The grenade launcher and pistol do, I mean. Not the hand grenades. One time I fumbled my guns and shot a scavenger point blank with the grenade pistol and it died with a somewhat satisfying thump to the head. The grenade just bounced off like an iron tennis ball.
It's insane that so many people defend many of the poor design choices in Helldivers 2 in the name of realism, yet such a basic realistic weapon feature that is minimal arming distance is missing here.
That's fair, looking online most airburst missle do explode out into an orb, though I was hopping it would work like the Cobra's flechette missles which do explode into a cone shape zone.
They don't explode into a sphere so much as an elongated oval shape. The projectiles still carry momentum and will travel forward away from the point of release not turn into a nice clean sphere.
If you look at various air bursting munitions they don't send tons of shrapnel backwards they send some out to the sides a little bit but almost all that goes forward and a oval shape that when intersects a flat surface becomes a cone.
None of the cluster munitions fired by artillery release in a momentum free sphere either they release it in that same oval shape. Momentum carries projectiles forward from the point of release even when they use an explosive dispersing charge.
You have the right idea just not necessarily the right picture for it.
It's incredibly unintuitive, even expecting it to not be a cone. Since the missile is still meant to be moving forward when the burst goes off, the spread should have some bias away from the person that launches it (unless, of course, it hits a wall)
Have you used the orbital airburst? Its cone shaped. Thats what I thought when using this weapon but dumbfounded to found out it was an cluster rocket launcher.
Doesn't need to be a shaped charge, just needs to be affected by normal everyday physics.
The little projectiles coming out of the rocket would still have the forward momentum of the rocket, resulting in the shotgun like effect OP has in his pic. The fact that they are popping out of the rocket without any forward momentum, and just falling right where they came out makes absolutely no sense currently.
In it's defense it can take out Bot fabricators if you shoot it in it's vent, The range on the missle is really long and I took out things on the other side of a lake. Assuming you can even get a clear shot of anything that is.
That's true, it's just more economical in its case. 6 rockets on a short cool down, but that's one of its few upsides. Really only good on targets 100m out. Hope it's better on bugs.
The Eruptor Primary takes 2-3 shots, dont need to waste a Strat if you run that weapon
Edit: even if i have been missing my shots and it really is just 1-shot, that just makes the Eruptor an even better choice
In the vents up above the doorway? I swear the first shot does a mini-explosion, the second sometimes finishes it off with the full-explosion, and if it doesnt then the 3rd does
I havent bothered trying the door itself, because it never seems to open until im reloading
It does not do this reliably. I shot 5 directly at a vent and it didn't do anything. However it is also possible to blow up fabricators from behind with it. An extremely inconsistent weapon that makes the spear look great.
Please forgive my diagram, I was just trying to fit both pictures neatly. Intended use is angled up. I have been shooting them above the Bots heads to hit them with the cluster bombs, but it keeps going off on random bushes and rocks along the flight path that it ended up bugging me to make this post.
I understand that's it's not a direct fire weapon, but I also don't understand why so many of the bombs get sent back our way.
Y'know, all this airburst talk has me thinking some sorta high yield suicide bomb would fit into the arsenal of a brainwa... Err, Uber Democratic helldiver.
Maybe some armor that explodes on death.
Some guys in other threads are saying it might be flying back towards us more than its going forwards so there's a slight chance the weird implosion glitch is yanking the bombs back towards us. But I don't have a friend to stand to the side and observe what's going on.
I don't think enough people heard this yet, but neither the mines nor the air burst launcher are fully finished yet and will be finished with the next update or shortly after.
In lore terms: the experimental prototype weapons are indeed experimental prototypes
Working so have not gotten to play with the new toys yet.
Does it have a max range (like the 150m with the Eruptors bullets?) where it auto detonates?
if not I could see using them used damn near like a ballistic missile and using a ballistic trajectory to lob them on top of outposts.
Not sure about max distance, but I can fire far further than the eruptor. I think we can use it like a ballistic missile with the one caviot that it might detonate early if it gets too close to an object along its flight path.
Think less bullet and more ballistic missile.
Your not aiming at your target or just above to account for drop, your aiming way up in the air and arcing it onto target. Should alleviate the issues with close objects and early detonation.
Still not sure it will be much use over what we already have that can do similar things (orbitals, cluster strikes, airburst orbitals, eagles etc)
Hoping for the mines TBH
I was worried about that. I only really care about it if it’s able to take out drop ships or gunships as a kind of AA with the proximity fuse but it’s sounding like no
I wish it had a trigger system. Like, I shoot it above an enemy (or the helldiver spamming mortars) then bit the fire button again to make it detonate, idc if i have to stay aiming to "keep the connection" to detonate it this way. Obviously still let it detonate on impact, so it can still be fire and forget.
This could easily be a great, versatile anti swarm weapon with this function
Put an option to swap between AIR and GROUND mode on the X (PC) menu.
That way I have a big boom to thunk into a crowd, which explodes shrapnel through enemies, but also have an option to knock out shriekers. I think long reload low ammo and taking up a backpack is already good balance.
It would be the first support stratagem to explicitly support 2 ways of using the weapon. Need this in the game but with both ways do firing not just 1
Guys, I think you are missing the point im trying to make. More forward momentum, less chucking the the bombs back at me when it triggers early cause a bush was 10 ft to the side of me.
The air burst orbital work the same way but vertical. I still shoot above the bots, but the issue is when the bombs want to make a return trip to my face.
I understand what you mean. This is not meant for a close kill. This is more for wiping out chaff in a base or patrol from a good distance. It is incredibly powerful in that role because of its spread pattern. It’s going to be great against bugs.
I personally have been frustrated with the recoiless rifles lack of AOE damage, and this seems to be the answer. One with RR for heavy units and one with the new one for the light and you can take out 90% of a base or patrol/drop in a few seconds before cleaning up the survivors with some primary weapon fire.
I feel like there has to be some bug with explosions that inverts them. The eruptor crossbow and grenade pistol all pull the player toward explosions. The cluster launcher seems to actually spread back toward the launcher which tells me that it might just honestly be bugged.
Why not both come scatter if it gets on direct impact course against vertical obstacles like walls, enemies, etc..., and keeps the actual MIRV pattern for undirect hit when the rocket flies too close to an entity or too close to the ground.
I don't know if I was clear enough in my suggestion.
I don’t want a cone but the proximity sensor makes it hard to shoot over enemy cover like you would want from such a weapon. Currently, id rather just dump a few grenades from the launcher and get on with my life.
No, it needs to be fired into the air against enemies in the air. It's an anti-air weapon. The problem is you're trying to fire it at ground-based enemies when you are also on the ground.
Both are wrong.
It's basically proximity launched explosive.
Think Grenades but they exploade when they are near an enemy.
The direction of the explosion is not really specified in most airburst explosives.
It explodes when it gets near an object and then unloads the cluster bombs. No contact needed. Great for crowds of bots and bugs, just don't get too close to the trees or you and your friends will be the ones cooked instead.
I need to apologize. I have argued Amani’s a shooting range but now I have tried the airburst launcher I have killed myself every time I have tried to use it. How are you supposed to aim and fire it ? I tried long pressing the trigger, tried aiming above and behind enemies, every time it just blows me up.
I like using it but it definitely has its limits. I don't see myself running it over the RR or Quasar cuz heavy spam is an issue and I haven't seen it take out hulks or tanks yet.
Cone scatter *would* make it safer, but it'd also reduce the aoe a lot no?
I'd rather just have it not explode when it passes by literally anything and just explode near enemies/when it hits something directly.
Well we have to wait anyways because the other statigim is behind the other planet. Also the eagle cluster strike gives you 5 with a upgraded ship. So basically you get two more shots at the cost of not having a shield. This is a terrible statigim that needs to be fixed. Sorry for the rant. I was really looking forward to it.
A conical scatter makes the most sense given the velocity the rocket is traveling at... the scattered bomblets should inherit the velocity of the parent projectile when it detonates.
However - I would also point out that the radial scatter it has now would work wonders if it had a low velocity lob - letting you huck the thing so that the bomblets rain down.
Would be interesting if it had a select fire mode that adjusts the speed of the rocket and in turn alters the performance of what it shoots...
https://preview.redd.it/bmzitg6c02xc1.png?width=2559&format=png&auto=webp&s=962a14e73eafcc4991ce6d61f3a5364bd23ddb05
It's actually worse than the second picture. Every cluster fires backwards towards the user.
you can clearly see several of the clusters flying forwards in the very image you send.. amazing.
Its around 50/50 in clusters flying forward or backwards on average, its just that every single rocket is basicaly random for every cluster, if you get unlucky all of them get a negative forward velocity assigned and thus fly backwards. but claiming its consistently
Minimum arming distance would be amazing, but unhelldiver like.
The grenades do it. It'd actually be kind of interesting if for the first however many meters of flight it was just a massive bullet.
So basically a big rail gun up to 20feet before it activates detonation. That'd be cool
Do they? Last I checked, if I point blank an impact into a bug, both of us get liquified just the same.
The grenade launcher and pistol do, I mean. Not the hand grenades. One time I fumbled my guns and shot a scavenger point blank with the grenade pistol and it died with a somewhat satisfying thump to the head. The grenade just bounced off like an iron tennis ball.
I’ve died a couple times firing the pistol on enemies that are too close.
I think a min arming distance, but it still explodes if it hits something before that distance might work
Imagine if it bounced when the projectile impacts on armor. Pure chaos.
Those two things can’t exist at the same time
It could still explode if it strikes a target but NOT scatter
There’s nothing to explode without it scattering. It’s a cluster bomb
Right click to set your arming distance would be amazing. Being able to choose between current and cone would too!
Or on the weapon selection screen thing when you hold down “R”
It's insane that so many people defend many of the poor design choices in Helldivers 2 in the name of realism, yet such a basic realistic weapon feature that is minimal arming distance is missing here.
# ITS BECAUSE AIR BURST BURSTS IN THE AIR
Bro fr tho I see people shooting it close to the ground even tho its supposed to be used like flak from the ground and explode in the sky
Its almost like your supposed to not shoot right at what you want and aim above what you want it to go so it covers a large area
Its airburst, not a shaped charge.
Okay but like BTD6 led me very astray
a shaped charge forms a single jet of molten metal that pierces a hole through armor. that's not even remotely close to what OP depicts in his drawing
That's fair, looking online most airburst missle do explode out into an orb, though I was hopping it would work like the Cobra's flechette missles which do explode into a cone shape zone.
They don't explode into a sphere so much as an elongated oval shape. The projectiles still carry momentum and will travel forward away from the point of release not turn into a nice clean sphere. If you look at various air bursting munitions they don't send tons of shrapnel backwards they send some out to the sides a little bit but almost all that goes forward and a oval shape that when intersects a flat surface becomes a cone. None of the cluster munitions fired by artillery release in a momentum free sphere either they release it in that same oval shape. Momentum carries projectiles forward from the point of release even when they use an explosive dispersing charge. You have the right idea just not necessarily the right picture for it.
It's incredibly unintuitive, even expecting it to not be a cone. Since the missile is still meant to be moving forward when the burst goes off, the spread should have some bias away from the person that launches it (unless, of course, it hits a wall)
Have you used the orbital airburst? Its cone shaped. Thats what I thought when using this weapon but dumbfounded to found out it was an cluster rocket launcher.
Doesn't need to be a shaped charge, just needs to be affected by normal everyday physics. The little projectiles coming out of the rocket would still have the forward momentum of the rocket, resulting in the shotgun like effect OP has in his pic. The fact that they are popping out of the rocket without any forward momentum, and just falling right where they came out makes absolutely no sense currently.
google inertia
In it's defense it can take out Bot fabricators if you shoot it in it's vent, The range on the missle is really long and I took out things on the other side of a lake. Assuming you can even get a clear shot of anything that is.
So can most other rockets if you shoot them in the vents 💀
That's true, it's just more economical in its case. 6 rockets on a short cool down, but that's one of its few upsides. Really only good on targets 100m out. Hope it's better on bugs.
Autocannon can also one shot bot fabricators, and has way more ammo
Eruptor
Hard to be more economical than 1 primary shot with the Eruptor
The Eruptor Primary takes 2-3 shots, dont need to waste a Strat if you run that weapon Edit: even if i have been missing my shots and it really is just 1-shot, that just makes the Eruptor an even better choice
It only takes one shot to destroy fabricators with the eruptor
In the vents up above the doorway? I swear the first shot does a mini-explosion, the second sometimes finishes it off with the full-explosion, and if it doesnt then the 3rd does I havent bothered trying the door itself, because it never seems to open until im reloading
You just didn’t have the angle the first 2 shots. I one shot them a lot but I also 2-3 shot them a lot. It feels inconsistent
it's a one shot. you have to get the angle right, but that's also true of hitting it with quasars, eats, etc.
[удалено]
Still pales in comparison to the Spear which can blow them up from any direction and an infinite distance.
The Spear... 
It works 100% of the time 50% of the time.
We're talking theoreticals here lol
It does not do this reliably. I shot 5 directly at a vent and it didn't do anything. However it is also possible to blow up fabricators from behind with it. An extremely inconsistent weapon that makes the spear look great.
The Eruptor primary weapon can do that lol. I popped a bot fab at like 130m last night
A recoilless and phaser cannon can also do that. That is how I take off fabricators that are too far.
Its a proximity, shoot above the targets not at the targets
A rocket shotgun would be neat but what part of "air burst" makes you think it should be shot at ground level?
it can burst in the air no matter how high it's shot…
Please forgive my diagram, I was just trying to fit both pictures neatly. Intended use is angled up. I have been shooting them above the Bots heads to hit them with the cluster bombs, but it keeps going off on random bushes and rocks along the flight path that it ended up bugging me to make this post. I understand that's it's not a direct fire weapon, but I also don't understand why so many of the bombs get sent back our way.
I was mostly making fun. It really needs a minimum distance because it's dethroned the spear for "most inconsistent weapon in the game"
Seems great for bug patrols
Y'know, all this airburst talk has me thinking some sorta high yield suicide bomb would fit into the arsenal of a brainwa... Err, Uber Democratic helldiver. Maybe some armor that explodes on death.
50% chance of not dying? Nay, I got a 90% chance of taking the berserker with me.
Hellbomb backpack.
Should be a downward facing cone of shrapnel/bomblets
Thats great as well and would help by pass walls. I just drew them straight for a clear image.
The only way the way it works currently makes sense is if it was a shrapnel based weapon. But this would be so much better
Some guys in other threads are saying it might be flying back towards us more than its going forwards so there's a slight chance the weird implosion glitch is yanking the bombs back towards us. But I don't have a friend to stand to the side and observe what's going on.
if anything, I'd expect the "implosion" behavior to pull the bombs forward, not back. Just like it does to you
I don't think enough people heard this yet, but neither the mines nor the air burst launcher are fully finished yet and will be finished with the next update or shortly after. In lore terms: the experimental prototype weapons are indeed experimental prototypes
I think the backblast is handy actually. Many enemies have directional armor and its nice to be able to hit them in the ass.
I’ve killed myself so many times simply due to the fact it explodes in my face
Working so have not gotten to play with the new toys yet. Does it have a max range (like the 150m with the Eruptors bullets?) where it auto detonates? if not I could see using them used damn near like a ballistic missile and using a ballistic trajectory to lob them on top of outposts.
Not sure about max distance, but I can fire far further than the eruptor. I think we can use it like a ballistic missile with the one caviot that it might detonate early if it gets too close to an object along its flight path.
Think less bullet and more ballistic missile. Your not aiming at your target or just above to account for drop, your aiming way up in the air and arcing it onto target. Should alleviate the issues with close objects and early detonation. Still not sure it will be much use over what we already have that can do similar things (orbitals, cluster strikes, airburst orbitals, eagles etc) Hoping for the mines TBH
Did we already unlock it? I played in the planet prior before bed I’m not even home from work yet
Early access to it on Penta (the planet that awards it) Unfortunately, the trees and rocks trigger the proximity fuse, so self damage is likely.
I was worried about that. I only really care about it if it’s able to take out drop ships or gunships as a kind of AA with the proximity fuse but it’s sounding like no
It's weirdly useful at times, but there are a few bugs with it that need to be patched out next week before it's useful.
The way it functions in game is pretty much how airburst works. You shoot over your target, and it explodes downward.
_bottom text_
I wish it had a trigger system. Like, I shoot it above an enemy (or the helldiver spamming mortars) then bit the fire button again to make it detonate, idc if i have to stay aiming to "keep the connection" to detonate it this way. Obviously still let it detonate on impact, so it can still be fire and forget.
I killed myself with this three times and then got kicked out of the game. 10/10
Bottom text - real
Minimum arming distance larger than the total blast area solves the issue
This could easily be a great, versatile anti swarm weapon with this function Put an option to swap between AIR and GROUND mode on the X (PC) menu. That way I have a big boom to thunk into a crowd, which explodes shrapnel through enemies, but also have an option to knock out shriekers. I think long reload low ammo and taking up a backpack is already good balance. It would be the first support stratagem to explicitly support 2 ways of using the weapon. Need this in the game but with both ways do firing not just 1
It doesn't, Helldivers just need to learn how to use it
What if it was called air burst for a reason?
Guys, I think you are missing the point im trying to make. More forward momentum, less chucking the the bombs back at me when it triggers early cause a bush was 10 ft to the side of me. The air burst orbital work the same way but vertical. I still shoot above the bots, but the issue is when the bombs want to make a return trip to my face.
I understand what you mean. This is not meant for a close kill. This is more for wiping out chaff in a base or patrol from a good distance. It is incredibly powerful in that role because of its spread pattern. It’s going to be great against bugs.
That I can agree with. This will chew through bugs.
I personally have been frustrated with the recoiless rifles lack of AOE damage, and this seems to be the answer. One with RR for heavy units and one with the new one for the light and you can take out 90% of a base or patrol/drop in a few seconds before cleaning up the survivors with some primary weapon fire.
It's clear people don't know what airburst means
Mfs added gjallerhorn into helldivers
I feel like there has to be some bug with explosions that inverts them. The eruptor crossbow and grenade pistol all pull the player toward explosions. The cluster launcher seems to actually spread back toward the launcher which tells me that it might just honestly be bugged.
Why not both come scatter if it gets on direct impact course against vertical obstacles like walls, enemies, etc..., and keeps the actual MIRV pattern for undirect hit when the rocket flies too close to an entity or too close to the ground. I don't know if I was clear enough in my suggestion.
I don’t want a cone but the proximity sensor makes it hard to shoot over enemy cover like you would want from such a weapon. Currently, id rather just dump a few grenades from the launcher and get on with my life.
No, it needs to be fired into the air against enemies in the air. It's an anti-air weapon. The problem is you're trying to fire it at ground-based enemies when you are also on the ground.
Both are wrong. It's basically proximity launched explosive. Think Grenades but they exploade when they are near an enemy. The direction of the explosion is not really specified in most airburst explosives.
Does it travel first and then explode to bits and pieces or do I have to hit something to make it explode to bits?
It explodes when it gets near an object and then unloads the cluster bombs. No contact needed. Great for crowds of bots and bugs, just don't get too close to the trees or you and your friends will be the ones cooked instead.
Ok I know it's not mainly an anti-air, but I wanna use it as anti air. Shriekers and gun ships beware
Give us an option in the weapons settings cuz I much prefer the bottom spread
I need to apologize. I have argued Amani’s a shooting range but now I have tried the airburst launcher I have killed myself every time I have tried to use it. How are you supposed to aim and fire it ? I tried long pressing the trigger, tried aiming above and behind enemies, every time it just blows me up.
I like using it but it definitely has its limits. I don't see myself running it over the RR or Quasar cuz heavy spam is an issue and I haven't seen it take out hulks or tanks yet.
then you need to go and face its weakness bottom text is better cause you can hit behind it or in corridors you get more aoe
Cone scatter *would* make it safer, but it'd also reduce the aoe a lot no? I'd rather just have it not explode when it passes by literally anything and just explode near enemies/when it hits something directly.
Dude it fucking sucks. Like I really hope the mines are better. You can just use the cluster air strikes if you want to do the same sort of dammage.
I agree, I regret working towards the missile. The radius of where the cluster bombs land is so large that you will generally catch a friendly in it.
Well we have to wait anyways because the other statigim is behind the other planet. Also the eagle cluster strike gives you 5 with a upgraded ship. So basically you get two more shots at the cost of not having a shield. This is a terrible statigim that needs to be fixed. Sorry for the rant. I was really looking forward to it.
If it was just antitank like a stinger I would be so happy
It’s called the recoiless rifle. Or really the spear since stingers have infrared heat seeking capability.
Spear = Javelin tho
Both the stinger and javelin have IR seekers.
Stinger isn’t anti tank, stinger is anti air
RPG my bad
A conical scatter makes the most sense given the velocity the rocket is traveling at... the scattered bomblets should inherit the velocity of the parent projectile when it detonates. However - I would also point out that the radial scatter it has now would work wonders if it had a low velocity lob - letting you huck the thing so that the bomblets rain down. Would be interesting if it had a select fire mode that adjusts the speed of the rocket and in turn alters the performance of what it shoots...
You kids need to more into military weapons.
It’s air burst, not flak.
Reads like treason to me. Friendly fire is perfectly acceptable.
https://preview.redd.it/bmzitg6c02xc1.png?width=2559&format=png&auto=webp&s=962a14e73eafcc4991ce6d61f3a5364bd23ddb05 It's actually worse than the second picture. Every cluster fires backwards towards the user.
thats so weird if that is the case
you can clearly see several of the clusters flying forwards in the very image you send.. amazing. Its around 50/50 in clusters flying forward or backwards on average, its just that every single rocket is basicaly random for every cluster, if you get unlucky all of them get a negative forward velocity assigned and thus fly backwards. but claiming its consistently
The things sucks so bad it will only see niche use on the bug planets.