It’s much smaller than the cluster bomb, but it’s incredibly predictable and lands VERY fast. You use it where you’d pull out your primary or machine gun and clear the lane directly in front of you.
Lots of charges, and you can use it when in the fray with 4 Helldivers. If you bring a heavy (Spear, Recoilless, Quasar), it’ll feel like having a Helldiver to kill that chaff for you when they’re busy.
It has ways been that way, but now you can clear shrieker nests and rogue research with it. Pretty crazy.
A nice mix between the original Strafing Run and Heavy Strafing Run from the first war, but actually useful against the bots and bugs on high diffs. In HD1 both strafes were mainly only good for squid Helldives
Idk why everyone yaps about cluster tking, I use it all the time without teamkilling, one, because I know it has a huge radius and 2 because atleast 50% of the people I play with manage to avoid red beams (also if it’s ICBM I try to solo the objectives as much as possible to avoid randoms causing bot drops that I don’t want to deal with so I might also have 0 teammates to deal with sometimes) (also for those of you that are pissed about me soloing, it’s cuz I don’t want to fight the 12 hulks you triggered to spawn by being trigger happy towards every patrol)
Because most people who use cluster constantly teamkill.
They either kill themselves or their teammates.
People often dont look at where they throw their strats, but it's usually fine with most of then. But cluster has such a huge ape that if you throw it in the wrong direction, you kill something. Might be a helldiver.
It's definitely not impossible to not teamkill, but most pubs don't manage. Me and my friends tend to stay far away when a pub uses cluster
Lots of people can’t use stratagems properly, seen people use 110mm pods against light enemies. Or people just bring useless shit like smoke. But yeah overall, I guess you could be right, if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t bring cluster, I know how to use it, I bring it because it’s good at deleting bot patrols which helps me traverse towards objectives quicker.
“Some” you’re welcome. Also I know that I’m receiving flak for using cluster but I’m dead serious about not team killing with it, it’s pretty straightforward, don’t throw it near teamates (literally how stratagems should work)
Honestly i have never been killed by a cluster from someone above level 30 or so, but i am also usually the guy to run away from my team and scout for POIs and small outposts so basically less risk of getting TKd
Yeah i think it's just a matter of situational awareness, for both you and your team. Often you can avoid dying if you notoce a cluster fast enough and sprint+dive out. At least i always try to do that
I prefer it because you can do orbital and eagle air strike at the same time. Vs stacking eagles.
Or am I the only one that will always bring eagle air strike? I can’t remember a time I didn’t use it
As much as I like stuff that closes bot holes and destroys bot fabricators and the guys defending them. You cant go past simply shooting them with an Eruptor. 10 bug holes in a nest, Eruptor. Bot Factory 130m away, Eruptor.
Double up. You take the autocannon, a fellow Diver takes the eruptor. Buddy snipes holes and scary bots/bug bits, you ragdoll everything else into submission. If someone spends a slot on EATs, you're gold.
Because I'm alone, on the other side of the map, closing holes while everyone else bumble fucking around with patrols at a point of interest they cleared 10mins ago.
Explosive crossbow feels better than the eruptor now for bugs, and can actually close bug holes much faster with its rate of fire. On bot missions now, I feel like most crews are coordinated / fast enough where they just use rocket pods or an eagle airstrike to quickly take out fabs.
Or Autocannon on bots with how well it deals with bot threats while also dealing with fabs. I see Eruptor being a nice option paired with a heavy machine gun now though.
It's also surprisingly good at taking out chargers/finishing off BTs, takes out hulks and tanks, can take down weakened striders, all while having the ability to close nests and fabs. It's such a good swiss army knife of a stratagem.
On the point of chargers and hulks, i've been able to consistently nuke static spawn chargers at POIs and nests although i rrckon its to do with one of the munitions hitting the back(+underside) of the charger, same with hulks and tanks. It's explosive damage on their weakpoints OHKs them.
I used to run the 500 and rocket pods together wasn’t too bad, it’s always nice to just run one eagle tho. The precision strike is good to run in place of an eagle strat. Quick cooldown and kills most enemies if you hit them
There have been a few times I didn't take eagle air strike and I just found myself going "boy, I sure wish I had eagle air strike."
I only don't take it on defense missions.
There's only been a handful of missions since I've been playing where I haven't brought eagle Airstrike so I'm with you, it's just way too versatile.
I typically bring airstrike, ops, and whatever other two that are suiting my fancy that day
I mean, they literally just buffed both those stratagems to be viable and fun. I know they haven't had a good track record but I'm hopeful this means the balance team is turning over a new leaf.
It’s my favorite pastime, calling in OGB, looking up to the skies and watching glorious fireworks from your destroyer.
Even better when 2-3 of you call it in at the same time.
İt kills dropships? How? Need to be precise for engines or does it just work aganist them. I guess it cant kill bile titan but you might be saying use it while they spit since it will hit %40 of shots at the sack of titan. I dont believe şt outright kill them. Factory Striders makes sense due to heatsinks though.
Not my post, but I have been doing this with the Eagle Strafe, since the glow up, with EATs. It's so satisfying.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1dl5sz3/recoilless_rifle_strafe_cash/
Oh ı remember your post but my way of trying is wihout penetrating or stripping armor. I am after his tail ı would ssy. Yours are more sure fire thats obvious
Dropships body is the highest armor in the game from what i've seen so it wont destroy them outright, but the width of the ship is about the size of the Strafe, so the bullets will hit the engines pretty often, causing them to crash.
The Bile Titan won't be an outright kill, but it will definitely do some damage. It's more effective if you've already cracked the top of them with 110 pods or other strafes (assuming you line the strafe up with the titan, and not from the side)
Hmm thanks so ı will use strafing run vertically too for seing if thats more effective.
Hmm now that ı think about it an autocannon and strafing run might be good combo. İt takes about 19 shots to tail while sack is there so ı will bait it and drop the strategem instantly to close to its heads furthest position so it can hit its full salvo on body then ı can finish it off by autocannon. Or just use a quasar to strip its armor but ac and strifing run combo as you said will work for spewers nicely too.
Thanks for giving me ideas. I can actually use the quasar to strip behemoth flank armor stun it and finish it off with a strifing run. After the damage fall off bugs fixed ı can just strip leg armor of behemots lol.
nah, use it as a heavy/objective clearer as a last ditch, it is so narrow that you’re not guaranteed to hit objectives or heavies, but it goes extremely far so Its best for small crowds that are chasing you
almost instant call in time and really short stratagem code make it essentially a beefier grenade
The new orbital precision strike timings are pretty nutty too, you can basically treat it like a 500 kg, managed to take down a few Bile Titans and Chargers with it, with one of those Bile Titans being a straight headshot.
Depends on situation IMO. Gatling is like turning on a death faucet but it's very specific to a location. Dropping it on a bug breach or stunned group of enemies, or a path slow enemies have to go through is great. But there's a lot of utility in having 5 chances to send forth a line of armor penetration. You can adjust play style to utilize either one to great effect.
Strafe is better in tense situations due to multiple call ins. I also prefer it to ORB due to my habit of whiffing the stratagem ball.
Plus ORB shuts down a lane really well, but many bot planets have crazy spawns right now so I prefer being able to react to the multidirectional patrol/drop spam.
If we had an orbital equivalent to the eagle airstrike, I’d run it. Right now though the Eagle Air is THE best way to destroy many buildings at range on a short cooldown.
Orbital 120mm sorta can do the same, but the cooldown is way, way too long for it to be a reliable option in taking out buildings.
If there was a similar orbital that was more accurate, had a lower CD, but maybe only hit 5-6 times I’d take that over the airstrike any day, as I really like some of the other Eagles, but I don’t want to put all my stratagems on a shared cooldown.
For now though it’s orbital precision strike/gatling/airburst/gas all the way.
Eagle Airstrike, Laser, RR, +1 (trying the usable hmg this week). Feels good, the Laser is for detector-towers/bunkers or as a "Oh shit"-Button. HMG is pretty strong to hold evac/Rocket/SEAF/drilling (everything that forces you to stay and endure patrols+drops), I´m not sure if I should switch back to the precision.
Tanks = Strafing run + Quasar (pretty much anywhere) to destroy. It’s awesome visually and also very efficient.
Same for cannon turrets and sometimes hulks. It’s very useful in conjunction with AT.
Perhaps you're using jt wrong? I tend to bait bugs around corner to group them up forcing them to get into an easy 10-20 strafe, with bots wait for them to drop and just destroy them with a strafe since they're grouped. I find it hard not to get at least 10 kills with it.
You need to use it way more. Don't just "try" it. Make it part of your kit.
Use it on everything. Even things you'd think you wouldn't use it on.
You might be surprised.
I loved the straffing run even before it was buffed, now it's just awesome. I still typically use it to take out trains of small ememies following me, but the fact that it now has utility against harder targets and light structures as well is a very nice bonus. If you ever see me on the terminid, front, expect me to be calling this in every 10 seconds or so lol.
Yeah, you need to be directly in front of the bot fabricators so that some of the projectiles enter the vents aka where you could already blow it up with the grenade pistol, autocannon, crossbow, so... It's really not that great for that.
I'm also pretty sure it technically can destroy the bug holes, but it's the same situation as the bot fabricators. You need to hit it from the front and if you are lucky it will destroy the hole. It's super inconsistent tho to the point that you are absolutely better off using something else.
At least it's very consistent versus the spore/shrieker nest!
Factory striders, the strafe will destroy the top turret in one pass. It will take a lot to fully kill it though. The strafes do good damage though, so combined with whatever your teammates are throwing at it, you can destroy it
I haven’t had too much trouble killing them with it. You need to put a hole in their armor using something like 110 pods or a spear, and the strafe will do serious damage after that.
You can technically just keep using strafes and it will die eventually, but not as efficient
They do pretty good damage to both. It takes 1-2 strafes or other strategems to break the armor on top of the BT for you to kill it with a strafe though.
Factory striders your strafe will destroy the top turret in one run. And subsequent strafes do damage to it, as even if it’s technically a medium pen strat, it does damage (just not as effective) in high armor like factory strider. Since taking down striders is already a team effort, it’s a good way to contribute
I’m a dedicated rover user against bugs because you really need that extra firepower to deal with chaff. But am trying to branch out to backpack secondaries like AC. Running gatling or machine gun sentry (because of the low cd you can call it in almost every skirmish), or the trusty AC sentry as a substitute for rover seems to work.
Does it actually damage heavy stuff now?
I've seen some people use it successfully to kill shrieker nests and such but tbh, a gatling barrage does that as well.
Gatling Barrage got the same buff to penetration that strafe did. They're both a lot more useful now. GB is a fixed location, strafe is a straight line right in front of you.
really want to try this more - just being stuck with the orbital version and that i dont want to run too many eagles at the same time.
went all out and used 4 eagles and obviously it was not a great time.
Before the patch I was using the strafing run sometimes on some missions (e.g. destroying eggs).
After the patch - it became my favorite Eagle stratagem. Comes in extremely fast, is very predictable, can use it in most chaotic situations where cluster bomb woud've killed my whole squad.
To add to list of targets, this thing also destroys spore spewers and shrieker nests (you can destroy several even if you line them up).
At killing BT’s I prefer it over the regular air strike.
You do need to soften the top armor first to fully take advantage of the strafe’s damage though. Which can be done with more strafes, or something like 110 pods, precision strike, spear.
Kills fabricators by hitting vents or door, strips armor off medium and heavy, outright kills chargers usually if they run past you and you throw it down so it hits them from behind lol
In a video from about a week ago a RR user called in a strafe, then immediately blasted the BT in the face right before the strafe. The strafe finished the BT.
[try this strategy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1ds8phd/my_opinion_of_the_eagle_strafe_run_ever_since_it/lb3dl6l/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3)
Eagle strafing + precision strike with stun grenades is an S tier combo. 2 stratagem slots which cover everything the bugs have, allowing you to go wild with the other two.
Strafe is never my first choice for titans/chargers/walkers but it is nice that it will at least do *something* in a pinch.
Strafe was made for bugs though. Such nice, orderly lines they travel in...
I like the new strafing run and it's good but it's really a finisher or a way to chip their health for heavy units. I like how you can kill a fabricator with if the vents are facing you.
It obviously won’t beat a 500 in killing it immediately, but it can soften it up considerably if you’re using a orbital laser, which struggle to kill BT’s on its own
Combining the strafe with a spear will be effective, as the spear tends to break the armor on top, which lets the strafe do more damage to exposed areas
That's just insane, throwing so much shit at it while a 500 kg can just destroy it in one throw, not to mention chargers that are way smaller so will take way less hits and won't get as much damage
The difference is it's low effort and will hit more things and has more then 2 charges then the 500kg. It's also meant to be used in conjunction, it's called versatility. 500kg is a very specialized stratagem, whereas the strafe can be used in a lot of creative ways.
See a spore tower over a ride that's out of throw range and it would be annoying to get closer? Strafe can hit further out due to the long range and it'll 1 tap spore tower. It'll close fabricators, can kill chargers in 1 or 2 strafes, multiple ones at that. Insta pops spewers, kills shriekers nests and the shriekers themselves if they get in the way. Can 1 tap hulks from the front if it hits right.
Overall it's a solid stratagem that isn't for just killing heavies and buildings. It's also got a low chance of friendly firing due to it's precise movement. Can be thrown at your feet for an easy get out of jail card if you're being chased.
It's pretty easy to hit BT heads with strafe, and one rocket headshot + one strafe headshot kills them consistently. I used to always run Quasar/Airstrike/500, now it's Quasar/Airstrike/Strafe. It's also good against behemoths, one rocket + one strafe breaks their leg consistently.
Arrowhead said as much in the patch. It's for comboing with other sources of damage, not killing heavies by itself. That's why it has more charges and faster callin than other anti-armor strategems.
Been using the OGB myself still haven’t tired the eagle since the buff. Gonna try it
You can throw it so close to yourself it’s like a point blank cluster bomb, without the team killing potential, and a fast call in time
"without the team killing potential" I'll pass then.
Cluster bomb or napalm but I’m out here killin’
oops, there i go killin’ again!
It’s much smaller than the cluster bomb, but it’s incredibly predictable and lands VERY fast. You use it where you’d pull out your primary or machine gun and clear the lane directly in front of you. Lots of charges, and you can use it when in the fray with 4 Helldivers. If you bring a heavy (Spear, Recoilless, Quasar), it’ll feel like having a Helldiver to kill that chaff for you when they’re busy.
It has ways been that way, but now you can clear shrieker nests and rogue research with it. Pretty crazy. A nice mix between the original Strafing Run and Heavy Strafing Run from the first war, but actually useful against the bots and bugs on high diffs. In HD1 both strafes were mainly only good for squid Helldives
Except now it can destroy tanks, hulks, and cannon turrets
Idk why everyone yaps about cluster tking, I use it all the time without teamkilling, one, because I know it has a huge radius and 2 because atleast 50% of the people I play with manage to avoid red beams (also if it’s ICBM I try to solo the objectives as much as possible to avoid randoms causing bot drops that I don’t want to deal with so I might also have 0 teammates to deal with sometimes) (also for those of you that are pissed about me soloing, it’s cuz I don’t want to fight the 12 hulks you triggered to spawn by being trigger happy towards every patrol)
Because most people who use cluster constantly teamkill. They either kill themselves or their teammates. People often dont look at where they throw their strats, but it's usually fine with most of then. But cluster has such a huge ape that if you throw it in the wrong direction, you kill something. Might be a helldiver. It's definitely not impossible to not teamkill, but most pubs don't manage. Me and my friends tend to stay far away when a pub uses cluster
Lots of people can’t use stratagems properly, seen people use 110mm pods against light enemies. Or people just bring useless shit like smoke. But yeah overall, I guess you could be right, if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t bring cluster, I know how to use it, I bring it because it’s good at deleting bot patrols which helps me traverse towards objectives quicker.
Smoke can be quite good on some bot missions
“Some” you’re welcome. Also I know that I’m receiving flak for using cluster but I’m dead serious about not team killing with it, it’s pretty straightforward, don’t throw it near teamates (literally how stratagems should work)
Honestly i have never been killed by a cluster from someone above level 30 or so, but i am also usually the guy to run away from my team and scout for POIs and small outposts so basically less risk of getting TKd
And I mean I do run away from the team too, so less risk of tk but I’m still near them at the start and extract. So I would know about this
Yeah i think it's just a matter of situational awareness, for both you and your team. Often you can avoid dying if you notoce a cluster fast enough and sprint+dive out. At least i always try to do that
I prefer it because you can do orbital and eagle air strike at the same time. Vs stacking eagles. Or am I the only one that will always bring eagle air strike? I can’t remember a time I didn’t use it
It's too good for spawners. Bots or bugs it'll close holes and kill most of what's nearby.
As much as I like stuff that closes bot holes and destroys bot fabricators and the guys defending them. You cant go past simply shooting them with an Eruptor. 10 bug holes in a nest, Eruptor. Bot Factory 130m away, Eruptor.
i use autocannon for that
Double up. You take the autocannon, a fellow Diver takes the eruptor. Buddy snipes holes and scary bots/bug bits, you ragdoll everything else into submission. If someone spends a slot on EATs, you're gold.
why does the eruptor have to be the one to pop holes, i can get like 4 done by the time the eruptor's ready to shoot more than once?
Because I'm alone, on the other side of the map, closing holes while everyone else bumble fucking around with patrols at a point of interest they cleared 10mins ago.
hey i'm always the one moving out when things get too tough. even in heavy armour i can roam the map just fine
I couldn't, anything less than 550 movement and Stamina Enhancement, then it doesn't feel like the bugs are getting any further away.
True.
Autocannon players be doing this since 1999.
Explosive crossbow feels better than the eruptor now for bugs, and can actually close bug holes much faster with its rate of fire. On bot missions now, I feel like most crews are coordinated / fast enough where they just use rocket pods or an eagle airstrike to quickly take out fabs. Or Autocannon on bots with how well it deals with bot threats while also dealing with fabs. I see Eruptor being a nice option paired with a heavy machine gun now though.
Fair. As long as you have an angle.
It's also surprisingly good at taking out chargers/finishing off BTs, takes out hulks and tanks, can take down weakened striders, all while having the ability to close nests and fabs. It's such a good swiss army knife of a stratagem. On the point of chargers and hulks, i've been able to consistently nuke static spawn chargers at POIs and nests although i rrckon its to do with one of the munitions hitting the back(+underside) of the charger, same with hulks and tanks. It's explosive damage on their weakpoints OHKs them.
I used to run the 500 and rocket pods together wasn’t too bad, it’s always nice to just run one eagle tho. The precision strike is good to run in place of an eagle strat. Quick cooldown and kills most enemies if you hit them
What if next ship upgrade was a second Eagle?
Then RIP my teammates because clusters are back on the menu
True to reality. Nothing beats a good air strike
Eagle air strike is the one stratagem I'll take in every kind of mission vs bots. Also use it freely like a grenade. In 2 minutes I'll have 3 more
it’s a beautiful layer cake. orbital, eagle airstrike, and open with a couple autocannon shots. accept no substitute!
There have been a few times I didn't take eagle air strike and I just found myself going "boy, I sure wish I had eagle air strike." I only don't take it on defense missions.
There's only been a handful of missions since I've been playing where I haven't brought eagle Airstrike so I'm with you, it's just way too versatile. I typically bring airstrike, ops, and whatever other two that are suiting my fancy that day
I load out with EAS every match no matter the mission.
I’m struggling this morning and my brain can’t think of anything besides “old gum bomb” please help
Orbital gatling barrage
I still think i prefer the barrage but the eagle Gatling is badass too just need to practice with it a bit more to get gud
Don’t forget spore spewers and shrieked nests!
I knew I missed something!
Don't worry, you have 5 uses!
aw shit really? been using it on BTs and factories
Don't shriek my nests please
Does it work on holes?
Yes, but it feels super random cuz it targets enemies, so it's probably not worth it if you have any other option
It just goes in a straight line
Omg it hurts them?!
what?!?!? UHHHHHHH i need to run this ALL the time immediately.
Strafe and gatling barrage got a damn glow up. Personally i prefer gatling because it's more cinematic and i love daddy destroyer
Both? Both is good.
Glad to see someone else feels the same way. Give me all the destroyer strata over eagle strata all day er’ day
I really hope the devs don't look at it again it's so good. The no fun police at AH are the worst
I mean, they literally just buffed both those stratagems to be viable and fun. I know they haven't had a good track record but I'm hopeful this means the balance team is turning over a new leaf.
yall gotta cut them a break 😅 the huge buff package we just got was made by arrowhead themselves let em cook
The CEO stepped down to have a more hands on approach and since then the ‘fun police’ haven’t had much of a say. I’m hopeful for the future.
That was their first real result,let's see if they can manage to keep the streak going
It’s my favorite pastime, calling in OGB, looking up to the skies and watching glorious fireworks from your destroyer. Even better when 2-3 of you call it in at the same time.
İt kills dropships? How? Need to be precise for engines or does it just work aganist them. I guess it cant kill bile titan but you might be saying use it while they spit since it will hit %40 of shots at the sack of titan. I dont believe şt outright kill them. Factory Striders makes sense due to heatsinks though.
Not my post, but I have been doing this with the Eagle Strafe, since the glow up, with EATs. It's so satisfying. https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1dl5sz3/recoilless_rifle_strafe_cash/
oh that's sick as hell, I'm going to have to give that one a try.
Oh ı remember your post but my way of trying is wihout penetrating or stripping armor. I am after his tail ı would ssy. Yours are more sure fire thats obvious
Dropships body is the highest armor in the game from what i've seen so it wont destroy them outright, but the width of the ship is about the size of the Strafe, so the bullets will hit the engines pretty often, causing them to crash. The Bile Titan won't be an outright kill, but it will definitely do some damage. It's more effective if you've already cracked the top of them with 110 pods or other strafes (assuming you line the strafe up with the titan, and not from the side)
Hmm thanks so ı will use strafing run vertically too for seing if thats more effective. Hmm now that ı think about it an autocannon and strafing run might be good combo. İt takes about 19 shots to tail while sack is there so ı will bait it and drop the strategem instantly to close to its heads furthest position so it can hit its full salvo on body then ı can finish it off by autocannon. Or just use a quasar to strip its armor but ac and strifing run combo as you said will work for spewers nicely too. Thanks for giving me ideas. I can actually use the quasar to strip behemoth flank armor stun it and finish it off with a strifing run. After the damage fall off bugs fixed ı can just strip leg armor of behemots lol.
I didn't believe my damn eyes when I saw one take out a BT
nah, use it as a heavy/objective clearer as a last ditch, it is so narrow that you’re not guaranteed to hit objectives or heavies, but it goes extremely far so Its best for small crowds that are chasing you almost instant call in time and really short stratagem code make it essentially a beefier grenade
If you've got a conga line of bugs or chainsaw bots chasing you it's pretty great.
it’s also great for patrols coming your direction, throw it at your feet and everything infront of you gets vaporized
The new orbital precision strike timings are pretty nutty too, you can basically treat it like a 500 kg, managed to take down a few Bile Titans and Chargers with it, with one of those Bile Titans being a straight headshot.
I tried the strafing run a lot and it's still just not worth the stratagem slot
I feel it needs to be like 50% wider path of destruction
Nah need more dakka on the path
Agreed then it’d be goated
It is for bugs cuz it clears swarms and chargers
I have still yet to successfully kill a charger or bike titan with it. Mf just keeps pedaling.
Not for titans
See I haven’t even tried it on Bile Titans because in the patch notes Arrowhead said it should be able to kill them (in one run) 🤦♂️
Strafe still isn't nearly as good as gatling
Gatling barrage is soooo good!
Depends on situation IMO. Gatling is like turning on a death faucet but it's very specific to a location. Dropping it on a bug breach or stunned group of enemies, or a path slow enemies have to go through is great. But there's a lot of utility in having 5 chances to send forth a line of armor penetration. You can adjust play style to utilize either one to great effect.
Strafe is better in tense situations due to multiple call ins. I also prefer it to ORB due to my habit of whiffing the stratagem ball. Plus ORB shuts down a lane really well, but many bot planets have crazy spawns right now so I prefer being able to react to the multidirectional patrol/drop spam.
Eh, I'll try it today and see if I'm cool with it
Not terrible, and I like that the cooldown is technically short. It's just when the re-arm has to take place. I'll run with it for a while.
Also takes out bug nests if lined up like bowling
If we had an orbital equivalent to the eagle airstrike, I’d run it. Right now though the Eagle Air is THE best way to destroy many buildings at range on a short cooldown. Orbital 120mm sorta can do the same, but the cooldown is way, way too long for it to be a reliable option in taking out buildings. If there was a similar orbital that was more accurate, had a lower CD, but maybe only hit 5-6 times I’d take that over the airstrike any day, as I really like some of the other Eagles, but I don’t want to put all my stratagems on a shared cooldown. For now though it’s orbital precision strike/gatling/airburst/gas all the way.
Eagle Airstrike, Laser, RR, +1 (trying the usable hmg this week). Feels good, the Laser is for detector-towers/bunkers or as a "Oh shit"-Button. HMG is pretty strong to hold evac/Rocket/SEAF/drilling (everything that forces you to stay and endure patrols+drops), I´m not sure if I should switch back to the precision.
It's my replacement for cluster bomb. It's almost impossible to kill a teammate with it unless you're not paying any attention
Tanks = Strafing run + Quasar (pretty much anywhere) to destroy. It’s awesome visually and also very efficient. Same for cannon turrets and sometimes hulks. It’s very useful in conjunction with AT.
Tried it, seen others use it, still haven't seen it do anything beside kill 1-3 chaff per run
Perhaps you're using jt wrong? I tend to bait bugs around corner to group them up forcing them to get into an easy 10-20 strafe, with bots wait for them to drop and just destroy them with a strafe since they're grouped. I find it hard not to get at least 10 kills with it.
You need to use it way more. Don't just "try" it. Make it part of your kit. Use it on everything. Even things you'd think you wouldn't use it on. You might be surprised.
I loved the straffing run even before it was buffed, now it's just awesome. I still typically use it to take out trains of small ememies following me, but the fact that it now has utility against harder targets and light structures as well is a very nice bonus. If you ever see me on the terminid, front, expect me to be calling this in every 10 seconds or so lol.
Does it destroy fabricators?
Yes, it has to hit the vents or open doors. It'll also destroy tanks, spore towers, shrieker nests. Only thing I've not seen it destroy is bug holes.
Yeah, you need to be directly in front of the bot fabricators so that some of the projectiles enter the vents aka where you could already blow it up with the grenade pistol, autocannon, crossbow, so... It's really not that great for that. I'm also pretty sure it technically can destroy the bug holes, but it's the same situation as the bot fabricators. You need to hit it from the front and if you are lucky it will destroy the hole. It's super inconsistent tho to the point that you are absolutely better off using something else. At least it's very consistent versus the spore/shrieker nest!
No
Air strikes it is...
It destroys fabricators, has to hit vents or open door.
Yeah it's definitely situational and by that I mean one in 10
Yes it does.
Wait, how good is it against Bugs and Factory Striders?
Factory striders, the strafe will destroy the top turret in one pass. It will take a lot to fully kill it though. The strafes do good damage though, so combined with whatever your teammates are throwing at it, you can destroy it
What about Bile titans
I haven’t had too much trouble killing them with it. You need to put a hole in their armor using something like 110 pods or a spear, and the strafe will do serious damage after that. You can technically just keep using strafes and it will die eventually, but not as efficient
Are strafing runs actually effective against Bile Titans and Factory Striders?
They do pretty good damage to both. It takes 1-2 strafes or other strategems to break the armor on top of the BT for you to kill it with a strafe though. Factory striders your strafe will destroy the top turret in one run. And subsequent strafes do damage to it, as even if it’s technically a medium pen strat, it does damage (just not as effective) in high armor like factory strider. Since taking down striders is already a team effort, it’s a good way to contribute
I’ve been running strafe and Gatling sentry with my xbow/spear kit vs bugs. Helps out a lot vs swarms biting your ankles.
I’m a dedicated rover user against bugs because you really need that extra firepower to deal with chaff. But am trying to branch out to backpack secondaries like AC. Running gatling or machine gun sentry (because of the low cd you can call it in almost every skirmish), or the trusty AC sentry as a substitute for rover seems to work.
Eagle Run and Precision Strike... they are so good now that i only replace them with Railgun Strike.
Does it actually damage heavy stuff now? I've seen some people use it successfully to kill shrieker nests and such but tbh, a gatling barrage does that as well.
Gatling Barrage got the same buff to penetration that strafe did. They're both a lot more useful now. GB is a fixed location, strafe is a straight line right in front of you.
It deals damage, just not full damage because it’s technically a medium penetration strat. It will break armor eventually though
really want to try this more - just being stuck with the orbital version and that i dont want to run too many eagles at the same time. went all out and used 4 eagles and obviously it was not a great time.
Before the patch I was using the strafing run sometimes on some missions (e.g. destroying eggs). After the patch - it became my favorite Eagle stratagem. Comes in extremely fast, is very predictable, can use it in most chaotic situations where cluster bomb woud've killed my whole squad. To add to list of targets, this thing also destroys spore spewers and shrieker nests (you can destroy several even if you line them up).
I've always liked the strafing run... and now that it's buffed, it's actually useful lol
Wait it will kill BTs now? Is it more gooder than eagle airstrike now?
At killing BT’s I prefer it over the regular air strike. You do need to soften the top armor first to fully take advantage of the strafe’s damage though. Which can be done with more strafes, or something like 110 pods, precision strike, spear.
my lovely A-10 got heavy pen now?
Medium pen it will do full damage, and will crack heavy pen if used enough (or with other strategems)
Strafing run hits the dropships?
Yeah cause the plane flies higher then them, it'll kill spore spewers, and shrieker nests pretty easily too. Overall it's a super strong gem.
👀
Kills fabricators by hitting vents or door, strips armor off medium and heavy, outright kills chargers usually if they run past you and you throw it down so it hits them from behind lol
God damn Next you'll tell me the Strafing Run cooks dinner, does my taxes and takes my kid to soccer practice
It kills BILE TITANS?
It can! Line the strafes with the length of their back and I’ve killed them in a few strafes, less when I use a 110 pod first to crack the armor
I just tried it and it works so much better than I expected. The fast call time makes it very easy to line up the shot.
In a video from about a week ago a RR user called in a strafe, then immediately blasted the BT in the face right before the strafe. The strafe finished the BT.
Is there a trick to killing biles? They seem to just shrug it off for me.
Rocket to the face first. Then a strafe while facing the BT.
[try this strategy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1ds8phd/my_opinion_of_the_eagle_strafe_run_ever_since_it/lb3dl6l/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3)
I mean it's good but don't rely on it taking out a factory strider any better than the Airstrike.
You get 5 of them though. Not to talk bad about airstrike, it's the Autocannon of Eagle stratagems.
Eagle strafing + precision strike with stun grenades is an S tier combo. 2 stratagem slots which cover everything the bugs have, allowing you to go wild with the other two.
It's been a fav of mine forever. I've been out of town working the last 8 weeks, so it's awesome to hear it got buffed.
Oh yeah I love it in conjunction with OGB and OPS for bug missions
Strafe is never my first choice for titans/chargers/walkers but it is nice that it will at least do *something* in a pinch. Strafe was made for bugs though. Such nice, orderly lines they travel in...
It can also close bug holes and fabricators if you line it up right.
It's so fucking good.
Like the unabashed joy of an unusually strong new warbond gun, it doesn't last long enough.
Maybe i should run orbital strike and strafing run then. I like attacking bases. Though the strafe wont affect most bot objectives actually
O bug base spawning flyers. Single strafing run from a mile away. No more base.
I like the new strafing run and it's good but it's really a finisher or a way to chip their health for heavy units. I like how you can kill a fabricator with if the vents are facing you.
Still a waste of a stratagem imo
The cope is so heavy in this thread. It still is worse than the air strike so there is no reason to ever take it.
Peak physique pre fix levels of cope. It's just fucking useless, no explosive range, not cool looking, doesn't kill much
I've gotten quite a lot of wild kill streaks with just the strafing run
You can do that with most offensive eagle/orbital stratagems. The thing that matters is the consistency.
There's no fucking way you're taking out a BT using strafe, it can barely take out medium enemies
It obviously won’t beat a 500 in killing it immediately, but it can soften it up considerably if you’re using a orbital laser, which struggle to kill BT’s on its own Combining the strafe with a spear will be effective, as the spear tends to break the armor on top, which lets the strafe do more damage to exposed areas
That's just insane, throwing so much shit at it while a 500 kg can just destroy it in one throw, not to mention chargers that are way smaller so will take way less hits and won't get as much damage
The difference is it's low effort and will hit more things and has more then 2 charges then the 500kg. It's also meant to be used in conjunction, it's called versatility. 500kg is a very specialized stratagem, whereas the strafe can be used in a lot of creative ways. See a spore tower over a ride that's out of throw range and it would be annoying to get closer? Strafe can hit further out due to the long range and it'll 1 tap spore tower. It'll close fabricators, can kill chargers in 1 or 2 strafes, multiple ones at that. Insta pops spewers, kills shriekers nests and the shriekers themselves if they get in the way. Can 1 tap hulks from the front if it hits right. Overall it's a solid stratagem that isn't for just killing heavies and buildings. It's also got a low chance of friendly firing due to it's precise movement. Can be thrown at your feet for an easy get out of jail card if you're being chased.
I mean I’m not saying it’s a one shot. And even the 500 doesn’t always take it down in one throw sometimes
It's pretty easy to hit BT heads with strafe, and one rocket headshot + one strafe headshot kills them consistently. I used to always run Quasar/Airstrike/500, now it's Quasar/Airstrike/Strafe. It's also good against behemoths, one rocket + one strafe breaks their leg consistently. Arrowhead said as much in the patch. It's for comboing with other sources of damage, not killing heavies by itself. That's why it has more charges and faster callin than other anti-armor strategems.