17:30 - 18:05 CORRECTION: Resupplying the guard dog when the game came out would only replenish 50%. The update to the guard dog's resupply made it so all 6 reserve magazines would be replenished. I misread the patch notes and misunderstood the guard dog resupply as a new feature rather than an adjustment. Thanks to those for pointing that out!
Me too, its so annoying to need to call in a resupply just to restock it. ITS LIBERATOR AMMO, Your telling me those Boxes don't have Liberator MAgs in them?!
100% would make it more common on the battlefield. as of now, you only see it once in a blue moon when a player is experimenting n seeing how it performs. cpl days later, you run into that same player and they running w the rover. forever.
@silentsong1649 is that cuz of the potential for personal headshots n frying ur own brains? or cuz you're like me n want to play anti-meta builds? curious as to your reasoning. this video inspired me to run guard dog all night tonight when I'm done working. and I like the guard dog btw, I just always lean into the rover due to ammo economy. also, I've got a killer laser-tag build that works agaisnt bugs and bots and the rover is a main stay w that build.
They really need to give the ability to turn the guard dog on and off that would change the game. You don't always wanted to waste bullets when you don't need the help, but it's always out of bullets when you really need it
The fact that map ammo pickups do not reload this backpack, whereas it reloads other ammo related backpacks, nerfs the shit out of the guard dog so bad to the point that it is genuinely useless. It doesn’t make sense that it doesn’t reload either since the liberator primary can use map ammo pickups but the liberator guard dog cannot. If they fixed this ammo problem the AR guard dog would be useful for like, sample divers and such since it has higher DPS but is less efficient; efficiency can be counteracted by often coming along map ammo pickups. It’s bizarre that they allow the las dog to be one of the strongest backpacks in the game and let the AR one be the worst.
This is exactly the reason why I don't use it. I love how powerful it is and am ok with that it reloads frequently. I also wish I could order it to rearm manually, not just when it is empty.
Guard Dog does so much damage is so accurate, its only downside is how fast it can burn through ammo. If they just made it so the small ammo packs around the map gave 1-2 Guard Dog mags it would be a super solid backpack slot. I've also never been shot by the Guard Dog in all my time using it, while the Rover feels like it's actively trying to kill me sometimes.
I pretty much had the same experience as you described. I did feel I was hogging a lot of the resupply calls so it would be great if the ammo packs on the map would replenish the magazines on the backpack, even by 1. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
I use the guard dog a lot and I've noticed that it's efficient with it's damage, one burst can kill 3 1hit enemy's at once as it won't waste a full burst on a target that won't need more than 1 bullet to kill, against the bots however it's run out of ammo a lot more as it has a habit of shooting fabricators until it runs out of ammo
Yo, sticking a stratagem to it for precise positioning is wild. If you care, that one last bullet is in the chamber of the gun and not wasted. The devs took care to make the guns respect that. I suspect the guard dog saves the last round so it doesnt need to manually chamber the next round. This would check out with the first mag having one less round (with 30 round mags). The first mag would be loaded, the round chambered, and the last bullet would be retained to facilitate the automatic firing and rechambering. Another point of logical weapon behaviour! Loving your deep dives. Thanks for these.
Thanks for explaining that and appreciate your kind words. I spent a beyond reasonable amount of time watching my footage in slow-mo to make sure I was tallying the shots fired from the drone correctly haha. Appreciate you watching!
It would be cool if the guard dog stayed docked on your backpack and direct feed from the back pack, the good would be it constantly shoots like a sentry but the bad is that it can burn all of its ammo quickly and need to reload it with ammo supplies.
I appreciate your comment! I believe that beyond making a comparison, it is best to give all the information and just have it out all there so people can make the decisions themselves. Thanks for checking out the video!
The real issue when comparing to the rover variant is not the max ammo, but the fact that it reloads every 2 seconds, the laser deals less damage per second but is active all the time, it very very rarely needs to reload, if ever. So in my opinion the basic guard dog is just inferior, yes it deals more dps but the uptime of the rover makes it so much more reliable and probably makes it deal more damage overall. Maybe they could make it use a liberator penetrator? It would reduce its dps but allow it to kill medium armored things, for a more specialized variant rather than doing the same thing as the rover but just worse.
Laser doesn't have light about pen and is more likely to kill you and your team. It would have uses at least if it was not so hard to keep stocked with ammo.
All these people talking about how bad the regular guard dog is. Sure, it reloads a ton. But in my experience, it’s incredible against bots. It’s great at quickly dispatching berserkers that are running at me. It just headshots bots. The rover does not. Both guard dogs need their LOS fixed. They shouldn’t be shooting rocks and buildings when there’s an enemy behind it.
I never noticed the magazines on the backpack, and they also have a little animation that opens up for the drone to go back to the backpack, that's really cool. I always liked the AR guard dog much better than the laser for aesthetics, but it's really impractical with how little ammo it has. It shoots 10 enemies and runs out of ammo. I get it can't have infinite ammo like the laser but it is really useless at the moment, they need to increase its ammo and make it so small ammo packs from the world will replenish its ammo as well. Only then it will be viable.
The Liberator Guard Dog is definitely way better than the Las Guard Dog when it comes to not hitting you or friendlies. Probably because it fires bullets so there isn't a literal beam to walk through.
In my experience I do get shot more by the rover, but it usually doesn't deal significant damage and is mostly just annoyingly getting swept by the beam as it switches targets. When the AR drone shoots me it's usually a 1 hit kill head shot, not common but really annoying to have on top of it's constant reloading right when I need it shooting. I think I've only ever died to the rover maybe three times, and I use it a lot. Though I have died to the AR version about the same I use it way less.
Appreciate the work you put into this. You made me reevaluate my opinion of the Guard Dog, I had written it off as useless, but now with ammo resupply working, I'm going to try it out again. So thanks!
It was fun from start to finish to put this all together! Thanks for your kind words and excited to hear how your experience with the guard dog goes. Thanks for watching!
If the guards would not have this tendency to shoot at yourself or your teammates and/or if you could use the backpack bind to call it back when you want to avoid a patrol I'd probably dive with it from time to time. Right now it carries as much cons as it has pros for me :( Great video btw !
Yeah same, as nice as I'm sure it is to have to supplement your fire, I can't help but also consider how often it has got me killed as it finishes me off after I take damage from incoming fire.
@@bronzieblue63 I joke you not I looked at a video some time ago that was trying to put the lazer dog under a good light and in the middle of the commentary, something in the line of "Idk why people underestimate the Rover blablabla", in the middle of the phrase he would drop to a large nest and his rover would almost decapitate him mid air leaving him at 1hp I stopped counting the number of clips of people being decapitated while on a terminal, lazered to death while making a turn or what not. Even a teammate taking it is a fear of mine, I was playing an automaton game on a desert planet, almost flat landscape. I was doing an outpost at the opposite of the team at least 300m from them, one of my teamate's drone was spinning and burning my ass from time to time at that distance.. when I joined them that guy got passed me while running from bots. A mountain was between us and the bots he was running from and the drone was trying to shoot at them throught the mountain.. only issue I was in between. Good thing I had a shield that day because that thing was really holding its fire like crazy on my head, going through the shield in no time I had to dive away from my own teammate It will probably kill as much Helldivers as it would save, it's a shame because the concept is cool on paper but I won't take the risk. (And I hold my cheeks tight everytime I see someone bringing one with them)
Yeah I will at some point get back to it, I start to play stuff I didn't like at first or just never touched at all so I will at some point get to play with them, will see when it happens. Still I'd assume the dog don't shoot at you that much not because it's smarter but more because it spends as much time on your back as it is spending in air shooting so it just doesn't have as much opportunities to shoot at you. So yeah in practice I can see that it is less likely to tteamkill, but I'd still prefered if it wouldn't at all. Some sort of safe guard behaviour, let's imagine I face North and an ennemy is at my West, I'd prefer that the guard actually move around you in a range of N-W / S-W depending on which route it takes before shooting, making sure it's kinda always between you and the target
I've been actually running this non-stop recently alongside Machine Gun and Orbital Gatling Barrage. Zero team kills, and as long as you keep up with resupplies it puts in work. Been topkilling every match I join consistently.
20:00 I believe you also get kill credit for damaging enemies and they die. I get a lot of kill combos pop up as well when I just sweep crowds with laser weapons, and a teammate blows them up with an airstrike
Standard Liberator: can reload ammo from field ammo boxes Standard Liberator: faster rate of fire Standard Liberator: 45 mag size Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: wastes ammo on targets it cannot damage Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: can't reload ammo from field ammo boxes Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: slower rate of fire (?) Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: can't shoot low targets due to very limited gun depression Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: 29 to 30 mag size Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: unable to stealth Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: Can be... damaged(?) Really a very well made video, you put a lot of effort into researching and finding all the possible details for this underpowered stratagem. The clip that infuriated me the most was the Devastator able to hit you through the rock. I swear to god the people doing balance are the worst, in most games.
Thanks for your comment and your insert about the devastator made me laugh haha. Your kind words mean a lot and glad to have spent the time to get all this info and spread it out there for you and everyone else. Thanks for watching!
17:40 correction, when the game came out, resupplies would still restock ammo for the guard dog, but only 50% of it rather than restoring full ammo. Also, would be cool if we could “holsters” the guard dog to prevent it from attracting aggro, or to preserve ammo against heavily armored targets by using the backpack button (like the same button used to resupply yourself with resupply backpacks)
How about both Guard Dogs can be interacted with via the "5" but instead you get a similiar interface to the "Hold Reload" where you can change it to "target all (small & medium enemies)" or "target small (enemies)" and hitting "5" quickly without holding makes it go offline/online.
i really really appreciate you taking the time to deep dive into the guard dog. as someone who takes the rover 90% of the time on bugs, and who's moonlighted w the guard dog, ive always wondered why the guard dog was neglected (in development) behind the rover. the rover is one of the most common packs seen on bug runs. i have always wanted the guard dog to be on equal footing to the rover so it becomes preference over meta. i WANT to love the guard dog as much as the rover cuz i love the idea of having an AR drone instead of a laser drone. i have a laser-tag build where the rover is integral. but i WANT to build a machine gunner build using the stalwart + guard dog (i do have that build) as a main build. your video has me geared up to run that build (again) tonight on several bug runs just to show my appreciation that the guard dog is an option. great work. liked n subbed.
Appreciate your kind words and have someone who has experimented with multiple AR guard dog load out the stalwart is great to combo with it for constant suppressive fire. Excited to know how your runs go tonight so let me know when you get the chance! Thanks for checking out the video! I have more deep dive videos in the work so stay tuned!
This backpack item needs 2 more spare mags and ammo boxes from the ground should resupply AT LEAST 2 mags per pick up. It's already hard enough to compete with the Rover variant based on the normal Guard Dog even needing ammo in the first place. Making it so it only can be resupplied via Supply Boxes means inconveniencing your team, having to wait to call down another one, or playing solo. I'd even take a reduced cooldown, if nothing else. Something. ANYTHING to make this more viable for general use.
Appreciate the thorough review! Good to know it aims for headshots since a lot of bots are weak to the head. I think giving the guard dog medium pen would make it more interesting to take so it can compete with the laser version.
DAMN! AWESOME and objective radar report! These are the types of videos I am looking for and as a lvl 87, this was SERIOUSLY HELPFUL. SUB. Can't wait to see your next vid.
Thanks so much for your comment! Your kind words means a lot to me. I'm always hoping to give detailed and informative videos similar to this one so stay tuned! Thanks for checking out the video!
The guard dog was buffed recently with more damage and the Laz was nerfed to do 30% less damage. Also supplies pack now completely restore ammo (as you've mentioned).
I used to only run Lazer guard dog. Then I got tired of being killed by it. Now I only use liberator guard dog and it has never killed me ever. Not dying is worth the limited ammo
How about both Guard Dogs can be interacted with via the "5" but instead you get a similiar interface to the "Hold Reload" where you can change it to "target all (small & medium enemies)" or "target small (enemies)" and hitting "5" quickly without holding makes it go offline/online.
It is weird how the Guard Dog doesn't shoot at downward angles at things beside you, but the Laser Dog seems to mainly prefer to shoot at those downward angles just to kill the user.
the part about throwing green blue and yellow(supply drop etc) stratagems on the back for better placement is a huge deal, you can place turrets and stuff on surfaces you can't normally, this is huge against bugs putting the autocannon sentry on a elevated rock etc. Also turns me EAT-rockets pod call in into a 3rd projectile i can use to kill bile titans and chargers etc. If only red ones tracked like orbitals tracking the location of the stratagem, you could never miss again with your orbital precision strikes (walking under striders and bile titans with this.
I agree, I do feel that a small trick like that for precise stratagem placements can definitely have a lot of implications on how combat scenarios will play out as well as sticking something on it then running underneath a bile titan. Thanks for sharing your insight and for checking out the video!
It also works well with turrets. I have been using the manned for a while since it's very strong but the mg and the gat. If you look at the guard dog as extra ammo with your lib. Also put libs on burst fire way better. You are getting like 500 plus rounds. Take the starting machine gun that's 450 rounds. Then turrets on top that is a lot of ammo especially if you got a teammate with a supply bag. But the manned turret I personally think is better than both sentry and support machine guns because it can 2 tap a hulk eye at distance and even kill them with spray fire.
I personally like the AR Guard Dog more than the LAS Guard Dog, with how much more consistent its targeting and accuracy is compared to the LAS plus it doesnt almost kill me like the LAS
To put it as a simple summery: Its a Liberator Rifle Vs a Scythe Laser Beam on a Drone, pick what you like. Liberator Guard Dog: Upsides, Has Higher DPS and kill rate (feels that way), Highly UNLIKELY to Teamkill you or your Teammates (It can, but its not likely). Downsides: Limited Ammo (only 6 clips plus the 1 it spawns with) and requires a Resupply to Reload. (wish you could refill it from basic ammo boxes, your telling me their ARN'T liberator mags in it?) Scythe Guard dog: Upsides, UNLIMITED AMMO, Constant Laser BEAM DPS. Downsides, the Laser is highly Likely to KILL YOU as well as your Buddies. (drones are not very smart) Side note: I don't think the Guard Dogs are affected by Planetary conditions such as Extreme Cold or Extreme Heat.
The guard dog definitely does reload early occasionally. But its still my favorite because of its ability to headshot devastators. And with the latest patch that buffed the liberator and they nerfed the rover laser variant (despite the buff to the laser).
hey man, Great video, you've made me give it a shot and its great! Bullet aesthetic has a charm to it+ aimbot. Thank you for not comparing the two, that's very noble of you! ( also the guard dog never kills you comparzd to the laser) Take care, looking forward for next videos!
Appreciate your kind words! Definitely looking to make more quality and informative videos the best I can. Two weeks ago I was at around 30 subs so I'm really excited about 1k. Thanks for checking out the video!
I swear people saying the laser dog is better only play vs bugs on level 5 or something. It does next to nothing to the bots and on higher difficulty levels spawn so many units that swarm you that the laser IS going to kill you eventually. But if you enjoy suicide and making everyone near you hate u then it’s amazing!
Thanks for the video bro! I appreciate your comment at the start: “I’m not gonna argue that the guard dog is better than the laser variant, I just want to show you what you can expect from this.” My most interesting take away is cheesing the high ground mechanic by throwing an emplacement at it in the ground. This could allow for some really cool HMg emplacements!
Appreciate your kind words and thanks for checking out the video! Using the guard dog as a way to place sentries down took some getting used to for hitting it just at the right spot but is definitely worth it when it pays off!
I'm going to bring the Guard Dog along more after this, I've used it for a bit when I was level 23 or something because I was tired of getting beamed by my own Rover, it just seems to not be enough, i wish it had a Stalwart instead of an AR-23, or maybe just have higher capacity magazines instead of the normal 45 rounders, it feels like it's repairing or reloading most of the time instead of shooting, it's a bummer because it's so cool seeing it blaze away and showering you in shell casings
I agree, it is a really fun stratagem to see on the field and is super satisfying when it takes out a group of enemies really quickly. Hope you have a good experience with it and I'm eager to hear how it went! Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
So the Guard Dog's primary role in my opinion is Hunter control, everything else is gravy but keeping Hunters off you is the main reason why you're running a Guard Dog over the Supply, Shield or Jump Packs for a dedicated backpack stratagem. Post Rover nerf, the AR Guard Dog is better when it's actually shooting, unfortunately it's not always shooting and it's annoying inefficient with Ammo management unless you can hog all the Resupply cooldowns in which case you're a bad teammate. The Rover version has to be bugged because that thing will always be shooting even on hot planets, unfortunately post nerf this thing's DPS never snipes Hunter's out of the air mid jump anymore even if it's solely focused on that Hunter. Both Guard Dogs just have crippling issues that I would say make them not recommended for high level bug missions. You're better off running the other backpacks to either outrun, outheal or tank Hunters now instead of taking a Guard Dog.
I like using the guard dog over the guard dog rover, but yeah the ammo is a big reason why I don't like using it. It does a great job at killing the lightly armored enemies, but it wastes so much rounds on units like chargers. I wish they added a ship module similar to the mortar targeting (one that works) where the ping would apply to the guard dog's target prioritization. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and checking out the video!
17:01 if you're trying to maximize your resupplies, I don't think it matters whether you resupply the guard dog at 0 mags left (going up to 6) or 1 mag left in the guard dog (going up to 7). Either way, the guard dog gains 6 mags per resupply. It does FEEL better to resupply at 1 mag left, and it also means you have less guard dog downtime which is good overall. However, in terms of pure resupply box efficiency, both are the same.
Thanks for your point. I misspoke since, you're correct, the amount resupplied is the same. In terms of maximizing the resupply, what I meant by that was having the most amount of magazines in the guard dog before your next resupply. Thanks for your comment and thanks for checking out the video!
Rifle guard dog, while I do wish it did have the full liberator mag, is more reliable for not shooting myself or my team, while that laser often puts a new tattoo on my back for free. A thing of note for current play: If you have a player using an Exosuit, do NOT hang around them if you have the dang laser guard dog. MG/Gatling turrets are also, while amazing and helpful for keeping your Exo pilot teammate unstressed, can just as easily make him desire to kick you all the way to extraction. Why? Because either your turret chewed through one of their legs in a microsecond, or the laser dawg chips away at them while it attempts to defend them. EXO legs have Light armor pen, you can and will mess up your buddies if you aren't careful. Also, ping you Autocannon turret. Getting shot in the back by one of those can kill you quicker than a 500kg, which the Emancipator can surprisingly survive, given you aren't right on the bomb when it blows.
Thanks for the tip! I haven't heard/seen much of the laser guard dog ripping away at the exosuits, but given how it eats through players it doesn't surprise me that it'll do the same for the exosuits. Appreciate you checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing It is hard to actually gauge how much damage it does to the leg and would probably need a controlled test, maybe with an Automaton Raider harmlessly pinging rounds off the front while a guy with the guard dog sits behind it and tries to go downhill to get an angle on the leg more reliably. It could do little or even reduced damage, as like with team play the damage you take is often miniscule as it passes over you on the way to a target, only becoming deadly if you accidentally run with it or are simply unlucky. But when you have a bug at all possible vectors around your ankles, I doubt the laser gliding over you is as problematic as the bugs themselves trying to shred it apart, even if it still likely does gradually chip away as minutes drag by.
Although this video specifically talks about not comparing AR-23 Dog vs LAS-5 Dog, I would love to see a comparison of the two later down the line. Most people run LAS-5 Dog since it never runs out of ammo, but if AR-23 Dog did more damage or something on those lines, I think more people would try it out.
Down the line, probably after I also do an individual analysis on the Rover variant of the guard dog, would I do a comparison between the two. Looking forward to it! Thanks for checking out the video!
This Guard Dog would be so much more unique and useful if we could choose the weapon it comes with. Imagine a Guard Dog with a Scorcher or Eruptor by your side...
It would be fun to customize which weapon you can bring in with you. It'd be funny if you can stick a blitzer on it and have it all arc to your whole team off of one shot haha. Thanks for watching!
Very informative. Trying to give the non-meta strategems a good shake and I think this one is going to be one I give another go with, just on Bot missions since you said it goes for headshots.
Glad it was helpful! It's understandable why the non-meta stratagems are where they are compared to what else is there, but they're still fun/interesting to use every now and then. Hope you have a good experience with the guard dog! Thanks for checking out the video!
Stealth wise the guard dog is good on bots. You are free to use a sniper at range and it can shoot over walls and head tap bots. Smoke out the outposts and it will tsp them as you go through smoke. If enemies walk on top of you take off the bag
Guard Dog is bad because it spends more time rearming on your back than it does shooting stuff (feels like it at least) Guard Dog Rover never returns to your backpack to cool down, (likely a bug, but the devs dont need to know that :p) so it gives off the feeling that its helping you at the very least
Dogs are for bugs, shields are for bots. If the regular version was switched with another gun, or the penetrator liberator, it would be better but as is the laser is better because of infinite ammo
At kaunch, and a long time after that, the las guard dog would almost shoot infinitely and never have down time. Compared the the mag dump of the ar guard dog and the weakness of the launch primary weapons being used..... alot of people defaulted to the las guard dog for up time.
I was doing stealth with the laser rover, prone behind a rock, and I noticed the bots were shooting at the drone, but the they didn't launch a flare or come over to investigate.
Interesting. I never experienced that the guard dog. I would see them shoot a flare and run straight to where I was behind cover despite never being visible to them. Going to keep this in mind when I use the rover variant. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing This happened a while back, and I'm not sure if the AI behavior changed, but when I noticed it I stopped using the drones when attempting to play stealthily. Nowadays I usually take the jetpack, but sometimes I'll take the shield generator, and I've been wondering if the enemies can see the shield bubble if it pokes out from behind cover.
I used the bullet one last night on accident, and was really surprised. I was fighting bots and the thing was popping heads left and right. Never seen the laser one do that.
If you could put any unlocked primary or secondary weapon in the guard dog it would be extremely useful even if you could not restore mags from the ground
It would be nice. I wouldn't mind sticking a marksman rifle on it since it always seems to go for headshots anyways. Thanks for checking out the video!
ACTUALLY, the Guard Dog could always have its ammo refilled from Supply boxes, that "patch" made it so it refills the FULL AMMO SUPPLY. Previously its only restored like... 3 mags per box so you needed to take half the supplies just to refill the dame thing.
Thanks for clarifying that! Appreciate you sharing that and yeah, having to take two supply boxes to fill it out is very inefficient so them making it do the full ammo supply is a very good change. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
Thanks for your kind words. I thought it had medium armor pen too but saw that every shot from it would bounce off of things such as the tank weak spot so it made me think it was light-pen. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
All I can say with what limited time I've spent with the Guard Dog, it really feels like the thing shoots five bullets before needing/wanting to reload. It's probably just wants to be fully loaded in between battles but I swear the first time I used it, it flew up to the first bug it saw, shot five times killing it, and despite there being other bugs nearby it went in for a reload.
I think it is a good idea to compare things to their contemporaries. You dont have to make it the main point of the video, but I would reccomend comparing variants in options in the future
I agree. I would like to do an individual deep dive into both of the guard dog variants and break down what I believe to be their strength and weaknesses before making a comparison. I think both are unique in their own ways and do hope to make a video carefully detailing the respect pros and cons in the future. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for clarifying. I didn't get much time to use it prior to the patch and I must've misread that patch note and took it as that it was a whole new thing rather than an adjustment to the way it was reloaded. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
The steam patch notes (which I initially read) also listed the lib version as getting the damage adjustment, but looking into the official discord for Helldivers 2 it says that the laser version was the one that got nerfed. I think the official discord is more reliable than the steam patch notes, as the steam patch notes also said that the "AR-19 Liberator" got a damage buff but we don't have an "AR-19" it meant the "AR-23." Beyond that, it would logically make sense to me that with the laser guard dog using the scythe las weapon and that getting a 50+ dmg buff, nerfing the laser guard dog's damage to compensate for the weapon's buff makes sense. When it comes to actually using the two, I do feel like the damage for the liberator guard dog is unchanged, so I want to say that it was the laser guard dog that got nerfed and not the liberator one. Hope that answers your question and thanks for checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing thanks for the excellent and informative response! I didn’t think about the Scythe’s buff in relation to the Rover, when using it I’ve felt that it’s slightly weaker since the patch but not by any significant amount. I would love a buff to the Lib variant, rather than more damage it would be cool if it used the Lib concussive. Can you imagine the utility of having a little robot staggering everything that’s chasing you?
Its great at not team killing until a single scavanger behind your entire team makes it go shrigly mode. Or of course, it randomly changing targets and instantly killing you in one headshot.
Can someone ask the devs to give the sentries and guard dogs a laser sight and maybe more laser sights on our primary’s? Being able to tell where the sentries are aiming without having to see them would make not getting shot by them a bit easier
It would be helpful to have a laser sight so we could have a better idea of what the guard dog is shooting at. I think some level of interaction would be nice too where if the guard dog was to shoot at whatever enemy you pinged. Thanks for checking out the video!
Sure thing! Appreciate the suggestion and it would be nice to take a break from the backpacks and look into a support weapon for once! Thanks for checking out the video!
Maybe even another version that can handle support weapons only. Then your buddy can rock the other version and have a two man team with firepower of 4 people 😂 would make those bot drops on repeat feel a tad less hopeless.
Being able to choose what to equip on the drone would make it the most versatile stratagem, as well as the most fun/chaotic depending on what's slapped onto it. Thanks for checking out the video!
Thanks and nice ship name! I change my ship's name depending on the video I make. With all the different combinations I feel like being able to use them all is how I experience the game to its fullest haha. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
Hoping to get a lot of intimate time with the guard dog rover to see how it works and then I feel it fair for me to make a comparison. Thanks for checking out the video!
Laser is worthless against bots. Guard dog is still bad but can at least kill bots. Laser rover is easily the best stratagem in the game against bugs though. Pls no nerf.
@BARBARBINKLE It protects you from the jetpack bots. I'd say that's very useful. I'm more of a balistic sheild enjoyer myself, but it's not a bad pick.
Is there any reason you would use a normal guard dog and not the laser one? Laser one almost never has to reload and can keep sustained fire very easily.
I haven't used the rover enough to make a fair comparison, but I do like using the liberator guard dog for the bots to take out those bot troopers since it takes them out very fast. I can see the rover being useful for bugs since the sustained fire is able to keep them from bay and from swarming you. Thanks for checking out the video!
I wish the drones had a off button for when I need to go stealth or save on ammo. Also why cant I get a mag from a ammo crate?! Its a liberator for crying out loud, not a rocket launcher!
I've been attempting to understand some level of consistency with that behavior. Whether the guard dog needs to repair, reload, or is just trying to get back it would sometimes miss and I believe this to be just the nature of that "seeking" phase where it is trying to find the backpack but there's a chance it misses. If this was to happen and if the drone needed to either reload or repair, it would have to play through that seeking and respective animation, taking a lot of time. However, if it was already loaded and you pick it up it will instantly be ready to shoot and not go through that animation of existing the backpack. It can have it's quick pro and con, and as for an explanation as to why it happens all I unfortunately can chalk it up to is that to be a part of that "seeking" state. Hope that answers your question and thanks for checking out the video and asking that question!
The only visual indicator would be the magazines on the sides of the backpack. There three on each side and are positioned inwards and that's how I was able to figure out how many magazines were left for the guard dog. Thanks for watching!
So if theres 1 bullet left in the mag that means theres still one in the chamber so its 2 bullets left. So when it reloads it should be 31 rounds total right?
I felt like this question might come around and to be honest I want to say for me personally I like this version more than the laser one; however, I have not done a deep look into the laser one yet so I may be saying that a bit prematurely. Thanks for checking out the video!
It has better burst damage but the laser guard dog has better sustained damage. Also the regular guard dog friendly fires me and my team less often because it doesn’t need to shoot that often to get its kill.
17:30 - 18:05 CORRECTION: Resupplying the guard dog when the game came out would only replenish 50%. The update to the guard dog's resupply made it so all 6 reserve magazines would be replenished. I misread the patch notes and misunderstood the guard dog resupply as a new feature rather than an adjustment.
Thanks to those for pointing that out!
Editing original comment:
Just tested - with the Superior Packaging Methodology your drone will replenish 6 mags!
NOW WE'RE COOKING BOYS!
Ah I was about to point this out
Honestly wish the normal ammo boxes found on the ground would restock mags, even if its just 1 mag per box, it would be more useful.
Me too, its so annoying to need to call in a resupply just to restock it. ITS LIBERATOR AMMO, Your telling me those Boxes don't have Liberator MAgs in them?!
@@jaywerner8415 RIGHT?!
100% would make it more common on the battlefield. as of now, you only see it once in a blue moon when a player is experimenting n seeing how it performs. cpl days later, you run into that same player and they running w the rover. forever.
@@Jhunta I'll never use the laser drone.
@silentsong1649 is that cuz of the potential for personal headshots n frying ur own brains? or cuz you're like me n want to play anti-meta builds? curious as to your reasoning. this video inspired me to run guard dog all night tonight when I'm done working. and I like the guard dog btw, I just always lean into the rover due to ammo economy. also, I've got a killer laser-tag build that works agaisnt bugs and bots and the rover is a main stay w that build.
They really need to give the ability to turn the guard dog on and off that would change the game.
You don't always wanted to waste bullets when you don't need the help, but it's always out of bullets when you really need it
Keyboard "5" should interact with more backpacks than just the SupplyBackpack
Yeah another situation to turn it off manually would be if you wanted to go around a patrol and not engage it
guess what
The fact that map ammo pickups do not reload this backpack, whereas it reloads other ammo related backpacks, nerfs the shit out of the guard dog so bad to the point that it is genuinely useless. It doesn’t make sense that it doesn’t reload either since the liberator primary can use map ammo pickups but the liberator guard dog cannot.
If they fixed this ammo problem the AR guard dog would be useful for like, sample divers and such since it has higher DPS but is less efficient; efficiency can be counteracted by often coming along map ammo pickups.
It’s bizarre that they allow the las dog to be one of the strongest backpacks in the game and let the AR one be the worst.
Yeah, I get there's technically a place for it but when it has to compete with the Rover which will fire more or less infinitely, its just ridiculous
This is exactly the reason why I don't use it. I love how powerful it is and am ok with that it reloads frequently. I also wish I could order it to rearm manually, not just when it is empty.
they changed this.
@@guy1905 based
Guard Dog does so much damage is so accurate, its only downside is how fast it can burn through ammo. If they just made it so the small ammo packs around the map gave 1-2 Guard Dog mags it would be a super solid backpack slot. I've also never been shot by the Guard Dog in all my time using it, while the Rover feels like it's actively trying to kill me sometimes.
I pretty much had the same experience as you described. I did feel I was hogging a lot of the resupply calls so it would be great if the ammo packs on the map would replenish the magazines on the backpack, even by 1. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
I use the guard dog a lot and I've noticed that it's efficient with it's damage, one burst can kill 3 1hit enemy's at once as it won't waste a full burst on a target that won't need more than 1 bullet to kill, against the bots however it's run out of ammo a lot more as it has a habit of shooting fabricators until it runs out of ammo
Yo, sticking a stratagem to it for precise positioning is wild.
If you care, that one last bullet is in the chamber of the gun and not wasted. The devs took care to make the guns respect that. I suspect the guard dog saves the last round so it doesnt need to manually chamber the next round. This would check out with the first mag having one less round (with 30 round mags). The first mag would be loaded, the round chambered, and the last bullet would be retained to facilitate the automatic firing and rechambering. Another point of logical weapon behaviour!
Loving your deep dives. Thanks for these.
Thanks for explaining that and appreciate your kind words. I spent a beyond reasonable amount of time watching my footage in slow-mo to make sure I was tallying the shots fired from the drone correctly haha. Appreciate you watching!
I wish they would make the guard dogs hover above our head so we wouldnt get shot by it.
Ive only ever been shot by the Las one.
It would be more annoying then. It would hover on the center of your screen and it'd be hard to see what's right in front of you.
@@ezkiller93 Not if its at the very top or above your view.
When running either guard dog or running close to divers running them, I crouch a lot more and that has helped
It would be cool if the guard dog stayed docked on your backpack and direct feed from the back pack, the good would be it constantly shoots like a sentry but the bad is that it can burn all of its ammo quickly and need to reload it with ammo supplies.
I love your approach, instead of comparing backpacks you’re sharing it’s capabilities and letting that information speak for itself
I appreciate your comment! I believe that beyond making a comparison, it is best to give all the information and just have it out all there so people can make the decisions themselves. Thanks for checking out the video!
The real issue when comparing to the rover variant is not the max ammo, but the fact that it reloads every 2 seconds, the laser deals less damage per second but is active all the time, it very very rarely needs to reload, if ever. So in my opinion the basic guard dog is just inferior, yes it deals more dps but the uptime of the rover makes it so much more reliable and probably makes it deal more damage overall. Maybe they could make it use a liberator penetrator? It would reduce its dps but allow it to kill medium armored things, for a more specialized variant rather than doing the same thing as the rover but just worse.
Laser doesn't have light about pen and is more likely to kill you and your team. It would have uses at least if it was not so hard to keep stocked with ammo.
All these people talking about how bad the regular guard dog is. Sure, it reloads a ton. But in my experience, it’s incredible against bots. It’s great at quickly dispatching berserkers that are running at me. It just headshots bots. The rover does not. Both guard dogs need their LOS fixed. They shouldn’t be shooting rocks and buildings when there’s an enemy behind it.
I never noticed the magazines on the backpack, and they also have a little animation that opens up for the drone to go back to the backpack, that's really cool.
I always liked the AR guard dog much better than the laser for aesthetics, but it's really impractical with how little ammo it has. It shoots 10 enemies and runs out of ammo.
I get it can't have infinite ammo like the laser but it is really useless at the moment, they need to increase its ammo and make it so small ammo packs from the world will replenish its ammo as well. Only then it will be viable.
The Liberator Guard Dog is definitely way better than the Las Guard Dog when it comes to not hitting you or friendlies. Probably because it fires bullets so there isn't a literal beam to walk through.
And that's the only reason why I favor the Liberator Guard Dog
In my experience I do get shot more by the rover, but it usually doesn't deal significant damage and is mostly just annoyingly getting swept by the beam as it switches targets. When the AR drone shoots me it's usually a 1 hit kill head shot, not common but really annoying to have on top of it's constant reloading right when I need it shooting. I think I've only ever died to the rover maybe three times, and I use it a lot. Though I have died to the AR version about the same I use it way less.
Damn your approach is so thorough. It’s obvious that you put a lot of time into this!
Appreciate the kind words! It was a lot of time but I had a lot of fun putting all of this together! Thanks for your comment!
the fact that it doesn't replensih from regular ammo boxes but a f-ing AIR-BURST launcher does is insane.
Super Earth military works in mysterious ways, thanks for checking out the video!
Appreciate the work you put into this. You made me reevaluate my opinion of the Guard Dog, I had written it off as useless, but now with ammo resupply working, I'm going to try it out again. So thanks!
It was fun from start to finish to put this all together! Thanks for your kind words and excited to hear how your experience with the guard dog goes. Thanks for watching!
If the guards would not have this tendency to shoot at yourself or your teammates and/or if you could use the backpack bind to call it back when you want to avoid a patrol I'd probably dive with it from time to time.
Right now it carries as much cons as it has pros for me :(
Great video btw !
Yeah same, as nice as I'm sure it is to have to supplement your fire, I can't help but also consider how often it has got me killed as it finishes me off after I take damage from incoming fire.
@@bronzieblue63 I joke you not I looked at a video some time ago that was trying to put the lazer dog under a good light and in the middle of the commentary, something in the line of "Idk why people underestimate the Rover blablabla", in the middle of the phrase he would drop to a large nest and his rover would almost decapitate him mid air leaving him at 1hp
I stopped counting the number of clips of people being decapitated while on a terminal, lazered to death while making a turn or what not.
Even a teammate taking it is a fear of mine, I was playing an automaton game on a desert planet, almost flat landscape. I was doing an outpost at the opposite of the team at least 300m from them, one of my teamate's drone was spinning and burning my ass from time to time at that distance.. when I joined them that guy got passed me while running from bots. A mountain was between us and the bots he was running from and the drone was trying to shoot at them throught the mountain.. only issue I was in between. Good thing I had a shield that day because that thing was really holding its fire like crazy on my head, going through the shield in no time I had to dive away from my own teammate
It will probably kill as much Helldivers as it would save, it's a shame because the concept is cool on paper but I won't take the risk. (And I hold my cheeks tight everytime I see someone bringing one with them)
Don't use the "Rover" then, the AR guard dog has ALMOST Never killed me. (it happens EXTREAMELY RARELY)
Liberator guard dog does next to 0 friendly fire
Yeah I will at some point get back to it, I start to play stuff I didn't like at first or just never touched at all so I will at some point get to play with them, will see when it happens.
Still I'd assume the dog don't shoot at you that much not because it's smarter but more because it spends as much time on your back as it is spending in air shooting so it just doesn't have as much opportunities to shoot at you.
So yeah in practice I can see that it is less likely to tteamkill, but I'd still prefered if it wouldn't at all.
Some sort of safe guard behaviour, let's imagine I face North and an ennemy is at my West, I'd prefer that the guard actually move around you in a range of N-W / S-W depending on which route it takes before shooting, making sure it's kinda always between you and the target
I've been actually running this non-stop recently alongside Machine Gun and Orbital Gatling Barrage. Zero team kills, and as long as you keep up with resupplies it puts in work. Been topkilling every match I join consistently.
20:00 I believe you also get kill credit for damaging enemies and they die. I get a lot of kill combos pop up as well when I just sweep crowds with laser weapons, and a teammate blows them up with an airstrike
It does.
Standard Liberator: can reload ammo from field ammo boxes
Standard Liberator: faster rate of fire
Standard Liberator: 45 mag size
Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: wastes ammo on targets it cannot damage
Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: can't reload ammo from field ammo boxes
Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: slower rate of fire (?)
Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: can't shoot low targets due to very limited gun depression
Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: 29 to 30 mag size
Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: unable to stealth
Guard Dog, equipped with standard liberator: Can be... damaged(?)
Really a very well made video, you put a lot of effort into researching and finding all the possible details for this underpowered stratagem. The clip that infuriated me the most was the Devastator able to hit you through the rock. I swear to god the people doing balance are the worst, in most games.
Thanks for your comment and your insert about the devastator made me laugh haha. Your kind words mean a lot and glad to have spent the time to get all this info and spread it out there for you and everyone else. Thanks for watching!
17:40 correction, when the game came out, resupplies would still restock ammo for the guard dog, but only 50% of it rather than restoring full ammo.
Also, would be cool if we could “holsters” the guard dog to prevent it from attracting aggro, or to preserve ammo against heavily armored targets by using the backpack button (like the same button used to resupply yourself with resupply backpacks)
Thanks for mentioning this. Appreciate you clarifying this and for watching the video!
@@Wallbouncingno worries, great video though!
How about both Guard Dogs can be interacted with via the "5" but instead you get a similiar interface to the "Hold Reload" where you can change it to "target all (small & medium enemies)" or "target small (enemies)" and hitting "5" quickly without holding makes it go offline/online.
0:55 I thought my phone was about to turn off
i really really appreciate you taking the time to deep dive into the guard dog. as someone who takes the rover 90% of the time on bugs, and who's moonlighted w the guard dog, ive always wondered why the guard dog was neglected (in development) behind the rover. the rover is one of the most common packs seen on bug runs. i have always wanted the guard dog to be on equal footing to the rover so it becomes preference over meta. i WANT to love the guard dog as much as the rover cuz i love the idea of having an AR drone instead of a laser drone. i have a laser-tag build where the rover is integral. but i WANT to build a machine gunner build using the stalwart + guard dog (i do have that build) as a main build. your video has me geared up to run that build (again) tonight on several bug runs just to show my appreciation that the guard dog is an option. great work.
liked n subbed.
Appreciate your kind words and have someone who has experimented with multiple AR guard dog load out the stalwart is great to combo with it for constant suppressive fire. Excited to know how your runs go tonight so let me know when you get the chance! Thanks for checking out the video! I have more deep dive videos in the work so stay tuned!
Rover for bugs, shield for bots
They really need to let this thing get half a refill from ammo boxes. The ammo economy makes it feel so bad compared to the Laser Rover
This backpack item needs 2 more spare mags and ammo boxes from the ground should resupply AT LEAST 2 mags per pick up. It's already hard enough to compete with the Rover variant based on the normal Guard Dog even needing ammo in the first place. Making it so it only can be resupplied via Supply Boxes means inconveniencing your team, having to wait to call down another one, or playing solo.
I'd even take a reduced cooldown, if nothing else. Something. ANYTHING to make this more viable for general use.
Appreciate the thorough review! Good to know it aims for headshots since a lot of bots are weak to the head.
I think giving the guard dog medium pen would make it more interesting to take so it can compete with the laser version.
I mostly use the Rover dog when im playing solo missions. With full squat, i take shield or take a mech. Sometime you kill your teammates, or hit you.
DAMN! AWESOME and objective radar report! These are the types of videos I am looking for and as a lvl 87, this was SERIOUSLY HELPFUL. SUB. Can't wait to see your next vid.
Thanks so much for your comment! Your kind words means a lot to me. I'm always hoping to give detailed and informative videos similar to this one so stay tuned! Thanks for checking out the video!
Its pretty cool that it got buffed in being fully topped up in the ammo box.
The guard dog was buffed recently with more damage and the Laz was nerfed to do 30% less damage.
Also supplies pack now completely restore ammo (as you've mentioned).
I used to only run Lazer guard dog. Then I got tired of being killed by it. Now I only use liberator guard dog and it has never killed me ever. Not dying is worth the limited ammo
It would be nice for the guard dog to shoot enemies that you mark instead of wasting all of its ammo on large enemies.
How about both Guard Dogs can be interacted with via the "5" but instead you get a similiar interface to the "Hold Reload" where you can change it to "target all (small & medium enemies)" or "target small (enemies)" and hitting "5" quickly without holding makes it go offline/online.
It is weird how the Guard Dog doesn't shoot at downward angles at things beside you, but the Laser Dog seems to mainly prefer to shoot at those downward angles just to kill the user.
the part about throwing green blue and yellow(supply drop etc) stratagems on the back for better placement is a huge deal, you can place turrets and stuff on surfaces you can't normally, this is huge against bugs putting the autocannon sentry on a elevated rock etc. Also turns me EAT-rockets pod call in into a 3rd projectile i can use to kill bile titans and chargers etc. If only red ones tracked like orbitals tracking the location of the stratagem, you could never miss again with your orbital precision strikes (walking under striders and bile titans with this.
I agree, I do feel that a small trick like that for precise stratagem placements can definitely have a lot of implications on how combat scenarios will play out as well as sticking something on it then running underneath a bile titan. Thanks for sharing your insight and for checking out the video!
my solution for buffing guard dog is either to switch it to a stalwart OR enable us to equip any primary to it
It also works well with turrets. I have been using the manned for a while since it's very strong but the mg and the gat. If you look at the guard dog as extra ammo with your lib. Also put libs on burst fire way better. You are getting like 500 plus rounds. Take the starting machine gun that's 450 rounds. Then turrets on top that is a lot of ammo especially if you got a teammate with a supply bag. But the manned turret I personally think is better than both sentry and support machine guns because it can 2 tap a hulk eye at distance and even kill them with spray fire.
They both need to fly higher too as they kill me often. Needs to refill with ammo from POI's.
Very in depth video man, i really liked your approach, congratulations!!
Appreciate it! Your kind words mean a lot to me! Thanks for checking out the video!
I personally like the AR Guard Dog more than the LAS Guard Dog, with how much more consistent its targeting and accuracy is compared to the LAS plus it doesnt almost kill me like the LAS
To put it as a simple summery: Its a Liberator Rifle Vs a Scythe Laser Beam on a Drone, pick what you like.
Liberator Guard Dog: Upsides, Has Higher DPS and kill rate (feels that way), Highly UNLIKELY to Teamkill you or your Teammates (It can, but its not likely). Downsides: Limited Ammo (only 6 clips plus the 1 it spawns with) and requires a Resupply to Reload. (wish you could refill it from basic ammo boxes, your telling me their ARN'T liberator mags in it?)
Scythe Guard dog: Upsides, UNLIMITED AMMO, Constant Laser BEAM DPS. Downsides, the Laser is highly Likely to KILL YOU as well as your Buddies. (drones are not very smart)
Side note: I don't think the Guard Dogs are affected by Planetary conditions such as Extreme Cold or Extreme Heat.
The guard dog definitely does reload early occasionally. But its still my favorite because of its ability to headshot devastators. And with the latest patch that buffed the liberator and they nerfed the rover laser variant (despite the buff to the laser).
hey man, Great video, you've made me give it a shot and its great! Bullet aesthetic has a charm to it+ aimbot. Thank you for not comparing the two, that's very noble of you! ( also the guard dog never kills you comparzd to the laser) Take care, looking forward for next videos!
Appreciate your kind words! Already working hard on the next one! Thanks again for checking out the video!
This was thorough af. Almost at 1k too. Keep it up bro
Appreciate your kind words! Definitely looking to make more quality and informative videos the best I can. Two weeks ago I was at around 30 subs so I'm really excited about 1k. Thanks for checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing woahhh one day you have to put me on. i just started too but I'm still around 40ish. although I'm sure your deep dives really help
The stealth killer is the main reason I don't run these backpacks. Mobs just spot you so easy
I swear people saying the laser dog is better only play vs bugs on level 5 or something. It does next to nothing to the bots and on higher difficulty levels spawn so many units that swarm you that the laser IS going to kill you eventually. But if you enjoy suicide and making everyone near you hate u then it’s amazing!
Thanks for the video bro! I appreciate your comment at the start: “I’m not gonna argue that the guard dog is better than the laser variant, I just want to show you what you can expect from this.”
My most interesting take away is cheesing the high ground mechanic by throwing an emplacement at it in the ground. This could allow for some really cool HMg emplacements!
Appreciate your kind words and thanks for checking out the video! Using the guard dog as a way to place sentries down took some getting used to for hitting it just at the right spot but is definitely worth it when it pays off!
It's funny that my robot dog makes heavy devastators miss so badly. It's like it's chasing a mailman.
I'm going to bring the Guard Dog along more after this, I've used it for a bit when I was level 23 or something because I was tired of getting beamed by my own Rover, it just seems to not be enough, i wish it had a Stalwart instead of an AR-23, or maybe just have higher capacity magazines instead of the normal 45 rounders, it feels like it's repairing or reloading most of the time instead of shooting, it's a bummer because it's so cool seeing it blaze away and showering you in shell casings
I agree, it is a really fun stratagem to see on the field and is super satisfying when it takes out a group of enemies really quickly. Hope you have a good experience with it and I'm eager to hear how it went! Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
So the Guard Dog's primary role in my opinion is Hunter control, everything else is gravy but keeping Hunters off you is the main reason why you're running a Guard Dog over the Supply, Shield or Jump Packs for a dedicated backpack stratagem. Post Rover nerf, the AR Guard Dog is better when it's actually shooting, unfortunately it's not always shooting and it's annoying inefficient with Ammo management unless you can hog all the Resupply cooldowns in which case you're a bad teammate. The Rover version has to be bugged because that thing will always be shooting even on hot planets, unfortunately post nerf this thing's DPS never snipes Hunter's out of the air mid jump anymore even if it's solely focused on that Hunter.
Both Guard Dogs just have crippling issues that I would say make them not recommended for high level bug missions. You're better off running the other backpacks to either outrun, outheal or tank Hunters now instead of taking a Guard Dog.
I like using the guard dog over the guard dog rover, but yeah the ammo is a big reason why I don't like using it. It does a great job at killing the lightly armored enemies, but it wastes so much rounds on units like chargers. I wish they added a ship module similar to the mortar targeting (one that works) where the ping would apply to the guard dog's target prioritization. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and checking out the video!
If you could get like 2 or just one mag from ammo bricks it would be better
Totally agree. I would be happy with just a single mag replenish from the ammo drops on the field. Thanks for checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing keep making them I will keep watching my man 🫡
That stratagem landing tech is Sweet. Especially as a HMG emplacement user.
Thanks for your comment! Hoping you're able to find out a lot of neat sentry placement positions with the trick! Thanks for watching!
17:01 if you're trying to maximize your resupplies, I don't think it matters whether you resupply the guard dog at 0 mags left (going up to 6) or 1 mag left in the guard dog (going up to 7). Either way, the guard dog gains 6 mags per resupply. It does FEEL better to resupply at 1 mag left, and it also means you have less guard dog downtime which is good overall. However, in terms of pure resupply box efficiency, both are the same.
Thanks for your point. I misspoke since, you're correct, the amount resupplied is the same. In terms of maximizing the resupply, what I meant by that was having the most amount of magazines in the guard dog before your next resupply. Thanks for your comment and thanks for checking out the video!
Rifle guard dog, while I do wish it did have the full liberator mag, is more reliable for not shooting myself or my team, while that laser often puts a new tattoo on my back for free.
A thing of note for current play: If you have a player using an Exosuit, do NOT hang around them if you have the dang laser guard dog. MG/Gatling turrets are also, while amazing and helpful for keeping your Exo pilot teammate unstressed, can just as easily make him desire to kick you all the way to extraction.
Why? Because either your turret chewed through one of their legs in a microsecond, or the laser dawg chips away at them while it attempts to defend them. EXO legs have Light armor pen, you can and will mess up your buddies if you aren't careful.
Also, ping you Autocannon turret. Getting shot in the back by one of those can kill you quicker than a 500kg, which the Emancipator can surprisingly survive, given you aren't right on the bomb when it blows.
Thanks for the tip! I haven't heard/seen much of the laser guard dog ripping away at the exosuits, but given how it eats through players it doesn't surprise me that it'll do the same for the exosuits. Appreciate you checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing It is hard to actually gauge how much damage it does to the leg and would probably need a controlled test, maybe with an Automaton Raider harmlessly pinging rounds off the front while a guy with the guard dog sits behind it and tries to go downhill to get an angle on the leg more reliably.
It could do little or even reduced damage, as like with team play the damage you take is often miniscule as it passes over you on the way to a target, only becoming deadly if you accidentally run with it or are simply unlucky. But when you have a bug at all possible vectors around your ankles, I doubt the laser gliding over you is as problematic as the bugs themselves trying to shred it apart, even if it still likely does gradually chip away as minutes drag by.
Although this video specifically talks about not comparing AR-23 Dog vs LAS-5 Dog, I would love to see a comparison of the two later down the line. Most people run LAS-5 Dog since it never runs out of ammo, but if AR-23 Dog did more damage or something on those lines, I think more people would try it out.
Down the line, probably after I also do an individual analysis on the Rover variant of the guard dog, would I do a comparison between the two. Looking forward to it! Thanks for checking out the video!
This Guard Dog would be so much more unique and useful if we could choose the weapon it comes with. Imagine a Guard Dog with a Scorcher or Eruptor by your side...
It would be fun to customize which weapon you can bring in with you. It'd be funny if you can stick a blitzer on it and have it all arc to your whole team off of one shot haha. Thanks for watching!
Very informative. Trying to give the non-meta strategems a good shake and I think this one is going to be one I give another go with, just on Bot missions since you said it goes for headshots.
Glad it was helpful! It's understandable why the non-meta stratagems are where they are compared to what else is there, but they're still fun/interesting to use every now and then. Hope you have a good experience with the guard dog! Thanks for checking out the video!
Stealth wise the guard dog is good on bots. You are free to use a sniper at range and it can shoot over walls and head tap bots. Smoke out the outposts and it will tsp them as you go through smoke. If enemies walk on top of you take off the bag
Guard Dog is bad because it spends more time rearming on your back than it does shooting stuff (feels like it at least)
Guard Dog Rover never returns to your backpack to cool down, (likely a bug, but the devs dont need to know that :p) so it gives off the feeling that its helping you at the very least
Dogs are for bugs, shields are for bots. If the regular version was switched with another gun, or the penetrator liberator, it would be better but as is the laser is better because of infinite ammo
If carrying the default liberator made it have more ammo it would be really good...
At kaunch, and a long time after that, the las guard dog would almost shoot infinitely and never have down time.
Compared the the mag dump of the ar guard dog and the weakness of the launch primary weapons being used..... alot of people defaulted to the las guard dog for up time.
I was doing stealth with the laser rover, prone behind a rock, and I noticed the bots were shooting at the drone, but the they didn't launch a flare or come over to investigate.
Interesting. I never experienced that the guard dog. I would see them shoot a flare and run straight to where I was behind cover despite never being visible to them. Going to keep this in mind when I use the rover variant. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing This happened a while back, and I'm not sure if the AI behavior changed, but when I noticed it I stopped using the drones when attempting to play stealthily. Nowadays I usually take the jetpack, but sometimes I'll take the shield generator, and I've been wondering if the enemies can see the shield bubble if it pokes out from behind cover.
Great video! Love how you broke this down.
Appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed the video!
I used the bullet one last night on accident, and was really surprised. I was fighting bots and the thing was popping heads left and right. Never seen the laser one do that.
It did get some increase in its damage a few days ago, while the laser one got its damage nerfed, so it sort of has a reason to use now
If you could put any unlocked primary or secondary weapon in the guard dog it would be extremely useful even if you could not restore mags from the ground
It would be nice. I wouldn't mind sticking a marksman rifle on it since it always seems to go for headshots anyways. Thanks for checking out the video!
If it resupplies from ammo crates then I think it’ll be just as good as the laser
7:19 Look at how clean those shots were!
Army of bots have nothing on a drone with a gun slapped on it haha. Thanks for checking out the video!
ACTUALLY, the Guard Dog could always have its ammo refilled from Supply boxes, that "patch" made it so it refills the FULL AMMO SUPPLY. Previously its only restored like... 3 mags per box so you needed to take half the supplies just to refill the dame thing.
Thanks for clarifying that! Appreciate you sharing that and yeah, having to take two supply boxes to fill it out is very inefficient so them making it do the full ammo supply is a very good change. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
Great video, one thing though, the machine gun used by the guard god visually looks the same, but in fact has medium armor pen.
Thanks for your kind words. I thought it had medium armor pen too but saw that every shot from it would bounce off of things such as the tank weak spot so it made me think it was light-pen. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
The turret idea is 200IQ
Thanks! I'm tired of my sentries rolling off of hills haha. Thanks for checking out the video!
All I can say with what limited time I've spent with the Guard Dog, it really feels like the thing shoots five bullets before needing/wanting to reload. It's probably just wants to be fully loaded in between battles but I swear the first time I used it, it flew up to the first bug it saw, shot five times killing it, and despite there being other bugs nearby it went in for a reload.
I think it is a good idea to compare things to their contemporaries. You dont have to make it the main point of the video, but I would reccomend comparing variants in options in the future
I agree. I would like to do an individual deep dive into both of the guard dog variants and break down what I believe to be their strength and weaknesses before making a comparison. I think both are unique in their own ways and do hope to make a video carefully detailing the respect pros and cons in the future. Thanks for watching!
Slight Correction: For 2 months, the Guard Dog didn't get *FULL* ammo from supply packs. It got either 2 or 3 mags, can't remember.
Thanks for clarifying. I didn't get much time to use it prior to the patch and I must've misread that patch note and took it as that it was a whole new thing rather than an adjustment to the way it was reloaded. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
The patch last week weakened the laser version by 30%, but I’m getting mixed answers about whether the Lib version was impacted. Any observations?
The steam patch notes (which I initially read) also listed the lib version as getting the damage adjustment, but looking into the official discord for Helldivers 2 it says that the laser version was the one that got nerfed. I think the official discord is more reliable than the steam patch notes, as the steam patch notes also said that the "AR-19 Liberator" got a damage buff but we don't have an "AR-19" it meant the "AR-23." Beyond that, it would logically make sense to me that with the laser guard dog using the scythe las weapon and that getting a 50+ dmg buff, nerfing the laser guard dog's damage to compensate for the weapon's buff makes sense. When it comes to actually using the two, I do feel like the damage for the liberator guard dog is unchanged, so I want to say that it was the laser guard dog that got nerfed and not the liberator one. Hope that answers your question and thanks for checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing thanks for the excellent and informative response!
I didn’t think about the Scythe’s buff in relation to the Rover, when using it I’ve felt that it’s slightly weaker since the patch but not by any significant amount.
I would love a buff to the Lib variant, rather than more damage it would be cool if it used the Lib concussive. Can you imagine the utility of having a little robot staggering everything that’s chasing you?
Its pretty great agaist bots. The lazer version is for bugs
This strat absolutly trivializes devastators and pairs nicly with some of the more akward primaries like the plasma punisher and the erupter
Its great at not team killing until a single scavanger behind your entire team makes it go shrigly mode. Or of course, it randomly changing targets and instantly killing you in one headshot.
Can someone ask the devs to give the sentries and guard dogs a laser sight and maybe more laser sights on our primary’s? Being able to tell where the sentries are aiming without having to see them would make not getting shot by them a bit easier
It would be helpful to have a laser sight so we could have a better idea of what the guard dog is shooting at. I think some level of interaction would be nice too where if the guard dog was to shoot at whatever enemy you pinged. Thanks for checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing no problem, it popped up In my feed so you’ve gotta be doing something right
It looks like your guard dog triggered a explosion n thats how u ended up with a multi kill there at the end
Would you please do an Arc Thrower analysis?
Sure thing! Appreciate the suggestion and it would be nice to take a break from the backpacks and look into a support weapon for once! Thanks for checking out the video!
Hey! I've done an arc thrower analysis video and just posted it. Hope you enjoy!
Protector Of Demoracy~ I love that name
Thanks! I like to change my ship name depending on the video I'm making and felt this to be fitting. Thanks for checking out the video!
I want to be able to choose the load out for the drone.
Maybe even another version that can handle support weapons only. Then your buddy can rock the other version and have a two man team with firepower of 4 people 😂 would make those bot drops on repeat feel a tad less hopeless.
Being able to choose what to equip on the drone would make it the most versatile stratagem, as well as the most fun/chaotic depending on what's slapped onto it. Thanks for checking out the video!
I love that ship name. Mine is, Queen of Audacity.
Thanks and nice ship name! I change my ship's name depending on the video I make. With all the different combinations I feel like being able to use them all is how I experience the game to its fullest haha. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
Lazer is way better. No competition
yes, bullets aint free
Hoping to get a lot of intimate time with the guard dog rover to see how it works and then I feel it fair for me to make a comparison. Thanks for checking out the video!
@@Wallbouncing i love to use rovers, but shield backpacks are too good. i might just start using them again tho
Laser is worthless against bots. Guard dog is still bad but can at least kill bots. Laser rover is easily the best stratagem in the game against bugs though. Pls no nerf.
@BARBARBINKLE It protects you from the jetpack bots. I'd say that's very useful. I'm more of a balistic sheild enjoyer myself, but it's not a bad pick.
Excellent video!
Thanks for your kind comment! Thanks also for checking out the video!
Is there any reason you would use a normal guard dog and not the laser one? Laser one almost never has to reload and can keep sustained fire very easily.
I haven't used the rover enough to make a fair comparison, but I do like using the liberator guard dog for the bots to take out those bot troopers since it takes them out very fast. I can see the rover being useful for bugs since the sustained fire is able to keep them from bay and from swarming you. Thanks for checking out the video!
Imagine Sickle guard dog with infinite ammo like LAS-5 laser guard dog
i want to have two drones active at once, strap a backpack on my back and my front, i want to be a hotdog sandwich.
I wish the drones had a off button for when I need to go stealth or save on ammo. Also why cant I get a mag from a ammo crate?! Its a liberator for crying out loud, not a rocket launcher!
Unless the ammo pickup is addressed, using choosing this item is kind of a waste.
Being able to use to the field ammo to replenish the reserve magazines would make this a lot more useful I agree. Thanks for checking out the video!
What about dying or dropping the backpack, and the drone can't land so it hovers in a circle attracting attention?
I've been attempting to understand some level of consistency with that behavior. Whether the guard dog needs to repair, reload, or is just trying to get back it would sometimes miss and I believe this to be just the nature of that "seeking" phase where it is trying to find the backpack but there's a chance it misses. If this was to happen and if the drone needed to either reload or repair, it would have to play through that seeking and respective animation, taking a lot of time. However, if it was already loaded and you pick it up it will instantly be ready to shoot and not go through that animation of existing the backpack. It can have it's quick pro and con, and as for an explanation as to why it happens all I unfortunately can chalk it up to is that to be a part of that "seeking" state. Hope that answers your question and thanks for checking out the video and asking that question!
They should change the guard dog to have the lmg instead of the liberator.
Dope science. Great methodology. Sick!
Thanks for your kind words. It really means a lot to me. Thanks for checking out the video and glad it was helpful!
Is there an indicator for the guard dogs remaining mags?
The only visual indicator would be the magazines on the sides of the backpack. There three on each side and are positioned inwards and that's how I was able to figure out how many magazines were left for the guard dog. Thanks for watching!
@@Wallbouncing thank you for the reply
If it didn't go back to the backpack if you dropped it it would be great just portable turret
great video!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for checking out the video!
So if theres 1 bullet left in the mag that means theres still one in the chamber so its 2 bullets left. So when it reloads it should be 31 rounds total right?
gatling sentries shoot fabricators too, hate that!
Oh wow! Didn't know that. Thanks for sharing and thanks for checking out the video!
The only time I’ve ever used the bullet rover was a misclick. I despised it.
Is it better than the laser one?
I felt like this question might come around and to be honest I want to say for me personally I like this version more than the laser one; however, I have not done a deep look into the laser one yet so I may be saying that a bit prematurely. Thanks for checking out the video!
Laser is better imo. The regular guard dog goes down often vs the laser hardly goes down if at all. Same damage imo.
it's better in that it generally won't shoot you or your teammates like the rover will
@@Wallbouncing why do you like this version more than the laser one?
It has better burst damage but the laser guard dog has better sustained damage.
Also the regular guard dog friendly fires me and my team less often because it doesn’t need to shoot that often to get its kill.
The guard dog stop working / broke or stole ammo from my main weapon, I decide never use it anymore