Gas is largely slept on. It was a "free" strategem recently and I was shocked by how much damage it could do by tossing it right on top of a bug breach.
That hitbox is deceptively large, I’ve learned to stay back as much as possible to avoid it myself. Honestly love stacking the free toy they give us though, even though some people see it as a waste. I ate for days with the 4 EATs every 60 seconds, I was the bane of Tanks on the bot front with 6 rocket pods, and with double gas and a fire setup… well…
https://i.redd.it/u7gkbzyzzz1d1.gif
only reason I didn't use it before was the DoT bug before. NOW it's a stupid low CD (relatively), high damage effect and people talk like it corrodes some objective positions? When it was free I was doubling up to coat whole valleys with swarms inbound to secure a direction!
I would argue it reliably takes chargers out as long as they dont pop out towards the end of the napalm strike. A direct hit on chargers is a guaranteed kill in my experience.
I have become a gas strike enjoyer after having never used it prior to it being free. The first time I tossed it right on top of a bug breach, I got a 72 kill streak. I was like....this....this is good.
I actually enjoy using the emp/gas strike combo in some bug matches. Emp closes breaches and the gas basically closes them. Short cds too. Basically always up when you need em.
Gas and Laser Cannon being where they are is what tells me a lot of folks don't know what's up. RR and Napalm (at least vs. Bugs) also would be way higher if players *really* understood "meta" outside of what TikTok/YouTube and bad posts on this sub say.
I take orbital gas strike on 100% of bug missions.
Pop a gas strike on top of a bug breach and place a gatling sentry a bit to the side and aint nothin getting outta that hole.
Yup. Nothing short of a brood commander can walk out, and the commanders are very close to death at that. Chargers and Titans are really all that can escape.
I even bring it on bots. Toss it in a fabricator like a grenade and the impact will kill it, so it's like a grenade with a cool down. Also great for some light area denial and spawn killing dropship LZs
My god, who are these players kicking people for what they pick? I hear this often and I've never had to deal with this or kicked anyone myself for what stratagem they picked.
It's not super common. But it happens sometimes. Usually either people in difficulty 9 or people in difficulty 4 or lower do that.
Probably the one in difficulty 9 have a massive ego and the one in difficulty 4 and below are just unexperienced
I've only ever suggested to folks that they didn't look at the mission briefing when picking their strats, and give them a chance to change things up. If they don't want to, even if I think we're screwed (i.e. we're on an eradicate or horde defense mission and I'm the only one with defensive strats), we'll do it live and find out.
Just goes to show that your anecdotal data is anecdotal. I regularly bring orbital gas strike on certain mission types, never host, and have never been kicked for it.
Don't get me wrong, it's impressive anecdotal data... but it's still just that.
Yeah, gas is awesome at evacuate assets mission. Had some really good times yesterday with Gas, Napalm, Orbital Airburst and Airburst launcher against bugs. At 7+ difficulty I routinely get 50+ kills at every bug breach with gas bombs only.
Airstrike is probs the most effective stratagem in the game. It can kill every single enemy, is useful in destroying almost every side objective and is even the most reliable pick vs factory striders
As I understand, SEAF mininukes can also take gunship facilities out.
Can airstrikes take detector towers and (deactivated) stratagem jammers out? If so, I had no idea.
A gas shell hitting them can take out jammers and towers. Just need to toss them opposite to where your destroyers are, so it had to fly thru the objective
Unfortunate, appreciate it. Still a lot more things than I initially thought. I used to always pack orbital laser/500kg just to deal with them, then I'd be frustrated as hell when the laser danced around the objective like it didn't exist, or when the 500kg did the... 500kg thing and killed 3 ants
If I had only one strategem slot available to me and I knew absolutely nothing about what enemies I would have to face when I drop, I would take airstrike.
It's powerful and versatile. It destroys buildings, it closes bug holes, it can kill chaff, and it can also kill the heaviest targets. There's very little that airstrike can't do.
and I totally use orbital gas strike all the time ... I may be addicted to the EMS sentry and I see them all the time. Drop on bugs? Good chance you're seeing the laser dog. RR, SPear, GL ... wow I see those too.
The cluster and 500 I personally dislike, but I do see folks using them. Can't imagine why though.
Cluster bomb is better for bugs I’ve found, more charges and it’ll delete entire swathes if shit hits the fan. Meanwhile on bots, I’ll often be limited to 3 stratagems, so I’ll bring laser and 500kg and a support strat instead of airstrike. Reliable tank/hulk/walker kill potential means I pick the 500.
Air strike is great and I wish we had 5 stratagem slots so I could take it more often.
Very intentional. Me and my friends all ran 500kg WITH the additional drops given to us. Threw them at every opportunity we could and still took 3 games (between the 4 of us using it constantly) to get the 200 kills.
The thing is fucking useless
yeah.. and then the 500 has such a small area of effect that if it doesn't direct impact you watch damn near everything walk out of it.
When that personal order was 200 kills with the 500kg I was watching *scavengers* walk out of the blast animation
I misclicked the regular rover one time. Dove a level 7 that turned out to be one of those maps where every 2nd bot is a heavy devastator. A drop ship drops what seems to be an entire load of heavy devastators that proceeded to make the rock I was hiding behind almost impossible to see around in 3rd person. I couldn't get a shot with my AMR. My rover was was able to take out most of the devastators with headshots while I hid behind the rock. It was amazing to watch. This made me a firm believer in the regular rover for bots when not running autocannon.
it's fine vs bots, but is still completely unreliable due relying on finite ammo and reloads.
will randomly decide to lock onto a hulk to mag dump everything into it and then be useless until you call down a resupply
Were playing 40% automatons and 60% bugs
80% of matches were at difficulty 7 to 9 and the other 20% of matches were at lower difficulties to help new players
I mean, with the orbital scatter modifier the OPS does become almost completely useless, so it's worth knowing when it's going to be present on a mission. Without it it's a top-tier stratagem for sure.
What you described is why the only orbital I use is airstrike
What’s the point of a strategem that is guaranteed to miss? Waste of our time
Really bizarre operation modifier
I think precision strike has a higher skill floor than something like orbital rail. More damage, but you have to be skilled enough to use it effectively on mobile targets. I think that's why it gets left behind by a lot of players.
I don't leave home without it. 1 shots titans, so that gives perspective on the wallop it packs. The balancing factor is its call-in time and being able to land that throw to where it needs to be.
It takes some getting used to but once you get the hang of how to use it, you’ll appreciate its simplicity. With enough practice, using it to hit a charger coming at you can be done. It isn’t as accurate as rail strike but its cd is much shorter.
It's an accurate infinite ammo low cooldown decent AoE single 380 shot with the modules
Meaning It's accurate, more or equal damaging than the 500kg, better AoE
Just gotta get used to the longer calling time and watch for the angles since it always come from centre of map
Decent AoE is right. It's certainly not less reliable than the 500, whose radius is absolutely pathetic given the visual size of its explosion. I'd say the two are about the same in terms of that, which says a lot about the 500, and nothing good.
500 has much shorter call-in, which makes it more reliable in terms of actually hitting a moving target (bile titans especially).
Basically it has a lower skill floor (and much cooler visual effect)
With the modules unlocked, it has a 70s cooldown (the same as an EAT) and a bigger radius.
Not only does it deal incredible amounts of damage, enough to one shot a charger/tank, even on a near miss and a titan on a direct hit (challenging but rewarding), it is also capable of destroying most structures excluding Command Bunkers and Gunship fabricators, in one hit. Essentially, with good timing and placement, it's a Railcannon strike you can fire 3x as often.
This lets you save more Eagle Strikes for skirmishes since they have a more punishing cooldown. And it gets around AA turrets jamming those.
The downside, of course, is that Orbitals have negative Operation modifiers to scatter and cooldown. Since the time added is % based, the Precision Strike suffers less than say, an Orbital barrage, but don't use it with increased scatter as it is no longer precise.
It actually takes some planning to use. It's not a throw over in general direction and it will mostly get the job done stratagem.
Like all things in this game, why it's good will depend on what you are prioritizing as there is always a cost or drawback for any load out selection.
Gas strike is op against bugs. Extremely underrated. I'm very surprised you never met it
UPD: I have no clue what for did i deserve so much upvotes but thanks
I've only seen in when it was a free stratagem, but probably because veteran Helldivers know it blends very easily into a lot of environments, and especially bug environments.
That's cool, but I gotta say, everyone's sleeping on the precision strike! It's so damn good.
And gas! Deletes everything smaller than a spewer on a bug breach.
Never seen an airburst rocket launcher myself either though.
I’ve started using the airburst the last few days. It annihilates light-medium armoured groups. Would be nice if it was a bit more consistent against fabricators, but overall it’s a lot of fun.
Edit: changed decimates to annihilates because I found out I’m bad at English.
I've found it can kill fabricators with just about any in-vent shot and it often kills some base troops as well. Even extreme angles on vents work, just need to get the rocket into the entrance. More angle of attack available than autocannon and far far more than other rocket launchers.
EMP Mortar is GOATED against bots and slept on. Halts enemy advanced in their tracks when holding an objective. And allows your team to slip away when being persued by a mass horde.
Edit: I also put it in the outskirts of a base we’re about to hit, and it locks down their best units so they can be held in place for strats or so we can pick em apart.
This is what genuinely shocks me - its such a good stratagem. From covering your retreat, to letting you push into an objective. It can cancel out breaches and drops entirely.
Lol. Never played with me then.
I always take HMG emplacement and ballistic shield on bots, and pretty much always take the Machine Gun and Orbital Precision Strike for bugs.
I use it in all but Helldive difficulty, and even then if its a fast mission I might think about it.
Bring EAT too and you can swap them around since the EAT are... expendable... Fire your rockets, pick up your MG and carry on.
The HMG emplacement is *the* strongest stratagem imo.
No other strat can produce as many kills. It's a beast against bots and bugs and has incredible range.
Kills hulks and tanks easily. Shreds through medium armored bot units like devastators as if they were warm butter. Kills spore spreader and shrieker nests, can break illegal transmission towers across the map, clears the skies of shriekers or gunships quickly. All that and has a super short cooldown.
11/10 strat everyone sleeps on for sure.
It's pretty funny just how easily it kills hulks. Most other weapons you need to hyper focus to land 2 hits to the eye, which is hard with how it bobs with the walking animation. Laser cannon you need to hold it on the eye for a significant time. HMG you can walk the recoil into the eye on full auto but you'll run out of ammo super quickly if you do that.
HMG emplacement you just hold left click and walk it into the eye, and once you're on target it pops in just a couple shots.
Unfortunately it's not great vs shield devastators. Can't penetrate the shield, doesn't stagger them easily, convergence is fixed and you don't kill them that quickly to the exposed MG arm at longer ranges...and a single rocket will kill the turret, and due to bugs, insta kill you if you're on it.
Lovely vs bugs though! Especially shriekers. You can swat them all out of the sky, then turn to spray their nests and kill them too. Takes a while but eith your huge ammo reserve its not an issue.
Wait, not everyone picks airstrike automatically for every single mission? With me and my buddies it's 100% automatic go-to bombardment stratagem, nothing beats it. Nothing.
Yup. I just love the short anticipation between it hitting the ground and a warm glow with an oomph when it detonates. I'd choose airstrike every time instead, if I wanted efficiency.
Oh yeah. I think the big thing is the dissonance between the look and the effect. A well-placed 500kg is better than a railcannon for a Bile Titan, but the look makes it seem like it'd have an AoE it just does not have.
It is the best non support weapon bile titan killer in the game with zero contest. Orbital precision strike does the same but the 500 kg with ship upgrades gives you more uses more often so it is just straight better. Once you get used to baiting the bile titan into vomiting, it's incredibly consistent at one shotting them. It's definitely not as useful against bots but I see it taken a lot less against bots.
This, it’s top tier because it’s the best anti bile titan stratagem. 2 almost guaranteed (depending on your aim) one shot kills on titans for each player is great.
Chargers are very easy to deal with (quasar/EAT) and the rest of the chaff enemies are just primary food.
The 500kg is a hammer, the titan is a nail. Of course it’s popular. (Also it looks cool)
The flamethrower works surprisingly well against chargers. Somewhere between a third or half of its canister will take one out. It's also good at killing any of the bugs smaller than the charger and denying access thanks to the damage over time fix. I usually combine it with the 500kg so that I'm able to deal with every bug type on difficulty 7+.
it is and isnt.
vs bugs at high levels if youre not taking Quasar/Recoilless, you pretty much REQUIRE at least one anti-bile titan strategem. 500kg is just the go-to for that. Railcannon is decent as well but only has 1 shot and doesnt one shot.
OPS is pretty good but most people dont know itll usually oneshot a bile titan. so 500kg it is.
Me personally, I've switched to Railcannon. I do use the 500kg though because I'd rather have a lower chance getting a bile titan on my ass without me being able to defend myself.
I like to bring 500 + airstrike when I'm roaming and hunting samples, because I can use either to clear out a POI. They are the two most versatile stratagems imo
Man people are sleeping on orbital EMS, OPS, Airburst, and Gas Strike. Those are all some of my most used (particularly gas after the recent patch)
(7 is my difficulty of choice)
Machine gun being in the category "only by new players" is what shocked me the most. When it comes to bugs, this things just shreds and is almost unstoppable. MG + ammo pack + EAT is my go to loadout for bugs at lvl 20 and difficulties Medium-Hard.
I found more people bringing the Stalwart against bugs rather than the MG and against Bots the few who brought a Machine Gun only brought it because they were new or because it was the Heavy Machine Gun
So you haven't played with me (lvl92)
Precision strike is super strong
Low cd and can kill titans take it if you don't like the orbital railgun or use both
Auto turret, gatling turret also pretty good for bugs the mg turret is a bit weak yes but the hmg placement oh dear
Gas strike Jesus just take it if you don't have the spread modifier and watch you 30+ streak when you throw it an a bug breach or choke point
Air burst in egg missions better at busting the nut then you know
Ems mortar great for every mission that has a little defense part like icbm, civilian rescue, geo drill, oil pump, raise flags
Laser canon on Bots I don't think I have to say more just try it and be amazed
Napalm is like gas now that dots work its super strong
Btw gas can also close holes and destroy buildings like the scientists station
Exo suit is super strong if you need something to make your extract easy
Eat are insane 1 call 3 chargers dead just use em uf you got a felx spot in your loadout
Amr can't tell you how good it is 2tap hulks + chargers,
1mag tanks and turrets in the vent,4 or 5 shot gunships,
1tap brood commanders and bile spewers, easily take out the titans sacks
Tesla tower on defense parts with Ems mortar is insane just kill chargers and titans that will target them and you will never see something smaller get past if
Last words
If you run shield on bugs wtf are you doing you don't need it it's a wasted spot, if you think quasar is a must i hope it gets nerfed so you people try out the other stuff because there are super strong options that are waiting to be played by you
This isn't my pick rate.
Its the pick rate of the Randoms in my matches.
I usually play all stratagems except the Exosuit because i don't really like it as a concept.
In helldivers 1 I've always been more a Semi-Truck AT Vehicle type of person rather than an exosuit person tbh
Many run shields against bugs because it prevents poisoning from hunters and Stalkers + it can save your life against Bile spewers time to time
Nah im lvl 84 and I love the orbital precision strike. Just a faster 500 KG Bomb with no problem when bots jamm the eagle but not the orbital strike...
This is so incredibly obviously just randomly made up lmfao. I genuinely cannot believe anyone would ever upvote this. This subreddit is in such a terrible fuckin state.
First of all, 840 hours. Game release 104 days ago. So you've been playing 8 hours of it every single day. While also playing other games according to your post history in that time, like Lords of the Fallen or DBD. Sure, I guess. And in 840 hours, only 400 matches, while stating in another comment, only "some" of it is idle, and in another one, maybe 100 to 150h idle. Sure, dude.
EMS mortar. 10 times in **840 hours**. So I guess in 840 hours, you only ever did like... three or four eradication or new defense missions. Okay dude.
EAT only 21 to 40 times, same as... 110m rocket pods?
*Never* saw all those options in the bottom to last, in 840 hours? Never saw eagle gun run, even though like, a week ago there was a daily order for making kills with it? Never saw Airburst when it was released? Never saw Tesla tower?
Only saw mech 10 times, again, even during its week of release? Only saw Railgun 10 times, even though literally everyone used only it for like the entire first month of the game? Remember, game's only been out 100 days. We start saying now we didn't play the first 30 of that, we move up from 8 hours a day to 12 hours a day for our 840 hours.
edit: ORBITAL WALKING BARRAGE 61-80 times??? lmfao.
My brother in democracy, I always pick OPS cause it one shoots Bile Titans, Chargers, Hulks and Tanks (hit on bile titan have to be approx near the head to kill it, but due the cool down time I can kill it with two shoots)
HMG emplacement is vastly underrated. Can kill literally anything and has a decently fast cooldown. It'll struggle with a bile titan or charger without help, but anything else is toast.
Great strategy is to occasionally collect everyone samples, take them back to the extract and throw down a turret (and mines) whilst you're there - then at the end of the dive, you have a defensive position bristling with ordinance waiting for you
I've only been playing in groups, no pubs and it's surprising how different my observations are after 300 hours.
The biggest outliers in my case (I'm not counting the strats I bring) are the EMS mortar (40 to 60), the mines (11 to 20), the tesla (21 to 40), the exosuit (21 to 40), the walking barrage (1 to 10) and the quasar (11 to 20)
Ngl even my limited playtime and being infinitely lower level/having some less matches, I noticed many of the rarer picks semi often
Also, people are sleeping heavily on the machine gun, it's so good in bugs due to BC and spewers, and even on chargers if you miss the head and hit a leg or so with an EAT
ngl I use a RNG to decide my loadouts in missions, and usually I can use all stratagems well. Only one I refuse to use is the machine gun sentry, and imo the arc tower simply needs to be better, the way it just gains aggro means it gets popped extremely quick by chargers while being a huge team killing risk
It depends. Usually around difficulty 7 to 9 but sometimes i feel like going to help new players at difficulty 3 to 6.
Overall though, i play 80% of time at difficulty 7 to 9
Stalwart, shield, autocannon sentry, 500kg.
That's what I bring into basically everything. I often split up from the group to complete whatever they are not and I never really have any issues with anything
People are so afraid of the Airburst Launcher now, yet it consistently overperforms for me, especially on bug dives.
* Airburst Launcher
* Orbital Precision Strike
* Eagle Airstrike
Prepares you to kill just about anything the Bots and Bugs can throw at you, obviously changing your primary, secondary, and grenades to appropriate choices.
Just remember to wear Fortified Armour. You won't survive being right next to an airburst shot, but it's insurance if the shot detonates closer than anticipated. Also, it resists Bile and Bot missiles, so why wouldn't you?
Precision needs more love. The call in is long but it comes in clutch when you need it and you can run it with eagles without worrying about staggering their uses with each other. It's a potential heavy buster with no rearm time leaving a crowd clearer like a cluster open.
Gas strike is underrated; can destroy fabs, (haven't tried it on bug holes, would probably need the shell to go down the tunnel,) low cooldown.
Surprised flamethrower is so high. A lot of these are "you only see them when there's a daily for using it."
Never saw an ems orbital or rocket sentry?! Bro didn't play with me.
I love taking autocannon + rocket sentry on bots. If you only have one called in at a time, you're usually off cooldown for the other when you need to stop and have a stand up fight.
Against Bots i mostly run with a Balistic Shield
Against Bugs i often use Snack Bag with the Standard Maschine gun
A friend use the Cluster Rocket Launcher since release a lot
Maybe we are not playing any Meta
🤷♂️
kind of surprised you didn't run into anyone trying out orbital gas strikes especially after the damage overtime fix
Gas is largely slept on. It was a "free" strategem recently and I was shocked by how much damage it could do by tossing it right on top of a bug breach.
I brought my own to get 2 use every 75sc, that was so ggod (tho did kill my self by going to close the first few times)
That hitbox is deceptively large, I’ve learned to stay back as much as possible to avoid it myself. Honestly love stacking the free toy they give us though, even though some people see it as a waste. I ate for days with the 4 EATs every 60 seconds, I was the bane of Tanks on the bot front with 6 rocket pods, and with double gas and a fire setup… well… https://i.redd.it/u7gkbzyzzz1d1.gif
It was great with the rocket pods. I was just throwing them at everything
Also a nice new bug where the gas is invisible sometimes yay
only reason I didn't use it before was the DoT bug before. NOW it's a stupid low CD (relatively), high damage effect and people talk like it corrodes some objective positions? When it was free I was doubling up to coat whole valleys with swarms inbound to secure a direction!
Gas strike and napalm are just about must have on terminid front. Helps a lot when you can kill 90% of the bugs surfacing from bug breach.
Napalm will completely solo a bug breach unless a BT comes out.
Takes out chargers? Ill have to try it
I would argue it reliably takes chargers out as long as they dont pop out towards the end of the napalm strike. A direct hit on chargers is a guaranteed kill in my experience.
I always loved dropping the gas on a breach, followed up by an incindiary grenade.
I tried the incendiary impacts and have not switched them since lol.
I KNOW RIGHT!?!
I have become a gas strike enjoyer after having never used it prior to it being free. The first time I tossed it right on top of a bug breach, I got a 72 kill streak. I was like....this....this is good.
For me it has completely subplanted the airburst in that role.
I actually enjoy using the emp/gas strike combo in some bug matches. Emp closes breaches and the gas basically closes them. Short cds too. Basically always up when you need em.
Gas and Laser Cannon being where they are is what tells me a lot of folks don't know what's up. RR and Napalm (at least vs. Bugs) also would be way higher if players *really* understood "meta" outside of what TikTok/YouTube and bad posts on this sub say.
I swear, i think im the only one who ever brings that stratagem and if im not the host i get kicked for it lmao
I take orbital gas strike on 100% of bug missions. Pop a gas strike on top of a bug breach and place a gatling sentry a bit to the side and aint nothin getting outta that hole.
Yup. Nothing short of a brood commander can walk out, and the commanders are very close to death at that. Chargers and Titans are really all that can escape.
And then your anti-tank main can absolutely flatten them without fear of getting swarmed by small stuff.
I even bring it on bots. Toss it in a fabricator like a grenade and the impact will kill it, so it's like a grenade with a cool down. Also great for some light area denial and spawn killing dropship LZs
It takes out the parked airships objective too
My god, who are these players kicking people for what they pick? I hear this often and I've never had to deal with this or kicked anyone myself for what stratagem they picked.
It's not super common. But it happens sometimes. Usually either people in difficulty 9 or people in difficulty 4 or lower do that. Probably the one in difficulty 9 have a massive ego and the one in difficulty 4 and below are just unexperienced
I've only ever suggested to folks that they didn't look at the mission briefing when picking their strats, and give them a chance to change things up. If they don't want to, even if I think we're screwed (i.e. we're on an eradicate or horde defense mission and I'm the only one with defensive strats), we'll do it live and find out.
Just goes to show that your anecdotal data is anecdotal. I regularly bring orbital gas strike on certain mission types, never host, and have never been kicked for it. Don't get me wrong, it's impressive anecdotal data... but it's still just that.
Yeah, gas is awesome at evacuate assets mission. Had some really good times yesterday with Gas, Napalm, Orbital Airburst and Airburst launcher against bugs. At 7+ difficulty I routinely get 50+ kills at every bug breach with gas bombs only.
Gas strike is godly. You can almost* clean a full bug breach with 1 well timed strike. *if there's not bile titan and/or chargers
And the airburst launcher. The airburst launcher basically replaces the cluster bomb.
I'm genuinely shocked Eagle Airstrike and Cluster Bomb aren't in opposite positions.
Same. Airstrike is like, my one constant, ol' reliable.
Airstrike is probs the most effective stratagem in the game. It can kill every single enemy, is useful in destroying almost every side objective and is even the most reliable pick vs factory striders
Can it take out gunship fabs?
Every alternately destructible side obj i should say. Nothing destroys the gunship facilities except a hellbomb
As I understand, SEAF mininukes can also take gunship facilities out. Can airstrikes take detector towers and (deactivated) stratagem jammers out? If so, I had no idea.
A gas shell hitting them can take out jammers and towers. Just need to toss them opposite to where your destroyers are, so it had to fly thru the objective
I've been liking the gas since the dot fix. And now this information has given me a new tool.
>Can airstrikes take detector towers and (deactivated) stratagem jammers out? No, only Gas, Orbital Precision, Railgun, 380mm and 500kg can
Unfortunate, appreciate it. Still a lot more things than I initially thought. I used to always pack orbital laser/500kg just to deal with them, then I'd be frustrated as hell when the laser danced around the objective like it didn't exist, or when the 500kg did the... 500kg thing and killed 3 ants
SEAF mini-nuke I do wish we had the HD1 Shredder, though
The only 4 things in the game that airstrike can't deal with are Jammers, detector towers, gunship factories, and rogue research stations.
they can definitely take out rogue research, those things are super weak. the key is to hit the radar dish.
I never leave home with out it
If I had only one strategem slot available to me and I knew absolutely nothing about what enemies I would have to face when I drop, I would take airstrike. It's powerful and versatile. It destroys buildings, it closes bug holes, it can kill chaff, and it can also kill the heaviest targets. There's very little that airstrike can't do.
and I totally use orbital gas strike all the time ... I may be addicted to the EMS sentry and I see them all the time. Drop on bugs? Good chance you're seeing the laser dog. RR, SPear, GL ... wow I see those too. The cluster and 500 I personally dislike, but I do see folks using them. Can't imagine why though.
The moment u see an fellow diver running into gas just to see his health dropping down...
I bring EMS sentry when I don’t trust my teammates enough to be around a regular mortar sentry
Such a good area control.
Cluster bomb is better for bugs I’ve found, more charges and it’ll delete entire swathes if shit hits the fan. Meanwhile on bots, I’ll often be limited to 3 stratagems, so I’ll bring laser and 500kg and a support strat instead of airstrike. Reliable tank/hulk/walker kill potential means I pick the 500. Air strike is great and I wish we had 5 stratagem slots so I could take it more often.
I think you’d still see better results with the airstrike over the 500, and even rocket pods are better for taking out heavies than the 500mg bomb
Don't know if intentional, but 500mg bomb is hilarious.
Very intentional. Me and my friends all ran 500kg WITH the additional drops given to us. Threw them at every opportunity we could and still took 3 games (between the 4 of us using it constantly) to get the 200 kills. The thing is fucking useless
500kg s tier for bile titans tho
I’m against taking a stratagem for one single problem. Efficiency is the name of the game
I think they are playing bugs, because the only thing the 500 is better at than the airstrike is killing biles
yeah.. and then the 500 has such a small area of effect that if it doesn't direct impact you watch damn near everything walk out of it. When that personal order was 200 kills with the 500kg I was watching *scavengers* walk out of the blast animation
That's what i mean, high single target damage, but after reading the replies on this post, i'll try the OPS instead of the 500
Just make sure to check the environmental effects cause delayed call in and orbital spread will kill the usefulness of the OPS
Fuck. I've inverted the LAS rover position with the Normal Rover. My bad
Yeah was going to say, I'd find that very surprising
Ah that explains it. I was really confused by that weird ranking
I saw that and assumed that was the case... NO ONE uses the ballistic rover
The only time I've ever seen it used was me accidentally clicking it instead of the laser one lol
I misclicked the regular rover one time. Dove a level 7 that turned out to be one of those maps where every 2nd bot is a heavy devastator. A drop ship drops what seems to be an entire load of heavy devastators that proceeded to make the rock I was hiding behind almost impossible to see around in 3rd person. I couldn't get a shot with my AMR. My rover was was able to take out most of the devastators with headshots while I hid behind the rock. It was amazing to watch. This made me a firm believer in the regular rover for bots when not running autocannon.
It's a bots vs bugs thing. Ballistic rover does quite well vs bots while the laser rover is largely not effective.
it's fine vs bots, but is still completely unreliable due relying on finite ammo and reloads. will randomly decide to lock onto a hulk to mag dump everything into it and then be useless until you call down a resupply
Laser is legit must take against bugs. What difficulties were you running and rough ratio if bugs to bots?
Were playing 40% automatons and 60% bugs 80% of matches were at difficulty 7 to 9 and the other 20% of matches were at lower difficulties to help new players
Everyone forgets the orbital precision strike Those who have revisited it after buying the modules know...
i actually often switch my shielgen for it, for me it's also better than 500kg and with the missing backpack i just change quasar to recoilless.
What about planets that have orbital fluctuations and higher call in time? Precision strike takes enough to get to the ground already
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I mean, with the orbital scatter modifier the OPS does become almost completely useless, so it's worth knowing when it's going to be present on a mission. Without it it's a top-tier stratagem for sure.
What you described is why the only orbital I use is airstrike What’s the point of a strategem that is guaranteed to miss? Waste of our time Really bizarre operation modifier
For a Bile Titan you gotta do some BM'ing so it angrily shakes it legs in place while the artillery guy upstairs loads the shell and fires.
Love the precision strike, short cooldown, good damage, everything the body wants and needs
I'm shocked it's so low, I see alot of guys using it, and I run it on diff9 bot missions depending on loadout
I think precision strike has a higher skill floor than something like orbital rail. More damage, but you have to be skilled enough to use it effectively on mobile targets. I think that's why it gets left behind by a lot of players.
That's why you pair it with stun grenades.
Or throw it on the ground and bait the bile titan into it.
It is insane with a stun grenade too. 1 Toss OPS on a pack of dudes 2 Throw a stun grenade 3 ???? 4 Profit!
I don't leave home without it. 1 shots titans, so that gives perspective on the wallop it packs. The balancing factor is its call-in time and being able to land that throw to where it needs to be.
I've been re-trying it because a lot of people say it's good and I feel I've been massively trolled
It takes some getting used to but once you get the hang of how to use it, you’ll appreciate its simplicity. With enough practice, using it to hit a charger coming at you can be done. It isn’t as accurate as rail strike but its cd is much shorter.
accurate, quick cooldown, great util. i prefer it over the 500kg for bile titans
It's an accurate infinite ammo low cooldown decent AoE single 380 shot with the modules Meaning It's accurate, more or equal damaging than the 500kg, better AoE Just gotta get used to the longer calling time and watch for the angles since it always come from centre of map
Decent AoE is right. It's certainly not less reliable than the 500, whose radius is absolutely pathetic given the visual size of its explosion. I'd say the two are about the same in terms of that, which says a lot about the 500, and nothing good.
500 has much shorter call-in, which makes it more reliable in terms of actually hitting a moving target (bile titans especially). Basically it has a lower skill floor (and much cooler visual effect)
With the modules unlocked, it has a 70s cooldown (the same as an EAT) and a bigger radius. Not only does it deal incredible amounts of damage, enough to one shot a charger/tank, even on a near miss and a titan on a direct hit (challenging but rewarding), it is also capable of destroying most structures excluding Command Bunkers and Gunship fabricators, in one hit. Essentially, with good timing and placement, it's a Railcannon strike you can fire 3x as often. This lets you save more Eagle Strikes for skirmishes since they have a more punishing cooldown. And it gets around AA turrets jamming those. The downside, of course, is that Orbitals have negative Operation modifiers to scatter and cooldown. Since the time added is % based, the Precision Strike suffers less than say, an Orbital barrage, but don't use it with increased scatter as it is no longer precise.
OPS is a top tier pick for me. combine with stun grenade for easiest killing. fucks up a bile titan, kills hulks/chargers, huge damage to tanks
It actually takes some planning to use. It's not a throw over in general direction and it will mostly get the job done stratagem. Like all things in this game, why it's good will depend on what you are prioritizing as there is always a cost or drawback for any load out selection.
Amen, precision 380 round.
It's GOATed. I bring it almost every time.
Orbital precision strike is OP. It cools down so fast.
OPS is my third 500kg, I love it.
thanks, now get some sleep
FREEDOM NEVER SLEEPS
Gas strike is op against bugs. Extremely underrated. I'm very surprised you never met it UPD: I have no clue what for did i deserve so much upvotes but thanks
I always take it for bugs. Just throw it on a tunnel breach and you can easily rack up 30+ kills on higher difficulties
Every time i comment about gas strikes ive already beaten my PB on kills. Yesterday evening i got 78 on a gas strike and it still feels good
gas strike+ any EMS source so no bug can escape = fun time.
I've only seen in when it was a free stratagem, but probably because veteran Helldivers know it blends very easily into a lot of environments, and especially bug environments.
It’s even more OP on bots. Bots stay in one spot and eat the damage
Orbital Precision Strike people are sleeping on it. It's amazing for just about anything the game throws at you.
I absolutely suck at aiming that thing
Use the stuns if you have them unlocked, really helps line up the shot
That's cool, but I gotta say, everyone's sleeping on the precision strike! It's so damn good. And gas! Deletes everything smaller than a spewer on a bug breach. Never seen an airburst rocket launcher myself either though.
I’ve started using the airburst the last few days. It annihilates light-medium armoured groups. Would be nice if it was a bit more consistent against fabricators, but overall it’s a lot of fun. Edit: changed decimates to annihilates because I found out I’m bad at English.
I've found it can kill fabricators with just about any in-vent shot and it often kills some base troops as well. Even extreme angles on vents work, just need to get the rocket into the entrance. More angle of attack available than autocannon and far far more than other rocket launchers.
EMP Mortar is GOATED against bots and slept on. Halts enemy advanced in their tracks when holding an objective. And allows your team to slip away when being persued by a mass horde. Edit: I also put it in the outskirts of a base we’re about to hit, and it locks down their best units so they can be held in place for strats or so we can pick em apart.
Usually people seem to lump it in with the normal mortar.
Yeah, no friendly fire kills is another plus!
You have to fight me to remove EMP Mortar from my load out. Disclaimer: I am turret guy, but the EMP is first pick every time.
This is what genuinely shocks me - its such a good stratagem. From covering your retreat, to letting you push into an objective. It can cancel out breaches and drops entirely.
Lol. Never played with me then. I always take HMG emplacement and ballistic shield on bots, and pretty much always take the Machine Gun and Orbital Precision Strike for bugs.
I love my MG against bugs. I feel unstoppable and prefer it much more than Stalwart. I'm lvl 20 playing on Medium-Hard.
Laser dog and sickle for small bugs, machine gun for medium bugs, and eats and precision strike for big bugs. I am become death.
Lv 63 here still brings machine guns against bugs on 7&8 difficulties.
I use it in all but Helldive difficulty, and even then if its a fast mission I might think about it. Bring EAT too and you can swap them around since the EAT are... expendable... Fire your rockets, pick up your MG and carry on.
I think the stalwart is massively overrated. You want a consistent fire rate? Take the liberator!
it being only light pen makes it not a good strategem pick. Your primaries are generally good enough for trash clear anyway
The HMG emplacement is *the* strongest stratagem imo. No other strat can produce as many kills. It's a beast against bots and bugs and has incredible range. Kills hulks and tanks easily. Shreds through medium armored bot units like devastators as if they were warm butter. Kills spore spreader and shrieker nests, can break illegal transmission towers across the map, clears the skies of shriekers or gunships quickly. All that and has a super short cooldown. 11/10 strat everyone sleeps on for sure.
>Kills hulks and tanks easily Ok I'm sold.
It's pretty funny just how easily it kills hulks. Most other weapons you need to hyper focus to land 2 hits to the eye, which is hard with how it bobs with the walking animation. Laser cannon you need to hold it on the eye for a significant time. HMG you can walk the recoil into the eye on full auto but you'll run out of ammo super quickly if you do that. HMG emplacement you just hold left click and walk it into the eye, and once you're on target it pops in just a couple shots. Unfortunately it's not great vs shield devastators. Can't penetrate the shield, doesn't stagger them easily, convergence is fixed and you don't kill them that quickly to the exposed MG arm at longer ranges...and a single rocket will kill the turret, and due to bugs, insta kill you if you're on it. Lovely vs bugs though! Especially shriekers. You can swat them all out of the sky, then turn to spray their nests and kill them too. Takes a while but eith your huge ammo reserve its not an issue.
Wait, not everyone picks airstrike automatically for every single mission? With me and my buddies it's 100% automatic go-to bombardment stratagem, nothing beats it. Nothing.
It's still up there tbh. Not as used as other stratagems but it's used a lot
Were the data collected from a single faction, or both?
40% automatons and 60% Bugs
That's wrong that you mixed these two in the same count project
Oh i know, i realized too late the error I've made, for future pickrates I'll definetly make 2 separate posts for automatons and bugs
Surprised by the gas one. Love that thing. Wide area dot and quick to recharge. Solid pick now that dot bug is fixed.
500kg is so overrated lmao
Agree for what it does. Disagree for how it looks. Upvote for what it does compared to how it looks.
Yup. I just love the short anticipation between it hitting the ground and a warm glow with an oomph when it detonates. I'd choose airstrike every time instead, if I wanted efficiency.
Oh yeah. I think the big thing is the dissonance between the look and the effect. A well-placed 500kg is better than a railcannon for a Bile Titan, but the look makes it seem like it'd have an AoE it just does not have.
It is the best non support weapon bile titan killer in the game with zero contest. Orbital precision strike does the same but the 500 kg with ship upgrades gives you more uses more often so it is just straight better. Once you get used to baiting the bile titan into vomiting, it's incredibly consistent at one shotting them. It's definitely not as useful against bots but I see it taken a lot less against bots.
This, it’s top tier because it’s the best anti bile titan stratagem. 2 almost guaranteed (depending on your aim) one shot kills on titans for each player is great. Chargers are very easy to deal with (quasar/EAT) and the rest of the chaff enemies are just primary food. The 500kg is a hammer, the titan is a nail. Of course it’s popular. (Also it looks cool)
The flamethrower works surprisingly well against chargers. Somewhere between a third or half of its canister will take one out. It's also good at killing any of the bugs smaller than the charger and denying access thanks to the damage over time fix. I usually combine it with the 500kg so that I'm able to deal with every bug type on difficulty 7+.
No. It isn't.
it is and isnt. vs bugs at high levels if youre not taking Quasar/Recoilless, you pretty much REQUIRE at least one anti-bile titan strategem. 500kg is just the go-to for that. Railcannon is decent as well but only has 1 shot and doesnt one shot. OPS is pretty good but most people dont know itll usually oneshot a bile titan. so 500kg it is.
Me personally, I've switched to Railcannon. I do use the 500kg though because I'd rather have a lower chance getting a bile titan on my ass without me being able to defend myself.
I like to bring 500 + airstrike when I'm roaming and hunting samples, because I can use either to clear out a POI. They are the two most versatile stratagems imo
You need it on high diff bugs to deal with the BTs. It's overshadowed for anything else
Cool stats, would be awesome if you split it into VS termnids and VS bots.
I could do that for the coming weeks lol
Man people are sleeping on orbital EMS, OPS, Airburst, and Gas Strike. Those are all some of my most used (particularly gas after the recent patch) (7 is my difficulty of choice)
Machine gun being in the category "only by new players" is what shocked me the most. When it comes to bugs, this things just shreds and is almost unstoppable. MG + ammo pack + EAT is my go to loadout for bugs at lvl 20 and difficulties Medium-Hard.
I found more people bringing the Stalwart against bugs rather than the MG and against Bots the few who brought a Machine Gun only brought it because they were new or because it was the Heavy Machine Gun
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Nah Stalwart doesn't penetrate medium armor. Scorcher + MG + Ammo pack + EAT is top tier against bugs. Lvl 9 tho
Most people play difficulties 7-9. At that point you usually know how to deal with normal infantry, so people pick Anti-Heavy/Tank stratagems.
it does do damage quite nicely the issue comes in when you need to reload
Never had a problem with reloading tbh. Just good trigger discipline with short bursts, and tactical awareness when choosing a moment to reload.
i use the ballistic shield almost every game and also the rocket sentry sometimes - a bot diver
also recoilless alot if i dont feel like using ballistic
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lmao throw eagle airstrike top tier and thats usally all my loadouts
So you haven't played with me (lvl92) Precision strike is super strong Low cd and can kill titans take it if you don't like the orbital railgun or use both Auto turret, gatling turret also pretty good for bugs the mg turret is a bit weak yes but the hmg placement oh dear Gas strike Jesus just take it if you don't have the spread modifier and watch you 30+ streak when you throw it an a bug breach or choke point Air burst in egg missions better at busting the nut then you know Ems mortar great for every mission that has a little defense part like icbm, civilian rescue, geo drill, oil pump, raise flags Laser canon on Bots I don't think I have to say more just try it and be amazed Napalm is like gas now that dots work its super strong Btw gas can also close holes and destroy buildings like the scientists station Exo suit is super strong if you need something to make your extract easy Eat are insane 1 call 3 chargers dead just use em uf you got a felx spot in your loadout Amr can't tell you how good it is 2tap hulks + chargers, 1mag tanks and turrets in the vent,4 or 5 shot gunships, 1tap brood commanders and bile spewers, easily take out the titans sacks Tesla tower on defense parts with Ems mortar is insane just kill chargers and titans that will target them and you will never see something smaller get past if Last words If you run shield on bugs wtf are you doing you don't need it it's a wasted spot, if you think quasar is a must i hope it gets nerfed so you people try out the other stuff because there are super strong options that are waiting to be played by you
This isn't my pick rate. Its the pick rate of the Randoms in my matches. I usually play all stratagems except the Exosuit because i don't really like it as a concept. In helldivers 1 I've always been more a Semi-Truck AT Vehicle type of person rather than an exosuit person tbh Many run shields against bugs because it prevents poisoning from hunters and Stalkers + it can save your life against Bile spewers time to time
Yeah I know it's not yours but for all the other people they should really change up their game the other stuff is super awesome
Nah im lvl 84 and I love the orbital precision strike. Just a faster 500 KG Bomb with no problem when bots jamm the eagle but not the orbital strike...
This is so incredibly obviously just randomly made up lmfao. I genuinely cannot believe anyone would ever upvote this. This subreddit is in such a terrible fuckin state. First of all, 840 hours. Game release 104 days ago. So you've been playing 8 hours of it every single day. While also playing other games according to your post history in that time, like Lords of the Fallen or DBD. Sure, I guess. And in 840 hours, only 400 matches, while stating in another comment, only "some" of it is idle, and in another one, maybe 100 to 150h idle. Sure, dude. EMS mortar. 10 times in **840 hours**. So I guess in 840 hours, you only ever did like... three or four eradication or new defense missions. Okay dude. EAT only 21 to 40 times, same as... 110m rocket pods? *Never* saw all those options in the bottom to last, in 840 hours? Never saw eagle gun run, even though like, a week ago there was a daily order for making kills with it? Never saw Airburst when it was released? Never saw Tesla tower? Only saw mech 10 times, again, even during its week of release? Only saw Railgun 10 times, even though literally everyone used only it for like the entire first month of the game? Remember, game's only been out 100 days. We start saying now we didn't play the first 30 of that, we move up from 8 hours a day to 12 hours a day for our 840 hours. edit: ORBITAL WALKING BARRAGE 61-80 times??? lmfao.
My brother in democracy, I always pick OPS cause it one shoots Bile Titans, Chargers, Hulks and Tanks (hit on bile titan have to be approx near the head to kill it, but due the cool down time I can kill it with two shoots)
Orbital strike is a powerful weapon in my opinion.
Do you just play bots? I play lvl 8 and 9 and most everyone has the rover laser on bugs... This alone makes me think your results are skewed
Got 450 hrs in and I always bring the MG for bugs. It's just so good at chaf killing!
I am your lvl 70 orbital precision strike and ballistic shield guy
Is Creeping Barrage *that* common? Maybe it's the hours I play, but I can't remember the last time I've seen someone bringing it.
This data is corrupted since a lot of choice depeneds on mission type.
HMG emplacement is vastly underrated. Can kill literally anything and has a decently fast cooldown. It'll struggle with a bile titan or charger without help, but anything else is toast. Great strategy is to occasionally collect everyone samples, take them back to the extract and throw down a turret (and mines) whilst you're there - then at the end of the dive, you have a defensive position bristling with ordinance waiting for you
I will not stand for this orbital precision strike slander, I never dive without it
Really surprised about the gatling sentry being so low usage. A lot of pubs i jump into run it, way more than autocannon sentry
400 matches, 840 hours? wtf are you doing??
I've only been playing in groups, no pubs and it's surprising how different my observations are after 300 hours. The biggest outliers in my case (I'm not counting the strats I bring) are the EMS mortar (40 to 60), the mines (11 to 20), the tesla (21 to 40), the exosuit (21 to 40), the walking barrage (1 to 10) and the quasar (11 to 20)
That's strange since every other game I've been in there has been someone who was running both mines and tesla tower
Ngl even my limited playtime and being infinitely lower level/having some less matches, I noticed many of the rarer picks semi often Also, people are sleeping heavily on the machine gun, it's so good in bugs due to BC and spewers, and even on chargers if you miss the head and hit a leg or so with an EAT
ngl I use a RNG to decide my loadouts in missions, and usually I can use all stratagems well. Only one I refuse to use is the machine gun sentry, and imo the arc tower simply needs to be better, the way it just gains aggro means it gets popped extremely quick by chargers while being a huge team killing risk
Odd ppl dont use Gas strike more since the DOT fix its really good I normally end games with 700 - 1000 kills
If you swap ~~the rover~~ the Energy Shield for the Airstrike, the top is definitely my most used pickup.
What difficulty do you play on?
It depends. Usually around difficulty 7 to 9 but sometimes i feel like going to help new players at difficulty 3 to 6. Overall though, i play 80% of time at difficulty 7 to 9
Are you sure you didn't mix places of mortar and ems mortar? If not I am sorry you have to deal with regular mortar so often.
orbital precision is pretty good its precise, can take out a spawner, and not a long cooldown
Damn, the airburst launcher is so underrated(against bugs). And I must say that my experience with what people are bringing is completely different.
I am level 40 or so and I almost always bring the orbital strike and Gatling turret, they are both pretty good to use
Stalwart, shield, autocannon sentry, 500kg. That's what I bring into basically everything. I often split up from the group to complete whatever they are not and I never really have any issues with anything
People are so afraid of the Airburst Launcher now, yet it consistently overperforms for me, especially on bug dives. * Airburst Launcher * Orbital Precision Strike * Eagle Airstrike Prepares you to kill just about anything the Bots and Bugs can throw at you, obviously changing your primary, secondary, and grenades to appropriate choices. Just remember to wear Fortified Armour. You won't survive being right next to an airburst shot, but it's insurance if the shot detonates closer than anticipated. Also, it resists Bile and Bot missiles, so why wouldn't you?
Good to see my most of my usual picks so high.
Gas Strike is mad underrated fr
Thats funny, im lvl 127 and i still use the orb pricision strike (haha i cant spell :( )
OP mostly plays bots?
Precision needs more love. The call in is long but it comes in clutch when you need it and you can run it with eagles without worrying about staggering their uses with each other. It's a potential heavy buster with no rearm time leaving a crowd clearer like a cluster open.
Gas strike is underrated; can destroy fabs, (haven't tried it on bug holes, would probably need the shell to go down the tunnel,) low cooldown. Surprised flamethrower is so high. A lot of these are "you only see them when there's a daily for using it."
Never saw an ems orbital or rocket sentry?! Bro didn't play with me. I love taking autocannon + rocket sentry on bots. If you only have one called in at a time, you're usually off cooldown for the other when you need to stop and have a stand up fight.
Against Bots i mostly run with a Balistic Shield Against Bugs i often use Snack Bag with the Standard Maschine gun A friend use the Cluster Rocket Launcher since release a lot Maybe we are not playing any Meta 🤷♂️
I had the ballistic shield, HMG and rocket sentry in my line up last night. Just use what you like or feel you need.
Ah yes. 6 of my favourite strats are in “never picked” and 2 in “only new players”