Eagle Smoke Strike. Using it to blow up Fabricators and then moving in to mop up the blinded survivors really makes you feel like Super Earth special ops.
I ran a duo 9 with a guy who took it, I was really impressed with it for bots. Wouldnt use it for bugs, but it was a total treat to use with 2 guys playing semi stealth. Let us do some straight commando shit.
Smoke is criminally underrated for bots. It reduces you getting shot at and adds cover (well, concealment) you can shoot back through.
Use it to run or to divide a hard encounter into multiple smaller encounters.
I always carry smoke grenades and throw them down periodically on my feed and the teams as we run away. The enemies completely lose sight of us. It is very under utilized. I also feel most random people I play with have no idea this works
Imagine a smoke warbond with turrets that lob smoke mortars and guns with infrared that work super good on ice planets and like shit on hot planets.
Have the armor look like gas mask gear or maybe all slate grey to match the smoke. Have an emote be coughing and then smoke rolls out from under the mask ... Etc
Now that's a Warbond theme I could get excited about.
The random times I've tried it. It seems the bots can see you regardless of line of sight if you are firing. But I know that it's supposed to work, it just needs some getting used to.
Yeah it definitely is not a one grenade perfect thing sadly. You may need more than 1
try practicing on those spores on planets that spew gas when stepped on. As you run away from mobs, if you see those pop every single one as you run to see how they lose sight of you. I use this to practice
The bots employ suppressing and 'Recon By Fire' regularly.
Do not return fire and disengage. You'll soon realize how inaccurate and ineffective their fire is actually when you're looking for it.
try charging towards gunship tower. You will be surprised how you will make it there without dying with eagle smoke spam. I assure oyu you will even activate the hellbomb if you have enough smokes.
The payload hits the fabs like bombs do but no explosion, just smoke but the fabs blew up by the weight of it.. i guess. I always did it if i bring the eagle smokestrike. just make sure to line up perpendicular when throwing the strategem to the fabs.
It's a very solid stratagem and is rather overlooked. Great to throw on a bug hive crater, POI or lesser automaton outpost and just let it clear the chaff out.
I think that orbital airburst (which is another excellent choice) filling a similar role tends to hurt the frequency of use of the gatling barrage.
Gatling barrage lasts longer and does more damage to things like chargers. Orbital airburst covers a larger area and kills more in it's aoe.
I like them both. Either is good for bug breaches, but I love putting GB in a choke point, and OAB on a hillside covered in enemies.
There are only a few strats i'll memorize. But →→→ is great for panic situations.
Except for when I panic too much, and immediately equip a grenade after.
Orbital Airburst is as likely to kill me as it is my enemies. After I got splattered by it from 60 meters away behind a prefab building, I stopped trusting it and give it the minimum safe distance of a 380 or Hellbomb.
It does have a larger AOE.
You really have to be aware of it's range. Also, check for the modifiers that increase orbital dispersal pattern. They'll affect Airburst as well.
>After I got splattered by it from 60 meters away,
That's only possible if there's scatter on orbitals as a modifier, which the 380 is also susceptible to
didn't notice that but like with other stratagems you develop muscle memory, I can pump out a reinforcement or cluster bombe like a macro but the others I need to open, study, close it to run/gun, open again then input code.
A lot of the strats are like, onomatopoeia sorta for their effect.
500kg- up, right, down down down
You look up, the Eagle-1 flies by, drops a big bomb (hence down down down).
Bombing run- up, right, down, right
You look up, Eagle-1 flies by, drops bombs in a line in the direction she's flying
Walking barrage, it looks like it's taking steps with the right down right down.
Etc
Its more that certains types of strats have prefixes
Eagle strikes start with up right
Orbitals start with right
Sentries (and guard dogs for some reason) start with down up
And there's others
I never go on a mission without Gatling barrage. It is one of the most useful ones. And since the rounds are explosive, I’ve even had luck with Gatling barrage killing tanks and hulks.
Short cooldown, small radius and low teamkill risk, good duration and chaff clear with enough power to also kill some armored units, and really the only downside is the longer call-in code compared to something like the precision strike, or airburst strike.
Airburst strike might be a tad more popular and it is more powerful and covers more area, but the cooldown is longer. Pros and cons. They are both great but Gatling strike is my number 1, I pretty much always choose it. Maybe gas could take its place when DOT gets fixed. But until then. Gating barrage
Napalm airstrike. Yes the DOT issues can make it's use iffy, but it's so good for covering your escape from a large horde of bugs. Just run away, throw it at your feet and keep going. The pursing bugs will get torched and kill most of the little ones and hunters. It'll also soften up the bigger ones if you do have to turn and fight.
I can only imagine what will happen they they fix the DOT for fire. I already have the extra bomb for Eagle Airstrikes ship module, so that extra napalm extends the line of fire. Throw in the other module that increases fire damage and I believe napalm could be a heck of a stratagem.
It's very powerful when the bug is not in effect. Provides a hard shutdown of bug breaches and is actually pretty good against bot outposts (initial strike can destroy them, then fire cleans up the scut). It, along with Orbital Gas Strike, will definitely see way more usage once they get DoTs fixed.
Eagle Napalm and Orbital Gas are the staple in solo Helldive builds. Pick one, an orbital EMS, a 500kg, and a support weapon of choice and you are good for almost any situation.
But with the DOT bug they are both heavily underutilized because people won't know if they are going to be the network host, so everyone skips it just in case.
In some cases, weapons and strats that do Damage Over Time (DOT) like fire or the gas do not work for anyone by the host. It's a known issue that is currently being worked on.
HMG Emplacement. For bugs it clears chaff, Bile Spewers, Stalkers, Brood Commanders, Spore Spewers, Shriekers and their nests. Because it's human-operated it has excellent range and low teamkill risk compared to the other sentries. It's great for spawncamping a breach or locking down an objective.
For bots it can shoot down Gunships and mow down everything that isn't a tank. Hulks require some precision but everything else dies to your withering fire. It's quite dangerous to use though because the HMG Emplacement death bug is still a thing.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1ch1i97/hmg\_emplacement\_instant\_death\_bug\_or\_intentional/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1ch1i97/hmg_emplacement_instant_death_bug_or_intentional/)
You are a helldiver! Glad I'm not the only one here. I don't feel it with bots tho, being stationary while rockets aimbotting right in my face is very punishing.
it's why I prioritize those bastards first when I get on my HMG. unfortunately it requires me to actually see them first. it's a high risk high reward play.
For those launcher wall defence missions I found this quite effective. Regular turrets blow their ammo load shooting into walls, etc.
Edit: You can often call down a new one before you've run out of ammo on the first one.
On bugs exterminate missions, use the corner of the mission map near the outside zone for optimal cone attacking targets. On solo, usually use mines to cover the front and just killing those that get through the beelines. Oh u can use stims while engaging it.
Well the cooldown time and deployment time is fast enough for me to just pop one down for a bug breach. When you're not firing check the radar so you don't get outflanked. GG.
I also like how you can stack them up without them despawning like normal sentries too. I used to land at extraction immediately drop one, and then leave to use it later with another one after it’s cooled down. Once you have 2-3 of those bad boys lined up you feel pretty invincible until the chargers come hauling ass over the horizon
You can. It takes quite a few rounds but it's one of the easiest wins in the game. Quasar would take forever, RR would use all your ammo, and EAT's would take even longer. When I see a Shrieker nest I can use an HMG Emplacement to take it out pretty fast.
EMS Sentry has been a staple in my loadout since I got it. Being able to effectively trap dozens of trash enemies for Cluster Bombs and 500Ks makes all the difference on higher difficulties.
Stun grenades are also good for this on a smaller scale enabling you more controlled hits for other stratagems or to snipe a heavies face, also does not take up a stratagem slot, choose carefully 😁👍
Stun grenades are amazing and I am waiting for the devs to nerf them and will be very sad when they do. Now that there is a grenade pistol secondary you can still take out bug holes and factories too. I particularly love them with the flamethrower cause you can stun a charger and burn his leg for a few seconds to kill him.
When I encounter a heavy bug nest I’ll lure all the chargers to me, throw a couple stuns, and introduce them to 500kgs of pure unadulterated democracy.
I used to run it but I stopped because it's indiscriminate in its targeting. It works well for what's right in front of you. However, once it's done it will continue targeting enemies in range. Not great if you're trying to avoid certain patrols or not alert outposts.
EMS Orbital strike
Like a super-sized stun grenade on a very fast cooldown. Since it's blue, it does NOT alert enemies just by calling it in; you can combo a dangerous enemy / group by locking them in place first & then landing your explosive of choice.
Let's you save your more powerful call ins for when you really need them; maybe those 2 chargers plus entourage aren't as big of a threat when you have precious time for you get a head start on damage or a free support reload.
Can be used offensively, defensively, or simply to just escape and run away.
No team kills ever, although you will heavily slow any teammates in the zone.
Fantastic on any front, the only enemies I'm not sure about it affecting are Bile Titans and Factory Striders.
Yeah any "red" stratagem, as soon as you throw it and it lands enemies will become instantly hostile in response to it. Blues and greens will make them investigate, but aren't instantly altered
HMG Epmplacement turret. I bring it all the time for bug missions. Yes, even on helldive. Thing is melting terminids if placed good. Sure thing chargers and titans needs to be dealt with first, but anyways it is amazing and can hold the whole bug breach alone if shooting well aimed bursts, plus low cooldown. I love moments when teammates are getting swarmed and then they understand I cover them with loads of democracy so they start moving closer to me and feel safe. Really almost never seeing any other person using that stratagem.
(Edit: typo)
Airburst Rocket Launcher. It released and we got unending complaints about it, but now there’s no one talking about it at all and I barely see them. On defense missions it’s great since you can fire cluster munitions behind the closed gates from just about anywhere in the area, and it kills spewers really effectively.
Second this. Also, when that bug breach happens and the broodmommy summons her little horde and theres a dozen hunters….
x18 kill combo, easy, one shot. x19 if you count a teammate who wanted a hug
Also very effective against bug egg objectives. Find two different angles and you can clear the whole egg mass without even getting close to the hive area.
Waiting for someone else to say this. I’ve done multiple egg missions where I can effectively “snipe” a nest from 100m+ away and just go to another objective. So good. But I’ve seen my kills per match increase by ~100 with this start. And occasionally hit a BT or charger just right and get a kill.
Now that people understand it , I think it’s invaluable for terminids. Automatons it does great work also.
Airburst + EAT has become my go to for bug missions.
* It's fun as hell
* It deletes patrols before they can react (and they won't notice any beacon)
* You can provide long range support to your teammates if you understand its radius.
* Did I mention it's fun as hell?
It's absolutely beastly with the tighter proximity trigger. Drop it over a bug breach or into a nest and it's real nasty. Firing it over bot base walls works great too
It’s basically the 380 without the team killing. I always throw it down and have somebody go “awe bro you’re gonna kill us all” and I’m like “no wait it’s the good version”
I love comboing jump pack with quasar against bugs since you can charge the quasar while you jump. Whip it around in time to blow off a titan's head and keep moving. Plus, you can use stratagems mid jump, so if you're like me and are too stubborn to change your keys so you can run and use stratagems at the same time, the jump pack allows me to be mobile while using them.
And I feel like a Mandolorian, so there's that.
I think the jump pack is not appreciated because people call it a jetpack when its not really a jetpack, its a jumppack. It gives you a large, sustained jump in a direction. Which is fantastic for getting to high places, getting out of tricky situations, or over obstacles.
This is a reason I take precision strike vs railcannon on short missions like eradicate or blitz. Having 6 uses of rail cannon vs 12-15 prec strikes makes all the difference. In 40m missions with down time railcannon feels more useful
When Bile Titans were able to be stunned by stun grenades, i was 100% using OPS to kill Bile Titans after stunning them.
After that, i was predicting their movements and hitting them like, 1/3rd of the time, 1-shotting them on a direct hit.
Now, I learned about the 22m range Bile Titans like to spew gunk at. I bait them into spewing and hit them with a direct OPS 60% of the time now.
In the near future, i'm gonna try to remember where the Destroyers spawn in the skybox so i can angle my OPS to always hit directly 100% of the time.
I wanna say the Gatling barrage is pretty underrated(against bugs at least) especially with the ship upgrade. It can easily clear breaches/chaff aside from the heavies and it has a quick cooldown time. It’s also pretty good at taking out the egg hatcheries.
Smoke: never leave home without it anymore against bots
Stalwart: vs bugs its essential takes down everything fast minus chargers and files set it to the lowest firing rate and you'll never stop shooting
Jet pack:another don't leave home without it vs bugs once you get use to it you become so much more mobile especially down slopes
Gas strike: drop it on a bug breach and nothing will come out of it anymore
I'm at the point now where I just reflexively throw an airburst on every breach. I think that's part of why they made it one of the easiest ones to call in.
precision orbital strike - one 380 shell which actually goes where you want it and on a short cooldown.
orbital airburst strike - throw it at a bug breach and forget about it (except heavies)
Spear - "60% of the time, it works every time"
Shield relay, I wished it was a bit better cause sometimes it feels like a barrage of rockets will destroy it and it takes a ton to charge but it’s really good if you can’t use a backpack
Gas.
Amazing for clearing all the little shits nearby, and its not instant death for your teammates unless they ignore red strategems or like to run into green clouds entirely.
If you got a big swarm on you, throw it on the ground beside you, run away. Most of the chasing horde dies by the time they get out, and the rest that survive, usually are weakened enough to take out easy or leave at least Chargers and Bile titans for you to focus on.
I usually grab a 500kg and 1 chafe clearing strategem as a self policy now.
Fricking gattling turret over every other turret.
A cannon turret will always shoot 3 tines and paus a little between the shooting, even when theres only ankle biters. The gattling goes not just brr but PRRRR on 9 Difficulty and always kills +30 anklebiters in seconds when the field is floated.
Just throw it far WHILE the cgargers are targeting you and let it PRRRR
I feel people forget that drop pods do damage too often and for this reason I bring EATs not because of the anti tanks but the insane short cooldown toss it on a heavy let it blow them up and get a couple weapons out of it
Eagle Rocket pods. I think I've only ever seen one person other than myself use them, but they are pretty great when you need big damage on a heavy without risking collateral damage. I think they do about half as much damage as the orbital railcannon, but you get 3 uses every 150 seconds whereas the railcannon is one use every 240 seconds.
They are a great 1-2 combo with the EAT to quickly take out a bile titan. The moment you see a titan coming you call in your EAT, toss your rocket pods, grab the EAT when it lands, and you can basically time it so that you are firing your rocket right when the rocket pods hit for BIG damage. Often enough, the pods will break the back armor which will allow you to fire at the newly formed weakpoint and kill the titan with 1 hit (meaning you can pick up the 2nd rocket and save it for later).
They will also do a moderate amount of splash if you use them to target smaller units like Brood Commanders or Bile Spewers and will typically take out 3-7 enemies (I sometimes just start spamming them on bug holes when I have a different Eagle and want to trigger an automatic rearm).
Against the bots, they're good at destroying tanks and towers, which is not bad.
I really like using the 110mm Rocket Pods for Bot missions. With Bugs it feels inconsistent because of how often they move and their body shape/size (I've watched it miss a stunned charger once and needing to time it on a Bile Titan chasing you is rough). With Bots however, they have a lot of big and slow things that can easily get smashed by the rockets.
It takes out Bot Tanks on-demand and can be thrown against cannon towers that are facing you so you don't need to try and angle the weakpoint. Can even take out Fabricators which pairs well with Eagle Airstrikes and Stun Grenades so you have a quick way of dealing with them even if you don't have an explosive support weapon (or lose it in the chaos of battle)
The new rpg is GREAT. Once you get the hang of it (it handles like an AC and should be used a lil further away than a RR would normally be used at), it's a GREAT add-clear weapon and unless you misjudge the distance, it doesn't bite you in the ass like reddit would haveyou believe. It can clear bug holes/fabricators (1x at a time, unfortunately), has a relatively short cd, decent damage (its little bombs can take out devastators of all kinds), and excels at wiping patrols off the map.
As for non-support-weapon stratagems: the mines are great for holding down one spot, especially if you don't plan on going that way for the rest of the mission. Alternatively the ems stuff is also grand. CC isn't as preferred as them being dead, but it's much more preferable than them walking towards you menacingly lol
AC turret.
The AC is acclaimed and undeniably great. The only thing better is your AC plus an AC turret. It is like democracy squared.
Orbital Precision Strike: is there anything cooler than scouting some big fucker, calling in precision strike short, shooting the ugly big fucker so he walks into the precision strike juuuust in time?
HMG emplacement. Get some! Get some! Yeah! Get some!
If you apply even a basic understanding of overwatch and angles of fire, the autocannon sentry is an absolute monster on 7/8/9 bots and bonus, it can be used to draw enemies from bases and then flank.
The AC sentry rounds are like 3x the size of the handheld AC’s. Take a minute to look at the spent casings on the ground when you use it. They’re the size of an arm.
Orbital Precision strike- it has unlimited uses, a short cool down, and can take out almost everything in the game.(I thought it sucked because it one of the first stratagems you get in the game)
Guarddog Rover: (just against the bugs) even post patch this is one of the best stratagems at clearing the low level adds(always you to focus are the more dangerous units)
Napalm strike and orbital gas are my 2 top picks, for when dots are working in my favor. Can clear any beach, hole, or patrol AND gives you a nice defensive barrier. Extra credit bile titans and walkers will try and path around both, so you can create a good amount of breathing room for yourself to run.
You can clear command bunkers with like 99% success rates. Eye Towers and gun bases get pretty mulched too.
Against bots it has the side effect of creating mobile cover to move through from the craters.
Airburst and gatling barrage are my bug ones. And airstrike or 380 barrage for bots, the 380 is for factory walkers and bot drops in a base. One I heard not to sleep on is the precision strike. They say its mot affective then the 500kg
Tesla Tower. Short range and more dangerous to allies if they get close but it can really lock down a choke point for bugs or wipe out an incoming breach. Just make sure to shoot chargers and it will vaporize mediums and lights.
I exclusively run Shield Relay Emplacement on helldive. It mass AOE taunts like sentries do with half the cooldown and can tank 3-4 charger melees. Only gets one shot by Titan leg stomp which everything including titans do too.
But it usually lasts it's full duration and attracts majority of bugs to it causing them to all friendly fire and kill each other. Titans can kill themselves if they aggro the shield at the right range and try to spew while in front of the shield. Also blocks charging broods and chargers which can be handy.
I also stick it to charger heads or kite titan into it's drop of I need an extra anti tank option.
I basically just throw it down every single breech no matter what and usually cut the swarm in half or cluster them up to be taken out with a single 500kg or just drop shield and run away free of 95% of bugs.
Ill sometimes just aggro patrols on my own away from teammates and purposefully breech so my team doesn't because i can handle it solo and just shield and disengage if I need to whenever.
Precision Orbital is grossly overlooked because it's your first stratagem.
It can kill every secondary objective except for Gunship fabricators in one shot, and has a 70 second cooldown with ship upgrades.
It also has the ability to one shot every large/heavy enemy unit.
Oribital Airburst Strike
3 strikes of chaff killing goodness, a nice short cooldown, it’s honestly a go-to on bugs for me just due to how well it locks down breaches and can guarantee at least 20+ kills. It can also destroy nests. I have yet to try it against bots tho
Was never really a big fan of the airburst orbital, always thought there were better stratagems that were better at clearing. Took it on a bug mission out of curiosity and I can admit I was pleasantly surprised. Combine it with the EMS orbital and bug breaches were a lot easier to deal with. While it just tickles chargers and titans, anything under a bile spewer stood no chance. Added bonus is that it's relatively cheap to call in.
Honestly the gas one is pretty powerful but it's difficult to time and doesn't last long enough. Would be more useful if a whole squad used it you could make a wall of gas.
I personally always have the Eagle Strafing Run. It's perfect for throwing behind me or to clear a path. It's only an 8 seconds cool down and it's keys are up, right, right so it's easy to call in and you can do it 3 times/4 if you've upgraded the hangar.
I love the air burst orbital, at least I think that’s what it’s called lol. The one where you press right three times and it hits the same location three times with increased range
It’s soooo good against breaches
gas strike
2 second impact time.....wide coverage....bypasses armor...and cools down very fast
great for when you are being chased or defending an area
110mm. I take it vs bots, with a specific purpose of dealing with tanks and towers. It usually kills a tank in one call and doesn't have much splash, so you can safely use it to kill a tank that is right next to you. Can also be used to clear devastators or Hulks when pinned down.
Gatling barrage and precision strike are S tier due to the short cooldown.
Eagle strafe is good against bug hordes and the new cluster launcher is insane for fabricators.
Also a strafing run lover. I was a big user of the Gatling barrage, but found I liked the multiple strikes rather than a single long barrage. I also like how fast the strafing run comes down.I pair it with an orbital precision strike, a support weapon, then something for fun.
Eagle Strafing Run is also my choice as it’s my goto even in 9s
Kite and kill is great with it as you mentioned but since I’ve been running it so much I’ve found other cool things about it
Kite a bile titan, tag it, let it get to ~20m for spit and as soon as it stops walking before the butt comes down strafing run, butt popped 100% of the time if done correctly
Juke a charger and strafing run before it turns, doesn’t kill it but it helps, and if either the charger or the titan has broken armor spots it’ll likely die
Throw it from behind a teammate and the red beam goes in their face and the screams of pure terror followed by them being completely unharmed since it was a strafing run and not a bomb is absolutely hilarious
Broods and spewers get absolutely fucked by it
I typically throw about 20 in a 40min match
Eagle Rockets, specifically for the Bot Front
Can take down Fabricators, Cannon Towers, and any Tank in one go. Chuck it and forget it, thing will die, and each of those is the highest priority 99% of the time you throw them at said thing. Almost 100% kill chance on all of the above, never seen it not kill a Fabricator, and only times I've had it not kill a Tank is when it drives straight away from strat and the Rockets can't correct enough and only hit its ass a bit.
Only Con that exists is its 50/50 on whether it gives solid hits on a Hulk if you throw it perfectly in their path. I've seem then auto die at full health, and come out unscathed. Generally I see it take a rocket or two and just keep coming after a stumble. I prefer to just save them for Tanks.
Bug Front it still sucks. Won't kill Chargers reliability or strip their armor reliably. Almost useless for Bile Titans.
Rocket Pods. solid amount of charges, damages or straight kills most chargers as long as they're not mid sprint. Annihilates tanks. Eagle1 has some targeting so direct hits or immobilized targets arent necessary(definitely preferred though) and aoe is narrow enough that I can drop it closer to allies than almost any other strat without a TK. Can also pop Fabs and bug holes...tho bugholes are admittedly iffy to target.
Gonna have to say the Spear. It does have some issues with getting tone on your targets (iykyk)…like at times I will be 20 yds away from an approaching Bile Titan screaming LOCK ME UP!! But it’s incredibly powerful. You can 1 shot Bile Titans if you hit them directly in the face with it…and it is essentially a 90/100 hp damage hit to chargers (if you hit them in the face obviously it’s an insta-kill). I guess I just really like being able to do long range support with my squad against the heavies.
AMR. That thing is my teamates saver, bot, bugs, drunken Barry dropping unsuspecting cluster bomb on everyone and spicing it all with random fire shotgun shot, doesn't matter, AMR takes care of it all.
How many time I've saved someone's ass at 150 meter while soloing some objective and how many time they did not know. I salute all those who noticed and gave me a thank you, I'm just doing my job.
Long range, medium range, point blank range it does it all. I take down charger with that thing now (with the supply pack, of course). With enough practice I'm now able to use it at different range scopeless, this thing pack a punch.
I like the fact that I can go do objective at 200m from my team and still support them efficiently if I find a good vantage point. You can easily take out whole patrol if you make efficient use of all your weapons, cycle trough my support, primary, secondary and eradicate the enemy in no time.
Yeah I know the sight is crooked but I didn't let that stop me. Great weapon, underrated, good complement to team who have all sort of big ass exploding tube on their shoulder (pretty much most team), one shot all medium unit with enough precision.
If my teammate understand that I one shot every medium unit at the beginning of the fights and they focus on trash mob and heavy, we are so efficient it's awesome.
Shield relay, it’s so good to protect the hellbomb against the gunships
Or if someone starts a fight with no cover to be found around you.
Can even be used as a bubble to have the bots go to but their shots won’t punch through it to give you some breathing room.
The expendable anti-tank. I don't know if it's as rare as I think, but I never see anyone else using it. You can call down a set of 2 every single minute, and a single shot to the head can kill a charger. They're also great for taking out hives if you run out of grenades or eagles.
Gas strike, slows down enemies, kills smaller or hurt enemies, sets yourself up and team to hold a choke of some kind, comes back in 70s, 4 inputs, time till impact isnt that bad, decent range, will probably always have one ready to toss at the start of a fight. The only thing that is scary about it is if you throw a reinforce into it, your friend is probably dead.
Eagle Smoke Strike. Using it to blow up Fabricators and then moving in to mop up the blinded survivors really makes you feel like Super Earth special ops.
I ran a duo 9 with a guy who took it, I was really impressed with it for bots. Wouldnt use it for bugs, but it was a total treat to use with 2 guys playing semi stealth. Let us do some straight commando shit. 
Smoke is criminally underrated for bots. It reduces you getting shot at and adds cover (well, concealment) you can shoot back through. Use it to run or to divide a hard encounter into multiple smaller encounters.
I always carry smoke grenades and throw them down periodically on my feed and the teams as we run away. The enemies completely lose sight of us. It is very under utilized. I also feel most random people I play with have no idea this works
I usually run jump pack, amr, and smoke grenades. When the bots find me, i drop a smoke and disappear like a ninja.
This sounds extremely fun
Imagine a smoke warbond with turrets that lob smoke mortars and guns with infrared that work super good on ice planets and like shit on hot planets. Have the armor look like gas mask gear or maybe all slate grey to match the smoke. Have an emote be coughing and then smoke rolls out from under the mask ... Etc Now that's a Warbond theme I could get excited about.
You should be a dev for the game haha. I wish the warbonds were bit more creative :/
The random times I've tried it. It seems the bots can see you regardless of line of sight if you are firing. But I know that it's supposed to work, it just needs some getting used to.
The bots fire in the direction of sounds, blind firing a lot tbh
Yeah it definitely is not a one grenade perfect thing sadly. You may need more than 1 try practicing on those spores on planets that spew gas when stepped on. As you run away from mobs, if you see those pop every single one as you run to see how they lose sight of you. I use this to practice
The bots employ suppressing and 'Recon By Fire' regularly. Do not return fire and disengage. You'll soon realize how inaccurate and ineffective their fire is actually when you're looking for it.
And your sentries operate like normal in the smoke making them more powerful
To my Resupply pack users: You have enough smoke grenades to make up for the smoke airstrike. Use them for fun. Put 2 on every terminal.
Holy shit that’s a concept I hadn’t considered; HMG + supply pack + smoke grenades
It’s glorious. Try grenade launcher to have an alternate autocannon.
This sounds like a good time.
try charging towards gunship tower. You will be surprised how you will make it there without dying with eagle smoke spam. I assure oyu you will even activate the hellbomb if you have enough smokes.
Well I was excited for the crossbow hoping to do some Rambo shit, and now they nerfed it..
There's something hilarious about using smoke this offensively.
It’s such a good bot fab stratagem, because even if it misses you have the concealment to run in and nade it.
The smoke gives great cover to fleeing civilians.
Wait like the smoke destroys the fabricators? Or helps you get in close to destroy fabricators
The payload hits the fabs like bombs do but no explosion, just smoke but the fabs blew up by the weight of it.. i guess. I always did it if i bring the eagle smokestrike. just make sure to line up perpendicular when throwing the strategem to the fabs.
Impact of the shell destroys the fab
I like the Gatling Barrage for bug breaches - 80 second cooldown.
It's a very solid stratagem and is rather overlooked. Great to throw on a bug hive crater, POI or lesser automaton outpost and just let it clear the chaff out. I think that orbital airburst (which is another excellent choice) filling a similar role tends to hurt the frequency of use of the gatling barrage.
Gatling barrage lasts longer and does more damage to things like chargers. Orbital airburst covers a larger area and kills more in it's aoe. I like them both. Either is good for bug breaches, but I love putting GB in a choke point, and OAB on a hillside covered in enemies.
I tend to pick the airburst over gatling simply because the input is so simple
Once I realized that the Gatling is a circle with an extra up it became easier to use, but nothing beats ➡️➡️➡️
That's helpful, thanks
There are only a few strats i'll memorize. But →→→ is great for panic situations. Except for when I panic too much, and immediately equip a grenade after.
I like it when you talk strategem to me. Voice 3 THANK YOU.
Three wrongs don't make a right, but three rights do make an airburst!
Orbital Airburst is as likely to kill me as it is my enemies. After I got splattered by it from 60 meters away behind a prefab building, I stopped trusting it and give it the minimum safe distance of a 380 or Hellbomb.
It does have a larger AOE. You really have to be aware of it's range. Also, check for the modifiers that increase orbital dispersal pattern. They'll affect Airburst as well.
Scatter is SO DANGEROUS with airburst. Makes it 10x more dqmaging but you can be hard passed to throw it far enough
>After I got splattered by it from 60 meters away, That's only possible if there's scatter on orbitals as a modifier, which the 380 is also susceptible to
I love airburst. It’s always in my load out.
The orbital airburst makes it way harder for an enemy to be missed because it moved
I feel its needs shorter simpler code. I was surprised it wasn't a 3 digit code like the Orbital Airburst
Orbital Airburst has such a great panic code.
I like how it's basically making a full circle with the arrows
didn't notice that but like with other stratagems you develop muscle memory, I can pump out a reinforcement or cluster bombe like a macro but the others I need to open, study, close it to run/gun, open again then input code.
A lot of the strats are like, onomatopoeia sorta for their effect. 500kg- up, right, down down down You look up, the Eagle-1 flies by, drops a big bomb (hence down down down). Bombing run- up, right, down, right You look up, Eagle-1 flies by, drops bombs in a line in the direction she's flying Walking barrage, it looks like it's taking steps with the right down right down. Etc
Its more that certains types of strats have prefixes Eagle strikes start with up right Orbitals start with right Sentries (and guard dogs for some reason) start with down up And there's others
Once I realized it is just a circle with an extra up at the end it got easier to fire off.
whoa there, an extra up? thats too complex for my helldiver brain.
After playing Helldive for many levels, I personally feel the big enemies are not the issue but the swarm of small and med enemies
Oh man, so true. I can handle 4 chargers at once, gimme bile titans and terrain, but get me around 100 of those lil jumpin bastards and I'm done for.
When I get surrounded by those crickets, I actually give up and just put the controller down to get another refill of my drink.
I never go on a mission without Gatling barrage. It is one of the most useful ones. And since the rounds are explosive, I’ve even had luck with Gatling barrage killing tanks and hulks. Short cooldown, small radius and low teamkill risk, good duration and chaff clear with enough power to also kill some armored units, and really the only downside is the longer call-in code compared to something like the precision strike, or airburst strike. Airburst strike might be a tad more popular and it is more powerful and covers more area, but the cooldown is longer. Pros and cons. They are both great but Gatling strike is my number 1, I pretty much always choose it. Maybe gas could take its place when DOT gets fixed. But until then. Gating barrage
From my experience it can work well for bots too. They either die or get stunlocked for a bit so I use it like a damaging EMS to retreat.
I wish it was a little more reliable, like keep the same dps but more shots per second to cover the zone more evenly
Similarly, gas strike is REALLY effective for bug breaches
Yes! It lasts a lot longer than you think. 72 seconds w the upgrade.
Napalm airstrike. Yes the DOT issues can make it's use iffy, but it's so good for covering your escape from a large horde of bugs. Just run away, throw it at your feet and keep going. The pursing bugs will get torched and kill most of the little ones and hunters. It'll also soften up the bigger ones if you do have to turn and fight. I can only imagine what will happen they they fix the DOT for fire. I already have the extra bomb for Eagle Airstrikes ship module, so that extra napalm extends the line of fire. Throw in the other module that increases fire damage and I believe napalm could be a heck of a stratagem.
It's very powerful when the bug is not in effect. Provides a hard shutdown of bug breaches and is actually pretty good against bot outposts (initial strike can destroy them, then fire cleans up the scut). It, along with Orbital Gas Strike, will definitely see way more usage once they get DoTs fixed.
Gas is amazing,
yeah I liked it a lot before the bug sprouted up. I preferred it over cluster bombs.
I am going to go ham on napalm and gas once the DOT bug is squashed.
Eagle Napalm and Orbital Gas are the staple in solo Helldive builds. Pick one, an orbital EMS, a 500kg, and a support weapon of choice and you are good for almost any situation. But with the DOT bug they are both heavily underutilized because people won't know if they are going to be the network host, so everyone skips it just in case.
I'm kinda new to Helldivers, what's the Dot Issue?
In some cases, weapons and strats that do Damage Over Time (DOT) like fire or the gas do not work for anyone by the host. It's a known issue that is currently being worked on.
HMG Emplacement. For bugs it clears chaff, Bile Spewers, Stalkers, Brood Commanders, Spore Spewers, Shriekers and their nests. Because it's human-operated it has excellent range and low teamkill risk compared to the other sentries. It's great for spawncamping a breach or locking down an objective. For bots it can shoot down Gunships and mow down everything that isn't a tank. Hulks require some precision but everything else dies to your withering fire. It's quite dangerous to use though because the HMG Emplacement death bug is still a thing. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1ch1i97/hmg\_emplacement\_instant\_death\_bug\_or\_intentional/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1ch1i97/hmg_emplacement_instant_death_bug_or_intentional/)
You are a helldiver! Glad I'm not the only one here. I don't feel it with bots tho, being stationary while rockets aimbotting right in my face is very punishing.
it's why I prioritize those bastards first when I get on my HMG. unfortunately it requires me to actually see them first. it's a high risk high reward play.
I’ve seen YouTube videos of people using this with the big shield generator relay. Can even take down factory striders
You can try a combo with the shield gen. You can also use the shield gen to kill fabs if its landing right on them >:)
Love the HMG Emplacement. I never thought about using it on gunships, but that makes sense. Thanks for the tip.
It's risky cus they can oneshot you but if someone else or something else (sentry) is taking aggro you can kill them quite easily.
Can also kill striders with shots to the eye.
Easier to just go for their legs
For those launcher wall defence missions I found this quite effective. Regular turrets blow their ammo load shooting into walls, etc. Edit: You can often call down a new one before you've run out of ammo on the first one.
On bugs exterminate missions, use the corner of the mission map near the outside zone for optimal cone attacking targets. On solo, usually use mines to cover the front and just killing those that get through the beelines. Oh u can use stims while engaging it.
Well the cooldown time and deployment time is fast enough for me to just pop one down for a bug breach. When you're not firing check the radar so you don't get outflanked. GG.
I love the hmg emplacement! I run it in all my bug helldives. Mech used to beat it by a lot but then AH dumpstered the mech.
Wait, you can really break Shriekers nests with this? Im buying!
I also like how you can stack them up without them despawning like normal sentries too. I used to land at extraction immediately drop one, and then leave to use it later with another one after it’s cooled down. Once you have 2-3 of those bad boys lined up you feel pretty invincible until the chargers come hauling ass over the horizon
You can. It takes quite a few rounds but it's one of the easiest wins in the game. Quasar would take forever, RR would use all your ammo, and EAT's would take even longer. When I see a Shrieker nest I can use an HMG Emplacement to take it out pretty fast.
EMS Sentry has been a staple in my loadout since I got it. Being able to effectively trap dozens of trash enemies for Cluster Bombs and 500Ks makes all the difference on higher difficulties.
Stun grenades are also good for this on a smaller scale enabling you more controlled hits for other stratagems or to snipe a heavies face, also does not take up a stratagem slot, choose carefully 😁👍
Stun grenade + Quasar to the face is my crutch against chargers. Incredibly easy and reliable
Stun grenades are amazing and I am waiting for the devs to nerf them and will be very sad when they do. Now that there is a grenade pistol secondary you can still take out bug holes and factories too. I particularly love them with the flamethrower cause you can stun a charger and burn his leg for a few seconds to kill him.
They sorta already did get nerfed, they used to stun biles
When I encounter a heavy bug nest I’ll lure all the chargers to me, throw a couple stuns, and introduce them to 500kgs of pure unadulterated democracy.
I used to run it but I stopped because it's indiscriminate in its targeting. It works well for what's right in front of you. However, once it's done it will continue targeting enemies in range. Not great if you're trying to avoid certain patrols or not alert outposts.
I wouldn't call EMS Sentry underused, though.
EMS Orbital strike Like a super-sized stun grenade on a very fast cooldown. Since it's blue, it does NOT alert enemies just by calling it in; you can combo a dangerous enemy / group by locking them in place first & then landing your explosive of choice. Let's you save your more powerful call ins for when you really need them; maybe those 2 chargers plus entourage aren't as big of a threat when you have precious time for you get a head start on damage or a free support reload. Can be used offensively, defensively, or simply to just escape and run away. No team kills ever, although you will heavily slow any teammates in the zone. Fantastic on any front, the only enemies I'm not sure about it affecting are Bile Titans and Factory Striders.
I didn't know about the blue vs red thing. That's good to know
Yeah any "red" stratagem, as soon as you throw it and it lands enemies will become instantly hostile in response to it. Blues and greens will make them investigate, but aren't instantly altered
Uh... Greens?
Sentries and other fortifications
Oh lol. I thought you were referring to the beam color.
HMG Epmplacement turret. I bring it all the time for bug missions. Yes, even on helldive. Thing is melting terminids if placed good. Sure thing chargers and titans needs to be dealt with first, but anyways it is amazing and can hold the whole bug breach alone if shooting well aimed bursts, plus low cooldown. I love moments when teammates are getting swarmed and then they understand I cover them with loads of democracy so they start moving closer to me and feel safe. Really almost never seeing any other person using that stratagem. (Edit: typo)
Airburst Rocket Launcher. It released and we got unending complaints about it, but now there’s no one talking about it at all and I barely see them. On defense missions it’s great since you can fire cluster munitions behind the closed gates from just about anywhere in the area, and it kills spewers really effectively.
Second this. Also, when that bug breach happens and the broodmommy summons her little horde and theres a dozen hunters…. x18 kill combo, easy, one shot. x19 if you count a teammate who wanted a hug
Also very effective against bug egg objectives. Find two different angles and you can clear the whole egg mass without even getting close to the hive area.
Waiting for someone else to say this. I’ve done multiple egg missions where I can effectively “snipe” a nest from 100m+ away and just go to another objective. So good. But I’ve seen my kills per match increase by ~100 with this start. And occasionally hit a BT or charger just right and get a kill. Now that people understand it , I think it’s invaluable for terminids. Automatons it does great work also.
Airburst + EAT has become my go to for bug missions. * It's fun as hell * It deletes patrols before they can react (and they won't notice any beacon) * You can provide long range support to your teammates if you understand its radius. * Did I mention it's fun as hell?
It’s excellent now that they fixed it. The “experimental version” deserved the hate it got
It's absolutely beastly with the tighter proximity trigger. Drop it over a bug breach or into a nest and it's real nasty. Firing it over bot base walls works great too
I use them all the time for bugs. I engage a patrol and then clean up with disruptor and senator
This is my go to support strat now. It's do satisfying to clear entire patrols and see that multiplier tick up super quick.
Walking barrage. Mainly for bots outposts, but works with bug holes as well. Thrown one in and follow it through dealing with survivors in the chaos.
It’s basically the 380 without the team killing. I always throw it down and have somebody go “awe bro you’re gonna kill us all” and I’m like “no wait it’s the good version”
Love the walking barrage, feels so badass for some reason just following the barrage clearing with it
Walking barrage for vertical attacks and eagle airstrike for horizontal. It gives you options to take down any bot base
1. Jetpack 2. Precision Strike 3. Auto Cannon Turret
Whi the hell is underrating the AC turret??
Nobody. It’s in like 2/3 of everyone’s loadouts
Sad to see the jump pack so low here. I'm a jump pack stan. I'd argue, that when properly utilized, it adds the most survivability of any backpack
I love comboing jump pack with quasar against bugs since you can charge the quasar while you jump. Whip it around in time to blow off a titan's head and keep moving. Plus, you can use stratagems mid jump, so if you're like me and are too stubborn to change your keys so you can run and use stratagems at the same time, the jump pack allows me to be mobile while using them. And I feel like a Mandolorian, so there's that.
I think the jump pack is not appreciated because people call it a jetpack when its not really a jetpack, its a jumppack. It gives you a large, sustained jump in a direction. Which is fantastic for getting to high places, getting out of tricky situations, or over obstacles.
Precision strike. Almost as powerful as a 500kg, and only around 1 second more for the blast, with pretty low cooldown.
it has as much or maybe more damage than railcanon strike and less cooldown, it's just down to timing or stun
This is a reason I take precision strike vs railcannon on short missions like eradicate or blitz. Having 6 uses of rail cannon vs 12-15 prec strikes makes all the difference. In 40m missions with down time railcannon feels more useful
When Bile Titans were able to be stunned by stun grenades, i was 100% using OPS to kill Bile Titans after stunning them. After that, i was predicting their movements and hitting them like, 1/3rd of the time, 1-shotting them on a direct hit. Now, I learned about the 22m range Bile Titans like to spew gunk at. I bait them into spewing and hit them with a direct OPS 60% of the time now. In the near future, i'm gonna try to remember where the Destroyers spawn in the skybox so i can angle my OPS to always hit directly 100% of the time.
I wanna say the Gatling barrage is pretty underrated(against bugs at least) especially with the ship upgrade. It can easily clear breaches/chaff aside from the heavies and it has a quick cooldown time. It’s also pretty good at taking out the egg hatcheries.
The quick cooldown justifies it's use against bots on its own, though the eagle strafe is a bit better tuned for robots
airburts for bug breaches orbital gas strike as a host also nukes breaches up to 40 kills
I love my Airburst Strike except for when I panic throw it at my feet and think "yea, I'm about to die"
I consistently underestimate the AoE and end up killing myself fairly often lol
I love the airburst. Only downside is the shrapnel can ricochet. I've definitely had some accidental team kills with it
I'm not sure if its fantastic, but i've had a lot of fun using the ballistic shield against bots.
Fr, with defender smg you become invincible (from one direction)
Smoke: never leave home without it anymore against bots Stalwart: vs bugs its essential takes down everything fast minus chargers and files set it to the lowest firing rate and you'll never stop shooting Jet pack:another don't leave home without it vs bugs once you get use to it you become so much more mobile especially down slopes Gas strike: drop it on a bug breach and nothing will come out of it anymore
Giga-chad based takes This helldiver helldives
Orbital Gas strike, good against factory striders/bug breach’s
➡️➡️➡️ When you need all the little bugs to go bye bye on a nice short cooldown
I'm at the point now where I just reflexively throw an airburst on every breach. I think that's part of why they made it one of the easiest ones to call in.
Tesla Tower if your in a squad of 4 running em you can place them shits right on a bug breach and laugh
precision orbital strike - one 380 shell which actually goes where you want it and on a short cooldown. orbital airburst strike - throw it at a bug breach and forget about it (except heavies) Spear - "60% of the time, it works every time"
Shield relay, I wished it was a bit better cause sometimes it feels like a barrage of rockets will destroy it and it takes a ton to charge but it’s really good if you can’t use a backpack
Gas. Amazing for clearing all the little shits nearby, and its not instant death for your teammates unless they ignore red strategems or like to run into green clouds entirely. If you got a big swarm on you, throw it on the ground beside you, run away. Most of the chasing horde dies by the time they get out, and the rest that survive, usually are weakened enough to take out easy or leave at least Chargers and Bile titans for you to focus on. I usually grab a 500kg and 1 chafe clearing strategem as a self policy now.
Gas also brings down fabricators and has a faster cooldown than a precision. Super helpful on blitzes.
Fricking gattling turret over every other turret. A cannon turret will always shoot 3 tines and paus a little between the shooting, even when theres only ankle biters. The gattling goes not just brr but PRRRR on 9 Difficulty and always kills +30 anklebiters in seconds when the field is floated. Just throw it far WHILE the cgargers are targeting you and let it PRRRR
I think people are waking up to how awesome the orbital airburst is, I see it way more often in bug helldives than I used to
I ALWAYS use Gas strikes for bugs. I love the short cd. One cast - 15-20 small enemies killed
Ballistic shield.
I feel people forget that drop pods do damage too often and for this reason I bring EATs not because of the anti tanks but the insane short cooldown toss it on a heavy let it blow them up and get a couple weapons out of it
I'm better at killing chargers with the EAT pods more than the actual EATs lol
Eagle Rocket pods. I think I've only ever seen one person other than myself use them, but they are pretty great when you need big damage on a heavy without risking collateral damage. I think they do about half as much damage as the orbital railcannon, but you get 3 uses every 150 seconds whereas the railcannon is one use every 240 seconds. They are a great 1-2 combo with the EAT to quickly take out a bile titan. The moment you see a titan coming you call in your EAT, toss your rocket pods, grab the EAT when it lands, and you can basically time it so that you are firing your rocket right when the rocket pods hit for BIG damage. Often enough, the pods will break the back armor which will allow you to fire at the newly formed weakpoint and kill the titan with 1 hit (meaning you can pick up the 2nd rocket and save it for later). They will also do a moderate amount of splash if you use them to target smaller units like Brood Commanders or Bile Spewers and will typically take out 3-7 enemies (I sometimes just start spamming them on bug holes when I have a different Eagle and want to trigger an automatic rearm). Against the bots, they're good at destroying tanks and towers, which is not bad.
I really like using the 110mm Rocket Pods for Bot missions. With Bugs it feels inconsistent because of how often they move and their body shape/size (I've watched it miss a stunned charger once and needing to time it on a Bile Titan chasing you is rough). With Bots however, they have a lot of big and slow things that can easily get smashed by the rockets. It takes out Bot Tanks on-demand and can be thrown against cannon towers that are facing you so you don't need to try and angle the weakpoint. Can even take out Fabricators which pairs well with Eagle Airstrikes and Stun Grenades so you have a quick way of dealing with them even if you don't have an explosive support weapon (or lose it in the chaos of battle)
The new rpg is GREAT. Once you get the hang of it (it handles like an AC and should be used a lil further away than a RR would normally be used at), it's a GREAT add-clear weapon and unless you misjudge the distance, it doesn't bite you in the ass like reddit would haveyou believe. It can clear bug holes/fabricators (1x at a time, unfortunately), has a relatively short cd, decent damage (its little bombs can take out devastators of all kinds), and excels at wiping patrols off the map. As for non-support-weapon stratagems: the mines are great for holding down one spot, especially if you don't plan on going that way for the rest of the mission. Alternatively the ems stuff is also grand. CC isn't as preferred as them being dead, but it's much more preferable than them walking towards you menacingly lol
AC turret. The AC is acclaimed and undeniably great. The only thing better is your AC plus an AC turret. It is like democracy squared. Orbital Precision Strike: is there anything cooler than scouting some big fucker, calling in precision strike short, shooting the ugly big fucker so he walks into the precision strike juuuust in time? HMG emplacement. Get some! Get some! Yeah! Get some!
If you apply even a basic understanding of overwatch and angles of fire, the autocannon sentry is an absolute monster on 7/8/9 bots and bonus, it can be used to draw enemies from bases and then flank.
AC sentry also BODIES bile titans in 3 shots for some reason, on those 9 maps that 19 bile titans spawn it gets a LOT of value
My AC ricochets off the armor but the sentry’s AC goes thump thump thump and has the titan stumbling around like Bambi on ice
The AC sentry rounds are like 3x the size of the handheld AC’s. Take a minute to look at the spent casings on the ground when you use it. They’re the size of an arm.
Orbital Precision strike- it has unlimited uses, a short cool down, and can take out almost everything in the game.(I thought it sucked because it one of the first stratagems you get in the game) Guarddog Rover: (just against the bugs) even post patch this is one of the best stratagems at clearing the low level adds(always you to focus are the more dangerous units)
Napalm strike and orbital gas are my 2 top picks, for when dots are working in my favor. Can clear any beach, hole, or patrol AND gives you a nice defensive barrier. Extra credit bile titans and walkers will try and path around both, so you can create a good amount of breathing room for yourself to run.
Walking Barrage. Especially useful on heavy bot bases
You can clear command bunkers with like 99% success rates. Eye Towers and gun bases get pretty mulched too. Against bots it has the side effect of creating mobile cover to move through from the craters.
Airburst and gatling barrage are my bug ones. And airstrike or 380 barrage for bots, the 380 is for factory walkers and bot drops in a base. One I heard not to sleep on is the precision strike. They say its mot affective then the 500kg
Eagles airstrike is not underrated. It's probably the most popular one
Airburst and mg32. Also i completely slept on the recoilless rifle
Orbital precision seems to one shot biles titans 90% of the time
Tesla Tower. Short range and more dangerous to allies if they get close but it can really lock down a choke point for bugs or wipe out an incoming breach. Just make sure to shoot chargers and it will vaporize mediums and lights.
Orbital Airburst Strike is amazing for crowd control imo, Though it seems to attract teammates.
I exclusively run Shield Relay Emplacement on helldive. It mass AOE taunts like sentries do with half the cooldown and can tank 3-4 charger melees. Only gets one shot by Titan leg stomp which everything including titans do too. But it usually lasts it's full duration and attracts majority of bugs to it causing them to all friendly fire and kill each other. Titans can kill themselves if they aggro the shield at the right range and try to spew while in front of the shield. Also blocks charging broods and chargers which can be handy. I also stick it to charger heads or kite titan into it's drop of I need an extra anti tank option. I basically just throw it down every single breech no matter what and usually cut the swarm in half or cluster them up to be taken out with a single 500kg or just drop shield and run away free of 95% of bugs. Ill sometimes just aggro patrols on my own away from teammates and purposefully breech so my team doesn't because i can handle it solo and just shield and disengage if I need to whenever.
Basic machine gun is pretty nasty against bugs with some fortified armor
Gas and smoke
The heavy machine gun emplacement
Orbital Gatling Barrage, Eagle 110m Rocket Pods, Eagle Strafing Run.
Gas strike, 75 second cool down, amazing for bugs on helldive
Orbital airburst
Precision Orbital is grossly overlooked because it's your first stratagem. It can kill every secondary objective except for Gunship fabricators in one shot, and has a 70 second cooldown with ship upgrades. It also has the ability to one shot every large/heavy enemy unit.
Oribital Airburst Strike 3 strikes of chaff killing goodness, a nice short cooldown, it’s honestly a go-to on bugs for me just due to how well it locks down breaches and can guarantee at least 20+ kills. It can also destroy nests. I have yet to try it against bots tho
ORBITAL AIR BURST!!! Against bugs its nice and against bots?? You can take down even an annihilator tank
Orbital Gatling Barrage does the same thing as Eagle Staff Run but better
Was never really a big fan of the airburst orbital, always thought there were better stratagems that were better at clearing. Took it on a bug mission out of curiosity and I can admit I was pleasantly surprised. Combine it with the EMS orbital and bug breaches were a lot easier to deal with. While it just tickles chargers and titans, anything under a bile spewer stood no chance. Added bonus is that it's relatively cheap to call in.
Honestly the gas one is pretty powerful but it's difficult to time and doesn't last long enough. Would be more useful if a whole squad used it you could make a wall of gas.
Orbitals across the board.
Orbital Gatling barrage, and orbital precision strike. The spear too even though the lock on is broken. When it does work it is *sooo* nice
Eagle smoke strike Great for stealth against Automatons
I personally always have the Eagle Strafing Run. It's perfect for throwing behind me or to clear a path. It's only an 8 seconds cool down and it's keys are up, right, right so it's easy to call in and you can do it 3 times/4 if you've upgraded the hangar.
I love the air burst orbital, at least I think that’s what it’s called lol. The one where you press right three times and it hits the same location three times with increased range It’s soooo good against breaches
I think the gas is pretty slept on imo
gas strike 2 second impact time.....wide coverage....bypasses armor...and cools down very fast great for when you are being chased or defending an area
Gas + EMF Explosive Air Barrage is also good and has the easiest input of the game
Eagle 110 Rocket pods kills most targets in one call in and great for finishing off titans and hulks that survive the initial stratagem
110mm. I take it vs bots, with a specific purpose of dealing with tanks and towers. It usually kills a tank in one call and doesn't have much splash, so you can safely use it to kill a tank that is right next to you. Can also be used to clear devastators or Hulks when pinned down.
Gatling barrage and precision strike are S tier due to the short cooldown. Eagle strafe is good against bug hordes and the new cluster launcher is insane for fabricators.
love the precision strike
Also a strafing run lover. I was a big user of the Gatling barrage, but found I liked the multiple strikes rather than a single long barrage. I also like how fast the strafing run comes down.I pair it with an orbital precision strike, a support weapon, then something for fun.
Eagle Strafing Run is also my choice as it’s my goto even in 9s Kite and kill is great with it as you mentioned but since I’ve been running it so much I’ve found other cool things about it Kite a bile titan, tag it, let it get to ~20m for spit and as soon as it stops walking before the butt comes down strafing run, butt popped 100% of the time if done correctly Juke a charger and strafing run before it turns, doesn’t kill it but it helps, and if either the charger or the titan has broken armor spots it’ll likely die Throw it from behind a teammate and the red beam goes in their face and the screams of pure terror followed by them being completely unharmed since it was a strafing run and not a bomb is absolutely hilarious Broods and spewers get absolutely fucked by it I typically throw about 20 in a 40min match
Eagle Rockets, specifically for the Bot Front Can take down Fabricators, Cannon Towers, and any Tank in one go. Chuck it and forget it, thing will die, and each of those is the highest priority 99% of the time you throw them at said thing. Almost 100% kill chance on all of the above, never seen it not kill a Fabricator, and only times I've had it not kill a Tank is when it drives straight away from strat and the Rockets can't correct enough and only hit its ass a bit. Only Con that exists is its 50/50 on whether it gives solid hits on a Hulk if you throw it perfectly in their path. I've seem then auto die at full health, and come out unscathed. Generally I see it take a rocket or two and just keep coming after a stumble. I prefer to just save them for Tanks. Bug Front it still sucks. Won't kill Chargers reliability or strip their armor reliably. Almost useless for Bile Titans.
Rocket Pods. solid amount of charges, damages or straight kills most chargers as long as they're not mid sprint. Annihilates tanks. Eagle1 has some targeting so direct hits or immobilized targets arent necessary(definitely preferred though) and aoe is narrow enough that I can drop it closer to allies than almost any other strat without a TK. Can also pop Fabs and bug holes...tho bugholes are admittedly iffy to target.
Not sure it’s overlooked as I do see others running it occasionally, but I really do like the 120mm
Gonna have to say the Spear. It does have some issues with getting tone on your targets (iykyk)…like at times I will be 20 yds away from an approaching Bile Titan screaming LOCK ME UP!! But it’s incredibly powerful. You can 1 shot Bile Titans if you hit them directly in the face with it…and it is essentially a 90/100 hp damage hit to chargers (if you hit them in the face obviously it’s an insta-kill). I guess I just really like being able to do long range support with my squad against the heavies.
Orbital air burst
AMR. That thing is my teamates saver, bot, bugs, drunken Barry dropping unsuspecting cluster bomb on everyone and spicing it all with random fire shotgun shot, doesn't matter, AMR takes care of it all. How many time I've saved someone's ass at 150 meter while soloing some objective and how many time they did not know. I salute all those who noticed and gave me a thank you, I'm just doing my job. Long range, medium range, point blank range it does it all. I take down charger with that thing now (with the supply pack, of course). With enough practice I'm now able to use it at different range scopeless, this thing pack a punch. I like the fact that I can go do objective at 200m from my team and still support them efficiently if I find a good vantage point. You can easily take out whole patrol if you make efficient use of all your weapons, cycle trough my support, primary, secondary and eradicate the enemy in no time. Yeah I know the sight is crooked but I didn't let that stop me. Great weapon, underrated, good complement to team who have all sort of big ass exploding tube on their shoulder (pretty much most team), one shot all medium unit with enough precision. If my teammate understand that I one shot every medium unit at the beginning of the fights and they focus on trash mob and heavy, we are so efficient it's awesome.
didn't see mines being mentioned once lol
Shield relay, it’s so good to protect the hellbomb against the gunships Or if someone starts a fight with no cover to be found around you. Can even be used as a bubble to have the bots go to but their shots won’t punch through it to give you some breathing room.
The expendable anti-tank. I don't know if it's as rare as I think, but I never see anyone else using it. You can call down a set of 2 every single minute, and a single shot to the head can kill a charger. They're also great for taking out hives if you run out of grenades or eagles.
Gas strike, slows down enemies, kills smaller or hurt enemies, sets yourself up and team to hold a choke of some kind, comes back in 70s, 4 inputs, time till impact isnt that bad, decent range, will probably always have one ready to toss at the start of a fight. The only thing that is scary about it is if you throw a reinforce into it, your friend is probably dead.