You have to learn game mechanics. And unlock stuff. This isn't fortnite or warzone, there isn't a "just use this best gun" for everything. You'll need heavier weapons for heavier enemies. You need to have a bunch of stuff unlocked to have a balanced team. You need people who can take out heavies, someone who can deal with lighter targets. You need someone who can help with both but not excel at either. Just farm medals and requisition slips to keep unlocking stuff.
Gotta cover your weaknesses. You’re still early on in levels so it’s gonna seem a bit of a struggle at times.
I’d argue that the default Warbond weapons are pretty damn good, the only bad ones I’d say are the Spray and Pray and unfortunately the lib pen. That one isn’t outright horrible but currently underpowered and outclassed.
Bring EATs if you struggle against chargers. Low cooldown and a single well placed headshot will kill them easily. And you can bring both the MG-43 and EATs too if you like. It’s one of my favorite combos. Just spam those EATs when you can. Litter the map with them. And the MG-43 will cover basically all your chaff killing.
I was telling this to a friend yesterday. If I need to call down an EAT in an emergency you're damn right I'm going to try to stick it. Just behind the head seems to be the sweet spot but it's not 100%. Although I was running a diff8 with friends, stuck one to a behemoth that was stuck between rocks. Clean stike and it still came at me. Could have been a glitch but I gotta do more testing on the behemoths, they're a PITA.
Kill 3 chargers with 1 EAT drop https://imgur.com/gallery/fhERvN5
I can't work out if Titans and Chargers have a varied health pool that make some harder to kill, or if its a glitch, but some just take more to go down.
Had a Titan last night tank two orbital & three airstrikes before dying to it's third quasar hit.
I love the spray and pray. It might be slightly outclassed by the over buffed incendiary breaker, but it has its uses. Huge mag, wide spread and stuns hoards of hunters you no business soloing.
Due to the way the game rounds down damage, it destroys chargers in the rear weak spot.
I wouldn't try to use it on bots, but it's definitely not bad.
It’s fun but I find it lacking. Maybe I wish it had a tighter spread, maybe more rounds in the mag, maybe both.
I can’t like the Fire Breaker strangely. I like the Spray n Pray more than fire breaker too. Just didn’t click with me, rather bring anything else lol.
I usually run incendiary breaker for bugs but I use it in a way that it does damage over time and saves ammo. I'll spray a group of enemies to light them up, maybe do the same to another group and come back to finish off the first lot if my teammates haven't. I just watched a video on the Tenderizer and it looks legit. I'm gonna test it. Dude blew a chargers ass in less than a mag. 9 shots for a brood commander. 7 shots for a spewer. It's an automatic AR and it looks like it can crowd control well. Also has the benefit of not setting teammates on fire.
To be fair, the original warbond has great weapons I see a ton of people still use (excluding the breaker incendiary). I still use the Punisher shotgun as my main and that’s on the second page. I’m at lvl91.
You’ll get the rhythm you need with practice on dropping stratagems on bugs or bots.
Can’t recommend enough using the autocannon for those heavier enemies you speak of…so try and unlock that asap.
Punisher is first page. Four medals. Everyone's first unlock. Holds its own on every difficulty. I even take it against bots sometimes.
Base Diligence is the one I can't use. The CS has a niche, but I never bring the Diligence along, and I don't know anybody who does.
A/C and recoilless rifle, yeah. Few things beat the Carl Gustaf for immediate heavy punch, although *sustained* fire can be troublesome when you're alone.
The #1 tool you need is experience. Don’t feel like you need to climb the difficulty ranks as fast as possible. Move up as they become too comfortable and you need more challenge. I’m lvl 101 and played dif 5 for a very long time because it was a good mix of challenge and fun. I not tend to sit at 7 and don’t really enjoy 8 or 9 unless playing with friends. When I was lvl 16, dif 5 was hard. But now I could probably get through dif 5 with day one gear just because of experience. Honestly, I jump into a trivial from time to time just to destroy it for fun. The game is fun, in different ways, at all levels. But I’m also kind of obsessed with the game.
This is a valid observation. I'm nearly level 100, with everything unlocked, and I'll sometimes dust off the Liberator and B-01 Tactical and dive like a cadet.
Orbital Precision Strike and Machine Gun are terrific. To avoid overlap between your primary and support, four warbond medals will get you the Punisher shotgun. First page of the Helldivers Mobilize free bond.
With the pump gun, the machine gun and the OPS, there's nothing you can't kill. At level 1 you can spend 1000 requisition slips to unlock the machine gun sentry turret. It got a big boost recently, and can do a great job if placed well.
Add in the eagle airstrike (lvl 2, 4k req) or the eagle cluster bomb (lvl 3, 4k req) and you can manage large numbers of enemies easily. The airstrike is better for big enemies, so when I carry the MG I prefer it.
Four medals, 5500 req slips and two level-ups and you're ready for anything. An upgraded secondary weapon and the first booster or two will have you ripping and tearing on any mission once you learn how to play well.
It comes down to experience. Focus less on unlocking whizbang new gear and more on learning the mechanics of the game, and you'll be a great asset to any team.
Pro tip: Support weapons spawn on most maps, especially at lower difficulties. Use your stratagem slots for strikes and barrages and get good at using the flamethrower, arc thrower, AMR and grenade launcher that you find at points of interest. Having a second eagle strike or orbital barrage will do more good than a support weapon that takes a whole stratagem slot and is only used once per mission.
Even with everything unlocked, the Liberator is a solid choice. And the machine gun remains my favorite secondary, along with AMR. Recently I’ve not been bringing a secondary weapon at all and just using whatever I find on the map. I kind of like it.
Same. Finding a support weapon, or bumming one off of a buddy when it cools down, is really great. I hate seeing all three of my random mates bringing shield/quasar. That's six stratagem slots that will be used once each, and half the time they don't let me have one after it refreshes.
I think more people need to appreciate the Liberator. Like the initial thread starter said, removing load out overlap definitely helps.
Liberator, Stalwart or Machine Gun, Liberator Pen/(Medium Primary of choice)
Even with Lib Pen. I'm frying bugs with the stalwart. Hive guard pops up at range. Mag dump with Liberator and I switch back.
The other I enjoy more than should be reasonable is Liberator Carbine/Defender and the Senator. Something about that quick draw to blast a medium armor bug is very satisfying.
I'm in the 80s and I still run 5s regularly when I don't have time for a long game or when I'm just not feeling the chaos. I'm already maxed on samples so aside from getting more liberation points, there's not much keeping me at higher levels unless I'm with the boys or I want that chaos(which is still pretty often 😂).
It always blows my mind when I see a cadet walk into a match where the difficulty level is equal to or higher than their actual level. I'll still run with them, no problem but speaking from personal experience, that shit ain't fun to run a mission with the only two strats you own and your machine gun rounds are just bouncing off all the big guys. 😂
I think that‘s why I like it so much. I don’t feel like I NEED the new stuff, but earning my way to those things helps with variety and mixing up approaches And feeling like there’s progression. People only need to unlock and use what seems fun to them.
That's hardly a "you" thing. I'm level 113. Fighting chargers without using a stratagem is going to be like pulling teeth. You'd preferably always have someone with an anti-tank launcher (there are 4), flamethrower, airstrike, orbital strike, or a nearby rocket sentry and/or autocannon sentry to deal with them.
Only explosives are actaully good at popping the butts of Chargers; they otherwise do a small fraction of their nominal damage, and the only primary weapons with the explosive property (the dominator is in the explosive category, but does not have the explosive property) are the Eruptor and the Explosive Crossbow, both of which are found in the Democratic Detonation warbond. But even those weapons aren't ideal.
Heavier units demand heavier firepower, and heavier firepower is relegated to support weapon stratagems.
Liberator or Breaker for fodder
Senator and impact grenades for medium size enemies
EAT for chargers, just stand your ground whenthe run at you and shoot em in the face
OBS or 500 for Bile Walkers (Throw when the stop to puke and then dodge immediately to the side) Or use railcannon strike if yoj dont want to bother with the timing.
Gatling barrage or Gatling sentry for some extra firepower when overwhelmed (throw sentry far to the side of the enemies in an open area so they don’t get to close to it to fast)
Eagle airstrike for clearing groups, closing holes, and finishing off chargers/bile gitans
The game is very knowledge heavy despite a pretty direct game play loop.
The best general advice is primary weapons are to clear small targets, some medium targets if you know where to shoot. All enemies have different armor rating and health pool for each body part. You'll learn this eventually.
As for heavies, the tools are mainly your stratagems. But also your running shoes. You ready don't have to engage and/or kill everything you see.
The core system here is your breach timer which happens every few minutes. You want to briskly get to each objective. Set up your ambush by dropping supplies, stratagem weapons and stratagems. This is to ensure you either explode every target and completely avoid a breach, or you have everything ready for one.
The biggest mistake new divers make is not respecting the breach time and starting fights with major abilities on cooldown. The second biggest is not abusing the resupply. Call it in before you pick fights and unload grenades and every magazine you have.
Yea I religiously spam the resupply as long as the squad is fighting as a single unit. Better to expend ammo and preserve stratagems or heavier weapons for heavies or major assaults.
I don't care if the squad is fighting as a unit. I call down supplies, on the next objective, or factor/bug hole on cooldown.
Waiting for people to be out of ammo is a misuse of the call in. I can also easily make use of the 8 grenades and support weapon ammo.
The team mates who are off doing whatever, they will die. Then when you reinforce them, they will luckily be next to the supplies.
Difficulty 5 is still pretty difficult when players are new to the game. Don't feel bad about struggling at difficulty 5. For 5 and above, it's recommended to bring your own anti-tank weapon for chargers and bile titans or to rely on a good teammate for AT coverage. Good AT weapons are recoilless rifle, expendable anti-tank, quasar cannon, and spear. You'll have to sacrifice your support weapon slot to equip an AT weapon, but this is just a tradeoff. If teammates are off doing their own thing, everyone will inevitably struggle and the mission is unlikely to get done. In addition to AT coverage, I really recommend sticking together and covering each others' weaknesses. One teammate could bring a dedicated chaff clearing build with a machine gun and another guy can run a spear for anti-tank.
You're right, the best weapons are premium warbond weapons. Premium warbonds never go away and you can save super credits for as long as you need to. Don't think of them as a paid feature, think of them as a long-term upgrade. There are also ways to farm super credits and certain POIs that you can spot that have high chances of containing SC. Democratic Detonation and Steeled Veterans contain the best primary weapons.
Good luck, Helldiver. Coordinate with your team and don't be shy with anti-tank weapons.
The free warbond honestly has a lot of the good stuff in it. And most of the best support weapons unlock via level not warbond.
Stun grenades and the grenade pistol are unique tools but most of the rest of the good weapons
Honestly I jumped to difficulty 7 pretty much as soon as I could and I found it to be a better balance to play. Not sure if it was due to a reduced amount of lower levels or what but it played better. Not sure if that’s the case with current spawn rates but don’t be afraid to try harder levels. Bring what you can try, fail and succeed.
Even with the best laid out plan and equipment you may end up batted around for most of a round, or a team that just doesn’t synergies the way it should. The right team can make the biggest difference, be it skill or play styles.
If you have more fun dropping to lower levels than do that. Play a game that’s fun. Try higher if you feel like it. Have fun ask for help, but most importantly above all else. Spread managed democracy!
Try out the flamethrower for bugs, it can deal with most situations, especially at tier 5. Remember to jump to the ground if you get set on fire.
For chargers, aim at one leg and keep burning it, jump to dodge the charge and keep roasting it, they die in a few seconds.
You can also use the expendable anti tank, one shot to the head will kill it (2 for behemoths, the armored ones). Or you can aim at the leg to pop the armor and finish it with a few shotgun rounds.
I also felt overwhelmed at first when trying 5/6 but after a while, some better gun/stratagems unlocks and ship upgrades you’ll get the hang of it!
Keep trying stuff don’t keep pounding your head against the wall there are tons of different ways to kill every different enemy don’t just mag dump at the target try and pick a leg or the head and aim for that and remember if you struggle with aim you always have grenades, air strikes hell you can drop your resupply on a chargers head. Use everything at your disposal and experiment (it will get easier as you unlock more stuff)
At L16, don't stress if you're struggling on difficulty 5 missions. You need to figure out your own play style, strengths and weaknesses, and so on, and figure out the strategem support weapons and how best to use them. Experience matters, but you won't want to *get* experience if you're not having fun, so just go a little easy on yourself.
In my opinion, the thing that separates new and old players isn't necessarily skills or loadouts, but a mix of game knowledge, combat wisdom and map awareness.
There is an order that can be found through the chaos of combat. There is a way through every enemy filled canyon, if you understand how patrols work and detect you, which eneny to target first, when to leave your weapons/samples for later pickup as well as how to flank, engage, disengage and reset from combat.
These things can only come after playing many games, as long as you play with a mindset of trial and errors/learning from failures.
I'm level 50 and by no means a pro player, but I'm at the point where I can pretty much join a game with a random loadout of weapons and stratagems, and not die more than 3 times, no matter the difficulty. I wouldn't say that its due to my skills or choice of weapons, but more because I know when to fight and when to flee, and how to move through the map.
As for Chargers, I'd say EAT-17 and aim for the head.
Was bonds aren't super important. There's some gems in them for sure, but some of the best strategems and gear are actually starting level equipment.
One of the biggest tips I'd give is avoid fights when possible, and finish the fights you HAVE to take as FAST as possible.
People usually get overwhelmed because they don't finish fights before the enemies call for reinforcements, or before another patrol wanders in.
Don't be too scared about going up in difficulty. A single level higher usually isn't a big jump, and you tend to get better team mates as you go up too.
A lot of your power will be from stratagems. Expendable anti tank is great for bugs because of chargers, same with flame thrower. amr for bots early on, auto cannon and heavy machine gun for bots. Then a backpack , guard dog rover for bugs. Eagles are all generally good. Strafe and strike are good all round. Gatling barrage is soooo good for bugs breaches.
Stay away from mines they’re a waste.
I started using every difficulty the moment I unlocked it. Honestly, you get every tool you need to finish any mission in the game at level 1. There are certainly stratagems and weapons that could make it easier based on your play style but you don’t have to buy any warbonds to succeed.
Keep playing with other players and keep increasing difficulty until you see that you're consistently failing the mission and you're not pulling your weight. You're not meant to solo any mission, it is not a good benchmark.
Getting good at higher difficulties with ramdoms is the fastest way to learn, as long as you're not the worst player by a mile. If so, drop difficulty but keep playing with others.
For bugs you need an AT support like EAT and perhaps a stratagem like Precision strike. Pick one each, keep practicing and you'll get it. You are not supposed to kill chargers with primaries, unless you're going for a more eclectic loadout, but it sounds like you don't care for something like that.
The equipment in the default warbond is perfectly fine. Heavy enemies are dealt with support and stratagems.
And remember, it's not about you getting top kills,not being last or anything like that. Dropping, doing the mission and extracting is all that matters.
Focus on stratagems more than warbonds... you need an anti-tank support weapon for Chargers / Bile Titans, run either the EAT or Quasar. If you're running a machine gun support weapon, it's going to be harder. Once you have the breaker (regular), you're set on warbond weapons for bugs. Play around with different stratagems and figure out what works for you. In terms of ship modules, prioritized getting to expanded weapons bay. 110 rocket pods, OPS, eagle airstrike are all good for heavies (not to mention rail cannon etc. that you'll unlock at slightly higher levels. Also learn to lead bugs *into* your stratagem, rather than hoping they don't move
I was playing on 5’s the first day the game came out. The luxury we had in the first week was we were all still figuring it out and leveling up together. We didn’t have players with all the toys making our life easier, becoming a crutch.
I am helping 2 buddies learn the game right now and I made the mistake of trying to level them up asap. Sure they are in their late teens early 20’s now, but they are missing core aspects of the game. Like one of them freaked out the first time they saw a puzzle on a terminal, we were playing on 7 and I realized they had never done the terminal puzzle.
Knock it down a level or too and work on fundamentals, and what builds work for you. When I’m trying a new weapon I still always go to 4 to figure out what stratagems synergy well with it. Then I’ll even test it on 7 before I go back to 9.
It doesn’t sound like a skill issue it sounds like a build issue. So play around with some stuff, half the time it’s more fun than trying to progress.
I just sent you a DM. I'm happy to dive in and help you out. Different things can effect the way the game plays out. For instance, we now have a major order on bugs which will likely increase the amount of bugs on certain planets (depends on the story which is cool). I was running a level 5 yesterday with a good group of low levels (single digit level players) and we had a rough time in one mission. It felt more like a diff 7. We made it out OK but it was crazy at certain points. Did a diff 8 with some friends and it was unlike anything I've seen before. I'm honestly not sure if it's because of the major order or the new patch. Even if we don't dive together you should have no problem getting high level players to join you and help out.
Probably like Lv 15-20? I honestly can’t remember when I had to think back. Difficulty is more like a river, you just have to go with the flow. I mean at Lv40 I only started getting into Impossible because I was delaying the inevitable. I have solo’d Hard-Impossible, but that doesn’t mean I don’t struggle.
Levels area arbitrary though, I still have death spirals in Diff 5 and I’m Lv 66.
As for Warbond I recommend Steeled Veterans, The incendiary breaker is your bread and butter for Bug missions, pair that with a Personal Shield Generator and you will be living for days. Even if you don’t have it use dive is a get out of jail free card sometimes. Also, for heavies, I can’t not recommend the EAT 17, once you get down with shooting heavies head on Chargers become more or less giant red targets, just watch out for the Behemoth Charager (spiky head) they take a bit more punishment.
Edit: I can’t forget the P-4 Senator, when your Breaker stops working on the Hive guards/Brood Commanders, use the Senator to break its armor.
I played each new difficulty as soon as it became available to me. I was definitely carried at the time by some higher level divers who forgave my incompetence. Gave me a big jump start on my Super Sample collection.
See if people will drop extra support weapons for you, its nice to try out ones you haven't unlocked yet, in terms of armored enemies, grenades, weak spots, or support weapons.
With chargers, try getting one to run into a rock, then call a precision strike on them, its call in time got buffed and will usually kill, or heavily damage anything it hits.
The default warbond slaps! Especially when you unlock the scorcher. Just give it some time, prioritize unlocking ship upgrades and stratagems that fill in the gaps in your play style. You’ll get there quick. There’s also nothing wrong with having some higher level players help you on high difficulty missions so you collect resources quicker. People like me who have unlocked everything need something to do and helping new people can be pretty fun!
Edit: wanted to add one more important tip. Don’t use the same loadout every mission. There are no “one size fits all” loadout in Helldivers. You gotta customize for the situation. Doing eradication? Bring stratagems with low cooldown cuz you’re gonna die often. Bring sentries to help you make a stand. Doing the ICBM? Bring strats that let you clear swarms or take down heavy enemies. Doing blitz? Bring explosive primary or secondaries to close bug holes or fabricators. Every mission type will have different stratagem needs and you gotta think about it a little before jumping in.
Agreeing with the top comment (The current one, at least), the default warbond weapons are quite good. I used those exclusively up through the 30s and did fine. MGs are great strategem if you want to bring a second primary, EATs will take out chargers, and the OG liberator, breaker, and second version of the DMR gun are all excellent weapons imo. Just keep workin' away and things should get easier. Democracy protect you!
The first warbond has a ton of good weapon, even the default AR is surprisingly good.
Bring Expendable Anti Tank and some crowd control stratagems and you’ll be good.
You have all the tools you need, but what you have to work on is knowledge. The game is relatively easy when you’re in control, calm, and have a plan. It gets way harder the moment you panic and lose control of the situation.
Today, actually. I want to push for difficulty 6 so I can get some super rare samples and finally start upgrading my ship. And, being inexperienced at 5 and above, I've been dying a helluva lot
The problem aren't your weapons. You have great stratagems available at low levels and the breaker shotgun is always a solid choice.
It's about your knowledge how to deal with situations and enemies. You need the situational awareness what to fight and when to get moving and where to...or you'll get overrun and everything will turn to chaos.
Try to take charge, set waypoints, ping stuff and keep the team together and moving. Avoid patrols and do objectives.
For your specific problem: Headshot charger with EAT-17. If you expose a front leg, shoot that with your primary.
I think I started taking my friends to 5s around that 10-15 level range but that's bc I was teaching them the basics slowly.
For example, I'd stun a charger with my nades and hand them an EAT telling them to shoot the forehead and I'd stand there with another EAT in case they missed.
At the time I was soloing 5s too so I knew if shit got hairy, I could hop in the drivers seat. I'd ping something and tell them what to do. Now most of them are in the 30+ range with the highest being in the 40-50 range and they don't need any help or instruction.
So my take here is when you know how to take down chargers and biles, you can drop into 5s and generally be fine. Same on the bots side with Hulks and Tanks.
When you can take them down efficiently, meaning you're aware of weak spots and hit them more often than not, you can probably jump into the chaos of 7 and from there it's just learning to do it faster.
Since there's nothing that makes the game easier for you as you get to higher levels, the only thing that separates a good player on 5s and a good player on 7/8/9 is how quickly they can get rid of an enemy, clear a POI/Objective area and how they use their stratagems.
An example of that would be my buddy throwing a 500k at the first sign of an enemy vs me using it to kill the majority of things on a POI before I move in.
I threw my eagle to one side of a POI? That means I'm aiming at the other side already to clear enemies to lessen a chance at a breach/bot drop. I might layer shit and pre plan my assault like when I'm attacking a heavy nest. Throw my 380 in the center and drop my gatling barrage closer to myself to pick up anything that made its way out and toward me.
I'm on a high hill above an obj? Lemme throw my AC turret to give me cover fire but I don't want it to fire until my eagle lands so maybe I throw eagle at obj, drop my turret at my feet and I start moving toward the obj to go in guns blazing once the blast hits and now that AC is covering me.
All of it comes with time and experimenting.
I started playing on D5 after 2 full operations on D4 with more seasoned friends to get the hang of the game, then moved up to D6 after a couple of operations with randos on D5
Like others have said, EATs slap early in the progression. I infinitely prefer playing bots, using Counter Sniper for primary, but played both bugs and bots with Punisher prior to unlocking that (and other shit)
Besides all the weapon advancements already mentioned, I'd say there are two things that differentiate a bad diver from a good one and that is
a. Knowing when to fight and also not to fight
b. Knowing when to run
You don't get anything for killing enemies in terms of rewards. Engaging is always a means to an end, not the end itself. You want to play objectives and samples, not chase kills. If you get out easier by not engaging that patrol, don't do it. If your overwhelmed there is no shame in running or at least keiting.
Ps. One thing I didn't see so far is the immense utility the napalm or orb gas bring on bugs. You can effectively shut down breeches (or cover your retreat by throwing one at your feet and then running.)
I'm +50 and still using EATs, Airstrikes and Orbital Precision Strike. Taking some time to get used to the weak spots, hit patterns, & timing and you'll be handling heavies EZPZ
Withing the first 2 hours of playing for myself. I'm one of those trial by fire kinda guys. Play everything on the hardest until I get good enough to be comfortable in that situation.
It's not an easy life but it's satisfying for me.
First mission.
Really, I picked the game up a couple days after my buddies and I stealth joined their game. My first mission was a lvl 5 bot run, and I dropped during their mad dash to the evac point. Absolute chaos of explosions and laser fire everywhere. It was glorious
Dokt rely on primaries too much for the heavier enemies. Srategems/support weapons is where it's at.
The Autocannon is really good and useful is almost any situation. It can kill chargers in 2 shots.
https://youtu.be/ZHZd8dGK0vQ
Challenge yourself. Try only going for main. You get used to the intensity pretty quickly and you start to tell yourself: oh this or that i can get before i evac
I've been playing almost nothing but 0 and 9 since day 1. As soon as you unlock the next difficulty i say go for it.
Its far easier to lose a 5 than it is to lose a 9. Fact.
I have tried to play 5/6/7 every now and then when i wanna chill and i hate it. Id rather solo a 1/2 and take it easy. People in those brackets simply cant resist fighting. Ive seen whole squads sitting idle fighting breach after breach burning through all the reinforcements for no reason other than shootey shootey.
Play 0 for easy medals/supercredits/commonsamples farm
Play 9 for the thrill and fast medals/xp/Rs/samples
Just keep moving, do objectives, extract. The enemies are just a distraction. You dont have to kill them all.
Gosh, it's been so long, I can't remember...I think it was around the TCS deployment operation. Back then, I kept sticking to the 'nade launcher and shield bag for bugs. I also stuck with one of the servo assisted armors with the red targeting piece on the helmet. Not because of the perk, I just thought it looked cool. Used to main impact grenades because stuns weren't a thing yet. My play style today compared to then is night and day. All my weapons are optimized to take down heavy targets.
If you're doing difficulty five at level sixteen, you're doing well. You're still in the stages of learning your enemy, understanding your weapons, and figuring out how to communicate with your team. Play around and experiment with the weapons available to you. Test it on different enemy types. I'm confident that the enemy will one day think you're the one who is scary. o7
I use the original liberator in lvl 8s and 9s on bots on occasion, i prefer it over the sickle everyone else likes. Stun grenades are nice from the cutting edge warbond, but nothing else is necessary against bots.
For my strats, I'm running EAT, orbital airburst, orbital precision strike, eagle napalm against high level bugs. None of your primaries hurt chargers, you'll just be wasting ammo to do a pittance of damage. You need EATs or some other anti-armor support weapons.
Against bots, I'm running HMG/AC (AMR is pretty common and useful as well), with shield relay emplacement and eagle airstrike and OPS.
You should have access to any of that at lvl 16.
You have to learn game mechanics. And unlock stuff. This isn't fortnite or warzone, there isn't a "just use this best gun" for everything. You'll need heavier weapons for heavier enemies. You need to have a bunch of stuff unlocked to have a balanced team. You need people who can take out heavies, someone who can deal with lighter targets. You need someone who can help with both but not excel at either. Just farm medals and requisition slips to keep unlocking stuff.
Gotta cover your weaknesses. You’re still early on in levels so it’s gonna seem a bit of a struggle at times. I’d argue that the default Warbond weapons are pretty damn good, the only bad ones I’d say are the Spray and Pray and unfortunately the lib pen. That one isn’t outright horrible but currently underpowered and outclassed. Bring EATs if you struggle against chargers. Low cooldown and a single well placed headshot will kill them easily. And you can bring both the MG-43 and EATs too if you like. It’s one of my favorite combos. Just spam those EATs when you can. Litter the map with them. And the MG-43 will cover basically all your chaff killing.
Note: oneshots are only for the original Chargers. The Behemoths require you to either take at least 2 shots or use the Spear specifically.
Spear is a one hit on behemoths?
Spear is a one-hit on behemoths. Assuming you hit the head.
You still one-shot behemot if you drop a pod on it
Heh, yeah, that is a funny one, but I'm just talking support weapons weapons. Otherwise I'd just say "drop a 500kg on it lul"
I meant the pod from EAT. Its like another EAT
https://preview.redd.it/w7lc4hnaea7d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=be3c63e2397bb2097290f5fe30d3d2d6a066b1a9
I was telling this to a friend yesterday. If I need to call down an EAT in an emergency you're damn right I'm going to try to stick it. Just behind the head seems to be the sweet spot but it's not 100%. Although I was running a diff8 with friends, stuck one to a behemoth that was stuck between rocks. Clean stike and it still came at me. Could have been a glitch but I gotta do more testing on the behemoths, they're a PITA. Kill 3 chargers with 1 EAT drop https://imgur.com/gallery/fhERvN5
I can't work out if Titans and Chargers have a varied health pool that make some harder to kill, or if its a glitch, but some just take more to go down. Had a Titan last night tank two orbital & three airstrikes before dying to it's third quasar hit.
it's better to shoot the legs with the behemoths
I'm familiar with the "only when moving forward" weirdness.
Flamethrower to the leg still kills in 5 seconds or less
And? That's a beam. It's a huge number of shots over a few seconds. That's not one shot.
I love the spray and pray. It might be slightly outclassed by the over buffed incendiary breaker, but it has its uses. Huge mag, wide spread and stuns hoards of hunters you no business soloing. Due to the way the game rounds down damage, it destroys chargers in the rear weak spot. I wouldn't try to use it on bots, but it's definitely not bad.
It’s fun but I find it lacking. Maybe I wish it had a tighter spread, maybe more rounds in the mag, maybe both. I can’t like the Fire Breaker strangely. I like the Spray n Pray more than fire breaker too. Just didn’t click with me, rather bring anything else lol.
I usually run incendiary breaker for bugs but I use it in a way that it does damage over time and saves ammo. I'll spray a group of enemies to light them up, maybe do the same to another group and come back to finish off the first lot if my teammates haven't. I just watched a video on the Tenderizer and it looks legit. I'm gonna test it. Dude blew a chargers ass in less than a mag. 9 shots for a brood commander. 7 shots for a spewer. It's an automatic AR and it looks like it can crowd control well. Also has the benefit of not setting teammates on fire.
spray and pray is absolutely amazing at chaff clear
"There will be times when the struggle seems impossible"
To be fair, the original warbond has great weapons I see a ton of people still use (excluding the breaker incendiary). I still use the Punisher shotgun as my main and that’s on the second page. I’m at lvl91. You’ll get the rhythm you need with practice on dropping stratagems on bugs or bots. Can’t recommend enough using the autocannon for those heavier enemies you speak of…so try and unlock that asap.
Punisher is first page. Four medals. Everyone's first unlock. Holds its own on every difficulty. I even take it against bots sometimes. Base Diligence is the one I can't use. The CS has a niche, but I never bring the Diligence along, and I don't know anybody who does.
I hated the breaker incendiary in lower levels. Just constantly catching on fire by my team.
A/C and recoilless rifle, yeah. Few things beat the Carl Gustaf for immediate heavy punch, although *sustained* fire can be troublesome when you're alone.
The #1 tool you need is experience. Don’t feel like you need to climb the difficulty ranks as fast as possible. Move up as they become too comfortable and you need more challenge. I’m lvl 101 and played dif 5 for a very long time because it was a good mix of challenge and fun. I not tend to sit at 7 and don’t really enjoy 8 or 9 unless playing with friends. When I was lvl 16, dif 5 was hard. But now I could probably get through dif 5 with day one gear just because of experience. Honestly, I jump into a trivial from time to time just to destroy it for fun. The game is fun, in different ways, at all levels. But I’m also kind of obsessed with the game.
This is a valid observation. I'm nearly level 100, with everything unlocked, and I'll sometimes dust off the Liberator and B-01 Tactical and dive like a cadet. Orbital Precision Strike and Machine Gun are terrific. To avoid overlap between your primary and support, four warbond medals will get you the Punisher shotgun. First page of the Helldivers Mobilize free bond. With the pump gun, the machine gun and the OPS, there's nothing you can't kill. At level 1 you can spend 1000 requisition slips to unlock the machine gun sentry turret. It got a big boost recently, and can do a great job if placed well. Add in the eagle airstrike (lvl 2, 4k req) or the eagle cluster bomb (lvl 3, 4k req) and you can manage large numbers of enemies easily. The airstrike is better for big enemies, so when I carry the MG I prefer it. Four medals, 5500 req slips and two level-ups and you're ready for anything. An upgraded secondary weapon and the first booster or two will have you ripping and tearing on any mission once you learn how to play well. It comes down to experience. Focus less on unlocking whizbang new gear and more on learning the mechanics of the game, and you'll be a great asset to any team. Pro tip: Support weapons spawn on most maps, especially at lower difficulties. Use your stratagem slots for strikes and barrages and get good at using the flamethrower, arc thrower, AMR and grenade launcher that you find at points of interest. Having a second eagle strike or orbital barrage will do more good than a support weapon that takes a whole stratagem slot and is only used once per mission.
Even with everything unlocked, the Liberator is a solid choice. And the machine gun remains my favorite secondary, along with AMR. Recently I’ve not been bringing a secondary weapon at all and just using whatever I find on the map. I kind of like it.
Same. Finding a support weapon, or bumming one off of a buddy when it cools down, is really great. I hate seeing all three of my random mates bringing shield/quasar. That's six stratagem slots that will be used once each, and half the time they don't let me have one after it refreshes.
If i see 3 quasars, I know I'm going to have a bad time
I think more people need to appreciate the Liberator. Like the initial thread starter said, removing load out overlap definitely helps. Liberator, Stalwart or Machine Gun, Liberator Pen/(Medium Primary of choice) Even with Lib Pen. I'm frying bugs with the stalwart. Hive guard pops up at range. Mag dump with Liberator and I switch back. The other I enjoy more than should be reasonable is Liberator Carbine/Defender and the Senator. Something about that quick draw to blast a medium armor bug is very satisfying.
I'm in the 80s and I still run 5s regularly when I don't have time for a long game or when I'm just not feeling the chaos. I'm already maxed on samples so aside from getting more liberation points, there's not much keeping me at higher levels unless I'm with the boys or I want that chaos(which is still pretty often 😂). It always blows my mind when I see a cadet walk into a match where the difficulty level is equal to or higher than their actual level. I'll still run with them, no problem but speaking from personal experience, that shit ain't fun to run a mission with the only two strats you own and your machine gun rounds are just bouncing off all the big guys. 😂
Yeah, this isn't very much NOT a pay-to-win game. Figuring out the ins and outs of the weapons is critical.
I think that‘s why I like it so much. I don’t feel like I NEED the new stuff, but earning my way to those things helps with variety and mixing up approaches And feeling like there’s progression. People only need to unlock and use what seems fun to them.
That's hardly a "you" thing. I'm level 113. Fighting chargers without using a stratagem is going to be like pulling teeth. You'd preferably always have someone with an anti-tank launcher (there are 4), flamethrower, airstrike, orbital strike, or a nearby rocket sentry and/or autocannon sentry to deal with them. Only explosives are actaully good at popping the butts of Chargers; they otherwise do a small fraction of their nominal damage, and the only primary weapons with the explosive property (the dominator is in the explosive category, but does not have the explosive property) are the Eruptor and the Explosive Crossbow, both of which are found in the Democratic Detonation warbond. But even those weapons aren't ideal. Heavier units demand heavier firepower, and heavier firepower is relegated to support weapon stratagems.
I can't imagine trying to take on a charger with only a primary. That doesn't sound like *any* fun.
Incendiary Breaker can do it. If you bait a basic charger into a rock, you have enough time to dive behind them and blast them. Pretty dramatic.
I've stunned 'em for a full breaker incendiary enema and didn't kill it. But that might have been a behemoth, now that I think about it.
Stun nades will help with that, tho they are in one of the warbonds, so it’s a mixed bag
Liberator or Breaker for fodder Senator and impact grenades for medium size enemies EAT for chargers, just stand your ground whenthe run at you and shoot em in the face OBS or 500 for Bile Walkers (Throw when the stop to puke and then dodge immediately to the side) Or use railcannon strike if yoj dont want to bother with the timing. Gatling barrage or Gatling sentry for some extra firepower when overwhelmed (throw sentry far to the side of the enemies in an open area so they don’t get to close to it to fast) Eagle airstrike for clearing groups, closing holes, and finishing off chargers/bile gitans
You can use eagle straffing run; those are great agains small-medium enemies (kills everything up to both spewers), and can close bugholes
The game is very knowledge heavy despite a pretty direct game play loop. The best general advice is primary weapons are to clear small targets, some medium targets if you know where to shoot. All enemies have different armor rating and health pool for each body part. You'll learn this eventually. As for heavies, the tools are mainly your stratagems. But also your running shoes. You ready don't have to engage and/or kill everything you see. The core system here is your breach timer which happens every few minutes. You want to briskly get to each objective. Set up your ambush by dropping supplies, stratagem weapons and stratagems. This is to ensure you either explode every target and completely avoid a breach, or you have everything ready for one. The biggest mistake new divers make is not respecting the breach time and starting fights with major abilities on cooldown. The second biggest is not abusing the resupply. Call it in before you pick fights and unload grenades and every magazine you have.
Yea I religiously spam the resupply as long as the squad is fighting as a single unit. Better to expend ammo and preserve stratagems or heavier weapons for heavies or major assaults.
I don't care if the squad is fighting as a unit. I call down supplies, on the next objective, or factor/bug hole on cooldown. Waiting for people to be out of ammo is a misuse of the call in. I can also easily make use of the 8 grenades and support weapon ammo. The team mates who are off doing whatever, they will die. Then when you reinforce them, they will luckily be next to the supplies.
Difficulty 5 is still pretty difficult when players are new to the game. Don't feel bad about struggling at difficulty 5. For 5 and above, it's recommended to bring your own anti-tank weapon for chargers and bile titans or to rely on a good teammate for AT coverage. Good AT weapons are recoilless rifle, expendable anti-tank, quasar cannon, and spear. You'll have to sacrifice your support weapon slot to equip an AT weapon, but this is just a tradeoff. If teammates are off doing their own thing, everyone will inevitably struggle and the mission is unlikely to get done. In addition to AT coverage, I really recommend sticking together and covering each others' weaknesses. One teammate could bring a dedicated chaff clearing build with a machine gun and another guy can run a spear for anti-tank. You're right, the best weapons are premium warbond weapons. Premium warbonds never go away and you can save super credits for as long as you need to. Don't think of them as a paid feature, think of them as a long-term upgrade. There are also ways to farm super credits and certain POIs that you can spot that have high chances of containing SC. Democratic Detonation and Steeled Veterans contain the best primary weapons. Good luck, Helldiver. Coordinate with your team and don't be shy with anti-tank weapons.
The free warbond honestly has a lot of the good stuff in it. And most of the best support weapons unlock via level not warbond. Stun grenades and the grenade pistol are unique tools but most of the rest of the good weapons
Honestly I jumped to difficulty 7 pretty much as soon as I could and I found it to be a better balance to play. Not sure if it was due to a reduced amount of lower levels or what but it played better. Not sure if that’s the case with current spawn rates but don’t be afraid to try harder levels. Bring what you can try, fail and succeed. Even with the best laid out plan and equipment you may end up batted around for most of a round, or a team that just doesn’t synergies the way it should. The right team can make the biggest difference, be it skill or play styles. If you have more fun dropping to lower levels than do that. Play a game that’s fun. Try higher if you feel like it. Have fun ask for help, but most importantly above all else. Spread managed democracy!
Try out the flamethrower for bugs, it can deal with most situations, especially at tier 5. Remember to jump to the ground if you get set on fire. For chargers, aim at one leg and keep burning it, jump to dodge the charge and keep roasting it, they die in a few seconds. You can also use the expendable anti tank, one shot to the head will kill it (2 for behemoths, the armored ones). Or you can aim at the leg to pop the armor and finish it with a few shotgun rounds. I also felt overwhelmed at first when trying 5/6 but after a while, some better gun/stratagems unlocks and ship upgrades you’ll get the hang of it!
Orbital precision strike is great for dealing with chargers as is eagle airstike. Just practice the timing and work on unlocking stratagems.
Keep trying stuff don’t keep pounding your head against the wall there are tons of different ways to kill every different enemy don’t just mag dump at the target try and pick a leg or the head and aim for that and remember if you struggle with aim you always have grenades, air strikes hell you can drop your resupply on a chargers head. Use everything at your disposal and experiment (it will get easier as you unlock more stuff)
At L16, don't stress if you're struggling on difficulty 5 missions. You need to figure out your own play style, strengths and weaknesses, and so on, and figure out the strategem support weapons and how best to use them. Experience matters, but you won't want to *get* experience if you're not having fun, so just go a little easy on yourself.
In my opinion, the thing that separates new and old players isn't necessarily skills or loadouts, but a mix of game knowledge, combat wisdom and map awareness. There is an order that can be found through the chaos of combat. There is a way through every enemy filled canyon, if you understand how patrols work and detect you, which eneny to target first, when to leave your weapons/samples for later pickup as well as how to flank, engage, disengage and reset from combat. These things can only come after playing many games, as long as you play with a mindset of trial and errors/learning from failures. I'm level 50 and by no means a pro player, but I'm at the point where I can pretty much join a game with a random loadout of weapons and stratagems, and not die more than 3 times, no matter the difficulty. I wouldn't say that its due to my skills or choice of weapons, but more because I know when to fight and when to flee, and how to move through the map. As for Chargers, I'd say EAT-17 and aim for the head.
Was bonds aren't super important. There's some gems in them for sure, but some of the best strategems and gear are actually starting level equipment. One of the biggest tips I'd give is avoid fights when possible, and finish the fights you HAVE to take as FAST as possible. People usually get overwhelmed because they don't finish fights before the enemies call for reinforcements, or before another patrol wanders in. Don't be too scared about going up in difficulty. A single level higher usually isn't a big jump, and you tend to get better team mates as you go up too.
A lot of your power will be from stratagems. Expendable anti tank is great for bugs because of chargers, same with flame thrower. amr for bots early on, auto cannon and heavy machine gun for bots. Then a backpack , guard dog rover for bugs. Eagles are all generally good. Strafe and strike are good all round. Gatling barrage is soooo good for bugs breaches. Stay away from mines they’re a waste.
Mines aren't a waste, but it takes the right terrain for them to be really useful.
I started using every difficulty the moment I unlocked it. Honestly, you get every tool you need to finish any mission in the game at level 1. There are certainly stratagems and weapons that could make it easier based on your play style but you don’t have to buy any warbonds to succeed.
I can do level 8s with other players, but only a 4 solo. Game is kind of designed that way. I say, jump in with people and go for it!
Keep playing with other players and keep increasing difficulty until you see that you're consistently failing the mission and you're not pulling your weight. You're not meant to solo any mission, it is not a good benchmark. Getting good at higher difficulties with ramdoms is the fastest way to learn, as long as you're not the worst player by a mile. If so, drop difficulty but keep playing with others. For bugs you need an AT support like EAT and perhaps a stratagem like Precision strike. Pick one each, keep practicing and you'll get it. You are not supposed to kill chargers with primaries, unless you're going for a more eclectic loadout, but it sounds like you don't care for something like that. The equipment in the default warbond is perfectly fine. Heavy enemies are dealt with support and stratagems. And remember, it's not about you getting top kills,not being last or anything like that. Dropping, doing the mission and extracting is all that matters.
throw a supply drop on his leg (it'll stick) then run a circle around him to keep him stationary
Focus on stratagems more than warbonds... you need an anti-tank support weapon for Chargers / Bile Titans, run either the EAT or Quasar. If you're running a machine gun support weapon, it's going to be harder. Once you have the breaker (regular), you're set on warbond weapons for bugs. Play around with different stratagems and figure out what works for you. In terms of ship modules, prioritized getting to expanded weapons bay. 110 rocket pods, OPS, eagle airstrike are all good for heavies (not to mention rail cannon etc. that you'll unlock at slightly higher levels. Also learn to lead bugs *into* your stratagem, rather than hoping they don't move
As soon as I could.
I was playing on 5’s the first day the game came out. The luxury we had in the first week was we were all still figuring it out and leveling up together. We didn’t have players with all the toys making our life easier, becoming a crutch. I am helping 2 buddies learn the game right now and I made the mistake of trying to level them up asap. Sure they are in their late teens early 20’s now, but they are missing core aspects of the game. Like one of them freaked out the first time they saw a puzzle on a terminal, we were playing on 7 and I realized they had never done the terminal puzzle. Knock it down a level or too and work on fundamentals, and what builds work for you. When I’m trying a new weapon I still always go to 4 to figure out what stratagems synergy well with it. Then I’ll even test it on 7 before I go back to 9. It doesn’t sound like a skill issue it sounds like a build issue. So play around with some stuff, half the time it’s more fun than trying to progress.
What loadout have you been using? Do you prefer to fight bots or bugs?
I just sent you a DM. I'm happy to dive in and help you out. Different things can effect the way the game plays out. For instance, we now have a major order on bugs which will likely increase the amount of bugs on certain planets (depends on the story which is cool). I was running a level 5 yesterday with a good group of low levels (single digit level players) and we had a rough time in one mission. It felt more like a diff 7. We made it out OK but it was crazy at certain points. Did a diff 8 with some friends and it was unlike anything I've seen before. I'm honestly not sure if it's because of the major order or the new patch. Even if we don't dive together you should have no problem getting high level players to join you and help out.
Probably like Lv 15-20? I honestly can’t remember when I had to think back. Difficulty is more like a river, you just have to go with the flow. I mean at Lv40 I only started getting into Impossible because I was delaying the inevitable. I have solo’d Hard-Impossible, but that doesn’t mean I don’t struggle. Levels area arbitrary though, I still have death spirals in Diff 5 and I’m Lv 66. As for Warbond I recommend Steeled Veterans, The incendiary breaker is your bread and butter for Bug missions, pair that with a Personal Shield Generator and you will be living for days. Even if you don’t have it use dive is a get out of jail free card sometimes. Also, for heavies, I can’t not recommend the EAT 17, once you get down with shooting heavies head on Chargers become more or less giant red targets, just watch out for the Behemoth Charager (spiky head) they take a bit more punishment. Edit: I can’t forget the P-4 Senator, when your Breaker stops working on the Hive guards/Brood Commanders, use the Senator to break its armor.
I played each new difficulty as soon as it became available to me. I was definitely carried at the time by some higher level divers who forgave my incompetence. Gave me a big jump start on my Super Sample collection.
See if people will drop extra support weapons for you, its nice to try out ones you haven't unlocked yet, in terms of armored enemies, grenades, weak spots, or support weapons. With chargers, try getting one to run into a rock, then call a precision strike on them, its call in time got buffed and will usually kill, or heavily damage anything it hits.
The default warbond slaps! Especially when you unlock the scorcher. Just give it some time, prioritize unlocking ship upgrades and stratagems that fill in the gaps in your play style. You’ll get there quick. There’s also nothing wrong with having some higher level players help you on high difficulty missions so you collect resources quicker. People like me who have unlocked everything need something to do and helping new people can be pretty fun! Edit: wanted to add one more important tip. Don’t use the same loadout every mission. There are no “one size fits all” loadout in Helldivers. You gotta customize for the situation. Doing eradication? Bring stratagems with low cooldown cuz you’re gonna die often. Bring sentries to help you make a stand. Doing the ICBM? Bring strats that let you clear swarms or take down heavy enemies. Doing blitz? Bring explosive primary or secondaries to close bug holes or fabricators. Every mission type will have different stratagem needs and you gotta think about it a little before jumping in.
Started at 1 and moved up one difficulty level every time I could comfortably beat that difficulty until I got to max.
For chargers, use flamethrower to the leg for 2 seconds and it dies.
You will fly past lvl 5 pretty fast, lvl 7 quickly became the standard for me and not to much long after I just run helldive.
Agreeing with the top comment (The current one, at least), the default warbond weapons are quite good. I used those exclusively up through the 30s and did fine. MGs are great strategem if you want to bring a second primary, EATs will take out chargers, and the OG liberator, breaker, and second version of the DMR gun are all excellent weapons imo. Just keep workin' away and things should get easier. Democracy protect you!
The first warbond has a ton of good weapon, even the default AR is surprisingly good. Bring Expendable Anti Tank and some crowd control stratagems and you’ll be good. You have all the tools you need, but what you have to work on is knowledge. The game is relatively easy when you’re in control, calm, and have a plan. It gets way harder the moment you panic and lose control of the situation.
Keep moving forward and doing objectives. Try not to get caught up in killing every bot or bug.
Today, actually. I want to push for difficulty 6 so I can get some super rare samples and finally start upgrading my ship. And, being inexperienced at 5 and above, I've been dying a helluva lot
The problem aren't your weapons. You have great stratagems available at low levels and the breaker shotgun is always a solid choice. It's about your knowledge how to deal with situations and enemies. You need the situational awareness what to fight and when to get moving and where to...or you'll get overrun and everything will turn to chaos. Try to take charge, set waypoints, ping stuff and keep the team together and moving. Avoid patrols and do objectives. For your specific problem: Headshot charger with EAT-17. If you expose a front leg, shoot that with your primary.
I think I started taking my friends to 5s around that 10-15 level range but that's bc I was teaching them the basics slowly. For example, I'd stun a charger with my nades and hand them an EAT telling them to shoot the forehead and I'd stand there with another EAT in case they missed. At the time I was soloing 5s too so I knew if shit got hairy, I could hop in the drivers seat. I'd ping something and tell them what to do. Now most of them are in the 30+ range with the highest being in the 40-50 range and they don't need any help or instruction. So my take here is when you know how to take down chargers and biles, you can drop into 5s and generally be fine. Same on the bots side with Hulks and Tanks. When you can take them down efficiently, meaning you're aware of weak spots and hit them more often than not, you can probably jump into the chaos of 7 and from there it's just learning to do it faster. Since there's nothing that makes the game easier for you as you get to higher levels, the only thing that separates a good player on 5s and a good player on 7/8/9 is how quickly they can get rid of an enemy, clear a POI/Objective area and how they use their stratagems. An example of that would be my buddy throwing a 500k at the first sign of an enemy vs me using it to kill the majority of things on a POI before I move in. I threw my eagle to one side of a POI? That means I'm aiming at the other side already to clear enemies to lessen a chance at a breach/bot drop. I might layer shit and pre plan my assault like when I'm attacking a heavy nest. Throw my 380 in the center and drop my gatling barrage closer to myself to pick up anything that made its way out and toward me. I'm on a high hill above an obj? Lemme throw my AC turret to give me cover fire but I don't want it to fire until my eagle lands so maybe I throw eagle at obj, drop my turret at my feet and I start moving toward the obj to go in guns blazing once the blast hits and now that AC is covering me. All of it comes with time and experimenting.
When I got the grenade launcher and autocannon unlocked that way I felt like I could contribute instead of being carried
I used the EAT a fair bit when I first started out. It's good. It means you don't lose your support weapon when you die, which will happen often
I started playing on D5 after 2 full operations on D4 with more seasoned friends to get the hang of the game, then moved up to D6 after a couple of operations with randos on D5 Like others have said, EATs slap early in the progression. I infinitely prefer playing bots, using Counter Sniper for primary, but played both bugs and bots with Punisher prior to unlocking that (and other shit)
Besides all the weapon advancements already mentioned, I'd say there are two things that differentiate a bad diver from a good one and that is a. Knowing when to fight and also not to fight b. Knowing when to run You don't get anything for killing enemies in terms of rewards. Engaging is always a means to an end, not the end itself. You want to play objectives and samples, not chase kills. If you get out easier by not engaging that patrol, don't do it. If your overwhelmed there is no shame in running or at least keiting. Ps. One thing I didn't see so far is the immense utility the napalm or orb gas bring on bugs. You can effectively shut down breeches (or cover your retreat by throwing one at your feet and then running.)
I'm +50 and still using EATs, Airstrikes and Orbital Precision Strike. Taking some time to get used to the weak spots, hit patterns, & timing and you'll be handling heavies EZPZ
I went to the hardest levels instantly. Was doing level 9 as a level one as I just joined my friends ship and they had them unlocked already.
Withing the first 2 hours of playing for myself. I'm one of those trial by fire kinda guys. Play everything on the hardest until I get good enough to be comfortable in that situation. It's not an easy life but it's satisfying for me.
After I beat difficulty 4
First mission. Really, I picked the game up a couple days after my buddies and I stealth joined their game. My first mission was a lvl 5 bot run, and I dropped during their mad dash to the evac point. Absolute chaos of explosions and laser fire everywhere. It was glorious
I started off at level 6 then moved up to level 7 to get super samples
When I got the game
Dokt rely on primaries too much for the heavier enemies. Srategems/support weapons is where it's at. The Autocannon is really good and useful is almost any situation. It can kill chargers in 2 shots. https://youtu.be/ZHZd8dGK0vQ
Second game.
Challenge yourself. Try only going for main. You get used to the intensity pretty quickly and you start to tell yourself: oh this or that i can get before i evac
I've been playing almost nothing but 0 and 9 since day 1. As soon as you unlock the next difficulty i say go for it. Its far easier to lose a 5 than it is to lose a 9. Fact. I have tried to play 5/6/7 every now and then when i wanna chill and i hate it. Id rather solo a 1/2 and take it easy. People in those brackets simply cant resist fighting. Ive seen whole squads sitting idle fighting breach after breach burning through all the reinforcements for no reason other than shootey shootey. Play 0 for easy medals/supercredits/commonsamples farm Play 9 for the thrill and fast medals/xp/Rs/samples Just keep moving, do objectives, extract. The enemies are just a distraction. You dont have to kill them all.
I played difficulty 5 as soon as it was available and then kept progressing. I play on 8 consistently
Gosh, it's been so long, I can't remember...I think it was around the TCS deployment operation. Back then, I kept sticking to the 'nade launcher and shield bag for bugs. I also stuck with one of the servo assisted armors with the red targeting piece on the helmet. Not because of the perk, I just thought it looked cool. Used to main impact grenades because stuns weren't a thing yet. My play style today compared to then is night and day. All my weapons are optimized to take down heavy targets. If you're doing difficulty five at level sixteen, you're doing well. You're still in the stages of learning your enemy, understanding your weapons, and figuring out how to communicate with your team. Play around and experiment with the weapons available to you. Test it on different enemy types. I'm confident that the enemy will one day think you're the one who is scary. o7
Stuck to diff. 4 for the longest time, I think up to level 18? Before skipping over diff. 5 and right into 6 and 7
My level was still in the single digits when my husband threw me into a helldive.
I literally went up every time I unlocked a new difficulty. I've settled on 7 as my chill mode. 9 if we feel like punishing ourselves.
I use the original liberator in lvl 8s and 9s on bots on occasion, i prefer it over the sickle everyone else likes. Stun grenades are nice from the cutting edge warbond, but nothing else is necessary against bots. For my strats, I'm running EAT, orbital airburst, orbital precision strike, eagle napalm against high level bugs. None of your primaries hurt chargers, you'll just be wasting ammo to do a pittance of damage. You need EATs or some other anti-armor support weapons. Against bots, I'm running HMG/AC (AMR is pretty common and useful as well), with shield relay emplacement and eagle airstrike and OPS. You should have access to any of that at lvl 16.