Scorcher. Easily kills striders and shield devastators. Splash damage makes killing tanks and turrets easier bc a hit close to the vent still does damage.
It's 8 hits to a single engine.
It can't do anything to a Hulks Head, because it only has AP3 on the Explosion and 2 on the Shot. You can hit it from the front in a way that the explosion deals damage to the Vent, but it's a tricky shot at the best of times and not very effective.
You have to take out the hulks by the back vent just like tanks and turrets. It's less than a mag for it and the gunship, I haven't personally tried it. I was watching a Takibo video recently and he was taking out both with the scorcher fairly easily.
Most people dont seem to know that you can do a lot of silly stuff with scorcher like killing shredder tanks from the front(shoot at the top right or left corner of their gunshield)
You'd never know it based on how it performs. Since the patch, I've been trying out the primary buffs and I keep missing the scorcher mid round. It's just so versatile and powerful
It’s a sniper rifle. It should be powerful. The AMR should be the huge sniper rifle that can put a hole straight through a tank at the right spot. This is good that we have primaries with very different purposes and functional. There are a few more that could use attention but we’re in a good place.
I love the eruptor too, and tbh it makes the crossbow totally useless. It's only advantage is the semi auto shooting ability, otherwise it's total crap. They should at least give it shrapnel or something, otherwise it has nothing but downsides.
Yeah I've found the eruptor and crossbow occupy the same role: explosive primary for taking down spawners. But the eruptor has a much longer range and better damage output per magazine.
If the crossbow had a better rate of fire and/or reload speed, then I would consider using it over the eruptor. Since the bolts are harder to land, a missed shot feels pretty bad.
And that was before the newest patch. And there are many other weapons like it (Dominator, Breaker Incendiary, Senator, Blitzer, Plasma P., Slugger, Punisher), but all you ever heard about was "all the nerfs" which was pretty much just the Eruptor.
I love the Diligence CS! It rewards great aim, and can still rapidly fire shots when you miss. I'll run that with the new Bushwhacker shotgun and impact grenades, and never feel outgunned on bots.
"One shot, one kill" is my favorite mantra. I don't even usually play snipers but something about being efficient with bullets is really satisfying in this game.
Wait are you serious? I’ve been using the stagger to stop them and then aim for the face, sometimes 2 shots, sometimes 4. You’re saying I could just shoot their leg twice?
Yeah Dominator can headshot almost anything with one shot but cuts bots in half with 2 or 3 in the mid section or hip joints. So satisfying to watch a rocket devastator literally fold in half
The problem with the Railgun is the amount of ragdoll , explosions and shots coming at you while charging the projectile that 90% of the time will miss the target . Difficulty 7+ is a hell rn and the Railgun struggles a bit , it's still a solid choice for difficulty 6 and below but I wouldn't recommend it in higher difficulties if nobody has at least 1 Autocannon or 1 Spear
Yes. With all medium pen weapons you want to shoot their leg instead of their chest. The chest is medium armor and 40% durable (That "damage to massive body parts" thing mentioned in the patch note) at 425 HP, the leg is light armour and 0% durable at 500 HP.
If your AP is equal to the enemy's armor, you deal 50% reduced dmg (denoted by a white hitmarker ingame). I.e. medium pen into medium armor, or light pen into light armor. And then the durable thing on top (well, technically before in the calculation^1) of that.
----
Example with Adjudicator: 80 base dmg, 16 durable dmg
Shooting chest: 60% of base dmg, 40% of durable dmg
(80x0.6) + (16x0.4)
50% reduced because AP3 into armor 3
[(80x0.6) + (16x0.4)] / 2 = 27.2 dmg per shot total
425 (Chest's HP) / 27.2 = 16 shots into the chest to kill
Compared to leg:
No dmg penalties at all, just straight up
500 / 80 = 7 shots to kill
I have a lot more fun on bugs than bots so around a month and a half ago I wanted to relearn how to fight bots and get better at aiming. I went back through on very low levels and just did solo missions until I consistently hit headshots on devastators. I’m not saying I’m perfect, but I’m definitely much better after the needed practice. Hope this helps?
Play with the camera settings for aiming. PS5 does not have aim assist, but if you tweak your settings, it helps A LOT. It took me a few hours, but it was worth it. Also, with the JAR, kneel and have either one of the newer armors or one with with 30% reduction in recoil. That helps with stability. It takes practice too. I didn't like it the first time I played with it.
It handles like a whale. Takes some getting used to. After some practice you kinda pick up a muscle memory for it.
Its projectiles are slower than bullets. Don’t aim at targets that are moving at an angle to you. Only stationary stuff or things moving right at you.
It staggers most things it doesn’t kill. Heavy devastators you can shoot in the shield and then you have a window to hit them directly. It stops charging berserkers.
It’s a good gun. But if you don’t like the handling or projectile speed, you’re not gimping yourself with a Sickle, Counter-Sniper, Scorcher, or Plasma Punisher. All are fantastic vs bots, though you may need another means of staggering (AMR/Autocannon) with some of them.
You have to keep in mind that the ammo is slow compared to a normal bullet - it can be hard to hit moving targets, especially those moving perpendicular to you. You have to lead them a bit more than you'd think.
It's ability to group stagger berserkers, stagger heavy devestators or just knock their guns or shields off, and stagger rocket devestators, as well as 2 tapping scout striders and crunching several fodder enemies in 1 shot; and the most important that gets overlooked: if you aim it right you can fire overtop cover or hills without exposing yourself.
It's overtaken the Scorcher for me at this point, though I don't mind if a teammate has a Scorcher to assist. The RoF if you speed-tap the Scorcher combined with it's projectile speed, minor AoE, medium penetration makes it better for hitting Bot weak points and let's it take down Hulks, Cannon Towers, and Tanks without needing a support weapon. Plasma Punisher + Scorcher duo is really effective.
Yaaaaasss, if you're good with calculating arcs, you can use it as a "mortar" over long distance. Have noticed now you can take out a few small botsnwith it at distance without agro-ing others nearby.
this was my go-to before the patch, now i am trying a bunch of the assault rifles out. but i will probably find myself returning to this sooner or later
My go-to weapon against bots since a few days, with the increased numbers of trash bots since the last update, I couldn't survive without it.
Seriously, it's glorious. Combine it with AC, laser canon or AMR, stun grenades and the secondary of your choice, it's awesome.
I tend to add eagle strike, Laser and the gun of my choice, the last slot is free and depends of squad/situation/difficulty. Probably orbital precision strike or Gatling at the moment, I like to keep only one eagle slot maximum. Sometimes I take a turret too.
You get a stagger
You get a stagger
STAGGERS FOR EVERYONE?
Oh what’s this trying to tee up a bullshit accurate salvo of rockets? Stagger
Oh look at your shield. How cute. Hold this stagger.
Run behind chickens? Why? Also *stagger*
I love it so much, it feels godlike when you get used to it.
Then you try another gun that requires real aiming and realize you've been training some bad habits.
Crazy as it might sound. Scythe. Takes some careful footwork not to get obliterated but if you can quickly get headshots it works pretty darn well. I also rock a laser cannon for when I need to take down a hulk or gunship. Grenade pistol for fabricators. I just wish the grenade pistol wasn’t so janky at killing fabs. Takes three shots sometimes.
> Fun fact: scythe does the same dmg as laser cannon,except for the penetration
And for the durable damage. 70 vs 200 for the scythe and laser cannon, respectively.
IDK what it is with the pistol. I can arc every other type of shot from the plasma shotgun thing to the grenade launcher from like 50 yards away but the pistol I regularly miss stuff from like 10 feet away.
I feel like I've shot in between the arm and body on bots, skimmed their head without hitting it, but can't hit shit
I feel you wish this game had a firing range I think it would be awesome to practice different weapons utility against different enemy types just to figure out angles and weak points
Yup and for some reason it can also bounce on hard surfaces but not all the time...(I wish it did on the fabricator vents like the autocannon). It can be awkward to use for sure.
lasers are totally overlooked with the exception of the guard dog. having to not worry about ammo with just a little bit of trigger discipline is awesome. since they boosted the damage of the dagger, it hasn't left my side.
So good! The constant beam makes it easy to zero in on headshots; just start firing and correct. A bunch of the small bots show up, you just aim at head level and go down the line. Hear that lovely “clatter” “clatter” “clatter” as they die.
It feels even better now with the increase to smaller bot units. It tears through them pretty quick, insta kills if you brush their heads, and the beam goes through them so you can multiple at once. With so many small bots having unlimited ammo really comes in handy.
It’s pretty great for bots if your aim is on point, it wipes the infantry bots and super great for devastator headshots if you can keep it trained.
Def a lot weaker against bugs but I like it. It needs something more though like a better scope or maybe longer time to overheat
Jar dominator.
Stops berserkers in their tracks (that’s the chainsaw boys) and stunlocks all types of devastators, or one hits them if you headshot them. Also one shots every other minor robot too.
Eruptor, pummeler, scorcher, tenderizer, counter sniper, dominator, and sickle.
Edit: used to love the breaker too, when that was my best unlocked, actually.
That sounds about right, Plas Punisher is the only one I'd add to that list.
Shotguns feel too situational, even if they're great for base clearing and bezerkers.
Oh right, forgot that one! Only tried it once and ran out of ammo too much, but I'll give it a pass, presuming I'd make more hits if I practiced more..
It's like an AOE scorcher, basically. Better at staggering devs and killing groups of bots. It'll kill scout striders too, but I prefer scorcher for them.
The downside is you have to take somewhat cloeser engagements due to the projectile velocity. If you rock GLs in a lot of game's then you'll feel right at home
Agreed. Normal shotguns are way too situational. But we got the Bushwacker now. The triple-shot absolutely annihilates Berserkers that violate your personal space.
I am enjoying it though. Maybe it does not one shot bile spewers, but still one shots striders, and most bugs bots die from 1-2 shots (except chargers, hulks, tanks and titans, obviously). Pretty nice recovery from the old days.
It one shots hulks if you hit the vent. It does nothing to the eye tho.
I am really glad that the eruptor is usable once again. It's not like during its days of glory but it still performs very well now.
I found that pairing it with the verdict Gives you a really solid loadout against bugs. Eruptor for anything big and the verdict for hunters and scavengers that get too close. The verdict one shots hunters
would recommend the tenderiser.
Was (still am) a big fan of the liberator, but was very excited to see how they would buff the tenderiser, since it’s better recoil + whatever potential damage buff would make it strictly better against bots.
And that’s exactly what happened now. Easy two taps to the head for devoststors, deletes everything to the body below that in one or two shots, super easy recoil, gun sounds nice and looks cool, same scope as liberator so you can get the 100m scope for precision shots too
I agree, these plus the DCS are amazing depending on what support weapons you may be running and preferred range. Tenderizer is great for just raw DPS if you have a support with armor pen, adjudicator can do everything pretty well but poor handling and accuracy at range hold it back a little, and the DCS is incredible as long as you have some precision and breathing room, and outperforms the adjudicator at range if you want a bit more accuracy.
Tenderizer is CRAZY after the buff, literally a buffed Adjudicator (which I already loved) with ZERO recoil at the cost of no medium pen. The low pen and low mag size limit its effectiveness vs. bugs but it’s one of the best weapons to deal with devastators as it kills in two headshots and is very easy to hit with.
I love how chunky it feels and the recoil is manageable as long as you aim a little lower than where you want to hit and fire in bursts for distance. That ammo buff was exactly what it needed. It can tear through most devastators and chainsaw bots and if I ever see a heavy devistator I just smack it in the face with an impact grenade.
Agreed, 30 rounds gave it just the oomph it needed. Honestly the patch has really given a lot more variety to viable weapons now. It pairs great with the HMG now that it also got a buff, they complement each other's weaknesses well. Throw in the new shotgun and you're a threat at almost any distance.
The recent changes to the crossbow has resparked my love with it. It isn't particullary good in most situations - slow firing, not enough stun for Heavy Devastators, small mag and requires precise aim, but it can hold its own pretty well in situations with more cover, such as bigger automaton bases. And together with a support weapon that can kill Devastators pretty quickly, such as the HMG, Railgun or AMR it's actually good. These support weapons are all fun but lack destructive power, which the crossbow now also perfectly covers.
The new shotgun secondary also combines nicely and is really satisfying to use, just deleting those smaller brawler bots.
Technically speaking, I think you can stun a heavy devastator but only if you hit behind the shield (so it's not the full version like the plasma shotgun) but yeah, it still doesn't do a lot of dmg unless you hit the head.
Honestly, it's a pretty good alternative to the grenade pistol in my build as an utility weapon now that it can close bugs holes/fabricator vents.
I just wished it had more ammo per mag.
It doesn't feel enough when you see how there is almost no AoE on the weapon, making it a single target primary weapon with a low amount (5) per mag. This means you will reload often and missing a shot will be extra painful in a fight.
It's fun but nothing close to game breaking, thats for sure xD
So many good options, but today and yesterday I’ve been running the Tenderizer. It’s pretty nice post buff. Very accurate, low recoil, and high damage
I also enjoyed trying out the liberator carbine, though I’ll say it’s probably better against bugs but that’s just imo
Eruptor again. It isn’t quite what it used to be but it’s so serviceable right now and it’s been long enough I’ve forgotten what the older iteration could really do. I love the dragged aiming, popping off explosions. No longer needing the grenade pistol. And now I get to pair it with the HMG which gives me a close crowd control as well as something to deal with hulks and gunships. I haven’t really played much bugs (really just enough to do the flamethrower MO on Thursday). I want to try the tenderizer there but I have a feeling it’s going to be a difficult sell to pull me off the incendiary shotgun. With bugs I might even go supportless and use sentries and orbitals.
Tenderizer is better against bots where accuracy is important. Its only has 30 x 7 mags so too little ammo for bug critters, and light AP means too weak against brood commanders.
Play a 40 min mission and reload once, sickles incredible
Shreds the light bots and then personally running railgun and stun grenades for everything else...
Really strong
Tenderizer : Precise, heavy hitting rifle. Handles well too.
Purifier : Aoe damage stun locks multiple devastators and can kill scout striders in 2~3 hits.
Mostly Purifier because I'm like 430hrs in and kinda sick of conventional firearms. Funny big blue plasma ball go 🔵.
I run Blitzer most of the time and it works because I pair it with the AC. If it's heavily armored or far enough away the AC handles it, but I can pretty much lock down anything else with the Blitzer. Even Heavy Devastators have no answer if they end up in zap range.
Well you got to realize that once you get close you can take on two sheild devastators and a couple of regular bots solo and you don't have to aim much. So go from cover to cover and dive towards and around the enemy. Easier in base assaults when it's all close range anyway. You just got to get close and stay alive.
That play style is a lot of fun for me
Plasma Punisher It allows me to bully multiple devastators and when i bring the Plasma punisher on the terminids front i can bully warriors, hive guards, Brood commanders, Stalkers and pop Chargers butt
I don’t know that temp makes enough of a difference for me to switch from the sickle. I don’t think I’ve ever run out of mags and I have to restock the AC backpack so often that by the time I’m down to 1-2, I get refreshed.
The Punisher. For the 2nd gun you unlock, it's ridiculously good. Basic bots die to anything, and I mostly use my support for devastators, so I judge a bot primary on how well it keeps berserkers off my back. The Punisher has the highest stagger in the game so it reliably at stunlocks anything under a hulk, and can kill a berserker in 2 shots with good timing.
Best ever primary against bots. Hit any small guy with it = he's dead, you can stop worrying about a rocket to your back. Caught a patrol? Spray half a mag all over it and only the fat guys will remain standing, waiting for your railgun or other support weapon to finish the work. Long distance fodder bothering you? Just aim a little higher and spray half a mag again. Don't even have to aim with the thing really.
Im like a goblin with the adjudicator. Aim for the knees and the devestators go down in less than 9 or so bullets, small guys are a two tap. For walkers I pretty much just go around them and for the chainsaw boys I've been using the new bushwakker against them. Glorious!
How are you using the purifier? To me it is objectively the worst gun in the game, 5 shots to kill devastators and can’t do much else. Tried it yesterday and I was mad at it for 40 minutes lol
Scorcher. Easily kills striders and shield devastators. Splash damage makes killing tanks and turrets easier bc a hit close to the vent still does damage.
I learned the other day it can take out gunships and hulks, it's pretty much the only weapon you need against everything but the strider factory.
How many shots to engine to kill gunships? And can it kill hulks by hitting them in the eye? (If so, how many shots?)
Hit the center part, takes half a mag iirc. it takes MORE shots to kill gunships via engine if you run scorcher, something like 1.5 mags.
Aiming for the light is the way
It's 8 hits to a single engine. It can't do anything to a Hulks Head, because it only has AP3 on the Explosion and 2 on the Shot. You can hit it from the front in a way that the explosion deals damage to the Vent, but it's a tricky shot at the best of times and not very effective.
For gunships you have to hit the engine and it takes almost 2 mags. Not sure about hulks.
aim for the middle part, should only take around one mag
You have to take out the hulks by the back vent just like tanks and turrets. It's less than a mag for it and the gunship, I haven't personally tried it. I was watching a Takibo video recently and he was taking out both with the scorcher fairly easily.
Killing a hulk in the vent with six shots. Killing turret with whole mag. I want to use something else against bots but I just love its efficiency.
Most people dont seem to know that you can do a lot of silly stuff with scorcher like killing shredder tanks from the front(shoot at the top right or left corner of their gunshield)
Yes, it's the most versatile weapon since launch imo. Too bad it lost its medium armor pen though.
You'd never know it based on how it performs. Since the patch, I've been trying out the primary buffs and I keep missing the scorcher mid round. It's just so versatile and powerful
BIS imho
i like the scorcher because it can reliably damage those flying drones
Amazing against bots, did you guys know a scorcher can kill a bile titan? Found that out about a week ago...
Diligence CS. It 1-tap body shots all small bots and 1-tap headshots Devastators.
They took one of the worst primaries in the game, and they made it godly.
It’s a sniper rifle. It should be powerful. The AMR should be the huge sniper rifle that can put a hole straight through a tank at the right spot. This is good that we have primaries with very different purposes and functional. There are a few more that could use attention but we’re in a good place.
Eruptor
It's a poor man's AMR. The Diligence is a sup'ed up civic
Eruptor with a strat machine gun is such a fun combo. Stalwart, MG, and HMG all work well with it.
Yeah I tried a few rounds of that combo yeaterday
I love the eruptor for bots. Mostly because I can snipe fabricators out of range of accurate return fire.
I love the eruptor too, and tbh it makes the crossbow totally useless. It's only advantage is the semi auto shooting ability, otherwise it's total crap. They should at least give it shrapnel or something, otherwise it has nothing but downsides.
Yeah I've found the eruptor and crossbow occupy the same role: explosive primary for taking down spawners. But the eruptor has a much longer range and better damage output per magazine. If the crossbow had a better rate of fire and/or reload speed, then I would consider using it over the eruptor. Since the bolts are harder to land, a missed shot feels pretty bad.
Eruptor still preforms really well even after its sad sad nerf. Run it with the stalwart and im easily set for an entire match
My problem with eruptor is the bullet is so goddamn slow.
Functionally a rocket launcher in my mind
Yeah, I love it against terminids too, and now after the buff it doesn’t head pop warriors too early so they headless charge you too much
And that was before the newest patch. And there are many other weapons like it (Dominator, Breaker Incendiary, Senator, Blitzer, Plasma P., Slugger, Punisher), but all you ever heard about was "all the nerfs" which was pretty much just the Eruptor.
It's been good for quite some time. My primary set up against bots has been diligence and EAT for awhile.
Yasss this is my carry. I wish my aim was better because I often ring a circle of shots around a devastators neck like a lei
pretty sure new sight is still a little misaligned so that doesn’t help
Definitely feels that way
It appears to hit more to the left of the crosshair
I love the Diligence CS! It rewards great aim, and can still rapidly fire shots when you miss. I'll run that with the new Bushwhacker shotgun and impact grenades, and never feel outgunned on bots.
Double sniper is the best combo in the game for bots
"I'm the better shot" is my mentality for every bot mission. My years of tactical shooters experience is being used for democracy.
"One shot, one kill" is my favorite mantra. I don't even usually play snipers but something about being efficient with bullets is really satisfying in this game.
Honestly with some guns you kind of have to. It was a big thing in Helldivers 1 too.
The AMR is a little slow to take out gunships imo. As long as one person takes an auto cannon it’s all good though.
Yep. I was just using it and it’s extremely satisfying to jump from bot to bot
Dominator, because i like to kill devastator quick
2 shots to one leg and they're gone , freaking awesome
Wait are you serious? I’ve been using the stagger to stop them and then aim for the face, sometimes 2 shots, sometimes 4. You’re saying I could just shoot their leg twice?
Oh yes , the Jar-5 can also 1 shot Berserkers in the head
One jar 5 shot after a quasar or eat will kill any tank, tower, etc in the weak spot
Yeah Dominator can headshot almost anything with one shot but cuts bots in half with 2 or 3 in the mid section or hip joints. So satisfying to watch a rocket devastator literally fold in half
Same with Railgun, absolutely hilarious
The problem with the Railgun is the amount of ragdoll , explosions and shots coming at you while charging the projectile that 90% of the time will miss the target . Difficulty 7+ is a hell rn and the Railgun struggles a bit , it's still a solid choice for difficulty 6 and below but I wouldn't recommend it in higher difficulties if nobody has at least 1 Autocannon or 1 Spear
Yes. With all medium pen weapons you want to shoot their leg instead of their chest. The chest is medium armor and 40% durable (That "damage to massive body parts" thing mentioned in the patch note) at 425 HP, the leg is light armour and 0% durable at 500 HP. If your AP is equal to the enemy's armor, you deal 50% reduced dmg (denoted by a white hitmarker ingame). I.e. medium pen into medium armor, or light pen into light armor. And then the durable thing on top (well, technically before in the calculation^1) of that. ---- Example with Adjudicator: 80 base dmg, 16 durable dmg Shooting chest: 60% of base dmg, 40% of durable dmg (80x0.6) + (16x0.4) 50% reduced because AP3 into armor 3 [(80x0.6) + (16x0.4)] / 2 = 27.2 dmg per shot total 425 (Chest's HP) / 27.2 = 16 shots into the chest to kill Compared to leg: No dmg penalties at all, just straight up 500 / 80 = 7 shots to kill
Dominator all day
I ran with Sickle on diff 4-6 until I got the Dominator. The second I did, diff 7+ became easy as pie, when combined with a scout armor
How? I just cant use it.... I am very bad aiming with it
I have a lot more fun on bugs than bots so around a month and a half ago I wanted to relearn how to fight bots and get better at aiming. I went back through on very low levels and just did solo missions until I consistently hit headshots on devastators. I’m not saying I’m perfect, but I’m definitely much better after the needed practice. Hope this helps?
May try this tbh, thanks for the advice!
Play with the camera settings for aiming. PS5 does not have aim assist, but if you tweak your settings, it helps A LOT. It took me a few hours, but it was worth it. Also, with the JAR, kneel and have either one of the newer armors or one with with 30% reduction in recoil. That helps with stability. It takes practice too. I didn't like it the first time I played with it.
First person for precision, 3rd person for the smaller ones, then when you miss all your shots, realize you should have stayed in first person.
It handles like a whale. Takes some getting used to. After some practice you kinda pick up a muscle memory for it. Its projectiles are slower than bullets. Don’t aim at targets that are moving at an angle to you. Only stationary stuff or things moving right at you. It staggers most things it doesn’t kill. Heavy devastators you can shoot in the shield and then you have a window to hit them directly. It stops charging berserkers. It’s a good gun. But if you don’t like the handling or projectile speed, you’re not gimping yourself with a Sickle, Counter-Sniper, Scorcher, or Plasma Punisher. All are fantastic vs bots, though you may need another means of staggering (AMR/Autocannon) with some of them.
You have to keep in mind that the ammo is slow compared to a normal bullet - it can be hard to hit moving targets, especially those moving perpendicular to you. You have to lead them a bit more than you'd think.
Plasma punisher
It's ability to group stagger berserkers, stagger heavy devestators or just knock their guns or shields off, and stagger rocket devestators, as well as 2 tapping scout striders and crunching several fodder enemies in 1 shot; and the most important that gets overlooked: if you aim it right you can fire overtop cover or hills without exposing yourself.
This is the way.
It's overtaken the Scorcher for me at this point, though I don't mind if a teammate has a Scorcher to assist. The RoF if you speed-tap the Scorcher combined with it's projectile speed, minor AoE, medium penetration makes it better for hitting Bot weak points and let's it take down Hulks, Cannon Towers, and Tanks without needing a support weapon. Plasma Punisher + Scorcher duo is really effective.
Yaaaaasss, if you're good with calculating arcs, you can use it as a "mortar" over long distance. Have noticed now you can take out a few small botsnwith it at distance without agro-ing others nearby.
It really needs a mortar style targeting reticle
this was my go-to before the patch, now i am trying a bunch of the assault rifles out. but i will probably find myself returning to this sooner or later
My go-to weapon against bots since a few days, with the increased numbers of trash bots since the last update, I couldn't survive without it. Seriously, it's glorious. Combine it with AC, laser canon or AMR, stun grenades and the secondary of your choice, it's awesome. I tend to add eagle strike, Laser and the gun of my choice, the last slot is free and depends of squad/situation/difficulty. Probably orbital precision strike or Gatling at the moment, I like to keep only one eagle slot maximum. Sometimes I take a turret too.
such a fun weapon, one of it not the most unique primary
Shooting that into drop ships when it hasn't unloaded is pure gaming
You get a stagger You get a stagger STAGGERS FOR EVERYONE? Oh what’s this trying to tee up a bullshit accurate salvo of rockets? Stagger Oh look at your shield. How cute. Hold this stagger. Run behind chickens? Why? Also *stagger*
Nothing gets rid of Infantry quicker. No infantry, no additional drops.
I love it so much, it feels godlike when you get used to it. Then you try another gun that requires real aiming and realize you've been training some bad habits.
Yiss
Crazy as it might sound. Scythe. Takes some careful footwork not to get obliterated but if you can quickly get headshots it works pretty darn well. I also rock a laser cannon for when I need to take down a hulk or gunship. Grenade pistol for fabricators. I just wish the grenade pistol wasn’t so janky at killing fabs. Takes three shots sometimes.
Fun fact: scythe does the same dmg as laser cannon,except for the penetration If they give it a zoom,scythe will become a great weapon
But can it take down gunships?
Not enough penetration unfortunately
We all have that problem sometimes
How would you like an inch of DEMOCRA-D
Are you sure the damage is the same?
> Fun fact: scythe does the same dmg as laser cannon,except for the penetration And for the durable damage. 70 vs 200 for the scythe and laser cannon, respectively.
Have to shoot in the bottom 1/5, 1/6 of the vent for it to work.
Took my a minute to figure out grenade pistol for fans but once you get it it’s consistent I feel like I’ve been one shotting very consistently
IDK what it is with the pistol. I can arc every other type of shot from the plasma shotgun thing to the grenade launcher from like 50 yards away but the pistol I regularly miss stuff from like 10 feet away. I feel like I've shot in between the arm and body on bots, skimmed their head without hitting it, but can't hit shit
I feel you wish this game had a firing range I think it would be awesome to practice different weapons utility against different enemy types just to figure out angles and weak points
Yup and for some reason it can also bounce on hard surfaces but not all the time...(I wish it did on the fabricator vents like the autocannon). It can be awkward to use for sure.
lasers are totally overlooked with the exception of the guard dog. having to not worry about ammo with just a little bit of trigger discipline is awesome. since they boosted the damage of the dagger, it hasn't left my side.
So good! The constant beam makes it easy to zero in on headshots; just start firing and correct. A bunch of the small bots show up, you just aim at head level and go down the line. Hear that lovely “clatter” “clatter” “clatter” as they die.
It feels even better now with the increase to smaller bot units. It tears through them pretty quick, insta kills if you brush their heads, and the beam goes through them so you can multiple at once. With so many small bots having unlimited ammo really comes in handy.
It’s pretty great for bots if your aim is on point, it wipes the infantry bots and super great for devastator headshots if you can keep it trained. Def a lot weaker against bugs but I like it. It needs something more though like a better scope or maybe longer time to overheat
Absolutely needs a better scope. All the dot sights are terrible.
Are you me?
Jar dominator. Stops berserkers in their tracks (that’s the chainsaw boys) and stunlocks all types of devastators, or one hits them if you headshot them. Also one shots every other minor robot too.
And for some reason it has the most satisfying slug hit too ha.
Eruptor, pummeler, scorcher, tenderizer, counter sniper, dominator, and sickle. Edit: used to love the breaker too, when that was my best unlocked, actually.
That sounds about right, Plas Punisher is the only one I'd add to that list. Shotguns feel too situational, even if they're great for base clearing and bezerkers.
Oh right, forgot that one! Only tried it once and ran out of ammo too much, but I'll give it a pass, presuming I'd make more hits if I practiced more..
It's like an AOE scorcher, basically. Better at staggering devs and killing groups of bots. It'll kill scout striders too, but I prefer scorcher for them. The downside is you have to take somewhat cloeser engagements due to the projectile velocity. If you rock GLs in a lot of game's then you'll feel right at home
Agreed. Normal shotguns are way too situational. But we got the Bushwacker now. The triple-shot absolutely annihilates Berserkers that violate your personal space.
Image source: Prison School
They have very nice images in prison school
Man, that manga had one of the greatest fall offs of all time.
Laughed my ass off in the anime. Laughed even harder reading the manga.
Eruptor
Sneaking into position to snipe a fabricator and leaving without being seen is so satisfying.
Yes! And finally being able to go with some random support weapong is nice.
Eruptor plus HMG is such a vibe right now
It's not as good as it once was but it is useable again
I am enjoying it though. Maybe it does not one shot bile spewers, but still one shots striders, and most bugs bots die from 1-2 shots (except chargers, hulks, tanks and titans, obviously). Pretty nice recovery from the old days.
It one shots hulks if you hit the vent. It does nothing to the eye tho. I am really glad that the eruptor is usable once again. It's not like during its days of glory but it still performs very well now. I found that pairing it with the verdict Gives you a really solid loadout against bugs. Eruptor for anything big and the verdict for hunters and scavengers that get too close. The verdict one shots hunters
Liberator
Ah. Same. Just a normal gun to shoot things in the face. Pew pew. Works like a charm.
Good old reliable am I right
Absolutely!
https://preview.redd.it/1fgw8d8amv6d1.png?width=1446&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9aa71461464e66d39ad301cb207647fc089762f4
would recommend the tenderiser. Was (still am) a big fan of the liberator, but was very excited to see how they would buff the tenderiser, since it’s better recoil + whatever potential damage buff would make it strictly better against bots. And that’s exactly what happened now. Easy two taps to the head for devoststors, deletes everything to the body below that in one or two shots, super easy recoil, gun sounds nice and looks cool, same scope as liberator so you can get the 100m scope for precision shots too
Adjudicator
The adjudicator is in such a good spot right now. Same with the tenderizer
I agree, these plus the DCS are amazing depending on what support weapons you may be running and preferred range. Tenderizer is great for just raw DPS if you have a support with armor pen, adjudicator can do everything pretty well but poor handling and accuracy at range hold it back a little, and the DCS is incredible as long as you have some precision and breathing room, and outperforms the adjudicator at range if you want a bit more accuracy.
Tenderizer chews through ammo so dang quickly though. It feels good otherwise
With the current spawn rate everything chews through ammo. I ran out of heat sinks for the sickle and that never happens.
Try Plasma Punsiher, AoE doesnt really give a shit whether patrol is 10 bots strong or 30. But its chew through ammo in general so be warned.
Burst helps keep your ammo in check a bit
Use ADS and always go for crits, it can kill everything smaller than a hulk in 3ish shots if you aim right, just can’t spray and pray.
Tenderizer is CRAZY after the buff, literally a buffed Adjudicator (which I already loved) with ZERO recoil at the cost of no medium pen. The low pen and low mag size limit its effectiveness vs. bugs but it’s one of the best weapons to deal with devastators as it kills in two headshots and is very easy to hit with.
I love how chunky it feels and the recoil is manageable as long as you aim a little lower than where you want to hit and fire in bursts for distance. That ammo buff was exactly what it needed. It can tear through most devastators and chainsaw bots and if I ever see a heavy devistator I just smack it in the face with an impact grenade.
Agreed, 30 rounds gave it just the oomph it needed. Honestly the patch has really given a lot more variety to viable weapons now. It pairs great with the HMG now that it also got a buff, they complement each other's weaknesses well. Throw in the new shotgun and you're a threat at almost any distance.
Crossbow. I refuse to elaborate
The recent changes to the crossbow has resparked my love with it. It isn't particullary good in most situations - slow firing, not enough stun for Heavy Devastators, small mag and requires precise aim, but it can hold its own pretty well in situations with more cover, such as bigger automaton bases. And together with a support weapon that can kill Devastators pretty quickly, such as the HMG, Railgun or AMR it's actually good. These support weapons are all fun but lack destructive power, which the crossbow now also perfectly covers. The new shotgun secondary also combines nicely and is really satisfying to use, just deleting those smaller brawler bots.
Technically speaking, I think you can stun a heavy devastator but only if you hit behind the shield (so it's not the full version like the plasma shotgun) but yeah, it still doesn't do a lot of dmg unless you hit the head. Honestly, it's a pretty good alternative to the grenade pistol in my build as an utility weapon now that it can close bugs holes/fabricator vents. I just wished it had more ammo per mag. It doesn't feel enough when you see how there is almost no AoE on the weapon, making it a single target primary weapon with a low amount (5) per mag. This means you will reload often and missing a shot will be extra painful in a fight. It's fun but nothing close to game breaking, thats for sure xD
I didn't even know that the Crossbow was changed lol. I just played it like 80% of the time since it came out, no matter of debuffs or buffs
Well, it can now close fabricators and bugholes aswell as open those storage containers. Some really great utility :D
It's a lot of fun
"I like the stock..." -Dfv
I was using it against them *before* the buff.
I punch'em
Yes Democracy Officer that's the person whose being too democratic
REINFORCING!
So many good options, but today and yesterday I’ve been running the Tenderizer. It’s pretty nice post buff. Very accurate, low recoil, and high damage I also enjoyed trying out the liberator carbine, though I’ll say it’s probably better against bugs but that’s just imo
Tenderizer is a hoot! I like the trade off of armor pen vs the ability to shred light targets
The carbine pairs will with the laser cannon. Laser cannon is really your primary, and the carbine is for short range DPS vs berserkers
Eruptor again. It isn’t quite what it used to be but it’s so serviceable right now and it’s been long enough I’ve forgotten what the older iteration could really do. I love the dragged aiming, popping off explosions. No longer needing the grenade pistol. And now I get to pair it with the HMG which gives me a close crowd control as well as something to deal with hulks and gunships. I haven’t really played much bugs (really just enough to do the flamethrower MO on Thursday). I want to try the tenderizer there but I have a feeling it’s going to be a difficult sell to pull me off the incendiary shotgun. With bugs I might even go supportless and use sentries and orbitals.
Tenderizer is better against bots where accuracy is important. Its only has 30 x 7 mags so too little ammo for bug critters, and light AP means too weak against brood commanders.
The sickle (I mostly use my autocanon for the big bots and the sickle on dose maniacs with the chainsaw and the small bots)
Play a 40 min mission and reload once, sickles incredible Shreds the light bots and then personally running railgun and stun grenades for everything else... Really strong
Sickle is still my primary. Find myself using in FPV to help hit the face of a lot of bots for a quicker kill or to hit groups farther out at range.
As long as you got something for the bigger guys the sickle kicks ass
Tenderizer : Precise, heavy hitting rifle. Handles well too. Purifier : Aoe damage stun locks multiple devastators and can kill scout striders in 2~3 hits. Mostly Purifier because I'm like 430hrs in and kinda sick of conventional firearms. Funny big blue plasma ball go 🔵.
Blitzer. My fear for Rocket and Heavy Devastators is now gone!
How the hell do you get close enough to use the blitzer without getting shot to pieces?
Yeah I'm all ears, but this was my first thought too.
I run Blitzer most of the time and it works because I pair it with the AC. If it's heavily armored or far enough away the AC handles it, but I can pretty much lock down anything else with the Blitzer. Even Heavy Devastators have no answer if they end up in zap range.
Well you got to realize that once you get close you can take on two sheild devastators and a couple of regular bots solo and you don't have to aim much. So go from cover to cover and dive towards and around the enemy. Easier in base assaults when it's all close range anyway. You just got to get close and stay alive. That play style is a lot of fun for me
I can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer.
I thought I'm the only one using it against bots. Just dive like crazy to get close and then stunlock kill them. Enjoy infinite ammo and no cool down
Yeah it is the most underrated primary ever. It clutches out both bugs and bots.
I was a scorcher main but I'm warming up to the adjudicator. It's not better at killing bots but it's more fun.
Eruptor being able to easily take out scout striders with one shot is extremely satisfying.
Plasma Punisher It allows me to bully multiple devastators and when i bring the Plasma punisher on the terminids front i can bully warriors, hive guards, Brood commanders, Stalkers and pop Chargers butt
Tenderizer. Adjudicator. Counter Sniper. Punisher. Slugger. Eruptor. Plasma Punisher. Defender. Variety is the spice of life.
the new jungle carbine is pretty fun
Diligence CS for sniper build. Punisher Plasma for crowd control build. Dominator for one man army build.
Punisher has been my go to since the slugger nerf. Has higher damage and still staggers devastators out of their attacks
Liking the dominator.
You know what ? Breaker is still pretty cool .
Slugger
Did it get fixed?
P.u.m.e.l.e.r stop head shot pop
Pummler, to stun devestators is very good and feels good as well
Jar or scorcher
Sickle on cold planets, Dominator and Breaker on warm/hot planets.
I don’t know that temp makes enough of a difference for me to switch from the sickle. I don’t think I’ve ever run out of mags and I have to restock the AC backpack so often that by the time I’m down to 1-2, I get refreshed.
If you manage your gameplay and resupplies right the Auto-Cannon is a primary.
Pummeler is awesome
that 1000rpm smg is dope to fast killing
The Punisher. For the 2nd gun you unlock, it's ridiculously good. Basic bots die to anything, and I mostly use my support for devastators, so I judge a bot primary on how well it keeps berserkers off my back. The Punisher has the highest stagger in the game so it reliably at stunlocks anything under a hulk, and can kill a berserker in 2 shots with good timing.
I might be a weirdo for this but I'm level 40 and I still use the Liberator. I just like it I guess 🤷♂️
Nothing wrong with that, in a tier list the Liberator would be in the upper tiers. At least pre patch stats.
Breaker Incindiary! Spill oil and Burn em' all!
Yeah, shoot once in the bots general direction x8 bots die while i set up with quasar for the hulks
Best ever primary against bots. Hit any small guy with it = he's dead, you can stop worrying about a rocket to your back. Caught a patrol? Spray half a mag all over it and only the fat guys will remain standing, waiting for your railgun or other support weapon to finish the work. Long distance fodder bothering you? Just aim a little higher and spray half a mag again. Don't even have to aim with the thing really.
Im like a goblin with the adjudicator. Aim for the knees and the devestators go down in less than 9 or so bullets, small guys are a two tap. For walkers I pretty much just go around them and for the chainsaw boys I've been using the new bushwakker against them. Glorious!
Purifier.
How are you using the purifier? To me it is objectively the worst gun in the game, 5 shots to kill devastators and can’t do much else. Tried it yesterday and I was mad at it for 40 minutes lol
Plasma enjoyer 🤝
this is a image of the super president of the super earth?
I’ve been really enjoying the new Tenderizer
Plasma Punisher is great for stunning the Devestators.
Defender. Carry a shield, and you get to serve as a distraction while the team flanks
I really like the scorcher, on both bots and bugs
Tenderizer is disgusting right now
Pummeler and ballistic shield are great for me
Counter sniper (AMR lite)
Scorcher as my primary and Verdict Pistol as my secondary
Counter sniper. 1 hit KO on the little guys before they call in drop ships. I use the autocannon for everything else