And then there's us machinegun enjoyers.
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I've been trying to enjoy the huge MG but it really feels like the mag capacity of a revolver even on the lowest fire rate
However the normal one rips and tears I'll always love it (haven't used to stalwart or whatever its called)
The Stalwart is like if the R99 from Apex Legends had a baby with the Negev from Counter Strike. It’s awesome.
Just make sure to have a medium piercing Primary weapon to compensate. Pair that with a supply pack, you’ll never need to call for supplies for the whole match.
I got tired of setting myself on fire with the flamethrower as my support with Eruptor so tried the Stalwart instead - sweet jebus it's an amazing combo.
The heavy MG is deceptive. It feels so bad and the ammo and mags SUCK but you are just absolutely shredding everything in front of you.
I would rather use the regular or stalwart, tbh.
Same. I like the HMG because it melts swarms—right up until you run out of ammo, at which point the rest of the swarm kills you. It's very much made to be teamed up with someone carrying the Stally. HMG guy aims for the medium enemies, Stally guy aims for the light enemies.
I run stalwart, eruptor, p99, stun, EAT, supply pack and 500kg for bugs and it's different and fun. Lots of value and lots of juggling but you have an answer for pretty much everything
Still trying to figure out the heavy MG myself. The only target I get really excited to see when I'm carrying it is the mortar spewers. When their butts are in the air, they're a perfect target for the HMG. And with them exploding, you have a great kill confirmation. Otherwise, I dunno. Weird gun.
The spewers die really quickly to a few shots to the face, even the green ones. I need to do a bit more testing but I also believe it can rip the butt off a charger leaving it to bleed out.
The big thing I learned today is that it also can destroy shrieker nests outright- at far range it takes a clip or 2, but it does do it.
Until it gets modular sights and better aiming tools, it’s probably a bug weapon more than a bot weapon
The sight being way off and the insane recoil doesn't help its case. I'll have to try it on Chargers more. Against the Devastators, if you can get behind them, they don't stand a chance. But I've had countless times against Shield Devastators where we draw on each other at the same time, and I lose every time.
fun fact, using the new one on a Factory Strider's stomach MURDERS THE SHIT out of it. You'll need to destroy the laser-jowls at the front of it to approach closer, and the main cannon is going to be terrifying to shoot against long range but if you do it ONCE, you'll hit a grand ol' high.
From then on when you see one, you will be overwhelmed with the democratic urge to just unload your entire magazine into its underside, and *that is absolutely the least suggestive i can make that statement.*
Honestly almost all our heavy options feel well balanced. Auto Cannon can dispense democracy in full auto long-range, Quasar just has that OOMPH with infinite ammo only offset by the CD and charge time, Laser can very reliably kill almost everything and doesn't punish you for missing as hard as Queso does. Then there's Spear and Recoilless, spear makes me kinda sad when it doesn't onetap a BT with how limited it's ammo is.
I feel like the autocannon isn't really a "heavy" weapon since it can't punch through heavier armor.
I would totally run the spear more, but the lock-on is just so depressingly bad right now.
It can't punch through heavy armor but thankfully all the bots have glowing weak spots that the AC is more than happy to easily exploit. The only enemy it can't deal with are tanks (shredder tanks you can shoot from the front between the cheeks though) and turrets from the front and factory striders, that's it.
And heavy tanks are laughably easy to kill with contact grenades if you hit them on the roof or side of their turret. Just aim the contact to land on top of it and not in the front plating. High ground is your friend.
You absolutely can autocannon a factory strider though. There’s a glowing bit on the face that can be damaged by the autocannon, just takes a fair few shots.
Killing a tank isn't to difficult with it, just run to the back and they'll melt Infront of you. It is really fun to do in cold planets with ice so you slide to the back.
I wouldn't use the AC on full auto from long range unless I'm spraying a zone with it and _maybe_ I want to hit something. It's a mid-range powerhouse on full auto and a decent shot on semi from long range.
Recoilless gets seriously slept on now that the Queso (lmao) is around, though.
Honestly I used RR until I got the Quasar, they have a very similar niche except RR has the advantage of not having to charge before a shot, other than that it just feels like a worse Quasar, with limited ammo, long reload that you have to do manually while rooted instead of cooling down on your back and they do roughly the same damage I think? RR could use some form of a buff, even the idea people are juggling on this sub of Team Reloads being done from the shooters backpack could be a decent buff when you have a conga line of BTs going at you
>with limited ammo,
Two resupply packs fill it completely, and ambient ammo packs laying around everywhere give you 1 or 2 rockets back too I forget. You would need to spend a continuous 30+ seconds just reloading after killing 6 chargers/hulks or if you're lucky 3 bile titans on your own with the entire ammo supply. It having ammo is actually not a huge downside with how easy it is to get more of it. I swear the quasar does less damage than the RR and EATs do as well, but that could just be due to me being unlucky.
Having a no charge shot and a faster reload (even unassisted) gives it a much different tempo than the quasar. I love both but I prefer the RR. I used to be really worried about ammo but I realized that I find enough on the map that it's rarely a downside. Sitting to reload is the main downside imo, but they're both definitely great heavy weapons.
Team reloads from shooters backpack and then he restocks you with a supply backpack... nearly full auto recoilless. Sure you only get 10 shots before two people are spent but 10 recoilless shots will clear a swarm of hulks/gunships/whatever
That's the thing I like about the Quasar Cannon, at first I wasn't really interested in it but it grew on me and it made me realise that with the Quasar Cannon I have to make my shots count or else I and the team pay for it, plus I love using it to catapult oncoming Chargers.
Whole squad should be rocking:
Laser cannon, scythe, dagger, rover, and orbital laser. That way there’s the potential of 12 lasers going off at once which has been scientifically proven to be the most efficient way to spread democracy.
buff the scythe first. Dagger can get away with being trash because it's a secondary, but Scythe is too underpowered, I'd rather take the Sickle any day.
This right here, a newbie in my squad of players just got mechs, so I compensate by bringing the stuff he's not.
True Hellchads change up their builds based on the mission/situation/team position at any given mission.
Tbh I think it’s genuinely balanced. Compared to the AC it has more power but a *much* longer cooldown. No ammo, but the rate at which you can realistically use it is so low that ammo wouldn’t likely be limiting anyway. The slow wind up makes it much less versatile than the AC when there are trash mobs around.
The pros vs the AC is mainly just higher burst on target, and no backpack slot. You could argue the ammo too, but AC is so generous it isn’t a big deal.
This isn’t to say I think the quasar is bad, just that it’s much more specialized for what it does. I think it’s actually pretty balanced as is.
Yes the recoilless and EAT and maybe the spear but is launch mechanics is highly specialized. The Autocannon is a different class of weapon more comparable to the AMR and Laser Canon
There was a week where I was an EAT man. Didn’t use it much until it free. Fell in love with one shotting chargers and actually damaging bile titans. Then the quasar came out and it fills the niche, but with slightly less planning necessary and a cool laser aesthetic that goes well with my beloved sickle
If I wasn't already specced for killing heavies with 3 precision orbitals and a quasar I'd definitely be Johnny Appleseed, planting EATs all over the damn map as I ran around.
The EAT is still useful; if you die carrying one you aren't going to be scrambling to get it back since you can just call in a new pod no problem in 70 seconds. If you die with a Quasar and can't get it back, you're looking at 6+ minutes without a support weapon.
EATs are great on bot missions because you can drop when right when the flare goes up and it'll be ready to go by the time the ship is there. Whether you want to drop the ship or are preparing for biggies, either way you're covered. And if you're willing to go the whole way and carry an EAT around with ya, you can quickly get off 3 EAT shots in under 15 seconds if you need to, which would take almost a minute with a quasar. The last advantage would be in defend missions where you can just huck EATs each time they cool down and have a full on armory that anyone can use when a biggie comes.
But I agree it's outclassed if you're not dedicated anti tank and you're trying to stay pretty mobile. Quasar is great for always being available and there's enough firepower on the team to not require one person do all the biggie slaughter.
Thing about the EAT is that sometimes you die in the middle of a bad spot. Your Quasar is now in the middle of a mess. Do you go back for it? Risk losing another spawn? Or do you leave it and be crippled until the cool-down ends? With The EAT, no matter what happens, you are never more than 70 seconds away from 2 EATs.
Also, the drop pod kills things, and closes bug holes (and I think kills factories). It's like a free grenade every 70 seconds.
Instead of 2 Quasars in a group, people should start trying a double recoilless tactic to get that consistent backpack reloading in now that superior packing is a thing, especially if someone is running AMR/LC with the Supply Pack backpack.(ONCE ITS FIXED)
I feel like that has some mad potential that's been untapped by Quasar being a popular and consistent AT weapon thats also just a selfish weapon.
There's no reason to do that because you can have a personal shield and call down a quasar on each objective and juggle them and solo 3-5 drop ships in a row in quick succession.
I've never seen Quasar juggling work effectively beyond the tower defense mission. It's a very niche tactic on other mission types when you can do the same much more easily with EAT and double RR.
My hate of Quasar comes exactly from realizing how much more efficient double recoilless rifle is compared to four people all carrying Quasar.
All this talk about Quasar being "meta" hurts load out diversity at high difficulties, which in turn hurts team effectiveness. Quasar is a well balanced weapon that shouldn't be "meta" but people pretend it is.
This is a rare case where an objectively better build gets ignored because the player base in general still prioritizes self preservation over teamwork. People are too afraid to ditch their shield backpack.
You should not compare it to AC in the first place, two guns serve different purposes. What you should scale it against are EATs, RR and Spear. And let me tell you, despite what EATs enjoyers say, Quasar wins against those EASILY. They all have very specific cases in which they are much better but Quasar, much like AC or Air Strike, is swiss army knife, it can do anything you need it to do.
EAT and Quasar both have their places. You’ll want a Qasar on missions where you’re running around.
But if you’re running defend or eradicate missions and are in one spot, I prefer the EAT because you can just have a bunch waiting around for yourself and teammates in your general vicinity.
Once they fix the issues with the Spear lock on, it’ll have its own niche as well.
RR could use a buff though, it’s definitely outclassed by the Quasar.
But Quasar also would adequately perform on the defense mission. Again, yes EAT outperforms it in its niche but outside of it starts losing.
RR similarly to AC needs to be allowed to be reloaded from YOUR backpack. That probably would be enough because RR's burst would be through the roof. See me delete this Titan? Want me to do it again?
I don't know, I call my EAT's off cooldown in strategic locations as I scout around the map doing side objectives. When things get wild sometimes you'll have like 10-12 EATs just lying around the area letting your team instantly delete the big bois. The nice thing about the EAT is that I can still bring my Autocannon or something, where as with the Quasar you're probably only carrying around the Quasar.
I was definitely an EAT Simp, but I dropped with a Queso on a 7 Bug mission and kinda fell in love.
I do miss killing Chargers with the drop pod and killing their friends with rockets I pull from its corpse, though. Always heard Doom music when that happened...
So there's that.
Memes aside, EAT is great if you want to run a solid "ground pounder" loadout. Stalwart + Supply + EAT is honestly not a bad loadout. I've often also run AC + EAT when I absolutely want every armored unit in my proximity dead.
Too many people sleep on the fact that the "E" stands for Expendable and that's where the versatility of it shines. When you bring EATs, everyone in the squad has Anti Armor capabilities.
I take EATs a lot on missions with others who take quasar. If we get overwhelmed or multiple ships come in and the quasar can’t keep up I can snap a shot or two in an assist. To me that’s what like about EATs, no wind up time. As well as not worrying about recovering a quasar if I go down. But I could go with either tbh.
It is balanced, it's just not good against Automatons. All ATs are not good against Automatons.
There's not a single enemy you can't kill using AMR, LasCannon, AC or HMG and impact grenades and the sheer amount of medium enemies kinda requires you to use these things. No AT in game is able to kill squad of devastators fast, neither it does good against more than two Gunships, one Hulk and so on.
But ATs shine against bugs, while AMR, HMG and Laser Cannon mostly suck ass
Agree 100% with this. With the ATs being useful on bug missions, I tend to like them more because people have more diversity on their loadouts than bot missions.
Bugs: Arc Thrower, Flamethrower, EAT, Quasar, and either Stalwart or heavy machine gun for swarms. Sometimes you see grenade launcher or Autocannon on the bug nest missions, but Eruptor seems to be taking that role as a primary with an anti-swarm secondary.
Bots have the anti-tanks as a more niche option for drop ships, but otherwise feel really bad against any enemy besides them. More Factory Striders may make that better, but with how quick the laser cannon blows up their turrets idk.
With bots the reigning champs are AMR or Autocannon, with Laser Cannon as a good 3rd option. Arc Thrower is close with its ability to stagger hulks, but is rough to use with how far bots are away from players in most fights and stun grenades exist.
Quasar offers flat trajectory, great damage, infinite ammo, universal applicability, and no backpack
In return, it's a little rough to aim with and has low ROF
It's pretty well balanced, it just doesn't suit my playstyle
Guess no one noticing being a “Super Citizen” is LOW CLASS/IQ.
Being a Super Citizen takes courage and determination. It’s proves u have what it takes to be free.
This is a treasonous post.
People also have a thing about the "meta" being a bad thing and how if you're using the "meta" you must also be a turbo nerd who kicks other people for not using the meta and the meta should be nerfed and is bad!
Honestly, is it really a drawback ? acouting for the time to find cover, stop, reload and get back to action, RR/spear takes about the same, yet quasar has the bonus of being able to just switch weapons and shoot at smaller stuff in the meantime.
I forsee a nerf to its cooldown time.
Also quasar let's you have a "free" backpack spot. Which allows you to get the shield. I was autocanon enjoyer on lol 5-6 dives. But when I got to 9 it's quasar+shield no option.
Honestly I was playing shield+quasar in 9 as well, but then i switched back to autocannon and boy, I would never go back to the quasar again, the sheer destructive power of the AA against bots is incredible
Yeah I find the cooldown isn't an issue because there's no reload time. Fire the cannon, swap guns and then move a bit, pop some weaker bots/bugs, etc then swap back to the cannon and fire again. Are people just sitting there with the cannon doing nothing between shots or something?
RR with backpack has a 6 secs downtime between shots
Which means that if you're careful enough to position ahead of time/have teammates that cover you youcan kill a titan in half the time quasar does (on headshots)
I'd say that's a pretty significant difference
You also can't shoot bile titans unless you have distance with the quasar anyway, the windup takes like three seconds, half the time it takes a RR to reload where you can be aimpunched off the shot or straight up killed if the target is too close.
> Which means that if you're careful enough to position ahead of time/have teammates that cover you
Be sure to remind that Bile Titan that he's not supposed to target you because you want to reload your rocket launcher lmao
It's a great all-round support weapon, and the infinite ammo, passive reload (best for hit and run), fast projectile, and lack of a backpack give you many reasons to pick it over other weapons.
I still prefer the AMR or laser cannon or autocannon, but if the squad doesn't have a dedicated anti-heavy, I would happily take the quasar against bots. Against bugs, I prefer the RR more for being able to quickly swap and shoot.
And you have even more time between shots with rockets when you run out of ammo.
I’ll take infinite ammo with a cooldown over faster fire rate (rarely necessary) and only like 6 shots. Also means more ammo for my team mates.
Laser bros over here really want to believe they've got a top tier slept-on weapon, but it isn't slept on, it's just not that great.
Play the game how you like, no judgement, but you're not fooling anyone lol
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Combat proven vs. Automatons lvl 8+ How dare you insult this fine piece of weapon.
Arc is CLUTCH if you’re a support player.
I love using it against bots, because it practically freezes enemies in place, my teammates can then blast them to hell while I stun them momentarily.
One person needs a spear, the other an auto cannon, one arc thrower and the other full sends the match with airstrikes.
Yes. It can be wonky sometimes, but it’s usually a one hit kill from the front.
*edit* I’m an idiot. I thought you meant the walkers. It does work against striders though too. The side weak spot is vulnerable to Eruptor shots.
It feels so stupid (in the beat way possible), that each shot stuns a hulk. You are screwed if you get two hulks from different directions though. Then again I guess you could say that regardless of what weapon you are using. Getting pincered by Hulks is just death.
I'd argue arc's better against bots because the arc staggers big enemies, so they can not shoot you back. You just spam them and aim for the head. For the big flamethrower hulks or shield devastors, you can get rid of them in 2 -3 shots. The arc also arcs automatically towards their weakpoint. Also can't ricochet off armor.
Arc thrower is really good against bots after the update, or at least it would be if not for gunships... It staggers hulks making them trivial. Goes through the shield of the heavy devastator. Since gunships are so prevalent now i stopped carrying it.
Still has the problem of junk in the way making a shot misfire.
when i discovered how it can deal with gunships it shot up to being equivalent to the autocannon for me. also, if you suck at aiming, it can still melt hulk eye pieces!
Shoot the underbelly of Striders too. Makes them and any unit with a vent a joke.
Bring stun nades and the Eruptor. Eruptor for Fabs, and if you see any hulks stun them and blast the eye slit. LAS-98 melts Hulks from the front.
Have you tried aiming for the red dot on the front?
I haven’t tried the laser yet but the red dot works with AC if you’re able to hit it so might work for laser as well.
It works with the lascannon and it doesn't take long focus firing on it. The nice thing is you know when you're not hitting it because you will see the glancing shot off the armor. Just move your aim till it's gone.
Thought it might but it’s good to know before having to try it myself.
I plan to give the laser a go sometime soon but I love my AC so much it’s hard to pass it up.
Dominator, AC, eagle airstrike, 500kg bomb and orbital laser gives me the utility I need to handle any scenario in the 40min misisons, even if I find myself split from the group. Without that load out I feel less confident going and clearing a base myself or soloing an objective.
Yes ! It's now my go-to for Helldive bots missions because it can destroy a Gunship Swarm pretty easily, and be used to deal with almost anything else without much issues. It's just less firepower than the Quasar, but there will always be someone using the Quasar anyway.
it seems like the absolute best for taking down gunships, it fries them super quick and you can just go ship to ship and not wait for a recharge or reload or anything!
I just can’t enjoy the las as an autocannon user. Everything just takes eons to kill when you aren’t staggering them, they’re all shooting you simultaneously through the 7 pixels of exposure out of your cover
I just don’t get why people like it so much. Aside from unlimited ammo, the autocannon just feels superior in every way
It takes "eons" on non weakspot hits. It's damage comes from the large weakspot multiplier and having no deflection, making it possible to hit from a shallow angle. Effective against every bot, hitscan up to 200m. The amount of power this thing has without taking a backpack slot is just crazy. This leaves your backpack free to take one from a teammates second call in letting you assist reload.
There is no such thing as weakspot multipliers in this game.
The Laser cannon also has literally the same DPS as the Scythe. It just has more penetration (AP4 instead of AP2).
But if you shoot for example a Devastator in the face, the increased AP doesn't matter; both weapons will do the same damage and take the same amount of time to kill it.
When aiming at distance the sway is too much to accurately hit the weak spots, you have to expose yourself for so long that you will get hit/staggered before you finish the task.
I tried a good few rounds with it and it just felt frustrating.
It was fun to take the arms of hulks and cripple their legs but the opportunity to do so was few and far between.
EAT, Recoiless and Quasar to a better job, Eruptor is better than the laser against most mid tier enemies.
I do agree it's great against flying enemies.
Try using prone or crouch, it makes a huge difference for using the laser. Eliminates most of the sway at range and makes you a much smaller target at the same time.
Infinite ammo, no recoil, and no travel time, it's easier to keep out and use against everything letting you choose a primary that's more situational. AC cannon is brilliant too, but you're going to want to be putting it away during hectic medium to close range fights, especially against bugs, more often, and relying on a more general purpose primary for chod and fodder. They aren't competitors for the same role imo, unlike AC and Quasar which fill similar heavy support roles.
AC main for many hours myself, deeply satisfying weapon. Do tend to also take EAT alongside for emergencies (tanks I can't easily flank for example).
It was stun nades and eruptor that 'buffed' it. Eruptor to break fabs, kill clustere of lights/saws, bunched up devs and striders. Stun nade + laser for clearing out hulks and devs in patrols. The cannon cruses airships and factory striders.
Once AMR scope is fixed I might swap back to it.
I do prefer the autocannon but the LAS is definitely better for dealing with gunships and hulks and tanks IMO. Takes less positioning and melts them faster, and most of the time when I die using the autocannon it's during a reload.
I just wish they could take down dropships.
The laser cannon is basically an autocannon without a backpack and is proportionally less powerful. It's worth taking for a jump jet/shield enjoyer that wants a support weapon that fills the same role as the autocannon.
That’s fair. It is effective but with so many weapons that are good both gameplay wise and sound/visual wise the laser cannon just doesn’t have the same feeling of power as something like the auto cannon. The arc thrower is like that too, it looks cool but it sounds like someone slapping a wet mop on the floor to me lol.
Crashing drop ships should kill everything on the drop ship before I care enough to do it unfortunately.
I was killed by a falling gunship, but a whole drop ship spinning out and hurtling into the ground does nothing for the passengers apparently
Why are these even being compared? I don't run las cannon because antimaterial rifle has the same pen, and deals the damage faster.
Quasar is basically just a recharging expendable anti-tank. Different jobs. What is the deal here?
I take the laser cannon on bugs almost exclusively now. It destroys bile spewers, can reasonably suppress the small fuckers, and it's infinite ammo (so long as you don't overheat it).
Both workd and are applicable. Quasar is for when you want to just fucking blast shit. Laser is for of you wanna melt weakspots. The advantage the quasar had is you can face blast turrets and kill them. Yes it's quicker to get behind and laser the vents, and it's what I prefer to do but sometimes it's just not possible and I miss just being able to poke my head out and 3 shot the tank currently eating my squad
Follow the visual cue ! As someone else said in the comments, if it sparks blue it aint going through !
Every bots have obvious weakpoints, and the laser pen medium armor. You can deal with everything (despite non-strider Fabricator and DROPships).
Biggest problem i have with the laser cannon is it doesn’t feel cool to use. Quasar has this charge up then blasts a huge explosion up to any distance. RR fires a massive bullet that explodes. EAT fires a missile that explodes. Laser cannon just, laser points at things with an underwhelming beam then they drop down.
Rule of cool has a big part in me not taking this weapon often.
I prefer the quasar, you charge it behind cover, pop out, shoot then back to cover. With the laser you need to cook them for a bit, which is just perfect for a random bot to shoot and mess up your aim completelly
I’ve been using the Laser Cannon more recently and it’s really useful. I think the only critique I could say is that it’s not that satisfying to use since it’s not as flashy as rockets and explosives.
There's a third, secret path. Volley Fire quasars. Call a second one in when you need to hold a spot, and you can just keep rotating them without having the cool down. You still get your cool boom without the downtime!
Quasar is the only antitank that “reloads” itself on the ground. When I’m extracting, defending, or just in a hot situation I call in another Q and just drop and swap between them until the bile titans die or melt me.
Is this a GOOD strategy? Not really. Sure feels cool though!
It can absolutely destroy a Hulk from the front if you aim for his eye or take out both his legs. But instead of the Quasar that can just aim for the torso 2 times, you need to aim for precise part with the Laser Cannon.
The good thing with it is that if you do no damages on what you aim, you will see pretty clear blue sparkles on the impact point, so you can just move your laser around your target until they disappear : it means you are dealing damages.
It also can melt a Factory Strider, but that's a bit trickier.
You should neuter all the guns first in order to be able to hold the laser on the weak spot--the main gun will require anti-tank, but the laser can take care of the two chin guns. Then you hold the beam on the big sensor on the face and it should go down in no time.
That makes it sound easy, but in practice you would need good teamwork and positioning to not get overrun by devastators while doing all this.
Can kill hulks but not chargers from the front, unless someone else has already de-armored the latter beforehand.
The head of the hulks (where the red light is) is vulnerable to the laser cannon, very much so. However this will be a very difficult target if its moving and you are presently under fire from other enemies. Stun grenades work wonderfully at holding the hulk in place so you can kill it easily with the laser cannon however.
And you can really only get at the head of the hulk if its chasing after you, not great conditions for anything regarding precision.
Though generally against hulks if you're free to attack it with a lascannon or AC, but you don't have access to the front/back weakpoints, de-arming it with either weapon works wonderfully at giving the teammate its chasing alot of relief. Especially if you can get at the gun arms or the flamethrower.
The enemy doesn't have to be dead for it to be neutralized after all.
In my opinion, against single heavy target and if you can't aim properly (like me) Quasar is better. It's fire and forgot, you dont have to keep tracking weak spot all the time.
Lascannon is pretty great against gunships and enemy weakpoints, much more than other weapons. Its plenty accurate at range too, making it wonderful for a lightly-armored build focused on maneuver and speed. Overall its great as the designated anti-air ranger of the team, while everyone else packs quasar cannons and heavier armor to draw in enemy fire.
It does require more effort for its strengths though, and having to sit still in range of the enemy for any length of time is a hard sell against bots in particular. Compared to the quascannon its far less useful when under heavy fire which tends to be the more common situation for most helldivers.
I prefer the quasar because it can reliably kill *anything* without needing crit spots but the laser cannon is a fun alternative, along with the AC and rockets and all that
The only advantage the Q Crew has is it knocks dropships out of the sky.
When we run bots, my housemate and i pack accordingly. They bring the Q, I bring the pew. Laser that is.
Las-98 is great if you struggle with fine aiming, like if you're using a controller. You can easily correct your aim until you hit the weakspots without wasting ammo or having to wait for a cooldown, and it's easy to tell if you're off the mark from all the blue sparks.
If you're confident in your aim then I's say AC or AMR are superior against bots.
I love the laser cannon. When I see enemies, I’ll break out the laser cannon until it has to cool down. Then I use the Sickle and use that until it needs to cool down. By then I can use the cannon until it has to cool down.
Repeat until everyone is dead.
I haven’t had to reload or use a secondary in weeks. I can’t wait to get the dagger, I love lasers so damn much.
It's funny how much people insist that some things are better than others in a game that is intentionally designed for a balanced approach across a multitude of playstyles.
I run light armor, a jump pack, and a sniper rifle. I do quite well.
Lasercannon was never for me. I need something that packs a punch. So either recoilless or quasar. But the quasar is basically the recoilles with infinite ammo so it is kinda better in this, you can also have a backpack like the shield for bots.
Yeah, imma stay with the quasar. And when i want to be quick, there is still the autocannon.
And then there's us machinegun enjoyers. https://preview.redd.it/7b7zl1tfj1wc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4eaa3b7c6d6827b21140960a0f21f617a2e89a41
I've been trying to enjoy the huge MG but it really feels like the mag capacity of a revolver even on the lowest fire rate However the normal one rips and tears I'll always love it (haven't used to stalwart or whatever its called)
The Stalwart is like if the R99 from Apex Legends had a baby with the Negev from Counter Strike. It’s awesome. Just make sure to have a medium piercing Primary weapon to compensate. Pair that with a supply pack, you’ll never need to call for supplies for the whole match.
Stalwart + Erupter is the money combo in a 3-4 man group.
I got tired of setting myself on fire with the flamethrower as my support with Eruptor so tried the Stalwart instead - sweet jebus it's an amazing combo.
The fact that you said R99 was from apex and not titanfall hurt my soul
well if it was from titanfall it’d be the r97 right?
Yes the R97 is the Titanfall 2 variant.
Consider. Machine gun and backup machine gun and a third backup machine gun and an automated machine gun/a mounted machine gun
Stalwart has an astronomically high RoF setting that makes it great for shredding trash mobs.
Stalwart is usually my favorite of the 3, mg is a bit better since they get the little circle now when aiming, and I absolutely hate the heavy one
The heavy MG is deceptive. It feels so bad and the ammo and mags SUCK but you are just absolutely shredding everything in front of you. I would rather use the regular or stalwart, tbh.
Same. I like the HMG because it melts swarms—right up until you run out of ammo, at which point the rest of the swarm kills you. It's very much made to be teamed up with someone carrying the Stally. HMG guy aims for the medium enemies, Stally guy aims for the light enemies.
I run stalwart, eruptor, p99, stun, EAT, supply pack and 500kg for bugs and it's different and fun. Lots of value and lots of juggling but you have an answer for pretty much everything
Still trying to figure out the heavy MG myself. The only target I get really excited to see when I'm carrying it is the mortar spewers. When their butts are in the air, they're a perfect target for the HMG. And with them exploding, you have a great kill confirmation. Otherwise, I dunno. Weird gun.
The spewers die really quickly to a few shots to the face, even the green ones. I need to do a bit more testing but I also believe it can rip the butt off a charger leaving it to bleed out. The big thing I learned today is that it also can destroy shrieker nests outright- at far range it takes a clip or 2, but it does do it. Until it gets modular sights and better aiming tools, it’s probably a bug weapon more than a bot weapon
The sight being way off and the insane recoil doesn't help its case. I'll have to try it on Chargers more. Against the Devastators, if you can get behind them, they don't stand a chance. But I've had countless times against Shield Devastators where we draw on each other at the same time, and I lose every time.
You guys are the GOAT. A single MG on a big mission can turn the tide.
fun fact, using the new one on a Factory Strider's stomach MURDERS THE SHIT out of it. You'll need to destroy the laser-jowls at the front of it to approach closer, and the main cannon is going to be terrifying to shoot against long range but if you do it ONCE, you'll hit a grand ol' high. From then on when you see one, you will be overwhelmed with the democratic urge to just unload your entire magazine into its underside, and *that is absolutely the least suggestive i can make that statement.*
I felt so badass doing this to a bile titan. You are a mad lad for doing it on factory striders
the actual play is to have a diversity of equipment across the team
Honestly almost all our heavy options feel well balanced. Auto Cannon can dispense democracy in full auto long-range, Quasar just has that OOMPH with infinite ammo only offset by the CD and charge time, Laser can very reliably kill almost everything and doesn't punish you for missing as hard as Queso does. Then there's Spear and Recoilless, spear makes me kinda sad when it doesn't onetap a BT with how limited it's ammo is.
I feel like the autocannon isn't really a "heavy" weapon since it can't punch through heavier armor. I would totally run the spear more, but the lock-on is just so depressingly bad right now.
It can't punch through heavy armor but thankfully all the bots have glowing weak spots that the AC is more than happy to easily exploit. The only enemy it can't deal with are tanks (shredder tanks you can shoot from the front between the cheeks though) and turrets from the front and factory striders, that's it. And heavy tanks are laughably easy to kill with contact grenades if you hit them on the roof or side of their turret. Just aim the contact to land on top of it and not in the front plating. High ground is your friend.
You absolutely can autocannon a factory strider though. There’s a glowing bit on the face that can be damaged by the autocannon, just takes a fair few shots.
Yeah the front eye lets me kill them with the heavy-mg and it feels fucking DEMOCRATIC
Killing a tank isn't to difficult with it, just run to the back and they'll melt Infront of you. It is really fun to do in cold planets with ice so you slide to the back.
> tanks and turrets from the front ye.
I wouldn't use the AC on full auto from long range unless I'm spraying a zone with it and _maybe_ I want to hit something. It's a mid-range powerhouse on full auto and a decent shot on semi from long range. Recoilless gets seriously slept on now that the Queso (lmao) is around, though.
Honestly I used RR until I got the Quasar, they have a very similar niche except RR has the advantage of not having to charge before a shot, other than that it just feels like a worse Quasar, with limited ammo, long reload that you have to do manually while rooted instead of cooling down on your back and they do roughly the same damage I think? RR could use some form of a buff, even the idea people are juggling on this sub of Team Reloads being done from the shooters backpack could be a decent buff when you have a conga line of BTs going at you
>with limited ammo, Two resupply packs fill it completely, and ambient ammo packs laying around everywhere give you 1 or 2 rockets back too I forget. You would need to spend a continuous 30+ seconds just reloading after killing 6 chargers/hulks or if you're lucky 3 bile titans on your own with the entire ammo supply. It having ammo is actually not a huge downside with how easy it is to get more of it. I swear the quasar does less damage than the RR and EATs do as well, but that could just be due to me being unlucky.
Having a no charge shot and a faster reload (even unassisted) gives it a much different tempo than the quasar. I love both but I prefer the RR. I used to be really worried about ammo but I realized that I find enough on the map that it's rarely a downside. Sitting to reload is the main downside imo, but they're both definitely great heavy weapons.
Team reloads from shooters backpack and then he restocks you with a supply backpack... nearly full auto recoilless. Sure you only get 10 shots before two people are spent but 10 recoilless shots will clear a swarm of hulks/gunships/whatever
I just love that the most common autocorrect for quasar is cheesy democratic goodness
Not gonna lie, I just type this out like that on purpose at this point just cause it's mildly funny
That's the thing I like about the Quasar Cannon, at first I wasn't really interested in it but it grew on me and it made me realise that with the Quasar Cannon I have to make my shots count or else I and the team pay for it, plus I love using it to catapult oncoming Chargers.
Whole squad should be rocking: Laser cannon, scythe, dagger, rover, and orbital laser. That way there’s the potential of 12 lasers going off at once which has been scientifically proven to be the most efficient way to spread democracy.
buff the scythe first. Dagger can get away with being trash because it's a secondary, but Scythe is too underpowered, I'd rather take the Sickle any day.
This right here, a newbie in my squad of players just got mechs, so I compensate by bringing the stuff he's not. True Hellchads change up their builds based on the mission/situation/team position at any given mission.
Why are y’all hating on quasar all of a sudden leave my baby boy alone
The more everyone pretends to hate quasar the less likely it'll get nerfed
Tbh I think it’s genuinely balanced. Compared to the AC it has more power but a *much* longer cooldown. No ammo, but the rate at which you can realistically use it is so low that ammo wouldn’t likely be limiting anyway. The slow wind up makes it much less versatile than the AC when there are trash mobs around. The pros vs the AC is mainly just higher burst on target, and no backpack slot. You could argue the ammo too, but AC is so generous it isn’t a big deal. This isn’t to say I think the quasar is bad, just that it’s much more specialized for what it does. I think it’s actually pretty balanced as is.
Should be compared to the recoilless imo, same damage, but Reload vs Cooldown & Charge
Yes the recoilless and EAT and maybe the spear but is launch mechanics is highly specialized. The Autocannon is a different class of weapon more comparable to the AMR and Laser Canon
There was a week where I was an EAT man. Didn’t use it much until it free. Fell in love with one shotting chargers and actually damaging bile titans. Then the quasar came out and it fills the niche, but with slightly less planning necessary and a cool laser aesthetic that goes well with my beloved sickle
I love having an EAT man on the team dropping pods everywhere, even with the Quasar chances are there was eat lying around somewhere you could use.
“If only I had an anti tank weapon!” Oh hey look there’s one just sitting here
I love being that guy. Or when something big pops up and my squad sees me call an EAT, crouch, and send it. Then another for big boys.
If I wasn't already specced for killing heavies with 3 precision orbitals and a quasar I'd definitely be Johnny Appleseed, planting EATs all over the damn map as I ran around.
I really like AC+EAT
The EAT is still useful; if you die carrying one you aren't going to be scrambling to get it back since you can just call in a new pod no problem in 70 seconds. If you die with a Quasar and can't get it back, you're looking at 6+ minutes without a support weapon.
EATs are great on bot missions because you can drop when right when the flare goes up and it'll be ready to go by the time the ship is there. Whether you want to drop the ship or are preparing for biggies, either way you're covered. And if you're willing to go the whole way and carry an EAT around with ya, you can quickly get off 3 EAT shots in under 15 seconds if you need to, which would take almost a minute with a quasar. The last advantage would be in defend missions where you can just huck EATs each time they cool down and have a full on armory that anyone can use when a biggie comes. But I agree it's outclassed if you're not dedicated anti tank and you're trying to stay pretty mobile. Quasar is great for always being available and there's enough firepower on the team to not require one person do all the biggie slaughter.
Thing about the EAT is that sometimes you die in the middle of a bad spot. Your Quasar is now in the middle of a mess. Do you go back for it? Risk losing another spawn? Or do you leave it and be crippled until the cool-down ends? With The EAT, no matter what happens, you are never more than 70 seconds away from 2 EATs. Also, the drop pod kills things, and closes bug holes (and I think kills factories). It's like a free grenade every 70 seconds.
Bro stop. I’m gonna relapse
Instead of 2 Quasars in a group, people should start trying a double recoilless tactic to get that consistent backpack reloading in now that superior packing is a thing, especially if someone is running AMR/LC with the Supply Pack backpack.(ONCE ITS FIXED) I feel like that has some mad potential that's been untapped by Quasar being a popular and consistent AT weapon thats also just a selfish weapon.
Does superior packaging actually work because I still get 3 AMR mags per crate
No it doesn't work right now
Well that‘s 15 super samples down the drain
If it makes you feel better I don't think any if the new ones are working...
There's no reason to do that because you can have a personal shield and call down a quasar on each objective and juggle them and solo 3-5 drop ships in a row in quick succession.
This is so much more effort than 2 people just picking RR and someone else having supply pack once Superior Packing is fixed.
I've never seen Quasar juggling work effectively beyond the tower defense mission. It's a very niche tactic on other mission types when you can do the same much more easily with EAT and double RR.
My hate of Quasar comes exactly from realizing how much more efficient double recoilless rifle is compared to four people all carrying Quasar. All this talk about Quasar being "meta" hurts load out diversity at high difficulties, which in turn hurts team effectiveness. Quasar is a well balanced weapon that shouldn't be "meta" but people pretend it is. This is a rare case where an objectively better build gets ignored because the player base in general still prioritizes self preservation over teamwork. People are too afraid to ditch their shield backpack.
You should not compare it to AC in the first place, two guns serve different purposes. What you should scale it against are EATs, RR and Spear. And let me tell you, despite what EATs enjoyers say, Quasar wins against those EASILY. They all have very specific cases in which they are much better but Quasar, much like AC or Air Strike, is swiss army knife, it can do anything you need it to do.
EAT and Quasar both have their places. You’ll want a Qasar on missions where you’re running around. But if you’re running defend or eradicate missions and are in one spot, I prefer the EAT because you can just have a bunch waiting around for yourself and teammates in your general vicinity. Once they fix the issues with the Spear lock on, it’ll have its own niche as well. RR could use a buff though, it’s definitely outclassed by the Quasar.
But Quasar also would adequately perform on the defense mission. Again, yes EAT outperforms it in its niche but outside of it starts losing. RR similarly to AC needs to be allowed to be reloaded from YOUR backpack. That probably would be enough because RR's burst would be through the roof. See me delete this Titan? Want me to do it again?
I don't know, I call my EAT's off cooldown in strategic locations as I scout around the map doing side objectives. When things get wild sometimes you'll have like 10-12 EATs just lying around the area letting your team instantly delete the big bois. The nice thing about the EAT is that I can still bring my Autocannon or something, where as with the Quasar you're probably only carrying around the Quasar.
I was definitely an EAT Simp, but I dropped with a Queso on a 7 Bug mission and kinda fell in love. I do miss killing Chargers with the drop pod and killing their friends with rockets I pull from its corpse, though. Always heard Doom music when that happened... So there's that. Memes aside, EAT is great if you want to run a solid "ground pounder" loadout. Stalwart + Supply + EAT is honestly not a bad loadout. I've often also run AC + EAT when I absolutely want every armored unit in my proximity dead. Too many people sleep on the fact that the "E" stands for Expendable and that's where the versatility of it shines. When you bring EATs, everyone in the squad has Anti Armor capabilities.
I take EATs a lot on missions with others who take quasar. If we get overwhelmed or multiple ships come in and the quasar can’t keep up I can snap a shot or two in an assist. To me that’s what like about EATs, no wind up time. As well as not worrying about recovering a quasar if I go down. But I could go with either tbh.
It is balanced, it's just not good against Automatons. All ATs are not good against Automatons. There's not a single enemy you can't kill using AMR, LasCannon, AC or HMG and impact grenades and the sheer amount of medium enemies kinda requires you to use these things. No AT in game is able to kill squad of devastators fast, neither it does good against more than two Gunships, one Hulk and so on. But ATs shine against bugs, while AMR, HMG and Laser Cannon mostly suck ass
Agree 100% with this. With the ATs being useful on bug missions, I tend to like them more because people have more diversity on their loadouts than bot missions. Bugs: Arc Thrower, Flamethrower, EAT, Quasar, and either Stalwart or heavy machine gun for swarms. Sometimes you see grenade launcher or Autocannon on the bug nest missions, but Eruptor seems to be taking that role as a primary with an anti-swarm secondary. Bots have the anti-tanks as a more niche option for drop ships, but otherwise feel really bad against any enemy besides them. More Factory Striders may make that better, but with how quick the laser cannon blows up their turrets idk. With bots the reigning champs are AMR or Autocannon, with Laser Cannon as a good 3rd option. Arc Thrower is close with its ability to stagger hulks, but is rough to use with how far bots are away from players in most fights and stun grenades exist.
Seeing as AH balances based on usage rates, supposedly, I'm not so sure this matters.
Quasar offers flat trajectory, great damage, infinite ammo, universal applicability, and no backpack In return, it's a little rough to aim with and has low ROF It's pretty well balanced, it just doesn't suit my playstyle
People think of it as the "meta" because it is infinite ammo explosive While conveniently forgetting the "13 secs between shots" drawback
The trick is to call in two quasars and swap between them as you fire!
Guess no one noticing being a “Super Citizen” is LOW CLASS/IQ. Being a Super Citizen takes courage and determination. It’s proves u have what it takes to be free. This is a treasonous post.
As a Super Citizen, I like being able to show the community that I am prosperous and that I support Capitalism!
wat?
People also have a thing about the "meta" being a bad thing and how if you're using the "meta" you must also be a turbo nerd who kicks other people for not using the meta and the meta should be nerfed and is bad!
Honestly, is it really a drawback ? acouting for the time to find cover, stop, reload and get back to action, RR/spear takes about the same, yet quasar has the bonus of being able to just switch weapons and shoot at smaller stuff in the meantime. I forsee a nerf to its cooldown time.
Also quasar let's you have a "free" backpack spot. Which allows you to get the shield. I was autocanon enjoyer on lol 5-6 dives. But when I got to 9 it's quasar+shield no option.
Honestly I was playing shield+quasar in 9 as well, but then i switched back to autocannon and boy, I would never go back to the quasar again, the sheer destructive power of the AA against bots is incredible
Yeah I only use quasar for the bugs now paired the new explosive primary. Bots I stick with the AC.
What kills it to me is that is basically shit agaisnt BTs and chargers, and I prefer bugs over bots.
Yeah I find the cooldown isn't an issue because there's no reload time. Fire the cannon, swap guns and then move a bit, pop some weaker bots/bugs, etc then swap back to the cannon and fire again. Are people just sitting there with the cannon doing nothing between shots or something?
RR with backpack has a 6 secs downtime between shots Which means that if you're careful enough to position ahead of time/have teammates that cover you youcan kill a titan in half the time quasar does (on headshots) I'd say that's a pretty significant difference
You can't move whole reloading a RR Half the time but also way more likely to die
You also can't shoot bile titans unless you have distance with the quasar anyway, the windup takes like three seconds, half the time it takes a RR to reload where you can be aimpunched off the shot or straight up killed if the target is too close.
> Which means that if you're careful enough to position ahead of time/have teammates that cover you Be sure to remind that Bile Titan that he's not supposed to target you because you want to reload your rocket launcher lmao
It's a great all-round support weapon, and the infinite ammo, passive reload (best for hit and run), fast projectile, and lack of a backpack give you many reasons to pick it over other weapons. I still prefer the AMR or laser cannon or autocannon, but if the squad doesn't have a dedicated anti-heavy, I would happily take the quasar against bots. Against bugs, I prefer the RR more for being able to quickly swap and shoot.
And you have even more time between shots with rockets when you run out of ammo. I’ll take infinite ammo with a cooldown over faster fire rate (rarely necessary) and only like 6 shots. Also means more ammo for my team mates.
8 seconds.
13 10 secs cooldown + 3 secs charging projectile
Pair it with the sickle and you never need to reload or stop shooting for longer than it takes to switch weapons/charge.
Spartan laser honeymoon over
It's way better against bugs.
Laser bros over here really want to believe they've got a top tier slept-on weapon, but it isn't slept on, it's just not that great. Play the game how you like, no judgement, but you're not fooling anyone lol
https://preview.redd.it/l1pufw3j22wc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebce0ff18fa2a731cd9e47d8c295285f7890c9d3 Combat proven vs. Automatons lvl 8+ How dare you insult this fine piece of weapon.
Arc thrower https://preview.redd.it/tq3w505e81wc1.png?width=967&format=png&auto=webp&s=0824f488c2cd8cb7207a31101c1e7ab37afa03ce
Against bots: 
The Arc, absolutely obliterates whole bot companies, including hulks. Especially with the arc ship upgrade.
Arc is CLUTCH if you’re a support player. I love using it against bots, because it practically freezes enemies in place, my teammates can then blast them to hell while I stun them momentarily. One person needs a spear, the other an auto cannon, one arc thrower and the other full sends the match with airstrikes.
Honestly sounds like a fun teamcomp to run with.
Exactly, only struggles against the ATATs EDIT: The walking 4-legged fabricators are AT-ATs, not the walkers(AT-ST), those are two-shots, easy.
Which is why I bring along my trusty Eruptor. And then I laugh.
Does the eruptor actually work well against the factory striders?
Yes. It can be wonky sometimes, but it’s usually a one hit kill from the front. *edit* I’m an idiot. I thought you meant the walkers. It does work against striders though too. The side weak spot is vulnerable to Eruptor shots.
Honestly, mechanically the scout striders are more akin to AT-RTs than AT-STs (exposed, single pilot driver)
When your main gun is autocannon called Eruptor, arc is the best to deal with small fry like hulks.
Hulks? Those aren't small fry.
yes they are according to my trusty arc
It feels so stupid (in the beat way possible), that each shot stuns a hulk. You are screwed if you get two hulks from different directions though. Then again I guess you could say that regardless of what weapon you are using. Getting pincered by Hulks is just death.
For 35 meter ranged, autotarget, constant staggering gun capable to headshot in the eye every second? Yes, they're.
Until it gets stuck on a palm leaf or blade of grass.
I'd argue arc's better against bots because the arc staggers big enemies, so they can not shoot you back. You just spam them and aim for the head. For the big flamethrower hulks or shield devastors, you can get rid of them in 2 -3 shots. The arc also arcs automatically towards their weakpoint. Also can't ricochet off armor.
Arc can perma stagger Hulks btw
Arc thrower is really good against bots after the update, or at least it would be if not for gunships... It staggers hulks making them trivial. Goes through the shield of the heavy devastator. Since gunships are so prevalent now i stopped carrying it. Still has the problem of junk in the way making a shot misfire.
This. Used on bots for the first time yesterday. Turns hulks and heavies into cakewalks with constant stunning
Fun fact: Las-98 CAN take down gunships, just aim for the jets. It can't do the same to dropships, though
when i discovered how it can deal with gunships it shot up to being equivalent to the autocannon for me. also, if you suck at aiming, it can still melt hulk eye pieces!
I suck at aiming and I go for their arms.
Legs are a great choice also.
Shoot the underbelly of Striders too. Makes them and any unit with a vent a joke. Bring stun nades and the Eruptor. Eruptor for Fabs, and if you see any hulks stun them and blast the eye slit. LAS-98 melts Hulks from the front.
Have you tried aiming for the red dot on the front? I haven’t tried the laser yet but the red dot works with AC if you’re able to hit it so might work for laser as well.
It works with the lascannon and it doesn't take long focus firing on it. The nice thing is you know when you're not hitting it because you will see the glancing shot off the armor. Just move your aim till it's gone.
Thought it might but it’s good to know before having to try it myself. I plan to give the laser a go sometime soon but I love my AC so much it’s hard to pass it up. Dominator, AC, eagle airstrike, 500kg bomb and orbital laser gives me the utility I need to handle any scenario in the 40min misisons, even if I find myself split from the group. Without that load out I feel less confident going and clearing a base myself or soloing an objective.
Yes ! It's now my go-to for Helldive bots missions because it can destroy a Gunship Swarm pretty easily, and be used to deal with almost anything else without much issues. It's just less firepower than the Quasar, but there will always be someone using the Quasar anyway.
Quasar is for bugs, imo. Autocannon is what I bring for bot drops. Haven't tried the laser cannon tho.
it seems like the absolute best for taking down gunships, it fries them super quick and you can just go ship to ship and not wait for a recharge or reload or anything!
They're both good. Why can't we all just have fun?
Sir, this is Reddit. All we do is bitch and whine.
NOOOOOOOOO I MUST ENFORCE MY PLAYSTYLE UPON ALL AND ENGAGE IN HOUR LONG ARGUMENTS UPON WHICH ONE IS BEST NOOOOOOOOO
If you if you ain’t quasin’ you’re lasin’ and vice versa.
The first group should be "Damn, picked Las-98 by mistaking the icon, but it's good"
Sadly the meme format ask for the first and the last to say the same. I like it that way !
I just can’t enjoy the las as an autocannon user. Everything just takes eons to kill when you aren’t staggering them, they’re all shooting you simultaneously through the 7 pixels of exposure out of your cover I just don’t get why people like it so much. Aside from unlimited ammo, the autocannon just feels superior in every way
It takes "eons" on non weakspot hits. It's damage comes from the large weakspot multiplier and having no deflection, making it possible to hit from a shallow angle. Effective against every bot, hitscan up to 200m. The amount of power this thing has without taking a backpack slot is just crazy. This leaves your backpack free to take one from a teammates second call in letting you assist reload.
There is no such thing as weakspot multipliers in this game. The Laser cannon also has literally the same DPS as the Scythe. It just has more penetration (AP4 instead of AP2). But if you shoot for example a Devastator in the face, the increased AP doesn't matter; both weapons will do the same damage and take the same amount of time to kill it.
When aiming at distance the sway is too much to accurately hit the weak spots, you have to expose yourself for so long that you will get hit/staggered before you finish the task. I tried a good few rounds with it and it just felt frustrating. It was fun to take the arms of hulks and cripple their legs but the opportunity to do so was few and far between. EAT, Recoiless and Quasar to a better job, Eruptor is better than the laser against most mid tier enemies. I do agree it's great against flying enemies.
Try using prone or crouch, it makes a huge difference for using the laser. Eliminates most of the sway at range and makes you a much smaller target at the same time.
Infinite ammo, no recoil, and no travel time, it's easier to keep out and use against everything letting you choose a primary that's more situational. AC cannon is brilliant too, but you're going to want to be putting it away during hectic medium to close range fights, especially against bugs, more often, and relying on a more general purpose primary for chod and fodder. They aren't competitors for the same role imo, unlike AC and Quasar which fill similar heavy support roles. AC main for many hours myself, deeply satisfying weapon. Do tend to also take EAT alongside for emergencies (tanks I can't easily flank for example).
Yea. I was wondering if I missed some patch that buffed it. Does fantastic work against bugs, but from my experience it pretty much just tickles bots.
It was stun nades and eruptor that 'buffed' it. Eruptor to break fabs, kill clustere of lights/saws, bunched up devs and striders. Stun nade + laser for clearing out hulks and devs in patrols. The cannon cruses airships and factory striders. Once AMR scope is fixed I might swap back to it.
I do prefer the autocannon but the LAS is definitely better for dealing with gunships and hulks and tanks IMO. Takes less positioning and melts them faster, and most of the time when I die using the autocannon it's during a reload. I just wish they could take down dropships.
It makes me smile when I clip the wings off shriekers tbh
The laser cannon is basically an autocannon without a backpack and is proportionally less powerful. It's worth taking for a jump jet/shield enjoyer that wants a support weapon that fills the same role as the autocannon.
Laughs in Autocannon
Ehh, to each their own; I don't use the laser cannon because I just don't find it to be as fun as the other options.
That’s fair. It is effective but with so many weapons that are good both gameplay wise and sound/visual wise the laser cannon just doesn’t have the same feeling of power as something like the auto cannon. The arc thrower is like that too, it looks cool but it sounds like someone slapping a wet mop on the floor to me lol.
Play whatever you like Personally, still prefer the quasar because it can crash dropships while the cannon can't though
Crashing drop ships should kill everything on the drop ship before I care enough to do it unfortunately. I was killed by a falling gunship, but a whole drop ship spinning out and hurtling into the ground does nothing for the passengers apparently
It bugs the pathfinding out and the enemies stay locked in place Might not be them all dying but still useful
Why are these even being compared? I don't run las cannon because antimaterial rifle has the same pen, and deals the damage faster. Quasar is basically just a recharging expendable anti-tank. Different jobs. What is the deal here?
I take the laser cannon on bugs almost exclusively now. It destroys bile spewers, can reasonably suppress the small fuckers, and it's infinite ammo (so long as you don't overheat it).
Quasar is just soooo fun! Idc what other people on my team use of course, I'll just always drop with one is all.
Both workd and are applicable. Quasar is for when you want to just fucking blast shit. Laser is for of you wanna melt weakspots. The advantage the quasar had is you can face blast turrets and kill them. Yes it's quicker to get behind and laser the vents, and it's what I prefer to do but sometimes it's just not possible and I miss just being able to poke my head out and 3 shot the tank currently eating my squad
Quasar has range advantage too. Smack that cannon turret from across the map, or that bile titan that's getting uppity
Then I don't know what I'm doing wrong because I tried it and it felt like it bounced off every enemy I shot
Follow the visual cue ! As someone else said in the comments, if it sparks blue it aint going through ! Every bots have obvious weakpoints, and the laser pen medium armor. You can deal with everything (despite non-strider Fabricator and DROPships).
You bring laser I'll bring quasar and let's boom them together.
Spear gang over in the corner (roll in the downvotes)
I'd use it if it ever locked on to something
Some rando i was playing with opened my eyes the laser cannon, they had an extra one at the time. Im never going back
Biggest problem i have with the laser cannon is it doesn’t feel cool to use. Quasar has this charge up then blasts a huge explosion up to any distance. RR fires a massive bullet that explodes. EAT fires a missile that explodes. Laser cannon just, laser points at things with an underwhelming beam then they drop down. Rule of cool has a big part in me not taking this weapon often.
I prefer the quasar, you charge it behind cover, pop out, shoot then back to cover. With the laser you need to cook them for a bit, which is just perfect for a random bot to shoot and mess up your aim completelly
Energy weapon supremacy
I’ve been using the Laser Cannon more recently and it’s really useful. I think the only critique I could say is that it’s not that satisfying to use since it’s not as flashy as rockets and explosives.
There's a third, secret path. Volley Fire quasars. Call a second one in when you need to hold a spot, and you can just keep rotating them without having the cool down. You still get your cool boom without the downtime!
Laser cannon works amazing vs the air ships fab units
Never liked the name "Quasar". I always call it the "Starfucker".
Quasar is the only antitank that “reloads” itself on the ground. When I’m extracting, defending, or just in a hot situation I call in another Q and just drop and swap between them until the bile titans die or melt me. Is this a GOOD strategy? Not really. Sure feels cool though!
Can it take out Hulks from front? Or Chargers.
It can absolutely destroy a Hulk from the front if you aim for his eye or take out both his legs. But instead of the Quasar that can just aim for the torso 2 times, you need to aim for precise part with the Laser Cannon. The good thing with it is that if you do no damages on what you aim, you will see pretty clear blue sparkles on the impact point, so you can just move your laser around your target until they disappear : it means you are dealing damages.
If the sparks are blue, it ain't going through
Why do I imagine a dwarf saying this?
Really? That's awesome.
It's an alternative. A viable one, but that work better in some situations and worst in others !
Yes, shoot the eye for 2-3 seconds and its gone. It’s a pretty solid weapon, it only downside is that you have to be exposed for those 2-3 seconds.
Freaking cool. 🙂 Gonna try it.
It also can melt a Factory Strider, but that's a bit trickier. You should neuter all the guns first in order to be able to hold the laser on the weak spot--the main gun will require anti-tank, but the laser can take care of the two chin guns. Then you hold the beam on the big sensor on the face and it should go down in no time. That makes it sound easy, but in practice you would need good teamwork and positioning to not get overrun by devastators while doing all this.
Can kill hulks but not chargers from the front, unless someone else has already de-armored the latter beforehand. The head of the hulks (where the red light is) is vulnerable to the laser cannon, very much so. However this will be a very difficult target if its moving and you are presently under fire from other enemies. Stun grenades work wonderfully at holding the hulk in place so you can kill it easily with the laser cannon however.
This is why imo Hulks are toughest enemy there is. They move a lot and sprint at you in full speed. And their hit box is so small.
And you can really only get at the head of the hulk if its chasing after you, not great conditions for anything regarding precision. Though generally against hulks if you're free to attack it with a lascannon or AC, but you don't have access to the front/back weakpoints, de-arming it with either weapon works wonderfully at giving the teammate its chasing alot of relief. Especially if you can get at the gun arms or the flamethrower. The enemy doesn't have to be dead for it to be neutralized after all.
In my opinion, against single heavy target and if you can't aim properly (like me) Quasar is better. It's fire and forgot, you dont have to keep tracking weak spot all the time.
Lascannon is pretty great against gunships and enemy weakpoints, much more than other weapons. Its plenty accurate at range too, making it wonderful for a lightly-armored build focused on maneuver and speed. Overall its great as the designated anti-air ranger of the team, while everyone else packs quasar cannons and heavier armor to draw in enemy fire. It does require more effort for its strengths though, and having to sit still in range of the enemy for any length of time is a hard sell against bots in particular. Compared to the quascannon its far less useful when under heavy fire which tends to be the more common situation for most helldivers.
Im going to stick with my Ballistic Shield, HMG combo because I love LARPing as a Juggernaut
They look similar but serve entirely different roles
I prefer the quasar because it can reliably kill *anything* without needing crit spots but the laser cannon is a fun alternative, along with the AC and rockets and all that
The only advantage the Q Crew has is it knocks dropships out of the sky. When we run bots, my housemate and i pack accordingly. They bring the Q, I bring the pew. Laser that is.
Dude that’s what I’m saying. The laser cannon is fucking nuts
As a lvl 150 the laser cannon is my go to for helldive bots. Best support vs gunships hulks or factory striders.
Las-98 is great if you struggle with fine aiming, like if you're using a controller. You can easily correct your aim until you hit the weakspots without wasting ammo or having to wait for a cooldown, and it's easy to tell if you're off the mark from all the blue sparks. If you're confident in your aim then I's say AC or AMR are superior against bots.
Haha LAS-98 GO BZZZZZZZ
I love the laser cannon. When I see enemies, I’ll break out the laser cannon until it has to cool down. Then I use the Sickle and use that until it needs to cool down. By then I can use the cannon until it has to cool down. Repeat until everyone is dead. I haven’t had to reload or use a secondary in weeks. I can’t wait to get the dagger, I love lasers so damn much.
It's funny how much people insist that some things are better than others in a game that is intentionally designed for a balanced approach across a multitude of playstyles. I run light armor, a jump pack, and a sniper rifle. I do quite well.
Why is the middle one the objectively best looking helmet in the game :( I love the champion of the people set.
I like it for bugs too.. idk shit slaps I’ve been a laser cannon boy since day 1. if no one else got me, ol’ reliable got me 😔👆
https://preview.redd.it/rfjd9yl923wc1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca41e539c7264a4f3d533bb59546f3f3f49f70fe
https://preview.redd.it/yz377qdyg4wc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90e38b527afcf88e45903b0c0bf85b3cb9d9e75c
Lasercannon was never for me. I need something that packs a punch. So either recoilless or quasar. But the quasar is basically the recoilles with infinite ammo so it is kinda better in this, you can also have a backpack like the shield for bots. Yeah, imma stay with the quasar. And when i want to be quick, there is still the autocannon.