this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2024
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Helldivers 2

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Hey I was wondering which stratagem you tried out on a whim but ended up really liking? I've been switching it up especially since I read that EAT spam can mess up missions, as that was one of my go-tos.

For me it has to be the gatling barrage. It peppers a concentrated area and can hurt all enemies from what I've seen. I love using it for Breach suppression and yesterday I didn't see anyone shoot any rockets, so I swear it knocked down a dropshop on an elimination mission.

Its use case is definitely limited, but when that case is present those repeated explosions feel nice to see.

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[–] Red_October 32 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I feel like a lot of people sleep on Orbital Gas Strike, but I really love that thing. For starters, it's great for smothering a bug breach, drop it on the breach when you first see the ground crack and it'll kill all the small stuff. Same with bots, drop one where a bot drop is about to land if you don't have a way to take down the dropship and it'll smoke anything smaller than a devastator, including the pilots on the scout walkers.

The gas lingers long enough that if you're being chased by a swarm of something, drop one just behind you as you run away and they'll march into it, and only the strongest will come out again, leaving you free to focus on the big things.

Plus, it'll blow a bug hole on a close hit, a bot factory on a direct hit, and has a very short cooldown and easy sequence.

Orbital Gas Strike, smells like Victory.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 8 months ago

Orbital Gas Strike, smells like Victory

Disclaimer: Super Earth does not recommend smelling the gas strike. May result in sudden death, not-so-sudden death, paralysis, diarrhea, nausea, and/or cases of "Sweet liberty my lungs!".

[–] ComicalMayhem 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

is it broken in the latest patch? I used to run it to great success but last time I tried it didn't do anything at all.

[–] Maalus 5 points 7 months ago

Supposedly there is a bug that prevents fire / gas doing damage correctly (if at all) if you are not the host. Try it in singleplayer to see if it still doesn't work

[–] Red_October 3 points 8 months ago

I was using it earlier and it seemed to be just fine. Probably worth mentioning that on higher difficulties it's effectiveness drops off, with baddies seeming to take more to put down, and bug holes especially seeming to last longer, to the point that they can outlast the cloud. I haven't done any real experimentation though.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I've been experimenting with full support load outs. 1 quasar, 1shield, 1 autocannon, 1 supply or jump pack.

I've found in Lvl 8/9 missions it's possible to get killed and have to wait almost 10 minutes to get your gear back, the party moves on, the spot where you dropped the gear is inaccessible etc. With 4 support packs I can just switch, autocannon and quasar will drop large enemies same as an orbital or eagle. Jump back can move me fast or to a safe location to fire from.

Plus, I can call down packs for squad mates who lose theirs.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

That's such a wholesome teamplayer build! I love to see it.

[–] WoolyNelson 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Orbital gas strike has become an auto-include for me lately. Before that, it was the Orbital Airburst (God's Shotgun).

Both of these recharge quickly. Both of these clear out spawn sites and secondary objectives (though the gas can fully destroy bot spawns)..

[–] camr_on 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Does the gas work on bots?

[–] CrabLord 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Says it works on both organic and robotic lifeforms in the description.

[–] camr_on 4 points 8 months ago

Smh I can't read

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Gatling barrage is absolutely slept on, so is orbital smoke imo. For bots anways. It enables you to be a lot sneakier, can help you disengage, when a fellow diver is in a tight spit it can help cover their retreat, and the beacon is red so you can scare the shit out of people by calling it on top of them!

Honestly precsion strike is pretty useful as well, I feel like everyone moves on from it quickly but it's pretty versatile.

[–] Sylvartas 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Precision strike is pretty much as good as the eagle airstrike (which is imo hands down the most useful stratagem in the game). It trades the big aoe and spammability of the airstrike for pinpoint accuracy and (I think) more damages. And it actually follows the beacon if it's stuck to a moving target

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I compare it more to the 500 personally, similar damage amounts and radius

[–] Sylvartas 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Weirdly enough, I've never seen it that way. But it also makes sense. I need to do a few runs swapping the 500kg for this and see what happens.

[–] Maalus 4 points 7 months ago

Yeah it takes out tanks, chargers, bile titans in a well placed shot, just like the 500

[–] TheHotze 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Gatling barrage has such a low cooldown too. Just 80 seconds base.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I ran this earlier but then switched to the Eagle. Now I picked it up again, and with it and the Eagle I almost always have something to call in to take care of massed mobs.

[–] Sylvartas 2 points 8 months ago

Orbital airburst is also very good at this. But I think the gatling is better against armor

[–] LolcatXTREME 11 points 8 months ago (2 children)

HMG emplacement is extremely strong, better against the bugs since they don’t shoot back, but very good against both

[–] Badeendje 3 points 8 months ago

I love taking this in one of the static defense missions. Combined with EAT, Tesla Tower and the laser beam.

[–] Maalus 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Is the pen set to medium / light vehicle on them? The description says light pen only

[–] LolcatXTREME 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Medium I guess? It kills hulks from front pretty easily, penetrates the hive guardians as well with no problem

[–] Maalus 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Front hulk is light vehicle pen, so even better than medium.

[–] LolcatXTREME 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I didn’t know there was a difference lol, is there a resource for all the armor and penetration values?

[–] Maalus 1 points 7 months ago

Not really. They are changing the tooltips to properly reflect it. There's light armor, medium, light vehicle armor and heavy armor. Stuff like the anti material does light vehicle armor for instance. It's the front of the AT-ST walker on bots, if you shoot at its armor.

[–] camr_on 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What do you mean about EATs messing up missions?

[–] TheHotze 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

A lot of clutter (weapons, supplies, and backpacks) can make the game crash.

[–] camr_on 4 points 8 months ago

Ah damn I haven't experienced that yet

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I saw some dude making pretty clutch work out of orbital smokes while in quickplay last night. Allowed us to quickly disengage from huge fights and made extraction tolerable against bots. Made me decide to equip smoke grenades for a few missions with him and now I'm kinda seeing the value of smoke in bot missions.

[–] DarkSpectrum 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Similar idea but EMS mortars are essential on bot missions for me. Along with 6 impact grenades!

[–] Maalus 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's the thing about smoke - you can drop smoke and shoot them, or you can drop an airstrike in the same slot and get rid of them at once. Same for nades - throwing an impact into a freshly landed bot dropship is way better than throwing a smoke for a few seconds of them being inaccurate

[–] bouh 2 points 7 months ago

Smoke and air strikes are very different. Smoke allows to disengage and avoid patrols. Bots are often too spread out to be taken down by one air strike.

[–] ComicalMayhem 3 points 7 months ago

I make good use of the eagle smokes instead of the orbital purely because I can use it more often than the orbital one.

[–] bfg9k 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

110mm rockets are super handy for taking out bot fabricators quickly

Orbital laser lasts for 25sec and melts pretty much anything

[–] SpacetimeMachine 2 points 7 months ago

110mm rockets are my go to for bots. Kills fabs and tanks easily, a well placed shot against a hulk will take it down as well, and even using it against rocket devastators doesn't feel wasteful.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

Stalwart i was like, eh, its just a bigger version of the assault rifles, itll never beat a flamer. NOPE, massive swarms of hunters, see ya! Shreds basically everything in its path, its litterally a chainsaw with a length of a kilometer, i love it

[–] ComicalMayhem 7 points 7 months ago

SPEAR

People sleep on this thing exclusively because of how finicky the lock on is, but it's way too good against the bots. I can take out turrets and fabricators from a mile away. once I closed an entire heavy outpost with just a spear from atop a hill. only thing that comes close is the auto cannon, but that requires everything to line up, whereas the spear? aim, fiddle with lock on, fire, move on. once you understand how to get around the finicky lock on, you can basically fire and forget.

personally, it's worth taking just to get rid of the turrets. those things are such a pain in the ass getting close enough to orbital strike it or to shoot it's vent, and usually results in someone dying a few times to it. worse when there's two of them, so if taking a full support weapon and backpack slot saves a few reinforcements, then I'll take it any day.

[–] vasus 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

shield emplacement is an ok crutch in bot missions with randoms, great for when the team is stuck in a respawn loop and needs that breathing room to regroup

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I think the shield emplacement is much better than just OK vs. bots. We've started taking one or two shield emplacements on bot missions, usually on difficulty 7 or 8. Opening a fight with a shield emplacement gives you a safe zone where you can charge Quasars or line up Slugger headshots on Devastators. It makes dealing with Rocket Devastators in particular a lot easier and safer. With its 90-second cooldown, it's usually up in time for the next fight.

[–] Maalus 1 points 7 months ago

Till there is 3 rocket devastators and they one-salvo the shield into failing, killing all groupped up people at once. Or better yet, tank shooting for a quad kill.

[–] AgentGrimstone 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

The arc thrower. No one told me you're supposed to spam that thing. Works great.

[–] DarkSpectrum 2 points 8 months ago

The half charge technique... welcome to the dark side!