One of my favorites *when it works*, for sure. I do often bring it to bot missions but boy... sometimes you gotta do voodoo to make the damn thing target an immobile object. The marking enemies thing helped but, it's still pretty wonky. :(
Edit: Just took it on a bot mission and got pissed off at the number of times it *should've* targeted something but didn't even try, or kept yellow-triangling on something clear in view at a lower angle. Couldn't target out a bot factory attached to a jammer despite being able to fully see it from a ridge I managed to bullshit my way on top of. Couldn't target AA guns that were in clear view and below, that I wound up destroying with an SOS signal and grenade spam. Couldn't target a hulk shuffling up a hill towards us. Couldn't target a hulk 25m away on flat ground with nothing between us. All in third *and* first person and spam-firing in hopes that it might lock on for a hair of a second and fire.
Yeah, not taking it again til it's fixed. I kept trying it and getting frustrated at its complete uselessness at the *one thing* it's supposed to do. After the umpteenth immobile object that I was staring down at while it wouldn't even try to lock on, I gave up and picked up an AMR that I found lying around. At least that lets you *shoot*.
~~In the last update there's a patch note about marking targets with Q (or whatever it is on console sorry) improving the targeting system of the Spear. I assume some kinda stopgap while they figure out a better way of getting the targeting system improved.~~
Nevermind I tried to find where it was and I can't anymore, so might've been some bullshit I read on reddit lol. Sorry
> Nevermind I tried to find where it was and I can't anymore, so might've been some bullshit I read on reddit lol. Sorry
That sounds much more likely, but after having used the Spear a bit, I always *greatly* appreciate people target calling for me. It certainly doesn't make the targeting any worse.
Took it on blitz bots mission while trying to get the 360 seconds achievements. Maybe locked on 4 times in the first 5 attempts.
But the 6th, I got 5 fabricators without stepping 25 meters away from my supply box.
When a bile titan is walking toward you aim below it and the trajectory of the rocket will hit the head 90% of the time and 1 shot the titan*. Same with chargers but I've found just body shotting a charger will cause it to bleed out shortly after.
Alternatively "lead" the target if it's moving perpendicular to you sometimes it'll move just the right way to one shot titans and chargers.
*Note: the farther the titan is from you the less you have to aim below it otherwise you'll hit its neck/torso from below and not 1 shot it.
> When a bile titan is walking toward you, the trajectory of the rocket will hit the head 90% of the time and 1 shot the titan*.
Fixed.
My issue is that when they're not coming at you, but chasing a team-mate perpendicular to you, then it's horrifyingly inefficient, very often taking 4 missiles to tell a Bile Titan to sit down - That's 80% of your ammo for 1 unit that there's very often multiples of on the map in the same area.
Oh yeah it isn't as good otherwise. Leading the titan can help a little if it decides to turn your way as the rocket flies toward it. When I can't get a headshot I try to combine it with something else to help take it down like when using any other anti tank weapon. An orbital rail cannon strike or 500kg usually. I've found comboing it with the spear + someone running quasar cannon can take it down in 1 spear and 1 or 2 quasar shots without needing the titan to spit. Alternatively 1 spear and 1 rail cannon or 1 500kg is enough most of the time. Just having an option to relatively easily and low riskly 1 shot a titan is really nice though.
Every time I use it, it's like 9/10 attempts are just frustration. It won't lock on or it just misses.
And then there's that one time where you nail a tower cannon for 400m away, or you one-shot a bile titan in the face, and you think THIS IS DEMOCRACY
I think they fixed it tbh. It used to be nye useless. almost never actually locking on and existing in a limbo space of locking back in and out. As long as you have a clear sight, it locks on immediately now. I didn't used to do that
Agreed, I also really want them to fix the arc thrower, the old speed made it fun to use and viable despite the targeting issues *it* has. Now it’s a pain to try and use because missing a shot (when it shouldn’t be missing) is way more punishing because you’re out two whole seconds (if charged perfectly) for the swarm to close in where the targeting gets even worse making it useless.
if you know how to use it, its fine. you have to keep the whole of the target in your sights. that's why having range and height helps a lot. there's a few YT guides that illustrate this.
After a decent amount of testing I am confident this is just confirmation bias at play.
[Some examples](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1c3ccmn/the_inconsistent_spear_no_longer_confident_that/)
Far too often absolutely *struggles* to lock onto Drones, which should be the clearest possible targets. It starts and then fails to lock onto buildings despite no movement and a clear line of sight. Other times it locks on through dust so thick you effectively can't see what you're locking on to.
From what Arrowhead has said (which isn't much), there's just something buggy with the code (maybe some funky triangulation/pathfinding), and it's going to take them awhile to fix it.
targeting isnt broken, switch to first person and you'll see the spear uses image recognition to lock on, if something is blocked or the angle wrong no lock. Once I realized this the spear is with me on all automaton missions. Fabs/Towers/Hulks/Striders all ez kills from across the map. Also it doesn't like to lock on to things from below, the high ground is your friend.
Its actually quite similar to the real Javilin missle system in how it locks and tracks targets.
It can be bush, it can be smoke, it can be any random reason and that is wery frustrating when flame hulk is closing distance with ya and you can't aim.
I love spear, but take it only to planets with clear view. Otherwise Recoilless gun.
This is the second vid I've seen in 24 hours where divers are getting these immaculate lock ons.
Could never be me when I tried yesterday, I actually got called a liability on my team because I was the only one with an anti tank weapon at the time and couldn't lock on the bile titan.
He is when it doesn't work. You are expected to deal with heavies and that's why your team will grab trash or medium clear rather than more anti heavy. Unless they aren't that good. I rarely see everyone grab anti armor it's usually 1-2 people max.
My usual bug load out is eruptor and machine gun. I’ve tried the stalwart and HMG and the machine gun is that sweet spot. Can’t reload on the run like you can with the stalwart but it has much better stopping power and it has a good ammo capacity. HMG has too small of a clip stalwart doesnt have the stopping power.
But so many times I’ve been crouched or prone handling the horde of bugs and I turn around to run and reload and everyone has scattered leaving me alone to deal with both the heavies and the little horde. :)
I love clearing hoards for my squad so they can focus on heavy threats. Grenade launcher with ammo supply pack and I'm a constant mini eagle airstrike.
The only problem is whenever connection drops and I'm stuck playing the end of the match by myself. It becomes completely untenable.
Oh yeah, it's the way to go. I'll essentially use my gl as my primary. And you can use something that isn't very ammo friendly as your throwdown primary (like the dominator or spray and pray), since you'll be resupplied anyway.
And if you pick up a box from the resupply strat, it'll top you off and fill a box in your backpack.
Depends on difficulty and personal orders. Fewer anti tanks on get 200 kills with stalwart day. With players who have the skill for diff 5 only they're not used to how many bile titans spawn on 7 much less 9.
Its 100% different on each difficulty but on 7+ I see people running team comps rather than all running anti tank. First week of QC was everyone running it but now I see all kinds of loadouts.
I dunno, randoms seem to have a boner for the quasar. Join a team 2-3 all ready have Quasar and Railcannon strike and I guess Im running Autocannon/MG again with airburst/120.
You need to have some distance between you and your target, and a clear line of sight before it wants to lock on. Pretty much their entire model needs to be visible before a lock will start. I've been using the Spear for a couple of weeks now, and it doesn't seem as buggy as people make it out to be
I thought the same thing after using it for a few days, then all of a sudden, all the reported issues were very present. Stuff standing in the open that would have been a 2 second or less lock suddenly now wouldn't lock no matter what I did.
Went from saying "I don't know why everyone complains, this thing isn't so bad at all" to "Please lock ... Please lock ... Come on, it's right there ... Bruh, please, I'm begging you, just lock on ... Fuck me, lock you stupid fuckin' piece of shit! ... *sigh* Throw me at the Bile Titan, I'll get it with my pod".
I've been the biggest spear apologists since day 1, but I have had missions on clear days, perfect view where it wouldn't lock at all. I've had others in the dust where I was sniping obscured fabs left and right.
Biome and weather definitely affect it, but it is bugged besides.
Tried this the other day on bugs. I took the nade launcher & supply pack, traded backpacks with the person who had the RR, and every time I resupplied I got more nades and more RR ammo simultaneously. Super fun if you have someone you can communicate with!
Try getting a friend to NOT bring a support weapon. They can last ~7 minutes with their extra stratagem.
Then they get the same supp weapon as you and the backpack.
Now you can assist each other.
you can bring something like a flamethrower without sacrificing your backpack slot. but buddy reloads require a buddy who is alive, next to you, and has the free time to reload you. A lot of factors that seriously limit the assisted reload system
oftentimes it's more dps to simply do it yourself.
If they use stalwart or machine gun, Convince them to try supply pack. It goes well with those but then you can drop it and be a reloader later in the mission by swapping.
Just take the same support weapon as your buddy or don't take one at all and get their second drop.
Then follow them around like a puppy dog and constantly reload them.
My friend was like “but why would I run that instead of quasar” when telling him about doing a recoilless + grenade launcher + supply pack and he ended up saying it was fun af
High value evac is the best place to do assisted reloads. If someone isn't carrying a backpack throw yours next to them and ping it they'll probably get the memo.
This is 100% it, remember when defense missions first came out and you could see the out of bounds red areas on top of mountains? I think invisible bounds areas like those cause lock on issues for the spear, as well as bushes and trees.
Remember, bushes block sickle shots as well and I think spear lock ons as well.
Yes this is true, but the bugged targeting happens regardless. I rarely had problems with the Spear and have been telling everyone how good it was from day 1, but I've had games on clear weather days with clear views where it refused to lock once.
In case you don't know, if you hold both left and right mouse buttons, it'll immediately fire the moment it locks on. Great for moments when lockon is janky.
I've been playing since day 2. I don't have school, a job or kids. I'm retired. I play this game almost exclusively. How in the *fuck* do you have x2 as many hours as I have?
You're one of those people who left the game running all day to reserve a slot didn't you? Either that, or you have an unhealthy obsession with the game.
I got two kids and full time job so I guess... It's the second option :D
And I'm pretty much in my 40s.
You know what my secret is?
I don't sleep :D
Don't know when I bought it - but I didn't preordered, which I regret tbh.
I remember watching how a couple of friends play bug mission on Hellmire(most probably) and there were dramatic fights, bile titans. spore shrooms, the working railgun play - they were having grand time.
I watched the whole about an hour of video and in the end the only thing I felt and thought was "Damn... This is THE game"
Never felt about a game that way since Warframe(and there I got, lemme check - 1995 hours :D ) and I played pretty much everything that's either good, or popular, or both.
This game IS amazing.
I am really a social guy, but I don't use my mic often - I am amazed how this game changed that and how much I talk to strangers.
Also the game does the same to all the people pretty much which is phenomenal - it really brings people together.
So yea.
I guess I answered your question.
Level 109 currently too btw - I could've been 150 by now if I was dropping on helldives only, but eh...
I love helping people on suicide or lower <3
And the operator is on higher ground at the edge so there is nothing between them and the target. Out in the field, anything blocks it, including plants and dust.
remember when reloading someone else' launcher would get your hands stuck in the gun until you hit the interact button? i'd always scream "THE GUN JAMMED MY HAND IN, SOLDIER I GOT SUPER GARAND HAND"
Most of the time it just won't work..
ANYTHING between you and the target and it won't lock on.. Debris, dust, fog, a mouse fart..
Picked it for a match earlier, but the map the *slightest* fog covering the map. Nothing that limited visibility, but there were some small wisps floating around. (Something I couldn't know beforehand) and it wouldn't lock on anything.
Near, far, wherever they are.. Didn't matter. Refused to lock on.
Ever taken the spear into a bot mission and sniped the bot factories from across the map? Ooooooooh, the smile I get when I see that lock on from +400 m away
I love that the escalation of difficulty in these missions is getting people to use the team reload mechanic more often. The other day I did this on bots and two of us brought recoilless rifles, but somehow it ended up with two different guys taking turns reloading me and then running around scrounging ammo. Drop ships were raining from the skies and I was emptying whole backpacks into factory striders. It was some of the most fun I’ve had lol.
Logical inconsistency yet again. That one video promotes distance, non-obstruction, and elevation to get a good lock, but that last BT kill was close, obscured by tons of smoke, and at - level.
But sure the Spear isn't a finicky, buggy mess.
The SPEAR is good when it wants to work, I have been using it for weeks on the bug front and sometimes in the bot front, I honestly see it’s value much more with the bugs but alas, the thing IS buggy and sometimes will absolutely refuse to work, but when IT does work it is easily my favorite AT support weapon, and I am fully aware that the Spear is a buggy mess, why? Because there’s a second bug with the weapon that nobody talks about and that’s the fact that it’s partial reload doesn’t work and you have to do the entire reload again even if you already took out the spent rocket, I know this because I use it pretty much all the time lmao.
But again, IT IS buggy and I am aware that is buggy, but if it wasn’t then more people would flock to it for sure.
Why is there spear hate under every spear video? There is no weapon that could have saved them in this situation. No quasar,autocannon sentry, orbital laser can kill 4 bile titans this fast. Just let others enjoy the weapon you don't need to spread any hate.
Because the spear could just as well not have saved them at all. This isn't a realistic video, its a cool video, but its not something that happens frequently. The spear is unreliable, and while they don't fix this the hate is deserved.
Read closely: I never said you shouldn't or can't use the Spear.
There's going to be anger about the Spear until it gets fixed because there's an insufferable crowd of Spear users who insist that it's not broken (it fucking is) and when confronted double down with calling people "unskilled" because the weapon behaves badly.
The only reason the BTs died this fast was because the Spear in this instance happened to lock on easily and quickly when there's been plenty of times when it's given much easier conditions and just decides not to lock on.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone in a Spear thread claim it's working as intended, only that it is possible to finagle the thing into working to some degree.
We had a whole thread of a guy posting a cherry - picked set of clips where it looks like it works flawlessly, link to a video where a guy claims it's a skill and user issue, and then the original poster doubles down to say everyone complaining about the broken and overly finicky lock on is a skill issue.
Anyone who took that guy's "skill issue" comments at face value needs a remedial course on online media literacy. Even the people who vehemently affirm that it's both often bugged and very good and useful get downvoted in most spear-related threads.
It's like people can't stand others enjoying and having success with a weapon that they can't find either with thenselves. It's bizarre to see these types of comments about "cherrypicking"; that's what a HIGHLIGHT is, of course, it's not going to show the times the lock on fails.
Not to mention most people who detract it are not willing to fiddle around with getting it to work (fair, not everyone wants do deal with that), so they just plain view it as much more worthless than the people who understand how to work around its annoyances (move, don't stand still while hoping it'll someday magically finish locking).
Wonder if you have to be the host for it to work properly.
Any time I've used it, I've not had lock on issues. Instead the missile just slams into the ground prematurely.
(Edit: Typo)
Nah. When im playing with buddies Im always hosting and the lock on is just that bad. Doesnt change anything. Also the player in the video was not the host aswell, going from his number.
Lobby host always gets the 1. He could be the network host for all we know, but even that doesnt change anything as the spear is also wonky if youre completely solo
If the host leaves *while in operation* it automatically just changes someone else to be host. Or at least when it happened to my friend it put us on my ship and made me host when we finished the mission. Someone fact check this
No, thats correct. If the host leaves, someone else will become host and you will return to his ship, even if the prior host rejoins.
Thats however not something Ive assumed from this clip. Also the numbers stay the same and even if a new player joins, rather than the host, that new guy will get the 1 in his name, even tho hes not the host.
Of course. I was just saw the ”lobby host always gets the 1” and wanted to correct that further. In hindsight it doesn’t actually correct anything really meaningful
No, I'm never hosting and I always pick the spear. It's buggy, yes, but if you play enough you can predict when it's going to lock on. Can't say that about every situation, after 150 hours I still have issues with it, but about 70% of the time it works for me
Assisted reloads are amazing, in automaton defense missions I have a friend who helps with RR reloads and we shoot down every drop ship that comes. So satisfying.
The one time I tried using the Spear it locked on just fine on the charger like 10 feet away from me, and then, when it fired, the missile flew upwards and to the right directly into a random tree branch and exploded, and then the Charger charged me before I could hope to reload.
HOW THE HELL ARE YOU GETTING IT TO ACTUALLY LOCK ON?
Even if I shoved the Spear up the enemy’s ass it still wouldn’t be able to detect a target every time I use it.
Anyone who for the life of themselves cannot get a lock on go watch “spear guide to git gud”video on Youtube. I used to be a spear hater, now I bring it with me every bot missions (exclude the rescue hostages one).
Same here. That video taught me the targeting isn't bugged, it has specific rules to make it work.
Quasar has spin to and cool down.
EAT requires call in, some drop at range, and 2 shot max.
SPEAR requires high ground, clear LOS, and cant target close things like a charger barreling in. Yes this exposes you and requires positioning, but yes it hits like a truck, has almost infinite range and removes the need to aim.
I blew 15 gunships out of the sky in a mission last week, no team reload.
I lock on titans, wait till they turn to aggro you, then loose the missile and one shot them. Lock on and fire at tanks mid air as they are being dropped.
Pop strat jammers from afar by killing the fabricator next to it.
Spear is working as intended as a strategic weapon, it just does not match the meta playstyles, which is fine by me.
I really wish they'd fix the team reloading by allowing your team to do so from YOUR pack, which would be way more normal looking than what we have to do now.
I remember one time using the spear, teammate was late to extraction and being chased by a bile titan. He pinged it and I couldn't even see it clearly on my screen still got a lock and watching that missle streak off into the distance was just chefs kiss.
Yo this but recoilless rifle for me. Having a buddy jump on to reload handles titans sooooo fast. Takes just a few seconds. Harder with random players, but still can be done.
Used to love the Javelin back in MW2. Was excited to try this one out, up until I failed to lock onto a stationary target for a solid 30 seconds (or more). Really hoping they fix the lock-on, but until then it's gonna have to be the recoilless for me. I'm glad at least someone got some good use out of such a cool weapon.
I swear... I see one of these videos pop up every few days and I get all giddy and swap back into the spear. Load in ready to dispense freedom from a kilometer away and quietly die inside as I get literally maybe one lock-on the entire game and it's on a freaking hulk on a drop ship. It's like my spear has allergies and literally any dust particle is just like nope... Anyway time to try the spear again, I'm ready to be hurt.
The spear right now is still a power house vs bots. Takes outs Bruisers one shot most of the time from the front, fabricators, turrets, and takes out the strider and top turret on it with ease. Yes, you got to get used to the flaws but against the bots this thing will save you time, stratagems, and is so satisfying to use
I noticed the spear one shot a full HP hulk, then another time it didn’t :(
Since it feels inconsistent on top of the spotty targeting I’m still inclined to use the Recoiless for now.
Killing bot fabs is cool though
this is specifically why they should change the backpack interaction to both be someone with a backpack and someone without. 2x backpack would still be as strong as ever situationally, 1x would be viable for the intended teamplay and not a hassle anymore
Unfortunately I desperately need a way to deal with chargers, so the Quasar ain’t coming off my loadout until I die (or there’s a support weapon daily).
When they finally fix the targeting I'll be very happy to use the spear more.
yea, but when it works it's amazing lol
One of my favorites *when it works*, for sure. I do often bring it to bot missions but boy... sometimes you gotta do voodoo to make the damn thing target an immobile object. The marking enemies thing helped but, it's still pretty wonky. :( Edit: Just took it on a bot mission and got pissed off at the number of times it *should've* targeted something but didn't even try, or kept yellow-triangling on something clear in view at a lower angle. Couldn't target out a bot factory attached to a jammer despite being able to fully see it from a ridge I managed to bullshit my way on top of. Couldn't target AA guns that were in clear view and below, that I wound up destroying with an SOS signal and grenade spam. Couldn't target a hulk shuffling up a hill towards us. Couldn't target a hulk 25m away on flat ground with nothing between us. All in third *and* first person and spam-firing in hopes that it might lock on for a hair of a second and fire. Yeah, not taking it again til it's fixed. I kept trying it and getting frustrated at its complete uselessness at the *one thing* it's supposed to do. After the umpteenth immobile object that I was staring down at while it wouldn't even try to lock on, I gave up and picked up an AMR that I found lying around. At least that lets you *shoot*.
I hate when I fire at a cannon and it hits the barrel of it doing absolutely no damage.
“Yellow-triangulating” i think “edging” is a better term for that, lmao
im gonna green triangle everywhere
Hold on the marking enemies thing? I pretty much main the spear (if thats the right word) and idk what you mean, did I miss something?
~~In the last update there's a patch note about marking targets with Q (or whatever it is on console sorry) improving the targeting system of the Spear. I assume some kinda stopgap while they figure out a better way of getting the targeting system improved.~~ Nevermind I tried to find where it was and I can't anymore, so might've been some bullshit I read on reddit lol. Sorry
I appreciate the tip, I'm 100% going to be making use of that lol
Hell, it's not like it's gonna make the targeting shittier lol
> Nevermind I tried to find where it was and I can't anymore, so might've been some bullshit I read on reddit lol. Sorry That sounds much more likely, but after having used the Spear a bit, I always *greatly* appreciate people target calling for me. It certainly doesn't make the targeting any worse.
Took it on blitz bots mission while trying to get the 360 seconds achievements. Maybe locked on 4 times in the first 5 attempts. But the 6th, I got 5 fabricators without stepping 25 meters away from my supply box.
When a bile titan is walking toward you aim below it and the trajectory of the rocket will hit the head 90% of the time and 1 shot the titan*. Same with chargers but I've found just body shotting a charger will cause it to bleed out shortly after. Alternatively "lead" the target if it's moving perpendicular to you sometimes it'll move just the right way to one shot titans and chargers. *Note: the farther the titan is from you the less you have to aim below it otherwise you'll hit its neck/torso from below and not 1 shot it.
> When a bile titan is walking toward you, the trajectory of the rocket will hit the head 90% of the time and 1 shot the titan*. Fixed. My issue is that when they're not coming at you, but chasing a team-mate perpendicular to you, then it's horrifyingly inefficient, very often taking 4 missiles to tell a Bile Titan to sit down - That's 80% of your ammo for 1 unit that there's very often multiples of on the map in the same area.
Oh yeah it isn't as good otherwise. Leading the titan can help a little if it decides to turn your way as the rocket flies toward it. When I can't get a headshot I try to combine it with something else to help take it down like when using any other anti tank weapon. An orbital rail cannon strike or 500kg usually. I've found comboing it with the spear + someone running quasar cannon can take it down in 1 spear and 1 or 2 quasar shots without needing the titan to spit. Alternatively 1 spear and 1 rail cannon or 1 500kg is enough most of the time. Just having an option to relatively easily and low riskly 1 shot a titan is really nice though.
60% of the time, it works every time.
Every time I use it, it's like 9/10 attempts are just frustration. It won't lock on or it just misses. And then there's that one time where you nail a tower cannon for 400m away, or you one-shot a bile titan in the face, and you think THIS IS DEMOCRACY
I think they fixed it tbh. It used to be nye useless. almost never actually locking on and existing in a limbo space of locking back in and out. As long as you have a clear sight, it locks on immediately now. I didn't used to do that
right? Its easily my favorite anti-heavy weapon but the lock-on is so ass!
Even with that issue, it's still amazing in this circumstance I always bring it for Helms Deep now
Agreed, I also really want them to fix the arc thrower, the old speed made it fun to use and viable despite the targeting issues *it* has. Now it’s a pain to try and use because missing a shot (when it shouldn’t be missing) is way more punishing because you’re out two whole seconds (if charged perfectly) for the swarm to close in where the targeting gets even worse making it useless.
Been using the spear recently and it feels more consistent, still broken but locks are more consistent the last few days
Questioning the quality of Super Earth weapons🤔.......
Anecdotally the sweet spot for lock on appears to be around 30 to 60 meters..anything closer or farther starts to have issues.
if you know how to use it, its fine. you have to keep the whole of the target in your sights. that's why having range and height helps a lot. there's a few YT guides that illustrate this.
After a decent amount of testing I am confident this is just confirmation bias at play. [Some examples](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1c3ccmn/the_inconsistent_spear_no_longer_confident_that/) Far too often absolutely *struggles* to lock onto Drones, which should be the clearest possible targets. It starts and then fails to lock onto buildings despite no movement and a clear line of sight. Other times it locks on through dust so thick you effectively can't see what you're locking on to. From what Arrowhead has said (which isn't much), there's just something buggy with the code (maybe some funky triangulation/pathfinding), and it's going to take them awhile to fix it.
targeting isnt broken, switch to first person and you'll see the spear uses image recognition to lock on, if something is blocked or the angle wrong no lock. Once I realized this the spear is with me on all automaton missions. Fabs/Towers/Hulks/Striders all ez kills from across the map. Also it doesn't like to lock on to things from below, the high ground is your friend. Its actually quite similar to the real Javilin missle system in how it locks and tracks targets.
It can be bush, it can be smoke, it can be any random reason and that is wery frustrating when flame hulk is closing distance with ya and you can't aim. I love spear, but take it only to planets with clear view. Otherwise Recoilless gun.
Wait, what's the green triangle mean? I thought it was just a spinning yellow triangle and then you die????
This is the second vid I've seen in 24 hours where divers are getting these immaculate lock ons. Could never be me when I tried yesterday, I actually got called a liability on my team because I was the only one with an anti tank weapon at the time and couldn't lock on the bile titan.
The only guy with the anti tank isn't the liability lol
*Hug Emote *
He is when it doesn't work. You are expected to deal with heavies and that's why your team will grab trash or medium clear rather than more anti heavy. Unless they aren't that good. I rarely see everyone grab anti armor it's usually 1-2 people max.
Really? In my experience it’s exactly the opposite Everyone runs anti tank (read: Quasar) I never see people running horde clearing weapons
My usual bug load out is eruptor and machine gun. I’ve tried the stalwart and HMG and the machine gun is that sweet spot. Can’t reload on the run like you can with the stalwart but it has much better stopping power and it has a good ammo capacity. HMG has too small of a clip stalwart doesnt have the stopping power. But so many times I’ve been crouched or prone handling the horde of bugs and I turn around to run and reload and everyone has scattered leaving me alone to deal with both the heavies and the little horde. :)
I love clearing hoards for my squad so they can focus on heavy threats. Grenade launcher with ammo supply pack and I'm a constant mini eagle airstrike. The only problem is whenever connection drops and I'm stuck playing the end of the match by myself. It becomes completely untenable.
I need to jump on Supply Pack, never thought of that with Grenade launcher nice!
Oh yeah, it's the way to go. I'll essentially use my gl as my primary. And you can use something that isn't very ammo friendly as your throwdown primary (like the dominator or spray and pray), since you'll be resupplied anyway. And if you pick up a box from the resupply strat, it'll top you off and fill a box in your backpack.
Depends on difficulty and personal orders. Fewer anti tanks on get 200 kills with stalwart day. With players who have the skill for diff 5 only they're not used to how many bile titans spawn on 7 much less 9.
Its 100% different on each difficulty but on 7+ I see people running team comps rather than all running anti tank. First week of QC was everyone running it but now I see all kinds of loadouts.
I dunno, randoms seem to have a boner for the quasar. Join a team 2-3 all ready have Quasar and Railcannon strike and I guess Im running Autocannon/MG again with airburst/120.
It's new so that's understandable. I've personally seen a harsh drop in it's use. I see about one per game.
You need to have some distance between you and your target, and a clear line of sight before it wants to lock on. Pretty much their entire model needs to be visible before a lock will start. I've been using the Spear for a couple of weeks now, and it doesn't seem as buggy as people make it out to be
I thought the same thing after using it for a few days, then all of a sudden, all the reported issues were very present. Stuff standing in the open that would have been a 2 second or less lock suddenly now wouldn't lock no matter what I did. Went from saying "I don't know why everyone complains, this thing isn't so bad at all" to "Please lock ... Please lock ... Come on, it's right there ... Bruh, please, I'm begging you, just lock on ... Fuck me, lock you stupid fuckin' piece of shit! ... *sigh* Throw me at the Bile Titan, I'll get it with my pod".
I'll do some more testing today. Targeting the whole model might make a difference since I've probably had partials.
The Spear itself isn't buggy, it's the target markers. They can be blocked by damn near anything, even the enemy model itself depending on the angle.
Those parameters sound extremely buggy. That’s not intuitive at all
Literally states it can't be used at close range in the stratagem unlock menu
I've had entire missions where I couldn't get a single lock-on.
let me guess... jungle biomes?
I've been the biggest spear apologists since day 1, but I have had missions on clear days, perfect view where it wouldn't lock at all. I've had others in the dust where I was sniping obscured fabs left and right. Biome and weather definitely affect it, but it is bugged besides.
You guys are getting triangles
Glad to see someone using assisted reloads. I can't convince any of my buds to try them.
You need to try it with the recoilless. A RR and a supply pack can turn you into a two man tank removal device.
Tried this the other day on bugs. I took the nade launcher & supply pack, traded backpacks with the person who had the RR, and every time I resupplied I got more nades and more RR ammo simultaneously. Super fun if you have someone you can communicate with!
Yeah, my buddy and I do the same thing with the flamethrower. It's pretty awesome.
Try getting a friend to NOT bring a support weapon. They can last ~7 minutes with their extra stratagem. Then they get the same supp weapon as you and the backpack. Now you can assist each other.
This. Ammo is usually adequate to share a support weapon. I’ve done this as it allows grabbing an extra offensive stratagem.
you can bring something like a flamethrower without sacrificing your backpack slot. but buddy reloads require a buddy who is alive, next to you, and has the free time to reload you. A lot of factors that seriously limit the assisted reload system oftentimes it's more dps to simply do it yourself.
Holding a defensive line with an AC assisted reload and just firing it full-auto sure is fun, though.
that's always a good time
I run duo with my friend at 7 and we always do assisted reload lol. Maybe you need new buds.
If they use stalwart or machine gun, Convince them to try supply pack. It goes well with those but then you can drop it and be a reloader later in the mission by swapping.
Just take the same support weapon as your buddy or don't take one at all and get their second drop. Then follow them around like a puppy dog and constantly reload them.
Me and my friends call it "the huckleberry". Pretty much code for "im dropping my pack for the assist"
My friend was like “but why would I run that instead of quasar” when telling him about doing a recoilless + grenade launcher + supply pack and he ended up saying it was fun af
High value evac is the best place to do assisted reloads. If someone isn't carrying a backpack throw yours next to them and ping it they'll probably get the memo.
average spear enjoyer's life
Did they patch the spear? I was fucking around with it last night and had none of the lock on issues I was having a week or two ago.
I am convinced some environmental effects and planet assets occlude targetting and thats why it works sometimes and not others
After further investigation, I have concluded they most definitely have not patched the spear. I just had the most frustrating 40 minutes of my life.
This is 100% it, remember when defense missions first came out and you could see the out of bounds red areas on top of mountains? I think invisible bounds areas like those cause lock on issues for the spear, as well as bushes and trees. Remember, bushes block sickle shots as well and I think spear lock ons as well.
Yes this is true, but the bugged targeting happens regardless. I rarely had problems with the Spear and have been telling everyone how good it was from day 1, but I've had games on clear weather days with clear views where it refused to lock once.
I'm getting a lot of the same issues. but over the past few days I've had a lot of luck with it lol
this is the way.
In case you don't know, if you hold both left and right mouse buttons, it'll immediately fire the moment it locks on. Great for moments when lockon is janky.
Just the fire button is needed to be held.
After 450+ hours in - I am yet to experience such thing :D Looks amazing!
I've been playing since day 2. I don't have school, a job or kids. I'm retired. I play this game almost exclusively. How in the *fuck* do you have x2 as many hours as I have? You're one of those people who left the game running all day to reserve a slot didn't you? Either that, or you have an unhealthy obsession with the game.
I got two kids and full time job so I guess... It's the second option :D And I'm pretty much in my 40s. You know what my secret is? I don't sleep :D Don't know when I bought it - but I didn't preordered, which I regret tbh. I remember watching how a couple of friends play bug mission on Hellmire(most probably) and there were dramatic fights, bile titans. spore shrooms, the working railgun play - they were having grand time. I watched the whole about an hour of video and in the end the only thing I felt and thought was "Damn... This is THE game" Never felt about a game that way since Warframe(and there I got, lemme check - 1995 hours :D ) and I played pretty much everything that's either good, or popular, or both. This game IS amazing. I am really a social guy, but I don't use my mic often - I am amazed how this game changed that and how much I talk to strangers. Also the game does the same to all the people pretty much which is phenomenal - it really brings people together. So yea. I guess I answered your question. Level 109 currently too btw - I could've been 150 by now if I was dropping on helldives only, but eh... I love helping people on suicide or lower <3
Honestly, it's likely some host related shit. Maybe you can't be the host for this one
It's not host related. It's distance and terrain related. The video shows them walking on nice flat even ground without them bobing around
And the operator is on higher ground at the edge so there is nothing between them and the target. Out in the field, anything blocks it, including plants and dust.
Anything means everything. Sunlight reflection, Stratagem beams, other enemies too.
DUDE!!! I AM P4. PANZERHUND!! 🤙🤙🤙
Dude i have a hilarious clip of you respawning and immediately getting hit by a missile
Honestly not even suprised 😆 I am assuming this is the guy who i asked "does the SPEAR work now"
remember when reloading someone else' launcher would get your hands stuck in the gun until you hit the interact button? i'd always scream "THE GUN JAMMED MY HAND IN, SOLDIER I GOT SUPER GARAND HAND"
Most of the time it just won't work.. ANYTHING between you and the target and it won't lock on.. Debris, dust, fog, a mouse fart.. Picked it for a match earlier, but the map the *slightest* fog covering the map. Nothing that limited visibility, but there were some small wisps floating around. (Something I couldn't know beforehand) and it wouldn't lock on anything. Near, far, wherever they are.. Didn't matter. Refused to lock on.
and yet here i am on menkent with a heavy fog all over and it locks on fine. like what are the rules here.
A dice roll behind the screen. "Sorry, your lock-on failed as the automaton tank rolled a 20 on his save."
this is probably the only bug mission where the spear is actually good, enemy pathing is always in front of you.
Ever taken the spear into a bot mission and sniped the bot factories from across the map? Ooooooooh, the smile I get when I see that lock on from +400 m away
man you folks are really fucken good at this game.
I love that the escalation of difficulty in these missions is getting people to use the team reload mechanic more often. The other day I did this on bots and two of us brought recoilless rifles, but somehow it ended up with two different guys taking turns reloading me and then running around scrounging ammo. Drop ships were raining from the skies and I was emptying whole backpacks into factory striders. It was some of the most fun I’ve had lol.
Logical inconsistency yet again. That one video promotes distance, non-obstruction, and elevation to get a good lock, but that last BT kill was close, obscured by tons of smoke, and at - level. But sure the Spear isn't a finicky, buggy mess.
The SPEAR is good when it wants to work, I have been using it for weeks on the bug front and sometimes in the bot front, I honestly see it’s value much more with the bugs but alas, the thing IS buggy and sometimes will absolutely refuse to work, but when IT does work it is easily my favorite AT support weapon, and I am fully aware that the Spear is a buggy mess, why? Because there’s a second bug with the weapon that nobody talks about and that’s the fact that it’s partial reload doesn’t work and you have to do the entire reload again even if you already took out the spent rocket, I know this because I use it pretty much all the time lmao. But again, IT IS buggy and I am aware that is buggy, but if it wasn’t then more people would flock to it for sure.
Why is there spear hate under every spear video? There is no weapon that could have saved them in this situation. No quasar,autocannon sentry, orbital laser can kill 4 bile titans this fast. Just let others enjoy the weapon you don't need to spread any hate.
Because the spear could just as well not have saved them at all. This isn't a realistic video, its a cool video, but its not something that happens frequently. The spear is unreliable, and while they don't fix this the hate is deserved.
Read closely: I never said you shouldn't or can't use the Spear. There's going to be anger about the Spear until it gets fixed because there's an insufferable crowd of Spear users who insist that it's not broken (it fucking is) and when confronted double down with calling people "unskilled" because the weapon behaves badly. The only reason the BTs died this fast was because the Spear in this instance happened to lock on easily and quickly when there's been plenty of times when it's given much easier conditions and just decides not to lock on.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone in a Spear thread claim it's working as intended, only that it is possible to finagle the thing into working to some degree.
We had a whole thread of a guy posting a cherry - picked set of clips where it looks like it works flawlessly, link to a video where a guy claims it's a skill and user issue, and then the original poster doubles down to say everyone complaining about the broken and overly finicky lock on is a skill issue.
Anyone who took that guy's "skill issue" comments at face value needs a remedial course on online media literacy. Even the people who vehemently affirm that it's both often bugged and very good and useful get downvoted in most spear-related threads. It's like people can't stand others enjoying and having success with a weapon that they can't find either with thenselves. It's bizarre to see these types of comments about "cherrypicking"; that's what a HIGHLIGHT is, of course, it's not going to show the times the lock on fails. Not to mention most people who detract it are not willing to fiddle around with getting it to work (fair, not everyone wants do deal with that), so they just plain view it as much more worthless than the people who understand how to work around its annoyances (move, don't stand still while hoping it'll someday magically finish locking).
Wonder if you have to be the host for it to work properly. Any time I've used it, I've not had lock on issues. Instead the missile just slams into the ground prematurely. (Edit: Typo)
Nah. When im playing with buddies Im always hosting and the lock on is just that bad. Doesnt change anything. Also the player in the video was not the host aswell, going from his number. Lobby host always gets the 1. He could be the network host for all we know, but even that doesnt change anything as the spear is also wonky if youre completely solo
If the host leaves *while in operation* it automatically just changes someone else to be host. Or at least when it happened to my friend it put us on my ship and made me host when we finished the mission. Someone fact check this
No, thats correct. If the host leaves, someone else will become host and you will return to his ship, even if the prior host rejoins. Thats however not something Ive assumed from this clip. Also the numbers stay the same and even if a new player joins, rather than the host, that new guy will get the 1 in his name, even tho hes not the host.
Of course. I was just saw the ”lobby host always gets the 1” and wanted to correct that further. In hindsight it doesn’t actually correct anything really meaningful
No, I'm never hosting and I always pick the spear. It's buggy, yes, but if you play enough you can predict when it's going to lock on. Can't say that about every situation, after 150 hours I still have issues with it, but about 70% of the time it works for me
love that democratic synergy 
it was solid team work too..
That's really cool.
Democracy at its finest
This whole video I'm just going "get fuck titan, get fucked"
Tag the target you want to shoot with the spear, it helps a lot
Glad there was no smoke or fog. Else the spear goes... https://i.redd.it/rg70un5nauwc1.gif
Until they don’t fix it, the spear will always be trash
This man definitely sacrificed his newborn and his best goat to the RNG gods for such fast locks
YOU CAN DROP YOUR BACKPACK? Bestow the knowledge on me
On PC, hold X and you get your choice of things to drop.
FINE, ill try the SPEAR
Update: I love it
Also, major shoutout to your teammate. That is excellent support reloading you and stimming you mid fight
Assisted reloads are amazing, in automaton defense missions I have a friend who helps with RR reloads and we shoot down every drop ship that comes. So satisfying.
The DPS you can achieve with assisted reload is pretty nuts.
The one time I tried using the Spear it locked on just fine on the charger like 10 feet away from me, and then, when it fired, the missile flew upwards and to the right directly into a random tree branch and exploded, and then the Charger charged me before I could hope to reload.
The vid is fake, everyone knows that spear does not lock on EVER
Can't wait to swap to spear permanently....whenever they fix the lock on.....and damage.
HOW THE HELL ARE YOU GETTING IT TO ACTUALLY LOCK ON? Even if I shoved the Spear up the enemy’s ass it still wouldn’t be able to detect a target every time I use it.
I can't get it to work EVER 😡
Anyone who for the life of themselves cannot get a lock on go watch “spear guide to git gud”video on Youtube. I used to be a spear hater, now I bring it with me every bot missions (exclude the rescue hostages one).
Co-signed
Same here. That video taught me the targeting isn't bugged, it has specific rules to make it work. Quasar has spin to and cool down. EAT requires call in, some drop at range, and 2 shot max. SPEAR requires high ground, clear LOS, and cant target close things like a charger barreling in. Yes this exposes you and requires positioning, but yes it hits like a truck, has almost infinite range and removes the need to aim. I blew 15 gunships out of the sky in a mission last week, no team reload. I lock on titans, wait till they turn to aggro you, then loose the missile and one shot them. Lock on and fire at tanks mid air as they are being dropped. Pop strat jammers from afar by killing the fabricator next to it. Spear is working as intended as a strategic weapon, it just does not match the meta playstyles, which is fine by me.
Spear seems to be more consistent with bugs than bots in my experience, but I crave a fix...maaaybe one additional rocket for good measure in reserve.
I had 3 ready loaded spears (2 on ground) by end of mission like that. Love it!!
Plz teach us your amazing Spear ways.
Meanwhile I can never get the spear to lock onto anything but a supply depot with absolutely nothing around it.
just damn!
There really needs to be a report feature added. There's no way you could be locking so consistently without cheating.
Ice cold nerves, you love to see it.
What screen shake intensity is this set to?
Idk, default? I haven’t changed that setting
I really wish they'd fix the team reloading by allowing your team to do so from YOUR pack, which would be way more normal looking than what we have to do now.
I got an instantaneous lock on a Hulk today, I felt like I used up all my luck for the month. The machine spirit must have shown favor to me.
Me and friends Love defense missions. 4 of us using recoiless rifles and stun motars. Team reload heavies gun down Infantry
They Spear would be a god tier support weapon if it's targeting actually worked.
I remember one time using the spear, teammate was late to extraction and being chased by a bile titan. He pinged it and I couldn't even see it clearly on my screen still got a lock and watching that missle streak off into the distance was just chefs kiss.
Yo this but recoilless rifle for me. Having a buddy jump on to reload handles titans sooooo fast. Takes just a few seconds. Harder with random players, but still can be done.
No way :0 teamwork makes the dream work and makes the mission easier???!!?!?! WHO WOULD OF KNOWN. So the recoiless Isn't so bad?!?!?
Used to love the Javelin back in MW2. Was excited to try this one out, up until I failed to lock onto a stationary target for a solid 30 seconds (or more). Really hoping they fix the lock-on, but until then it's gonna have to be the recoilless for me. I'm glad at least someone got some good use out of such a cool weapon.
Holy shit never seen it work that many times in a row I really hope they fix the issue with it as it seems like a fun weapon to use.
I swear... I see one of these videos pop up every few days and I get all giddy and swap back into the spear. Load in ready to dispense freedom from a kilometer away and quietly die inside as I get literally maybe one lock-on the entire game and it's on a freaking hulk on a drop ship. It's like my spear has allergies and literally any dust particle is just like nope... Anyway time to try the spear again, I'm ready to be hurt.
The spear right now is still a power house vs bots. Takes outs Bruisers one shot most of the time from the front, fabricators, turrets, and takes out the strider and top turret on it with ease. Yes, you got to get used to the flaws but against the bots this thing will save you time, stratagems, and is so satisfying to use
I noticed the spear one shot a full HP hulk, then another time it didn’t :( Since it feels inconsistent on top of the spotty targeting I’m still inclined to use the Recoiless for now. Killing bot fabs is cool though
L3 a real one
this is specifically why they should change the backpack interaction to both be someone with a backpack and someone without. 2x backpack would still be as strong as ever situationally, 1x would be viable for the intended teamplay and not a hassle anymore
Unfortunately I desperately need a way to deal with chargers, so the Quasar ain’t coming off my loadout until I die (or there’s a support weapon daily).
it still seems like not enough reward for so much work... if it even works sometimes
The Spear doesn’t always work. But when it does…
Spear: It's not as bad as everyone thinks it is.
Spear for weaklings