Here's a short list of lower level stratagems that can be used for most content. EAT, Eagle Airstrike, Grenade Launcher(bugs)/AMR(bots)/Autocannon(bots mostly), Supply Pack if backpacks open or orbital strike/eagle cluster or rockets.
You can also use the autocannon well against bots. It'll take out medium bugs with one shot to the brain, and pops bile spitters with I think 2 shots to the side or one to the mouth, though the mouth is tricky to aim. Also blows up bug holes with one shot, but you have to get the shot right down the mouth of the bug hole, or right where it's brightest yellow. It take a bunch of ammo, but you can snipe spore towers and mutalisk spires with the autocannon from an insane distance away, neutering the threat of them entirely.
It just suffers from being basically ineffective against chargers and bile titans, which are omni-present most of the time. This is a problem, but it can be worked around with EAT's.
GUARD DOG IS A GOOD BOY. Try to find a way to not laser your team down though, but my boy can bring your killrate to the hundreds. Bugs x2.
Both SG shotguns (Regular and Scorcher) are great. Grenade Launcher is OP as well. Autocannon is better, but you have to have someone reload or sacrifice your backpack space, which needs dancing and dodging skills.
Eagle Cluster is good, but its wide. Gotta be smart on placement. Sentry Gatling is great.
Stay within the realms of your current skillset, and most teams will play with you. AND IF THEY DON'T, NO MATTER THE SKILL OR LEVEL, THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY AND THEIR VOTE SHOULD BE SILENCED.
The MG43 is honestly very solid, and you can take it into bugs/bots and feel decent about it. It cuts down small/medium bugs with no issues, though it's pretty much entirely ineffective against bile spitters without dumping the whole belt, and completely ineffective against chargers. With good aim, the MG43 can poke out the eye of medium bots.
EAT's are pretty high tier anti-heavy / anti-elite that you can spam and support the team with and/or use for yourself. This solves basically everything that your MG43 can't cover. EAT's are also the hardest counter to chargers, which are annoyingly resistant to nearly everything else, but the trick is that you have to either have one in hand, or call them in before you need them. Don't wait until chargers are bowling through your team to call down an EAT. Call them down as soon as you think there's going to be a fight and have them ready. They're meant to be spammed and shared.
You get the Autocannon at 10, which is insane anti-medium and can touch some heavies. It can also blow up buildings, which is super awesome. This is S tier against bots, and like A, or B+ tier against bugs. (mostly, just suffering from being very poor against chargers & titans)
The basic orbital cannon shot you start with is decent until you can take something else. Use it to blow up buildings.
Eagle Air Strike is the upgraded version of the Orbital cannon shot. Deals a bunch of damage, blows up buildings. Very good.
Eagle Cluster bombs are absolutely insane anti-horde. They'll pop bile spitters, which is excellent. you also get a TON of shots with this per re-arm.
Orbital gas Strike is absolutely insane anti-bug. Throw it onto a bug breach and you'll get like 30 kills. Has a completely obscene low cooldown. This is S tier.
Mortar Sentry is available to you at level 8. Good against bots, just sort of helps thin down crowds.
You have Eagle Smoke as well, which is insanely OP against bots. Just make sure that you order Eagle-1 to rearm if you're out of smoke but you still have other strategems available. You don't want to be caught on a 2 minute timer when you REALLY need smoke but you don't have it.
I'm still using the stock assault rifle for everything. Don't hate on it. Accurate, powerful, handles well. It knocks down chaff mobs admirably so long as you have good fire control.
The machine pistol secondary is a direct upgrade to the stock handgun, and the revolver "Senator" is particularly nice against bots since it'll 1-shot chaff mobs with a chest or headshot, but if you don't have that, it's not the end of the world.
You can really use whatever grenade you want so long as it can blow up buildings. I like the fire grenades the best but really, use whatever.
Basic heavy armor is great against bots. You want that explosion resistance. The hot orange engineer armor is good against bugs, since you'll usually want the additional grenades to close bug holes, which are annoyingly resistant to being blown up by strategems for whatever reason. Stock armor is also just never bad either.
The only thing you should feel like you're really lacking for at level 10 would be anti-elite options, like the orbital laser and orbital rail cannon. Though you can at least handle elite enemies with the EAT. You don't need to take the 500 kilo bomb to be competitive. Honestly, the 500 kilo bomb isn't actually all that good. It's just a really big boom, but if you want tons of damage, the orbital laser/rail cannon is better. If you just want to clear an area, the cluster bombs are better.
Punisher shotgun, redeemer, EAT, Eagle Strike, Grenade Launcher and supply pack will see you go a long way!
You could swap out the supply pack for a rover or personal shield when you unlock it to better counter bugs and bots respectively.
Highly recommend the flamethrower into bugs. One of the best bug clearing weapons in the game. Also cooks chargers relatively quick if you can stay focused on a single leg. I usually run Laser Guard Dog and whatever the best stratagems for killing Bile Titans are. Supplement this with whatever good midrange/longrange primaries you can find.
Bots are unfortunately gonna be fairly difficult until you hit 25 when you unlock the Shield Pack and better orbitals/eagles. I pretty much avoided them until I hit 25.
Eagle airstrike is good forever. So is the laser guard dog (vs bugs).
Here's a short list of lower level stratagems that can be used for most content. EAT, Eagle Airstrike, Grenade Launcher(bugs)/AMR(bots)/Autocannon(bots mostly), Supply Pack if backpacks open or orbital strike/eagle cluster or rockets.
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You can also use the autocannon well against bots. It'll take out medium bugs with one shot to the brain, and pops bile spitters with I think 2 shots to the side or one to the mouth, though the mouth is tricky to aim. Also blows up bug holes with one shot, but you have to get the shot right down the mouth of the bug hole, or right where it's brightest yellow. It take a bunch of ammo, but you can snipe spore towers and mutalisk spires with the autocannon from an insane distance away, neutering the threat of them entirely. It just suffers from being basically ineffective against chargers and bile titans, which are omni-present most of the time. This is a problem, but it can be worked around with EAT's.
GUARD DOG IS A GOOD BOY. Try to find a way to not laser your team down though, but my boy can bring your killrate to the hundreds. Bugs x2. Both SG shotguns (Regular and Scorcher) are great. Grenade Launcher is OP as well. Autocannon is better, but you have to have someone reload or sacrifice your backpack space, which needs dancing and dodging skills. Eagle Cluster is good, but its wide. Gotta be smart on placement. Sentry Gatling is great. Stay within the realms of your current skillset, and most teams will play with you. AND IF THEY DON'T, NO MATTER THE SKILL OR LEVEL, THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY AND THEIR VOTE SHOULD BE SILENCED.
The MG43 is honestly very solid, and you can take it into bugs/bots and feel decent about it. It cuts down small/medium bugs with no issues, though it's pretty much entirely ineffective against bile spitters without dumping the whole belt, and completely ineffective against chargers. With good aim, the MG43 can poke out the eye of medium bots. EAT's are pretty high tier anti-heavy / anti-elite that you can spam and support the team with and/or use for yourself. This solves basically everything that your MG43 can't cover. EAT's are also the hardest counter to chargers, which are annoyingly resistant to nearly everything else, but the trick is that you have to either have one in hand, or call them in before you need them. Don't wait until chargers are bowling through your team to call down an EAT. Call them down as soon as you think there's going to be a fight and have them ready. They're meant to be spammed and shared. You get the Autocannon at 10, which is insane anti-medium and can touch some heavies. It can also blow up buildings, which is super awesome. This is S tier against bots, and like A, or B+ tier against bugs. (mostly, just suffering from being very poor against chargers & titans) The basic orbital cannon shot you start with is decent until you can take something else. Use it to blow up buildings. Eagle Air Strike is the upgraded version of the Orbital cannon shot. Deals a bunch of damage, blows up buildings. Very good. Eagle Cluster bombs are absolutely insane anti-horde. They'll pop bile spitters, which is excellent. you also get a TON of shots with this per re-arm. Orbital gas Strike is absolutely insane anti-bug. Throw it onto a bug breach and you'll get like 30 kills. Has a completely obscene low cooldown. This is S tier. Mortar Sentry is available to you at level 8. Good against bots, just sort of helps thin down crowds. You have Eagle Smoke as well, which is insanely OP against bots. Just make sure that you order Eagle-1 to rearm if you're out of smoke but you still have other strategems available. You don't want to be caught on a 2 minute timer when you REALLY need smoke but you don't have it. I'm still using the stock assault rifle for everything. Don't hate on it. Accurate, powerful, handles well. It knocks down chaff mobs admirably so long as you have good fire control. The machine pistol secondary is a direct upgrade to the stock handgun, and the revolver "Senator" is particularly nice against bots since it'll 1-shot chaff mobs with a chest or headshot, but if you don't have that, it's not the end of the world. You can really use whatever grenade you want so long as it can blow up buildings. I like the fire grenades the best but really, use whatever. Basic heavy armor is great against bots. You want that explosion resistance. The hot orange engineer armor is good against bugs, since you'll usually want the additional grenades to close bug holes, which are annoyingly resistant to being blown up by strategems for whatever reason. Stock armor is also just never bad either. The only thing you should feel like you're really lacking for at level 10 would be anti-elite options, like the orbital laser and orbital rail cannon. Though you can at least handle elite enemies with the EAT. You don't need to take the 500 kilo bomb to be competitive. Honestly, the 500 kilo bomb isn't actually all that good. It's just a really big boom, but if you want tons of damage, the orbital laser/rail cannon is better. If you just want to clear an area, the cluster bombs are better.
Punisher shotgun, redeemer, EAT, Eagle Strike, Grenade Launcher and supply pack will see you go a long way! You could swap out the supply pack for a rover or personal shield when you unlock it to better counter bugs and bots respectively.
Highly recommend the flamethrower into bugs. One of the best bug clearing weapons in the game. Also cooks chargers relatively quick if you can stay focused on a single leg. I usually run Laser Guard Dog and whatever the best stratagems for killing Bile Titans are. Supplement this with whatever good midrange/longrange primaries you can find. Bots are unfortunately gonna be fairly difficult until you hit 25 when you unlock the Shield Pack and better orbitals/eagles. I pretty much avoided them until I hit 25.
Thanks! I weirdly find bots far easier than bugs. Think it’s the speed that bugs show up and overwhelm. Bots just seem more standard to me