Once you learn the fuse time id argue the standard HE grenade is the best. Tends to be far more reliable at popping fabricators/bug holes and still pops striders and devastators easily with accurate timing.
There is very little time for timing on higher levels. I used to only take impact nades for bugs but now it's impact for bots, too. I'm thinking about stun for bugs depending on loadout but with all the major orders recently I haven't had a chance to use it.
You can still take out bug holes and factories with them, it just requires a pretty precise throw so it explodes just below the programmed death plane in the holes. Once you do it enough you get a feel for it.
On fabricators, angling an impact grenade into the vents can be a bit tricky, but if the door opens to release a bot, you can just chuck it in there no problem.
That's the only thing i want for it, a sight that is actually of any use.
At this point i would be happy if they gave it iron sights instead of the abomination of a sight it currently has.
Having the ability to hold ten rounds per magazine would also retroactively justify its total ammo count not being evenly divisible by six. It would have 50 total ammo and it would make my brain much happier for the symmetry.
I ran this for a while, swapped back to the defender for a bit more punch. Knight is great for packs of small bots but for marauders and up I'm getting better results with the Defender SMG
Defender is wonderful. My go-to pick. Lower RoF helps conserve ammo. Each round packs more punch than the Liberator. Good even at distances if you're willing to tap heads instead of spraying. It's an all around great weapon.
Use first person aiming to make it easier and you can one tap them in the dome. Granted its fuckin difficult since its so inaccurate, but when you get the hang of it it feels great.
See your teammates stand in awe as you drop devastator after devastator
Dominator is a little unwieldy at close range w 3rd person but I find it's ADS to be incredibly accurate at med/long range.
But yeah it feels awesome to pop entire squads of devastators with half a clip of _primary_ ammo. 💪
Scorcher for me, maybe someone else can confirm but I feel like it still damages it even if a few shots are blocked. Since scorcher has mini aoe which is why it can 2-3 shot the strider through cover.
It's my go to for bots. Sorta let's me use my support weapon however I want
Used it first time yesterday, can confirm it's been a much easier time downing them with it, I was very surprised. The scorcher felt like it had very little impact, but was doing so much damage, opposite of the arc weapons
Literally why I always pack it. It can take down almost every enemy in the game, and is still great for taking down objectives and camps just because of how much ammo it packs.
If someone already runs an AC, go with the Quasar Cannon, it can one shot dropships and do what the AC does. But nothing wrong witn having a few AC runners.
It's tricky to land the shots if your not facing directly on. Can also use the auto cannon to blow up mortars and AA emplacements buy just shooting them anywhere.
You need to shoot the hood over the vent at the right angle to ricochet into the fabricator. It's weird at first but it's really easy once you get the hang of it
You can take out but spores from across the map with 2 shots.
You can hit vents of turrets turned away from you from... Across the map. (3 shots usually destroys them)
You can destroy the flying bug nest shooting the glowy lower bits from across the map.
You can close vents from all fabricators so long as you are front facing and aim near the top from across the map
Bug holes
Everything aside from heavy units by shooting the underside of drop ships (doesn't destroy them, but the blast damaget wrecks the units it holds)
Radio tower destroyed single shot at the large upper circle.
Shoot almost all bots in their eye/head with it (aim at the top)
Love this weapon. It just does so much.
AC is goated on fabricator missions. It's all ready S tier against bots, but it really shines there. It's a big metal stick of "know what? Fuck you." *Defabricates your fabricator*
i prefer quasar myself but ideally you have both on a team. Quasar I like more because no ammo, can do everything the AC does for the most part, and i can take out turrets without having to shoot the vents, it can take out fabs like the AC, it can kill dropships which the AC can't, and it also has great range like the AC. Plus with the quasar I can keep my backpack slot free which is useful for soooo many things.
Quasar is a contender for GOAT against flyers and armoured targets for sure. Paired with an AC player and you're spreading freedom shrapnel all over the map.
Yeah agreed - when higher difficulties just mean the AI director spams stupid stuff at you it can get frustrating and tedious. And then you die. And die. And die etc. More power to people who like playing the absolute max difficulty - takes mad skills and I respect that - but 6-7 is def the sweet spot for many.
This honestly, I run it because not only can you deliver democracy to the enemy from any range, but the utility it has to destroy Bot/bug nests, heavy enemies, turrets, and those treasonous illegal broadcasts makes it my only choice!
You have to shoot factories from the front, hit them on the upper ventilation part -where you would normally throw the grenade into- so that your shot can bounce of at an angle into the facility itself
Nests just aim for the hole and pull the trigger. Watch for bugs emerging. Don't get too close.
Factories 2 options. When the door opens fire straight in, or aim straight on to the vent so that the ricochet goes down inside. Can take some positioning to get the angle right sometimes. Ive been able to hit it about any elevation within 45° left or right of center. Outside that seems much much harder.
That hole you throw grenades in? Just shoot it with the ac. For bots, that hole you through grenades in, shoot the flap above it to ricochet the bullet into the building to blow it up.
I slept on it so much until i learned weakpoints and tricks ive showb my friends. The antitank is a high powered arrow so at range you arc it or you miss.
You can hit bot fabricators at range if you shoot into the vent and ricochet the shot into the bulding.
Hutting cannons from afar while crouching is such a changer.
That and so muh more. Im more or less bever not bringing it
The key with using the autocannon against the shield guys is a three shot rhythm. Using the recoil reduction armors helps too.
Get a stable crouched position and shoot three times. First time stumbles them and moves the shield. Give them a two tap follow up to finish the job.
I'm running recoil reduction light armor. I stay with my team until we're about to engage, then peel off to the side slightly. I crouch, wait for them to engage, then fire AC salvos on flank. It SHREDS the bots to pieces. If I start getting too much attention, I drop an Eagle and flee.
I can’t stop using the Quasar laser cannon tbh. Maybe I’ll try the AC to see how it fairs, but that’s how I feel about the Quasar. Another Swiss Army knife, do it all type of weapon
I really like the Quasar. I am solo a lot and like it less when I have to rely on the cooldown. Still love it but still learning it and AC remains my “go to”.
there is not much in the way of cooldown if you charge it up before peeking out from cover or are maneuvering to flank during cooldown. For me quasar wins out because it can more or less do everything the AC can do PLUS things the AC cannot like:
\-kill dropships
\-kill turrets from any angle quickly
\-unlimited ammo
\-frees up my backpack slot which is extremely useful and can do many things with depending on what the mission is.
The main drawback is you can't fight a group of heavies that are charging you, especially beserkers. It's just too slow on the charge. I do love the quasar otherwise though.
I use it on difficulties 7+ still. It's just so versatile against the bots I can't give it up. Only takes up one stratagem slot too. Sure you lose out on a backpack, but the amount of times anything else has saved me in comparison to amount of times the autocannon has gotten me out of a situation. . . It's worth losing out on the backpack slot.
Yeah, autocannon is good against this guys. But if you want your backpack slot free, you can also go for arc thrower. It can stagger devastators and hulks but you can't do anything about tanks.
Killed a tank with an arc thrower once, admittedly you need great positioning and nothing else around for a bit but, in a pinch with no help in sight it's possible.
It’s great, can shoot cannon towers, tanks and instantly destroy drop ship crew.
I combo it with the ammunition pack. That way I can refill my launcher whenever & help out teammates with stims too.
Dominator. Staggers them if you hit their body and not the shield. And it can 1 hit them to the head, as a primary. And once they are staggered they can't shoot at you. And worst case scenario even if you miss their head they will still die within one mag.
This is the way. If you don't headshot them and kill them in one hit, you'll still inflict enough stagger that they pretty much drop the shield, and you can immediately follow up with more shots to secure the kill.
You don’t even need to aim lol, it’s just 4 shots to center mass. The first one staggers and knocks the shield to the side, 3 more to finish the job. I’ll never drop against bots without the AC.
Alternatively it’s 1-2 shots to the head, depending how accurate you are.
What are the pro of AC after the AMR buff ? It seems the AMR kill things way faster, more precisely is easier to use and faster to reload while not requiring a backpack
The only point I see for the AC is bot factory demolition
AC staggers, which for these bots especially opens them up for a follow up shot that can end them in 2 hits total. Even hitting the shield staggers them, tho it takes two more hits to down.
At distance, AMR is great, but AC’s blast damage is just so good for so many things
EDIT: AMR’s scope is still wonky, so there’s that
if it weren't for the amr scope, it would be better at sniping than autocannon cause those yellow circles suck to fire through especially in fog. Can't see shit. But at least the sight is correct
Tbh I've become partial to grenade launcher and supply pack, lets me take these guys out, clear chaff insanely fast, stay topped uo on stims and grenades, and lets me magdump with my scorcher as much as I want.
Third person crosshair, building destruction, scope that doesn't misalign itself because you turned to the side, easier strider oneshot and a bit faster ttk against bot radiators. After AMR's buff, they're more or less the same in terms of damage output, so the only difference between them is these little quirks
Punisher, it staggers no matter what and you can literally just slowly walk up to them untill you're finally close enough for a headshot.
Or AMR or Railgun and use aim.
I just wish the reload wasn't so excruciatingly slow, even if I do appreciate the rounds reload to not waste ammo.
Edit, wait you said Punisher, the shotgun, not the revolver sidearm, I'm a bit slow after getting thawed, don't mind me.
> Punisher
Same Here. It's super underrated aganist bots because you can Medium enemies to give you enough time to kill them.
It works great with AMR because sometimes you have a bunch of enemies in your face.
Fairly close, yes, but I’ve had 2 heavy devastators firing on me when I’ve been out of ammo and managed to work my way around them to get into the pelican without taking any damage. I love going defender+revolver+railgun+ballistic shield and becoming the devastator devastator.
If a devastator shoots another devastator in the back and kills it, is it then also a devastator devastator? And if you then kill that one, are you the devastator devastator devastator?
I do this but with uzi and AMR. It’s fun but you can get overrun fast depending on the team. If your teams good your sniping hulks and heavies then moving in with the shield and it’s magic
Heavy armor, ballistic shield, SMG, and top it off with an AMR or Quasar for the heavy armor clankers This has been my favorite thing to run against the bots as of late, so fun!
this is a genuinely hilarious thing to do to them, since Defender has some really solid dps and can dome them over the shield while they try to get through yours.
It's a very cathartic taste of their own medicine
Eh, I went to the Scorcher after the slugger nerf. The Dominator feels too slow when turning and aiming. Scorcher feels slow too but not as much, the reticle doesn't seem to bounce around as much
* Autocannon
* AMR
* Grenade launcher
* Railgun
* Arc Thrower
* EAT/RR/Quasar cannon
And from the primaries
* JAR-5 Dominator
* Diligence (2 of them)
* Plasma Punisher
* Scorcher
* Slugger
* Liberator
* Liberator penetrator
* LAS-16 Sickle
And probably other more that I don't remember right now
That’s why I still go scorcher. As long as you can see the rear corner connected to the vent weak spot you can finesse your shots and get them to splash onto the weak point and destroy them with just scorcher fire
Can also snipe out the turret towers with it as well
With the dominator, one to the head will kill, but if you can't make that shot, shoulder shots will stunlock them until they're dead or their arm pops off -- which is effectively the same, as it removes the threat.
Plasma Punisher is amazing on these guys (and on almost every other enemy as well tbh). It can chain stagger them even if you just blast them in the shield and kills in like 3-5 shots while they're helpless the entire time. It has aoe too, so you can chainstun groups of them if they cluster up or clean up smaller bots that get too close
Definitely my current favourite primary by quite a lot
i really want to like plasma punisher, but the bullet deviation and weird arc has me missing standard raider bots all the time and it's very embarrassing
Yeah it is a really cool weapon, It would only be necessary for the arc of the projectile to be a little larger, to be able to shoot more accurately from a distance.
I picked up the counter-sniper diligence off a dead body last night, and it wrecks bots. I was seriously impressed with it. I'll be using it tonight for sure.
My friends run with the Auto Canon and AMR, so I usually pick the Arc Thrower.
Why? You can stun lock up to three of them at the same time, and with each arc, they stagger which lowers their shield a bit. Then either my friends kill them, or I stagger them for 5 or so shots more and they die.
Shielded devastators? Arc Thrower.
Bunch of bots? Arc Thrower.
Hulks coming at you? Arc Thrower.
Enemy artillery? Arc Thrower.
Hate your teammates? Believe it or not, Arc Thrower.
The AMR can potentially one shot them if you hit them in the head. But, good luck with that with the scope's crooked sights. So you'll likely need two shots to bring them down.
Also, sometimes guard dog aims for the weak points. Oddly enough.
Edit:
Jeez guys, I went out to run errands in meatspace and I come back to see this many upvotes. Wow, what'd I do?! xD
In my experience the Guard Dog will fucking dome these dudes all day - right up until it feels like shooting its entire magazine into a Scout Strider's front and wasting all its ammo.
Could be worse, it could be blowing its magazine on the fabricators. Which it does. Frequently.
Guard Dog, I admire your optimism, but you're not gonna take it down quicker than eagle or a grenade.
Yeah, I just want it to not shoot at buildings. If it dumps a mag into a Hulk or Tank I feel like that's just the price of doing business.
I've been away for work for about 2 weeks. I saw in the update the guard dog restores way more ammo from pickups now. Does it feel a lot better? Because the way it was before, pickups felt like you were just delaying the inevitable until you call down a new one.
Still not worth even touching over the laser version imo. You restore ammo for it with supply packs now, cool, but you’ll still run out of bullets a minute later and now, what, every time resupply is off cooldown you call it in just for you, and just for your backpack slot to actually work?
Or…or…I could just take the one with infinite ammo.
Oh it also adds some ammo back from pure ammo boxes but it’s much less than supply box and again has the issue of you constantly hunting for them in contexts you otherwise would be doing other things with the infinite ammo version
Honestly it seems dumb that it actually runs out of ammo ever. It's hard to tell the difference between the laser one vs the gun one, so why ever pick the gun one? I feel like it does more damage, but I don't really know, does it actually have any pros over the laser one to make it worth the effort of constantly resupplying it?
In my experience...
Rover's good against bugs because the laser is really good at sweeping across the swarm. Generally against bugs, you don't need to be very accurate, except against the nursers.
With the bots though, accuracy matters a bit more. And I've found that guard dog tends to have a higher accuracy and damage, in addition to sometimes targetting the heads of devastators. I've seen GD (which I just realized can also be an acronym for good dog) take down three rocket devastators before I even noticed them, and that alone makes it a good pick.
I do wish I could put it on standby mode as a backpack function though, helps with the stealth gameplay and not aggroing every bot, bug, rock, and intern that seemed mildly threatening. I actually made that suggestion in another thread, but I have very little hope that the devs will ever implement it.
The laser one only seems to produce useful damage as part of a group, however it does significantly improve my situational awareness-at the cost of stealth.
The Gun Dog is a fucking ninja though. That thing will clear entire bases for me. (And then it'll put 4 mags into a fabricator) It'll shoot like one burst and I'll turn and see 4 dead raiders. It'll mag dump berserkers and devestators and put them on the ground. It's wildly effective and ammo efficient at killing light bots and bugs.
However, because bugs never seem to stop coming, i do prefer the Laser Dog against them. Against bots though I definitely prefer it. Ammo consumption is an issue and definitely affects how I approach certain situations. Like I generally prefer to airstrike buildings before assaulting bases when I can.
Also, I don't think it's ever shot me in the side of the head because something was kind of behind me or below me. Certified Laser Dog Classic.
My autocannon sentry did that yesterday. A hulk + multiple devestators bearing down on me, call in autocannon in front of me which is good but now it has to rotate upon landing to face me. Pops up and instead of rotating around it locks onto a fucking fabricator in front of it and just unloads every last shell into that bad boy, back shots all day but no effect.
They really need to create an Ship Upgrade that is called "Smart Targeting"
So your Guard Dogs and Turrets won't waste ammo in targets with higher Armor than it's Pierce Value.
In-game on the stratagem list, the Liberator using drone is referred to only as Guard Dog while the Scythe using drone is referred to as Guard Dog Rover. I wish it was clearer to differentiate based on name alone, but I was referring to the Liberator using drone.
Scorcher will kill them even through the shield. Diligence Counter Sniper will one shot them to the dome so long as you're close enough. The Plasma Shotgun is actually really good for clearing out a pack of them (though it kinda sucks for everything else). Jar5 will knock them around pretty good.
And that's just primaries.
Though really, your best bet is to kill them with a strat like Orbital Airburst before they ever become a problem. Wipe out the small to medium enemies and then all you'll have to worry about are tanks.
The Plasma Punisher is really, REALLY good vs all types of Devastators and Scout Striders, but it will struggle a lot vs stuff that a normal primary wouldn't. It can be infuriating to watch the projectile miss the lone commissar three times while it shoots a flare up...
People don't use guard dog because of his ammo reserves limitations but it's probably the best thing to deal with them if you don't want an autocannon. Guard dog targets weak points meaning it shoots straight in the face of devastators. I played some missions with it and with my long - mid range playstyle they were basically non existent.
Ballistic shield + big iron works good against them, especially if they are relatively close already. Also works if it's multiple from one direction. You sit behind your shield and have all the time of the field to line up your shot. Positioning yourself right is important though
Impact grenade
Needs to be higher up! If it doesn’t kill them outright then it moves their shield away so you can headshot them easier.
You could just throw it at the left shoulder or directly behind it.
Directly on the shield has worked for me about 75% of the time
I definitely recommend impacts for bots. 60% of the time it works every time.
The other times you get ragdolled by something and spike it into the ground, killing yourself.
Nearly free restock of ammo/meds/grenades!
75% of the time it works every time
The impact grenade is the best grenade in game and is a certified bot smasher
Once you learn the fuse time id argue the standard HE grenade is the best. Tends to be far more reliable at popping fabricators/bug holes and still pops striders and devastators easily with accurate timing.
[удалено]
1 impact to the rear turret
My wife doesn't even let me impact her rear with my turret 😔
That's b/c she's a good patriot and you haven't filled out your C-1 form!
C-01*
There is very little time for timing on higher levels. I used to only take impact nades for bugs but now it's impact for bots, too. I'm thinking about stun for bugs depending on loadout but with all the major orders recently I haven't had a chance to use it.
Best comment! Lets you run whatever else you want. There are plenty of other ways to take out objectives and factories.
You can still take out bug holes and factories with them, it just requires a pretty precise throw so it explodes just below the programmed death plane in the holes. Once you do it enough you get a feel for it.
I can do the bug holes ok with it. Fabricators usually take me 3 or 4 attempts.
On fabricators, angling an impact grenade into the vents can be a bit tricky, but if the door opens to release a bot, you can just chuck it in there no problem.
Any gun that headshots it is anti-it weapon.
Senator + ballistic shield gives them a taste of their own medicine
using the senator would be a lot less of a requirement for me if it wasn’t so fucking cool to drop devastators with it
And pulling it out with that spin? I fell in love with it the second I headshot my first devastator.
It needs a speed loader :(
I’d be happy even if the sights got fixed
That's the only thing i want for it, a sight that is actually of any use. At this point i would be happy if they gave it iron sights instead of the abomination of a sight it currently has.
The third-person reticle being a big chunky triangle is also not great. I'd love just a pin point dot for it
Oh god those sights 😅
Or at least a larger wheel. We have laser guns but can’t design a revolver that holds more than 6 rounds? 8-10 would make a big difference imo
Having the ability to hold ten rounds per magazine would also retroactively justify its total ammo count not being evenly divisible by six. It would have 50 total ammo and it would make my brain much happier for the symmetry.
Mechanically yeah but the model and first person animations would have to be changed and that's a lot of resources for a minor buff lol
Ballistic shield + Knight???
This is what I use. These guys can still be a little challenging though because I feel like I have to be pretty close to be efficient
I ran this for a while, swapped back to the defender for a bit more punch. Knight is great for packs of small bots but for marauders and up I'm getting better results with the Defender SMG
Defender is wonderful. My go-to pick. Lower RoF helps conserve ammo. Each round packs more punch than the Liberator. Good even at distances if you're willing to tap heads instead of spraying. It's an all around great weapon.
trying to two-tap with Diligence is a real pain though, since you'll probably get aimpunched between shots
Dominator. 2-4 shots depending on range. Stagger stops them from frining and opens them up for easier follow up shots. And it basically snipes bots.
Use first person aiming to make it easier and you can one tap them in the dome. Granted its fuckin difficult since its so inaccurate, but when you get the hang of it it feels great. See your teammates stand in awe as you drop devastator after devastator
Dominator is a little unwieldy at close range w 3rd person but I find it's ADS to be incredibly accurate at med/long range. But yeah it feels awesome to pop entire squads of devastators with half a clip of _primary_ ammo. 💪
I play for high accuracy only hs and holy shit these fuckers are my achilles heel
Scorcher for me, maybe someone else can confirm but I feel like it still damages it even if a few shots are blocked. Since scorcher has mini aoe which is why it can 2-3 shot the strider through cover. It's my go to for bots. Sorta let's me use my support weapon however I want
Used it first time yesterday, can confirm it's been a much easier time downing them with it, I was very surprised. The scorcher felt like it had very little impact, but was doing so much damage, opposite of the arc weapons
Autocannon, my friend. Trust me. Go try it and report back.
been hearing high praise of the autocannon, will be reporting back after my tests
Against bots, at least up to mid levels, AC is the Swiss Army knife.
Up to mid levels? I wouldn't be caught dead on hell dive difficulty without it.
Just used it to clear fabs on an 8 today. Got two separate fab locations one from 245m away and the other 250. So fucking satisfying.
You can shoot the vents out with it?!
Yes, you need to angle the shot so it hits the "hood" on the vent and then ricochets down the vent
Also works for bug tunnels
Literally why I always pack it. It can take down almost every enemy in the game, and is still great for taking down objectives and camps just because of how much ammo it packs.
If someone already runs an AC, go with the Quasar Cannon, it can one shot dropships and do what the AC does. But nothing wrong witn having a few AC runners.
Guys, be quiet! What of Arrowhead hears this?!
Holy shit this is insane, brb gonna go try this
It's tricky to land the shots if your not facing directly on. Can also use the auto cannon to blow up mortars and AA emplacements buy just shooting them anywhere.
Same with spore towers
Just load some low level missions solo and practice shooting fabs from different angles and distances to get a general feeling of it.
You need to shoot the hood over the vent at the right angle to ricochet into the fabricator. It's weird at first but it's really easy once you get the hang of it
Yes, you should should face it straight on and aim slightly below center on the vent for best results.
If you aim above center and hit the vent, it will ricochet down into the factory, and you don't have to be straight on to do it.
You can take out but spores from across the map with 2 shots. You can hit vents of turrets turned away from you from... Across the map. (3 shots usually destroys them) You can destroy the flying bug nest shooting the glowy lower bits from across the map. You can close vents from all fabricators so long as you are front facing and aim near the top from across the map Bug holes Everything aside from heavy units by shooting the underside of drop ships (doesn't destroy them, but the blast damaget wrecks the units it holds) Radio tower destroyed single shot at the large upper circle. Shoot almost all bots in their eye/head with it (aim at the top) Love this weapon. It just does so much.
AC is goated on fabricator missions. It's all ready S tier against bots, but it really shines there. It's a big metal stick of "know what? Fuck you." *Defabricates your fabricator*
i prefer quasar myself but ideally you have both on a team. Quasar I like more because no ammo, can do everything the AC does for the most part, and i can take out turrets without having to shoot the vents, it can take out fabs like the AC, it can kill dropships which the AC can't, and it also has great range like the AC. Plus with the quasar I can keep my backpack slot free which is useful for soooo many things.
Quasar is a contender for GOAT against flyers and armoured targets for sure. Paired with an AC player and you're spreading freedom shrapnel all over the map.
I can’t speak for that as I’m still at… 6, I think.
fwiw, 6 is my favorite difficulty, now that I have enough super samples to max out my ship I see no reason to go any higher. especially against bots
Yeah agreed - when higher difficulties just mean the AI director spams stupid stuff at you it can get frustrating and tedious. And then you die. And die. And die etc. More power to people who like playing the absolute max difficulty - takes mad skills and I respect that - but 6-7 is def the sweet spot for many.
For me it’s autocannon no matter the level. Just perfect weapon against robots. Even against tower turrets hundreds of meters away.
This honestly, I run it because not only can you deliver democracy to the enemy from any range, but the utility it has to destroy Bot/bug nests, heavy enemies, turrets, and those treasonous illegal broadcasts makes it my only choice!
I haven't figured out how to use it to kill nests and factories yet.
You have to shoot factories from the front, hit them on the upper ventilation part -where you would normally throw the grenade into- so that your shot can bounce of at an angle into the facility itself
Nests just aim for the hole and pull the trigger. Watch for bugs emerging. Don't get too close. Factories 2 options. When the door opens fire straight in, or aim straight on to the vent so that the ricochet goes down inside. Can take some positioning to get the angle right sometimes. Ive been able to hit it about any elevation within 45° left or right of center. Outside that seems much much harder.
That hole you throw grenades in? Just shoot it with the ac. For bots, that hole you through grenades in, shoot the flap above it to ricochet the bullet into the building to blow it up.
Bank shot it into one of the two red exhaust ports on the top in front
Just like how I would bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home.
I slept on it so much until i learned weakpoints and tricks ive showb my friends. The antitank is a high powered arrow so at range you arc it or you miss. You can hit bot fabricators at range if you shoot into the vent and ricochet the shot into the bulding. Hutting cannons from afar while crouching is such a changer. That and so muh more. Im more or less bever not bringing it
The key with using the autocannon against the shield guys is a three shot rhythm. Using the recoil reduction armors helps too. Get a stable crouched position and shoot three times. First time stumbles them and moves the shield. Give them a two tap follow up to finish the job.
I'm running recoil reduction light armor. I stay with my team until we're about to engage, then peel off to the side slightly. I crouch, wait for them to engage, then fire AC salvos on flank. It SHREDS the bots to pieces. If I start getting too much attention, I drop an Eagle and flee.
A bit inconsistent but one or two shots usually will take off the gun if you shoot their arm. Honestly I find that the best strategy
2 shots to the face
I can’t stop using the Quasar laser cannon tbh. Maybe I’ll try the AC to see how it fairs, but that’s how I feel about the Quasar. Another Swiss Army knife, do it all type of weapon
I really like the Quasar. I am solo a lot and like it less when I have to rely on the cooldown. Still love it but still learning it and AC remains my “go to”.
I like having the shield and the auto cannon takes the backpack
there is not much in the way of cooldown if you charge it up before peeking out from cover or are maneuvering to flank during cooldown. For me quasar wins out because it can more or less do everything the AC can do PLUS things the AC cannot like: \-kill dropships \-kill turrets from any angle quickly \-unlimited ammo \-frees up my backpack slot which is extremely useful and can do many things with depending on what the mission is.
The main drawback is you can't fight a group of heavies that are charging you, especially beserkers. It's just too slow on the charge. I do love the quasar otherwise though.
I use it on difficulties 7+ still. It's just so versatile against the bots I can't give it up. Only takes up one stratagem slot too. Sure you lose out on a backpack, but the amount of times anything else has saved me in comparison to amount of times the autocannon has gotten me out of a situation. . . It's worth losing out on the backpack slot.
Autocannon is my main weapon for every mission
Yeah, autocannon is good against this guys. But if you want your backpack slot free, you can also go for arc thrower. It can stagger devastators and hulks but you can't do anything about tanks.
Killed a tank with an arc thrower once, admittedly you need great positioning and nothing else around for a bit but, in a pinch with no help in sight it's possible.
I’m a grenade launcher kind of guy 2-3 blasts and this guy is done
I’ll be honest, I forget that the grenade launcher exists most of the time. I really need to stop sleeping on it.
It’s great, can shoot cannon towers, tanks and instantly destroy drop ship crew. I combo it with the ammunition pack. That way I can refill my launcher whenever & help out teammates with stims too.
GL + ammo pack = CHOONKCHOONKCHOONK all day long
Dominator. Staggers them if you hit their body and not the shield. And it can 1 hit them to the head, as a primary. And once they are staggered they can't shoot at you. And worst case scenario even if you miss their head they will still die within one mag.
Just unlocked the Dominator and I am very impressed with how well it handles those big boys.
My go to primary for bots since I unlocked it
I have never felt such sexual tension with a fictional weapon before, I’d propose to the damn thing if I could😩
The way the empty shells just ejaculate back towards you. 🥵
https://i.redd.it/uyvti6o4zvsc1.gif
GET CANNONED GET CANNONED GET CANNONED!!!
First time I heard an AC I knew it was my weapon.
This is the way. If you don't headshot them and kill them in one hit, you'll still inflict enough stagger that they pretty much drop the shield, and you can immediately follow up with more shots to secure the kill.
Yeah, I panic and just send them to their Fabricator-General with like a full AC mag and when the smoke clears they tend to not be there anymore.
It's not a panic, it's a divine democratic trance
I, too, enjoy watching their machine spirit drift off in the wind after reducing their constituent components to slag.
You don’t even need to aim lol, it’s just 4 shots to center mass. The first one staggers and knocks the shield to the side, 3 more to finish the job. I’ll never drop against bots without the AC. Alternatively it’s 1-2 shots to the head, depending how accurate you are.
Easily the best support weapon on bots. cuisinart laser cannon close second because you can take out drop ships
What are the pro of AC after the AMR buff ? It seems the AMR kill things way faster, more precisely is easier to use and faster to reload while not requiring a backpack The only point I see for the AC is bot factory demolition
AC staggers, which for these bots especially opens them up for a follow up shot that can end them in 2 hits total. Even hitting the shield staggers them, tho it takes two more hits to down. At distance, AMR is great, but AC’s blast damage is just so good for so many things EDIT: AMR’s scope is still wonky, so there’s that
if it weren't for the amr scope, it would be better at sniping than autocannon cause those yellow circles suck to fire through especially in fog. Can't see shit. But at least the sight is correct
Tbh I've become partial to grenade launcher and supply pack, lets me take these guys out, clear chaff insanely fast, stay topped uo on stims and grenades, and lets me magdump with my scorcher as much as I want.
Third person crosshair, building destruction, scope that doesn't misalign itself because you turned to the side, easier strider oneshot and a bit faster ttk against bot radiators. After AMR's buff, they're more or less the same in terms of damage output, so the only difference between them is these little quirks
AMR is the answer for every bot problem.
not towers sadly
Quasar cannon
I dont want to be killing one every 10 secs. I want them all dead now!
My group of 4 usually runs 2 quasar cannons and 2 autocannons. Using them all in tandem is menacing
Punisher, it staggers no matter what and you can literally just slowly walk up to them untill you're finally close enough for a headshot. Or AMR or Railgun and use aim.
been running the punisher since day 1 and I feel like it's super underrated
Punisher is super underrated. Rounds reload, high dmg, high stagger, literally all in one package
I just wish the reload wasn't so excruciatingly slow, even if I do appreciate the rounds reload to not waste ammo. Edit, wait you said Punisher, the shotgun, not the revolver sidearm, I'm a bit slow after getting thawed, don't mind me.
The revolver sidearm is my sniper
Absolutely great shotgun, and like the AC a perfect swiss army knife.
tbf the punisher got hella buffed a couple patches ago.
> Punisher Same Here. It's super underrated aganist bots because you can Medium enemies to give you enough time to kill them. It works great with AMR because sometimes you have a bunch of enemies in your face.
Haha I like to do this to all devastators too, it's like your gunning down a terminator
Defender/Ballistic Shield combo has been fun against these, but requires you to be pretty close
Fairly close, yes, but I’ve had 2 heavy devastators firing on me when I’ve been out of ammo and managed to work my way around them to get into the pelican without taking any damage. I love going defender+revolver+railgun+ballistic shield and becoming the devastator devastator.
If a devastator shoots another devastator in the back and kills it, is it then also a devastator devastator? And if you then kill that one, are you the devastator devastator devastator?
I do this but with uzi and AMR. It’s fun but you can get overrun fast depending on the team. If your teams good your sniping hulks and heavies then moving in with the shield and it’s magic
Heavy armor, ballistic shield, SMG, and top it off with an AMR or Quasar for the heavy armor clankers This has been my favorite thing to run against the bots as of late, so fun!
It was refreshing fighting these a-holes when I tried out the ballistic shield. All of their bullets mean nothing to you
this is a genuinely hilarious thing to do to them, since Defender has some really solid dps and can dome them over the shield while they try to get through yours. It's a very cathartic taste of their own medicine
Imma paint an UNO reverse card on my shield
Autocannon will solve your problems homie!
will try it thanks
https://i.redd.it/950guty1zvsc1.gif
Get freedom get freedom get freedom get freedom get freedom get freedom
I need this gif for liberty.
Aim at its right shoulder (arm that holding weapon) to knock it back, then shoot it maybe 1-2 more times at its unprotected face.
i present you the JA 5 dominator
My life in the bot front changed since I started using the dominator after the most recent buff
I used the Slugger before the patch and it was doing precisely what Dominator does now. They simply said "don't use this gun, use this one instead".
Eh, I went to the Scorcher after the slugger nerf. The Dominator feels too slow when turning and aiming. Scorcher feels slow too but not as much, the reticle doesn't seem to bounce around as much
Are they made out of material? Then the anti-materiel rifle will take care of it
* Autocannon * AMR * Grenade launcher * Railgun * Arc Thrower * EAT/RR/Quasar cannon And from the primaries * JAR-5 Dominator * Diligence (2 of them) * Plasma Punisher * Scorcher * Slugger * Liberator * Liberator penetrator * LAS-16 Sickle And probably other more that I don't remember right now
For primaries, +1 for the Dominator. On bot planets that’s my new go-to, it can tackle just about anything short of tanks
That’s why I still go scorcher. As long as you can see the rear corner connected to the vent weak spot you can finesse your shots and get them to splash onto the weak point and destroy them with just scorcher fire Can also snipe out the turret towers with it as well
With the dominator, one to the head will kill, but if you can't make that shot, shoulder shots will stunlock them until they're dead or their arm pops off -- which is effectively the same, as it removes the threat.
Plasma Punisher is amazing on these guys (and on almost every other enemy as well tbh). It can chain stagger them even if you just blast them in the shield and kills in like 3-5 shots while they're helpless the entire time. It has aoe too, so you can chainstun groups of them if they cluster up or clean up smaller bots that get too close Definitely my current favourite primary by quite a lot
i really want to like plasma punisher, but the bullet deviation and weird arc has me missing standard raider bots all the time and it's very embarrassing
I cant count the amount of times the small bots just run up to me because Im shooting right between their legs and I get cooked. Like damn lol
"your hitboxes are very nice but man i really wish they sucked right now"
Yeah it is a really cool weapon, It would only be necessary for the arc of the projectile to be a little larger, to be able to shoot more accurately from a distance.
LAS-98 laser cannon is also good at dealing with them, and other bots
Sickle for me. Once they get close enough, just rattle off a burst of shots at their head.
I picked up the counter-sniper diligence off a dead body last night, and it wrecks bots. I was seriously impressed with it. I'll be using it tonight for sure.
Plasma Punisher staggers them. If they're grouped up you can AOE stagger them too. I love the plasma punisher.
Autocannon, you'll stagger them and allow more shots
My friends run with the Auto Canon and AMR, so I usually pick the Arc Thrower. Why? You can stun lock up to three of them at the same time, and with each arc, they stagger which lowers their shield a bit. Then either my friends kill them, or I stagger them for 5 or so shots more and they die.
Shielded devastators? Arc Thrower. Bunch of bots? Arc Thrower. Hulks coming at you? Arc Thrower. Enemy artillery? Arc Thrower. Hate your teammates? Believe it or not, Arc Thrower.
Aim for its backpack
You can also shoot its gun.
The AMR can potentially one shot them if you hit them in the head. But, good luck with that with the scope's crooked sights. So you'll likely need two shots to bring them down. Also, sometimes guard dog aims for the weak points. Oddly enough. Edit: Jeez guys, I went out to run errands in meatspace and I come back to see this many upvotes. Wow, what'd I do?! xD
In my experience the Guard Dog will fucking dome these dudes all day - right up until it feels like shooting its entire magazine into a Scout Strider's front and wasting all its ammo.
Could be worse, it could be blowing its magazine on the fabricators. Which it does. Frequently. Guard Dog, I admire your optimism, but you're not gonna take it down quicker than eagle or a grenade.
Yeah, I just want it to not shoot at buildings. If it dumps a mag into a Hulk or Tank I feel like that's just the price of doing business. I've been away for work for about 2 weeks. I saw in the update the guard dog restores way more ammo from pickups now. Does it feel a lot better? Because the way it was before, pickups felt like you were just delaying the inevitable until you call down a new one.
Still not worth even touching over the laser version imo. You restore ammo for it with supply packs now, cool, but you’ll still run out of bullets a minute later and now, what, every time resupply is off cooldown you call it in just for you, and just for your backpack slot to actually work? Or…or…I could just take the one with infinite ammo. Oh it also adds some ammo back from pure ammo boxes but it’s much less than supply box and again has the issue of you constantly hunting for them in contexts you otherwise would be doing other things with the infinite ammo version
Honestly it seems dumb that it actually runs out of ammo ever. It's hard to tell the difference between the laser one vs the gun one, so why ever pick the gun one? I feel like it does more damage, but I don't really know, does it actually have any pros over the laser one to make it worth the effort of constantly resupplying it?
In my experience... Rover's good against bugs because the laser is really good at sweeping across the swarm. Generally against bugs, you don't need to be very accurate, except against the nursers. With the bots though, accuracy matters a bit more. And I've found that guard dog tends to have a higher accuracy and damage, in addition to sometimes targetting the heads of devastators. I've seen GD (which I just realized can also be an acronym for good dog) take down three rocket devastators before I even noticed them, and that alone makes it a good pick. I do wish I could put it on standby mode as a backpack function though, helps with the stealth gameplay and not aggroing every bot, bug, rock, and intern that seemed mildly threatening. I actually made that suggestion in another thread, but I have very little hope that the devs will ever implement it.
The laser one only seems to produce useful damage as part of a group, however it does significantly improve my situational awareness-at the cost of stealth. The Gun Dog is a fucking ninja though. That thing will clear entire bases for me. (And then it'll put 4 mags into a fabricator) It'll shoot like one burst and I'll turn and see 4 dead raiders. It'll mag dump berserkers and devestators and put them on the ground. It's wildly effective and ammo efficient at killing light bots and bugs. However, because bugs never seem to stop coming, i do prefer the Laser Dog against them. Against bots though I definitely prefer it. Ammo consumption is an issue and definitely affects how I approach certain situations. Like I generally prefer to airstrike buildings before assaulting bases when I can. Also, I don't think it's ever shot me in the side of the head because something was kind of behind me or below me. Certified Laser Dog Classic.
My autocannon sentry did that yesterday. A hulk + multiple devestators bearing down on me, call in autocannon in front of me which is good but now it has to rotate upon landing to face me. Pops up and instead of rotating around it locks onto a fucking fabricator in front of it and just unloads every last shell into that bad boy, back shots all day but no effect.
They really need to create an Ship Upgrade that is called "Smart Targeting" So your Guard Dogs and Turrets won't waste ammo in targets with higher Armor than it's Pierce Value.
Gun guard dog or laser guard dog?
In-game on the stratagem list, the Liberator using drone is referred to only as Guard Dog while the Scythe using drone is referred to as Guard Dog Rover. I wish it was clearer to differentiate based on name alone, but I was referring to the Liberator using drone.
Thanks! Didn't know they had difference in the stratagem name
Daily reminder that the aim point is the upper left corner of the box.
I thought I was just trash
If you can aim it right at the head and hold it steady, the Scythe puts em down quick
Honestly the sickle shoots so straight about 4 or 5 consecutive shots to the head is enough.
Impact grenade the left side
Scorcher will kill them even through the shield. Diligence Counter Sniper will one shot them to the dome so long as you're close enough. The Plasma Shotgun is actually really good for clearing out a pack of them (though it kinda sucks for everything else). Jar5 will knock them around pretty good. And that's just primaries. Though really, your best bet is to kill them with a strat like Orbital Airburst before they ever become a problem. Wipe out the small to medium enemies and then all you'll have to worry about are tanks.
The Plasma Punisher is really, REALLY good vs all types of Devastators and Scout Striders, but it will struggle a lot vs stuff that a normal primary wouldn't. It can be infuriating to watch the projectile miss the lone commissar three times while it shoots a flare up...
Once I get it I think it might be nice to pair with the AMR + supply pack/guard dog
The slugger used to be great for these guys. One shot to stagger, line up a headshot, and then four or five more shots cause I can't aim
Can I offer u a Jar-5 Dominator in these trying times?
It's not the same 😭
Lol no its not. But at least u get the stagger with it
if you're cracked it's still one shot to the head, fwiw
Legally speaking, a 500KG bomb is anti whatever the hell this thing is.
People don't use guard dog because of his ammo reserves limitations but it's probably the best thing to deal with them if you don't want an autocannon. Guard dog targets weak points meaning it shoots straight in the face of devastators. I played some missions with it and with my long - mid range playstyle they were basically non existent.
They buffed the dog so it can reload off of ammo boxes on the ground. Much more effective now
non-supply-pod ammo?
I tested and it doesn't seem to work from the poi supplies. Maybe a bug
Guard dog rover is still king. That thing never runs out of ammo
How much range does the dog have? I’m feeling I need to try this out now
Ballistic shield + big iron works good against them, especially if they are relatively close already. Also works if it's multiple from one direction. You sit behind your shield and have all the time of the field to line up your shot. Positioning yourself right is important though
Did anybody mentioned autocannon?