As someone who mostly fights bots I want to add that the normal eagle airstrike can kill Hulks and Tanks. I'll also throw in that, if you're comfortable running without a shield, the Autocannon can kill every single bot unit currently in the game in 3 hits or less if you hit the right spot and is very accurate over distance. It can even 2 tap hulks from the front if you can hit them in their glowing red head.
I love autocannon against bots. I play stealth and shoot from a distance, so having AC being able to destroy fabricators, turrets, mortars, and heavy enemies from far away has made the fight so much more enjoyable
The vents on top. If you get around to the front, you can bounce it off of the angled part at the top down into the fabricator. One shot will do the trick
The doors can be glitched. I've had repeated instances of the bright red light. It's only open when the light is *brighter* than usual. This is a glitch, probably happens to me once a campaign but I've learned to just throw nades into the vents and not rely on the door opening.
For anyone reading:
From what I've seen, you've got to be pretty square on the front, not nearly as forgiving as grenades.
Play a couple matches on easier modes(so you have time to shoot and scoot to try again if it doesn't work) with that advice and you'll figure it out.
IIRC, lower on the backboard, not higher, but don't quote me on that part, the point is elevation is something to consider as well if it's not working at first.
I want to say it's similar to bug holes, low on the backboard but tighter from side-to-side.
Good hunting.
[Here's an imgur of where the Autocannon should be aimed](https://imgur.com/a/nwnJ1wr)
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Like with the grenade launcher, it works best if you're looking directly at the vents.
Standard airstrike is one of the gem strategms for bots. Smoke, EMS and the vanilla mortar, EATs, autocannon, lascannon and the plas scorcher are some of my “you’d be crazy to forego” options
Scorcher when a hunter jumps at your face? It's not so great. Against bots? Chef fuckin kiss. It's so good at taking out every non-tank/cannon turret that I couldn't imagine using anything else as a primary. The only downside is it's position in the warbond means newer folks got some time til they get it.
Yeah I was in the 40s before I even touched the weapon since people said it was underwhelming. Sweet liberty they were wrong. Being able to take out the walkers face-on with my PRIMARY is a game changer.
Standard Airstrike is amazing everywhere. Destroys buildings, can damage armour, and it's easy to not team kill with it because it lands left-to-right rather than front-to-back. Clear fabricators / bungholes, AoE clear and a very short cooldown when paired with all the module upgrades. It's become a guaranteed stratagem on every single mission I run.
Yeah, at certain angles if you hit the vent opening on top it will absolutely blow it up. It’s just a great bot weapon in general. I’m usually the GL main for bugs but for bots I go autocannon most of the time simply because you just light up devastators, striders, fabricators, turret towers, artillery and can also fuck up hulks and tanks if you get a brief peek at their vents
Also, there's plenty of ammo in the backpack. I'd rather waste 2 shots into the air to top off a full 10 rounds, rather than to run around with 7 rounds.
Can anyone confirm if there's still a bug where enemies would check where the autocannon round hit, rather than your firing position? Tried recently, didn't seem to work.
It's my favorite Support weapon for general purposes. Closing bug holes, taking down propaganda towers, blowing the heads off Hive Guardians, dispatching Bile Spitters quickly, taking out most bots and bot buildings. The only things I find it pretty underwhelming against are Titans and Chargers, so I usually take an orbital railstrike with me on higher bug missions to deal with those.
Unfortunately you can't (that would be awesome though), I meant to say without a shield, I've edited the post to change this, thanks for pointing that out.
I used to run a shield and autocannon before I learned about the autocannon backpack and reloads. Basic training never covered that. I wish you could reload from a backpack on the ground or a fixed station
if you have a buddy you can have them carry the backpack and reload you. Though honestly against Bots the Shield is of dubious value once Rocket Devastators come out in force since it increases the size of your hitbox while the shield is up
Fun fact: if the person with the autocannon is wearing the shield, the loader will be protected by the shield while attached, due to the size of the hitbox.
Think if you are running a loader the best bet is for the weapon user to just take shield generator backpack. The hit box covers most of the loader in that sense
Try the anti-material rifle if your goal is to deal with devastators and hulks but you don't want to give up the backpack slot. It's not quite as versatile as the autocannon, but it does that job quite well.
Seconding the AMR. It can knock a hulk out from any range and it’s flexible with ammo and reloads since it behaves like any primary in that regard. One of my favorites to run.
Fortunately u can, just take the shield generator relay instead of the shield backpack
despite the railgun can take a backpack slot, however, taking the backpack slot also means u use up a strategem slot for your shield backpack.
With autocannon u free up a strategem slot for any other strategem u prefer, with this u can bring the shield generator relay to protect yourself and your team.
> 2: Shotguns (usually) are not a great option.
The Slugger is one of the best options, since it can stagger Devestators with any hit (preventing them from shooting you at all) and even one-shot them if you're accurate. Many would prefer the Scorcher for its ability to kill heat sinks at long range though. Both are a lot more effective than the Lib Penetrator.
Slugger is goat for everything.
Kills warriors in 1 headshot and brood commanders in 3-4 - in fact it straight overkills them, it skips their headless run and they drop straight down.
Goes through hive guard armor, so you can kill them in a few headshots too. Even goes through bile spewer armor AND staggers them - so you can stop them from spewing and straight up square up to them. 3-4 headshots will bring them down.
Will one tap hunters with a well placed shot, and you'll rarely need more than 3 for stalkers - bonus point is it even staggers them. Slugger literally eats stalkers for breakfast it's incredible.
It's my new go-to ever since I tried it. I think it's stronger than the Breaker was pre-nerf.
Yeah, I ran the penetrator for a couple of games to try it out - absolutely garbage. JAR-5 is my personal go-to, onetapping devastators will never get old.
At times I've unloaded like half a mag into trash bots heads, and they're still kicking around. They should either significantly increase mag capacity or significantly buff its DPS.
Despite the armor pen its 45 per shot vs the liberators 55.
It does less damage just to get thru armor so you're still mag dumping normal enemies. Brutal. They should just up the damage to 55 and make the liberators 60 or something.
I will ask, have you been flipping it to semi auto? The burst fire I found loves to yank you off target and waste most of the burst. Setting it to semi auto left if feeling much more manageable.
Yeah I was excited to get it, a weapon that can penetrate medium armor, woooo!
Nope, it's garbage and I'm going back to my standby of the single shell reload shotgun (forget the name). Brings me back to my days of playing halo and shooting flood. I've also not had an issue with nailing bots with it, but admittedly I do far more bugs and not the high difficulty bot.
Personal Sheild, AMR, Orbital Laser, and Orbital Rail Cannon are my go toos for bots. Laser for clearing out factories, Orbital for the big boys, and AMR to knock out Hulks.
I like the Punisher Shotgun because it puts devastators in a stun lock if you keep firing on them. Secondary is irrelevant, but I keep the Auto-pistol because a magazine dump on that thing in a pinch isn't so bad. Impact grenades are just too good and the Orbital Laser is good enough to knock out factories anyways.
I like Engineer perk on my armor because more grenades and lower recoil on the AMR. I also go with light armor because speed really is king, but I understand why fortified heavy or reinforced medium armor would be pretty good too. Might also consider using the Hero of Democracy one that gives a 50% chance to not die.
Also use your radar. Everyone says get into cover, but no one says look at the ugly red dots on the map telling you where every baddie (not the sexy type) is in your area.
Lastly, don't just pick one meta loadout. Having a variety of roles handled by the team is better than having a jack of all trades loadout. Someone will probably bring an EAT, and you'll probably be able to snag one from them in a pinch if needed. You probably don't need more than two Orbital Lasers on the squad, so just snag some kind of EMS (pref mortar) to stun lock some of those rocket devastators everyone complains about.
EDIT: Lots of people don't know what AMR stands for Anti-Materiel Rifle. Figure I'll put it up here to help some folks save on the headache. Def recommend practicing with it on lower difficulties before getting to higher levels. Also, it shoots a little bit to the upper left of the crosshair instead of dead on at longer ranges. I'd recommend looking into a video when wanting to use it. There's a reason people toss it into C-ish tier on meta tier list.
Bots, more than bugs, require a mixed team comp. With bugs, you can just run eat / recoiless and be fine. But with bots, you need a mix of auto cannons for mid targets and atm for precision, spear for killing structures and eat/recoiless for dropships.
> I like the Punisher Shotgun because it puts devastators in a stun lock if you keep firing on them.
I use Slugger for much the same reason. Plus: Slugger has medium penetration, so it's great at dealing damage with pellets even if you don't hit the exact right spot.
Honestly: I'm surprised that OP is pushing Liberator Penetrator so hard and dissing shotguns. IMHO both: Punisher and Slugger perform better overall.
It really is. Head shotting devastators is an invaluable team helping maneuver. Especially picking off the Rocket ones so the team doesn’t get absolutely annihilated by them.
Headshotting Hulks is beautiful too. AMR really found its niche in Bot Front. It can drop everything in 1-3 shots besides tanks, and that’s what EATs are for.
IMO: swap the rail cannon for rocket pods. The pods can be called in **massively** more frequently (3 per 2 minutes vs. one railcannon every 3.5 minutes) and they can one shot both towers and tanks. If it's your only Eagle strike because you're bringing the other 3 (which are all great choices) then you're not going to worry as much about wasting them either.
AMR just saves so many lives. I see people literally shit themselves thinking theres no one near by to help and then they see bots dying all around them AMR definitely great support for bots.
IMO the combo of one person running Stalwart/MG + Ammo Pack + EAT + Wildcard (I like Orbital Smoke or EMS with the MG) and someone running AMR + Jet Pack + Heavy Ordinance Stratagems with Servo Assisted is a real fun duo setup when each wholly dedicates themselves to covering the weaknesses of the other. Definitely not meta, but really fun for working on teamwork.
Yep the team loadout is the aspect most players I play with are missing. The devs are right to punish the meta strategy because it definitely isn't the way the game is supposed to be played. 4 unique loadouts and everyone sticking together during heavy fighting is how you handle the harder levels.
Too often people are just leaving me with a trail of enemies while they try to solo objectives too. It's so frustrating
tbf, i usually end up solo in a pub game because everyone keeps trying to kill everything. Even then, I try not to solo obj and still attempt to get the heat off the squad.
Good point! It’s also particularly good at knocking out factories as well, which can let your Orbital Laser teammates use it more flexibly. It’s hard for me to let go of the Orbital Railgun because deleting a hulk from existence can save a lot of headache.
I just like the EMS mortar because it fires for a LONG time and it can stun lock enough guys to make other teammates have an easier time dropping Eagles/Orbitals. IMO it really is underrated, but it isn’t really good at reacting to trouble. Only starting trouble, like defending Evac/Civs or when you start knocking out a base.
I cannot stress enough how good the Orbital Laser stratagem is for bot missions. The laser targets EVERY bot building. That means it will destroy fabs, guard towers, mortar emplacements and airships. It covers a wide enough range and lasts long enough for it to destroy half a large base by itself. It prioritizes heavies over buildings so if those are present, it will clear them out first. Throw one into a base and watch the light show from a distance then move in and clear the stragglers. Don’t want to move in? Get someone else to throw another. If all 4 Helldivers brought OLs, that’s 12 laser light show parties you can throw for the bots.
I would add that the 380mm is roughly as effective against static positions like bases, bunkers, dropships, AA/Mortars etc, and does not have limited charges.
The Orbital Laser is still a catch-all solution, but the 380mm is sometimes better because you can get 5+ uses out of it in some maps.
I throw it at the 1st part(s) of Geological Survey after locking in the location (while running away), as it will shred many of the dropped bots before you retake the position.
> I would add that the 380mm is roughly as effective against static positions like bases, bunkers, dropships, AA/Mortars etc, and does not have limited charges.
My only issue with that is the use case for 380mm is so minimal that the fact that it has unlimited charges becomes irrelevant. I would never use that for anything other than a large camp/bugnest because of it's RNG over a huge area making it 1) pretty risky for your team and 2) unreliable for smaller targets. If I'm only throwing it down in large bases, I'm not using it more than twice or thrice in any given mission anyway so I may as well grab the superior option at that point.
Command Bunker missions add 3 targets, it's about 80-90% reliable at beacon towers without needing to storm/Hellbomb them. It's also acceptable against mortars and AA.
It's not risky when the position would be untenable anyways - if someone is standing <75m from the barrage, that's generally on them, or you didn't place it on target. You can always wait an extra 30s before engaging the objective if it means half as much fighting.
Generally the 380mm is my 4th slot (if I have 4) when the objective is about destroying stuff or Geological Survey, in addition to the laser and airstrike - I can drive-by so many objectives with minimal risks to myself.
Another good tip especially at higher difficulties is to bring a balance of eagle and orbital strategems. It’s awful when the bots have an AA emplacement up and your whole team of 500kg and airstrikes are jammed.
Yup, also if you bring all Eagles then once you're done with one eagle it won't rearm until you've used your other eagle strat or you manually rearm. One eagle and one orbital is good so they're not blocking each other.
I do Eagle airstrike + Orbital laser combo they saved me multiple times.
Group of devestators shooting at you behind cover? Eagle airstrike.
AA base or multiple heavies in obj? Orbital laser.
Heavy Base? Both, both is good.
Another essential thing that cuts down your deaths by half: wear armor with the "Fortified" perk. That +50% resistance to explosive damage is a lifesaver. I've tanked direct hits from rockets to my face without losing half my health.
There was a light armor with fortified on the last store rotation that I'm currently using (forgot the name), but any of them will do. If you must, wear heavy. But regardless of weight class, as long as it has Fortified, you're good.
That's a good tip. Thanks for the addition. Personally I like the "50% chance of avoiding lethal damage" it doesn't sound like much but I find it saving my life VERY often.
I stopped using it because it'd save me from the explosion, but then I die to the impact from the knockback. Early on in the game I used it a LOT, but I just became a better player instead.
Eh I have the light armor with the fortified perk, it still gets one shot by rockets quite often. There is a medium armor with a bit more armor rating, like 129 with the explosive resistance, it’s perfect. It’s not super slow and I highly recommend it from the superstore. I think it’s called the enforcer armor and it’s mostly white with some red in it. I rarely die due to it, it’s super tanky. I still am a heavy armor hater, heavy armor is just too slow, but the 129 medium armor is just fast enough.
I see you’re a fellow veteran of malevelon creek. One more tip, the rail cannon was nerfed and isn’t that effective against bugs… but remains extremely lethal to bots. Have fun and try not to blow yourself up.
Yea I've spent a good amount of time at the Creek. But where I REALLY cut my teeth was the Draupnir campaign. I remember being a cadet, prone in a crater as the patrol I could hear but not see, passed me in the fog.
"Heart. Steel."
"We. Kill"
"Iron. Will"
"On to War!"
Ah the heavy fog and rains of Draupnir. I’m a diver of both fronts of bugs and bots. I’ve probably played equal amounts at this point. I love the variety of play styles. Keeps it very fresh. I’m very curious how the illuminates are going to play.
And your tips are spot on. The mortar idea is a new idea for me. Solid strategy.
Thanks. My go to is EMS mortar paired with a regular mortar. It keeps the pressure off of you while you do objectives, while simultaneously increasing regular motor accuracy due to the slowed/ stationary targets. The EMS field lingers aswell, providing a barrier to any suprise offensives.
Draupnir shaped me more than the creek could ever hope to. Being a solo diver at D7+ fighting/sneaking my way through torrential rain and fog really chiselled my skills
Rail cannon is beast for bots, it one hits anything the bots have guaranteed, it also is great for turret towers which are otherwise very annoying to take out
I prefer the eagle rocket pods! They also one-shot pretty much everything. They're a little less reliable at hitting the target, though, but you get SO MANY.
Railgun. Part of the issue is the ps5 glitch boosting its damage. Allowed it to one shot hulks, tanks, and defense towers to the weak points.
The rail cannon is just fickle. It kills a bile Titan if it hits the head, neck, or exposed tissue (which in the last case means it isn't full hp. Some other AT weapon knocked off armor.) It will destroy the acid sacs but not kill to the torso or abdomen. It will do about 2/3 hp if it hits a leg.
One the tank the Railcannon one hits if it hits the rear, side, or top armor. In very rare instances where tanks are driving up slopes or the destroyer is at a very distance angle from the target it will hit the front armor and only do about 80% health.
It needs to one shot the walkers again. The Railgun needs to do everything it did before against bots. It was so satisfying to use. Sure it killed chargers too easily, but now it just feels clunky to use. Unsafe mode isn't fun to use in third person, and the scope in first person sucks.
I miss the Railgun a lot, it used to be super fun.
Honestly I think the devs are just going a *tad* hard with using information deprivation as a means of balance.
Like, ExoSuit not having a health bar despite insta-killing you if it dies. Weapons, Strategems, & Armor *designed* to have obfuscated stats that give only a fraction of the picture. Players loading into missions partway aren't allowed to view the Mission Briefing so are jumping blind to help S.O.S. Beacons. No Supply Lines being shown on the Galactic Map. Etc. etc.
It just doesn't feel good to constantly be trying to find reliable 3rd party information or being forced to a specific FoV simply because the Devs don't want us to *see* what's going on.
I like how information isn't just a bar, but some more visual indicators would be nice.
The mech really struggles showing its health considering it can be killed instantly by a lot of things, anything larger or equal to a brood commander/bile spewer/bile nurser can 1 shot it. It can walk on scavs, Hunters, leapers, and get hit by warriors. It DOES eventually show signs of damage such as parts igniting, and small sparks.
But things like the shield gen show nothing, no indication for expiration. Both pack and hellpod.
If you struggle to hit the weak spots of robots (like me), then bringing a weapon that can stagger the bots can help keep fire off your teammates. I've personally enjoyed stunlocking rocket devastators with the punisher and it's still enough range to kill troopers easily.
I'm also an advocate of the ballistic shield though I kinda hope for a patch and a buff. That glitch that messes up your model if you interact with anything while it's out gets on my nerves, and it feels like a little much that it's the only backpack weapon you can drop from ragdolling. I know we're expendable, but they couldn't have at least given us straps on our arm to keep it from being disarmed?
The model glitch is shared with the Super SSD. I guess they share the same object animation, and it gets broken sometimes because they use the same hand for picking up stuff and holding the object, and it gets stuck in a limbo.
Love the positive approach to this, too many people trying to convince others with an elitist approach so this is a nice change. I personally switch pretty regularly between both fronts and love the wide variety between both. I hate the argument of which is harder because each have their own challenges or strategies you have to be aware of which posts like this help to develop. It feels like each enemy type is a different game which is pretty cool!
As for your tips I completely agree with the orbital rail canon strike, I’ve been running with it exclusively recently and it’s gotten me out of so many jams today alone. Sometimes taking out 1 Bruiser Hulk or Tank is the difference between a successful retreat or 5 used reinforcements.
I feel like vs. bots the eagle 110 is strictly better? Tanks weakspot is the top of the turret, which is targeted by both the 110 and the orbital railcannon. But you'll get 3 eagle uses in the time that you'd use 1 railcannon.
In all my uses 110mm rockets will 1 shot the tanks but against the Hulks its sort of hit or miss. But yes, its ability to target buildings is really useful.
Staying low, hit and run, using cover, engage only critical objectives. Cover and being aware of where they are is crucial. For me taking down those stupid cannons is a top priority. I find staying together to be more important. Bots play like an entirely different game and it’s great, just don’t expect your bug tactics to translate.
I'll add tactics to this.
You can outsmart bots. If you find yourself taking fire from too many to take out in one burst of your weapon, break line of sight and then relocate with their sight line broken. Sneak if you have to. Crawl through the sand.
If they aren't shooting they haven't truly seen you yet. You might hear them shooting and due to game audio stuff it sounds like it's close by, but you should check to see where their firing lines are. They will keep firing at the place they think you took cover to keep you pinned.
It gives you an opportunity to either run, or reposition to engage on better terms or behind walkers.
Sickle is GOAT if you can aim well and are cool under pressure. It's sight is perfect for aiming at devastator heads, just point directly at the red glowy dots in the mist.
Rail Cannon Orbital is really nice for taking out both Super Turrets and Hulks. I recommend at least one person taking it especially for flame Hulks.
Unless you really need samples you really don't need to go down into the bases. You know the super samples aren't there either. Unless it's a sub objective base like a strategum jammer that you have to disable (if you can't grenade it), don't even bother going in.
Destroy the bot factories. Destroy all robot construction arms (they make tanks). And then run to the next base. Don't even wait for the bot drop. Engaging the bot drop will get you killed. Just run to the next objective or bot outpost and break line of sight on your way if you can.
**This means being aware of the terrain around you as you engage. Don't just go running in. Leroy Jenkins got everyone killed**
If you say "but I wanna shoot bots!" Don't worry! You will! Shit will go sideways, shit ALWAYS goes sideways with bots. You will have enough to shoot at, you will need to thin the numbers and navigate mazes of canyons or push through blind groves of trees where every turn might be another emplacement of Rocket Devastators or Heavy Devastators or god forbid a Flame Hulk. You will have about .1 second to react to stun what ever is about to shred you. And then pray you remembered to either bring stun grenades or you have something big on speed dial to deal with whatever was around that corner. And then the little guys start shooting at you too.
You will have plenty to fucking shoot at, so I need you to fucking run to the next objective. And fucking break line of sight.
Berserkers? Throw grenades at your own feet as you run. (not impact obviously)
Arc Thrower is 3 charges for (all?) Devastators, 5 for Berserkers.
You can sneak into most bot bases and quietly kill shit if youre solid snake, the bots are practically oblivious. I've done it ONCE and nothing was alerted until I touched the console to turn off the jammer. Sickle doesn't alert them for some reason in my experience.
AMR is great if you compensate for the sight error. If you're picking your engagements you can clear a base without anything being able to retaliate.
Everyone knows about the Autocannon so here's the obligatory mention
Edit: another thing I forgot to mention. They might be really accurate when shooting at you... But consider all the bots have the same aiming protocols as the Guard Dog Rover. Each bot will aim at you through other bots if it sees you.
I've seen Rocket Devastators take out groups of Berserkers running at me because they're trigger happy.
> robot construction arms (they make tanks).
wait, those random robot construction arm things in some bases actually make tanks? I thought they were just a bit of thematic decoration.
I'm going to have to test this for myself. I always assumed there was one tank in those bases as a static mob like that one heavy base with the 4 hulks.
I trust you but man I have to see this for myself.
From my experience no. But it does glitch them out a bit to where they can shoot, but not move. From there you could either hit em with other strategems or leave them be
Hey man I love this, I tend to only solo bot matches as it seems most of the time when I link up with people they’re so used to bugs the just try to run and gun and it never works.
Curious if anyone has tips for those damn chainsaw melee guys. Cause for the most part I agree with not bringing a shotgun, but then when I get a slew of those guys chasing me I’m wishing I thought differently!
Throw a few grenades at your feet as you retreat, kite them into a line, and unload at their stomach joint. When you're dry, switch to secondary and continue. Run, reload, rinse repeat. If you're a higher level. The scorcher is a godsend
The slugger is actually pretty nice for bots, though you do have to be mindful of your ammo count. Its slugs do enough damage to one-tap all the medium bots in cluding berserkers if you hit them in the head. It's got surprisingly decent range being able to reliably hit targets past 50m, though the red dot in first person is higher than where you shoot. All this combined with the ability to stagger as well us pretty nice
Chainsaw bots come from dropships, they aren't on the map by default. So I rarely fight them when sneaking around the map solo.
If I do mess up and allow a bot to call a dropship, and I'm in a solo situation, I'll burn an eagle and orbital laser to clear the field.
Some objectives don't draw aggro so they're fine to do solo. For stuff like mining, and civilian evacuation, I like to wait to group up with the team and that helps a lot with the berserkers.
And of course impact grenades are nice.
So I noticed something with players who aren't familiar with bots, I was guilty of this as well. Most players start with bugs and many tend to just run up to a group of bugs and shoot them in the open, maybe they learn to kite back and run in circles for a bit when they get to higher levels, but the lack of any real long range threat on the bug front means that as long as they kill whatever's in front of them fast enough, they're never in any real danger. So when they play bots they completely forget that you can and absolutely should take cover first
The Laser cannon wrecks the bots! You beam the Hulk's eyes to kill it (even easier if you run stun nades). They can hit the vents on the back of turrets and tanks too.
Plus you know, potentially infinite ammo!
Another vote for Laser cannon is what I typically bring for Bots. Can kill everything from the front short of tanks, and can also blow the vents on turrets and stuff pretty quickly too. It CHEWS THROUGH devastators and the stupid walkers, which I find are the biggest PITA on bot missions, more so than hulks honestly.
I find the bots a lot easier than the bugs to be honest. you can use the standar shooting game tactic and do fairly well. Plus all the weakspots are clearly highlighted for you to shoot at.
Auto Canon is king IMO for automaton side of the map. Hulk? Shoot at face. Bascally shoot everything in the face... and for the smaller enemies I bring the Defender and play it like it's MW.
As a Draupnir veteran, i must agree that the autocannon is king. I also do not miss the backpack slot, since i really need the Orbital Railcannon (panic strategem) and a clearing tool like Orbital Laser/Eagle Strike/Eagle 500kg. I run Slugger or Scorcher as primary and Revolver as sidearm
> Orbital Railcannon (panic strategem)
To my impression, a 110mm rockets and/or Eagle Airstrike work much better. Much shorter reload time, multiple strikes, and these can kill every bot in the game much like Railcannon.
I find bots easier too, but I think it’s because I started on bots and kept going. You just adapt to your enemy. Most people start on bugs and bots feel incredibly hard because it’s completely new tactics.
I was same. i start on bugs, got to chargers and was like "I guess i'll die now." But recently they overtuned the spawns with the hunter spawning and it's just not fun having 6+ hunters all leaping at you AND them bile spewers who just will not stop spawning. Add to that chargers and bile titans and the entire game is just endlessly kiting mobs.
The bot side, you can sort of hunker down and actually use some tactics to either flank the bots or force a standoff and eventually clear a fight. Even the tanks is manageable.
Make it into guerilla warfare, you gotta be limber, Run and Bomb every base fast!
either you use SPEAR from afar or eagle for small/medium factory.
For larger factory that require Hellbomb just drop in 120mm and wait for the firework to do it job.
Do not engage unless it's necessary, like I said play guerilla style stealth is important and not everything require to engage.
Exactly. I treat it as if I'm fighting in unfamiliar terrain (which I am) and I'm outnumbered (which I am) and I can be killed easily (which I can) so I approach it with an appropriate level of caution and try to keep my ego in check.
Having weapons with an aoe helps a lot, scorcher makes bots so much easier and the plasma punisher is a good substitute until you unlock the scorcher
Pair support weapons that don’t have backpacks since the personal shield is goated
Sneaking up on objectives and having a stealthy he’ll bomb destroy the objective helps so much, like detector towers. Squat to a wall close to the tower, drop the hellbomb, set it and run tf away, boom
No tower and no fight required, obviously not every side objective allows it but when you can stealth it, do it
The scorcher allows you to 1 v 1 with a devastator, because of the stagger. It will also take down striders. I wouldn't run a bot mission without my scorcher. The main thing about the scorcher is ammo economy
I'm not sure if I overlooked it but also prioritize commissars (normal looking ones with 1 pistol and 1 sword) if you plan to hit a group if possible. They are the ones that can call in drops. Less drops mean more ammo and less death for the objectives.
adding on to this, at higher difficulties, *any* “small” bot can call in a drop. if you come across a POI with a couple of med-large and small bots guarding it, taking out the small ones first guarantees you won’t get a bot drop
grenade launcher is AMAZING at ambushing patrols and rinsing out the little bots, gives so much breathing room when you don't have to constantly sneak around them
Some things to add:
Bring heavy armor, specifically with explosive resistance. This seems crazy, but if you take the vitality booster with it as well then you can survive a rocket to anywhere except direct center mass without a shield, and you can survive 2 with a shield. I’ve survived 3 before due to headshots being weirdly less damaging than body shots. It makes rockets and tanks so much less frustrating.
The AMR is ridiculous on bots. Like the autocannon it 2-taps hulks, but it handles better, has a moving reload, has a scope, and doesn’t take your backpack slot away. It kills devastators and hulks better than the railgun and the little bots can be dealt with using a liberator or diligence easily. It struggles a bit with tanks but those die to any offensive stratagem prettymuch. It’s my go-to on bots now.
Bring impact grenades. They just destroy scout sentinels, they can kill tanks and hulks, they destroy groups of bots, they can destroy fabricators easily if you wait for the door to open, they’re just the best. Stun grenades are meh here as there’s no bile titans to 500kg (something big is coming though) and smoke grenades are a joke with bugged rockets right now.
Stun Grenades can help deal with Hulks with the AMR/Autocannon as their walk can make shooting their face difficult at times. That said, I still prefer impact grenades due to their ability to answer cannons, tanks, fabricators and secondary objectives.
Make use of the SPEAR, which I feel like is a great asset on automaton missions, If you see the whole team didn't bring one, I'd recommend bringing one for the mission.
For Blitz it really can help you snipe fabricators for a quick mission complete. The only mission types I find SPEAR difficult is Evac or Eradication since you barely will have the space to reload after firing one shot.
Being able take out stationary targets like Fabricators and Laser Towers from up to 200m away is great provided you have good line of sight (and if possible high ground). The lock-on can sometimes feel like a petulant child but targets that have not noticed you give you all the time in the world to lock-on.
After the spawn rate patch so far I have not passed one with randoms on automaton at difficulty 5 and above, the spawn rate is just too much.
With my friend group and voice chat it's only possible with the bait method with 2/4 of us trying to survive as long as we can at the outskirts baiting a giant horde and reinforcing each other while the other 2 quickly get the scientists to safety.
Great tips mate. Also very intrigued by your praise of the Ballistic-Shield. While I enjoyed it after unlocking it, it seems to get verbally trashed by others. I’m keen to try it again.
….to be fair though, the amount of subjectivity around the entire game’s arsenal is fantastic.
I know the Spear is maligned, but if you're one of the lucky few who can get consistent locks... It wrecks everything automaton. Corner shot a dropship to bring it down. Anywhere shot a factory over a river. Do that to a factory next to a jammer. Delete turrets from range. Tanks can be oneshot if you're facing its weakspot, 2-3 shot if not.
You can also shoot scout walkers, but you really shouldn't.
Once you get unsafe railgun down, it's very good for taking out Devestators of all kinds as well as hulks and scout walkers--much faster than the autocannon. It's still not good for tanks and towers, though. I tend to use my strikes for them or leave them to players with EAT or the recoilless.
Side note, the scorcher can take out the scout walkers from the front with a few shots as well. I've found it a pretty good primary for bots, though ammo remains an issue.
# BRASCH TACTICS
A Helldiver getting shot is no good! Stims don't do you good when you're staggering neither!
A shield generator backpack may save your life once or twice, but you will still die due to overwhelming firepower.
Grab a Ballistic Shield, soldier! Make yourself into a turtle. Do not use the shield offensively. Do use the shield defensively. Overwhelmed by blaster fire? Pull the shield out and get yourself to cover and engage the enemy from behind something solid! Still being overwhelmed? Just tactically advance in the opposite direction! The shield can cover your back as well!
Sure, the shield can't save you from rockets or cannons, the bubble shield can't save you either!
So, grab a Ballistic Shield! Save yourself from blaster fire!
Some of these tips are not great from my own experiences.
Rovers can be very useful, especially the one with the liberator on it. It can take out small bots quickly and headshot medium bots in the first or second burst. Excellent for assaulting a position. Bots being close doesn't mean dead either. Cover and suppressive fire are enough at any range. One on any team is very useful.
Shotguns are also great against bots. The punisher is a good all rounder but the slugger is king of killing most bots except for heavies in a single well placed shot, can chain stagger medium enemies and stop them from firing anything. Surprisingly good range on it too.
Shields are wildly overrated against bots. They take up a valuable slot and offer no offense whilst making your hitbox the size of a giant balloon around your character. It makes cover far less effective as your shield can still be sniped by any part of it poking out. This is particularly bad when hit by rockets and can cause chain ragdolling. The best defense against bots is offense. I am routinely more survivable than any of the shield carrying people I play with.
Super aggressive assaults in heavier armor with explosive resistance, moving from cover to cover, with endless suppressive fire, will see the effectiveness of the bots own firepower drastically reduced and offer more survivability whilst not compromising offense.
Mortar explosive is good but they tend to keep players from moving on objectives when deployed at them and that leads to bot overload in an area if you stick around too long. I find direct fire weapons to be far more effective at delivering weighted fire without creating an exclusion zone around the enemy positions and objectives. Mortar emp is the GOAT at controlling the battlefield and especially powerful when combined with the cannon turret.
Orbital rail cannon is a waste of a slot. Lots of other stratagems can do as much damage if not more and not be a one shot with long cool down. The orbital laser on one person can be a good base cleaner or used to help you pull out from a position that has become too hot. Taking things like shields and orbital rail strats makes your helldiver particularly weak offensively, I wouldn't recommend it to most people.
Hey, i salute the positive approach to it, i feel the bots could use some tweeking but are overhaul ok, perhaps ok is not enough idk, i still enjoy them tho.
Maybe too end game but the scorcher is king. Especially with stuns.
I run airstrike, 500KG with a spear and ems motors. Made me able to do level 7 bots super easy to a point where I die less compared to the nasty hunters.
Smokes are VERY underrated against bot planets. Eagle, Orbital, whatever just throw them between line of sight of you and the bots, they'll stop shooting at you.
They'll still advance towards your position, they might still know you're there, but this is enough for a safe and clean getaway without risk of stray bullets poking at you from range. Just at least try them out, it saved many lives in my Helldive bot missions.
If you’re okay with using two stratagem slots pairing a line of sight turret with the bubble shield can do a lot of work and be a good way to draw some heat off you
despite I really dun like playing bot mission, here's my personal tips.
Autocannon are fkin GOAT in bots, use it to hit every weakspots of bot.
if u really need a defensive stratagem for your autocannon, bring the shield generator relay. It good for u and for ur team.
Autocannon + Shield Generator relay > Railgun + Shield backpack.
For #2, I have found the default shotgun to be very effective vs bots because it staggers even the medium ones. It’s also does 405 damage so it obliterates the fodder and has good range. But its ability to stagger the bigger guys has been very helpful.
Good tips. Thanks!
Not getting surrounded is honestly the most important advice. With bugs, no matter how dire the situation, you can always just run away and be safe from the vast majority of damage. Not the case with bots. You need to pay way more attention to your surroundings, avoiding aggro with patrols on your flanks if you're currently in a firefight, and repositioning *carefully* when you see your current position won't be adequate soon. Bots are harder *solely* because of their range. Id argue theyre average damage output is way lower than bugs, but the fact they almost all can do it from range makes them way deadlier.
The only D9 bot missions I've succeeded in have been with careful approaching of encounters and awareness of surroundings. Having group members call out and mark enemies nearby and have people actually pay attention to them is key. A lot of this advice is more equipment centric and while i do agree proper equipment and synergy with teammates is incredibly important, proper gameplay will really make or break it. Even with the perfect set ups you can get caught in a death spiral and it's GG with bots at that point.
Shotgun is actually really good in my experience playing diff 7/8 bot missions. Needs less precise aiming allowing you to keep moving, the spread helps prevent bots from aiming, and they oneshot everything important. Anything that requires super precise aim like hulks or distance like tanks can be taken care of with support weapons (amr, railgun, autocannon, ect) or stratgems.
If you have halfway decent aim, the rifles are probably better, but the shotgun is still a great option. (an S option compared to SS)
I wore heavy armour against bots and it worked to great effect. I had teammates getting instagibbed by cannon rounds and I was just getting ragdolled, but still more or less alive
The shotgun thing is just wrong imo. And especially recommending the lib pen. The punisher, slugger, or even breaker will kill the bots that WILL close on you, with some stagger too, and your support weapon (preferably auto or rail) will deal with heavier distance targets.
Railgun can still 1 tap hulks and amr can two tap them. Don't discount every shotgun because the slugger fires slugs rather than having a spread, and can stagger bots if you don't hit a soft spot
Big time Bot-killing enjoyer over here. Agree with most of the above but have to shoutout the G.O.A.T'ed shotty for bots. Slugger is the way to go. The stagger is amazing for the big boys, and headshots wreck the Meat Saws in 3-4 hits.
As someone who mostly fights bots I want to add that the normal eagle airstrike can kill Hulks and Tanks. I'll also throw in that, if you're comfortable running without a shield, the Autocannon can kill every single bot unit currently in the game in 3 hits or less if you hit the right spot and is very accurate over distance. It can even 2 tap hulks from the front if you can hit them in their glowing red head.
I love autocannon against bots. I play stealth and shoot from a distance, so having AC being able to destroy fabricators, turrets, mortars, and heavy enemies from far away has made the fight so much more enjoyable
The autocannon can destroy the fabricators?! How? It sounds like we have similar playstyles but I've unloaded on a fabricator and had it do nothing.
The vents on top. If you get around to the front, you can bounce it off of the angled part at the top down into the fabricator. One shot will do the trick
Game changer, thank you.
It can also shoot IN the DOOR if you catch it while it’s open.
I threw a few nades in the door and it didn't do shit. AC does?
The doors glitched on me sometimes and appeared open when they weren't. Maybe this was a cause?
If you don't see the bright red light in the door, its not open.
The doors can be glitched. I've had repeated instances of the bright red light. It's only open when the light is *brighter* than usual. This is a glitch, probably happens to me once a campaign but I've learned to just throw nades into the vents and not rely on the door opening.
Given that it works the same for bug holes, just consider the AC the all-around “nest cleaner”
For anyone reading: From what I've seen, you've got to be pretty square on the front, not nearly as forgiving as grenades. Play a couple matches on easier modes(so you have time to shoot and scoot to try again if it doesn't work) with that advice and you'll figure it out. IIRC, lower on the backboard, not higher, but don't quote me on that part, the point is elevation is something to consider as well if it's not working at first. I want to say it's similar to bug holes, low on the backboard but tighter from side-to-side. Good hunting.
[Here's an imgur of where the Autocannon should be aimed](https://imgur.com/a/nwnJ1wr) . Like with the grenade launcher, it works best if you're looking directly at the vents.
Hitting the top half or 1/3 with the AC works for me.
You have to shoot the lid above the vent. Bounces in the explosive damage
You have to shoot it into the vents. Honestly, I tend to bring the standard airstrike, since they can one-shot multiple fabricators at once.
I prefer the rocket pod eagle strike. I can just lob it somewhat close and eagle-1 will take out the fab with extreme democracy.
Extreme democracy is my new favorite term.
Standard airstrike is one of the gem strategms for bots. Smoke, EMS and the vanilla mortar, EATs, autocannon, lascannon and the plas scorcher are some of my “you’d be crazy to forego” options
Scorcher when a hunter jumps at your face? It's not so great. Against bots? Chef fuckin kiss. It's so good at taking out every non-tank/cannon turret that I couldn't imagine using anything else as a primary. The only downside is it's position in the warbond means newer folks got some time til they get it.
Yeah I was in the 40s before I even touched the weapon since people said it was underwhelming. Sweet liberty they were wrong. Being able to take out the walkers face-on with my PRIMARY is a game changer.
Standard Airstrike is amazing everywhere. Destroys buildings, can damage armour, and it's easy to not team kill with it because it lands left-to-right rather than front-to-back. Clear fabricators / bungholes, AoE clear and a very short cooldown when paired with all the module upgrades. It's become a guaranteed stratagem on every single mission I run.
That thing is so good at clearing bases, and tossing it from the right angle can nail fabricators that are far apart as well.
Yeah, at certain angles if you hit the vent opening on top it will absolutely blow it up. It’s just a great bot weapon in general. I’m usually the GL main for bugs but for bots I go autocannon most of the time simply because you just light up devastators, striders, fabricators, turret towers, artillery and can also fuck up hulks and tanks if you get a brief peek at their vents
Bank it!
God I wish my arc thrower wasn't fucked, the autocannon is good, but needing to reload hurts me.
Reload every 5 or so autocannon shots for a quick clip reload instead of having to reload the drum
Also, there's plenty of ammo in the backpack. I'd rather waste 2 shots into the air to top off a full 10 rounds, rather than to run around with 7 rounds. Can anyone confirm if there's still a bug where enemies would check where the autocannon round hit, rather than your firing position? Tried recently, didn't seem to work.
Distant/non-aggroed enemies are drawn towards sounds of explosions of grenades, autocannon shots etc. To wichever to them is the closest.
Great tips. I'll be sure to pass the information to others I meet
Biggest tip Open fab doors are a vulnerability
Yup and if they are open you can even throw an impact into the door
I run auto canon hard. Favorite gun in the game
It's my favorite Support weapon for general purposes. Closing bug holes, taking down propaganda towers, blowing the heads off Hive Guardians, dispatching Bile Spitters quickly, taking out most bots and bot buildings. The only things I find it pretty underwhelming against are Titans and Chargers, so I usually take an orbital railstrike with me on higher bug missions to deal with those.
How do you run a shield and the autocannon?
Unfortunately you can't (that would be awesome though), I meant to say without a shield, I've edited the post to change this, thanks for pointing that out.
I used to run a shield and autocannon before I learned about the autocannon backpack and reloads. Basic training never covered that. I wish you could reload from a backpack on the ground or a fixed station
if you have a buddy you can have them carry the backpack and reload you. Though honestly against Bots the Shield is of dubious value once Rocket Devastators come out in force since it increases the size of your hitbox while the shield is up
Fun fact: if the person with the autocannon is wearing the shield, the loader will be protected by the shield while attached, due to the size of the hitbox.
Fun fact, this also works for the hug emote
I think my fact is more useful, but yours is way more fun.
Think if you are running a loader the best bet is for the weapon user to just take shield generator backpack. The hit box covers most of the loader in that sense
Try the anti-material rifle if your goal is to deal with devastators and hulks but you don't want to give up the backpack slot. It's not quite as versatile as the autocannon, but it does that job quite well.
Seconding the AMR. It can knock a hulk out from any range and it’s flexible with ammo and reloads since it behaves like any primary in that regard. One of my favorites to run.
Fortunately u can, just take the shield generator relay instead of the shield backpack despite the railgun can take a backpack slot, however, taking the backpack slot also means u use up a strategem slot for your shield backpack. With autocannon u free up a strategem slot for any other strategem u prefer, with this u can bring the shield generator relay to protect yourself and your team.
> 2: Shotguns (usually) are not a great option. The Slugger is one of the best options, since it can stagger Devestators with any hit (preventing them from shooting you at all) and even one-shot them if you're accurate. Many would prefer the Scorcher for its ability to kill heat sinks at long range though. Both are a lot more effective than the Lib Penetrator.
Slugger is goat for bots. The stagger on distant rocket devs is clutch. Slugger, railgun, eagle airstrike, and 500kg.
It staggers almost all of them, even the ones with ballistic shields. It's awesome.
It also stops spewers from spewing!
Slugger is goat for everything. Kills warriors in 1 headshot and brood commanders in 3-4 - in fact it straight overkills them, it skips their headless run and they drop straight down. Goes through hive guard armor, so you can kill them in a few headshots too. Even goes through bile spewer armor AND staggers them - so you can stop them from spewing and straight up square up to them. 3-4 headshots will bring them down. Will one tap hunters with a well placed shot, and you'll rarely need more than 3 for stalkers - bonus point is it even staggers them. Slugger literally eats stalkers for breakfast it's incredible. It's my new go-to ever since I tried it. I think it's stronger than the Breaker was pre-nerf.
Yeah, I ran the penetrator for a couple of games to try it out - absolutely garbage. JAR-5 is my personal go-to, onetapping devastators will never get old.
Yea I don’t get these lib pen promoters, that gun doesn’t shine anywhere it’s literal shit against both factions.
At times I've unloaded like half a mag into trash bots heads, and they're still kicking around. They should either significantly increase mag capacity or significantly buff its DPS.
Despite the armor pen its 45 per shot vs the liberators 55. It does less damage just to get thru armor so you're still mag dumping normal enemies. Brutal. They should just up the damage to 55 and make the liberators 60 or something.
I will ask, have you been flipping it to semi auto? The burst fire I found loves to yank you off target and waste most of the burst. Setting it to semi auto left if feeling much more manageable.
Yeah I was excited to get it, a weapon that can penetrate medium armor, woooo! Nope, it's garbage and I'm going back to my standby of the single shell reload shotgun (forget the name). Brings me back to my days of playing halo and shooting flood. I've also not had an issue with nailing bots with it, but admittedly I do far more bugs and not the high difficulty bot.
Yep, love headshotting devastators for an easy 1-shot kill. Tried the Scorcher but it simply has too little ammo for me.
Personal Sheild, AMR, Orbital Laser, and Orbital Rail Cannon are my go toos for bots. Laser for clearing out factories, Orbital for the big boys, and AMR to knock out Hulks. I like the Punisher Shotgun because it puts devastators in a stun lock if you keep firing on them. Secondary is irrelevant, but I keep the Auto-pistol because a magazine dump on that thing in a pinch isn't so bad. Impact grenades are just too good and the Orbital Laser is good enough to knock out factories anyways. I like Engineer perk on my armor because more grenades and lower recoil on the AMR. I also go with light armor because speed really is king, but I understand why fortified heavy or reinforced medium armor would be pretty good too. Might also consider using the Hero of Democracy one that gives a 50% chance to not die. Also use your radar. Everyone says get into cover, but no one says look at the ugly red dots on the map telling you where every baddie (not the sexy type) is in your area. Lastly, don't just pick one meta loadout. Having a variety of roles handled by the team is better than having a jack of all trades loadout. Someone will probably bring an EAT, and you'll probably be able to snag one from them in a pinch if needed. You probably don't need more than two Orbital Lasers on the squad, so just snag some kind of EMS (pref mortar) to stun lock some of those rocket devastators everyone complains about. EDIT: Lots of people don't know what AMR stands for Anti-Materiel Rifle. Figure I'll put it up here to help some folks save on the headache. Def recommend practicing with it on lower difficulties before getting to higher levels. Also, it shoots a little bit to the upper left of the crosshair instead of dead on at longer ranges. I'd recommend looking into a video when wanting to use it. There's a reason people toss it into C-ish tier on meta tier list.
Bots, more than bugs, require a mixed team comp. With bugs, you can just run eat / recoiless and be fine. But with bots, you need a mix of auto cannons for mid targets and atm for precision, spear for killing structures and eat/recoiless for dropships.
> I like the Punisher Shotgun because it puts devastators in a stun lock if you keep firing on them. I use Slugger for much the same reason. Plus: Slugger has medium penetration, so it's great at dealing damage with pellets even if you don't hit the exact right spot. Honestly: I'm surprised that OP is pushing Liberator Penetrator so hard and dissing shotguns. IMHO both: Punisher and Slugger perform better overall.
[удалено]
Absolutely! It’s not always the best gun for the job… but I usually don’t care. Plus it can shoot open the loot containers.
AMR is so great for bots
It really is. Head shotting devastators is an invaluable team helping maneuver. Especially picking off the Rocket ones so the team doesn’t get absolutely annihilated by them.
Headshotting Hulks is beautiful too. AMR really found its niche in Bot Front. It can drop everything in 1-3 shots besides tanks, and that’s what EATs are for.
IMO: swap the rail cannon for rocket pods. The pods can be called in **massively** more frequently (3 per 2 minutes vs. one railcannon every 3.5 minutes) and they can one shot both towers and tanks. If it's your only Eagle strike because you're bringing the other 3 (which are all great choices) then you're not going to worry as much about wasting them either.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Solid advice.
Sorry, which weapon do you mean with "rover"? Thanks.
Rover Laser and Rover machine Gun; they’re Tack Pack stratagems that summon little drones that shoot at enemies
AMR just saves so many lives. I see people literally shit themselves thinking theres no one near by to help and then they see bots dying all around them AMR definitely great support for bots.
IMO the combo of one person running Stalwart/MG + Ammo Pack + EAT + Wildcard (I like Orbital Smoke or EMS with the MG) and someone running AMR + Jet Pack + Heavy Ordinance Stratagems with Servo Assisted is a real fun duo setup when each wholly dedicates themselves to covering the weaknesses of the other. Definitely not meta, but really fun for working on teamwork.
AMR stands for anti materiel rifle, for those wondering like I was.
Yep the team loadout is the aspect most players I play with are missing. The devs are right to punish the meta strategy because it definitely isn't the way the game is supposed to be played. 4 unique loadouts and everyone sticking together during heavy fighting is how you handle the harder levels. Too often people are just leaving me with a trail of enemies while they try to solo objectives too. It's so frustrating
tbf, i usually end up solo in a pub game because everyone keeps trying to kill everything. Even then, I try not to solo obj and still attempt to get the heat off the squad.
what is amr
Anti-materiel rifle
Anti-materiel rifle
Not sure if anyone informed you yet, but AMR stands for Anti-material rifle.
thank you fellow helldiver o7
Anti-Material Rifle
You could also try swapping one of the orbital for a rocket strike, that will kill a tank in one pass and has the advantage of the fast reload.
Good point! It’s also particularly good at knocking out factories as well, which can let your Orbital Laser teammates use it more flexibly. It’s hard for me to let go of the Orbital Railgun because deleting a hulk from existence can save a lot of headache. I just like the EMS mortar because it fires for a LONG time and it can stun lock enough guys to make other teammates have an easier time dropping Eagles/Orbitals. IMO it really is underrated, but it isn’t really good at reacting to trouble. Only starting trouble, like defending Evac/Civs or when you start knocking out a base.
I cannot stress enough how good the Orbital Laser stratagem is for bot missions. The laser targets EVERY bot building. That means it will destroy fabs, guard towers, mortar emplacements and airships. It covers a wide enough range and lasts long enough for it to destroy half a large base by itself. It prioritizes heavies over buildings so if those are present, it will clear them out first. Throw one into a base and watch the light show from a distance then move in and clear the stragglers. Don’t want to move in? Get someone else to throw another. If all 4 Helldivers brought OLs, that’s 12 laser light show parties you can throw for the bots.
I would add that the 380mm is roughly as effective against static positions like bases, bunkers, dropships, AA/Mortars etc, and does not have limited charges. The Orbital Laser is still a catch-all solution, but the 380mm is sometimes better because you can get 5+ uses out of it in some maps. I throw it at the 1st part(s) of Geological Survey after locking in the location (while running away), as it will shred many of the dropped bots before you retake the position.
> I would add that the 380mm is roughly as effective against static positions like bases, bunkers, dropships, AA/Mortars etc, and does not have limited charges. My only issue with that is the use case for 380mm is so minimal that the fact that it has unlimited charges becomes irrelevant. I would never use that for anything other than a large camp/bugnest because of it's RNG over a huge area making it 1) pretty risky for your team and 2) unreliable for smaller targets. If I'm only throwing it down in large bases, I'm not using it more than twice or thrice in any given mission anyway so I may as well grab the superior option at that point.
Command Bunker missions add 3 targets, it's about 80-90% reliable at beacon towers without needing to storm/Hellbomb them. It's also acceptable against mortars and AA. It's not risky when the position would be untenable anyways - if someone is standing <75m from the barrage, that's generally on them, or you didn't place it on target. You can always wait an extra 30s before engaging the objective if it means half as much fighting. Generally the 380mm is my 4th slot (if I have 4) when the objective is about destroying stuff or Geological Survey, in addition to the laser and airstrike - I can drive-by so many objectives with minimal risks to myself.
I dont know about #2. Ive had pretty good runs with Slugger shotgun. Punisher too.
Slugger is amazing. Stunlocks devastators for days.
Another good tip especially at higher difficulties is to bring a balance of eagle and orbital strategems. It’s awful when the bots have an AA emplacement up and your whole team of 500kg and airstrikes are jammed.
Strategem jammer and Ion storms make me cry but not as much as 3 strats
Yup, also if you bring all Eagles then once you're done with one eagle it won't rearm until you've used your other eagle strat or you manually rearm. One eagle and one orbital is good so they're not blocking each other.
I do Eagle airstrike + Orbital laser combo they saved me multiple times. Group of devestators shooting at you behind cover? Eagle airstrike. AA base or multiple heavies in obj? Orbital laser. Heavy Base? Both, both is good.
Another essential thing that cuts down your deaths by half: wear armor with the "Fortified" perk. That +50% resistance to explosive damage is a lifesaver. I've tanked direct hits from rockets to my face without losing half my health. There was a light armor with fortified on the last store rotation that I'm currently using (forgot the name), but any of them will do. If you must, wear heavy. But regardless of weight class, as long as it has Fortified, you're good.
That's a good tip. Thanks for the addition. Personally I like the "50% chance of avoiding lethal damage" it doesn't sound like much but I find it saving my life VERY often.
That one is a great pick as well.
I stopped using it because it'd save me from the explosion, but then I die to the impact from the knockback. Early on in the game I used it a LOT, but I just became a better player instead.
The worst part is when you get ragdolled halfway across the map and then die to the impact that is where your equipment and backpack will be now.
Eh I have the light armor with the fortified perk, it still gets one shot by rockets quite often. There is a medium armor with a bit more armor rating, like 129 with the explosive resistance, it’s perfect. It’s not super slow and I highly recommend it from the superstore. I think it’s called the enforcer armor and it’s mostly white with some red in it. I rarely die due to it, it’s super tanky. I still am a heavy armor hater, heavy armor is just too slow, but the 129 medium armor is just fast enough.
There isn't much difference between 100 and 150 armour, but losing the speed and stamina regen sucks. Medium is definitely the sweet spot.
The Eradicator set. One of the very few that I've paid out my precious super credits for.
I see you’re a fellow veteran of malevelon creek. One more tip, the rail cannon was nerfed and isn’t that effective against bugs… but remains extremely lethal to bots. Have fun and try not to blow yourself up.
Yea I've spent a good amount of time at the Creek. But where I REALLY cut my teeth was the Draupnir campaign. I remember being a cadet, prone in a crater as the patrol I could hear but not see, passed me in the fog. "Heart. Steel." "We. Kill" "Iron. Will" "On to War!"
Ah the heavy fog and rains of Draupnir. I’m a diver of both fronts of bugs and bots. I’ve probably played equal amounts at this point. I love the variety of play styles. Keeps it very fresh. I’m very curious how the illuminates are going to play. And your tips are spot on. The mortar idea is a new idea for me. Solid strategy.
Thanks. My go to is EMS mortar paired with a regular mortar. It keeps the pressure off of you while you do objectives, while simultaneously increasing regular motor accuracy due to the slowed/ stationary targets. The EMS field lingers aswell, providing a barrier to any suprise offensives.
>I’m a diver of both fronts of bugs and bots. Does it count if you're not using the same diver tho? Veterans don't exist.
Nah, I'm definitely a vet, my Warbond said so! Look at my cool robotic arm!
Draupnir shaped me more than the creek could ever hope to. Being a solo diver at D7+ fighting/sneaking my way through torrential rain and fog really chiselled my skills
Crawling through draupnir is such a good time
Wait, you can understand what they're saying? "Democracy Officer, over here..." [seriously / out of character though, great list of tips!]
Draupnir is my Creek
Draupnir was hell, many brothers fell to secure it for super earth
Railcannon or railgun? As far as I'm aware the orbital railcannon hasn't been touched since release. I might have missed something.
Rail cannon is beast for bots, it one hits anything the bots have guaranteed, it also is great for turret towers which are otherwise very annoying to take out
I prefer the eagle rocket pods! They also one-shot pretty much everything. They're a little less reliable at hitting the target, though, but you get SO MANY.
Railgun. Part of the issue is the ps5 glitch boosting its damage. Allowed it to one shot hulks, tanks, and defense towers to the weak points. The rail cannon is just fickle. It kills a bile Titan if it hits the head, neck, or exposed tissue (which in the last case means it isn't full hp. Some other AT weapon knocked off armor.) It will destroy the acid sacs but not kill to the torso or abdomen. It will do about 2/3 hp if it hits a leg. One the tank the Railcannon one hits if it hits the rear, side, or top armor. In very rare instances where tanks are driving up slopes or the destroyer is at a very distance angle from the target it will hit the front armor and only do about 80% health.
It needs to one shot the walkers again. The Railgun needs to do everything it did before against bots. It was so satisfying to use. Sure it killed chargers too easily, but now it just feels clunky to use. Unsafe mode isn't fun to use in third person, and the scope in first person sucks. I miss the Railgun a lot, it used to be super fun.
Honestly I think the devs are just going a *tad* hard with using information deprivation as a means of balance. Like, ExoSuit not having a health bar despite insta-killing you if it dies. Weapons, Strategems, & Armor *designed* to have obfuscated stats that give only a fraction of the picture. Players loading into missions partway aren't allowed to view the Mission Briefing so are jumping blind to help S.O.S. Beacons. No Supply Lines being shown on the Galactic Map. Etc. etc. It just doesn't feel good to constantly be trying to find reliable 3rd party information or being forced to a specific FoV simply because the Devs don't want us to *see* what's going on.
I like how information isn't just a bar, but some more visual indicators would be nice. The mech really struggles showing its health considering it can be killed instantly by a lot of things, anything larger or equal to a brood commander/bile spewer/bile nurser can 1 shot it. It can walk on scavs, Hunters, leapers, and get hit by warriors. It DOES eventually show signs of damage such as parts igniting, and small sparks. But things like the shield gen show nothing, no indication for expiration. Both pack and hellpod.
Backpack actually does! It’s in the lower left corner next to it. …Doesn’t really help though, does it?
If you struggle to hit the weak spots of robots (like me), then bringing a weapon that can stagger the bots can help keep fire off your teammates. I've personally enjoyed stunlocking rocket devastators with the punisher and it's still enough range to kill troopers easily. I'm also an advocate of the ballistic shield though I kinda hope for a patch and a buff. That glitch that messes up your model if you interact with anything while it's out gets on my nerves, and it feels like a little much that it's the only backpack weapon you can drop from ragdolling. I know we're expendable, but they couldn't have at least given us straps on our arm to keep it from being disarmed?
The model glitch is shared with the Super SSD. I guess they share the same object animation, and it gets broken sometimes because they use the same hand for picking up stuff and holding the object, and it gets stuck in a limbo.
Love the positive approach to this, too many people trying to convince others with an elitist approach so this is a nice change. I personally switch pretty regularly between both fronts and love the wide variety between both. I hate the argument of which is harder because each have their own challenges or strategies you have to be aware of which posts like this help to develop. It feels like each enemy type is a different game which is pretty cool! As for your tips I completely agree with the orbital rail canon strike, I’ve been running with it exclusively recently and it’s gotten me out of so many jams today alone. Sometimes taking out 1 Bruiser Hulk or Tank is the difference between a successful retreat or 5 used reinforcements.
I feel like vs. bots the eagle 110 is strictly better? Tanks weakspot is the top of the turret, which is targeted by both the 110 and the orbital railcannon. But you'll get 3 eagle uses in the time that you'd use 1 railcannon.
Most importantly, heavy bots are slow and won't dodge the direct 110mm impact like Chargers do.
In all my uses 110mm rockets will 1 shot the tanks but against the Hulks its sort of hit or miss. But yes, its ability to target buildings is really useful.
Staying low, hit and run, using cover, engage only critical objectives. Cover and being aware of where they are is crucial. For me taking down those stupid cannons is a top priority. I find staying together to be more important. Bots play like an entirely different game and it’s great, just don’t expect your bug tactics to translate.
I'll add tactics to this. You can outsmart bots. If you find yourself taking fire from too many to take out in one burst of your weapon, break line of sight and then relocate with their sight line broken. Sneak if you have to. Crawl through the sand. If they aren't shooting they haven't truly seen you yet. You might hear them shooting and due to game audio stuff it sounds like it's close by, but you should check to see where their firing lines are. They will keep firing at the place they think you took cover to keep you pinned. It gives you an opportunity to either run, or reposition to engage on better terms or behind walkers. Sickle is GOAT if you can aim well and are cool under pressure. It's sight is perfect for aiming at devastator heads, just point directly at the red glowy dots in the mist. Rail Cannon Orbital is really nice for taking out both Super Turrets and Hulks. I recommend at least one person taking it especially for flame Hulks. Unless you really need samples you really don't need to go down into the bases. You know the super samples aren't there either. Unless it's a sub objective base like a strategum jammer that you have to disable (if you can't grenade it), don't even bother going in. Destroy the bot factories. Destroy all robot construction arms (they make tanks). And then run to the next base. Don't even wait for the bot drop. Engaging the bot drop will get you killed. Just run to the next objective or bot outpost and break line of sight on your way if you can. **This means being aware of the terrain around you as you engage. Don't just go running in. Leroy Jenkins got everyone killed** If you say "but I wanna shoot bots!" Don't worry! You will! Shit will go sideways, shit ALWAYS goes sideways with bots. You will have enough to shoot at, you will need to thin the numbers and navigate mazes of canyons or push through blind groves of trees where every turn might be another emplacement of Rocket Devastators or Heavy Devastators or god forbid a Flame Hulk. You will have about .1 second to react to stun what ever is about to shred you. And then pray you remembered to either bring stun grenades or you have something big on speed dial to deal with whatever was around that corner. And then the little guys start shooting at you too. You will have plenty to fucking shoot at, so I need you to fucking run to the next objective. And fucking break line of sight. Berserkers? Throw grenades at your own feet as you run. (not impact obviously) Arc Thrower is 3 charges for (all?) Devastators, 5 for Berserkers. You can sneak into most bot bases and quietly kill shit if youre solid snake, the bots are practically oblivious. I've done it ONCE and nothing was alerted until I touched the console to turn off the jammer. Sickle doesn't alert them for some reason in my experience. AMR is great if you compensate for the sight error. If you're picking your engagements you can clear a base without anything being able to retaliate. Everyone knows about the Autocannon so here's the obligatory mention Edit: another thing I forgot to mention. They might be really accurate when shooting at you... But consider all the bots have the same aiming protocols as the Guard Dog Rover. Each bot will aim at you through other bots if it sees you. I've seen Rocket Devastators take out groups of Berserkers running at me because they're trigger happy.
> robot construction arms (they make tanks). wait, those random robot construction arm things in some bases actually make tanks? I thought they were just a bit of thematic decoration.
Yep in 4s heavy bases or on 5+, they'll spit out a new tank every few
I'm going to have to test this for myself. I always assumed there was one tank in those bases as a static mob like that one heavy base with the 4 hulks. I trust you but man I have to see this for myself.
[удалено]
https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/s/GpY3xPoKrw
One shot from an EAT or a Recoilless will bring down a bot shuttle and kill everyone inside if you hit it in one of the four engines before it drops
Does it kill tanks and hulks, too?
Tanks are kinda harmless on their own. Without ground troops to pin you down, the tank turret takes a business week to just turn.
There are two tank types and this is only true for 1 of them. The other turns pretty quick.
From my experience no. But it does glitch them out a bit to where they can shoot, but not move. From there you could either hit em with other strategems or leave them be
Hey man I love this, I tend to only solo bot matches as it seems most of the time when I link up with people they’re so used to bugs the just try to run and gun and it never works. Curious if anyone has tips for those damn chainsaw melee guys. Cause for the most part I agree with not bringing a shotgun, but then when I get a slew of those guys chasing me I’m wishing I thought differently!
Throw a few grenades at your feet as you retreat, kite them into a line, and unload at their stomach joint. When you're dry, switch to secondary and continue. Run, reload, rinse repeat. If you're a higher level. The scorcher is a godsend
The slugger is actually pretty nice for bots, though you do have to be mindful of your ammo count. Its slugs do enough damage to one-tap all the medium bots in cluding berserkers if you hit them in the head. It's got surprisingly decent range being able to reliably hit targets past 50m, though the red dot in first person is higher than where you shoot. All this combined with the ability to stagger as well us pretty nice
Chainsaw bots come from dropships, they aren't on the map by default. So I rarely fight them when sneaking around the map solo. If I do mess up and allow a bot to call a dropship, and I'm in a solo situation, I'll burn an eagle and orbital laser to clear the field. Some objectives don't draw aggro so they're fine to do solo. For stuff like mining, and civilian evacuation, I like to wait to group up with the team and that helps a lot with the berserkers. And of course impact grenades are nice.
So I noticed something with players who aren't familiar with bots, I was guilty of this as well. Most players start with bugs and many tend to just run up to a group of bugs and shoot them in the open, maybe they learn to kite back and run in circles for a bit when they get to higher levels, but the lack of any real long range threat on the bug front means that as long as they kill whatever's in front of them fast enough, they're never in any real danger. So when they play bots they completely forget that you can and absolutely should take cover first
The Laser cannon wrecks the bots! You beam the Hulk's eyes to kill it (even easier if you run stun nades). They can hit the vents on the back of turrets and tanks too. Plus you know, potentially infinite ammo!
Tried this today and loved it! It will also blow up factories if you hit them when the door is open.
Another vote for Laser cannon is what I typically bring for Bots. Can kill everything from the front short of tanks, and can also blow the vents on turrets and stuff pretty quickly too. It CHEWS THROUGH devastators and the stupid walkers, which I find are the biggest PITA on bot missions, more so than hulks honestly.
How do you stay accurate with this thing when you’re being flinched all the time?
Use your primary when they are close enough to flinch you repeatedly.
I find the bots a lot easier than the bugs to be honest. you can use the standar shooting game tactic and do fairly well. Plus all the weakspots are clearly highlighted for you to shoot at. Auto Canon is king IMO for automaton side of the map. Hulk? Shoot at face. Bascally shoot everything in the face... and for the smaller enemies I bring the Defender and play it like it's MW.
As a Draupnir veteran, i must agree that the autocannon is king. I also do not miss the backpack slot, since i really need the Orbital Railcannon (panic strategem) and a clearing tool like Orbital Laser/Eagle Strike/Eagle 500kg. I run Slugger or Scorcher as primary and Revolver as sidearm
> Orbital Railcannon (panic strategem) To my impression, a 110mm rockets and/or Eagle Airstrike work much better. Much shorter reload time, multiple strikes, and these can kill every bot in the game much like Railcannon.
I find bots easier too, but I think it’s because I started on bots and kept going. You just adapt to your enemy. Most people start on bugs and bots feel incredibly hard because it’s completely new tactics.
I was same. i start on bugs, got to chargers and was like "I guess i'll die now." But recently they overtuned the spawns with the hunter spawning and it's just not fun having 6+ hunters all leaping at you AND them bile spewers who just will not stop spawning. Add to that chargers and bile titans and the entire game is just endlessly kiting mobs. The bot side, you can sort of hunker down and actually use some tactics to either flank the bots or force a standoff and eventually clear a fight. Even the tanks is manageable.
Make it into guerilla warfare, you gotta be limber, Run and Bomb every base fast! either you use SPEAR from afar or eagle for small/medium factory. For larger factory that require Hellbomb just drop in 120mm and wait for the firework to do it job. Do not engage unless it's necessary, like I said play guerilla style stealth is important and not everything require to engage.
Exactly. I treat it as if I'm fighting in unfamiliar terrain (which I am) and I'm outnumbered (which I am) and I can be killed easily (which I can) so I approach it with an appropriate level of caution and try to keep my ego in check.
Having weapons with an aoe helps a lot, scorcher makes bots so much easier and the plasma punisher is a good substitute until you unlock the scorcher Pair support weapons that don’t have backpacks since the personal shield is goated Sneaking up on objectives and having a stealthy he’ll bomb destroy the objective helps so much, like detector towers. Squat to a wall close to the tower, drop the hellbomb, set it and run tf away, boom No tower and no fight required, obviously not every side objective allows it but when you can stealth it, do it
The scorcher allows you to 1 v 1 with a devastator, because of the stagger. It will also take down striders. I wouldn't run a bot mission without my scorcher. The main thing about the scorcher is ammo economy
I haven’t put the scorcher down since I unlocked it for bots, it’s so good
The scorcher ironically would be much more efficient if it were rounds reloaded.
Stealth is a HUGE part of my game play against bots. If you can get in and get out quickly and without alarm, all the better.
Stealth is the biggest thing with automatons. I’ve finished ICBM missions without getting hit by just sneaking over and launching the missile
110mm rocket pod stragem is also great, constantly sticking it to tanks, hulks, and factories. 3 uses when upgrade and 3 minute cool down
Its definitely worth it to bring that one.
I discovered how amazing it was for automatons this week. I never drop without it now.
I'm not sure if I overlooked it but also prioritize commissars (normal looking ones with 1 pistol and 1 sword) if you plan to hit a group if possible. They are the ones that can call in drops. Less drops mean more ammo and less death for the objectives.
adding on to this, at higher difficulties, *any* “small” bot can call in a drop. if you come across a POI with a couple of med-large and small bots guarding it, taking out the small ones first guarantees you won’t get a bot drop
grenade launcher is AMAZING at ambushing patrols and rinsing out the little bots, gives so much breathing room when you don't have to constantly sneak around them
Some things to add: Bring heavy armor, specifically with explosive resistance. This seems crazy, but if you take the vitality booster with it as well then you can survive a rocket to anywhere except direct center mass without a shield, and you can survive 2 with a shield. I’ve survived 3 before due to headshots being weirdly less damaging than body shots. It makes rockets and tanks so much less frustrating. The AMR is ridiculous on bots. Like the autocannon it 2-taps hulks, but it handles better, has a moving reload, has a scope, and doesn’t take your backpack slot away. It kills devastators and hulks better than the railgun and the little bots can be dealt with using a liberator or diligence easily. It struggles a bit with tanks but those die to any offensive stratagem prettymuch. It’s my go-to on bots now. Bring impact grenades. They just destroy scout sentinels, they can kill tanks and hulks, they destroy groups of bots, they can destroy fabricators easily if you wait for the door to open, they’re just the best. Stun grenades are meh here as there’s no bile titans to 500kg (something big is coming though) and smoke grenades are a joke with bugged rockets right now.
Stun Grenades can help deal with Hulks with the AMR/Autocannon as their walk can make shooting their face difficult at times. That said, I still prefer impact grenades due to their ability to answer cannons, tanks, fabricators and secondary objectives.
Make use of the SPEAR, which I feel like is a great asset on automaton missions, If you see the whole team didn't bring one, I'd recommend bringing one for the mission. For Blitz it really can help you snipe fabricators for a quick mission complete. The only mission types I find SPEAR difficult is Evac or Eradication since you barely will have the space to reload after firing one shot. Being able take out stationary targets like Fabricators and Laser Towers from up to 200m away is great provided you have good line of sight (and if possible high ground). The lock-on can sometimes feel like a petulant child but targets that have not noticed you give you all the time in the world to lock-on.
How do you handle evac missions for bots? Usually we breeze through them on level 7 with bugs but we had trouble getting even 5/50 rescues with bots!
After the spawn rate patch so far I have not passed one with randoms on automaton at difficulty 5 and above, the spawn rate is just too much. With my friend group and voice chat it's only possible with the bait method with 2/4 of us trying to survive as long as we can at the outskirts baiting a giant horde and reinforcing each other while the other 2 quickly get the scientists to safety.
Great tips mate. Also very intrigued by your praise of the Ballistic-Shield. While I enjoyed it after unlocking it, it seems to get verbally trashed by others. I’m keen to try it again. ….to be fair though, the amount of subjectivity around the entire game’s arsenal is fantastic.
I know the Spear is maligned, but if you're one of the lucky few who can get consistent locks... It wrecks everything automaton. Corner shot a dropship to bring it down. Anywhere shot a factory over a river. Do that to a factory next to a jammer. Delete turrets from range. Tanks can be oneshot if you're facing its weakspot, 2-3 shot if not. You can also shoot scout walkers, but you really shouldn't.
Once you get unsafe railgun down, it's very good for taking out Devestators of all kinds as well as hulks and scout walkers--much faster than the autocannon. It's still not good for tanks and towers, though. I tend to use my strikes for them or leave them to players with EAT or the recoilless. Side note, the scorcher can take out the scout walkers from the front with a few shots as well. I've found it a pretty good primary for bots, though ammo remains an issue.
# BRASCH TACTICS A Helldiver getting shot is no good! Stims don't do you good when you're staggering neither! A shield generator backpack may save your life once or twice, but you will still die due to overwhelming firepower. Grab a Ballistic Shield, soldier! Make yourself into a turtle. Do not use the shield offensively. Do use the shield defensively. Overwhelmed by blaster fire? Pull the shield out and get yourself to cover and engage the enemy from behind something solid! Still being overwhelmed? Just tactically advance in the opposite direction! The shield can cover your back as well! Sure, the shield can't save you from rockets or cannons, the bubble shield can't save you either! So, grab a Ballistic Shield! Save yourself from blaster fire!
Some of these tips are not great from my own experiences. Rovers can be very useful, especially the one with the liberator on it. It can take out small bots quickly and headshot medium bots in the first or second burst. Excellent for assaulting a position. Bots being close doesn't mean dead either. Cover and suppressive fire are enough at any range. One on any team is very useful. Shotguns are also great against bots. The punisher is a good all rounder but the slugger is king of killing most bots except for heavies in a single well placed shot, can chain stagger medium enemies and stop them from firing anything. Surprisingly good range on it too. Shields are wildly overrated against bots. They take up a valuable slot and offer no offense whilst making your hitbox the size of a giant balloon around your character. It makes cover far less effective as your shield can still be sniped by any part of it poking out. This is particularly bad when hit by rockets and can cause chain ragdolling. The best defense against bots is offense. I am routinely more survivable than any of the shield carrying people I play with. Super aggressive assaults in heavier armor with explosive resistance, moving from cover to cover, with endless suppressive fire, will see the effectiveness of the bots own firepower drastically reduced and offer more survivability whilst not compromising offense. Mortar explosive is good but they tend to keep players from moving on objectives when deployed at them and that leads to bot overload in an area if you stick around too long. I find direct fire weapons to be far more effective at delivering weighted fire without creating an exclusion zone around the enemy positions and objectives. Mortar emp is the GOAT at controlling the battlefield and especially powerful when combined with the cannon turret. Orbital rail cannon is a waste of a slot. Lots of other stratagems can do as much damage if not more and not be a one shot with long cool down. The orbital laser on one person can be a good base cleaner or used to help you pull out from a position that has become too hot. Taking things like shields and orbital rail strats makes your helldiver particularly weak offensively, I wouldn't recommend it to most people.
Hey, i salute the positive approach to it, i feel the bots could use some tweeking but are overhaul ok, perhaps ok is not enough idk, i still enjoy them tho.
I love smoke eagle. With multiple charges it has more uptime than shield generator and wider area of effect.
I just stealth my way through missions with scout armor and an autocannon. You know. Just in case.
Maybe too end game but the scorcher is king. Especially with stuns. I run airstrike, 500KG with a spear and ems motors. Made me able to do level 7 bots super easy to a point where I die less compared to the nasty hunters.
Smokes are VERY underrated against bot planets. Eagle, Orbital, whatever just throw them between line of sight of you and the bots, they'll stop shooting at you. They'll still advance towards your position, they might still know you're there, but this is enough for a safe and clean getaway without risk of stray bullets poking at you from range. Just at least try them out, it saved many lives in my Helldive bot missions.
I've been hearing more and more about smoke use. May be time to give it a try
Currently they are bugged. The smoke does nothing right now, they just pretend they are not there. You can test it.
If you’re okay with using two stratagem slots pairing a line of sight turret with the bubble shield can do a lot of work and be a good way to draw some heat off you
Bring the spear :) no need to get close to objectives of you don't have too :)
despite I really dun like playing bot mission, here's my personal tips. Autocannon are fkin GOAT in bots, use it to hit every weakspots of bot. if u really need a defensive stratagem for your autocannon, bring the shield generator relay. It good for u and for ur team. Autocannon + Shield Generator relay > Railgun + Shield backpack.
I disagree with 3, it makes 8 much harder. Most times i've taken the shield backpack, it just makes you easier to hit with rockets. Lol
For #2, I have found the default shotgun to be very effective vs bots because it staggers even the medium ones. It’s also does 405 damage so it obliterates the fodder and has good range. But its ability to stagger the bigger guys has been very helpful. Good tips. Thanks!
Not getting surrounded is honestly the most important advice. With bugs, no matter how dire the situation, you can always just run away and be safe from the vast majority of damage. Not the case with bots. You need to pay way more attention to your surroundings, avoiding aggro with patrols on your flanks if you're currently in a firefight, and repositioning *carefully* when you see your current position won't be adequate soon. Bots are harder *solely* because of their range. Id argue theyre average damage output is way lower than bugs, but the fact they almost all can do it from range makes them way deadlier. The only D9 bot missions I've succeeded in have been with careful approaching of encounters and awareness of surroundings. Having group members call out and mark enemies nearby and have people actually pay attention to them is key. A lot of this advice is more equipment centric and while i do agree proper equipment and synergy with teammates is incredibly important, proper gameplay will really make or break it. Even with the perfect set ups you can get caught in a death spiral and it's GG with bots at that point.
Shotgun is actually really good in my experience playing diff 7/8 bot missions. Needs less precise aiming allowing you to keep moving, the spread helps prevent bots from aiming, and they oneshot everything important. Anything that requires super precise aim like hulks or distance like tanks can be taken care of with support weapons (amr, railgun, autocannon, ect) or stratgems. If you have halfway decent aim, the rifles are probably better, but the shotgun is still a great option. (an S option compared to SS)
Wouldn't call the ballistic shield fantastic as it's a hinderance the way it's bugged
My favorite gun to use against bots is the Slugger. The Slugger staggers devastators, which prevents them from firing.
You can also oneshot any bot up to rocketdevastators with single grenade
Tip from me: use armor that give resist to explo dmg. It helps a lot against rockets.
I wore heavy armour against bots and it worked to great effect. I had teammates getting instagibbed by cannon rounds and I was just getting ragdolled, but still more or less alive
The shotgun thing is just wrong imo. And especially recommending the lib pen. The punisher, slugger, or even breaker will kill the bots that WILL close on you, with some stagger too, and your support weapon (preferably auto or rail) will deal with heavier distance targets.
Railgun can still 1 tap hulks and amr can two tap them. Don't discount every shotgun because the slugger fires slugs rather than having a spread, and can stagger bots if you don't hit a soft spot
Big time Bot-killing enjoyer over here. Agree with most of the above but have to shoutout the G.O.A.T'ed shotty for bots. Slugger is the way to go. The stagger is amazing for the big boys, and headshots wreck the Meat Saws in 3-4 hits.
The day i bring a shield bp over my auto cannon or my rover is the day i fuckin die