DEMOCRACY HAS SPOKEN! A lot of feedback regarding the 110mm Pods. In my personal experience using them so far I just haven't found them to be very consistent. Sounds like a revisit/second chance is on order. Supreme Command has banished me to Malevelon Creek to trial them until further notice. For Liberty.
I agree with both sides about the 110mm. They are superb against bots by killing tanks and hulks with ease, but the do miss the mark vs bugs. Another problem nobody mentioned that happens often when you use them vs bugs is the terrain. If a Titan spawns in the middle of a nest that is surrounded by rocks, or the egg mountain, the rocks will block the missiles. If only 1 out of the 3 missiles fails to hit, you will not even get a oneshot kill on a charger, not to mention a titan. Trees can also block them. Since the eagle has a flight path that follows how your spaceship is aligned, the rockets may miss even on open desert terrain. It is different with normal airstrike because that is much more explosive dmg with a bigger radius, and clusters are even wider. I would say they are viable if one person in a 4 man team uses them. Another huge problem is the bugged targeting. Yeah, the 110mm will focus the biggest target in the area, but not always. In Helldive when you get 4 chargers and 1 titan on your a..ss, calling 110mm will not really help you, and getting so many targets grouped together may screw with the targeting. I had instances where I literally marked a titan dead on, and since he made one step further, the eagle hit a nearby charger. And honestly, why waste a stratagem to kill a single charger if you can do it with 2 railgun shots and 5 normal bullets. If you are precise, you can kill it faster than it takes you to call in the airstrike and wait for it to hit, without wasting a much more precious resource. This is why I personally prefer 500kg. While it can also miss, and the area is very deceivingly small, even if it misses dead center, it can injure a titan the same amount as the 110mm. However if it hits directly, it can actually instakill it. Additionally, the 500kg can clear hordes and destroy nests and buildings, so it has more uses. To be fair, titans have inconsistent health. Main evidence is the ability to oneshot headshot a titan with railgun. Nobody can figure out what is happening, if there are variations between patrolling titans and ones that come from breaches, if the difficulty affects it or the client and host of the party. I had a lvl 7 mission where I got 6 instakills on a titan with a railgun, and then another time I had to hit him 7 times in the head while I was standing 10 m away. While you did this vid with only focusing the Eagle in a bubble making most of these viable, looking at it with the full arsenal in mind you really have to be strategic about it. Since one spot is used for the railgun or other support weapons, and most people also have a backpack of some kind, this leaves only two spots for actual aggro stratagems. There you can either decide to pick one orbital and one eagle. The orbital laser is the ultimate escape button, clearing everything but has a 300sec cooldown and limited uses. Orbital railcannon is basically the orbital version of 110mm, only it is more precise and faster, but has a longer cooldown and you can only use it once, while the eagle can be called 3 times before rearming. Or you can go with only eagle because of the upgraded hangar. If you decide only eagle, that gives you a combination of picking two out of the following: 3 airstrikes (normal or 110mm) - 5 clusters - two 500kg bombs that have a 2 minute rearm cooldown. That is a lot more dmg and use that a orbital laser on a much lower cooldown. So you either pick the 500kg or 110mms for single target removal, + eagle airstrike or cluster for wave clear. I prefer normal airstrike because it also destroys nests while the cluster does not 90% of the time. Thankfully, while you can go for most optimal, almost everything is viable and considering this is a coop game, it is very easy to cover all your bases in a group while picking what you want and having fun. Sorry for the rant. I love this game!!! I may have also played a bit too much of it since launch hehehe :)
On Suicide and higher, I tend to run both 110's and Air Strike as they are basically the same thing just one targets big guys specifically. They are great at closing bug holes, bot factories, dealing with trash and elite's (when combined with Railgun)..... I take that loadout into pretty much every mission (not defense) as its kinda the jack of trades
@@leonardopribic2661 The eagles fly irrespective of your destroyer, unless that determines which side of the line they strike from. They _always_ fly (and strike) perpendicular to the direction you are facing when you call the strike; you can use this to do some crazy stuff with blowing up bases or hitting a line of bots/bugs that are trailing you. For example, if you are facing north, their attack run will always be either east-west or west-east. If you are running south but facing east, their attack run will always be either north-south or south-north. Here's hoping this will let you spread democracy more effectively, Helldiver!
I think after having over hundred hours I think the Gun run on th space a-10 is my favorite. 4 uses, 2 sec response time and it pops an army spitters bugs no problem as they always come at you in a long line which is perfect for a gun run instead of clusters. Against the bots I prefer the 110mm rockets run. It's terrible at everything but it does one-shot tanks and you can keep calling it in til eagle-1 needs to rearm. personally if your fighting alot of tanks than this rocket run does become a tank killer. I find that using stratagems with lower cooldowns and more uses get you more band for ur buck compare a 1 shot deal. Tho fully upgraded hanger having 2 500k is fun but needs a buff. If I need a big blast area I think clusters are more effect unless ur using the 500 bomb on a outpost.
100% agree with you. I hardly ever got kills with that thing. I’d drop it straight into a pit of enemies and I’d be lucky to get 3 kills. I assumed it was bugged
I think that has more to do with uneven terrain blocking short bugs from the blast. Bots with more HP actually do die under the same circumstances because they're taller. They may have to loosen the line-of-sight check for enemies a bit.
"The Eagle is the super earth's equivalent of the A-10 Warthog" uhh yeah considering just how many friendly fire incidents the A-10 has caused during its service this is actually extremely accurate
that's down to dumbass Americans pilot error. Friendly fire is nothing new to the yanks, in ANY branch of their military. Don't blame the tool just because the user was incompetent. You wouldn't blame an M-4 rifle for shooting you in the ass, you blame the dumbass American holding it. For a country obsessed with guns you'd think their military would know how to actually use em properly.
Admittedly I have used it more-so in Bugs. I still never saw it being consistent on either factions though except for turrets. I'll give it a shot more in Automaton territory!
@TheWileSpice it's definitely underrated for automaton missions. Can take out the fabricators, turrets, and tanks with one pass. Pair it with the airstrike or 500kg and you can pretty handily deal with any automaton base if your arm is good enough.
Against fabricators, it has the benefit of shooting in a straight line, meaning you can stand further away from bases while calling in the 110, compared to the horizontal line of the regular air strike.
Quick tip for my Eagle lovers, your airstike path will always be perpendicular to the direction you are facing when you tods the beacon. As an example, if you face east, it will always strike north-south or south-north. Use this to more effectively plan your airstrikes :)
I think the only one that doesn't follow that trend is the Strafing Run, that one seems to be in line with the direction you threw it rather than perpendicular
I find the Strafing Run to be super useful. As K2SMOH42 mentioned, it applies along the throw's vector. Also, it doesn't explode which makes it perfect for close-in work. These two qualities give the Strafing Run superior control on the battlefield. It's a great complement to the machine gun sentries for ground control.
the 110s are for harder difficulties. They grantee one shot bot tanks and turret towers, and either 1 shot or disarm hulks. They do enough damage to the bile titan to only need to bust its belly to kill it, and its almost imposable to friendly fire with them. On top of that they track so they only miss if there is nothing in range to target or a charger is rushing you only about half hit, if all hit they 1 shot a charger. With the upgrade you can basically take the 3 biggest threats off the board instantly in any fight, even at point blank range. My group usually run 1-2 people with 110s on suicide-Helldiver, they are just superb.
In my experience so far I have never had consistent one shots or decently debilitating hits using them, except against stationary targets such as the turrets. Especially against bugs! Gave up on them after a session running them. I'll give them a try more in Automaton territory.
In my experience I don't get reliable oneshots, but I *do* get reliable armor stripping. Even a single rocket hitting will expose a big chunk on a charger or titan to other damage sources, and as others have said they're super reliable against armored bot units and will almost never friendly fire. They're especially useful in solo/small group play when you don't want to carry around EATs or a Recoilless Rifle for armor
YES That's how to make a tier list! Interesting fact, the 500KG bomb is about the same size as the American Mk-83 1000lb bomb, and it's also used more or less for the same purpose. The in-game Eagle is really comparable to the real life AV-8B, and both aircraft have roughly the same carrying capacity as well. The A-10 on the other hand can carry between 8 and 11 Mk-83s, which is a ridiculous amount of bombs.
The strafe is incredibly useful for dealing with patrols, or for panic situations where you need a path cleared quickly. It's easily the safest "lethal" Eagle strategem, which means you can call it near your team and still minimize friendly fire, and because it comes in only 1 second after beacon ignition, it's incredibly useful when you're getting swarmed (plus, it's the quickest, easiest input). It also makes your teammates needlessly panic when it drops near them, so that's a slight bonus for the trolls, out there The Smoke Strike is actually capable of destroying buildings if the shell makes direct contact, weirdly enough. It's also fantastic for defense scenarios, such as civilian defense or extraction, because you will always see an enemy coming through the smoke before they can see you.
I'd like to add that while it's a somewhat specific usage, the napalm strike is good for when you're trying to put some distance between you and a bug horde. It'll slow them down and the fires last for a decent amount of time, buying you time to put some distance between yourself and a horde.
I'd say the Napalm mixes really well with light armor "Fuck it, keep running" moments against the bugs. Either that or a nice wall of fire for an extract +turrets shooting behind it is awesome. I'd say the Napalm is very underrated because it kills in such a way that you may not see the killstreak as the bugs slowly burn to death, etc. We combined it with the static orbital thing and stun grenades and had a good laugh with it. don't get caught up in "metas" because truth is you can make almost if not everything work in the game.
I thoroughly agree with your tier list that the 500kg and cluster are S tier for Termininds, but a seperate tier list is needed for automatons as the 500kg bomb isn't of much use there, whereas the 110mm rocket pods are phenomenal at dealing with tanks, hulks and turrets. If there are none to be found they can be used to clear bot factories as well. Automaton tier list would be something like S - 110 Rocket pods, Cluster Bomb A - Airstrike B - Strafing Run, Smoke C - 500kg bomb D - Napalm
When you're doing a Wave defence mission against the bots the 500kg is viable for sure. Loads of Hulks and berserkers mass up and if you have the high ground it makes for easy pickings.
Aye, a viable point indeed! I think on a bot specific tier list I might push up Pods on my list one place, two if I'm having a good day. I think what puts me off of them is how they don't deal with hulks very well unless you're very lucky. So I'd rather choose the airstrike over them, which can deal with tanks just as well, except over a larger area
@@calebheisserer5391deception too. One can easily bait the enemy into expecting an attack from the smoke, meanwhile you and the boys are working through the tree line
I feel bad for trimming Eagle 1's leg space. But I'm sure she understands that we need that extra firepower for DEMOCRACY. Also I'm very glad that the Automaton AA turrets don't actually shoot down our Eagles if they get too close. I would feel HORRIBLE
While 110s are real inconsistent against bugs due to their movement, against bots i find the 110s to be wild. All the big bots are either real slow or are tanks so the 110s hit almost every time. At least A against bots.
To be fair I never found them missing very often(at least it doesn't look like it on screen) just haven't experienced the consistency people speak of personally! Gonna run them for a bit in Automaton missions.
It can miss a charger if it's charging but that's pretty easily remedied by just running a circle around him and dropping it. It'll stop charging after it misses you and eat the pods. If I really need a charger dead fast though I'll use the railcannon. I carry both to extend how many hard targets I can deal with. It's pretty rare whatever needs killing lasts more than 10 seconds around me and when it happens it's usually because I've already killed one or two right before that
The recent TCS missions actually revealed a good use for the Smoke Strike (or any smoke ordnance for that matter) The objective actually becomes invisible to the enemy once there’s smoke around it. Like you said, very niche but highly effective
A bit of advice if you have a the modifier that increases the cooldown of your stratagems consider taking primarily eagle strikes since they have such a short cooldown already it hardly matters and when it goes to rearm you get all of them back on one cooldown.
Another interesting thing is that if you have her swoop in during an Automaton mission where there's an AA emplacement you'll see the AA guns light up and track her as she swoops on by (but they dont actually hit, thankfully) Naturally if you get too close to the AA, Eagle will not be coming in - she's crazy, but not nearly as suicidal as the ground troops
@@shoulderpyro AAA*..... AA is Air-to-Air (missiles fired from aircraft at other aircraft).... AAA is Anti-Aircraft Artillery, which is what you see being fired.
I've dropped the 500kg for the strafing run. The blast radius gets blocked by uneven terrain and it's hard to setup strikes to blowup 2 or more factories/nests. The visual explosion is bigger than the blast damage radius.
okay counter point with the 110mm, super good for tanks an turrets, and the feeling of it doing that pass, sniping the tank and blowing it up, its just amazing
I just run Airstrike and 500kg. Specialized strategems can be nice but I find myself favoring ones with broad applications, and then moppin up whatever is left with weapons.
One useful thing about the strategems like the standard airstrike, is that you can change the direction they come in based on the angle you throw them. For example, if you're running away from a horde, if you throw the strategem at a perpendicular angle to the incoming horde, you'll get a strike that either comes at the horde straight on, or from behind, guaranteeing more hits-which may be very useful if a Charger is after you. Of course, this means you pretty much have to throw the beacon at your feet, and you might get caught in the explosion as well if you don't RUN (Best to run at a 35 degreeish angle and then dive as soon as you hear the eagle coming), so it's a bit risky.
Adding onto this for most of the eagles they come in perpendicular to where you throw them so when looking at your target it goes left to right instead of towards you which can be useful to know as you don’t need to go that far away as long as you aren’t getting bomb. IF THE BEACON BOUNCES IT IS NO LONGER YOUR FRIEND the direction as far as we are concerned is basically random if it bounces
@@Razumen from my experience I saw it bounce a few times and then it wasn’t my friend but it could have been a bug seeing as it was during one of those times when the stratagems were bouncing and rolling like crazy
I like the 110mm rocket pods. It's really the only eagle option when a charger (or any other big guy) is in your ranks and you want to target it but not kill your teammates. It's not as powerful as the orbital rail but you can use it much more often.
The 1 thing major the rocket pod has going for it is that it one shots those automaton cannon towers reliably while still being okay enough against their hulks and tanks, and it can blow up factories if you need it too. Many other strategems struggle to hit the towers reliably even with good throws
Nice list. The hangar upgrades truly make the Eagle the best. Slight correction...stratagem tracking does not work that way. If you manage to directly hit an enemy with the stratagem ball and it sticks to it, (so when the enemy moves the "red laser-skybeam" that indicates moves too) the stratagem will not actually follow. The stratagem (airstrike) will still hit the spot where the ball first landed, even if the ball moves away. It might seem like it tracked because eagle stratagems have a big radius, but it does not actually follow. However, friendly stratagems like the resupply, will follow the ball. So if you hit a person with the resupply and it sticks to the players personal shield, it will follow that player and land directly on top of the player, killing him. Tested this myself, and there is also a video you can find that proves this.
Why thank you. I agree in my experience so far! I see! Well that's a little sad then. It's always appeared to me that it followed, maybe my eyes deceive me! Thanks for the tips!
@@TheWileSpice blue beacon drops do follow the light and not the initial impact. So they probably did that so we could avoid getting killed by our own eagle beacon when it attached to enemies.
I'm not quite sure this is correct with all of them. I've had more than a few hunters take one for the team and leap at a team mate or myself and I'm pretty confident in my placement and distances of effect More than once a strike went off where it shouldn't have. It could be bugged though or I could just be mistaken.
hope you keep making more of these vids, its nice actually seeing all weapons in action, vs other tierlist where you just have to take their word for it 👍
I prefer using the air strike or the cluster. Seems to be the ones most consistently getting kills. 500kg looks beautiful but it’s range is actually really low. Yes it will obliterate whatever is right next to it but it’s AOE is much lower than what the visual would imply.
Great video! Would love to see an updated version which shows an overview table of call in time, uses, rounds delivered per use, damage estimate per round or run (or even just y/n capability to destroy different enemies or structures), and cooldown. You had this in your orbital strat video and that was digital gold.
500Kg is not as good as described here. Yes, you can delete big enemies in an instant, but the time it takes to drop the bomb is twice-thrice as long compared to a Railcannon Shot orbital, has a much lower accuracy (automatic aiming vs prediction) and the damage it deals *beyond* point blank range if the bomb is nonexistent so it might as well not be there. You'd expect an explosion of that size to sweep an area, but it doesn't - it's an Eagle version of a Railcannon without auto targetting and a longer drop delay. The gigantic explosion is its' only redeeming factor, it looks awesome
Once you learn the timing is easy enough to get the bomb to land in the right place, especially for bile titans as you can bait them into attacking so they remain stationary. If you have just the 500kg, you could use 4 of them before being able to use 2 Railcannon shots. Sure the odd one may just not work at all, but when it does work it one shots even Titans, which the Railcannon doesn't do. So I would say its much more useful, at least in the hands of someone who can lead their throw well.
@@TheWileSpice so that's its' only use - Bile Titans. Railcannon shot instakills Hulks same as 500kg, and unlike Bile Titans, they're smaller and faster and therefore harder to hit. Hulks can also be destroyed by Autocannons, Spear (enthusiast here) and a bunch of other support weapons. A Bile Titan can be killed with just 2 shots of Recoilless or EAT in the face, which requires identical level of skill to leading the bomb drop (potentially less even) on a lower CD/providing reusable ammunition against Chargers or Spewers. So 500kg is ONLY useful if you can't aim a rocket against the biggest target in the game. An incredibly niche skill-requiring stratagem that people overuse due to how cool it looks
I personally think a lot of people sleep on the napalm for terminids its an amazing weapon for low-mid difficulties and cleans up light and medium enemies with ease i cant tell you how many 40+ killstreaks ive gotten by throwing a eagle napalm strike on a bug breach and only focusing on heavy enemies i think after hard difficulty the napalm falls off and you need more heavy hitting stratagems to take out bile titans and chargers
S - Airstrike A - 500kg bomb B - Cluster Bomb, 110 Rocket pods C - Smoke D - Strafing Run, Napalm We're not playing the same game if you disagree. Airstrike is the most versatile Stratagem in the game. 500kg is amazing if you have multiple heavy targets close together, but it can be inconstant on rough terrain. Cluster bombs do not kill heavies, and do not destroy buildings. Rocket Pods and smoke are kind of niche, the rocket pods serve the same role as the rail canon, but slower and less accurate. Strafing run is the machine gun turret of the eagles. Napalm... fire is super inconsistent in this game, maybe if they fix it.
110 MM rocket is great for spamming down automaton fabricators, or if you need o finish off a wounded heavy armor target. Also, it can totally take out tanks very quickly. I know many people will pick another bomb instead of this, but it definiatelly has its uses. Also, the main difference between the strafing run and carpet bomb is the area affected and the direction the projectiles are laid down. While carpet bombing can be VERY self and team dangerous because of the large area, the strafing run will always shoot towards the direction you have thrown the stratagem ball (unless it hits something hard and starts to bounce randomly) making it less prone to friendly and self fire. Combined with the many uses you get out of it / rearm, its great to use in the face of an approaching horde or when running away from them and all the bugs/automatons are in a nice ordered line. It easily take sout the trash mobs so you can clear the remaining armored ones. Im not saying the strafing run is S tier or anything, im just saying that it too ha sits uses and can be very powerful if used correctly.
Aye, they are just more forgiving when it comes to the accuracy of your throw as they target the largest enemy near the orb. & Yeah the strafing run cam be handy in some situations like you mentioned. Though I found enemies rarely line up in a way I cam get the most value from it!
the eagle smoke is the best smoke in the game. Smoke grenades and orbital smoke struggle to break line of sight, eagle gives you basically a free solid wall to hide behind. It's basically completely worthless against bugs, but it is invaluable against bots. If you like going quiet against bots, eagle smoke is going to be on your strategems
Its definitely more consistent to land where you want it to with the Eagle, as it is always perpendicular to you. The Orbital changes dependant on where the ship is in relation to you! I can imagine they do help a lot for being sneaky, though I do much prefer blowing things up!
I'm a big fan of the strafing run on casual missions. Quick to use, precise, and low friendly fire potential. Great for thinning chaff or covering a retreat. I hope they boost lethality or increase base uses to make it a more worthwhile pick versus cluster bombs
I know it's a little late (and likely abundantly stated), but i do enjoy running the rocket pods with the Rail Cannon. The rocket pods can do respectable damage on their own when they target what you want and can finish off a Bile Titan when combo'd with the Rail Cannon The Cluster Bombs, for the looks and amount of uses, also can't destroy buildings like the regular air strike or 500kg can. Bug Holes at the very most
So far I've only found them to be really useful against Tanks, Turrets and Fabricators on Automaton planets, where they are indeed quite good. Outside of that I definitely prefer other options personally!
I will say the Strafing Run still has a decent use in comparison to Cluster Bomb, and that's because of the angle it goes at. Unlike the Cluster, which does the typical side-to-sides of the other Eagle strikes, Strafing Runs will go straight away from you when they are launched, giving it a niche but critical difference when considering choke points and most effective drop patterns.
Cluster bomb doesn't make Strafing run obsolete. Strafing run is great for clearing a string of enemies that chase you and it won't kill your allies that are a bit behind you. It trades huge area for precision. There are no bombardments that are obsolete. They all have their function and can but used on all difficulties. 110mm Rockets are actually more consistent then 500kg bomb since if you don't really nail that bomb location and timing, the aoe is actually pretty small compare to animation and doesn't always kill stuff you expect to kill. Rockets are not as flashy but they will strip armour from chargers so you can finish them with small arms fire, and they actually do prioritise largest target in the area.
I think I should clarify that I mean, 9 times out of 10 if I'm going in to win, I will choose Clusters over Strafing run in loadout select due to them being a bit more useable in more situations in the more intense difficulties. I can't see myself ever choosing the Strafing run in general unless I feel like just using it for fun. & With the pods, I found they're really inconsistent with damage to Chargers in my experience. Obviously this is just from my personal experience using them. Definitely do better in Automaton areas. I think I need to give them another chance though as many people have given contrary feedback with them!
When fully upgraded the 500kg become a better precision orbital strike, you get two uses before going on a ~2m cd so that's ~60s cd per usage and the bomb arrive much faster than the orbital strike.
I just recently realized the pure potential of the Eagle Rockets. I have been using them in place of the Railgun against the Bots due to how many Tanks and Striders I have been encountering recently. They Regularly one shot tanks and do significant damage to Striders while having multiple uses in rapid succession. If you are going up against Bots, having at least one person with the 110mm gives you a very nice Anti-Armor Capability.
ever since i domed the head of a bile titan with a 500kg bomb which killed it even before the explosion happened ive been in love with it and bring it on nearly every mission
I do like the smokescreen quite alot for teamplaying and completing missions fast against automatons. Youre running towards an objective, and come past a fabricator a few meters out of the walking path? Run at it, Airstrike the fabricator, drop the smoke, run away. any reinforcements that fabricator gets wont be able to shoot you as you run away back to your group into relative safety. by the time theyve chased you down, they'll be more clumped up and you can take them out way more comfortably. (instead of fighting them as soon as you meet them)
After the recent buffs to fire and the new ship upgrades napalm isn't mediocre anymore, its actually even stronger than the cluster bomb now against bugs. You can throw a napalm between 2 bug breaches and it will automatically clear everything that is not a charger or titan for its entire duration.
Personally I like to run only the 500kg with the extra use upgrade. So once I run out of both, either from individual use or both on the same target, it's already on resupply and I don't need to worry about it being unavailable.
Yep same here. The extra use is really what makes it so good, it would definitely be lower without it. And with the 2 minute cooldown, you can't go wrong.
The basic airstrike for its building damage, tank/heavies and spread as an Automaton fighter is fantastic for something so early and cheap in its category. It’s been my go-to since I obtained it for those missions.
The handy thing about the 110mm rocket pods is that you can use it in danger close to your teammates when they're being chased and there's only a 25% chance they'll get caught in the explosion. Atleast before you hit LV20 and get the orbital railcannon.
I love the coverage of the cluster bomb, but the perpendicular trajectory and super wide coverage makes it really easy to accidentally team kill with it.
Liquid ventilaed cockpit is actually not a half bad idea, and i could see it being used some time in the future, whats even better is that if a spaceship with a liquid ventilated cabin has said cabin puncture the atmosphere will boil off relatively slowly rather than immediately ventilate outward
Air strikes are dang useful in automaton missions due to how easy it is to take out most objectives with them (toss them onto bot factories or various other things), and also useful even for general enmass combat due to how the automatons group up. Smoke strike is for soloing the 360 second blitz achievement, not necessary, and may not be used, run 500kg bomb, air strike, orbital laser, and smoke strike. You can run in, 500kg/air strike the bot factories, and smoke strike to get away, or smoke strike first before flowing up the factories. 110mm is more useful than orbital rail for taking out titans since they have trivialised chargers now, so its gone up in utility/tier now.
110 Missiles are so inconsistent that they’re basically useless. Sometimes they’ll delete a high armor target/enemy, other times it will do less damage than a paper cut. More often than not they’re a waste.
I just used the strafing run today because of the personal order, and surprisingly, it took out a tank! I did it for lols, but it actually blew up! It was a sentry tank and not a cannon tank though so maybe that had something to do with it but it worked! even though it's usually just for small infantry. Ive tried with hulks with diminishing returns, sometimes its almost dead, sometimes it doesnt even do anything.
The Airstrike is my goto stratagem. At three uses per rearm, it's quite versatile. I use it to close bug holes and destroy factories. Since it attacks perpendicular to you, I use it to throw it at my feet while being chased by enemies to draw them into the kill zone. It does respectable damage to all enemy types, and while it won't take out a BT in a single run, it does well with all others, severally harming the chargers. I rank it higher than the cluster bomb as it can take out buildings.
Argument can be made to swap Airstrike & Cluster on my list for sure. It is a jack of all trades & part of the reason why I rated the 110mm pods so low.
You may want test that tip for landing beacons on enemies again. In my personal experience strats will impact based on where it first landed, not where it is at the moment of impact. As watching the rushing enemy with the laser on its head can be quite intimidating, but it's often the one that survives whatever you threw.
110s are borderline useless against bugs (you *can* use them to finish off a damaged bile but generally railcannon and the 500kg do the job better and more consistently), but where they really shine is vs bots where the lower overall hp pools mean their lower damage isn't as much of a downside. They take out tanks and turrets fairly reliably, and can take out hulks if they have the courtesy to stand still, as well as having the option to throw them at bot spawners and mortars to disable those. Super versatile and generally fills the role of the railcannon on high difficulty bots. That being said, they aren't a "must-take" and more of a "bring it if you cant deal with tanks". Autocannon melts anything you can get a heatsink shot on, so when running auto i'd say swap out the 110s for railcannon (for hulks) or the good old 500kg. 110s can take out hulks, but since they move a lot faster it can be hard to get the eagle to actually target one.
Yeah, I would say that has been my experience so far after further use. I do find them very inconsistent against Hulks though even when they get a clear shot. But for Tank, Turret & Fabricator clearing, they do make it very very easy.
I want them to add an upgrade to the eagle called Recycled Exhaust Fumes: adds 1 Eagle smoke strike to every rearm (same as other bonus mission stratagems like the free gas strike or airburst rocket launcher) thanks to a system that cans the smoke from the exhaust so no recourse is wasted. If you bring the smoke strike it still gives you +1 per rearm
The rocket pods are surprisingly a good choice when it comes to facing the automatons as the larger threats are usually less mobile as I have experienced them taking down tanks with just a single barrage, rather than using an orbital rail cannon shot with a longer cooldown.
I finally gave the napalm a chance last night (albeit only on 5 as my cousin and I needed a breather from the 7-9 rush) and it blew me away. The thing about it is how incredible it is when a horde is coming towards you because you don’t have to worry about the size of the horde or worry about missing. Just make sure it lands between you and the horde and now the horde walks through it and dies en masse, with the survivors being easy pickings. The cluster bomb is great for swarms but when things are chaotic and you’re moving it’s so easy to miss a lot of bugs or for the swarm to just be too big for it (especially cause the hitbox can feel inconsistent and you have to time it with the call-in time, especially annoying with the mission modifier that increases call time) So yeah, first impression of napalm after initial skepticism is it’s totally GOATed.
I have personally found, that using the nepalm on areas where enemies spawn, such as enemy outposts or bug tunnel breaches, is quite effective, at least it was for me when I first started playing the game. Having enemies spawn in an area with damage over time effects is just a generally helpful tool to have, at least on paper.
The cluster bomb is my favorite. It has a short drop time, covers a large area, has several reuses, and can take out a large number and variety of enemies with enough uses. The 500kg is great but way better once you have the upgrade to increase its uses. The 110mm is limited imo. I think it is best against tanks and towers which it has the highest chance of all rockets hitting.
Just a heads up the Napalm variant can take down some structures. I use it to take out the bot factories at automoton bases all the time. The trick is you have to get the stratagem to land on the structure itself otherwise it won't work.
I think people have reported the same with the Smoke Bomb & Cluster Bombs as well haha. Its an odd interaction, getting the orb pin point on the structure to destroy them.
@@TheWileSpice Yeah I have a 75% success rate with it. There are times though when it hits the side or bounces off but usually if you get it right on top your golden. I've also actually thrown the stratagem in the vents and even in a bug hole and yeah that clenches it. LOL
@@thumperboyad1031 i've had strat orbs disappear that way. They usually bounce off the top but if actually do get stuck up there they just disappear without dropping anything.
I've had a lot of issues with the 110 missing. I think against turrets or mortars it's super useful but less so against something like a hulk or charger. Airstrike is my favorite because it's so good at taking out bug holes or clearing out a POI.
I use the strafe run more than any other offensive strategem. It delivers incredibly fast and can wipe out bug breaches immediately with the right timing. It's a good pick especially if everyone else is going for 500 kgs, clusters, lasers, etc
Best evac strat is to drop a Napalm Airstrike on Pelican 1, wait for 2-3 seconds, then get on Pelican 1. If done correctly, Pelican 1 gets airborne as fire rages below. Only works if you are the last one on board.
Something nice to know about the 110MM Rocket Pods is that they target automaton fabricators when there's no large red dots near the stratagem. You can clear out entire bases in next to no time at all with a sneaky approach, and the re-arm period is so short that you can just keep doing it. Grab a Recoilless or Expendable to instantly take out the big red dots and the bots literally won't get to know what hit them. And if you see a Tank? Up Right Down Down Down.
napalm has quickly become my favorite! super easy to use versatile! it’s mix of direct damages and damage over time as well as having solid cooldowns to boot!
They should make fire a stackable damage over time effect. A short burst across a crowd of enemies would kill all small mobs after a few seconds. Medium enemies would require a concentrated burst or two to stack up some burning damage effects. Heavy enemies would require deliberate and cencentrated fire, where the longer you are hitting them, the more stacks will build and the quicker they will.
Biggest tip for planets with those smoke balls all over the ground. You can shoot them and they’ll create a smokescreen, drawing enemies in and distracting like the shield generator… will save your ass more often than not in higher difficulties
500kg needs to larger and more damaging to things not in its immediate radius. But, the most reliable multiuse one to me is the standard strike, it handles almost everything and is reliable and consistent. A must for my kit if I'm not goofing around with some builds. All the others are situational and if used correctly can be a god send.
110mm Rocket Pods are excellent in bot missions to 1 hit destroy fabrication facilities when clearing base. I rarely used it in bug missions tho for the reasons you mentioned.
The eagle smoke is insanely underrated. It can take out bot replicators and can completely swing a firefight into your favor by allowing the entire squad to relocate or retreat with minimal resistance
In order, strike (anti everything), cluster (anti anything that moves) then 500kg (anti THAT ONE SPECIFIC THING). I never use the rest as they all need a significant buff either double their uses or triple their effective area/projectiles per use. Also of note, I only bring one eagle type at a time as the cool-down is plane based not per loadout based.
I typically bring two Eagle strkes with me unless mission demands more turrets. But for me Cluster Bomb and Air Strike have been my go to drops. Though with unlocking 500Kg bomb and Orbital Rail cannon the airstrike has taken a bit of a back seat now. Still an amazing stratagem.
Smoke strike is extremely useful for Bot helldives, especially if you're playing a more supportive roll. If I bring it, I typically use the Large shield, smoke strike, Air strike, and supply pack
Im willing to throw down on this one. S - tier: only the eagle airstrike. A - tier: 500kg, carpet, 110 rocket. B - tier: strafing run. C - tier: fire and smoke. Rationale is as follows: The airstrike is too good to not bring to every mission. It clears hordes, it breaks armor on chargers, it clears structures/spawns for both bugs and bots. Its excellent for every mission and it never underperforms. 500kg bomb is great when it lands dead on but still has some inconsistencies and sometimes doesnt kill even small bugs within its "visual" blast radius. Obviously its still good but just not usable in every situation, especially against bots. Same with 110 rocket pods. Great vs bots and tanks but sometimes lack luster vs chargers and bile titans. Still extremely consistent and over time, that guaranteed damage and lack of team kill will add up to some big value. Cluster is often overrated i feel. Its great for big bug hordes but thats about it. I also would say it has a higher team kill potential. I think the 4 uses is pretty nice but it sometimes feels like it doesnt really matter since i manual refresh my eagle to get more air strikes or 110 before i can use all 4 clusters. Clusters in bot matches also feel way worse. Orbitals are better now vs their compounds. Fire and smoke have no purpose and youre just wasting your strategem slot.
Forgot to mention, strafing run is pretty nice in the first 10 or so levels. And I still sometimes like running it for its quick use and vertical spread when you throw it.
I disagree about the rocket pods but only because they are less likely to miss and soften up big targets nicely. It may need 1 more use though considering it takes 2 uses to kill bigger targets. My favorites are the cluster and rockets. Once i get the upgrade for more uses ill start using the 500kg. I just wish it had more aoe. Edit:seeing other comments defending the 110mm rockets gives me hope.
Aye, many do! They have been really inconsistent in my experience so far but I think I may need to revisit them. Definitely give the 500kg more use once you get the Upgrade, you get so much more worth from it when you can use it twice. Definitely needs more AOE though.
When i throw the 500 into a swarm of bugs, my kill count is like 5 for some reason. With cluster, i get all of them, and it's a satisfying watch, and it can also wipe out the bot fabs, so it is always on my selection
I actually really like the rocket pods for a couple reasons. The first is that it's pretty good for finishing off titans or softening them up. Same for chargers. But beyond that it's also useful against automatons because it targets fabricators. So generally I run the orbital rail and the pods together then pick and choose between other options. On automaton words I generally either run the auto with them and take an extra stratagem like the gatling barrage or bombing runs or the ballistic shield and either an lmg, arc or railgun. Generally I leave the heavy fire power to my team mates but have access to that "Fuck that in particular" options while I support as best I can or if I'm going solo I try to keep a lower profile and aim for self utility. The rocket pods have been really helpful for that just because they're guided and target structures. I generally find it to be a good idea to take stuff like this just because people love their super optimised builds and generally alotta people will run the same stuff which is fine, but it also means you can have a big impact by just filling in the slots others haven't taken. Orbital, pods and an autocannon gives you aloooot of utility to play with from quickly marking and hitting priority targets to being a good horde clearer or structure sniper so I like it quite a bit as a set up
The smoke strike, along with the other forms of smoke in the game, becomes much, MUCH, more valuable if the team is all on the same page. It lets you bypass many encounters that you would otherwise have to fight, or even survive in what should be unsurvivable situations. It is surprisingly versatile and not niche at all. That said, in a group of random helldivers it is completely worthless.
Airstrike probably deserves S Rank strictly for its ability to clear nests or bot buildings. Running it with the throw distance armor and by using the jump pack for extra momentum, I can regularly clear most small-medium areas from 100+ meters away. When it doesn't full clear, usually anything left is FUBAR and easily mopped up. The only strategems that take out facilities better are Orbital Lasers, 380s, and Walking Barrages, but those are restricted by limited uses, or 4-5 minute CDs
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DEMOCRACY HAS SPOKEN! A lot of feedback regarding the 110mm Pods. In my personal experience using them so far I just haven't found them to be very consistent. Sounds like a revisit/second chance is on order.
Supreme Command has banished me to Malevelon Creek to trial them until further notice. For Liberty.
I agree with both sides about the 110mm. They are superb against bots by killing tanks and hulks with ease, but the do miss the mark vs bugs. Another problem nobody mentioned that happens often when you use them vs bugs is the terrain. If a Titan spawns in the middle of a nest that is surrounded by rocks, or the egg mountain, the rocks will block the missiles. If only 1 out of the 3 missiles fails to hit, you will not even get a oneshot kill on a charger, not to mention a titan. Trees can also block them. Since the eagle has a flight path that follows how your spaceship is aligned, the rockets may miss even on open desert terrain. It is different with normal airstrike because that is much more explosive dmg with a bigger radius, and clusters are even wider. I would say they are viable if one person in a 4 man team uses them. Another huge problem is the bugged targeting. Yeah, the 110mm will focus the biggest target in the area, but not always. In Helldive when you get 4 chargers and 1 titan on your a..ss, calling 110mm will not really help you, and getting so many targets grouped together may screw with the targeting. I had instances where I literally marked a titan dead on, and since he made one step further, the eagle hit a nearby charger. And honestly, why waste a stratagem to kill a single charger if you can do it with 2 railgun shots and 5 normal bullets. If you are precise, you can kill it faster than it takes you to call in the airstrike and wait for it to hit, without wasting a much more precious resource. This is why I personally prefer 500kg. While it can also miss, and the area is very deceivingly small, even if it misses dead center, it can injure a titan the same amount as the 110mm. However if it hits directly, it can actually instakill it. Additionally, the 500kg can clear hordes and destroy nests and buildings, so it has more uses.
To be fair, titans have inconsistent health. Main evidence is the ability to oneshot headshot a titan with railgun. Nobody can figure out what is happening, if there are variations between patrolling titans and ones that come from breaches, if the difficulty affects it or the client and host of the party. I had a lvl 7 mission where I got 6 instakills on a titan with a railgun, and then another time I had to hit him 7 times in the head while I was standing 10 m away.
While you did this vid with only focusing the Eagle in a bubble making most of these viable, looking at it with the full arsenal in mind you really have to be strategic about it. Since one spot is used for the railgun or other support weapons, and most people also have a backpack of some kind, this leaves only two spots for actual aggro stratagems. There you can either decide to pick one orbital and one eagle. The orbital laser is the ultimate escape button, clearing everything but has a 300sec cooldown and limited uses. Orbital railcannon is basically the orbital version of 110mm, only it is more precise and faster, but has a longer cooldown and you can only use it once, while the eagle can be called 3 times before rearming. Or you can go with only eagle because of the upgraded hangar. If you decide only eagle, that gives you a combination of picking two out of the following: 3 airstrikes (normal or 110mm) - 5 clusters - two 500kg bombs that have a 2 minute rearm cooldown. That is a lot more dmg and use that a orbital laser on a much lower cooldown. So you either pick the 500kg or 110mms for single target removal, + eagle airstrike or cluster for wave clear. I prefer normal airstrike because it also destroys nests while the cluster does not 90% of the time.
Thankfully, while you can go for most optimal, almost everything is viable and considering this is a coop game, it is very easy to cover all your bases in a group while picking what you want and having fun. Sorry for the rant. I love this game!!! I may have also played a bit too much of it since launch hehehe :)
Another quick correction the napalm, and cluster strikes can destroy buildings, but they have to hit them in specific spots.
On Suicide and higher, I tend to run both 110's and Air Strike as they are basically the same thing just one targets big guys specifically. They are great at closing bug holes, bot factories, dealing with trash and elite's (when combined with Railgun)..... I take that loadout into pretty much every mission (not defense) as its kinda the jack of trades
@@leonardopribic2661 The eagles fly irrespective of your destroyer, unless that determines which side of the line they strike from. They _always_ fly (and strike) perpendicular to the direction you are facing when you call the strike; you can use this to do some crazy stuff with blowing up bases or hitting a line of bots/bugs that are trailing you.
For example, if you are facing north, their attack run will always be either east-west or west-east. If you are running south but facing east, their attack run will always be either north-south or south-north.
Here's hoping this will let you spread democracy more effectively, Helldiver!
I think after having over hundred hours I think the Gun run on th space a-10 is my favorite. 4 uses, 2 sec response time and it pops an army spitters bugs no problem as they always come at you in a long line which is perfect for a gun run instead of clusters. Against the bots I prefer the 110mm rockets run. It's terrible at everything but it does one-shot tanks and you can keep calling it in til eagle-1 needs to rearm. personally if your fighting alot of tanks than this rocket run does become a tank killer. I find that using stratagems with lower cooldowns and more uses get you more band for ur buck compare a 1 shot deal. Tho fully upgraded hanger having 2 500k is fun but needs a buff. If I need a big blast area I think clusters are more effect unless ur using the 500 bomb on a outpost.
i honestly think 500kg needs a bump to it's range, so many tiny bugs don't die in a proximity that looks pretty fatal.
I do agree. It does have some inconsistencies if targets move a few meters out-of ground zero.
It uses a weird line of site system for the damage, i thini they just need to make it kill everything in its radius no mater what
For some reason it can’t kill bugs around that well but when I’m next to it I die
100% agree with you. I hardly ever got kills with that thing. I’d drop it straight into a pit of enemies and I’d be lucky to get 3 kills. I assumed it was bugged
I think that has more to do with uneven terrain blocking short bugs from the blast. Bots with more HP actually do die under the same circumstances because they're taller. They may have to loosen the line-of-sight check for enemies a bit.
"The Eagle is the super earth's equivalent of the A-10 Warthog" uhh yeah considering just how many friendly fire incidents the A-10 has caused during its service this is actually extremely accurate
that's down to dumbass Americans pilot error. Friendly fire is nothing new to the yanks, in ANY branch of their military. Don't blame the tool just because the user was incompetent. You wouldn't blame an M-4 rifle for shooting you in the ass, you blame the dumbass American holding it. For a country obsessed with guns you'd think their military would know how to actually use em properly.
I looked it up, it gave me 4 but eagle friendly fire would probably be 400x higher
Real. Have you by chance seen the lazerpig videos on this?
Yet theyve stayed in service since the 70s, has a legendary reputation, and is still the plane most troops want when everything's going to shit
@@scottruch76 drop EVERYTHING your doing and go watch lazerpig's video before saying anything more about the A-10
110mm takes out a tank guaranteed. If you get the upgrade, that's three tanks out of commission every 2 minutes for one stratagem.
Admittedly I have used it more-so in Bugs. I still never saw it being consistent on either factions though except for turrets.
I'll give it a shot more in Automaton territory!
@TheWileSpice it's definitely underrated for automaton missions. Can take out the fabricators, turrets, and tanks with one pass. Pair it with the airstrike or 500kg and you can pretty handily deal with any automaton base if your arm is good enough.
Found success combining it with EAT17 on bugs...
Against fabricators, it has the benefit of shooting in a straight line, meaning you can stand further away from bases while calling in the 110, compared to the horizontal line of the regular air strike.
Not a one hit kill but it expose the side allow for meaty follow up shot with breaker
Quick tip for my Eagle lovers, your airstike path will always be perpendicular to the direction you are facing when you tods the beacon. As an example, if you face east, it will always strike north-south or south-north. Use this to more effectively plan your airstrikes :)
I think the only one that doesn't follow that trend is the Strafing Run, that one seems to be in line with the direction you threw it rather than perpendicular
@K2SMOH42 Aye, the 500kg is also in line with the direction you throw it
@@TheWileSpicebut its also perpendicular. it really is a great bomb
I find the Strafing Run to be super useful. As K2SMOH42 mentioned, it applies along the throw's vector. Also, it doesn't explode which makes it perfect for close-in work. These two qualities give the Strafing Run superior control on the battlefield. It's a great complement to the machine gun sentries for ground control.
the 110s are for harder difficulties. They grantee one shot bot tanks and turret towers, and either 1 shot or disarm hulks. They do enough damage to the bile titan to only need to bust its belly to kill it, and its almost imposable to friendly fire with them. On top of that they track so they only miss if there is nothing in range to target or a charger is rushing you only about half hit, if all hit they 1 shot a charger. With the upgrade you can basically take the 3 biggest threats off the board instantly in any fight, even at point blank range. My group usually run 1-2 people with 110s on suicide-Helldiver, they are just superb.
In my experience so far I have never had consistent one shots or decently debilitating hits using them, except against stationary targets such as the turrets. Especially against bugs! Gave up on them after a session running them.
I'll give them a try more in Automaton territory.
@@TheWileSpice Yeah, we rarely play bugs, we are trying to hold back the machine horde, for managed democracy
@@Thaddios I salute your service in the Creek!
@@TheWileSpicethe trick is that all of the missiles have to hit, and sometimes they don't all hit
In my experience I don't get reliable oneshots, but I *do* get reliable armor stripping. Even a single rocket hitting will expose a big chunk on a charger or titan to other damage sources, and as others have said they're super reliable against armored bot units and will almost never friendly fire. They're especially useful in solo/small group play when you don't want to carry around EATs or a Recoilless Rifle for armor
i love how everyone can agree that no matter how good each strategem is, they’re all absolutely awesome
Hell yeah!
YES
That's how to make a tier list!
Interesting fact, the 500KG bomb is about the same size as the American Mk-83 1000lb bomb, and it's also used more or less for the same purpose.
The in-game Eagle is really comparable to the real life AV-8B, and both aircraft have roughly the same carrying capacity as well.
The A-10 on the other hand can carry between 8 and 11 Mk-83s, which is a ridiculous amount of bombs.
Glad you enjoyed!
There really are a lot of real life comparisons, which makes sense really!
The strafe is incredibly useful for dealing with patrols, or for panic situations where you need a path cleared quickly. It's easily the safest "lethal" Eagle strategem, which means you can call it near your team and still minimize friendly fire, and because it comes in only 1 second after beacon ignition, it's incredibly useful when you're getting swarmed (plus, it's the quickest, easiest input). It also makes your teammates needlessly panic when it drops near them, so that's a slight bonus for the trolls, out there
The Smoke Strike is actually capable of destroying buildings if the shell makes direct contact, weirdly enough. It's also fantastic for defense scenarios, such as civilian defense or extraction, because you will always see an enemy coming through the smoke before they can see you.
I'd like to add that while it's a somewhat specific usage, the napalm strike is good for when you're trying to put some distance between you and a bug horde. It'll slow them down and the fires last for a decent amount of time, buying you time to put some distance between yourself and a horde.
I'd say the Napalm mixes really well with light armor "Fuck it, keep running" moments against the bugs. Either that or a nice wall of fire for an extract +turrets shooting behind it is awesome. I'd say the Napalm is very underrated because it kills in such a way that you may not see the killstreak as the bugs slowly burn to death, etc. We combined it with the static orbital thing and stun grenades and had a good laugh with it. don't get caught up in "metas" because truth is you can make almost if not everything work in the game.
I’ve decimated bug hordes that would have surely ran us over using the napalm. After the fire buff its one of the best for termanids
@@reservoirfrogs2177 best part is you can pre toss it and reck havoc. my highest killstreak was a 92 with it on a bug defense. shits wild
I thoroughly agree with your tier list that the 500kg and cluster are S tier for Termininds, but a seperate tier list is needed for automatons as the 500kg bomb isn't of much use there, whereas the 110mm rocket pods are phenomenal at dealing with tanks, hulks and turrets. If there are none to be found they can be used to clear bot factories as well.
Automaton tier list would be something like
S - 110 Rocket pods, Cluster Bomb
A - Airstrike
B - Strafing Run, Smoke
C - 500kg bomb
D - Napalm
true depend the enemy the tier list flips. 110 rocket run is really good against bots if your play level 7 or higher to take out tanks.
When you're doing a Wave defence mission against the bots the 500kg is viable for sure. Loads of Hulks and berserkers mass up and if you have the high ground it makes for easy pickings.
Napalm is solid vs terminids
Aye, a viable point indeed! I think on a bot specific tier list I might push up Pods on my list one place, two if I'm having a good day. I think what puts me off of them is how they don't deal with hulks very well unless you're very lucky. So I'd rather choose the airstrike over them, which can deal with tanks just as well, except over a larger area
@@calebheisserer5391deception too. One can easily bait the enemy into expecting an attack from the smoke, meanwhile you and the boys are working through the tree line
I feel bad for trimming Eagle 1's leg space. But I'm sure she understands that we need that extra firepower for DEMOCRACY.
Also I'm very glad that the Automaton AA turrets don't actually shoot down our Eagles if they get too close. I would feel HORRIBLE
While 110s are real inconsistent against bugs due to their movement, against bots i find the 110s to be wild. All the big bots are either real slow or are tanks so the 110s hit almost every time. At least A against bots.
To be fair I never found them missing very often(at least it doesn't look like it on screen) just haven't experienced the consistency people speak of personally!
Gonna run them for a bit in Automaton missions.
It can miss a charger if it's charging but that's pretty easily remedied by just running a circle around him and dropping it. It'll stop charging after it misses you and eat the pods.
If I really need a charger dead fast though I'll use the railcannon. I carry both to extend how many hard targets I can deal with.
It's pretty rare whatever needs killing lasts more than 10 seconds around me and when it happens it's usually because I've already killed one or two right before that
Usually the bots are slow, but in my experience some of those flamer hulks are Olympic sprinters
The recent TCS missions actually revealed a good use for the Smoke Strike (or any smoke ordnance for that matter)
The objective actually becomes invisible to the enemy once there’s smoke around it.
Like you said, very niche but highly effective
Ah finally something the smoke CAN do. Every time I tried it the bugs/bits just walked into it regardless of location.
@@IRMentat It’s really hard to make use of that strength in normal gameplay.
Only thing I can think of is to cover a Hellbomb
Potentially great for covering an extraction, too. Good idea!
A bit of advice if you have a the modifier that increases the cooldown of your stratagems consider taking primarily eagle strikes since they have such a short cooldown already it hardly matters and when it goes to rearm you get all of them back on one cooldown.
Love how they deploy flares for the turn an burn outta there.
Another interesting thing is that if you have her swoop in during an Automaton mission where there's an AA emplacement you'll see the AA guns light up and track her as she swoops on by (but they dont actually hit, thankfully)
Naturally if you get too close to the AA, Eagle will not be coming in - she's crazy, but not nearly as suicidal as the ground troops
@@shoulderpyro that's cool yo. I never have a chance to watch her leave. Only noticed in the vid lol. If I'm throwing eagles MFS are waaaay too close.
@@shoulderpyro AAA*..... AA is Air-to-Air (missiles fired from aircraft at other aircraft).... AAA is Anti-Aircraft Artillery, which is what you see being fired.
@@SA80TAGEand AAAA is skull and bones
@@SA80TAGEAA emplacement is Anti-Air buddy
I've dropped the 500kg for the strafing run. The blast radius gets blocked by uneven terrain and it's hard to setup strikes to blowup 2 or more factories/nests. The visual explosion is bigger than the blast damage radius.
okay counter point with the 110mm, super good for tanks an turrets, and the feeling of it doing that pass, sniping the tank and blowing it up, its just amazing
I just run Airstrike and 500kg. Specialized strategems can be nice but I find myself favoring ones with broad applications, and then moppin up whatever is left with weapons.
Same. Or switch 500kg bomb for orbital laser
The majestic eagle delivers weaponized freedom to the enemies of democracy.
I couldn't have said it better myself. o7
One useful thing about the strategems like the standard airstrike, is that you can change the direction they come in based on the angle you throw them. For example, if you're running away from a horde, if you throw the strategem at a perpendicular angle to the incoming horde, you'll get a strike that either comes at the horde straight on, or from behind, guaranteeing more hits-which may be very useful if a Charger is after you.
Of course, this means you pretty much have to throw the beacon at your feet, and you might get caught in the explosion as well if you don't RUN (Best to run at a 35 degreeish angle and then dive as soon as you hear the eagle coming), so it's a bit risky.
Adding onto this for most of the eagles they come in perpendicular to where you throw them so when looking at your target it goes left to right instead of towards you which can be useful to know as you don’t need to go that far away as long as you aren’t getting bomb.
IF THE BEACON BOUNCES IT IS NO LONGER YOUR FRIEND the direction as far as we are concerned is basically random if it bounces
@@ShinyRIS That's a good point, does it actually change the orientation if it bounces?
@@Razumen from my experience I saw it bounce a few times and then it wasn’t my friend but it could have been a bug seeing as it was during one of those times when the stratagems were bouncing and rolling like crazy
I like the 110mm rocket pods. It's really the only eagle option when a charger (or any other big guy) is in your ranks and you want to target it but not kill your teammates. It's not as powerful as the orbital rail but you can use it much more often.
The 1 thing major the rocket pod has going for it is that it one shots those automaton cannon towers reliably while still being okay enough against their hulks and tanks, and it can blow up factories if you need it too. Many other strategems struggle to hit the towers reliably even with good throws
Nice list. The hangar upgrades truly make the Eagle the best.
Slight correction...stratagem tracking does not work that way. If you manage to directly hit an enemy with the stratagem ball and it sticks to it, (so when the enemy moves the "red laser-skybeam" that indicates moves too) the stratagem will not actually follow. The stratagem (airstrike) will still hit the spot where the ball first landed, even if the ball moves away. It might seem like it tracked because eagle stratagems have a big radius, but it does not actually follow. However, friendly stratagems like the resupply, will follow the ball. So if you hit a person with the resupply and it sticks to the players personal shield, it will follow that player and land directly on top of the player, killing him. Tested this myself, and there is also a video you can find that proves this.
Why thank you. I agree in my experience so far!
I see! Well that's a little sad then. It's always appeared to me that it followed, maybe my eyes deceive me! Thanks for the tips!
It is possible to dive out of the way last second to avoid getting crushed if the ball sticks to you 😊
@@TheWileSpice blue beacon drops do follow the light and not the initial impact. So they probably did that so we could avoid getting killed by our own eagle beacon when it attached to enemies.
I'm not quite sure this is correct with all of them.
I've had more than a few hunters take one for the team and leap at a team mate or myself and I'm pretty confident in my placement and distances of effect
More than once a strike went off where it shouldn't have.
It could be bugged though or I could just be mistaken.
Incorrect, a video literally proved that it follows where you stick them to.
hope you keep making more of these vids, its nice actually seeing all weapons in action, vs other tierlist where you just have to take their word for it 👍
Will be doing one for the Orbital Strikes once I have been able to test all the upgrades!
I prefer using the air strike or the cluster. Seems to be the ones most consistently getting kills. 500kg looks beautiful but it’s range is actually really low. Yes it will obliterate whatever is right next to it but it’s AOE is much lower than what the visual would imply.
Great video! Would love to see an updated version which shows an overview table of call in time, uses, rounds delivered per use, damage estimate per round or run (or even just y/n capability to destroy different enemies or structures), and cooldown. You had this in your orbital strat video and that was digital gold.
Thank you! Yeah definitely trying to get more information in the newer ones. A revisit could happen, possibly if they add a new Eagle!
With limited stratagem space, I never take any Eagle stratagem. They need to buff those before I give up my orbitals.
The wall of fire from the napalm is so useful for defending objectives, bc everything that passes through the wall becomes a squishy target
We need a 500KG orbital barrage Liberty needs to rain throw the ground in the air and rain again.
I hope someday we get this. Maybe they do a proper april fools patch next year and give us hellbomb Barrages.
500Kg is not as good as described here. Yes, you can delete big enemies in an instant, but the time it takes to drop the bomb is twice-thrice as long compared to a Railcannon Shot orbital, has a much lower accuracy (automatic aiming vs prediction) and the damage it deals *beyond* point blank range if the bomb is nonexistent so it might as well not be there. You'd expect an explosion of that size to sweep an area, but it doesn't - it's an Eagle version of a Railcannon without auto targetting and a longer drop delay. The gigantic explosion is its' only redeeming factor, it looks awesome
Once you learn the timing is easy enough to get the bomb to land in the right place, especially for bile titans as you can bait them into attacking so they remain stationary. If you have just the 500kg, you could use 4 of them before being able to use 2 Railcannon shots. Sure the odd one may just not work at all, but when it does work it one shots even Titans, which the Railcannon doesn't do. So I would say its much more useful, at least in the hands of someone who can lead their throw well.
@@TheWileSpice so that's its' only use - Bile Titans. Railcannon shot instakills Hulks same as 500kg, and unlike Bile Titans, they're smaller and faster and therefore harder to hit. Hulks can also be destroyed by Autocannons, Spear (enthusiast here) and a bunch of other support weapons. A Bile Titan can be killed with just 2 shots of Recoilless or EAT in the face, which requires identical level of skill to leading the bomb drop (potentially less even) on a lower CD/providing reusable ammunition against Chargers or Spewers. So 500kg is ONLY useful if you can't aim a rocket against the biggest target in the game. An incredibly niche skill-requiring stratagem that people overuse due to how cool it looks
500kg is a bait imo. The airstrike is just better because it covers more ground. Sure it looks tbe coolest bjt thats all it has going for it
this is the helldivers 2 content ive been looking for!!! keep it up brotha!!!! FOR SUPER EARTH !!!
Spanish speakers when he said “Cool-o Meter”:
👀
I personally think a lot of people sleep on the napalm for terminids
its an amazing weapon for low-mid difficulties and cleans up light and medium enemies with ease
i cant tell you how many 40+ killstreaks ive gotten by throwing a eagle napalm strike on a bug breach and only focusing on heavy enemies
i think after hard difficulty the napalm falls off and you need more heavy hitting stratagems to take out bile titans and chargers
It is likely a lot better after todays fire damage buff as well. Will definitely have to test it out further now.
@@TheWileSpice The flamethrower is probably a lot better now too
S - Airstrike
A - 500kg bomb
B - Cluster Bomb, 110 Rocket pods
C - Smoke
D - Strafing Run, Napalm
We're not playing the same game if you disagree. Airstrike is the most versatile Stratagem in the game. 500kg is amazing if you have multiple heavy targets close together, but it can be inconstant on rough terrain. Cluster bombs do not kill heavies, and do not destroy buildings. Rocket Pods and smoke are kind of niche, the rocket pods serve the same role as the rail canon, but slower and less accurate. Strafing run is the machine gun turret of the eagles. Napalm... fire is super inconsistent in this game, maybe if they fix it.
500kg needs a big bump to it's radius, for such a massive exolosion it really only has the range like that of a orbital precision strike
To be fair yeah, would be nice if it was increased even by a few metres, just to make it more consistent.
It’s a niche use. Against a bile, it comes in handy. Think of it as nuking a single target.
110 MM rocket is great for spamming down automaton fabricators, or if you need o finish off a wounded heavy armor target.
Also, it can totally take out tanks very quickly.
I know many people will pick another bomb instead of this, but it definiatelly has its uses.
Also, the main difference between the strafing run and carpet bomb is the area affected and the direction the projectiles are laid down.
While carpet bombing can be VERY self and team dangerous because of the large area, the strafing run will always shoot towards the direction you have thrown the stratagem ball (unless it hits something hard and starts to bounce randomly) making it less prone to friendly and self fire. Combined with the many uses you get out of it / rearm, its great to use in the face of an approaching horde or when running away from them and all the bugs/automatons are in a nice ordered line. It easily take sout the trash mobs so you can clear the remaining armored ones.
Im not saying the strafing run is S tier or anything, im just saying that it too ha sits uses and can be very powerful if used correctly.
Aye, they are just more forgiving when it comes to the accuracy of your throw as they target the largest enemy near the orb.
& Yeah the strafing run cam be handy in some situations like you mentioned. Though I found enemies rarely line up in a way I cam get the most value from it!
the eagle smoke is the best smoke in the game. Smoke grenades and orbital smoke struggle to break line of sight, eagle gives you basically a free solid wall to hide behind. It's basically completely worthless against bugs, but it is invaluable against bots. If you like going quiet against bots, eagle smoke is going to be on your strategems
Its definitely more consistent to land where you want it to with the Eagle, as it is always perpendicular to you. The Orbital changes dependant on where the ship is in relation to you!
I can imagine they do help a lot for being sneaky, though I do much prefer blowing things up!
Air strike is the only Eagle strike I take in every single mission. Every time I don’t have it I wish I did.
Definitely great for any situation
I just realized that you spind like a young Jeremy Clarkson (this is a compliment).
Hahaha, someone commented the same a day before yourself on another video.
I'm a big fan of the strafing run on casual missions. Quick to use, precise, and low friendly fire potential. Great for thinning chaff or covering a retreat. I hope they boost lethality or increase base uses to make it a more worthwhile pick versus cluster bombs
I know it's a little late (and likely abundantly stated), but i do enjoy running the rocket pods with the Rail Cannon. The rocket pods can do respectable damage on their own when they target what you want and can finish off a Bile Titan when combo'd with the Rail Cannon
The Cluster Bombs, for the looks and amount of uses, also can't destroy buildings like the regular air strike or 500kg can. Bug Holes at the very most
So far I've only found them to be really useful against Tanks, Turrets and Fabricators on Automaton planets, where they are indeed quite good. Outside of that I definitely prefer other options personally!
1:56 this is a star fox reference btw, and a hilarious one at that
eagle strikes are WAYY better than orbitals right now, they gotta reduce the cooldowns or something for the orbitals...
Agreed. Got to reduce the cooldowns for a lot of things. Hopefully we get that buff patch soon
I appreciate the coolness tier list a lot! It is a game afterall so coolness should not be underestimated!
Agreed! Definitely the most important factor. All about having fun at the end of the day!
Tha destroyer got a big ol taste of LIber-Tea
I will say the Strafing Run still has a decent use in comparison to Cluster Bomb, and that's because of the angle it goes at. Unlike the Cluster, which does the typical side-to-sides of the other Eagle strikes, Strafing Runs will go straight away from you when they are launched, giving it a niche but critical difference when considering choke points and most effective drop patterns.
Yeah it does have that in its favour, it's very easy to aim to avoid friendly fire.
Cluster bomb doesn't make Strafing run obsolete. Strafing run is great for clearing a string of enemies that chase you and it won't kill your allies that are a bit behind you. It trades huge area for precision. There are no bombardments that are obsolete. They all have their function and can but used on all difficulties.
110mm Rockets are actually more consistent then 500kg bomb since if you don't really nail that bomb location and timing, the aoe is actually pretty small compare to animation and doesn't always kill stuff you expect to kill. Rockets are not as flashy but they will strip armour from chargers so you can finish them with small arms fire, and they actually do prioritise largest target in the area.
I think I should clarify that I mean, 9 times out of 10 if I'm going in to win, I will choose Clusters over Strafing run in loadout select due to them being a bit more useable in more situations in the more intense difficulties. I can't see myself ever choosing the Strafing run in general unless I feel like just using it for fun.
& With the pods, I found they're really inconsistent with damage to Chargers in my experience. Obviously this is just from my personal experience using them. Definitely do better in Automaton areas. I think I need to give them another chance though as many people have given contrary feedback with them!
@@TheWileSpicecluster bombs are nice if you have no teammates within the vicinity lol
I love this guy's videos he's like the Top Gear of Helldiver 2
Hahaha just caught this & gave me a chuckle. Appreciated!
When fully upgraded the 500kg become a better precision orbital strike, you get two uses before going on a ~2m cd so that's ~60s cd per usage and the bomb arrive much faster than the orbital strike.
Yeah it completely outclasses the precision for sure. The eagles overall perform vetter than the orbitals really. Except maybe the Laser.
good ol, eagle airstrike is my fav and most consistent
I just recently realized the pure potential of the Eagle Rockets.
I have been using them in place of the Railgun against the Bots due to how many Tanks and Striders I have been encountering recently. They Regularly one shot tanks and do significant damage to Striders while having multiple uses in rapid succession.
If you are going up against Bots, having at least one person with the 110mm gives you a very nice Anti-Armor Capability.
ever since i domed the head of a bile titan with a 500kg bomb which killed it even before the explosion happened ive been in love with it and bring it on nearly every mission
Hahaha, always brilliant when it lodges itself into the Titan pre-explosion.
one note - cluster does not do well armored enemies, so expect chargers and other armored bugs to survive
I do like the smokescreen quite alot for teamplaying and completing missions fast against automatons.
Youre running towards an objective, and come past a fabricator a few meters out of the walking path?
Run at it, Airstrike the fabricator, drop the smoke, run away. any reinforcements that fabricator gets
wont be able to shoot you as you run away back to your group into relative safety. by the time theyve chased you down, they'll be more clumped up and you can take them out way more comfortably. (instead of fighting them as soon as you meet them)
500kg does nothing to small bugs lmao
And cluster looks / feels the best imo
After the recent buffs to fire and the new ship upgrades napalm isn't mediocre anymore, its actually even stronger than the cluster bomb now against bugs. You can throw a napalm between 2 bug breaches and it will automatically clear everything that is not a charger or titan for its entire duration.
Personally I like to run only the 500kg with the extra use upgrade. So once I run out of both, either from individual use or both on the same target, it's already on resupply and I don't need to worry about it being unavailable.
Yep same here. The extra use is really what makes it so good, it would definitely be lower without it. And with the 2 minute cooldown, you can't go wrong.
The basic airstrike for its building damage, tank/heavies and spread as an Automaton fighter is fantastic for something so early and cheap in its category. It’s been my go-to since I obtained it for those missions.
The handy thing about the 110mm rocket pods is that you can use it in danger close to your teammates when they're being chased and there's only a 25% chance they'll get caught in the explosion.
Atleast before you hit LV20 and get the orbital railcannon.
Smoke looks cool in another sense. Having enemies walk through the smoke while you gun them down is also cool af.
Very true! Especially on moonlit or sunset maps.
I love the coverage of the cluster bomb, but the perpendicular trajectory and super wide coverage makes it really easy to accidentally team kill with it.
I guess for every team kill is awareness spread about the amount of coverage it provides!
Unless it's thrown near teammates with no regards.
Liquid ventilaed cockpit is actually not a half bad idea, and i could see it being used some time in the future, whats even better is that if a spaceship with a liquid ventilated cabin has said cabin puncture the atmosphere will boil off relatively slowly rather than immediately ventilate outward
Air strikes are dang useful in automaton missions due to how easy it is to take out most objectives with them (toss them onto bot factories or various other things), and also useful even for general enmass combat due to how the automatons group up.
Smoke strike is for soloing the 360 second blitz achievement, not necessary, and may not be used, run 500kg bomb, air strike, orbital laser, and smoke strike. You can run in, 500kg/air strike the bot factories, and smoke strike to get away, or smoke strike first before flowing up the factories.
110mm is more useful than orbital rail for taking out titans since they have trivialised chargers now, so its gone up in utility/tier now.
110 Missiles are so inconsistent that they’re basically useless. Sometimes they’ll delete a high armor target/enemy, other times it will do less damage than a paper cut. More often than not they’re a waste.
That has been my exact experience so far!
I just used the strafing run today because of the personal order, and surprisingly, it took out a tank! I did it for lols, but it actually blew up! It was a sentry tank and not a cannon tank though so maybe that had something to do with it but it worked! even though it's usually just for small infantry. Ive tried with hulks with diminishing returns, sometimes its almost dead, sometimes it doesnt even do anything.
Strafing run can have some great moments. Hulks it's going to suffer unless it catches the vents
The Airstrike is my goto stratagem. At three uses per rearm, it's quite versatile. I use it to close bug holes and destroy factories. Since it attacks perpendicular to you, I use it to throw it at my feet while being chased by enemies to draw them into the kill zone. It does respectable damage to all enemy types, and while it won't take out a BT in a single run, it does well with all others, severally harming the chargers. I rank it higher than the cluster bomb as it can take out buildings.
Argument can be made to swap Airstrike & Cluster on my list for sure. It is a jack of all trades & part of the reason why I rated the 110mm pods so low.
You may want test that tip for landing beacons on enemies again. In my personal experience strats will impact based on where it first landed, not where it is at the moment of impact. As watching the rushing enemy with the laser on its head can be quite intimidating, but it's often the one that survives whatever you threw.
110s are borderline useless against bugs (you *can* use them to finish off a damaged bile but generally railcannon and the 500kg do the job better and more consistently), but where they really shine is vs bots where the lower overall hp pools mean their lower damage isn't as much of a downside. They take out tanks and turrets fairly reliably, and can take out hulks if they have the courtesy to stand still, as well as having the option to throw them at bot spawners and mortars to disable those. Super versatile and generally fills the role of the railcannon on high difficulty bots.
That being said, they aren't a "must-take" and more of a "bring it if you cant deal with tanks". Autocannon melts anything you can get a heatsink shot on, so when running auto i'd say swap out the 110s for railcannon (for hulks) or the good old 500kg. 110s can take out hulks, but since they move a lot faster it can be hard to get the eagle to actually target one.
Yeah, I would say that has been my experience so far after further use. I do find them very inconsistent against Hulks though even when they get a clear shot. But for Tank, Turret & Fabricator clearing, they do make it very very easy.
I want them to add an upgrade to the eagle called
Recycled Exhaust Fumes: adds 1 Eagle smoke strike to every rearm (same as other bonus mission stratagems like the free gas strike or airburst rocket launcher) thanks to a system that cans the smoke from the exhaust so no recourse is wasted. If you bring the smoke strike it still gives you +1 per rearm
The rocket pods are surprisingly a good choice when it comes to facing the automatons as the larger threats are usually less mobile as I have experienced them taking down tanks with just a single barrage, rather than using an orbital rail cannon shot with a longer cooldown.
I finally gave the napalm a chance last night (albeit only on 5 as my cousin and I needed a breather from the 7-9 rush) and it blew me away. The thing about it is how incredible it is when a horde is coming towards you because you don’t have to worry about the size of the horde or worry about missing. Just make sure it lands between you and the horde and now the horde walks through it and dies en masse, with the survivors being easy pickings. The cluster bomb is great for swarms but when things are chaotic and you’re moving it’s so easy to miss a lot of bugs or for the swarm to just be too big for it (especially cause the hitbox can feel inconsistent and you have to time it with the call-in time, especially annoying with the mission modifier that increases call time)
So yeah, first impression of napalm after initial skepticism is it’s totally GOATed.
I have personally found, that using the nepalm on areas where enemies spawn, such as enemy outposts or bug tunnel breaches, is quite effective, at least it was for me when I first started playing the game. Having enemies spawn in an area with damage over time effects is just a generally helpful tool to have, at least on paper.
The cluster bomb is my favorite. It has a short drop time, covers a large area, has several reuses, and can take out a large number and variety of enemies with enough uses. The 500kg is great but way better once you have the upgrade to increase its uses. The 110mm is limited imo. I think it is best against tanks and towers which it has the highest chance of all rockets hitting.
Just a heads up the Napalm variant can take down some structures. I use it to take out the bot factories at automoton bases all the time. The trick is you have to get the stratagem to land on the structure itself otherwise it won't work.
I think people have reported the same with the Smoke Bomb & Cluster Bombs as well haha. Its an odd interaction, getting the orb pin point on the structure to destroy them.
@@TheWileSpice Yeah I have a 75% success rate with it. There are times though when it hits the side or bounces off but usually if you get it right on top your golden. I've also actually thrown the stratagem in the vents and even in a bug hole and yeah that clenches it. LOL
@@thumperboyad1031 i've had strat orbs disappear that way. They usually bounce off the top but if actually do get stuck up there they just disappear without dropping anything.
@@SA80TAGE I've never had that happen even once.
I've had a lot of issues with the 110 missing. I think against turrets or mortars it's super useful but less so against something like a hulk or charger. Airstrike is my favorite because it's so good at taking out bug holes or clearing out a POI.
I use the strafe run more than any other offensive strategem. It delivers incredibly fast and can wipe out bug breaches immediately with the right timing. It's a good pick especially if everyone else is going for 500 kgs, clusters, lasers, etc
Best evac strat is to drop a Napalm Airstrike on Pelican 1, wait for 2-3 seconds, then get on Pelican 1. If done correctly, Pelican 1 gets airborne as fire rages below. Only works if you are the last one on board.
Something nice to know about the 110MM Rocket Pods is that they target automaton fabricators when there's no large red dots near the stratagem. You can clear out entire bases in next to no time at all with a sneaky approach, and the re-arm period is so short that you can just keep doing it. Grab a Recoilless or Expendable to instantly take out the big red dots and the bots literally won't get to know what hit them.
And if you see a Tank? Up Right Down Down Down.
You can do the same thing with the airstrike, and even take out a few other bots along with the fabricator
I like the airstrike a lot. That super hard BOOM it makes I find more satisfying than the cluster bombs.
napalm has quickly become my favorite! super easy to use versatile! it’s mix of direct damages and damage over time as well as having solid cooldowns to boot!
They should make fire a stackable damage over time effect. A short burst across a crowd of enemies would kill all small mobs after a few seconds. Medium enemies would require a concentrated burst or two to stack up some burning damage effects. Heavy enemies would require deliberate and cencentrated fire, where the longer you are hitting them, the more stacks will build and the quicker they will.
Hearing an a10 fly over head (never heard them any strike or in country) is looks and sounds insanely cool
I can imagine its got some heft to it.
Biggest tip for planets with those smoke balls all over the ground. You can shoot them and they’ll create a smokescreen, drawing enemies in and distracting like the shield generator… will save your ass more often than not in higher difficulties
500kg needs to larger and more damaging to things not in its immediate radius. But, the most reliable multiuse one to me is the standard strike, it handles almost everything and is reliable and consistent. A must for my kit if I'm not goofing around with some builds. All the others are situational and if used correctly can be a god send.
110mm Rocket Pods are excellent in bot missions to 1 hit destroy fabrication facilities when clearing base. I rarely used it in bug missions tho for the reasons you mentioned.
The eagle smoke is insanely underrated. It can take out bot replicators and can completely swing a firefight into your favor by allowing the entire squad to relocate or retreat with minimal resistance
Smoke in general is definitely a great choice on Automatons. Removing their accuracy during a big fight is super strong.
Strafing run is also capable of destroying bug holes while the clusterbomb is not
In order, strike (anti everything), cluster (anti anything that moves) then 500kg (anti THAT ONE SPECIFIC THING).
I never use the rest as they all need a significant buff either double their uses or triple their effective area/projectiles per use.
Also of note, I only bring one eagle type at a time as the cool-down is plane based not per loadout based.
A fair assessment of the top 3 hahaha.
I typically bring two Eagle strkes with me unless mission demands more turrets. But for me Cluster Bomb and Air Strike have been my go to drops. Though with unlocking 500Kg bomb and Orbital Rail cannon the airstrike has taken a bit of a back seat now. Still an amazing stratagem.
Smoke strike is extremely useful for Bot helldives, especially if you're playing a more supportive roll. If I bring it, I typically use the Large shield, smoke strike, Air strike, and supply pack
Great video....for FREEDOM!
Thank you. For Liberty!
Im willing to throw down on this one.
S - tier: only the eagle airstrike.
A - tier: 500kg, carpet, 110 rocket.
B - tier: strafing run.
C - tier: fire and smoke.
Rationale is as follows:
The airstrike is too good to not bring to every mission. It clears hordes, it breaks armor on chargers, it clears structures/spawns for both bugs and bots. Its excellent for every mission and it never underperforms.
500kg bomb is great when it lands dead on but still has some inconsistencies and sometimes doesnt kill even small bugs within its "visual" blast radius. Obviously its still good but just not usable in every situation, especially against bots.
Same with 110 rocket pods. Great vs bots and tanks but sometimes lack luster vs chargers and bile titans. Still extremely consistent and over time, that guaranteed damage and lack of team kill will add up to some big value.
Cluster is often overrated i feel. Its great for big bug hordes but thats about it. I also would say it has a higher team kill potential. I think the 4 uses is pretty nice but it sometimes feels like it doesnt really matter since i manual refresh my eagle to get more air strikes or 110 before i can use all 4 clusters. Clusters in bot matches also feel way worse. Orbitals are better now vs their compounds.
Fire and smoke have no purpose and youre just wasting your strategem slot.
Forgot to mention, strafing run is pretty nice in the first 10 or so levels. And I still sometimes like running it for its quick use and vertical spread when you throw it.
Love your video, i do like eagle more then the cluster bom, as normal eagle destroy tanks and buildings.
Why thank ya! That's fair, I think its likely the majority share the same sentiment between the two strikes!
I disagree about the rocket pods but only because they are less likely to miss and soften up big targets nicely. It may need 1 more use though considering it takes 2 uses to kill bigger targets. My favorites are the cluster and rockets. Once i get the upgrade for more uses ill start using the 500kg. I just wish it had more aoe. Edit:seeing other comments defending the 110mm rockets gives me hope.
Aye, many do! They have been really inconsistent in my experience so far but I think I may need to revisit them. Definitely give the 500kg more use once you get the Upgrade, you get so much more worth from it when you can use it twice. Definitely needs more AOE though.
When i throw the 500 into a swarm of bugs, my kill count is like 5 for some reason. With cluster, i get all of them, and it's a satisfying watch, and it can also wipe out the bot fabs, so it is always on my selection
I actually really like the rocket pods for a couple reasons.
The first is that it's pretty good for finishing off titans or softening them up.
Same for chargers.
But beyond that it's also useful against automatons because it targets fabricators.
So generally I run the orbital rail and the pods together then pick and choose between other options.
On automaton words I generally either run the auto with them and take an extra stratagem like the gatling barrage or bombing runs or the ballistic shield and either an lmg, arc or railgun.
Generally I leave the heavy fire power to my team mates but have access to that "Fuck that in particular" options while I support as best I can or if I'm going solo I try to keep a lower profile and aim for self utility.
The rocket pods have been really helpful for that just because they're guided and target structures.
I generally find it to be a good idea to take stuff like this just because people love their super optimised builds and generally alotta people will run the same stuff which is fine, but it also means you can have a big impact by just filling in the slots others haven't taken.
Orbital, pods and an autocannon gives you aloooot of utility to play with from quickly marking and hitting priority targets to being a good horde clearer or structure sniper so I like it quite a bit as a set up
The smoke strike, along with the other forms of smoke in the game, becomes much, MUCH, more valuable if the team is all on the same page. It lets you bypass many encounters that you would otherwise have to fight, or even survive in what should be unsurvivable situations. It is surprisingly versatile and not niche at all. That said, in a group of random helldivers it is completely worthless.
Airstrike probably deserves S Rank strictly for its ability to clear nests or bot buildings. Running it with the throw distance armor and by using the jump pack for extra momentum, I can regularly clear most small-medium areas from 100+ meters away. When it doesn't full clear, usually anything left is FUBAR and easily mopped up.
The only strategems that take out facilities better are Orbital Lasers, 380s, and Walking Barrages, but those are restricted by limited uses, or 4-5 minute CDs