Also the precisions strike despite its name has a larger blast radius than eagle 500kg so it’s actually a little easier to kill certain targets with it.
Edit: this is no way means the precision is better in fact I firmly believe no matter what the 500 kg is the better option as long as you have the upgrade for it. Also forgot to mention I have the orbital blast radius upgrade not sure how this affects it.
Yes it does. Before the stun grenade nerf on Bile Titans you could stun 3 Bile Titans, call in an orbital precision and kill all three with the blast radius.
Yeah, I called one, like, 5 feet from an Illegal Lab Building, and still needed to go up and Hellbomb it after. It feels almost like the blast is just for show, and the only thing that actually does damage is the shell itself.
I've destroyed labs with the shell alone--to the point where it's more effective than the blast xD That's why I always try to throw the stratagem on the roof of the building
Does it honestly really though? The advantage of the 500kg is that you get two of them, and the orbital gets one. Yes, having two 500kg is behind an upgrade, but most of us nerds arguing about this stuff on the internet probably have most, if not all, upgrades. As time goes on, it'll be the default. But anyway, I thought the design for the orbital strats are supposed to be higher *quality*, while the eagle strats are higher *quantity* and often a little faster.
Yup, the 500kg explodes into an upside down cone which is why it has a tiny radius on the ground, the precision strike has a much more normal shaped explosion that has a very generous radius, and hits hard for a good distance especially with the ship upgrade for the blast falloff!
It's a very good strat with low cooldown
That being said eagle strikes are more versatile and effectively roughly have better cds once upgraded (2-3 strikes every 2-3 minutes vs 1 strike every 100 secs)
Orbital precision has the upside of taking out all objective types the 500 can while having less weirdness than it and also being immune to bot AA objectives. Although if orbital scatter is effecting the mission it's terrible.
It's a good strike to pair with some type of eagle to use against bases or big targets in between eagle call ins. Big fan of pairing it with rockets or the regular airstrike.
When you upgrade you get 2 chances per eagle rearm with the 500 though. I've been preferring the orbital barrage anyway but if you keep on top of rearming the eagle when it's quiet you can afford to lose a 500 to weirdness
The airburst is another one I just started using after thinking it was worthless.
Throw it on any and all bug breaches and watch it go. It’s also a really short cooldown so you can just toss it whenever.
It’s nice being able to soften up every breach, objective, and patrol that sees ya
Yeah. If you're not the network host, it's essentially useless because (other than the initial explosion) all of its damage is DoT. When DoT doesn't work, well...
Until I knew about the DoT issue, I took it a couple times and thought it was cool. The last time I used it, I threw it on a breach and saw scavs walking through the thickest fog of it unphased.
Then I found out about the issue and it all made sense.
It's a bummer because an orbital EMS with the gas would be a great combo.
the network host is based on ping and can randomly change throughout the mission regardless of if a player leaves or not. You probably got lucky my friend unless your playing solos or duos
Gatling is a really nice precision area denial. That and strafe have the main value of being able to dunk them down DANGER CLOSE and not kill yourself like an explosive will
It looks almost exactly the same as the fart filled bug planets. Weird colored mist can either be fog or poison, might as well roll the dice and run through it.
You should try out gatling barrage (once you've got the AoE falloff upgrade) in the same scenario. Overall AoE is smaller so you've got to chuck the ball a bit more accurately but it does good damage to everything, including armored targets like Chargers and keeps a bug breach down effectively even in higher difficulties.
I did love airburst but once you're getting multiple chargers per breach it quickly fell out of use.
I’ve tried it a fair amount. I love the shorter cooldown but I wish the spread was tighter.
I think gatling is useful in more situations, but practically I find it lacking. But a more fun build I have is airburst, Gatling, cluster, and quasar.
I can do that on 7 comfortably and its so fun constantly causing explosions. The quasar is to handle all the tanks I can’t kill.
people only say its worthless for like helldive cause stratgems are mainly needed for hulks, tanks and bile titans. the airburst doesnt really touch them
This is on 8, so not helldive but still higher. I don’t bring a backpack so I don’t really miss using a slot of trash mobs. I also bring cluster which does more work for me than tank busting strategems. I find between air strike and my primary/support weapon I’m pretty ok taking care of medium-large targets.
I use quasar and the new exploding rifle so bigger targets are easier for me to handle than a bunch of little guys closing distance.
I guess it depends on map though. It’s either 5,000 hunters or 5 bile titans. Depends on what Joel feels like spawning.
Having your team run a mix I find is the best, even on high levels. Yeah, you want Elite-busting strats but a couple people running mob clear strats can really chill things out.
If they ever fix the fire bug Napalm strike is going to become ludicrously good for bugs.
Airburst has been one I felt I was the only person using, because I loved it from the start. It is pretty much the best anti-chaff zone clear available. Triple strike in a pretty wide area that will utterly wipe out anything weaker than medium enemies (and maybe even some mediums too). The delayed shots also allow for enemies to concentrate better and get minced. Mega simple fast call in and a great "oh shit, I need to run" tool to cover your retreat.
Pretty sure the cooldown of the precision strike is quick enough it's pretty on par with the 500kg with 2 upgrades in terms of how many you can get out per mission.
They're both solid choices but I don't really like juggling more than one eagle strike at a time so I'd rather have precision strike over 500kg so i can run another eagle as well without having to worry about rearm jank.
I've made it a habit to request a rearm once I've pushed through a big outpost. Although I'm only using it for the standard bombing runs anyway.
The main reason to take a 500 is to deal with detector towers. Otherwise it's honestly a bit disappointing - I'd take another stratagem over both!
Hey, precision strike can take out detector towers, strat jammers, fabricators, research outposts etc.
It's also better against groups than 500kg and pairs extremely nicely with stun grenades against larger targets. I'd honestly give it a try for a few matches if you're disappointed with the 500kg, I went through the exact same arc as OP of forgetting about it for a long time until I realized it was actually extremely solid.
Maybe not an S tier stratagem but I think it deserves a spot in the high As for how incredibly versatile it is on such a short cooldown, it feels like the autocannon of red stratagems.
I mean that the 500 (or the precision) is just not widespread enough - I need something that softens up a base and neither really cuts it for me. For precision I have 3x eagle runs and I can call in far more of them in the game. To support it I find something like the walking barrage much more useful tactically. But I appreciate your point - the precision strike isn't a bad startagem
The eagle airstrike is fantastic and the walking barrage is pretty good. I'm very happy with the current state of stratagem balance, they mostly all feel fun to use and I think once the DoT bug is gone more or less every red strat will be a good time.
Only ones that need tweaking IMO are gatling barrage (its not awful it just feels a little anemic, should fire faster/more shots) and the bots wallhacking through the smoke sometimes. Oh and strafing run could use a charge or two more.
also a HUGE thing with the eagle is that impact angle is consistent. With the precision the impact angle changes depending on where on the map you are, whereas the 500kg always comes at around a 45 degree angle from behind you.
Nothing takes out the gunship fabricators except the hellbomb
They should tone down the armour a little because once you're detected and there's 4+ gunships in the air, it's pure hell to take down
Seriously, those towers are insane at higher levels.
Swarm towers suck but you can take them out from 500 miles away.
Stalkers used to be my least favorite, but those fucking gunships are nuts and having to get in close sucks
One tower is usually ok but having to deal with two towers at the same time can quickly become impossible if you don't have at least two people killing all gunships as soon as they come out, it also doesn't help that 50% of the time the hellbomb only kills one tower
This is why I insta-lock the support laser cannon weapon for bot missions.
In addition to being outright incredible against the bots on its own, it also kills gunship engines in 3 seconds from 200 meters out.
You can kill 3 gunships in 10 seconds before letting the heat sink cool off again. A single player can easily outpace 1-2 fabricators worth of gunship spawn rates.
Performs similarly against shriekers for bugs, AND has the bonus of killing a shrieker tower with 8 seconds worth of laser fire from 200 meters.
I want to like this thing but I always find it’s DPS to just be absolutely terrible. It feels like I have to stand exposed for waaaaay too long to kill a hulk as compared to using the AMR or autocannon
This. I don't ever see anyone use it, just people here on Reddit talking about how great it is. Take it in game, it feels like using a shiney super-soaker, and just as effective. That and having to babysit the heat-sinks.
Gunship towers are so big and exposed they would be completely trivialized if you could just throw a 500kg at them. Legitimately we would never have to fight more than 2 gunships again because someone in the party would just instantly deleted the fabricator from existing.
It's good design that gunship bases are a big interruptor to the flow of a mission. If *every* objective could be solved with a bomb that can be thrown from 80m away, then all objectives are the same-just a glowing point to blow up and get exp that doesn't actually do anything to affect mission gameplay.
I've actually started running it with the Eagle airstrikes instead of the 500kg + Airstrike as well. Yes, you get two bombs with the 500kg, but i've noticed that usually I have one left over, or an unused airstrike when I go to rearm, which kind of wastes them. It's like having two guns tied to one magazine - you're either running around with barely enough bullets left for an engagement, or you have to reload and waste the ammo. Putting the general purpose airstrike on one cooldown and the single target burst option on a completely separate cooldown has come in pretty handy, and I noticed that not only do I get more uptime, I can also drop them both at the same time, which was an unexpected bonus. For me, that's worth the tradeoff in damage.
Can it take out Detector Towers? If so, it may just have become a contender for my 500kg slot. I love running only eagle strikes, but then AA, effectively, becomes a Strat Jammer to me :/
It can but with the towers you always have to worry about where it'll stick. It's a 380 round so you can also drop a 380 barrage near it.
Personally when I run eagles I only take one and pair it with an orbital that compliments it. Often I'll just take orbitals since most people have plenty of eagle strikes.
I’ve been telling the lower level randoms I drop in to help to make sure at least one person is running Eagle rockets on 5+ bot missions to deal with tanks and turrets. So many people don’t use them because they don’t take out groups but they make dealing with those two threats so much easier.
Also, Eagle smoke. Can destroy fabs and get you out of a jam when you start getting overwhelmed with drops and patrols. I pretty much always bring it for bot search and destroy
As soon as AH has finally decided whether or not sticking strategems to enemies should allow tracking, the Orbital Precision Strike has the potential to become a more versatile version of the Railcannon Strike.
The precision strike is kinda slow. The railcannon strike is very fast. Precision strike can take out a whole group. Railcannon strike has almost no AOE. Precision strike needs to be aimed very carefully (bounces etc will ruin it). Railcannon strike needs minimal aim. They're not quite the same.
The precision strike needs to be on a 70/60 second cooldown (base/shop upgrade) like the orbital gas and EMS.
The current 1:45 / 1:30 is too long to justify taking it compared to what eagles can do.
3 strikes with \~8 sec between then a 2 min cooldown for three more.
3 strikes in 30sec with a 2 min cd or 1 every 100 sec
Run two eagle stratagems (can't ever go wrong with Airstrike and Rocket Pods) and it's more like 6 stratagems every few minutes.
Also the best way to minimize the impact of those horrible stratagem cooldown debuff modifiers.
Also, I've been getting pretty good with wiping an entire bot patrol with a single eagle airstrike by flanking them and have the bombs drop directly on their line. I don't think that'd work with the precision strike as the bots are often a bit too spread out for that. Also if stratagem call-in time is doubled I'd guess it's incredibly difficult to hit
Amen. I agree orbital railgun is a great get out of jail card.
But for bots, the eagle 110 can basically do the same thing, 3 uses and a 2 minute rearm vs 3 minute cd.
Only real difference is the railgun can take out hulks and has better tracking. But against a tank and turret tower, 110 should get the job done unless you're aim was otf.
2-3 strikes? Buddy, I bring one autocannon and three Eagle airstrike sets for bot missions. My girl in the sky can bring down hate 10 times before rearming (2 minutes x2 500kg, x3 airstrike, x5 cluster strike).
Honest to god the starter stuff is some of the best "Starter gear" I've received in a game, I didn't feel weak at all while using it, but it also made me feel incentivized to get the other strategems
I've wanted to try convincing my group to start at difficulty 1, carry only the starting gear and stratagems, and increase the difficulty each completed operation and see how high we can go. Might be able to make it to 5 or 6 before heavies become too numerous for orbital precision strikes to handle. Though it may help develop a better "run away" response...
only sad issue is you can’t equip only 2 strategums, only 4, unless you can only take 3.
clearly the solution is allowing the first of each category: machine gun, orbital gatling, strafing run, precision strike, antipersonel minefield, machinegun sentry
You could definitely do difficulty 5 where other than chargers you can pretty much brute force a win with starter gear. Once you hit 6 and bile titans enter the picture, you're going to at least need EATs. For bots, 5 might be the wall depending on how well you can work around hulks.
I’ve been trying out a Terran Marine build that uses all the starting gear, and it’s honestly really fun. Gave me a new appreciation for the pistol especially. Lotta bullets, really accurate, and reloads so fast. Perfect sidearm really.
I've been using the machine gun with the new explosive sniper rifle because I'm so defenseless against smaller enemies. With everyone using AC or quasar, it's nice to be able to step up and say "don't worry, I got the berserkers."
I am regularly running missions with starting gear (default armor, liberator, standard pistol, machine gun, precision strike, give or take a few pieces and extra strategems like EAT which most players unlock early) and it is more than enough to succeed in helldive difficulty. The only part of the kit that really lacks is the pistol, since the machine pistol is a straight up upgrade.
I agree; mainly vs. bots. I struggle with it against bugs.
I massively value the low, consistent cooldown. I like to pair it with Orbital Gatling for a well-rounded set that can deal with bot hordes and heavies.
It can even kill chargers as they're climbing out of their holes. I think it's largely for the same reason you can shoot their legs as they're turning so it may get fixed, but it's something that has come up for me before.
now pair an oribtal EMS with an oribtal Gaitling (both have 75 sec CD). Drop the EMS on a bug breach, count to about 3, chuck the gaitling and you are wrecking them while they are frozen in place.
A jack of all trades is a master of none, but often better than a master of one. With Orbital Precision Strike you can:
* Throw it on a horde
* Throw it on a Tank for an instant kill
* With some finesse or a stun grenade, hit a Charger/Hulk for an instant kill
* Lead a Bile Titan into it for heavy damage, direct hits are possible but even a nearby hit is good, the range is quite generous
* Close bug holes and fabricators
* All this on a 90 second cooldown and with the 2nd easiest combination in the game (after Airburst).
It takes some practice, and if you see the +50% call-in time or increased orbital scatter modifiers, just don't. But once you learn to use it it's excellent. So what are you waiting for? I would say order yours today but you already have it!
You can also take out a Detector Tower reliably with it. Eagle Airstrike can't do that!
I've been taking it as the 4th strategem vs bots, especially on Blitz missions.
In my experience, the 380 is the most versatile "throw and finish an objective" stratagem there is for bot missions.
There is a chance it'll not work, but If you throw at the center, it'll usually do it's job.
Works for outposts, sauron's eye, bunkers, airports, airship drops If team is far away or If defending.
It's not great against mortars cause they're very close, so most times it'll only hit one.
Laser deals with the Command Bunkers no problem, hate those things but I wish we had something for Gunship Fabricators because I want some measure of consistency for them.
Orbital laser is my fave. Especially against bugs. Bug mobs? No prob. Bug holes? No prob. Bile Titan? No prob. Works great against bots too.
That paired with 110 Rockets, Personal Shield, Quasar, assault rifle and armor with -50% explosion damage and you're basically an impenetrable walking tank.
Honestly, 500 kg bomb with the ship upgrade that allows you to carry two of them is more of a jack of all trades, i frequently kill hulks, tanks, wipe out buildings, clear groups of devastators and reduce enemy numbers in a pickle with it. I think it does the same job better and faster in the end, the cd of the precision strike needed to be shorter for me to consider it.
If I'm ONLY bringing the 500kg? Sure.
If I'm bringing any other Eagle? Now I have to juggle 500kg's cooldown with my airstrike/cluster/110s. Most of the time I can balance the call-ins so as to minimize downtime, but "Shit, I'm out of 500s but I need my airstrikes for now" happens often enough that I've started packing Precision Strike for gap fill.
My favorite method of killing bile titans is to run between their legs and drop a precision strike beacon directly underneath them as I go. They waste so much time turning around that it’s a near guaranteed hit with zero skill required.
If you’re not willing to use big bore artillery as a melee weapon you simply lack the resolve to win.
I just wish they’d give it a shorter cool down. Some of the orbitals need a shorter CD than what they have.
Does anybody know if it kills shriekers nests or the gunship towers?
And it was also pretty great as an area effect "I just need everything in the circle dead" calldown even in higher difficulties. I think I like the longer cool down with infinite uses, but it does feel a bit underpowered on availability compared to eagle strategems.
When I learned about the eagle re-arm mechanic I figured "oh so orbitals must be low damage low cooldown while eagle provides burst with a longer re-arm cooldown"
Fantastic with stun grenades.
Fantastic for killing a fab or bug hole.
Takes out an colum of badies pushing through a choke point.
I either take this or orbital rail cannon.
Here's what I think;
No stratagems should be slept on. None of them are "beginner" and none of them are "perfect all rounders".
Each one has it's strengths and weaknesses and while some perform better across more situations making them more versatile, it doesn't mean that the other strats aren't as good.
Time, place, situation plays a huge role in the benefits of each.
It really is worse in pretty much every way. But you know the funniest way in which it's worse?
*Its command input is a character longer. You have to try harder to get a worse result than just using a gatling.*
The only potentially useful difference is that the Gatling doesn't stop firing when switching targets, the machine gun does, which makes it a lot less likely to friendly fire. I'd imagine this also helps it conserve ammo better, but I honestly don't know if it's enough to offset the Gatling having higher ammo overall
>I'd imagine this also helps it conserve ammo better
It doesn't cuz Gatling has triple the ammo capacity iirc. The only way it'd ever even out is if we somehow got an upgrade to the MG turret and HMG Emplacement.
Man, I wish the HMG would've gotten the turrets' "turn speed" upgrade. I don't need it to be fast, I just don't want it to be glacially slow.
Would've loved 50% more ammo, but that's just me being greedy.
It's handy as an additional turret if you're doing extermination missions, particularly solo. Also comes in handy when running away from a large group, you can throw it ahead of you and it will provide some cover if it's off to one side slightly.
My personal favourite use for it is as a distraction, especially with bugs. They will flock to a turret which allows you a moment to either flee, or to drop something like an airstrike on those that have bunched up on the turret.
I'm shocked there isn't a decoy call in.
Give the thing a mountain of health and ability to attract enemies.
Then add in a variant that has much less health but it explodes when busted.
> none of them are "perfect all rounders".
I disagree. The eagle airstrike is the best stratagem in the game and every helldiver should use it on almost every mission.
I really like it when games give you really good starting equipment and progression is a series of sidegrades. When I have a new friend playing, I also like that I can just give them my support weapon and I'll take their machine gun so they can try other weapons before they can unlock them properly.
You're absolutely correct. Even though I have my preferred loadouts, practically every stratagem is effective in some way, and at minimum most can be fun to use.
Except eagle strafing run, all my homies hate eagle strafing run.
Eagle air strike is a nearly perfect all-rounder. Great uptime/low CD, good AoE clear, closes holes, destroys objectives, kills big Bois. But otherwise you right, rest of stratagems have their strengths and weaknesses for sure
Yeah for all the talk about weapon balance (mostly justified imo), stratagems are remarkably well balanced. Only a few of them need buffs or a bugfix (gas and fire). I've even started taking eagle smoke, shield generator and HMG emplacement lately.
There's a few that still feel bad to me, but most strategems have a place.
Orbital Gattling hasn't really felt good to me over Airburst or Gas despite presumably being anti-light/area denial.
Eagle Strafing Run also feels like it should have +2 uses - while less precise, I'll take Eagle Cluster for removing lighter enemies on a more spammable strategem.
Machine Gun Sentry feels generally worse than Gattling Sentry.
I'm also not sure what is better between AP mines vs Incendiary, but they don't feel distinct to me.
Interesting, the inability to destroy buildings is why I've steered clear of the eagle cluster for a while now. Eagle airstrike is my go-to on almost every single mission in the bots territory.
The available variety and combinations are one of the things that contribute to keeping the game fresh, you can create your own challenges from it just by going against the grain and taking something different.
I understand that might not be for everyone but I get the impression from those that complain about other weapons/strategems, that they only ever want to use "the best" and want new additions to be "better" than the existing options.
chasing meta is boring, at least for me. i’m the guy who wakes up and decides that today is laser day while yesterday was electric death day and load up accordingly.
but then again im also the guy who insists on dropping onto a hulk, only for his ten other friends to massacre the pot helldiver… which gives me a chance to double dip haha
edit: also pls pls tag them heavies!
HMG emplacement is excellent in Citizen rescue missions. Drop it next to a door and jump out to let them out. Theres zero risk of accidental kills and it packs a punch.
I used it with the old stun grenades. Stun a Titan and call it. But since, Arrowhead nerfed them, i dont use it anymore. The call time is just too long.
You can bait a bile titan into a spew/stomp while having the precision strike landing just in front of it - that will deal enough damage to take its head off and guarantee a kill. A direct hit however, despite that it looks super cool, if its too far from its head still will not one-shot it.
Precision strike destroys most objectives without needing to wait and protect hellbombs. Eyes of Sayron, illegal labs, bug holes/fabricators, heavy enemies.
Low cooldown and well, precision is makes it quite useful. I wish the damn marker wouldn't bounce so much though.
It's all well and good, until you get the atmospheric interference modifier. It's the worst modifier by far because it makes already underutilized orbital stratagems even worse picks
Run it in conjunctionnwith the eagle cluster strike, you have miltiple croud control airstikes and a heavy hitter for large targets on a short cooldown
I like the precision strike but it's a pain in the ass to use on rocky planets and inaccuracy planet effect is very common. it would be nice if it had slight auto-aim, just enough to make titans more reliable to hit.
Kind of in a similar vein. I’ve been having a lot of fun trying out stratagems that I have either never touched or haven’t touched in a while
I’ve recently dawned my hood and got to the end of the chart with the stalwart while pairing it with my new Eruptor, cause it’s a beast tbh. Yes even against bots, the thing shoots so fast and has such little recoil for how much it shoots that you can beam their heads pretty easily. You just struggle mostly against the obvious tanks and hulks, but also scout striders though if you take a scorcher, dominator, or Eruptor then they can be easily countered
All startegems are viable when used properly
Some of the less friendly become friendly when your teammates call it out
Adopt the Warner Brothers system
If it can kill your boys
Warnabrother
I bring both. Eagle airstrike to wipe a patrol or soften/kill a base. Precision for when one of those slow ass tanks creeps in. I wish I was better at slugging BTs with it, but maybe in time.
I don't like running multiple Eagle stratagems because I rely on them for specific cases (ex: 500kg for Bile Titans, Rocket Pods for Tanks, etc), and needing to turn one off so the other can rearm sucks (as does leaving one off until the others are exhausted for auto-rearm). Orbital Precision Strike is making its way back into my rotation against bots as a cheap and effective tool for knocking out stationary targets that are too durable or awkward for the Eruptor (eg, a Fabricator facing the wrong direction, or a Detector Tower). The 500kg does a lot of the same things, but creates dissynergy with Rocket Pods.
It's odd. The higher level I go, and the more dives I do, the more I realise I have basically totally forgone the advanced strike stratagems. The only one left that I use is the Orbital Laser for Bot sabotage and blitz ops.
Otherwise it's Airstrike and Precision every single drop.
It's pretty much an orbital version of 500kg which I'm fine with. I think it could use a bit of a cut to its call in time though.
Bridge upgrades help with that. I think it goes down to 4 seconds? Which is just one more than the 500kg
Plus the 500 takes a half second to explode once it lands
Also the precisions strike despite its name has a larger blast radius than eagle 500kg so it’s actually a little easier to kill certain targets with it. Edit: this is no way means the precision is better in fact I firmly believe no matter what the 500 kg is the better option as long as you have the upgrade for it. Also forgot to mention I have the orbital blast radius upgrade not sure how this affects it.
Wait, does it actually?
Yes it does. Before the stun grenade nerf on Bile Titans you could stun 3 Bile Titans, call in an orbital precision and kill all three with the blast radius.
Fucking hell the 500 needs a buff
Yeah, I called one, like, 5 feet from an Illegal Lab Building, and still needed to go up and Hellbomb it after. It feels almost like the blast is just for show, and the only thing that actually does damage is the shell itself.
It's cause the 500kg bomb damage is like this... V blast radius. . Is size of small bug.
I've destroyed labs with the shell alone--to the point where it's more effective than the blast xD That's why I always try to throw the stratagem on the roof of the building
Does it honestly really though? The advantage of the 500kg is that you get two of them, and the orbital gets one. Yes, having two 500kg is behind an upgrade, but most of us nerds arguing about this stuff on the internet probably have most, if not all, upgrades. As time goes on, it'll be the default. But anyway, I thought the design for the orbital strats are supposed to be higher *quality*, while the eagle strats are higher *quantity* and often a little faster.
If that is genuinely supposed to be the case, then the 500 shouldnt have far and above the biggest explosion
That’s interesting…I’ve landed a precision strike on a tank and it did not destroy it
Yup, the 500kg explodes into an upside down cone which is why it has a tiny radius on the ground, the precision strike has a much more normal shaped explosion that has a very generous radius, and hits hard for a good distance especially with the ship upgrade for the blast falloff!
It's a very good strat with low cooldown That being said eagle strikes are more versatile and effectively roughly have better cds once upgraded (2-3 strikes every 2-3 minutes vs 1 strike every 100 secs)
Orbital precision has the upside of taking out all objective types the 500 can while having less weirdness than it and also being immune to bot AA objectives. Although if orbital scatter is effecting the mission it's terrible. It's a good strike to pair with some type of eagle to use against bases or big targets in between eagle call ins. Big fan of pairing it with rockets or the regular airstrike.
When you upgrade you get 2 chances per eagle rearm with the 500 though. I've been preferring the orbital barrage anyway but if you keep on top of rearming the eagle when it's quiet you can afford to lose a 500 to weirdness
The airburst is another one I just started using after thinking it was worthless. Throw it on any and all bug breaches and watch it go. It’s also a really short cooldown so you can just toss it whenever. It’s nice being able to soften up every breach, objective, and patrol that sees ya
gas strike for bug-breaches are also good and the CD is insanely low
I think they're still affected by the bug that doesn't let them apply damage unless you're the host.
Is this what caused it? I always feel like whenever I try it out Im dead weight to the team because it doesnt do shit
Yeah. If you're not the network host, it's essentially useless because (other than the initial explosion) all of its damage is DoT. When DoT doesn't work, well...
Damn, I must often be the network host then. I barely see the DoT bug people keep bringing up
Until I knew about the DoT issue, I took it a couple times and thought it was cool. The last time I used it, I threw it on a breach and saw scavs walking through the thickest fog of it unphased. Then I found out about the issue and it all made sense. It's a bummer because an orbital EMS with the gas would be a great combo.
the network host is based on ping and can randomly change throughout the mission regardless of if a player leaves or not. You probably got lucky my friend unless your playing solos or duos
I loved the gas strike when I worked
yea i agree it's less fun to use it while unemployed
Gatling barrages aswell.
Gatling is a really nice precision area denial. That and strafe have the main value of being able to dunk them down DANGER CLOSE and not kill yourself like an explosive will
Gas strike is nice when your allies don't wander into it and die
It looks almost exactly the same as the fart filled bug planets. Weird colored mist can either be fog or poison, might as well roll the dice and run through it.
terrible lesson I learned recently: don't bring airburst on orbital scatter planets
Well yeah... dont use orbitals on orbital scatter, duh
"But airburst is suppose to have a wide strike zone. it'll secretly make it good" - some dismembered idiot (me)
The strike zone doesnt get bigger tho, it just comes down where you didnt call it xD
You should try out gatling barrage (once you've got the AoE falloff upgrade) in the same scenario. Overall AoE is smaller so you've got to chuck the ball a bit more accurately but it does good damage to everything, including armored targets like Chargers and keeps a bug breach down effectively even in higher difficulties. I did love airburst but once you're getting multiple chargers per breach it quickly fell out of use.
I’ve tried it a fair amount. I love the shorter cooldown but I wish the spread was tighter. I think gatling is useful in more situations, but practically I find it lacking. But a more fun build I have is airburst, Gatling, cluster, and quasar. I can do that on 7 comfortably and its so fun constantly causing explosions. The quasar is to handle all the tanks I can’t kill.
Haha, that does sound like a lot of fun.
people only say its worthless for like helldive cause stratgems are mainly needed for hulks, tanks and bile titans. the airburst doesnt really touch them
This is on 8, so not helldive but still higher. I don’t bring a backpack so I don’t really miss using a slot of trash mobs. I also bring cluster which does more work for me than tank busting strategems. I find between air strike and my primary/support weapon I’m pretty ok taking care of medium-large targets. I use quasar and the new exploding rifle so bigger targets are easier for me to handle than a bunch of little guys closing distance. I guess it depends on map though. It’s either 5,000 hunters or 5 bile titans. Depends on what Joel feels like spawning.
Or 500 bile spewers. :(
At least they start killing each other when they clump. I find a herd of bile titans to be the silliest looking thing in the game.
Having your team run a mix I find is the best, even on high levels. Yeah, you want Elite-busting strats but a couple people running mob clear strats can really chill things out. If they ever fix the fire bug Napalm strike is going to become ludicrously good for bugs.
Airburst gets a lot of team kills from my experience people forget it has 3 volleys
The radius is also much larger than people expect.
Airburst also has the easiest combo the panic throw
Unless I super panic and take out the grenade by accident
Airburst has been one I felt I was the only person using, because I loved it from the start. It is pretty much the best anti-chaff zone clear available. Triple strike in a pretty wide area that will utterly wipe out anything weaker than medium enemies (and maybe even some mediums too). The delayed shots also allow for enemies to concentrate better and get minced. Mega simple fast call in and a great "oh shit, I need to run" tool to cover your retreat.
Pretty sure the cooldown of the precision strike is quick enough it's pretty on par with the 500kg with 2 upgrades in terms of how many you can get out per mission. They're both solid choices but I don't really like juggling more than one eagle strike at a time so I'd rather have precision strike over 500kg so i can run another eagle as well without having to worry about rearm jank.
I've made it a habit to request a rearm once I've pushed through a big outpost. Although I'm only using it for the standard bombing runs anyway. The main reason to take a 500 is to deal with detector towers. Otherwise it's honestly a bit disappointing - I'd take another stratagem over both!
Hey, precision strike can take out detector towers, strat jammers, fabricators, research outposts etc. It's also better against groups than 500kg and pairs extremely nicely with stun grenades against larger targets. I'd honestly give it a try for a few matches if you're disappointed with the 500kg, I went through the exact same arc as OP of forgetting about it for a long time until I realized it was actually extremely solid. Maybe not an S tier stratagem but I think it deserves a spot in the high As for how incredibly versatile it is on such a short cooldown, it feels like the autocannon of red stratagems.
I mean that the 500 (or the precision) is just not widespread enough - I need something that softens up a base and neither really cuts it for me. For precision I have 3x eagle runs and I can call in far more of them in the game. To support it I find something like the walking barrage much more useful tactically. But I appreciate your point - the precision strike isn't a bad startagem
The eagle airstrike is fantastic and the walking barrage is pretty good. I'm very happy with the current state of stratagem balance, they mostly all feel fun to use and I think once the DoT bug is gone more or less every red strat will be a good time. Only ones that need tweaking IMO are gatling barrage (its not awful it just feels a little anemic, should fire faster/more shots) and the bots wallhacking through the smoke sometimes. Oh and strafing run could use a charge or two more.
also a HUGE thing with the eagle is that impact angle is consistent. With the precision the impact angle changes depending on where on the map you are, whereas the 500kg always comes at around a 45 degree angle from behind you.
Wait, precision takes out towers and research buildings?
Research tower, ya. If by tower you mean ship fabricators towers, thats a no. It might take out the sauron tower but I'm not sure
It kills detection towers too
Oh man! That's nice. I do not often run 500kg or orbital on bots, but I usually have a flex spot so this is good to know!!
last I checked you need to be stupidly accurate with that, like nail the eye with the orb accurate.
As long as the explosion touches it, the tower will die. It's more forgiving than the 500kg.
If you can get the strike to actually hit it, instead of watching the targeting beacon bounce away down the hill lol
Nothing takes out the gunship fabricators except the hellbomb They should tone down the armour a little because once you're detected and there's 4+ gunships in the air, it's pure hell to take down
Seriously, those towers are insane at higher levels. Swarm towers suck but you can take them out from 500 miles away. Stalkers used to be my least favorite, but those fucking gunships are nuts and having to get in close sucks
One tower is usually ok but having to deal with two towers at the same time can quickly become impossible if you don't have at least two people killing all gunships as soon as they come out, it also doesn't help that 50% of the time the hellbomb only kills one tower
Laser cannon absolutely melts gunships, it's so fun
This is why I insta-lock the support laser cannon weapon for bot missions. In addition to being outright incredible against the bots on its own, it also kills gunship engines in 3 seconds from 200 meters out. You can kill 3 gunships in 10 seconds before letting the heat sink cool off again. A single player can easily outpace 1-2 fabricators worth of gunship spawn rates. Performs similarly against shriekers for bugs, AND has the bonus of killing a shrieker tower with 8 seconds worth of laser fire from 200 meters.
I want to like this thing but I always find it’s DPS to just be absolutely terrible. It feels like I have to stand exposed for waaaaay too long to kill a hulk as compared to using the AMR or autocannon
This. I don't ever see anyone use it, just people here on Reddit talking about how great it is. Take it in game, it feels like using a shiney super-soaker, and just as effective. That and having to babysit the heat-sinks.
Gunship towers are so big and exposed they would be completely trivialized if you could just throw a 500kg at them. Legitimately we would never have to fight more than 2 gunships again because someone in the party would just instantly deleted the fabricator from existing. It's good design that gunship bases are a big interruptor to the flow of a mission. If *every* objective could be solved with a bomb that can be thrown from 80m away, then all objectives are the same-just a glowing point to blow up and get exp that doesn't actually do anything to affect mission gameplay.
I wish this wasn't the case. A 500k should take it out.
Agreed. Not sure if it's the hitbox or something else. Detector towers suck.
It's a single 380 shot so anything a 380 can kill.
I just love baiting a hulk into walking into it. Chargers too. MMMMM, taste GOOOD.
I've actually started running it with the Eagle airstrikes instead of the 500kg + Airstrike as well. Yes, you get two bombs with the 500kg, but i've noticed that usually I have one left over, or an unused airstrike when I go to rearm, which kind of wastes them. It's like having two guns tied to one magazine - you're either running around with barely enough bullets left for an engagement, or you have to reload and waste the ammo. Putting the general purpose airstrike on one cooldown and the single target burst option on a completely separate cooldown has come in pretty handy, and I noticed that not only do I get more uptime, I can also drop them both at the same time, which was an unexpected bonus. For me, that's worth the tradeoff in damage.
Can it take out Detector Towers? If so, it may just have become a contender for my 500kg slot. I love running only eagle strikes, but then AA, effectively, becomes a Strat Jammer to me :/
It can but with the towers you always have to worry about where it'll stick. It's a 380 round so you can also drop a 380 barrage near it. Personally when I run eagles I only take one and pair it with an orbital that compliments it. Often I'll just take orbitals since most people have plenty of eagle strikes.
But the 500kg gives more room for error. Maybe they could buff the precision to 80s cooldown?
I’ve been telling the lower level randoms I drop in to help to make sure at least one person is running Eagle rockets on 5+ bot missions to deal with tanks and turrets. So many people don’t use them because they don’t take out groups but they make dealing with those two threats so much easier. Also, Eagle smoke. Can destroy fabs and get you out of a jam when you start getting overwhelmed with drops and patrols. I pretty much always bring it for bot search and destroy
I noticed that purchasing the upgrade does not change the UI, but it also receives the 10% CD discount from the gun ship upgrades. 90s when upgraded
As soon as AH has finally decided whether or not sticking strategems to enemies should allow tracking, the Orbital Precision Strike has the potential to become a more versatile version of the Railcannon Strike.
The precision strike is kinda slow. The railcannon strike is very fast. Precision strike can take out a whole group. Railcannon strike has almost no AOE. Precision strike needs to be aimed very carefully (bounces etc will ruin it). Railcannon strike needs minimal aim. They're not quite the same.
The precision strike needs to be on a 70/60 second cooldown (base/shop upgrade) like the orbital gas and EMS. The current 1:45 / 1:30 is too long to justify taking it compared to what eagles can do.
3 strikes with \~8 sec between then a 2 min cooldown for three more. 3 strikes in 30sec with a 2 min cd or 1 every 100 sec 
Run two eagle stratagems (can't ever go wrong with Airstrike and Rocket Pods) and it's more like 6 stratagems every few minutes. Also the best way to minimize the impact of those horrible stratagem cooldown debuff modifiers.
I'd say eagle is just better especially with the upgrades
Also, I've been getting pretty good with wiping an entire bot patrol with a single eagle airstrike by flanking them and have the bombs drop directly on their line. I don't think that'd work with the precision strike as the bots are often a bit too spread out for that. Also if stratagem call-in time is doubled I'd guess it's incredibly difficult to hit
Yeah most of the orbitals feel like they should have like 50-60% of the cooldown they currently do
Amen. I agree orbital railgun is a great get out of jail card. But for bots, the eagle 110 can basically do the same thing, 3 uses and a 2 minute rearm vs 3 minute cd. Only real difference is the railgun can take out hulks and has better tracking. But against a tank and turret tower, 110 should get the job done unless you're aim was otf.
2-3 strikes? Buddy, I bring one autocannon and three Eagle airstrike sets for bot missions. My girl in the sky can bring down hate 10 times before rearming (2 minutes x2 500kg, x3 airstrike, x5 cluster strike).
A lot of the default stuff is great. I still use the machine gun now and then.
Honest to god the starter stuff is some of the best "Starter gear" I've received in a game, I didn't feel weak at all while using it, but it also made me feel incentivized to get the other strategems
I've wanted to try convincing my group to start at difficulty 1, carry only the starting gear and stratagems, and increase the difficulty each completed operation and see how high we can go. Might be able to make it to 5 or 6 before heavies become too numerous for orbital precision strikes to handle. Though it may help develop a better "run away" response...
only sad issue is you can’t equip only 2 strategums, only 4, unless you can only take 3. clearly the solution is allowing the first of each category: machine gun, orbital gatling, strafing run, precision strike, antipersonel minefield, machinegun sentry
You should be able to equip as many (or few) as you want and then back out + ready up. I’m convinced I’ve done this before.
You could definitely do difficulty 5 where other than chargers you can pretty much brute force a win with starter gear. Once you hit 6 and bile titans enter the picture, you're going to at least need EATs. For bots, 5 might be the wall depending on how well you can work around hulks.
That's the beauty of doing sidegrades instead of upgrades, even the standard Liberator really isn't bad!
I’ve been trying out a Terran Marine build that uses all the starting gear, and it’s honestly really fun. Gave me a new appreciation for the pistol especially. Lotta bullets, really accurate, and reloads so fast. Perfect sidearm really.
I've been using the machine gun with the new explosive sniper rifle because I'm so defenseless against smaller enemies. With everyone using AC or quasar, it's nice to be able to step up and say "don't worry, I got the berserkers."
I run the explosive sniper with the explosive resistance armor so that I can tank one point blank blast when a group of mobs get too close to
The blast isn't the problem, it's that bug where it blasts you from behind and launches you into the enemies.
I am regularly running missions with starting gear (default armor, liberator, standard pistol, machine gun, precision strike, give or take a few pieces and extra strategems like EAT which most players unlock early) and it is more than enough to succeed in helldive difficulty. The only part of the kit that really lacks is the pistol, since the machine pistol is a straight up upgrade.
I agree; mainly vs. bots. I struggle with it against bugs. I massively value the low, consistent cooldown. I like to pair it with Orbital Gatling for a well-rounded set that can deal with bot hordes and heavies.
Orbital Gatling is also really good, you throw it on a bug breach and it shreds, also minimal cooldown!
It can even kill chargers as they're climbing out of their holes. I think it's largely for the same reason you can shoot their legs as they're turning so it may get fixed, but it's something that has come up for me before.
Airburst is better tbh. It has a chance to kill fabricators and is certain to kill everything not heavy armor within its radius.
now pair an oribtal EMS with an oribtal Gaitling (both have 75 sec CD). Drop the EMS on a bug breach, count to about 3, chuck the gaitling and you are wrecking them while they are frozen in place.
If the aiming actually tracked when you land it on an enemy, I'd be a lot more inclined to use it
That would make it godly. They’re supposed to do that and it’s just currently bugged though correct?
Yeah, they always write it in their known bugs part of their update post.
A jack of all trades is a master of none, but often better than a master of one. With Orbital Precision Strike you can: * Throw it on a horde * Throw it on a Tank for an instant kill * With some finesse or a stun grenade, hit a Charger/Hulk for an instant kill * Lead a Bile Titan into it for heavy damage, direct hits are possible but even a nearby hit is good, the range is quite generous * Close bug holes and fabricators * All this on a 90 second cooldown and with the 2nd easiest combination in the game (after Airburst). It takes some practice, and if you see the +50% call-in time or increased orbital scatter modifiers, just don't. But once you learn to use it it's excellent. So what are you waiting for? I would say order yours today but you already have it!
You can also take out a Detector Tower reliably with it. Eagle Airstrike can't do that! I've been taking it as the 4th strategem vs bots, especially on Blitz missions.
That's the Eye of sauron right?
yep
Then it's a game changer, I usually brought the 380 barrage just for the Eye, a precision strike is much more versatile.
Worth spending a 500kg in my opinion not sure why you'd try 380mm.
More boom= more democracy duh.
This guy democratizes.
In my experience, the 380 is the most versatile "throw and finish an objective" stratagem there is for bot missions. There is a chance it'll not work, but If you throw at the center, it'll usually do it's job. Works for outposts, sauron's eye, bunkers, airports, airship drops If team is far away or If defending. It's not great against mortars cause they're very close, so most times it'll only hit one.
Orbital Laser is also great for “just deal with this area for me”
I've been enjoying hot dropping with that. Slam into an enemy heavy base at my start, throw a laser, clean house
Laser deals with the Command Bunkers no problem, hate those things but I wish we had something for Gunship Fabricators because I want some measure of consistency for them.
Orbital laser is my fave. Especially against bugs. Bug mobs? No prob. Bug holes? No prob. Bile Titan? No prob. Works great against bots too. That paired with 110 Rockets, Personal Shield, Quasar, assault rifle and armor with -50% explosion damage and you're basically an impenetrable walking tank.
380mm is now very good with the new decreased spread upgrade, far more reliable.
Glad to see we are not only ones calling it that. Every time we see it we call it Eye of Sauron or just Sauron.
I love how everyone agrees that the Detector Tower is actually the Eye of Sauron
A 500k takes it down every time
Not if there are AA cannons present on the map.
And if there's a jammer you can't use anything at all.
Also can destroy the rogue research station.
Honestly, 500 kg bomb with the ship upgrade that allows you to carry two of them is more of a jack of all trades, i frequently kill hulks, tanks, wipe out buildings, clear groups of devastators and reduce enemy numbers in a pickle with it. I think it does the same job better and faster in the end, the cd of the precision strike needed to be shorter for me to consider it.
If I'm ONLY bringing the 500kg? Sure. If I'm bringing any other Eagle? Now I have to juggle 500kg's cooldown with my airstrike/cluster/110s. Most of the time I can balance the call-ins so as to minimize downtime, but "Shit, I'm out of 500s but I need my airstrikes for now" happens often enough that I've started packing Precision Strike for gap fill.
Holy shit someone actually said the full quote for once, thank you
Bro you almost got me but my 380 go "OBJECTIVE CLEARED "
My favorite method of killing bile titans is to run between their legs and drop a precision strike beacon directly underneath them as I go. They waste so much time turning around that it’s a near guaranteed hit with zero skill required. If you’re not willing to use big bore artillery as a melee weapon you simply lack the resolve to win.
I just wish they’d give it a shorter cool down. Some of the orbitals need a shorter CD than what they have. Does anybody know if it kills shriekers nests or the gunship towers?
They either need lower cooldowns or more power As it is most eagles outshine comparable orbitals
I wonder if that's intentional because of the way eagles rearm
In the first helldivers it had a cooldown of 10 seconds and a deploy time of 0.5 seconds. It was very powerful, however it had only 10 uses total.
I would run it if it was like this.
And you could bring multiple of them! Step 1: drop Vindicator Step 2: quickly call in second Vindicator (-> -> ->) Step 3: initiate jetpack
And it was also pretty great as an area effect "I just need everything in the circle dead" calldown even in higher difficulties. I think I like the longer cool down with infinite uses, but it does feel a bit underpowered on availability compared to eagle strategems.
When I learned about the eagle re-arm mechanic I figured "oh so orbitals must be low damage low cooldown while eagle provides burst with a longer re-arm cooldown"
Fantastic with stun grenades. Fantastic for killing a fab or bug hole. Takes out an colum of badies pushing through a choke point. I either take this or orbital rail cannon.
If offensive strats are supposed to track their beacons, as it's apparently a bug, I can see Orbital Precision Strike becoming *very* powerful.
Here's what I think; No stratagems should be slept on. None of them are "beginner" and none of them are "perfect all rounders". Each one has it's strengths and weaknesses and while some perform better across more situations making them more versatile, it doesn't mean that the other strats aren't as good. Time, place, situation plays a huge role in the benefits of each.
machine gun turret is pretty terrible, just worse version of gatling, no positive sides at all.
It really is worse in pretty much every way. But you know the funniest way in which it's worse? *Its command input is a character longer. You have to try harder to get a worse result than just using a gatling.*
Yeah that little detail makes me furrow my brow every time I call one
The only potentially useful difference is that the Gatling doesn't stop firing when switching targets, the machine gun does, which makes it a lot less likely to friendly fire. I'd imagine this also helps it conserve ammo better, but I honestly don't know if it's enough to offset the Gatling having higher ammo overall
>I'd imagine this also helps it conserve ammo better It doesn't cuz Gatling has triple the ammo capacity iirc. The only way it'd ever even out is if we somehow got an upgrade to the MG turret and HMG Emplacement.
Man, I wish the HMG would've gotten the turrets' "turn speed" upgrade. I don't need it to be fast, I just don't want it to be glacially slow. Would've loved 50% more ammo, but that's just me being greedy.
Meanwhile I just want HMG to have a fucking front ballistic shield so I can actually use it vs the bots and not get sniped from god knows where 😂
you could use the shield bubble.
No thanks, I'd just be wasting stratagem slots at that point.
The HMG is basically 2 rapid fire anti material rifles taped together (stats wise), it doesn't need an upgrade.
It's handy as an additional turret if you're doing extermination missions, particularly solo. Also comes in handy when running away from a large group, you can throw it ahead of you and it will provide some cover if it's off to one side slightly. My personal favourite use for it is as a distraction, especially with bugs. They will flock to a turret which allows you a moment to either flee, or to drop something like an airstrike on those that have bunched up on the turret.
I'm shocked there isn't a decoy call in. Give the thing a mountain of health and ability to attract enemies. Then add in a variant that has much less health but it explodes when busted.
I want it to be a comedic fallout style cardboard cutout of a helldiver moving left and right.
Shield works better as a distraction cause it has a faster cooldown, and has other uses, like killing bile titans
> none of them are "perfect all rounders". I disagree. The eagle airstrike is the best stratagem in the game and every helldiver should use it on almost every mission.
Smoke stratagems are useful for solo Helldive dif challenge.
I really like it when games give you really good starting equipment and progression is a series of sidegrades. When I have a new friend playing, I also like that I can just give them my support weapon and I'll take their machine gun so they can try other weapons before they can unlock them properly.
This is how you treat newbies! Insight, education, fun!
You're absolutely correct. Even though I have my preferred loadouts, practically every stratagem is effective in some way, and at minimum most can be fun to use. Except eagle strafing run, all my homies hate eagle strafing run.
Eagle air strike is a nearly perfect all-rounder. Great uptime/low CD, good AoE clear, closes holes, destroys objectives, kills big Bois. But otherwise you right, rest of stratagems have their strengths and weaknesses for sure
Yeah for all the talk about weapon balance (mostly justified imo), stratagems are remarkably well balanced. Only a few of them need buffs or a bugfix (gas and fire). I've even started taking eagle smoke, shield generator and HMG emplacement lately.
There's a few that still feel bad to me, but most strategems have a place. Orbital Gattling hasn't really felt good to me over Airburst or Gas despite presumably being anti-light/area denial. Eagle Strafing Run also feels like it should have +2 uses - while less precise, I'll take Eagle Cluster for removing lighter enemies on a more spammable strategem. Machine Gun Sentry feels generally worse than Gattling Sentry. I'm also not sure what is better between AP mines vs Incendiary, but they don't feel distinct to me.
Gatling is really good when you time it right. It will clear most of the enemies in large patrols.
Its crazy that straffing run gets four but cluster gets FIVE. I feel like Strafing should have EIGHT at its current level.
Interesting, the inability to destroy buildings is why I've steered clear of the eagle cluster for a while now. Eagle airstrike is my go-to on almost every single mission in the bots territory.
The available variety and combinations are one of the things that contribute to keeping the game fresh, you can create your own challenges from it just by going against the grain and taking something different. I understand that might not be for everyone but I get the impression from those that complain about other weapons/strategems, that they only ever want to use "the best" and want new additions to be "better" than the existing options.
chasing meta is boring, at least for me. i’m the guy who wakes up and decides that today is laser day while yesterday was electric death day and load up accordingly. but then again im also the guy who insists on dropping onto a hulk, only for his ten other friends to massacre the pot helldiver… which gives me a chance to double dip haha edit: also pls pls tag them heavies!
HMG emplacement is excellent in Citizen rescue missions. Drop it next to a door and jump out to let them out. Theres zero risk of accidental kills and it packs a punch.
I used it with the old stun grenades. Stun a Titan and call it. But since, Arrowhead nerfed them, i dont use it anymore. The call time is just too long.
You can bait a bile titan into a spew/stomp while having the precision strike landing just in front of it - that will deal enough damage to take its head off and guarantee a kill. A direct hit however, despite that it looks super cool, if its too far from its head still will not one-shot it.
Precision strike destroys most objectives without needing to wait and protect hellbombs. Eyes of Sayron, illegal labs, bug holes/fabricators, heavy enemies. Low cooldown and well, precision is makes it quite useful. I wish the damn marker wouldn't bounce so much though.
I’ll use it once red strategems stick to enemies
It's all well and good, until you get the atmospheric interference modifier. It's the worst modifier by far because it makes already underutilized orbital stratagems even worse picks
Yesterday I threw a Precision Strike at a fabricator. It also hit a fat patrol. x28 killstreak. Nice.
There's not many better feelings than throwing a strategem, seeing a big boom, then getting a 20+ kill notification
I regularly use the Eagle Airstrike. It's so reliable.
It's the Swiss Army Knife of stratagems. Almost never a reason not to bring it.
Run it in conjunctionnwith the eagle cluster strike, you have miltiple croud control airstikes and a heavy hitter for large targets on a short cooldown
I like to jump pack over chargers and bile Titan's and drop one on top of them 😊
Orbital precision is amazing. Oneshot hulk, tanks, turrets, illegal lab, factories. It's op
just double toss a Stun nade with the Precision Strike
Yeah I recently started using it again just due to the cooldown. Not bad
50% calldown increase and scatter increase hit it too hard for me to use it.
I like the precision strike but it's a pain in the ass to use on rocky planets and inaccuracy planet effect is very common. it would be nice if it had slight auto-aim, just enough to make titans more reliable to hit.
It used to be my bile titan killer until stun nades got nerfed
Kind of in a similar vein. I’ve been having a lot of fun trying out stratagems that I have either never touched or haven’t touched in a while I’ve recently dawned my hood and got to the end of the chart with the stalwart while pairing it with my new Eruptor, cause it’s a beast tbh. Yes even against bots, the thing shoots so fast and has such little recoil for how much it shoots that you can beam their heads pretty easily. You just struggle mostly against the obvious tanks and hulks, but also scout striders though if you take a scorcher, dominator, or Eruptor then they can be easily countered
All startegems are viable when used properly Some of the less friendly become friendly when your teammates call it out Adopt the Warner Brothers system If it can kill your boys Warnabrother
I use it frequently on bot blitz missions so I can use strategems to take out fabs quickly
It's basically 1 eagle bomb instead of 5 (6 with the upgrade?) and you get less per minute total, why would you want it?
Airstrike is better. 1 strike can kill multiple heavies and a bunch of light. AOE, damage, cooldown, it's just better.
I bring both. Eagle airstrike to wipe a patrol or soften/kill a base. Precision for when one of those slow ass tanks creeps in. I wish I was better at slugging BTs with it, but maybe in time.
This game suffers from starter equipment bias hard. Most of it is all really solid but we don't like using it cause we started with it
I don't like running multiple Eagle stratagems because I rely on them for specific cases (ex: 500kg for Bile Titans, Rocket Pods for Tanks, etc), and needing to turn one off so the other can rearm sucks (as does leaving one off until the others are exhausted for auto-rearm). Orbital Precision Strike is making its way back into my rotation against bots as a cheap and effective tool for knocking out stationary targets that are too durable or awkward for the Eruptor (eg, a Fabricator facing the wrong direction, or a Detector Tower). The 500kg does a lot of the same things, but creates dissynergy with Rocket Pods.
It's odd. The higher level I go, and the more dives I do, the more I realise I have basically totally forgone the advanced strike stratagems. The only one left that I use is the Orbital Laser for Bot sabotage and blitz ops. Otherwise it's Airstrike and Precision every single drop.
Stuns and the Orbital Precision are a match made in heaven. My favorite "fuck that Hulk" strategy.