this post was submitted on 13 May 2024
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Helldivers 2

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I feel happy with my loadout vs bugs. Spray and pray is easy to understand. Run and gun. I'm not as confident with bots.

Loadout: Armor is medium with crouch aim bonus. Base gun, the Adjudicator (assault rifle) from Democratic Demolition because of its armor pen. 2ndary is Autocannon and ammo backpack. Strategems are orbital laser, eagle airstrike, and mortar sentry.

All the advice I read is "go slower, avoid patrols, etc." and I'm fine with that but everyone I play with does the opposite. They engage EVERYTHING. I feel like I've got OK damage per shot, but everyone is getting there faster and killing things faster because they got there earlier. So I end up feeling like I'm not pulling my weight.

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[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 6 points 5 months ago

Headshots are OP against bots.

I tend to prefer the liberator, I set it to burst or even single fire, calmly ADS, and then one shot all normal bots, one by one.

You can take down the piloted walkers in one shot, too, if you can hit the guy riding it.

Bigger bots I tend to spam bullets at a bit more, but for them too, headshots are extremely effective.

[–] Kovukono@pawb.social 6 points 5 months ago

On the contrary of "go slower," I suggest you actually move faster. Bots cause issues when dropships come in. Sometimes, even when you're doing everything right, you can still get a flare set off, and if you're trying to clear a base and a dropship comes in, it gets a hell of a lot harder. The longer the mission goes on, the stronger the bot patrols and reinforcements get, so the best option is to treat almost everything like a blitz mission.

Most of what I'm gonna say, you probably already know given your loadout. The big difference between bot outposts and bug nests is that you don't need an angle for a guaranteed airstrike to take out a factory. If you're running the autocannon, you can take out factories if you're in front of them from a hell of a distance. Just aim for the upper part of the vent from within about 45 degrees of dead-on, and the factory goes up. If a flare goes off, it'll be dropped on the bot calling it in, and by the time they land, they won't have any idea where you are if you run. If you can't get line-of-sight on a vent, run up, call in an Eagle Airstrike, and run off again. For light and medium outposts, you can get in and out in no time.

For just regular patrols though, if you have to engage, engage at a distance. I'd swap out the mortar sentry for an autocannon sentry, mostly because it brings more immediate results, with less of a chance of killing you if the bots get too close. If you shoot at them from a distance, they're more likely to have less time to react, and not get a flare off, which again, is the worst outcome of engaging. Deal with it, and move on. Don't get bogged down in engagement.

Aside from that, the only real change I'd make is swapping out the orbital laser for the orbital rail cannon. You're not limited to just 3 uses, and while your autocannon can deal with sneak attacks on big bots, sometimes you just need to delete something. If they're close enough together, I've even seen it take out 2 hulks. You can get rid of a big threat every two and a half minutes, and not sacrifice speed. Only other difference between your loadout and mine is that I'm using the Liberator as my primary, but if you're happy with the Adjudicator, keep it.

For your team wanting to shoot everything, if they're going to insist on drawing aggro, let them. Do objectives, be proactive. You get a lot more bots from an area filled with outposts than an area empty of them, and you'll lessen the number they have to fight. Finish a spot, move onto the next, and do it fast.

One minor thing, factory striders. These things were built to withstand tons of air strikes, and even eat orbital lasers and rail cannons. But if you take off the machine guns on its chin, and walk up to it and unload on its belly with the autocannon, they go down very fast. The biggest challenge will be getting your team to stop calling in airstrikes so you can do it.

[–] FermiEstimate@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 months ago

FWIW, the shield backpack and either AMR or Quasar/EAT have served me well against bots, but I typically run light armor. I bring the grenade pistol to handle factories.

If you aren't already using it, there's never been a better time to get into the AMR now that they buffed the damage and finally zeroed in the scope.

[–] Aphelion@lemm.ee 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Personal opinion: adjudicator just doesn't have a enough ammo per mag to deal with bots quickly. If you have access to it, the Dominator will deal with bots much quicker due to its explosive damage. You can shoot the front miniguns off a factory strider with it, and it takes less than 2 mags to kill one if you run up and shoot it in the belly. Only caveat with the Dominator is that is has a lot of sway and the rounds are rocket propelled, meaning they're moving slowest when they exit the barrel, and accelerate at the target. I have found that I have to aim in 1st person to actually hit mid and long shots.

If the Dominator isn't available to you, the Scorcher it super fast at getting on target and putting rounds on target. The explosive damage punches through a lot of armor for quick kills (3 shots on a chicken walker's crotch.

I love the auto cannon, but there are some situations when you want either an EAT or the Orbital Rail to deal with tanks and turrets quickly. If you have access to it, the stun grenade pairs really well with Auto cannon, especially for stopping hulks.

I used to exclusively run the Quasar, but with the recent nerf, I find it way too slow to be effective.

I would also recommend trying different things, the Diligence CS is now an absolute beast at one shotting bots with headshots, and the Slugger can too, but both require accurate headshots from first person.

One thing to note, all my opinions are based on usually playing difficulty 9, sometimes 7 and 8.

[–] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

adjudicator just doesn’t have a enough ammo per mag to deal with bots quickly.

I do hate how quickly a clip empties.

the stun grenade pairs really well with Auto cannon

Ooh, hadn't thought of that.

[–] aesopjah@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

Dominator is the business

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Since it seems like your teammates are often Leroy Jenkins-ing their way into every engagement, it might be a good idea to consider switching to more of a support role. I've found that the Diligence Counter-Sniper works really well against bots after the recent buff (it will one-shot every Devastator type if you can land a headshot, and one-shots every infantry unit to the body), and it keeps you pretty safe from afar. Replacing the mortar sentry with the EMS mortar will also do you some favors, as it'll be less likely to kill your teammates, and also keeps enemy movement suppressed, keeping you safer for longer, and makes landing those headshots on Devastators a lot easier.

Since you seem to mostly play on Difficulty 4, I'd recommend dropping the Autocannon for something else. AC is hella fun, but it's also hella overkill for lower difficulties, as you won't be dealing with Factory Striders, Gunships, or Hulks at level 4 (I think Hulks will spawn at 4, but they're scarce). I'd recommend swapping the AC for a shield generator backpack instead, as this will make better use of your available strategem slots for this difficulty. If you're using the AC for bot fabricators, those can be easily dealt with by using Eagle airstrikes or the grenade pistol.

I'd also consider replacing the orbital laser, as well. You only get 3 per mission, and there's a pretty good cooldown between uses, so chances are you likely end up saving them for "when you really need it", and end up finishing the mission without using it hardly at all. I'd switch this one out for a different support weapon; I suggest the laser cannon, but any non-backpack support weapon will be a good use of this strategem slot, IMO. Alternatively, you could also go without any support weapon at all, and pick one up off the ground or a dead teammate. At Difficulty 4, you can do a surprising amount with just your primary and strategems, so you could also consider swapping this for something like orbital gas or even just a precision strike.

I feel like these mixups to your loadout will offer you a lot more flexibility to your missions, while allowing you to secure objectives safely and keeping your teammates safe.

[–] pelotron@midwest.social 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I try to branch out but almost always drift back to something like:

Regular Breaker

Autocannon

Walking barrage

Eagle airstrike

EMF turret

Bots are easy until you get into level 8 games with the Solo Sprint Brothers that aggro the whole map.

[–] tiberius@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Are you playing on level 9?

[–] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] MarauderIIC@dormi.zone 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Ok, so maybe playstyle advice is more appropriate.

Scorcher (or Dominator), and lean into your autocannon a lot more to make 4 easier. If you don't have those, anything that 1-shots the little guys is ok. Hang around boulders more for cover. Shoot arms or legs off of things if you can't shoot heads off of things. Take out factories with your autocannon by shooting the angled vent straight on to angle a shot inside. Take out striders with your autocannon by shooting their leg or crotch joint (the driver will survive; watch them for a flare). Take out devastators with your autocannon by shooting their face or take their gun arm off and move on, but they can still punch you. Take out the small guys with your primary. Prioritize small guys in a patrol.

Scorcher can kill strider drivers with 3-5 shots to the front armor straight on.

AC into bots hanging from drop ships.

Reload your AC before it is empty to get a clip in without cocking it again, same with any other gun.

Redeemer clip into a berserker to kill it. Move while firing redeemer.

Impact grenades can take out factories in the open door or into the vent (aim at the bottom of the vent). They can take out striders in the front armor anywhere. Normal grenades can do the same to factories, but I can't recommend them for striders.

Eagle Strike factories and groups. Orbital laser when you are in big trouble if you want another safety net. At 4, this should be plenty. Shield or 500k or Precision Strike for your third or EAT for your third. Don't forget to pick up your AC after firing an EAT. Don't be afraid to fire EATs at anything giving you trouble.

If you go with EATs, try dropping EATs on cool down when at an objective site. One EAT can take out a dropship thruster.

Railgun on "unsafe" mode eats devastators for breakfast with a 3-second charge to the body, if you're feeling spicy. It doesn't do much against heavier units without headshots at that charge though.

Try to throw more than 5 strategems a match.

[–] tiberius@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 months ago

Probably want to switch to an explosive primary. Also, looking at kills is probably not a good metric as someone geared toward heavy units will not score as much.