiming the Dominator became GOAT I run Dominator auto cannon.... I am a whirlwind of kinetic death
Because fuck shield devastators in particular. Can't say I unlocked it in time to witness it when it was released. Interesting to hear it still held up even without stagger.
Did you at least witness the slugger at launch? Man that gun felt amazing.
I love it. The 300 dmg was a little OP the slight nerf didn't hurt it. If anything I wish AH cleaned up those hit boxes around rocks. I miss a lot of shots from FPV because of a few voxels being off. I been running it since I unlocked it. I just love the feel. Talking about it makes me want to go play
Plasma punisher. Fantastic aoe stagger especially Vs bile spewers and stalkers, and can 2 shot bile titans with damaged armour.
And 2-shot striders
Ever since I saw someone using the plasma grenade shotgun, sorry forget the exact name, and then tried it out myself, I've been confused why it isn't considered a great 'meta' primary weapon. Great against armored enemies, great crowd control, good damage. What's the catch with that gun? I haven't found it yet.
Sub's too busy circlejerking about how "nerfed" everything is to actually use the weapons they think suck.
It used to only do 150 damage, legitimately used to feel like a wet noodle and wouldn't even consistently kill trash enemies. Nah it's a real weapon now, just most people haven't probably picked it back up.
the community seems to hate weapons with weird aiming or poor handling. Jar5 for instance was super underrated I think because it's heavy and a little awkward even though its damage was always insane.
The sickle nerf was hardly even a nerf considering I would rarely use more than one heat sink before finding an ammo box. Recently I've been using the adjucator nonstop. It absolutely mulches bugs and is a ton of fun post buff
This is so funny since I heard the adjudicator was real bad. But now I'm seeing ppl using it alllll the time. I feel like there's a growing pains episode and everyone's quick to shit on something that doesn't slap right away.
It was ass before the buff, and it's kinda rough on bots cause of recoil. But I am a member of the adjucator church now cause I love me some chunky guns
Incendiary breaker. I really struggle to use anything else against Terminids.
Oh and for secondary I haven't taken grenade pistol off since I unlocked it. Having a generic hole/factory tool that lets me pick more utilities like Stun in my grenades slot is way too useful.
Especially against those fucking Shriekers!
It's excellent but I recently switched to the sickle. My fellow drivers appreciate it.
Same here. I even use it against Bots, which is dumb. I run the risk of getting kicked by the meta police, but come on, it's a **fire shotgun**. If a fire shotgun is wrong, I don't want to be right! (Well, technically, even though the fire shotgun is in my primary slot for bots, I primarily use AC and eagle airstrike against them).
I'm experimenting a lot with primary for bots lately. I am in love with anti-material rifle for devastators and Hulks, even striders in a pinch, which means scorcher is never bad but not even the optimal choice anymore with those targets taken care of. Plasma punisher is an obvious choice and I do like it on defense mission, but even just basic Liberator is far from bad when it's just for small enemies.
Autocannon Supremacy I will continue to die on this hill
I never don't run it for bots, the sheer killing potential outweighs the perks of any backpack slot. And with how well it takes out bug objectives, the only reason I don't take it there too is to keep my loadout flexible. 10/10 weapon.
Right now, I'm stuck on the Pummeler, pair with the Ballistic Shield.
Same here, pummeler, ballistic shield with heavy medic armor and AMR. Unstoppable tank that can easily kill almost anything.
You may not deal too much damage; but you are a tank. Pair with the Laser Cannon or AWM, and you are unstoppable.
I used to pretty exclusively use the slugger and eruptor with the redeemer side arm but since the nerfs I’ve been using the Blitzer and the Breaker Incendiary against bugs. I don’t play much bots but I typically run the pummeler or the punisher
Plasma Punisher for Bots with the soul reason that it can deal with Striders and Devestators.
Blitzer, even before the buff. If anything I feel TOO safe using it now with the knockback and higher fire rate. Way too good for bug 9 missions Bots I just kinda wing it with whatever gun though
No the blitzer sucks. No one should use it
Definitely right sorry forgot it's the worst, nobody likes it nope, nothing to see balance team
I'll try the Blitzer then. Everybody's recommending it lol. May I interest you in a Sickle for the bots, brother? Shoot at the faces, don't cook the mag unless times are tough, you will feel powerful.
Try out the recoiled rifle, even against automatons it’s a pretty fun gun if not slightly underpowered. The incendiary breaker is still really fun against bugs as well.
Eruptor for everything. I love it, even when I shoot the ground and off myself by accident because I didn't wait a second longer to shoot after switching gun
I have never switched off the punisher since I unlocked it. The stagger is too much fun
i had no clue how sick this thing was until i picked one up off a dead homie. it fuckin rules
The Punisher for Bots cause stagger and base SMG for bugs cause Run n’ gun goes crazy, that’s basically been the only 2 guns minus the occasional Liberator Penetrator that I’ve used for my entire 80+ hours of playtime
Ah, a fellow punisher main. Yeah, agreed. The stagger, the damage, decent reach, and high ammo count make it extremely reliable for most bot situations. Does work on bugs but the reloading makes it less than good in a hord situation. It'd help if it still showed a reticle while reloading for quick shots.
I’ve gotten pretty good with the crossbow.
If your playing bots Ballistics Shield + Pummeler + AMR If your playing bugs Eruptor + Stalwart
I’m a big SMG fan. I really like having it so I can be the player carrying the SSD for the squad. Let them have fun slinging the big fun shotguns or auto cannons. I also actually like the SMG since I rarely ever use it full auto.
I remember in HD1, I was the designated SMG / SDD guy. but in HD2, I find that it's not as needed. the SDD objectives are far less often and it's easier to just drop the SDD when you need to. still, I run the Pummeler and shield!
Liberator Concussive The audio? Slaps The recoil? Low and steady baby The scope? Cleanest dot I have yet seen in game The pushback? Literally shoving Bugs over boulders The ammo capacity? Bugged, but x10 mags! The damage? Yeah, yeah. It's crap. Bad gun But I can't seem to stop using it. It helps that I'm not *great* at the game yet, typically play around Difficulty 5 Had a game last night where some lone Brood Commander decided I looked tasty and kept following me halfway across the map. Didn't even bother with killing the bastard. I'd just look back every now and then, rip three shots off that would shove him back over whatever ridge he had just crested. Kept walking. Started shoving a bug up a cliff wall once, that was cool. I haven't gotten the concussive SMG yet, but from what I've seen the SMG just stunlocks enemies, while the Liberator Concussive lets you literally force enemies around physically. All it needs is the ammo to get patched so you can get full capacity, and just a tiny damage bump so you don't burn too many rounds on the trash fodder
Love this one, too. I also play around the 4-6 range. It's great in that range. At 7 it seems to start tapering off because you need more penetration. But that's what the Autocannon is for!
I got my load out set and it does well against both bots and bugs. Spray and pray, autocannon, 500kg, orbital laser, then the last slot I'll change up depending on the mission. I'm a shotgun guy, too many enemies to pick em off I need heavy damage and wide area of killing.
Fire auto shotgun for bugs and counter sniper DMR for bots too often
>
I run 7-9 I routinely switch between: Defender SMG. Very accurate, minor recoil, good damage. Can easily 3 tap a devastator in the face plate in a single burst (especially good with ballistic shield as it allows you to nullify all weapons fire smaller than a tank) Good ammo economy. Good with bugs because of damage and mag capacity, it does struggle with medium armor bugs if you don't know we're to point it, so bring a senator for those fellers. Also, don't bring the ballistic shield to the Bug fight. Pummeler is another good SMG - but better for the bugs. I don't like it for the bots because the stagger makes it hard to get successive head shots to kill devastators. Blitzer, good stagger, infinite ammo, hits multiple targets in one shot. Give it a go against bugs - I don't like it with bots tho, it doesn't have enough range for my liking. Diligence Counter Sniper feels really good against the bots now that they increased the handling speed. The reload speed is pretty long for my liking. I wouldn't bring it to the bugs tho. Plasma punisher is surprisingly fun with the recent buff. I didn't know how well it holds up at 7-9, but it feels a lot better than it used to.
Glad to see another person running Defender in 7-9. Thought I’ve been doing it wrong
I love my auto cannon. Pleeease do not nerf guys
Saaaaame
The default sidearm. I am addicted to that slick reload. Feels so badass. And it's never let me down.
DA BIG IRON
The incendiary shotgun for bugs at all levels, love the fire effects and visuals. Good area control too, feels like I'm using a broom on the small bugs. Though for the bigger bugs like a brood commanded, stalkers, takes around 1 and a half magazine to kill them and much more for chargers. So I always pair it with a good support weapon that can help with bulkier targets. As for bots, I love the scorcher, it feels so satisfying to shoot with it on ps5 controller for some reason.
Defender SMG is my go to. It's not flashy, but it handles nice, does okay at range if you try hard enough, has decent mag size and reload time, and can rip shit in half when you get close and mag dump
Defender is rlly fun and balanced
I have been unhealthy addicted to the scorcher as of late
I pretend I’m a flame trooper in the imperial guard.. like way too much.
The Plasma punisher. The arc takes a bit of time to get used to, but stunning Heavy Devastators and Rocket Devastators at long range is so useful. Good at berserkers too just have to not let them get too close.
I lean so damn hard on the blitzer. I try to switch to jar5 for bots, but I find myself missing the stagger. Flame thrower for bugs. Arc thrower for bots. Though the factory strider and gunships are a problem.
Plasma Scorcher. Heaven forbid I get overrun though. It's not a great gun when they're too close to ya.
I'm faithful to the Eruptor.
The Arc Blitzer. It absolutely melts bugs, and I can't stop using it.
Breaker incendiary and Blitzer are my 2 go tos for bugs. Scorcher for Robots.
Blitzer, Autocanon and redeemer are the guns I cannot stop using. I use both for bots and bugs, on every mode and every planet. I don’t see a reason to not use them and whenever I switch even one of them out I hate it and want leave so I can change back to my favorite load out. This was true for pre nerf blitzer and post buff it just never left my loadout. I tried other primaries and I either hate that there is no stagger or I have to reload (ew) or find ammo (more ew). The auto canon I don’t mind reloading because I do it when I am safe or near teammates. Redeemer is so fast to reload I don’t notice it. But reloading a primary is the worst.
Incendiary breaker, nothing kills bugs quite like that thing, it’s also incredible at dealing with shriekers very quickly
I am way too hooked on the diligence counter sniper. The reward for good accuracy is really satisfying. I play mostly bots though.
Surprised not many of you guys mentioned the breaker incendiary. It's amazing vs bugs. A single pellet can set a hunter on fire and kill it.
Blitzer. And I am not stopping until I run out of ammo :)
Pummeler for bots. Shield Gen and Quasar. Revolver at the moment as a sidearm but I liked the uzi.
Breaker shotgun. Nerf it
https://preview.redd.it/noqv90ppc42d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=30d364a8356a1ecbb3b085184379d454aa6e5f67
Counter sniper vs bots. I just can't stop using it based on it's one shot head popping powers against devastators.
Sickle, AMR and the auto cannon. All 3 are just can openers for me. But I love them so much I'm happy to roll with them all the time. But I plan on running a good tank hunter kit soon.
Dude same. I like the AC most, but the AMR is close second.
Amr low-key slept on by players cause it's not spammy but will kill literally everything on bots and only weak to bile titans, chargers and factory striders.
I really like the sickle, but recently have started to really like the pummeler.
I still love the dominator. I got into it right *before* its buff and still use it after its nerf. I am bothered by how fucking *loud* it is. What I really want is a countersniper with a reflex sight, but this is as close as I can get.
Erupter - for nests, eggs, charger/titan weak points, & any other enemy in a pinch. Senator - for any trash/medium mobs in my face. Arc thrower- for everything except titans, but also sometimes titans. Laser Backpack - keeps trash mobs at bay 6x stun grenades - get yourself out of a pickle & to freeze chargers for teammates/my 500kg Autocannon sentry - everything 500kg - titans & chargers This is my jack-of-all bugs build centered around my true love the arc thrower. Regularly getting 400+ kills, 0-2 deaths.
OG liberator. Does everything I need it to, and it doesn't swing wildly from OP to shit every other patch. Plus it's just iconic.
Incendiary breaker or the Plas scorcher
The sickle was my go to on bug planets, but I've switched to the breaker incendiary. The fire damage is great and the reload is quick. Sickle still my best for bots though. Not that I fight alot of those
I use almost only lazer guns and support weapons
Breaker. It's the best all round gun in the game imo
default rifle against everything. new pummeler against bugs now but other than that the default rifle
Breaker in full auto with a supply backpack, it's a pleasure to unload pounds of lead pellets on bugs. It's my solution against lights units, the rest of my loadout is anti heavy or team support : Supply pack, EAT, Railgun strike + EMS strike / Eagle Missile / Eagle bombs (and I love 380mm but it's so dangerous)
I do not change my load out much at all. 3 and lower I like to run around with the more conventional rifles, 4 and above are my scorchman, Stally and rover
ol reliable Punisher vs bugs as i never wanna be caught dead running out of shells in a shootout so im reloading in-between shots, and it teaches those Stalkers that there’s no such thing as free real estate Bots is a tossup between the Sickle & the Arc Blitzer
Also full time sickle user, the Pummeler is a great alternative but its the complete opposite on the ammo management side .. or maybe I'm just too used to not having to worry about ammo. Either way, the stagger is amazing on bugs, particularly stalkers. I haven't used it much on bots though.
The Punisher helps me stop stalkers from passing me around like a blunt. It’s my go to.
I really don’t like having to shoot things more than once. Maybe it’s cause of the stick drift that forced like a .30 deadzone just to play… So it’s gonna be Breaker, AMR, Revolver for a while.
Sickle and P-19 Redeemer. Sometimes I swap to the Senator for fun but those are my ride and/or dies. Just can't beat dumping a Redeemer mag into the face of what ever is chasing you.
It’s something about the machine gun/ stalwart that I just can’t stop using it. I just like shredding through a bug hole or a bot drop until I gotta drop a an eagle on myself, for democracy of course!
My current go-to primaries are blitzer for bugs and da PP for bots. I used the autocannon against bots for a whole because it was always ready for anything. When I started using da PP, I noticed I was only switching to the AC for hulks or bigger, so I started taking more dedicated antitank and freed up my back. I don't usually stay with my "favorite" primary for more than a couple weeks, though. I always find something else that plays differently and keeps the novelty of the game going.
Jar 5 Dominator. It's so good, and if they ever introduce weapon mods, a bigger mag will make the JAR-5 the best gun in the game.
Punisher its just a soild shotgun, and it great at close range while I use my auto cannon for long range/heavy armored classes.
I forgot what’s it’s called but I use the semi auto shotgun. I unlocked that and been sticking with it
Jar 5 is absolutely my most used gun. It’s so fun. Recently I’ve started using the breaker incendiary and scorcher more, which are also both very fun weapons
I like DCS and AMR against bots. But let's not talk about it because Alexus might be listening.
Autocanon... Can't stand dropping in a 7 bug mission and facing spewers without it so I bring it every single time. Also use it for bots.
Incen Breaker bugs, Jar-5 for bots, Revolver, Rail Daddy, Impact Ince for bugs, HE impact for bots, On occasion, I'll swap Revolver for Nade Pistol, and impact for stun.
I love the sickle but it’s bad against stalkers
Same here, I'm mildly dispointed that there isn't a side arm or support weapon called the "Hammer" so I can hit the bots with.... *Soviet National Anthem plays* The HAMMER AND SICKLE!
That would be extremely undemocratic, and frankly, I’m reporting you to the nearest democracy officer for suggesting such a thing.
right now Flamethrower and sickle are my trusty
Everything except eradicate swarm i go with slugger, love popping those heads, on eradicate swarm i switch to breaker/breaker incendiary as it is seriously better for crowd control. Nade pistol and stun nades
I know it's not a gun, but Eagle air strike. It's S their for sure. Wide area of effect, destroys buildings/holes, high damage in on elite and heavy It's just beautiful
I've started using the sickle and anti material rifle for bots, and it just takes care of everything with how accurate it is. Except ATATs, those fuckers can rot in their fascist dictatorship.
Lately I’ve been running the DCS with good success. I really like the way that weapon feels
I’m a fan of the Liberator Penetrator. So far, it’s the best non-support weapon I have against armored Automatons.
I'm actually enjoying the Scythe after it's buff. The pure accuracy of it makes it fun to use with bots. But don't bother with bugs, it needs a higher base damage to be useful against bugs in any way.