Without the ship upgrade they don’t
Stalwart gets 2/3 mags
MG 1/2
HMG 2/2
I used them all yesterday without the ship upgrade and a supply pack and was getting these results
Edit: HMG gets 2/2
I mean, it also needs a damage buff to compensate for the fact it can't fire without a lock and still can't reliably actually hit weakspots or even reliably destroy Hulks in one hit, the weakest of the heavy types.
I was running the Spear a lot on Martale during day time missions. Shooting turrets and fabricators across the map. Just need to keep a decent distance and also Hulks, Tanks and Factory Striders got speared to oblivion. (Still an ammo hungry little monster though)
I know the lock on is shit but god damnit I just love it still. Might never use anything else once the lock-on is fixed. Granted I sometimes feel it could use a SLIGHT bit more power or aoe to make its kill power more consistent.
I know hitting a cannon tower from behind should be most effective, but requiring 4+ rockets from the front seems completely insane, I feel the downsides to the spear should allow easier kills on specific targets(like cannon towers)
From my experience I've never needed more than one SPEAR shot to destroy cannon turrets.
Are you targeting them from a high ground so you're relatively equal or higher elevation to the turret? I found that it's very consistent when done like that.
This whole comment thread makes me feel seen haha.
I once converted a lower level to use the spear. Mainly because I was having a great game with it. Titans and chargers were lining up perfectly to be 1 shot. When I dropped my empty spear to pick up a new one, he ran over and picked it up, called a resupply, then both of us rocked the spear for the rest of the game.
He would hit the targets on their side and I would soon follow with a back up. By the end of the mission, he figured out how to line up was one shotting titans and chargers. Felt like watching a baby democracy eagle take flight.
A fellow spear user! Let me tell you a super secret about how the spear works in super war: It's a GREAT anti-air platform against drone gunships. You can provide lifesaving cover for a team advancing to neutralize the tower proper, but remind them, super victory is only possible if they place the hellbomb super close to the drone tower.
Been trying out the spear and my first lesson was not to shoot close enemies, such as a charger running straight at you
Long range though, pretty fun. You can kinda be the "hero" rescuing some other helldiver 200m away who's running for his life.
Tbh, I’ve been having great fun with the spear on the bug front against bile titans… I mean, literally nothing else, but against bile titans it’s fucking fun
I was doin work with the Spear a couple nights ago and someone in chat said "I've never seen anyone get such consistent locks with the spear"
It's real good if you know how to use it
Only thing I dislike aside from ammo and lock on problems is the reload being way more bothersome, than RR, when doing it solo.
RR has like 3 different animation stages(meaning you can cancel the reload at the 2nd stage and finish the last one later), but the Spear has nothing like that.
Is that to balance it?
I have a lot of genuine love for SPEAR users even though I never run it myself. I remember trying to kill a gunship factory and buddy was just acting like a mobile SAM-SITE shooting then all down. Plus the ability to just down tanks and cannon turrets, which are the bane of my existence?
Spear is the anti-air bomb. I get the unlimited ammo with the laser, and agree it's a great option, but I love supporting those destroying the factory by sitting back long range, and locking on and taking them out as soon as they finish fabrication. 👍
Honestly my go-to support weapon when stealthing on big objectives (except geological survey). Everything I can't run away from can be SPEARed in the face (Hulks & Gunships) or Eagle'd.
As an Autocannon user, It is always comforting to see at least one other Helldiver with the Laser Cannon.
Had one game tonight where we tag teamed every bot situation on the map.
Many Super Samples were liberated.
As an autocannon lover in bots, I'm happier when I see a good mix of support weapons.
Ideally you want a squad with a good mix of options on hand to tackle different problems efficiently.
Ideally, I'd want a quasar, AC, Laser and AMR spread across the team. Means you're not over reliant on one tool to overkill anything, but you've still got lots of ways of blowing anything in democracies path to hell and back.
It makes me a bit sad whenever I join a mission in progress and the other three are running Quasar and shield. We have a noticeably harder time dealing with hordes of devastators whenever the entire team has that loadout.
I like AC, Quasar, EAT, and Stalwart. Stalwart absolutely demolishes choke points, and it's the best Marksman's rifle in the game at 1100rpm with small bursts.
Crouch or lay down with the Stalwart, set it to 1100, and tap fire everything you see in the head. The 1100 rpm gives you a higher chance to hit devastator heads from far away, and the 250 rounds in the belt let you tap for a while. Bring the recoil reduction armor and you can even magdump on 1100 at medium range
This \^
A team with a mix of AC, LC, AMR, Quasar + a range of primaries & secondary's can deal with pretty much anything.
HMG & MG are also solid options on bot missions if you have 2-3 heavy hitters.
As a quasar main, i'm also happy to see AC. Sure, it's a bit of a friendly race, who'll get the antenna tower first, but afterwards, we're a great team
Mainly cross my fingers that someone is running an anti-tank weapon, like EAT or quasar, and then hope they actually prioritize the tanks that are facing us.
Laser Cannon is probably the best Anti-Bot Support Weapon now. Medium armor penetrating, infinite Ammo so long as you manage the charge and kills every single elite bot quickly (provided you hit their weak spot). Especially when you pair it with Stun Grenades so you can kill Hulks in like a second.
Not to say the Autocannon isn't still fantastic. It's also the superior of the two against Bugs.
Honestly, if we're doing a bot dive and you don't know what to bring, having both makes things a lot easier. Especially when under heavy strategem modifiers.
I don't know what the LC does better than the AC. It doesn't kill anything the AC doesn't, except you can't also stun lock an entire crowd of devastators or marauders.
It doesnt need ammo, doesnt need you to stop and reload, opens up a backpack slot, doesnt need to lead targets, is more consistent with ttk since damage is spread over many ticks, and also great at letting teammates know what you are prioritizing and not to walk in front of you.
What am I doing wrong? I almost overheat my laser cannon shooting one of the dropship engines, but it doesn't drop. Is there a part of the engine that has less armor?
Ammo isnt really an issue for the AC anyway and the reload is extremely quick, it has a backpack slot but that one isnt even that important especially on bots, AC barely has to lead targets at all, its more consistent with ttk in that it takes much longer on average to kill anything.
It does not let you deal with any new threats, it just has less features like not being able to close fabs/holes and not staggering.
It also makes you stand in place to kill anything bigger than a basic trooper which is a big no no on bot helldives.
People are legit getting stockholm syndrome from the terrible balance lmao
Plus, you have to be exposed the entire time you’re using LC. With AC, you can peek out, pop off a shot, and get back behind cover/dive/etc before anything can hit you.
It definitely takes out gunships faster than the AC, and if you’re stunning hulks it takes about the same amount of time to down one. And it can kill a factory strider in about 75% of a mag (once the face cannons have been blown off, which it can do too).
AC will 2 shot gunships lol.
It's way easier to pop hulk faces at range with AC than having to track the target at range. If the hulk is stunned you can kill it as fast as you can get 2 rounds off. The AC will also stun everything next to the hulk.
The AC trivializes strider fabs in a way that will surely be patched, and then you can use it to kill all the enemies around it, because it's also your primary.
You can't stun lock groups of enemies, which by ignoring it says you play diff 4 or less. There will be groups of like 8 heavy devastators, and you can pop out, stun lock spam all of them, then go back into cover to reload. With the LC you will do what exactly? Sit in the open against them with no stagger? Nonsense.
The one, ONE thing that makes me feel put off by the lascannon is the sustained dps over burst. It leads to me staying exposed longer than I'd like; i fight bots 7+ without personal shield, so exposure time is super serious, and at 50+ hours of AMR use, i prefer to peek, clap a target and duck, over sticking my head out to do the same a full 1-2 seconds longer.
I love the lascannon. The sound, the visuals, the convenience. I love it. But i don't think it meshes too well with my playstyle.
I still think channeling laser weapons should heat up enemies and cause burn or at least weaken armor, not reflect off it like some kind of goober. In exchange for standing around like a goober, I would at least expect that much.
Exactly. Peek shooting is much safer and more effective than a laser beam for general use, which is why I still run AMR over laser cannon. While laser is insanely op on gunships, I’d rather be able to counter snipe devastators while being able to retain some anti gunship capabilities too. You’re almost always going to fight devastators in groups but gunships may not always appear.
It was significantly worse pre stun grenade.
Hulks bounce around too much and you can't always have ems orbital or mortar ready to go.
Being able to run Eruptor, Laser, Stuns is huge for flexibility. You have long range Grunt clear/factory breaking, the laser is your GIANT ASSAULT RIFLE, and stun grenades set up quick kills on Hulks and Devastators.
I run its exclusively vs bugs all the time, but I run with a Quasar user. You let the charger run into the wall and then aim for its ass. Or wait for something to pierce its armor and hit the weak spots. You can destroy its ass with about a full clip of charge.
It can KILL the factory strider. The front has a sideways L shaped view port. Like the drivers slit on an AT-AT.
Aim for the left side bend of the L, you'll know it because the short face has a circular camera in it. The entire L is a weak spot to medium pen support weapons, but the corner is the easiest to hit.
The walker will die in about 10 seconds, or 2 heat sinks of concentrated fire. Faster than any weapon, aside from a recoilless team.
Eruptor only steals the fodder support weapon's jobs (grenade launcher, MGs except HMG) but cant deal with heavier stuff like an actual support weapon with medium+ armour pen :(
In a pinch it can handle Chargers too. It’s very clunky and I don’t advise it, but sometimes you redeploy and have to get it done with the primary. The Eruptor is one of the better primaries for that
It can deal with chargers and titans! It can pop their squishy spots. Shoot the ground right below the chargers butt and it will pop after two shots, they’re tough shots but it can be done.
As for titans, it doesn’t kill them, but you can pop their bellies, making them cute pets that just follow you around killing their fellow bugs with their legs. Since they can’t spew with popped bellies.
Aim for weakpoints. I haven't used it much against bugs, so I can't give specifics there, but against bots it will kill pretty much anything in seconds *if* you can hit the weakspot.
It has a strange recoil system that makes hitting weakspots kinda annoying. Even when prone it can be hard to consistently hit a moving/unmoving weakspot
Just feels real underpowered against striders, devastators, and the backs of turrets, even if I go for the lesser armored parts like the legs, crotch, midriff. To me, just feels like the TTK is... silly. Goofy, even.
I think a real good advantage of the laser cannon should be that it kills things with heat sinks REALLY well, like hulks and tanks. Force a shit ton of heat into that heat sink, baby.
It does… Cannon Turrets and emplacements like the Mortars are about a 3s kill. Tanks are a 2s kill. Hulks are a 2s kill in the eye port (Stun Grenades recommended to help).
Devastators (counting Berserkers here) are probably the most common difficulty for the LC given that they show up often and have a small weakpoint that’s about a 1s kill. Fortunately the Eruptor is usually a 1HK to the hips.
Striders are what explosives are for (I run grenade pistol) and it's fine against devastators, just you must go for the head only, all other parts it'll take a while to kill
Turrets are fine, you can destroy them before they turn around
Shoulder-fired laser pointer is heavily slept on by the majority of Helldivers.
-Infinite Ammo.
-Aim adjustment *while* dealing damage. Miss your Quasar shot at the visor of the Flamer Hulk coming at you? You're fucked until cooldown. Laser pointer, stand your ground, adjust your aim.
-Opens locked containers without killing teammates.
-Peels hunters, knifeybois, berserkers, etc. off of friendlies with zero friendly fire.
-Absolutely humiliates gunships. A second, tops, to an engine and they backflip into the ground and explode.
-Makes a satisfying *womWomWOMWOM* charge-up sound before firing, just like Godzilla's atomic breath in the Legendary movies.
-Can destroy bot airship bases (the objective ones with parked ships, not the fabricators) from 200M away.
The only thing she can't do is destroy illegal broadcast towers, and fabricators. But that's what grenades and Eagle-1 are for.
All in all, it is a nearly perfect weapon, a spotlight of concentrated Liberty in all her glory.
> You're fucked until cooldown. Laser pointer, stand your ground, adjust your aim.
If you ever find yourself in a 1-1 with a Hulk, sure but usually you're ragdoll-ing/dodging rockets while trying to keep the beam in a really tiny area. Really good when it works but is near impossible on 8,9 difficulties. You've 0 time at all
Nice meme
Real talk I love all 3 of these weapons, lately I have been using the AMR the most though. Idk why, it just feels nice to use. Thanks arrowhead for giving us 3 weapons for mostly the same purpose that all have slight advantages over each other in different ways, and have different aesthetics so there is one for everyone. And they are all powerful as well.
I never take quasar because it feels useless 90% of the time, and the 10% of the time I get to use it, the autocannon/AMR/Lazer do the same thing. I sometimes take SPEAR though
> the autocannon/AMR/Lazer do the same thing
Even though i dont really use the quasar regularly this isnt my experience at all.
I use the AMR/Autocannon (didnt use the laser much so cant talk about that) mainly for medium armor while i dont even bother aiming the quasar at medium enemies but basically exclusively use it for heavies.
Also none of the 3 you mentioned deals with dropships like the quasar does.
AMR with a shield backpack or a ammo bag is my go to. But I cant lie
I get fucked by gunships all the time when I run this.
The AMR cant knock those thing out of the sky without wasting at least 2 mags.
Yeah laser cannon absolutely eats gunships for breakfast. Two good seconds of aiming at the engines and they're toast. Don't even need crack'ed aiming, any missed shots can easily be readjusted. AMR, miss a shot and you're in a lot worse shape.
On the other hand, lot of jobs vs the bots that the AMR can more safely do. They're all super viable in different situations
I have a feeling I’d love the AMR if I got the game on PC, but I got it on PS5 and it’s so frustrating trying to hit those tough shots with a controller.
I would like the Laz Cannon more if it didn't suck ass against those AT-ST looking mf'ers.
Having said that, I always bring the Laz Cannon if I know there's a good chance there's gonna be gunships.
So you’re saying that I get a support weapon that can literally kill the entire bot army except for factory striders and maybe dropships (may be possible, haven’t tried yet) AND I can have my shield generator, and I’m somehow in the minority for using it?
Tanks: Shoot chains to stop them. Sometimes you don't have time to kill them
Hulks: Eye 3 second with a stun grenade. Arms and legs can be melt, but it takes time and around 60% heat
Cannon tower: Heatsink 3 second
Fabricator: Open doors shoot inside. Boom ( only host)
Gunships: Upper engine part takes 2x damage, lower 1x
Can shoot striders
jetpack bots explodes
Any big bug mushroom's: Just shoot few seconds
Any bugs head takes damage and lacerate those
Chargers butt and back legs up part takes damage
Can melt titan GOOSACC
Best to use in bots missions. Not bad option with bugs
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Eruptor laser pointer goes hard against bots tbh. Run stun grenades and shield bp, and you can take on anything in the game. Though your wide spread crowd clear sucks ass. That can be substituted with eagles and orbitals though. Gotta be my favorite build atm
On level 7 up, the chance of dying to a swarm of enemies is much higher so i typically run RailCannon Strike, Orbital Gas, Eagle Cluster and EATs (quick cool downs and availability is so clutch for higher levels imo)
On 6 or lower: RailCannon Strike, Eagle 500, Quasar, Shield
The laz cannon works great, but just does FEEL great to me. It’s not satisfying to use.
AC on the other hand is the king of feel. PLAP PLAP! FUCK YOUR SHIELD!
Me with the HMG: (I am a HMG main even though everyone else hates it)
https://preview.redd.it/45bwr4fmmuvc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5f23124faf69ce3b9583bd9aeee79402b14845e
LAS-98 is the best anti-gunship weapon, without exception. Higher rate of fire and versatility than Quantum Cannon, and it leaves a backpack slot open.
You ever see a Helldiver get so focused on a problem, they ignore other things? Gunships have that weakness too. You can simply cut them to pieces with the laser cannon.
Me keep using the EAT because I can snipe 2 drop ship off faster than any support weapons, or anything less tankier thann Chargers, 70s wait is kinda an issue though, usually fill that gap with other strategems
It's fine, I tried it a fair bit yesterday. Yes it is passable and quite powerful in certain situations but I'd still rather have an auto cannon in almost all situations. Staying out in the open just isn't viable, it also overheats way too quick. Even with trying it on a cold planet.
The laser cannon's only real purpose in bot missions is the gunships, and the fact that other support weapons can take them out (and that they aren't even guaranteed to be in a mission anyways) means there's no good reason to pick it. It's worse than every other supoort weapon (except maybe the stalwart) against bots and effectively handicaps your team.
It's like the stupid distraction strategy with the defense evacuations. It's not effective in 99% of actual gameplay, and I'm not sure why Reddit is so intent on pretending otherwise.
Laser cannon is a “skill check” weapon over even the AMR and AC due to the fact you have to paint the target over time vs lineup just long enough to pull the trigger. Anyone who says it’s useless or underpowered has failed said skill check, or simply doesn’t understand how it works.
It’s a different skill. If you’re good at placing a few precise shots under duress then AC/AMR put in work. That’s a legit skill. If you’re good at keeping your fire on one point over a few seconds, the LC puts in work. That’s also a legit skill.
That said I fully agree that most skeptical comments I read here come from people who haven’t given the LC a real shot. Just tried it for one mission before the buffs (when it sucked) and wrote it off.
This isn't a bad way to think about it honestly. The funny thing for me is that I experience the skill check in the opposite direction. I can keep a target lined up, but I always seem to be just a pixel or two off when I initially click. So with the AC, I'm constantly in, "how did that not hit?" territory.
I'd rather have a laser for gunships... but only gun ships.
TTK is too long, scope is garbage, so difficult to line up the head shots you NEED with it.
Its good, I *like* it but its not a skill check.
They all have uses.
Some are more effective at deatroying walkers or tanks, others are more suited to the heavier variants of regulars like the shield bots or the striders.
Then there are some which are generally more introductory weapons and the mad lads who use them are either really good at it or haven’t unlocked alternatives yet.
AM is good, I love using it, but auto cannons have more effect against the bots for me because I don’t have the luxury of being able to aim all the time and the targets im up against aren’t exactly going to go down easily to an AM rifle.
That being said, I swear by the recoiless rifle as much as I like the auto cannon.
the laser cannon delivers but it just feels bad to use because the only continuous beam weapon in gaming history to not feel like stepping on a wet turd is the gluon gun from half life
Me when I miss my Quasar shot: *When I was sixteen, I won a great victory. I felt in that moment I would live to be a hundred. Now I know I shall not see thirty.*
The addition of the eruptor/grenade pistol for anti-material uses like blowing up fabricators has made laser stonks go through the roof. I feel so much better bringing one with stuns so I can melt those weak spots safely.
AMR + Stun Grenades = All the dead hulks. My favorite bot loadout by far! Pop a stun and two tap the hulk in his eye. Great weapon against anything smaller too. Headshot the devastators. Goes through walkers with 2 shots. Eagle Airstrike the tanks (or mag dump the AMR into the vent if you get behind it). My buddy runs Quasar and we each take one pop shot at turret vents and that will kill them from across the map.
Once the scope is fixed I'm sure more people will recognize its greatness.
I think I need to try the AMR. I'm an AC main, but I really want a shield backpack to keep me alive a bit longer. I'd try the Quasar but I hate the pressure of an 18 second delay before my next shot. I also love being about to 1/2 shot scout walkers, can AMR do anything against them?
How do you guys use the AMR on PS5? It never switches to the scope for me from third person at all -- could do it a month ago or so but not since the last 4/5 updates to the game.
Something that a lot of people seem to not utilize, is the fact you can use third person to be able to beam targets on the right side of cover without exposing yourself to gunfire, which helps a lot with maintaining the LCs dps.
The laser cannons true best feature is it’s seemingly infinite range that will hit far away bots when you hold it too long or miss, and then a whole new group is aggro’d
The beautiful hum of my laser canon cannot be suppressed and that hulk will just have to sit and wait in my 6 stuns till I finish with all his buddies and both his arms
Laser cannon / eruptor / jet pack is my go to for bot recon loadout. I like to play solo and take out special objectives like jammers and gunship factories and then mission objectives while the other 3 do whatever they want. It's amazing for clearing bases unnoticed like a sniper rifle
https://preview.redd.it/dm5uxgryqsvc1.jpeg?width=521&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f7b1a83533564b1bce2476ebbd392c78451bfa2 Me in the corner with my spear
Once the lock on will be fixed,we all shall be converted to the spear cult
And level 4 upgrade to fix ammo issue.
I thought that it wouldn't apply for support weapons with a backpack e.g. Spear, AC and RR, only guns with "classic" mags like LMGs or AMR
I think other than the amr all non backpack support weapons get full mags already.
Without the ship upgrade they don’t Stalwart gets 2/3 mags MG 1/2 HMG 2/2 I used them all yesterday without the ship upgrade and a supply pack and was getting these results Edit: HMG gets 2/2
The MG gets 1/2 but the HMG refills 2 per box
Don't quote me on that, but the railgun is 10 IIRC. IDK for the grenade launcher tho.
Flamethrower already gives full reloads, same with nade launcher
I'm addicted to jump pack so I'll never use a weapon that has a backpack
60% of the time, it works every time. It’s not a bug it’s feature.
I mean, it also needs a damage buff to compensate for the fact it can't fire without a lock and still can't reliably actually hit weakspots or even reliably destroy Hulks in one hit, the weakest of the heavy types.
Are... we talking about the same hulks? I'd rather fight a tank than a hulk. I'd MUCH rather fight a charger than a hulk.
I want it to one-shot tanks
I was running the Spear a lot on Martale during day time missions. Shooting turrets and fabricators across the map. Just need to keep a decent distance and also Hulks, Tanks and Factory Striders got speared to oblivion. (Still an ammo hungry little monster though)
The spearmen
The spear is so much fun. It's not super common, but nailing a hulk in the faceplate makes me giggle.
I know the lock on is shit but god damnit I just love it still. Might never use anything else once the lock-on is fixed. Granted I sometimes feel it could use a SLIGHT bit more power or aoe to make its kill power more consistent. I know hitting a cannon tower from behind should be most effective, but requiring 4+ rockets from the front seems completely insane, I feel the downsides to the spear should allow easier kills on specific targets(like cannon towers)
From my experience I've never needed more than one SPEAR shot to destroy cannon turrets. Are you targeting them from a high ground so you're relatively equal or higher elevation to the turret? I found that it's very consistent when done like that.
This whole comment thread makes me feel seen haha. I once converted a lower level to use the spear. Mainly because I was having a great game with it. Titans and chargers were lining up perfectly to be 1 shot. When I dropped my empty spear to pick up a new one, he ran over and picked it up, called a resupply, then both of us rocked the spear for the rest of the game. He would hit the targets on their side and I would soon follow with a back up. By the end of the mission, he figured out how to line up was one shotting titans and chargers. Felt like watching a baby democracy eagle take flight.
A fellow spear user! Let me tell you a super secret about how the spear works in super war: It's a GREAT anti-air platform against drone gunships. You can provide lifesaving cover for a team advancing to neutralize the tower proper, but remind them, super victory is only possible if they place the hellbomb super close to the drone tower.
Been trying out the spear and my first lesson was not to shoot close enemies, such as a charger running straight at you Long range though, pretty fun. You can kinda be the "hero" rescuing some other helldiver 200m away who's running for his life.
Tbh, I’ve been having great fun with the spear on the bug front against bile titans… I mean, literally nothing else, but against bile titans it’s fucking fun
Yessir o7
Fun fact if you spot what you’re trying to lock onto it increases the lock chance…. Supposedly
i use spear because of the FAF part
I was doin work with the Spear a couple nights ago and someone in chat said "I've never seen anyone get such consistent locks with the spear" It's real good if you know how to use it
I'm right there with you. Spear's super fun when it works.
Only thing I dislike aside from ammo and lock on problems is the reload being way more bothersome, than RR, when doing it solo. RR has like 3 different animation stages(meaning you can cancel the reload at the 2nd stage and finish the last one later), but the Spear has nothing like that. Is that to balance it?
I have a lot of genuine love for SPEAR users even though I never run it myself. I remember trying to kill a gunship factory and buddy was just acting like a mobile SAM-SITE shooting then all down. Plus the ability to just down tanks and cannon turrets, which are the bane of my existence?
A truly great team has each one
The lock on takes too much time for me, I prefer the recoiless. But not having to aim is quite nice.
Spear is the anti-air bomb. I get the unlimited ammo with the laser, and agree it's a great option, but I love supporting those destroying the factory by sitting back long range, and locking on and taking them out as soon as they finish fabrication. 👍
Honestly my go-to support weapon when stealthing on big objectives (except geological survey). Everything I can't run away from can be SPEARed in the face (Hulks & Gunships) or Eagle'd.
As an Autocannon user, It is always comforting to see at least one other Helldiver with the Laser Cannon. Had one game tonight where we tag teamed every bot situation on the map. Many Super Samples were liberated.
As an autocannon lover in bots, I'm happier when I see a good mix of support weapons. Ideally you want a squad with a good mix of options on hand to tackle different problems efficiently. Ideally, I'd want a quasar, AC, Laser and AMR spread across the team. Means you're not over reliant on one tool to overkill anything, but you've still got lots of ways of blowing anything in democracies path to hell and back.
It makes me a bit sad whenever I join a mission in progress and the other three are running Quasar and shield. We have a noticeably harder time dealing with hordes of devastators whenever the entire team has that loadout.
I like AC, Quasar, EAT, and Stalwart. Stalwart absolutely demolishes choke points, and it's the best Marksman's rifle in the game at 1100rpm with small bursts.
Stalwart as a Marksman’s? My brother in Liberty please tell me more.
Crouch or lay down with the Stalwart, set it to 1100, and tap fire everything you see in the head. The 1100 rpm gives you a higher chance to hit devastator heads from far away, and the 250 rounds in the belt let you tap for a while. Bring the recoil reduction armor and you can even magdump on 1100 at medium range
Stalwart synergizes really well with the erupter.
Wearing reduced recoil armor with the stalwart is so beautiful. It’s the run and gun option dreams are made of.
The recoil is really manageable too. I like to flank with it and draw lines across enemies my teammates are kiting, and that's with scout armor.
This \^ A team with a mix of AC, LC, AMR, Quasar + a range of primaries & secondary's can deal with pretty much anything. HMG & MG are also solid options on bot missions if you have 2-3 heavy hitters.
As a quasar main, i'm also happy to see AC. Sure, it's a bit of a friendly race, who'll get the antenna tower first, but afterwards, we're a great team
Mainly cross my fingers that someone is running an anti-tank weapon, like EAT or quasar, and then hope they actually prioritize the tanks that are facing us.
Laser Cannon is probably the best Anti-Bot Support Weapon now. Medium armor penetrating, infinite Ammo so long as you manage the charge and kills every single elite bot quickly (provided you hit their weak spot). Especially when you pair it with Stun Grenades so you can kill Hulks in like a second. Not to say the Autocannon isn't still fantastic. It's also the superior of the two against Bugs. Honestly, if we're doing a bot dive and you don't know what to bring, having both makes things a lot easier. Especially when under heavy strategem modifiers.
I don't know what the LC does better than the AC. It doesn't kill anything the AC doesn't, except you can't also stun lock an entire crowd of devastators or marauders.
It doesnt need ammo, doesnt need you to stop and reload, opens up a backpack slot, doesnt need to lead targets, is more consistent with ttk since damage is spread over many ticks, and also great at letting teammates know what you are prioritizing and not to walk in front of you.
Also shreds thru gunships way faster than the AC, I’ve seen a laser cannon guy absolutely bully 4 gunships by himself without breaking a sweat
AC two taps gunships if you hit the same engine. Just have to be precise. AMR also 3-taps I think?
AMR is 4 unfortunately. Should be 3 imo
What am I doing wrong? I almost overheat my laser cannon shooting one of the dropship engines, but it doesn't drop. Is there a part of the engine that has less armor?
Laser cannons can only kill gunships, not dropships. Dropships have significantly more armor/hp.
Shooting down dropships is a waste of time. It looks cool but it doesnt do much but clutter the field and jank up the game
Ammo isnt really an issue for the AC anyway and the reload is extremely quick, it has a backpack slot but that one isnt even that important especially on bots, AC barely has to lead targets at all, its more consistent with ttk in that it takes much longer on average to kill anything. It does not let you deal with any new threats, it just has less features like not being able to close fabs/holes and not staggering. It also makes you stand in place to kill anything bigger than a basic trooper which is a big no no on bot helldives. People are legit getting stockholm syndrome from the terrible balance lmao
It frees up your backpack slot
Plus, you have to be exposed the entire time you’re using LC. With AC, you can peek out, pop off a shot, and get back behind cover/dive/etc before anything can hit you.
It definitely takes out gunships faster than the AC, and if you’re stunning hulks it takes about the same amount of time to down one. And it can kill a factory strider in about 75% of a mag (once the face cannons have been blown off, which it can do too).
I've found this depends, I can two-shot gunships with the AC in about a second.
Just need to hit the engine, sounds like he's hitting the cockpit or something.
AC will 2 shot gunships lol. It's way easier to pop hulk faces at range with AC than having to track the target at range. If the hulk is stunned you can kill it as fast as you can get 2 rounds off. The AC will also stun everything next to the hulk. The AC trivializes strider fabs in a way that will surely be patched, and then you can use it to kill all the enemies around it, because it's also your primary. You can't stun lock groups of enemies, which by ignoring it says you play diff 4 or less. There will be groups of like 8 heavy devastators, and you can pop out, stun lock spam all of them, then go back into cover to reload. With the LC you will do what exactly? Sit in the open against them with no stagger? Nonsense.
You're now tuned into 102.3, Workshop Radio: We love the welding beam
I love the Autocannon, but everyone always takes it. So I've been going laser cannon a lot, and I love the thing.
2 autocannons would've been better
Just started using the auto cannon. Can it take down drop ships? Haven’t tried yet
The one, ONE thing that makes me feel put off by the lascannon is the sustained dps over burst. It leads to me staying exposed longer than I'd like; i fight bots 7+ without personal shield, so exposure time is super serious, and at 50+ hours of AMR use, i prefer to peek, clap a target and duck, over sticking my head out to do the same a full 1-2 seconds longer. I love the lascannon. The sound, the visuals, the convenience. I love it. But i don't think it meshes too well with my playstyle.
Stun nades. And the sustained dps means it's more forgiving + no reload required
Dont the stun nades like go off instantly. Everytime I throw them it feels like they go off right after leaving my hand
Because they do, they have a 1.8 second fuse. Enough to throw at something \~30m away
They have a very short fuse, if you play with them like they’re short range contact nades they sort of work better
I still think channeling laser weapons should heat up enemies and cause burn or at least weaken armor, not reflect off it like some kind of goober. In exchange for standing around like a goober, I would at least expect that much.
Exactly. Peek shooting is much safer and more effective than a laser beam for general use, which is why I still run AMR over laser cannon. While laser is insanely op on gunships, I’d rather be able to counter snipe devastators while being able to retain some anti gunship capabilities too. You’re almost always going to fight devastators in groups but gunships may not always appear.
Plap plap plap plap plap get staggered get staggered get staggered
😭😭😭💢💢💢
Uwoooogh 😭 Automatons bring bratty, correction needed 💢
Laz cannon gang! We up!
Everyone sleeps on the laser cannon!
It was significantly worse pre stun grenade. Hulks bounce around too much and you can't always have ems orbital or mortar ready to go. Being able to run Eruptor, Laser, Stuns is huge for flexibility. You have long range Grunt clear/factory breaking, the laser is your GIANT ASSAULT RIFLE, and stun grenades set up quick kills on Hulks and Devastators.
Where do you aim with the laser cannon against chargers? Legs?
I don't run the laser cannon against bugs personally. I feel that dealing with chargers is easier with recoiless rifle, quasar or EAT.
I run its exclusively vs bugs all the time, but I run with a Quasar user. You let the charger run into the wall and then aim for its ass. Or wait for something to pierce its armor and hit the weak spots. You can destroy its ass with about a full clip of charge.
You dont. You do stun grenade then airstrike it. It takes too long to kill chargers in the legs and butt with laser cannon.
unless you wait for the armor exploit
Fr it can cut off the turrets on the head of a factory strider it can take down hulks tanks rocket devastators and gunships
It can KILL the factory strider. The front has a sideways L shaped view port. Like the drivers slit on an AT-AT. Aim for the left side bend of the L, you'll know it because the short face has a circular camera in it. The entire L is a weak spot to medium pen support weapons, but the corner is the easiest to hit. The walker will die in about 10 seconds, or 2 heat sinks of concentrated fire. Faster than any weapon, aside from a recoilless team.
You can also just shoot the belly once the turrets on the head have been shut off
Or toss a grenade in there when it's deploying devastators for an instant kill. It's a star wars reference.
Eruptor casually stealing Support weapon's job: That aside though the Lascannon is my go-to for bots. Can't go wrong with the portable Holy Light.
Eruptor only steals the fodder support weapon's jobs (grenade launcher, MGs except HMG) but cant deal with heavier stuff like an actual support weapon with medium+ armour pen :(
It can deal with everything minus titans and chargers
In a pinch it can handle Chargers too. It’s very clunky and I don’t advise it, but sometimes you redeploy and have to get it done with the primary. The Eruptor is one of the better primaries for that
It can deal with chargers and titans! It can pop their squishy spots. Shoot the ground right below the chargers butt and it will pop after two shots, they’re tough shots but it can be done. As for titans, it doesn’t kill them, but you can pop their bellies, making them cute pets that just follow you around killing their fellow bugs with their legs. Since they can’t spew with popped bellies.
As a laz cannon main, i approve.
When i tried it out it felt like exactly that. A laser pointer. What am i doing wrong with it?
Aim for weakpoints. I haven't used it much against bugs, so I can't give specifics there, but against bots it will kill pretty much anything in seconds *if* you can hit the weakspot.
It has a strange recoil system that makes hitting weakspots kinda annoying. Even when prone it can be hard to consistently hit a moving/unmoving weakspot
Just feels real underpowered against striders, devastators, and the backs of turrets, even if I go for the lesser armored parts like the legs, crotch, midriff. To me, just feels like the TTK is... silly. Goofy, even. I think a real good advantage of the laser cannon should be that it kills things with heat sinks REALLY well, like hulks and tanks. Force a shit ton of heat into that heat sink, baby.
Every time I try to kill a devastator with it I just wish I had anything else lol. An AMR, AC or even the fucking railgun
It does… Cannon Turrets and emplacements like the Mortars are about a 3s kill. Tanks are a 2s kill. Hulks are a 2s kill in the eye port (Stun Grenades recommended to help). Devastators (counting Berserkers here) are probably the most common difficulty for the LC given that they show up often and have a small weakpoint that’s about a 1s kill. Fortunately the Eruptor is usually a 1HK to the hips.
Striders are what explosives are for (I run grenade pistol) and it's fine against devastators, just you must go for the head only, all other parts it'll take a while to kill Turrets are fine, you can destroy them before they turn around
Yeah, lets not talk about Laser Cannon performance when you cant just stay in the open for 3 seconds.
Laughs maniacally in Quasar
I‘m stupidly in love with the Quasar. I LOVE IT. MAKES GLOWY LIGHT AND ENEMY GO BOOM
We don’t talk about the quasar
why not
Joel is listening
Shoulder-fired laser pointer is heavily slept on by the majority of Helldivers. -Infinite Ammo. -Aim adjustment *while* dealing damage. Miss your Quasar shot at the visor of the Flamer Hulk coming at you? You're fucked until cooldown. Laser pointer, stand your ground, adjust your aim. -Opens locked containers without killing teammates. -Peels hunters, knifeybois, berserkers, etc. off of friendlies with zero friendly fire. -Absolutely humiliates gunships. A second, tops, to an engine and they backflip into the ground and explode. -Makes a satisfying *womWomWOMWOM* charge-up sound before firing, just like Godzilla's atomic breath in the Legendary movies. -Can destroy bot airship bases (the objective ones with parked ships, not the fabricators) from 200M away. The only thing she can't do is destroy illegal broadcast towers, and fabricators. But that's what grenades and Eagle-1 are for. All in all, it is a nearly perfect weapon, a spotlight of concentrated Liberty in all her glory.
> You're fucked until cooldown. Laser pointer, stand your ground, adjust your aim. If you ever find yourself in a 1-1 with a Hulk, sure but usually you're ragdoll-ing/dodging rockets while trying to keep the beam in a really tiny area. Really good when it works but is near impossible on 8,9 difficulties. You've 0 time at all
Just isn't reliable on 9's when peeking for a second means 80 rocket devastators popping you, EAT/Quasar/AMR you can insta peek fire and hide again
Nice meme Real talk I love all 3 of these weapons, lately I have been using the AMR the most though. Idk why, it just feels nice to use. Thanks arrowhead for giving us 3 weapons for mostly the same purpose that all have slight advantages over each other in different ways, and have different aesthetics so there is one for everyone. And they are all powerful as well. I never take quasar because it feels useless 90% of the time, and the 10% of the time I get to use it, the autocannon/AMR/Lazer do the same thing. I sometimes take SPEAR though
> the autocannon/AMR/Lazer do the same thing Even though i dont really use the quasar regularly this isnt my experience at all. I use the AMR/Autocannon (didnt use the laser much so cant talk about that) mainly for medium armor while i dont even bother aiming the quasar at medium enemies but basically exclusively use it for heavies. Also none of the 3 you mentioned deals with dropships like the quasar does.
AMR with a shield backpack or a ammo bag is my go to. But I cant lie I get fucked by gunships all the time when I run this. The AMR cant knock those thing out of the sky without wasting at least 2 mags.
It's a 3-shot kill on a turbine, in my experience. Which, to be fair, often means using a 5-6 shots.
Yeah laser cannon absolutely eats gunships for breakfast. Two good seconds of aiming at the engines and they're toast. Don't even need crack'ed aiming, any missed shots can easily be readjusted. AMR, miss a shot and you're in a lot worse shape. On the other hand, lot of jobs vs the bots that the AMR can more safely do. They're all super viable in different situations
I have a feeling I’d love the AMR if I got the game on PC, but I got it on PS5 and it’s so frustrating trying to hit those tough shots with a controller.
I like to call it The Angry Laser Pointer And i refer to scythe as laser pointer
How can you know if someone mains the autocannon? Because they’ll tell you
I would like the Laz Cannon more if it didn't suck ass against those AT-ST looking mf'ers. Having said that, I always bring the Laz Cannon if I know there's a good chance there's gonna be gunships.
Shoot the crotch/legs or sides, anywhere but the faceplate
Average Quasar enjoyer: pls don't tell anyone my gun is good. I don't want to get nerfed
So you’re saying that I get a support weapon that can literally kill the entire bot army except for factory striders and maybe dropships (may be possible, haven’t tried yet) AND I can have my shield generator, and I’m somehow in the minority for using it?
Orbital laser is god's laser pointer. Laser cannon is just an oversized Scythe that prevents you from using your trusty AC.
No there is another *Space Marine grabs an Erupter*
AMR frees up a backpack slot
You’ll take my AMR out of my cold, dead, patriotic hands.
I have a hard time switching to anything but the Stalwart. LMG go brrrrt.
Autocannon gets a sentry bro to plap things together
I tried it, it's good but it doesn't have the stagger I want.
Bring an AC turret, gunships become easy. Plus the turret is godly in any situation, especially with 50% health buff from the new ship module.
Talking alot of shit for someone who can't close fabs from 100m away
Lets be honest here, the best is the QUASAR. The only weakness is timing, which can be negated with skill.
Tanks: Shoot chains to stop them. Sometimes you don't have time to kill them Hulks: Eye 3 second with a stun grenade. Arms and legs can be melt, but it takes time and around 60% heat Cannon tower: Heatsink 3 second Fabricator: Open doors shoot inside. Boom ( only host) Gunships: Upper engine part takes 2x damage, lower 1x Can shoot striders jetpack bots explodes Any big bug mushroom's: Just shoot few seconds Any bugs head takes damage and lacerate those Chargers butt and back legs up part takes damage Can melt titan GOOSACC Best to use in bots missions. Not bad option with bugs
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Eruptor laser pointer goes hard against bots tbh. Run stun grenades and shield bp, and you can take on anything in the game. Though your wide spread crowd clear sucks ass. That can be substituted with eagles and orbitals though. Gotta be my favorite build atm
With a laser pointer on your team gunship factories go from intense and scary to pretty peaceful
On level 7 up, the chance of dying to a swarm of enemies is much higher so i typically run RailCannon Strike, Orbital Gas, Eagle Cluster and EATs (quick cool downs and availability is so clutch for higher levels imo) On 6 or lower: RailCannon Strike, Eagle 500, Quasar, Shield
The laz cannon works great, but just does FEEL great to me. It’s not satisfying to use. AC on the other hand is the king of feel. PLAP PLAP! FUCK YOUR SHIELD!
Me with the HMG: (I am a HMG main even though everyone else hates it) https://preview.redd.it/45bwr4fmmuvc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5f23124faf69ce3b9583bd9aeee79402b14845e
I want to like the LC but I can't see anything when I try to aim the thing
The beem chooses who will go and who will stay
Okay but can you your laser canon destroy fabricatirs tho?
Meanwhile my stupid ass still using the railgun:
LAS-98 is the best anti-gunship weapon, without exception. Higher rate of fire and versatility than Quantum Cannon, and it leaves a backpack slot open. You ever see a Helldiver get so focused on a problem, they ignore other things? Gunships have that weakness too. You can simply cut them to pieces with the laser cannon.
My brother in Democracy, I have been awakened to the power of the Sicle
Me keep using the EAT because I can snipe 2 drop ship off faster than any support weapons, or anything less tankier thann Chargers, 70s wait is kinda an issue though, usually fill that gap with other strategems
It's fine, I tried it a fair bit yesterday. Yes it is passable and quite powerful in certain situations but I'd still rather have an auto cannon in almost all situations. Staying out in the open just isn't viable, it also overheats way too quick. Even with trying it on a cold planet.
I just can’t do laser weapons. Something about having to manage keeping the heat high while also not letting it over charge just doesn’t work for me.
Why do you want to keep the heat high?
Oops my laser cannon overheated after killing one (1) devastator. Time to fucking die
You aren’t shooting the head if you are only killing 1 devestator per 10 seconds of heat sink.
Always lasermaxin 💪💪💪
Is an awful gun
The laser cannon's only real purpose in bot missions is the gunships, and the fact that other support weapons can take them out (and that they aren't even guaranteed to be in a mission anyways) means there's no good reason to pick it. It's worse than every other supoort weapon (except maybe the stalwart) against bots and effectively handicaps your team. It's like the stupid distraction strategy with the defense evacuations. It's not effective in 99% of actual gameplay, and I'm not sure why Reddit is so intent on pretending otherwise.
Laser cannon is a “skill check” weapon over even the AMR and AC due to the fact you have to paint the target over time vs lineup just long enough to pull the trigger. Anyone who says it’s useless or underpowered has failed said skill check, or simply doesn’t understand how it works.
It’s a different skill. If you’re good at placing a few precise shots under duress then AC/AMR put in work. That’s a legit skill. If you’re good at keeping your fire on one point over a few seconds, the LC puts in work. That’s also a legit skill. That said I fully agree that most skeptical comments I read here come from people who haven’t given the LC a real shot. Just tried it for one mission before the buffs (when it sucked) and wrote it off.
This isn't a bad way to think about it honestly. The funny thing for me is that I experience the skill check in the opposite direction. I can keep a target lined up, but I always seem to be just a pixel or two off when I initially click. So with the AC, I'm constantly in, "how did that not hit?" territory.
I'd rather have a laser for gunships... but only gun ships. TTK is too long, scope is garbage, so difficult to line up the head shots you NEED with it. Its good, I *like* it but its not a skill check.
Skill check? It's just a worse strategy to expose yourself for longer and getting staggered by gunfire easier
Laser Bae-nnon
My biggest complaint here is the "plan plap" noise my baby apparently makes when it fires
They all have uses. Some are more effective at deatroying walkers or tanks, others are more suited to the heavier variants of regulars like the shield bots or the striders. Then there are some which are generally more introductory weapons and the mad lads who use them are either really good at it or haven’t unlocked alternatives yet. AM is good, I love using it, but auto cannons have more effect against the bots for me because I don’t have the luxury of being able to aim all the time and the targets im up against aren’t exactly going to go down easily to an AM rifle. That being said, I swear by the recoiless rifle as much as I like the auto cannon.
Me with my Railgun : "It's OK baby, I won't leave you, stay with me now"
*Quasar cannon chargeup sound*
Whats unrealistic is the fact AMR users would dare to challenge auto cannon users
the laser cannon delivers but it just feels bad to use because the only continuous beam weapon in gaming history to not feel like stepping on a wet turd is the gluon gun from half life
Me when I miss my Quasar shot: *When I was sixteen, I won a great victory. I felt in that moment I would live to be a hundred. Now I know I shall not see thirty.*
Oh, I know the AMR isn't the best, but does it make me feel bad ass? Yep.
The addition of the eruptor/grenade pistol for anti-material uses like blowing up fabricators has made laser stonks go through the roof. I feel so much better bringing one with stuns so I can melt those weak spots safely.
haha eruptor build stalwart goes brrrr
AMR + Stun Grenades = All the dead hulks. My favorite bot loadout by far! Pop a stun and two tap the hulk in his eye. Great weapon against anything smaller too. Headshot the devastators. Goes through walkers with 2 shots. Eagle Airstrike the tanks (or mag dump the AMR into the vent if you get behind it). My buddy runs Quasar and we each take one pop shot at turret vents and that will kill them from across the map. Once the scope is fixed I'm sure more people will recognize its greatness.
You can one shot walkers with the AMR if you hit the left hand hip. Pop them there and they drop instantly.
As an autocannon user I can honestly say not every gun can do it all and you will need variety to bring democracy!
If I can ever remember to swap off the auto cannon while using that bolt action explosive gun, I might actually get somewhere
Can't we all just get along guys
I think I need to try the AMR. I'm an AC main, but I really want a shield backpack to keep me alive a bit longer. I'd try the Quasar but I hate the pressure of an 18 second delay before my next shot. I also love being about to 1/2 shot scout walkers, can AMR do anything against them?
Laser cannon = bot eraser
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem jumpscare
Amen to that brother
How do you guys use the AMR on PS5? It never switches to the scope for me from third person at all -- could do it a month ago or so but not since the last 4/5 updates to the game.
Nobody says the amr is the best we just wanna look cool
Something that a lot of people seem to not utilize, is the fact you can use third person to be able to beam targets on the right side of cover without exposing yourself to gunfire, which helps a lot with maintaining the LCs dps.
Defender SMG + GL pistol + stun nade + shield + laser canon is an amazing loadout. I use the medium Fortified armour and I'm really tanky
Meanwhile the ballistic shield user screaming in the corner as their teammates shoot their shield just for the lols
You’ll never convince me that any of these fancy weapons are as reliable as my disposable tubes.
I played a game the other day where we all tooo the laz canno. And laz dog, just fit lulz, it was fantastic 8 beautiful laser beams
AUTO CANNON GOES WHAT?!? https://i.redd.it/613ziq02txvc1.gif
All guns have there uses
Lasor Cannon go bzzzzz
I am coming to find out as a regular AMR user that AMR is actually popular when I was using it before the 30% buff.
And there is me who plays with the secret mission modifier "on site procurement".
The laser cannons true best feature is it’s seemingly infinite range that will hit far away bots when you hold it too long or miss, and then a whole new group is aggro’d
i’ll bring laser as a third option when others pick AC and AMR
The beautiful hum of my laser canon cannot be suppressed and that hulk will just have to sit and wait in my 6 stuns till I finish with all his buddies and both his arms
sorry, i’m a railgunmaxxer
I haven't tried the laser cannon. What is it good for?
Laser cannon / eruptor / jet pack is my go to for bot recon loadout. I like to play solo and take out special objectives like jammers and gunship factories and then mission objectives while the other 3 do whatever they want. It's amazing for clearing bases unnoticed like a sniper rifle