With how good the crossbow is (spewer-be-gone), I've been skipping a support weapon and just running rocket and gatling sentries simultaneously for bugs. Now I'm actually excited when I find a support weapon at a Point of Interest!
Crossbow + stalwart vs bugs is fun. Use stalwart as main then xbow for medium + enemies. I just love using the stalwart or machine gun cuz i love spraying without reloading. Turn rpm to max on stalwart
I use xbow for everything medium range and further while the bushwhacker for anything that gets close. Then either a laser or gun 🐕 depending on the map. I'll get my support from the team or from a pick-up.
The issue with the stalwart isn't anything to do with the weapon itself, rather helldivers doesn't really have enemies that have high health with low durability and armour. It fills a niche that doesn't exist yet.
@@dawhoopass it should still be A tier for bugs imo. It absolutely shreds the chaff and it’s also the best weapon to combine with the crossbow/eruptor which are both hella strong rn
I shure as hell hope they dont add more bullet sponges. Btw the impaler and charger are prime exampels of low armor high hp and the stalwart fucking sucks against them They should honestly just give it the redeemer ammo and make it a primary
@@dripwastaken7884 The charger is 80% durable, so the stalwarts damage is being considerably reduced. The impalers are similarly durable, at 75%. I said an enemy with high health but LOW durabiliy and low armour doesnt exist.
What I think everyone forgets when they're comparing things like the torcher and the flamethrower to one another, is that we're assuming that everyone playing the game has access to every war bond. Not everybody plays Helldivers so much that they have unlocked every war bond and therefore, they may not be able to consider the torcher as an option against the flamethrower.
Secret to the Stalwart is bringing the crossbow or eruptor primary, setting the fire rate on the Stalwart to the max and just bullet hosing everything. Stalwart rules against bugs.
Exactly this. I also bring engineering kit armor for the recoil reduction and extra grenades (typically thermite or gas depending on my AT stratagems).
Autocannon turret would be perfect for me if it would just STOP 3 round bursting every target, like even the basic bugs it’ll still triple tap. If we cut it to defaulting to a 2 round burst (or hell, just only shoot when things are still alive) the ammo economy would feel so much better. This and a faster turning time would make this a perfect pick
@@epsilon1372 rocket turrets are means to snipe in bots, bugs it needs to be played somewhere with lots of sight n hope bugs don't rush it. A gattling is safer to use near a breach with your AT and gas nades as support
Compared to Napalm is somewhat of a downgrade, barely side grade. Performs wors on bug and bot front. Struggles with big nests, due to smaller AOE than 380mm. It is slower and has fewer projectiles in a wave than Napalm, no lingering effect of fire. The only reediming factor compared to those two is lower cooldown, but that's not that much, given how fucking good Napalm and 380mm are.
The 120 is good for breaches, but since the health boost that some enemies got it's not as strong as it was before the 17th, and it doesn't pack that destructive radius that the 380 has to almost of not completely solo a heavy nest.
@@mauriciomeyer627Is the buff to the damage they gave it not enough to keep up with the hp buff? Or only significant if you aren't running a weapon that would 1 shot the Heavy, like the HMH or AC-8, LaserCannon, so on.
Emancipator is S tier. Its really not hard to survive against bugs, and has enough ammo to take out a mega nest and every heavy enemy with enough ammo to spare to take out a couple bug breached too. Its ridiculously potent, just gotta know how to use it since one wrong step and it explodes
@@epsilon1372 it has a potential to kill like 3-4x more enemies than a orbital laser and that has 3 total uses. 2 uses is plenty, since I spend like 5-10minutes easily per use in it eradicating everything in sight. 2 uses is more than enough
@@FrozenByFire3especially if u use the first use of the emancipator to destroy the heavy nest at the start of the match, such a fun way to absolutely take over the game from the jump
@@FrozenByFire3 It also has the potential to kill nothing at all. Not sure how explosion-prone it is on bugs tbh, but I expect there are several things that can bring it down quick. Teammates if nothing else. Laser calls in fast and is more of a panic button. Calling in a mech takes ages.
@@FrozenByFire3 not when they are as fragile as they are. Also idk why you’re bringing in the orbital laser into account. It’s good, but it’s not even close to being S tier and is also in need of some changes whether it’s the laser lasting even longer, being stronger, or having an extra use. Besides, unlike the laser, you gotta be careful with mechs because they can die very easily, meaning that one mistake can cost you your entire mech. You also can’t call for anything in the mech or use any of your other weapons. Again the mech is good. I like it a lot myself. But until it’s more reliable (either having more health or an extra use), its never gonna have the same value as S-tier stratagems
stalward is basically a primary. best to pair it with a primary which performs like a support weapon, like the crossbow or eruptor. that way you end up with stalward to fight off hunters and warriors and crossbow to take out medium enemies if you need to.
The strafing run should be way higher, one shots impalers and spore chargers, finishes off any titans or behemoths that got hit even just the tiniest bit. Very good
I feel an issue a lot of tierlisters forget is the level requirements for stratagems. Strafing run might not be the best when you've got everything, but for being so early to acquire it's goated.
Because it’s very easy to unlock everything. And most players you meet at difficulties 7 or higher are at level 30 or above, which is the level in which you unlock pretty much everything in the game. Very rarely do you get players lower than that in these difficulties
@@epsilon1372 I guess I don't have enough experience at high difficulty. I still feel that balancing from the highest skill level is very short-sighted though, most players (don't quote me on this) don't play the higher end of the difficulty rating. I realize that tiers made from harder difficulties means more time spent with each stratagem, but nobody thinks of the newbies getting the game because of the buffdivers hype.
@@epsilon1372I was also mostly referring to the ship upgrades, those take a while to get, he talks about 'having two' for the 500kg but unless you're rushing straight down the eagle upgrades you're stuck with 1.
The Gas Stratagem is unironically a fantastic thing to take with regard to bugs or bots. It's got an ~70 second cooldown, which means in just about _any_ firefight, you'll have it at your disposal. Granted its DOT is pretty small, but it's a great set up for either a napalm strike, or eagle strike.
Quasar Allows backpack, especially supply which is almost an essential on most builds. It's an S for bugs because of it. Supply pack is the mother of S's, having the extra stims is almost a need since you die too easily. Not to mention you can allow yourself way more thermites and any primary(or support) that takes ammo without any worry. There is no way Railgun is on the same category as Quasar. EMANCIPATOR B????? You're insane. This thing clears the map, unless you're playing cowboy with it and not hitting the objectives.
Honestly I don't get the opportunity to actually use the quasar all that often against bugs. Bots you need it non-stop (which makes the RR even better), but I feel like I only get like a half dozen good shots per mission on bugs. EATs or a Commando seem like a better option. Same no-backpack, but they can fire off much faster which is very important when staring down a charger. Plus if you die you don't lose your 10+ minute weapon in enemy territory which is always a big plus.
I think a way to “buff” the Stalwart is to have an amour set that allows you to carry two support weapons instead of one, it would make the use of the stalwart dramatically increase.
Right now my four Stratagems against Bugs are: Eagle Airstrike, Eagle 500kg, Rocket Sentry, Autocannon. With all the changes recently, these four carry most situations.
I’ve fell in love with flame weaponry recently anything sets my enemies alight is what I take Flame shotgun, laser pistol, thermite stick, big flamer, eagle napalm bomb, orbital napalm barrage the only non flame thing is my supply pack that is my big load out and I also drop to any planet with flame tornados cause I rock the fire resistant armour naturally
Stalwart is actually good when paired with a Dominator or Eruptor but it fills a very specific niche of lighter enemy horde clearing. But you need your other divers to be rocking the heavier stuff and/or bring strats to deal with bile titans. Still, when you land on a hunter world, it's extremely good...
I agree with your assessment on the Spear. Used to be my favorite, but now there's really no reason to deal with the lower ammo count when compared to the Recoiless. I think a good way to fix this is buff the Spear even further to one-tap anything enemy/structure from any direction. The Recoiless is amazing now, but you still have to be a little mindful in where exactly you aim. The Spear is a fire-and-forget weapon, so I why not let it be exactly that and give us ridiculous damage. The cost being low ammo count and maybe even a nerf to the cooldown.
I honestly find it really nice for high pressure situations when you just need to kill that tank without thinking. I think it does need some love, because the RR is definitely more useful on average, but I still like it for low visibility (Gaellevire at night in the rain) or high pressure situations (multiple tanks dropped on extract). This is probably colored by the fact I play on the bot front unless the MO is bug.
Don’t know if I’m just unlucky, but the Tesla tower has not stopped a single charger for me yet. Maybe the tower keeps hurting something else and it’s not stunning him but I’m not seeing it.
I feel like the Stalwart should have a lower cooldown like the EAT but it doesn’t get more ammo on pickup. Then you just bring it in as a bonus for ad clear.
a point for the spear being higher ranked than the recoilless rifle would be that at my level of play (friends mostly in the lvl 25-50 range) the spear as a lot more consistent at one-hitting a Bile Titan especially beyond it's spewing range as me and my friends will often not get a clean headshot on a moving titan whereas the spear does it for you.
For the shield generator, maybe not completely keep them out. One possible rework is that the bugs (or bots for that matter) would need to push through the shield in order to get in. While they’re pushing through, it really slows down their movement, allowing you to take them out or reposition. That, along with giving the shield more health and having it last longer would put it in a better spot.
Idk where on earth you got that from. Bugs don’t run away from fire. Only bugs that sort of run away are alpha commanders and that doesn’t have to do with fire
Stalwart is nice for when you want to use something like the Eruptor or Jar-5 but still have something more versatile for general ad clear. Sure you could use MG-43, but Stalwart is more mobile. Also, Flamethrower is better than Torcher IF you have the ship module that buffs the damage of fire strats. The TTK on larger enemies like Alpha Commanders is quite noticable with the upgraded Flamethrower vs Torcher. Until then, Torcher is the way to go!
Yeah the MG-43 is goat until you need to reload. In a team setting your mates can cover you, but in a random match the Stalwart is better for keeping yourself on the move.
I started noticing the pitfalls of Torcher vs Flamethrower on 10s. Fully upgraded everything, and getting 3-4 Alphas in your face vs Torcher was almost always a Reinforcement because they didn’t die fast enough. This really bummed me out since I liked Torcher with Laser Dog and Quasar, but I’ve come to realize it feels mid now.
I run the crossbow for bugs with the grenade pistol and bring the stalwart for my primary and chafe clear. With the 500kg, orbital precision, and napalm barrage you can just sprint through mega nests with crossbow and pistol then whip out stalwart for chafe
To me personally, I don't think the Torcher knocks down the Flamethrower that much. Imo the main thing of a primary agsinst bugs is keeping them off of you, and torcher struggles with that due to wind up and setting yourself on fire, and no stagger.
I feel like the precision strike got stealth nerfed by the adjustments to heavy armor. Before I was using it to one shot chargers, impalers, tanks, and hulks, but now it can't kill them reliably anymore. It's a shame too because it was one of my favorite strategems for dealing with heavies :(
Emancipator is goated this patch. First thing first, I considered myself an above average mech pilot. It does everything like before but much much better this time. Walking into a couple of nests w/o worrying about taking dmg and taking on horde easily. Alongside higher fire rate and dmg, the ammo economy is so much better now. The only gripe I have with it is long cooldown, 2 usages, and not be able to bring TWO different mechs at the same time. Hopefully, ship module upgrade will fix it. I will put Emancipator in S-- tier in my experience though.
i would argue on bugs, quasar is better than recoiless if you are good. it one shots everything on bugs if you aim at the right spot, you dont have to reload and you have a spare backpack slot. not saying that RR is objectively worse on bugs btw, but i feel like the quasar is just as good or a tiny bit better on the bugs. still its not like A tier is a bad placement though also with regards to the flame thrower, i get feeling the torcher is better, but without its existence, imo, flame thrower is easily S tier. with torcher's existence, i can see moving it down to A, not not B tier. its just too good at what it does especially if you dont wanna bring a torcher
Honestly the biggest thing between them is the question of if you feel more confident in finding a few seconds to reload, or a few seconds to shoot. Personally I prefer the recoiless since when I see a target I more often then not prefer to remove it instantly and go back to doing whatever I was doing before. Meanwhile quasar can be really awkward at times when there is a group of hunters and a titan going for you, you might not get the opportunity to charge and shoot without risking one or the other.
@giganticimpact8941 correct, but sometimes you don’t have time to reload the RR in a lot of situations. The quasar gives you more leeway as you can keep fighting normally. You don’t have to stop to reload, which in high difficulties, can be quite challenging to do with such a long reload like the RR has. Again, it’s not like there’s a huge difference, but I don’t think the RR or the quasar is clearly better than the other
Technically regarding break points of bug enemies, Quasar and RR are the same. I personally prefer Quasar + Backpack than RR, but RR can 1-shot Spore Spewer and Shrieker Nest and for that utility difference I think it deserves S and Quasar High A.
About the Flame Thrower, when It was the only available option to kill Chargers, I used it a lot, but now with so many ATs that delete heavies I don't see the point of using it specially playing with Randoms. By the time you get near a swarm or near a heavy, someone will already tossed an Eagle or Shot an AT. It is too risky, either because of team kill or because being close to bugs it is not safe like always. B (average) tier is fair IMO.
Umm, it's bad as it has poor penetration and the bullets are mosquito bites. MMG is better as it is versatile. There are so many primaries that are just better to use for clearing chaff or stunning or staggering heavier units. A support weapon needs at least medium pen to be worth bringing, but I do play at diff 6-10 where there are lots of medium to heavy units.
@@firedrapeon6012 I play it on 10 mostly. Just for fun. I just use explosive crossbow as main and some air strikes against big guys. Works just fine. Most load outs do. But yeah the damage against isn’t that great
@@firedrapeon6012 I run stalwart on rank 10 all the time and often time end up with most kills and few or 0 deaths. You can role swap with the stalwart and bring a medium pen primary to deal with mediums. I usually like stalwart + dominator, but ofc things like eruptor and crossbow are also great. The medium mg is good an has it’s place, but stalwart has 100 more bullets per mag, a faster reload, and can be reloaded on the move, which is huge for bugs. It is somewhat mission dependent as to where it will be more useful. If you get caught bringing the stalwart when spewers spawn, then ya you’ll have a rough time. But you have some advance knowledge of enemy spawns depending on mission type (icbm, raise flag in particular have high chance of spawning green and yellow spewers respectively). On a map with high hunter spawn though (eggs, sometimes geologic survey), the stalwart is a god send. Shreds through packs of hunters which are way more deadly than lots of other threats you’ll face.
I think the termite grenade making it so you dont specifically feel like you need anti-tank to deal with charger spam helped the most airstrike eagle feels un-needed since most things can do with most things now where I would consider it an A since it seems like general purpose instead of strictly always the best I think the shield backpack will always be an S to me because i play in heavy and it prevents bile titan spit from always damaging me (and reduces ragdolling potential) smoke's in 4 player co-op seem kinda useless unfortunately and the rocket pods eagle has so far 100% rate one shot impalers for me but idk why so it mentally moved to the A category for me lmao (find it bad on chargers though)
Tesla still needs to be swapped to a higher damage version of the Arc-12 Blitzer instead of being arc thrower. its not terrible now but the fact that chargers just blow through it still means its kinda ass
Regarding the Support Weapons section, IMO your tier list criteria is realistic and the list end up being solid. I personally would not change any of the guns from the tiers you put them, maybe reorder 1 or 2 inside the same tier.
Arc thrower in anything that isnt solo is actually just braindead broken. As long as youre lucky enough (or fast enough) to not deal with bile titans, you have an infinite ammo insanely good ad clear weapon that can chainstun heavies and 1-2 shot everything except 3 enemies
The auto canon to me isnt thst great like i aint gonna use it to kill small enemies and it takes a while to kill a titan You just take the recoilless and can one shot titans and chargers So it feels bad to use the auto canon
Airburst is for top tier players only, noobs tend to wipe the team. You can clear large fields of chaff easily, eg big breaches or higher difficulty patrols. the reload is really shit though.
The Ballistic Shield makes you immune to: All Non-Melee/Rocket Troopers Devastators Scout Striders Shredder Tanks Heavy Devastators Factory Strider chin guns Light Turrets Heavy Turrets Gunship turret-fire Having this thing equipped means that the only things which actually pose a threat are Heavy-Cannons (Which will basically always one-shot/terrain-one-shot you) and Rockets, most of which can be dodged unless you're unlucky enough to get a mission where damn near every Devastator is a Rocket Dev
ballistic shield needs to be able to fold out similar to montagne from R6 siege, but bigger, so you can provide large cover for your team as you all push forwards
@dripwastaken7884 absolutely not! Give it a high volume version of the 2nd worst gun in the game and place a cap on its ammo when BOTH other dogs are inf ammo.....are you trolling?
@@IDirtyMangoI laser doesnt get medium pen and gas literally doesnt kill shit above warriors so i think it would be balanced. Maybe 4 or 5 refills woulf do better but it should have medium pen and more ammo per mag
@dripwastaken7884 it doesn't have med pen it has something intensely superior. Fire DoT which does crap loads of additional dps and bypasses up to lvl4 armor. Gas is a free gtf off me tool for alphas and chargers. Everything else should be dead
Why would you give it medium pen AND make it a primary? Making it medium pen alone almost immediately makes it outclass the mmg. Making it a primary in addition to medium pen automatically makes it probably the best primary in the game, bar none. It really makes no sense to do either of those things considering the current state of the weapon.
No it’s actually pretty good when you realize what turrets do. They provide cover fire, shoot very accurately, and can distract enemies. You can make the argument it’s the worst sentry, but it still does its job very well and its cooldown makes it very reliable in a pinch. Again, maybe the worst sentry, but I’d say it’s still in B tier in part because at least now, all of the sentries are pretty good
lol @ the constant parade of "just got here, is this bugs or bots"... As if one couldn't just listen to any 5 second stretch of the video and know which faction he's talking about.
Someone mentioned that the flamethrower has less tick rate than it used to, despite the damage buff it lost 50% of its dps because of it. Regardless, I honestly don't understand the love for the torcher, it feels much weaker and often gets me killed in situation the flamethrower would do ok...
Interesting, Torcher feels great to me after the buffs especially compared to before. It kills things fast, even things it used to struggle with. A-Tier primary imo.
I can set up in a high ground area, drop supplies and then hit all tanks, heavies, bug holes or factories from 300+ meters away, site unseen and through visual issues like spore/smoke/environment. The recoilless rifle is a glorified EAT, that makes you take a backpack and requires line of site and basically close range.
Strafing run in C when this thing can shred devastators and destroy fabricators and holes is actual insanity. AMR and Laser in B? Below the QUASAR? Yeah no maple is an actual IRL clown
How the hell are you ranking the Queso so low? Have you even used it? One shot to EVERYTHING. Did you even test these weapons lol 1 shot to a biles mouth. 1 shot to chargers head. 1 shot to hulks. 1 shot to fabricators. It's literally a delete button bro. The recoilless is the quasar that takes up a backpack slot absolutely unnecessarily. First time I've hard disagreed with you
Can’t one shot tanks or drop ships to the body, slower fire rate than RR, damn windup can get flinched by any chaff, can’t team reload for back to back heavy kills
The recoilless takes up a backpack slot, but in turn that also frees up a strategem slot that doesn't have to be used for a backpack. And I can't count all the times I've seen a charger already stomping towards me or a teammate, where I wouldn't have time to wait for the quasar's long wind-up. Or the times when there's multiple heavies that need killing and I can get off a 3 second reload, but wouldn't want to wait 15 seconds for the quasar cooldown. I think both weapons are in a good place, and the quasar definitely has some strong advantages, but the advantages of the quasar tend towards QoL (not having to worry about ammo, more flexibility with the back slot), while the Recoilless wins on pure performance potential (when you absolutely MUST delete a target RIGHT NOW, no questions asked). And it's not usually that difficult to keep its ammo stocked.
honestly regular guard dog is really good now. The liberator got buffed which applies to it as well and since the rover got or is getting fixed to overheat normally now its a lot more on par
With how good the crossbow is (spewer-be-gone), I've been skipping a support weapon and just running rocket and gatling sentries simultaneously for bugs. Now I'm actually excited when I find a support weapon at a Point of Interest!
This or get buddies and use Standard loadouts, but 1 guy with expendable anti tank and one with recoilless. So much fun
I love any opportunity to pick up a break action shotgun
It's so fun to use
Crossbow + stalwart vs bugs is fun. Use stalwart as main then xbow for medium + enemies. I just love using the stalwart or machine gun cuz i love spraying without reloading. Turn rpm to max on stalwart
I use xbow for everything medium range and further while the bushwhacker for anything that gets close. Then either a laser or gun 🐕 depending on the map. I'll get my support from the team or from a pick-up.
The issue with the stalwart isn't anything to do with the weapon itself, rather helldivers doesn't really have enemies that have high health with low durability and armour. It fills a niche that doesn't exist yet.
*Illuminate looking nervously from the void*
@@dawhoopass it should still be A tier for bugs imo. It absolutely shreds the chaff and it’s also the best weapon to combine with the crossbow/eruptor which are both hella strong rn
I shure as hell hope they dont add more bullet sponges. Btw the impaler and charger are prime exampels of low armor high hp and the stalwart fucking sucks against them
They should honestly just give it the redeemer ammo and make it a primary
@@dripwastaken7884 The charger is 80% durable, so the stalwarts damage is being considerably reduced. The impalers are similarly durable, at 75%. I said an enemy with high health but LOW durabiliy and low armour doesnt exist.
@@dripwastaken7884 bruh what u smokin impalers and chargers are 2 of the 3 most armored enemies on the bug front
What I think everyone forgets when they're comparing things like the torcher and the flamethrower to one another, is that we're assuming that everyone playing the game has access to every war bond. Not everybody plays Helldivers so much that they have unlocked every war bond and therefore, they may not be able to consider the torcher as an option against the flamethrower.
Secret to the Stalwart is bringing the crossbow or eruptor primary, setting the fire rate on the Stalwart to the max and just bullet hosing everything.
Stalwart rules against bugs.
Exactly this. I also bring engineering kit armor for the recoil reduction and extra grenades (typically thermite or gas depending on my AT stratagems).
I like running it with the dominator and thermites.
Autocannon turret would be perfect for me if it would just STOP 3 round bursting every target, like even the basic bugs it’ll still triple tap. If we cut it to defaulting to a 2 round burst (or hell, just only shoot when things are still alive) the ammo economy would feel so much better. This and a faster turning time would make this a perfect pick
Agree. Durable damage for the AC needs a buff.
The turret you describe is the rocket one. It already exists
@@dripwastaken7884 the rocket turret hasn’t fired more than one rocket since the June update, where they reduced the rockets per salvo from 2 to 1
@@epsilon1372 rocket turrets are means to snipe in bots, bugs it needs to be played somewhere with lots of sight n hope bugs don't rush it. A gattling is safer to use near a breach with your AT and gas nades as support
Stalwart is A tier for bugs for me. Love having it for the hoarde
I'm surprised to see 120 Barrage so low
Yeah it absolutely destroys bug breaches like the orbital napalm but just with a lower calldown and the capability to kill heavies
Good for nests too
Compared to Napalm is somewhat of a downgrade, barely side grade. Performs wors on bug and bot front. Struggles with big nests, due to smaller AOE than 380mm. It is slower and has fewer projectiles in a wave than Napalm, no lingering effect of fire. The only reediming factor compared to those two is lower cooldown, but that's not that much, given how fucking good Napalm and 380mm are.
The 120 is good for breaches, but since the health boost that some enemies got it's not as strong as it was before the 17th, and it doesn't pack that destructive radius that the 380 has to almost of not completely solo a heavy nest.
@@mauriciomeyer627Is the buff to the damage they gave it not enough to keep up with the hp buff? Or only significant if you aren't running a weapon that would 1 shot the Heavy, like the HMH or AC-8, LaserCannon, so on.
Emancipator is S tier. Its really not hard to survive against bugs, and has enough ammo to take out a mega nest and every heavy enemy with enough ammo to spare to take out a couple bug breached too. Its ridiculously potent, just gotta know how to use it since one wrong step and it explodes
i think its still A tier until it gets one or more extra uses. if it wasnt limited to two uses, id agree
@@epsilon1372 it has a potential to kill like 3-4x more enemies than a orbital laser and that has 3 total uses. 2 uses is plenty, since I spend like 5-10minutes easily per use in it eradicating everything in sight. 2 uses is more than enough
@@FrozenByFire3especially if u use the first use of the emancipator to destroy the heavy nest at the start of the match, such a fun way to absolutely take over the game from the jump
@@FrozenByFire3 It also has the potential to kill nothing at all. Not sure how explosion-prone it is on bugs tbh, but I expect there are several things that can bring it down quick. Teammates if nothing else.
Laser calls in fast and is more of a panic button. Calling in a mech takes ages.
@@FrozenByFire3 not when they are as fragile as they are. Also idk why you’re bringing in the orbital laser into account. It’s good, but it’s not even close to being S tier and is also in need of some changes whether it’s the laser lasting even longer, being stronger, or having an extra use. Besides, unlike the laser, you gotta be careful with mechs because they can die very easily, meaning that one mistake can cost you your entire mech. You also can’t call for anything in the mech or use any of your other weapons. Again the mech is good. I like it a lot myself. But until it’s more reliable (either having more health or an extra use), its never gonna have the same value as S-tier stratagems
stalward is basically a primary. best to pair it with a primary which performs like a support weapon, like the crossbow or eruptor. that way you end up with stalward to fight off hunters and warriors and crossbow to take out medium enemies if you need to.
Best tier list I have seen so far since unlike other youtubers you take into consideration teamplay and pairings with other equipment
Best tierlist in the HD2 community! Your videos are one of my favorite parts of new updates.
Great recommendation of the rocket sentry. Never thought to try it til i saw the high ranking... NICE
Rail-cannon strike should get a second charge perhaps a ship module that increases the charge of rail cannon strike & orbital laser both by 1.
always wait for your tierlist videos, thanks for these everytime
The strafing run should be way higher, one shots impalers and spore chargers, finishes off any titans or behemoths that got hit even just the tiniest bit. Very good
It also takes out bot fabs with a reasonable placement. See Eravin's patch summary video
@@wheatiesman yes, anything with AP5 can kill bot fabricators now and the strafing run can kill 2 at a time if aimed right. Pretty neat
I run arc 12, it's great crowd control but slow kill. Drop a strafing run at the mob you have piled up though and problems disappear
I feel an issue a lot of tierlisters forget is the level requirements for stratagems. Strafing run might not be the best when you've got everything, but for being so early to acquire it's goated.
Because it’s very easy to unlock everything. And most players you meet at difficulties 7 or higher are at level 30 or above, which is the level in which you unlock pretty much everything in the game. Very rarely do you get players lower than that in these difficulties
@@epsilon1372 I guess I don't have enough experience at high difficulty. I still feel that balancing from the highest skill level is very short-sighted though, most players (don't quote me on this) don't play the higher end of the difficulty rating. I realize that tiers made from harder difficulties means more time spent with each stratagem, but nobody thinks of the newbies getting the game because of the buffdivers hype.
@@epsilon1372I was also mostly referring to the ship upgrades, those take a while to get, he talks about 'having two' for the 500kg but unless you're rushing straight down the eagle upgrades you're stuck with 1.
3:12 beginning
Orbital Napalm has exactly what I'm looking for in a stratagem. Visuals, effectiveness, power fantasy, it's got it all.
The Gas Stratagem is unironically a fantastic thing to take with regard to bugs or bots. It's got an ~70 second cooldown, which means in just about _any_ firefight, you'll have it at your disposal.
Granted its DOT is pretty small, but it's a great set up for either a napalm strike, or eagle strike.
Quasar Allows backpack, especially supply which is almost an essential on most builds. It's an S for bugs because of it. Supply pack is the mother of S's, having the extra stims is almost a need since you die too easily. Not to mention you can allow yourself way more thermites and any primary(or support) that takes ammo without any worry. There is no way Railgun is on the same category as Quasar. EMANCIPATOR B????? You're insane. This thing clears the map, unless you're playing cowboy with it and not hitting the objectives.
Honestly I don't get the opportunity to actually use the quasar all that often against bugs. Bots you need it non-stop (which makes the RR even better), but I feel like I only get like a half dozen good shots per mission on bugs. EATs or a Commando seem like a better option. Same no-backpack, but they can fire off much faster which is very important when staring down a charger. Plus if you die you don't lose your 10+ minute weapon in enemy territory which is always a big plus.
I think a way to “buff” the Stalwart is to have an amour set that allows you to carry two support weapons instead of one, it would make the use of the stalwart dramatically increase.
Right now my four Stratagems against Bugs are: Eagle Airstrike, Eagle 500kg, Rocket Sentry, Autocannon.
With all the changes recently, these four carry most situations.
I’ve fell in love with flame weaponry recently anything sets my enemies alight is what I take
Flame shotgun, laser pistol, thermite stick, big flamer, eagle napalm bomb, orbital napalm barrage the only non flame thing is my supply pack that is my big load out and I also drop to any planet with flame tornados cause I rock the fire resistant armour naturally
A neat upgrade for mines would be a IFF system added to the mines. Where they wont explode when a helldiver is near.
been more than a week and this is the only updated tier list, im guessing maple's gonna wait for the next balance patch before going all in
Stalwart is actually good when paired with a Dominator or Eruptor but it fills a very specific niche of lighter enemy horde clearing. But you need your other divers to be rocking the heavier stuff and/or bring strats to deal with bile titans. Still, when you land on a hunter world, it's extremely good...
I agree with your assessment on the Spear. Used to be my favorite, but now there's really no reason to deal with the lower ammo count when compared to the Recoiless. I think a good way to fix this is buff the Spear even further to one-tap anything enemy/structure from any direction. The Recoiless is amazing now, but you still have to be a little mindful in where exactly you aim. The Spear is a fire-and-forget weapon, so I why not let it be exactly that and give us ridiculous damage. The cost being low ammo count and maybe even a nerf to the cooldown.
I honestly find it really nice for high pressure situations when you just need to kill that tank without thinking. I think it does need some love, because the RR is definitely more useful on average, but I still like it for low visibility (Gaellevire at night in the rain) or high pressure situations (multiple tanks dropped on extract). This is probably colored by the fact I play on the bot front unless the MO is bug.
Don’t know if I’m just unlucky, but the Tesla tower has not stopped a single charger for me yet. Maybe the tower keeps hurting something else and it’s not stunning him but I’m not seeing it.
I feel like the Stalwart should have a lower cooldown like the EAT but it doesn’t get more ammo on pickup. Then you just bring it in as a bonus for ad clear.
a point for the spear being higher ranked than the recoilless rifle would be that at my level of play (friends mostly in the lvl 25-50 range) the spear as a lot more consistent at one-hitting a Bile Titan especially beyond it's spewing range as me and my friends will often not get a clean headshot on a moving titan whereas the spear does it for you.
For the shield generator, maybe not completely keep them out. One possible rework is that the bugs (or bots for that matter) would need to push through the shield in order to get in. While they’re pushing through, it really slows down their movement, allowing you to take them out or reposition. That, along with giving the shield more health and having it last longer would put it in a better spot.
The eagle napalm also makes space between you and the enemies as the bugs try to avoid the fire.
The bugs literally do not care about the fire they just walk straight trough it so your still dealing with all the scarry ones
Idk where on earth you got that from. Bugs don’t run away from fire. Only bugs that sort of run away are alpha commanders and that doesn’t have to do with fire
Stalwart is nice for when you want to use something like the Eruptor or Jar-5 but still have something more versatile for general ad clear. Sure you could use MG-43, but Stalwart is more mobile.
Also, Flamethrower is better than Torcher IF you have the ship module that buffs the damage of fire strats. The TTK on larger enemies like Alpha Commanders is quite noticable with the upgraded Flamethrower vs Torcher. Until then, Torcher is the way to go!
Yeah the MG-43 is goat until you need to reload. In a team setting your mates can cover you, but in a random match the Stalwart is better for keeping yourself on the move.
Btw dominator has overpen! You can kill 2 bugs per shot most ppl dont know this
I started noticing the pitfalls of Torcher vs Flamethrower on 10s. Fully upgraded everything, and getting 3-4 Alphas in your face vs Torcher was almost always a Reinforcement because they didn’t die fast enough. This really bummed me out since I liked Torcher with Laser Dog and Quasar, but I’ve come to realize it feels mid now.
@@kevvvbot not the smartest thing to directly shoot commanders becsuse flames will bounce off them while they charge at you and set you on fire
I run the crossbow for bugs with the grenade pistol and bring the stalwart for my primary and chafe clear. With the 500kg, orbital precision, and napalm barrage you can just sprint through mega nests with crossbow and pistol then whip out stalwart for chafe
are you gona do a tier list against automatons too?
Strafing run will one shot impalers if you hit it straight on. It’s crazy.
Favorite low cooldown setup.
Recoiless
Gatling barrage or gas
Eagle of choice
Machine gun sentry
?? flamethrower a tier at least cmon
I just had an idea. Eagle gas strike, that would be rlly nice
Deep rock has a shield generator. Bugs cannot go through it and it has no health. It just lasts until its done.
What is the Best strategem gun to use with supply backpack?
Surprised to not see either of the Chem stats on the list
Its a silly idea, but since stalwart is machine gun based on mobility, what if we gave it some way to be used while carrying SSD
Thats called the knight smg, it already exists
I don't have the torcher yet, I don't even have that option. I always bring it anyway cuz I hate them violating my personal space.
To me personally, I don't think the Torcher knocks down the Flamethrower that much. Imo the main thing of a primary agsinst bugs is keeping them off of you, and torcher struggles with that due to wind up and setting yourself on fire, and no stagger.
I feel like the precision strike got stealth nerfed by the adjustments to heavy armor. Before I was using it to one shot chargers, impalers, tanks, and hulks, but now it can't kill them reliably anymore. It's a shame too because it was one of my favorite strategems for dealing with heavies :(
It’s likely because of the health changes of enemies. This will likely be adjusted in the future updates
They buffed the dmg of the precision strike too, they just made it highly projectile weighted. Most the dmg is from the shel not the explosion now
Precision Strike got stealth nerfed by Thermites
What about Break Action Shotgun? Easy S++++
If the shield gen stunned bugs when they walk in that'd be cool
I see that you own a parrot cat as well, nice.👍
Emancipator is goated this patch. First thing first, I considered myself an above average mech pilot.
It does everything like before but much much better this time. Walking into a couple of nests w/o worrying about taking dmg and taking on horde easily. Alongside higher fire rate and dmg, the ammo economy is so much better now.
The only gripe I have with it is long cooldown, 2 usages, and not be able to bring TWO different mechs at the same time. Hopefully, ship module upgrade will fix it.
I will put Emancipator in S-- tier in my experience though.
I would be so happy if they allow us to aim and shoot with the jetpack going bf2 jettrooper with EAT
Ballistic shield is S tier for bugs
Based
They should buff the Flamethrower's range and maybe add more damage.
What about the sterilizer?
Dunno what the video is about but i agree with Luna
Flamethrower is absolutely S tier, just because the torcher exists doesn't mean it is bad imo
i would argue on bugs, quasar is better than recoiless if you are good. it one shots everything on bugs if you aim at the right spot, you dont have to reload and you have a spare backpack slot. not saying that RR is objectively worse on bugs btw, but i feel like the quasar is just as good or a tiny bit better on the bugs. still its not like A tier is a bad placement though
also with regards to the flame thrower, i get feeling the torcher is better, but without its existence, imo, flame thrower is easily S tier. with torcher's existence, i can see moving it down to A, not not B tier. its just too good at what it does especially if you dont wanna bring a torcher
Honestly the biggest thing between them is the question of if you feel more confident in finding a few seconds to reload, or a few seconds to shoot. Personally I prefer the recoiless since when I see a target I more often then not prefer to remove it instantly and go back to doing whatever I was doing before. Meanwhile quasar can be really awkward at times when there is a group of hunters and a titan going for you, you might not get the opportunity to charge and shoot without risking one or the other.
@giganticimpact8941 correct, but sometimes you don’t have time to reload the RR in a lot of situations. The quasar gives you more leeway as you can keep fighting normally. You don’t have to stop to reload, which in high difficulties, can be quite challenging to do with such a long reload like the RR has. Again, it’s not like there’s a huge difference, but I don’t think the RR or the quasar is clearly better than the other
@@Azrael178 that’s fair. I think I prefer quasar namely because it lets me have a shield pack, but I get what you mean
Technically regarding break points of bug enemies, Quasar and RR are the same. I personally prefer Quasar + Backpack than RR, but RR can 1-shot Spore Spewer and Shrieker Nest and for that utility difference I think it deserves S and Quasar High A.
About the Flame Thrower, when It was the only available option to kill Chargers, I used it a lot, but now with so many ATs that delete heavies I don't see the point of using it specially playing with Randoms. By the time you get near a swarm or near a heavy, someone will already tossed an Eagle or Shot an AT. It is too risky, either because of team kill or because being close to bugs it is not safe like always. B (average) tier is fair IMO.
Stalwart in C tier is a crime
most fun i had was just playing stalwart + shield in defence missions. it's so great
Umm, it's bad as it has poor penetration and the bullets are mosquito bites. MMG is better as it is versatile. There are so many primaries that are just better to use for clearing chaff or stunning or staggering heavier units.
A support weapon needs at least medium pen to be worth bringing, but I do play at diff 6-10 where there are lots of medium to heavy units.
@@firedrapeon6012 I play it on 10 mostly. Just for fun. I just use explosive crossbow as main and some air strikes against big guys. Works just fine. Most load outs do. But yeah the damage against isn’t that great
@@firedrapeon6012 I run stalwart on rank 10 all the time and often time end up with most kills and few or 0 deaths. You can role swap with the stalwart and bring a medium pen primary to deal with mediums. I usually like stalwart + dominator, but ofc things like eruptor and crossbow are also great. The medium mg is good an has it’s place, but stalwart has 100 more bullets per mag, a faster reload, and can be reloaded on the move, which is huge for bugs.
It is somewhat mission dependent as to where it will be more useful. If you get caught bringing the stalwart when spewers spawn, then ya you’ll have a rough time. But you have some advance knowledge of enemy spawns depending on mission type (icbm, raise flag in particular have high chance of spawning green and yellow spewers respectively).
On a map with high hunter spawn though (eggs, sometimes geologic survey), the stalwart is a god send. Shreds through packs of hunters which are way more deadly than lots of other threats you’ll face.
I think the termite grenade making it so you dont specifically feel like you need anti-tank to deal with charger spam helped the most
airstrike eagle feels un-needed since most things can do with most things now where I would consider it an A since it seems like general purpose instead of strictly always the best
I think the shield backpack will always be an S to me because i play in heavy and it prevents bile titan spit from always damaging me (and reduces ragdolling potential)
smoke's in 4 player co-op seem kinda useless unfortunately
and the rocket pods eagle has so far 100% rate one shot impalers for me but idk why so it mentally moved to the A category for me lmao (find it bad on chargers though)
Tesla still needs to be swapped to a higher damage version of the Arc-12 Blitzer instead of being arc thrower. its not terrible now but the fact that chargers just blow through it still means its kinda ass
Regarding the Support Weapons section, IMO your tier list criteria is realistic and the list end up being solid. I personally would not change any of the guns from the tiers you put them, maybe reorder 1 or 2 inside the same tier.
Arc thrower in anything that isnt solo is actually just braindead broken. As long as youre lucky enough (or fast enough) to not deal with bile titans, you have an infinite ammo insanely good ad clear weapon that can chainstun heavies and 1-2 shot everything except 3 enemies
Let’s gooo he’s back!
The auto canon to me isnt thst great like i aint gonna use it to kill small enemies and it takes a while to kill a titan
You just take the recoilless and can one shot titans and chargers
So it feels bad to use the auto canon
it 2 shots Brood Commanders and Hive Guards, it's great
120 needs a buff, maybe longer duration
Stalwart is reliable as hell on bugs on bots you should've brought mg43
Cookout is better than Stalwart. If Incendiary Breaker still had the 6 mags total, it would also be better than Stalwart. Well deserved C tier.
If airburst rocket launcher isn't s-tier, i'm gonna explode
If you are using the airburst rocket launcher, chances are you are gonna explode either way
@@slightlyinsanebiscuit indeed
Airburst is for top tier players only, noobs tend to wipe the team. You can clear large fields of chaff easily, eg big breaches or higher difficulty patrols. the reload is really shit though.
One *fell* swoop, not foul.
Leave stalwart alone it's supposed to fill primary for when your running eruptor or jar or cross bow ectera
Quasar is S tier
The Ballistic Shield makes you immune to:
All Non-Melee/Rocket Troopers
Devastators
Scout Striders
Shredder Tanks
Heavy Devastators
Factory Strider chin guns
Light Turrets
Heavy Turrets
Gunship turret-fire
Having this thing equipped means that the only things which actually pose a threat are Heavy-Cannons (Which will basically always one-shot/terrain-one-shot you) and Rockets, most of which can be dodged unless you're unlucky enough to get a mission where damn near every Devastator is a Rocket Dev
If only shield striders weren't so common 😕
@@user-jc1fq7sv1w Yeah Striders will absolutely rocket you from nowhere and instantly delete the shield in the process.
@@user-jc1fq7sv1wrocket striders are cancer. I hope we get an MO to nerf those SOBs.
@@FazeParticles yeah those rockets are so strong they usually kill fabricators or hulks
@@user-jc1fq7sv1w what? i'm talking about the rocket striders. they don't shoot fabs or hulks because they're on the same team. lol.
Quasar should be S, same breakpoints as the RR for BTs and can also 1 shot chargers to the head
It can 1 shot all bugs to the face. Including impalers. you have to aim for their smooth spot on there exposed head to 1 shot it.
I swear today I one shot a Titan with the railgun but I'm sure someone else hit it first
yeah it can one tap to the eye on high enough charge, it's been able to since before escalation of Freedom
It will always require 3 90% charge headshots if not damaged. While doing this its best to aim at the forehead / face armor plate
@@ilikestarwars4438besides that bile titant dont even have eyes
@@dripwastaken7884 I thought he was talking about a hulk lol, it could one tap hulks since escalation of freedom
@@ilikestarwars4438 stuff like railgun also always oneshot hulks
Sterlizer?
Doesnt kill shit, barely useable imo
@@dripwastaken7884what about with a duo flamethrower teamamate
@@silydragonS you could just use a flame thrower and get the same result
ballistic shield needs to be able to fold out similar to montagne from R6 siege, but bigger, so you can provide large cover for your team as you all push forwards
Regular guard dog needs to be using the breaker shotgun or the pummeler smg. as long as it uses liberator it's gonna be kinda mid
Maybe you could give it your secondary or primary and have it blast things with a stim pistol or something.
Literally give it a 120 round liberator penetrator with 2 recharges and its good
@dripwastaken7884 absolutely not! Give it a high volume version of the 2nd worst gun in the game and place a cap on its ammo when BOTH other dogs are inf ammo.....are you trolling?
@@IDirtyMangoI laser doesnt get medium pen and gas literally doesnt kill shit above warriors so i think it would be balanced. Maybe 4 or 5 refills woulf do better but it should have medium pen and more ammo per mag
@dripwastaken7884 it doesn't have med pen it has something intensely superior. Fire DoT which does crap loads of additional dps and bypasses up to lvl4 armor. Gas is a free gtf off me tool for alphas and chargers. Everything else should be dead
did he just say "charger going afk" ? lol
Thats a big fucking cat
Make the stalwart a primary, give it medium pen
Sounds OP lol
Why would you give it medium pen AND make it a primary? Making it medium pen alone almost immediately makes it outclass the mmg. Making it a primary in addition to medium pen automatically makes it probably the best primary in the game, bar none. It really makes no sense to do either of those things considering the current state of the weapon.
Make it use redeemer ammo, make it primary
Bruuuuuh MG turret should be C tier. Does not make up the difference with it's slightly shorter cooldown at all
No it’s actually pretty good when you realize what turrets do. They provide cover fire, shoot very accurately, and can distract enemies. You can make the argument it’s the worst sentry, but it still does its job very well and its cooldown makes it very reliable in a pinch. Again, maybe the worst sentry, but I’d say it’s still in B tier in part because at least now, all of the sentries are pretty good
Your cat is seeking fame and hogs the camera! 🐱
I liked this for the cat
lol @ the constant parade of "just got here, is this bugs or bots"... As if one couldn't just listen to any 5 second stretch of the video and know which faction he's talking about.
Someone mentioned that the flamethrower has less tick rate than it used to, despite the damage buff it lost 50% of its dps because of it.
Regardless, I honestly don't understand the love for the torcher, it feels much weaker and often gets me killed in situation the flamethrower would do ok...
Interesting, Torcher feels great to me after the buffs especially compared to before. It kills things fast, even things it used to struggle with.
A-Tier primary imo.
Sounds like a you problem
I do prefer the flame thrower, but the torcher allows you to deal with small hordes while you can have something else to deal with heavier enemies
Brother I thought you died
Flamethrower mixed with Gas Nade and Orbital is S. A powerful monster
This thing on 🎤?
New player opinion videos are always a good laugh
Orbital Airburst this low is a crime
You lost me on the spear not being S tier. Sorry, can’t watch anymore after that.
Literally just a worse Recoilles rn.
Cant aim it, has less ammo, doesnt hit any breakpoints that the recoilles doesnt hit
I can set up in a high ground area, drop supplies and then hit all tanks, heavies, bug holes or factories from 300+ meters away, site unseen and through visual issues like spore/smoke/environment. The recoilless rifle is a glorified EAT, that makes you take a backpack and requires line of site and basically close range.
@@forestmoriarty2932 nah just learn how to aim it and your good. Also most ppl actually want to play the game instead of afk killing everything
Strafing run in C when this thing can shred devastators and destroy fabricators and holes is actual insanity. AMR and Laser in B? Below the QUASAR? Yeah no maple is an actual IRL clown
How the hell are you ranking the Queso so low? Have you even used it? One shot to EVERYTHING. Did you even test these weapons lol 1 shot to a biles mouth. 1 shot to chargers head. 1 shot to hulks. 1 shot to fabricators. It's literally a delete button bro. The recoilless is the quasar that takes up a backpack slot absolutely unnecessarily. First time I've hard disagreed with you
Can’t one shot tanks or drop ships to the body, slower fire rate than RR, damn windup can get flinched by any chaff, can’t team reload for back to back heavy kills
@@legitbetterthanvinny9725Yup, i would rather have my teammates running RR to easily delete heavies and bot drops.
@@liammorkFr, recoiless > quasar
The recoilless takes up a backpack slot, but in turn that also frees up a strategem slot that doesn't have to be used for a backpack. And I can't count all the times I've seen a charger already stomping towards me or a teammate, where I wouldn't have time to wait for the quasar's long wind-up. Or the times when there's multiple heavies that need killing and I can get off a 3 second reload, but wouldn't want to wait 15 seconds for the quasar cooldown.
I think both weapons are in a good place, and the quasar definitely has some strong advantages, but the advantages of the quasar tend towards QoL (not having to worry about ammo, more flexibility with the back slot), while the Recoilless wins on pure performance potential (when you absolutely MUST delete a target RIGHT NOW, no questions asked). And it's not usually that difficult to keep its ammo stocked.
On bugs it's super annoying because the little guys often flinches you when it heats up
honestly regular guard dog is really good now. The liberator got buffed which applies to it as well and since the rover got or is getting fixed to overheat normally now its a lot more on par
Is not fixed as of now so theres no reason to ever use the liberator one unless you care for your teammates
Best tierlist in the HD2 community! Your videos are one of my favorite parts of new updates.