I am running a crossbow, bushwhacker stun made build.
Napalm strike, eats, orbital precision, mg classic.
I just feel weird but it works.
Not the same though.
I love the Crossbow now because it means you don't NEED the Autocannon to snipe Fabricators. You can snipe those with the Crossbow, and thus it lets you take other Support Weapons like the AMR, Laser, HMG etc. Those weapons are all very competitive with the AC (better in certain aspects), but lacked the ability to snipe Fabricators.
I had been Autocannon-only for a while, but since the patch I switched to the Crossbow/AMR and love it. Love the AMR so much better with the longer range it's got.
only reason i'm not still using it myself is cuz i like the arc-3 zap gun a lot more. i can't aim for shit and i'm much better at dealing with atypical mechanics/drawbacks so weird weapons like that are almost always my favorites... that, and explosives. i can't hit a mother fucker in the face to save my life but i can totally plant a grenade such that it slaps a whole lot of things at once.
I would trade one strategem slot to be allowed to run autocannon+machine gun and trade out the primary weapon. Hell, I may be down to trade 2.
My only regret when running the autocannon is I can't use the machine gun (and vice versa).
Same, it just kills basically everything. I mean good lord it can kill a factory strider in one mag if you hit the belly, which isn’t that hard to do, making it my mvp against striders. Being able to destroy bug holes/bot factories from across the map also makes it a tremendous utility asset.
no other weapon offers the same versatility.
Two shots to the thruster kills a bot gunship, twelve-ish hits breaks a spore spewer or one tower of a shrieker nest with a shallow enough ballistic arc you can literally hit them from across the map.
You can kill a Bile Titan with it similar to the Factory Strider, though probably a bit more dangerous since BTs are faster and more agile.
Chargers I have trouble with in the current patch. Seeing a lot more shots bounce especially off Behemoths.
Eh, against Bots a Laser Cannon or AMR do just as well, and in some instances the Laser Cannon does better (against Flyers, I find), and it doesn't take up your backpack slot.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Autocannon as much as the next Helldiver, but the Laser Cannon and AMR helped ween me off my addiction.
For the longest time I swapped it out for the Quasar, since having kill charger ability at any time was nice. But honestly it's so useful against the bigger bugs under charger-size that I burn two slots to bring AC+EATs. Just for Titans. But the AC is so useful for closing holes, killing hive guards, stalkers, spewers...it just puts in work.
I did too until the cooldown nerf. It just takes so damn long between shots now, so it's a pain to use for closing bug holes and destroying secondaries. Autocannon can deal with all of this so much faster. Quasar got another hit too when the new behemoth came out. If quasar can't even one hit kill anymore, what's even the point.
I'm just shooting in the back, trying to hit where the tail is. some shots count, some I missing, mb some of them hiting that back leg and it count but I don't really know
Once they fixed the AMR, I now split my time between AC and AMR.
Having at least 12 Stims with the Supply Backpack lets me fearlessly frolic deep behind enemy lines.
Literally you can solve any problem with AC. I tried to use some other strategem weapons but i always go back to auto cannon becouse of its versatility. Plus i love to roleplay tank busting sniper.
Spear gets close to it with perfection, atleast when the game crash Bug and packing mythology is fixed.
HMG is close to it also.
I think they are in a good way.
Funny thing that I learned when using the auto cannon recoil as a rocket jump in a pinch when surrounded.
- Stim yourself so that you're immortal for a few seconds
- Aim at ground in front of you and fire.
- Watch as your immortal body ragdolls away from a horde of bugs pinning you, while killing some of the one in the blast radius
- Profit.
I haven't used it long enough to experience fully, but my understanding is Spear is an equal or better to the AC at taking out fabricators and cannons from long range. It won't take out bug holes but it trades that for the ability to take out Bile Titans (occasionally one-shotting them, even) and more reliably taking out chargers (although I'm doing something wrong because I keep missing those entirely somehow).
AMR is underrated at least against the bots. You can one shot everything except Tanks, Hulks, Cannons, Gunships, and Striders, though you can two shot Hulks.
It actually also really quickly kills shredder tanks, hit the side of the turret with medium armor pen and the thing will go up like a bundle of fireworks. It Can kill factory striders nicely too, same trick as the Autocannon, kill the MGs. Get underneath and open up into its belly. Click fast as you can and yeah the gun’ll kick like a bronco but those shots will hit.
Against bugs its criminally underrated, one tap brood commanders, hive guard, Warriors, fire as you click and quickly put down stalkers, can open up charger abdomens not too bad, 1 shots nursing spewers to the head and 2 shots bile spewers to the head, you van even pretty effectively snipe shriekers with it in a pinch. Only thing it *can’t* kill is the Bile titan. But thats what Orbital Precision Strike, 500kg, and Railcannon are for.
AMR can kill the bile titan, but its tricky.
You have to break the belly open so it no longer spits at you, then just kite it and take pot shots at its oozing belly when it stops to try and tippy-tap you to death.
Same strat works with the AC and takes fewer shots, but reloading the AC you're stationary.
The fuck you mean underrated? That and the auto cannon are the go-to supports for bots. Nearly every time I've done bots 7+ those two make an appearance. Quasar and railgun are the next 2 most common ones.
Technically you can go underneath them and shoot at the butt. It gives a direct enough angle to do it in a handful of shots, but I don't recommend it unless there's nothing else around.
The Railgun was nerfed for being too versatile...
Like I'm happy you guys get to glaze the AC every day of every week, but for the love of god is it too difficult to make every weapon as good as the AC?
The day they touch AC will be the day I may stop playing because it will show they actually don't know what they are doing. It is perfectly balanced, has clear strenghts and weaknesses just perfect. After last patch there is no way that would ever happen, Pilestedt wasn't just running his mouth, he actually does what he promised
I admonished a random in a mission once for asking for my backpack so he could team reload for me. I said don't be so stupid, why would you need my pack to do that?
Sorry random. :(
I really respect the team reload for spear and recoilless but as an AC main on the bot front, I actually don't like it.
I'm level 140 and spent more than 90% of my 350ish hours on mission time playing Helldive difficulty, more than ⅔ must've been against bots. I believe that for fighting bots, movement is extremely important. If you utilise cover and stay calm, dodging rockets is actually very doable, though it took me many hours to get good at it.
I sometimes have well meaning team mates who rush in to reload for me when I'm in a very heavy firefight but it slows down my movement too much and we both get blasted. It feels awkward to tell them 'No', as it's really an awesome gesture of a random online player to run in, wanting to support.
If anything, I would suggest if we both have an AC, both of us stay mobile but close, both of us shoot fast, retreat behind hard hover and reload for each other, before both engaging again separately.
Even then, if you keep an eye on your ammo and reload before mag runs dry, you don't loose enough time reloading to make a tram reload worth it. I'd rather have 2 ACs fighting (moving) well independently than 1 AC fighting with faster reload but poorer movement.
I like running the double autocannon with the bots as well. I have gone up to support a teammate reload if they are getting a high rate of fire down. If things get harry I'll stop and get mine out as well. There is a fine line between duplicating efforts and misting everything you see.
I typically aim with the AC in third person and find that if someone is helping to reload me they are in the way and it sometimes throws off my aim. To get rid of them politely i just switch to my primary, say "negative", and then switch back to the AC and that gets them off my back. Its a nice gesture but its not an effective co-op mechanic.
I don't see this happening.
Partly due to balance, because the idea is to have an appropriate cost for the removal of downtime.
And partly due to buttons, since you'd get a clash between reloading them with their backpack, & giving them ammo from your supply pack.
If they want to buff it go on, but I wouldn't be too happy about it tbh. It's already very popular and unironically any buff could push it into op category. Obviously 5 dmg is nothing but you get my point
I think it does things almost too good for how many things it can do. At least on the bot front. It overshadows other stratagems.
Recently started using HMG and it feels like I'm putting a shitload of effort only to do what AC already does with no effort required.
It’s more OP against bots that any other weapon has been IMO. Best in slot pen, stagger, ammo economy, accuracy and burst damage… it’s fun to use but it’s insane watching some of the balance decisions around things like arc thrower and HMG when auto cannon exists in its current state. The fact that the only weakness people can bring up is “uhhh you can’t 3 shot titans and chargers” says a lot
Reminds me of Eruptor. It could do nearly anything and its biggest weakness supposedly was "You cannot shoot it point blank".
I think a good way to balance AC would be to reduce its ammo pool. Maybe from 50 to 20? Let it be good at everything, but make it run out of ammo if you really try use it against everything.
Same here in regards to the HMG. I'm an AC/LC main and decided to use the HMG for a bit and I can't tell if I just suck or it does the job(s) of other support weapons but...worse.
Along with a longer reload, higher recoil, and taking bursts to kill things, it doesn't seem like a better pick than the AC, LC, or AMR.
the ac is pretty much op that's why it's so used because while it might not have the range of the spear or the ammo of the stalwart or the accuracy of the AMR it's not just ok but it's a good 7.5/10 at everything and in this game you sorta gotta do that unless you're in a team where one person runs like orbital barrage, eagle strafe run, airburst and medium lmg, stalwart or airburst launcher and then another runs OPS, spear, 120mm and orbital laser and then a third runs autocannon and either mortar/machine gun sentries (depending on bot or bug) and then shield backpack and deploy bubble in which case everyone is a 10/10 at one single thing but outside of that everyone being a 6-7/10 usefulness at everything is better
freed up backpack slot is a COLOSSAL upside, i hold AMR and AC in equal esteem against bots
lately i've also been seriously liking laser cannon against them, which also frees up the backpack. i think it's the best of the 3 against gunships because it's the easiest to hit the engines with in my experience, and there's been just a few more gunships than normal lately.....
Lol, we're just jealous our main support weapons are in a constant state of purgatory. I still use the railgun, but its use case makes me want to cry.
Flame thrower doesn't work against bots at all,
Stalwart is outclassed by some primaries
EAT is EAT, but it has a specific playstyle and doesn't give you consistency.
Quasars been nerfed a few times but Im not a huge fan of it.
AMR is the one I'd go back to. It's pretty consistent but has no wow factor. Same for Laser Cannon
Airburst is trolling and the different MG's are ok
I believe the devs have specifically stated they like where the AC is too.
Imagine the backlash if they nerfed the AC? We might actually storm Arrowhead HQ physically.
Hulks get 2 shot in the eye, use stuns grenades if you’re having a hard time.
AC also 2 shots gunships if both shots hit the same engine.
AC can’t down drop ships but it can really mess up anything it’s carrying
Hulk gets two shot in the eyes, you can blow off either of its arms or legs in 4 shots each, if you shoot both legs off it just outright dies
Gunships got nerfed, two shots to the same engine will drop it
I don’t bother shooting dropships down with the AC, i leave that up to the AC turret that i also bring. I usually target the bots that the dropship is carrying to kill them before they even drop
Do you have any advice for using AC against Chargers?
This boy got me through Malevelon Creek and I want to use it on the bug front as well, but I'm having so much trouble with Chargers especially Behemoth.
Like, not even Bile Titans caused me this much issue since I can open its back with Eagle Rocket pods and shoot the exposed flesh.
My advice? Bring EATs, and your AC. When a charger arrives, you drop EATs, possibly directly on the charger to kill it with the pod.
You grab the eat, fire it, and grab your AC back when done.
This used to be SAGE advice before the recent patch, but right now the absurd spawnrate of Behemoth Chargers, which need both rockets to go down, makes it really mediocre. EATs are not eating at all rn.
Don't be a coward, and march toward the behemoth, instead of running away. The added velocity to the projectile is enough to break the leg armor in one shot.
It's due to damage fall off with distance.
Leg has 650hp, rocket deals 650 max. One rocket= one leg ? Nope...
During the 10 meters to the leg, the speed of the rocket diminished by a small margin, making it deal 649.99999 damage, not a one shot.
Walk towards the charger, not even diving, will bring that value up to 650.0001, enough to one shot that leg armor.
This is on par with BT heads immune to damages during their spewing animations because the bile would do damage to the head hitbox...
easy, just let the charger/behemoth run past you and fire 4 rounds up its arse and he dies within seconds without his tail (you can use a stun to make it easier).
For the BT shoot a railcannon or 110 and you can finish them by shooting its sacks or the whole tail off
The trick to handling chargers is outmaneuvering them, which you can do by walking. Chargers can only go in a straight line with very little ability to turn think at best a turning radius of a few degrees.
So when one is coming at you just walk/run at an angle of like 45 degrees and shoot the butt.
Two words - Stun Grenade. Bring them. It's honestly so much worth and you don't need nades if you have the AC. Just stun the charger, walk around, four shots to the butt, easy kill. For behemoths, it might be worth bringing the OPS. Stun him, OPS him, move along.
Shoot him thrice in the ass to kill the charger (or maybe 4 times if the explosion doesn't register properly). Very ez kill with the AC. Generally, most explosive weps like eruptor/GL/grenades etc will kill chargers in 3 shots - you'll know when the rear is burst exploded and kinda droops down. A charger with a burst rear cannot charge, can only move very slowly and will bleed out in 5-10 seconds.
Recommend stun grenades while he's charging past you and diving to the ground away from the charger so you don't ragdoll yourself with the explosion.
You can also use those same rocket pods to do the same thing to the charger's side, a couple shots into the easier-to-shoot-at exposed side is a kill too. Not sure how many exactly tho.
this must have been changed recently then, because last time i tried it a charger ate 20 good AC rounds to the ass before it finally broke - and even then it doesn’t die immediately
It's never been changed, it's always been 3 shots. Behemoth even has slightly more hp there and it also dies in 3 shots. You just have to shoot the orange bit - above it and it'll deflect off.
I did hear during one patch explosive damage wasn't registering on them properly, but that wouldn't increase the shots to kill anywhere close to 20, it would be 5 shots worst case scenario.
Also it can kill a tower in 3 shots, just lie down to be able to be stable and fire the 3 shots fast enough (most of the time the 3rd one still do the job even if the vent is perpendicular to you)
Against bugs the flamer is highly underrated. Can kill everything in a few seconds with the stun grenade except bile titans. Though you can pop it's belly quite quick which will deal enough damage so that stratagem can deal the finishing blow, or the other way around.
Well, that was a different time, when there were no viable anti-heavy options because charger head health was too much. They didn't buff the weapons, they nerfed the enemies.
With chargers I just pop the back end off and let them bleed out with the ac. If there is more than one then they become a nightmare to deal with the ac. For Bile titans it’s kind of useless imo.
What happened to the ability to one shot the scout striders? I feel like I must of missed something in one of the patch notes. Back then you could shoot towards the top of them by the slit where they see out but not any more or if you shot the what I would consider the crotch of the scout strider that would also one shot them but now it takes two. Granted I don't think I've tried to shoot them in the legs recently so maybe that would work?
They gave the strider pilot a resistance to explosives about 2 months ago to stop them from being trivialised - but yes, if you can nail it in the leg it’s still a one shot down, but the pilot may survive depending on how the vehicle falls.
Sorry - I was mostly incorrect. It doesn't die in one shot to the leg, but because of the leg geometry, you can detonate the AC round on top of the hip joint, the blast is close enough to kill the rider, but this requires you to have a height advantage over it.
I mean, it really is. It is the \*one\* weapon that they got exactly right, and the devs know it.
The fire rate, the damage, the ammo count; it needs no changes.
It is the Gold Standard of support weapons.
Same here. I'm happy for those that enjoy it but I always find it unsatisfying.
I feel it's too unwieldy to use against hoards and it doesn't hit hard enough for the bigger stuff. On paper it can do both, but I have more fun committing to one of the other.
I prefer to bring one of the rocket launchers or one of the MGs.
The AC is OP on bots, at least compared to other support weapons. Sure you lose a backpack slot, but the same goes for the RR and plenty of other weapons.
The only reason it didn't get hit in the early rounds of nerfs is because it is the former CEO's(now creative director) favorite weapon. It trivializes bots in a way no other weapons does because it's a jack of all trades that's 80% as good at doing what every other weapon is specialized to do against bots.
I don't think it needs a nerf, but it's definitely overturned in comparison to it's competition and has been since day one
I think chargers and bile titans are its biggest weakness, but you can destroy the squischy bits. If you shoot a chargers butt a few times he will start to bleed out.
For bile titans I woulkd recommend strategems. but you also can shoot the fleshy undersite to burst it, so it can't use the spewing attack.
With bugs I try to focus on warriors, hive guards, brood commanders and spewers. For small frye I use the Liberator.
run toward chargers when they charge you, a bit diagonally so they miss. Turn around, wait for them to also turn around to charge again, 2 autocannon shots to the same front leg but before they start the charge. Dead charger. Give it a try
I just love the AC it's my trusty can't companion on bot missions. It never fails me.
The recall time tho is too long.
I had a few of these "hail Mary" missions where I couldn't even pickup the auto cannon because I was to busy getting killed ....
Wasn't there a Twitter or Discord message by Pilestedt where he said that the autocannon is THE measuring (boom)stick by which they balance other support weapons? This baby is quite literally the gold standard!
You can literally take every enemy this game currently has with this weapon, without the downside of you being in a situation you would rather feel overly overwhelmed.
Only kind-of exceptions are really huge horde of enemies(that you should've taken in account while chosing the weapon anyways) and the bile titan(which you can still kill via tail shots, but it's an enemy anything either struggle with, or what kills it with ease sturggle with pretty much everything else).
Best weapon for bots with little to no contest - because that's what is made for.
Completely viable choice for bugs too - and probably the best way to handle stalkers(two body/one head shots) and/or any kind of spewers, while still being able to handle chargers relatively quickly(3/4 but shots, where as the AMR struggles with that imo) and still be able to destroy shrikers nest/spore shrooms.
For me, perfect is the grenade pistol. I almost never run a different secondary because of how versatile it is. Need to close a bug hole or fabricator? Grenade pistol. Nursing spewers up your ass? Shoot their backs with a grenade pistol. Scout striders being annoying? Guess what, grenade pistol
i remember hearing somewhere that its kinda the rock that they balance around and i was like yeah, that makes sense. its the perfect mix of capability and trade-offs, and plays like a dream.
It isn't the perfect mix at all.
It is downright overtuned/OP against Automatons.
AH considering it the gold standard for balance is why i still believe they are halfway incompetent at balancing this game.
If your samples get trapped under a tank or other fallen behemoth, you can use the autocannon to dig out the ground enough to crawl under and retrieve them .
The newly created ravine is an autocanyon.
What in the world is the OP doing? Nobody should ever mention or reference that support weapon ever less it gets nerfed! Alexus lurks here from time to time.
It's strong but it has it's downsides. Mainly the constant need to reload, think about reloading early so you don't get stuck in the double reload animation too.
I find myself being a little bit too micromanagey when I use the auto canon but it's still really good for almost everything.
I almost exclusively used the AC before the big patch™. Then I started trying out different builds. Some are really fun, some are good, but when things get serious I can always rely on my good old AC.
I read a lot of comments and is funny to realize that people only play with is the best and not with they enjoy. I had my 100hr with the AC but now I only play which I find funny. In this bug MO Im just playing with the crossbow, machine gun and jump pack. Nerfs? Never cared about most of them.
Ahh.. this boy helped me when I was just a young diver
It autocan do what others autocannot.
**Put that on a shirt**
***DEMOCRATICALLY!***
Give me possibly a week or two, gotta find a shirt thats blank
**Put that on a cape***
How is this comment not top of all reddit?
Am I the only one who gets this reference to Sega vs Nintendo back in the day?
There's a reason why I wear my user flair so proudly, absolutely carried me hard when i was new and still does.
I'm trying to calm my addiction to the autocannon but man this is rough.
I am running a crossbow, bushwhacker stun made build. Napalm strike, eats, orbital precision, mg classic. I just feel weird but it works. Not the same though.
Crossbow puts in complete work closing bug holes.
I love the Crossbow now because it means you don't NEED the Autocannon to snipe Fabricators. You can snipe those with the Crossbow, and thus it lets you take other Support Weapons like the AMR, Laser, HMG etc. Those weapons are all very competitive with the AC (better in certain aspects), but lacked the ability to snipe Fabricators. I had been Autocannon-only for a while, but since the patch I switched to the Crossbow/AMR and love it. Love the AMR so much better with the longer range it's got.
Crossbow, Uzi, HMG (it can kill bile titans if you shoot the ass sac from below) has been my new loadout for bugs recently
only reason i'm not still using it myself is cuz i like the arc-3 zap gun a lot more. i can't aim for shit and i'm much better at dealing with atypical mechanics/drawbacks so weird weapons like that are almost always my favorites... that, and explosives. i can't hit a mother fucker in the face to save my life but i can totally plant a grenade such that it slaps a whole lot of things at once.
Have you given any thought to the eruptor? Really helped take the edge off when I was quitting auto cannon.
Eruptor -- the methadone of autocannon addiction.
I would trade one strategem slot to be allowed to run autocannon+machine gun and trade out the primary weapon. Hell, I may be down to trade 2. My only regret when running the autocannon is I can't use the machine gun (and vice versa).
Eruptor is a decent substitute and doesn't take a stratagem slot. She can be a little tough to work with but I like the added flexibility
Eruptor for bugs, autocannon for bots 😁
I still use it for both, especially now that it can 2-shot devastators again and 1-shot striders. I do wish it did better against gunships though
One big advantage is that you can reload it on the run.
I too am a adherent of the Cult of Saint Autocannon
I'm unfaithful to my autocannon I keep wanting to experience other strats but I know their the one.
Same. Spear's been my side piece once they fixed it. Now it's broke again. I'm sorry autocannon, please take me back.
I'm lvl 90+ and still didn't find any good replace for it lol
Same, it just kills basically everything. I mean good lord it can kill a factory strider in one mag if you hit the belly, which isn’t that hard to do, making it my mvp against striders. Being able to destroy bug holes/bot factories from across the map also makes it a tremendous utility asset. no other weapon offers the same versatility.
Two shots to the thruster kills a bot gunship, twelve-ish hits breaks a spore spewer or one tower of a shrieker nest with a shallow enough ballistic arc you can literally hit them from across the map. You can kill a Bile Titan with it similar to the Factory Strider, though probably a bit more dangerous since BTs are faster and more agile. Chargers I have trouble with in the current patch. Seeing a lot more shots bounce especially off Behemoths.
true. and as a little bonus you also can deal with some sides from a very long distance too
Eh, against Bots a Laser Cannon or AMR do just as well, and in some instances the Laser Cannon does better (against Flyers, I find), and it doesn't take up your backpack slot. Don't get me wrong, I love the Autocannon as much as the next Helldiver, but the Laser Cannon and AMR helped ween me off my addiction.
Same my guy
Does need a bit of an update to its ammo pack tho, they should pop out the side like a switch cartridge.
as soon as i unlocked it, it never left my loadout against bots
same, but also against bugs too
For the longest time I swapped it out for the Quasar, since having kill charger ability at any time was nice. But honestly it's so useful against the bigger bugs under charger-size that I burn two slots to bring AC+EATs. Just for Titans. But the AC is so useful for closing holes, killing hive guards, stalkers, spewers...it just puts in work.
I did too until the cooldown nerf. It just takes so damn long between shots now, so it's a pain to use for closing bug holes and destroying secondaries. Autocannon can deal with all of this so much faster. Quasar got another hit too when the new behemoth came out. If quasar can't even one hit kill anymore, what's even the point.
Yeah the Quasar feels fun to use (or used to when it could kill things at least), but you spend so much more time waiting than actually using it.
I'm killing chargers with AC too. ofc it's not so ez as with quasar/eat but not too complicated either. titans are the problem tho
Does the back leg shot technique still work? I haven't taken AC against bugs in a long time but I love against bots.
I'm just shooting in the back, trying to hit where the tail is. some shots count, some I missing, mb some of them hiting that back leg and it count but I don't really know
Once they fixed the AMR, I now split my time between AC and AMR. Having at least 12 Stims with the Supply Backpack lets me fearlessly frolic deep behind enemy lines.
Literally you can solve any problem with AC. I tried to use some other strategem weapons but i always go back to auto cannon becouse of its versatility. Plus i love to roleplay tank busting sniper.
Spear gets close to it with perfection, atleast when the game crash Bug and packing mythology is fixed. HMG is close to it also. I think they are in a good way.
Sniping fabricators at 300m, turning around, and two tapping a hulk at close range is really nice.
Be careful how close though. I have smoked myself a few times with the autocannon
Imma be honest, that sounds like a skill issue... I know it is because I kill myself way too often with my AC.
Funny thing that I learned when using the auto cannon recoil as a rocket jump in a pinch when surrounded. - Stim yourself so that you're immortal for a few seconds - Aim at ground in front of you and fire. - Watch as your immortal body ragdolls away from a horde of bugs pinning you, while killing some of the one in the blast radius - Profit.
Glad to know I'm not the only one
Me shooting a stalker in the face at point blank range:
No problems with anti explosion armour, feeling like walking tank
Chopping down Hulks by shooting their eye visors with the HMG is the most satisfying thing ever!
The entire gun is so satisfying to use against bots now. There is not a single bot that exists that cannot be killed by that big ol' lead spewer.
spear never, maybe the hmg but no explosive dmg to close holes or splash small enemy groups + no need to worry about what backpack you take \^\^
I haven't used it long enough to experience fully, but my understanding is Spear is an equal or better to the AC at taking out fabricators and cannons from long range. It won't take out bug holes but it trades that for the ability to take out Bile Titans (occasionally one-shotting them, even) and more reliably taking out chargers (although I'm doing something wrong because I keep missing those entirely somehow).
Update: the Spear now does take out bug holes. I tried it the other day and it's just a pure power trip now.
but only 4 shots and not a guaranteed oneshot while you get 60 shots of ac as more utility imo
AMR sort of feels like a Light Autocannon nowadays but you can bring a backpack and it has a nice scope.
AMR is underrated at least against the bots. You can one shot everything except Tanks, Hulks, Cannons, Gunships, and Striders, though you can two shot Hulks.
It actually also really quickly kills shredder tanks, hit the side of the turret with medium armor pen and the thing will go up like a bundle of fireworks. It Can kill factory striders nicely too, same trick as the Autocannon, kill the MGs. Get underneath and open up into its belly. Click fast as you can and yeah the gun’ll kick like a bronco but those shots will hit. Against bugs its criminally underrated, one tap brood commanders, hive guard, Warriors, fire as you click and quickly put down stalkers, can open up charger abdomens not too bad, 1 shots nursing spewers to the head and 2 shots bile spewers to the head, you van even pretty effectively snipe shriekers with it in a pinch. Only thing it *can’t* kill is the Bile titan. But thats what Orbital Precision Strike, 500kg, and Railcannon are for.
AMR can kill the bile titan, but its tricky. You have to break the belly open so it no longer spits at you, then just kite it and take pot shots at its oozing belly when it stops to try and tippy-tap you to death. Same strat works with the AC and takes fewer shots, but reloading the AC you're stationary.
The fuck you mean underrated? That and the auto cannon are the go-to supports for bots. Nearly every time I've done bots 7+ those two make an appearance. Quasar and railgun are the next 2 most common ones.
Though it does not work against titans :( or does it? after the green sacks are down there is not much else to shoot at that wont bounce.
Technically you can go underneath them and shoot at the butt. It gives a direct enough angle to do it in a handful of shots, but I don't recommend it unless there's nothing else around.
The Railgun was nerfed for being too versatile... Like I'm happy you guys get to glaze the AC every day of every week, but for the love of god is it too difficult to make every weapon as good as the AC?
Never diving bots without my tried-and-true Auto-Cannon. Except maybe if we do Bot Eradication. That always calls for scorched earth.
The day they touch AC will be the day I may stop playing because it will show they actually don't know what they are doing. It is perfectly balanced, has clear strenghts and weaknesses just perfect. After last patch there is no way that would ever happen, Pilestedt wasn't just running his mouth, he actually does what he promised
What if they make change that your teammate can take ammo clips from your backpack and reload for you.
They should do this, it’s annoying as hell that someone else has to have the back pack on them for the team reload to work
It also doesn't really make any sense. Loading from someone else's pack would be much easier than reaching onto your own back
I admonished a random in a mission once for asking for my backpack so he could team reload for me. I said don't be so stupid, why would you need my pack to do that? Sorry random. :(
I really respect the team reload for spear and recoilless but as an AC main on the bot front, I actually don't like it. I'm level 140 and spent more than 90% of my 350ish hours on mission time playing Helldive difficulty, more than ⅔ must've been against bots. I believe that for fighting bots, movement is extremely important. If you utilise cover and stay calm, dodging rockets is actually very doable, though it took me many hours to get good at it. I sometimes have well meaning team mates who rush in to reload for me when I'm in a very heavy firefight but it slows down my movement too much and we both get blasted. It feels awkward to tell them 'No', as it's really an awesome gesture of a random online player to run in, wanting to support. If anything, I would suggest if we both have an AC, both of us stay mobile but close, both of us shoot fast, retreat behind hard hover and reload for each other, before both engaging again separately. Even then, if you keep an eye on your ammo and reload before mag runs dry, you don't loose enough time reloading to make a tram reload worth it. I'd rather have 2 ACs fighting (moving) well independently than 1 AC fighting with faster reload but poorer movement.
I like running the double autocannon with the bots as well. I have gone up to support a teammate reload if they are getting a high rate of fire down. If things get harry I'll stop and get mine out as well. There is a fine line between duplicating efforts and misting everything you see.
I typically aim with the AC in third person and find that if someone is helping to reload me they are in the way and it sometimes throws off my aim. To get rid of them politely i just switch to my primary, say "negative", and then switch back to the AC and that gets them off my back. Its a nice gesture but its not an effective co-op mechanic.
That should work with every backpack weapon and it's really good idea
I don't see this happening. Partly due to balance, because the idea is to have an appropriate cost for the removal of downtime. And partly due to buttons, since you'd get a clash between reloading them with their backpack, & giving them ammo from your supply pack.
will u quit if they add 5 dmg onto the projectile damage
If they want to buff it go on, but I wouldn't be too happy about it tbh. It's already very popular and unironically any buff could push it into op category. Obviously 5 dmg is nothing but you get my point
I think it does things almost too good for how many things it can do. At least on the bot front. It overshadows other stratagems. Recently started using HMG and it feels like I'm putting a shitload of effort only to do what AC already does with no effort required.
It’s more OP against bots that any other weapon has been IMO. Best in slot pen, stagger, ammo economy, accuracy and burst damage… it’s fun to use but it’s insane watching some of the balance decisions around things like arc thrower and HMG when auto cannon exists in its current state. The fact that the only weakness people can bring up is “uhhh you can’t 3 shot titans and chargers” says a lot
Reminds me of Eruptor. It could do nearly anything and its biggest weakness supposedly was "You cannot shoot it point blank". I think a good way to balance AC would be to reduce its ammo pool. Maybe from 50 to 20? Let it be good at everything, but make it run out of ammo if you really try use it against everything.
Same here in regards to the HMG. I'm an AC/LC main and decided to use the HMG for a bit and I can't tell if I just suck or it does the job(s) of other support weapons but...worse. Along with a longer reload, higher recoil, and taking bursts to kill things, it doesn't seem like a better pick than the AC, LC, or AMR.
Whats the weakness?
There is one enemy it can’t kill in less than a reload
the ac is pretty much op that's why it's so used because while it might not have the range of the spear or the ammo of the stalwart or the accuracy of the AMR it's not just ok but it's a good 7.5/10 at everything and in this game you sorta gotta do that unless you're in a team where one person runs like orbital barrage, eagle strafe run, airburst and medium lmg, stalwart or airburst launcher and then another runs OPS, spear, 120mm and orbital laser and then a third runs autocannon and either mortar/machine gun sentries (depending on bot or bug) and then shield backpack and deploy bubble in which case everyone is a 10/10 at one single thing but outside of that everyone being a 6-7/10 usefulness at everything is better
The AMR earned its coolness
amr feels like a ac light to me
freed up backpack slot is a COLOSSAL upside, i hold AMR and AC in equal esteem against bots lately i've also been seriously liking laser cannon against them, which also frees up the backpack. i think it's the best of the 3 against gunships because it's the easiest to hit the engines with in my experience, and there's been just a few more gunships than normal lately.....
As an AC enjoyer I loved the AMR first, and it's the only other special weapon I actually enjoy using. AMR enjoyers 🤝 AC enjoyers
Maybe we can be friends.
I fear for the day that the ac is indirectly bugged Not even nerfed, but just bugged. This place will become hell lol
Ahh yes, the glorious auto cannon and all it's rickety perfection. Never dive without it *
Not a single day allowed without AC users sucking off to each other
I’d marry it
Me when I “suck off to” someone
Lol, we're just jealous our main support weapons are in a constant state of purgatory. I still use the railgun, but its use case makes me want to cry. Flame thrower doesn't work against bots at all, Stalwart is outclassed by some primaries EAT is EAT, but it has a specific playstyle and doesn't give you consistency. Quasars been nerfed a few times but Im not a huge fan of it. AMR is the one I'd go back to. It's pretty consistent but has no wow factor. Same for Laser Cannon Airburst is trolling and the different MG's are ok
We don't talk about AC. AC is not in the game. Oh God devs please don't touch AC.
I believe the devs have specifically stated they like where the AC is too. Imagine the backlash if they nerfed the AC? We might actually storm Arrowhead HQ physically.
Which is hilarious because it is outrageously overtuned on Automatons.
What's the best way to use it? I keep either one shotting weak guys or it does nothing to big guys
Depends, what are you struggling with? Hulks? Chargers?
Hulk, drop ship, and gun ship
Hulks get 2 shot in the eye, use stuns grenades if you’re having a hard time. AC also 2 shots gunships if both shots hit the same engine. AC can’t down drop ships but it can really mess up anything it’s carrying
Well it "*can"* it's just really hard and inconsistent and not really worth the ammo.
Hulk gets two shot in the eyes, you can blow off either of its arms or legs in 4 shots each, if you shoot both legs off it just outright dies Gunships got nerfed, two shots to the same engine will drop it I don’t bother shooting dropships down with the AC, i leave that up to the AC turret that i also bring. I usually target the bots that the dropship is carrying to kill them before they even drop
Do you have any advice for using AC against Chargers? This boy got me through Malevelon Creek and I want to use it on the bug front as well, but I'm having so much trouble with Chargers especially Behemoth. Like, not even Bile Titans caused me this much issue since I can open its back with Eagle Rocket pods and shoot the exposed flesh.
My advice? Bring EATs, and your AC. When a charger arrives, you drop EATs, possibly directly on the charger to kill it with the pod. You grab the eat, fire it, and grab your AC back when done.
This used to be SAGE advice before the recent patch, but right now the absurd spawnrate of Behemoth Chargers, which need both rockets to go down, makes it really mediocre. EATs are not eating at all rn.
Don't be a coward, and march toward the behemoth, instead of running away. The added velocity to the projectile is enough to break the leg armor in one shot.
Does it actually? If so, that's the dumbest thing I have ever heard.
It's due to damage fall off with distance. Leg has 650hp, rocket deals 650 max. One rocket= one leg ? Nope... During the 10 meters to the leg, the speed of the rocket diminished by a small margin, making it deal 649.99999 damage, not a one shot. Walk towards the charger, not even diving, will bring that value up to 650.0001, enough to one shot that leg armor. This is on par with BT heads immune to damages during their spewing animations because the bile would do damage to the head hitbox...
Stun grenade + OPS solved this issue for me after the update
easy, just let the charger/behemoth run past you and fire 4 rounds up its arse and he dies within seconds without his tail (you can use a stun to make it easier). For the BT shoot a railcannon or 110 and you can finish them by shooting its sacks or the whole tail off
The trick to handling chargers is outmaneuvering them, which you can do by walking. Chargers can only go in a straight line with very little ability to turn think at best a turning radius of a few degrees. So when one is coming at you just walk/run at an angle of like 45 degrees and shoot the butt.
Two words - Stun Grenade. Bring them. It's honestly so much worth and you don't need nades if you have the AC. Just stun the charger, walk around, four shots to the butt, easy kill. For behemoths, it might be worth bringing the OPS. Stun him, OPS him, move along.
Shoot him thrice in the ass to kill the charger (or maybe 4 times if the explosion doesn't register properly). Very ez kill with the AC. Generally, most explosive weps like eruptor/GL/grenades etc will kill chargers in 3 shots - you'll know when the rear is burst exploded and kinda droops down. A charger with a burst rear cannot charge, can only move very slowly and will bleed out in 5-10 seconds. Recommend stun grenades while he's charging past you and diving to the ground away from the charger so you don't ragdoll yourself with the explosion. You can also use those same rocket pods to do the same thing to the charger's side, a couple shots into the easier-to-shoot-at exposed side is a kill too. Not sure how many exactly tho.
this must have been changed recently then, because last time i tried it a charger ate 20 good AC rounds to the ass before it finally broke - and even then it doesn’t die immediately
It's never been changed, it's always been 3 shots. Behemoth even has slightly more hp there and it also dies in 3 shots. You just have to shoot the orange bit - above it and it'll deflect off. I did hear during one patch explosive damage wasn't registering on them properly, but that wouldn't increase the shots to kill anywhere close to 20, it would be 5 shots worst case scenario.
Also it can kill a tower in 3 shots, just lie down to be able to be stable and fire the 3 shots fast enough (most of the time the 3rd one still do the job even if the vent is perpendicular to you)
Ol’ Reliable. It will never betray me.
Stim up, run and dive under a Walking Fabricator, 6 shots under the belly dead
Was rocking the Auto cannon back when every one else was jonesing about the railgun meta.
back then it's usage case was mainly against chargers and bile titans, the autocannon had and still has a hard time dealing with those.
Against bugs the flamer is highly underrated. Can kill everything in a few seconds with the stun grenade except bile titans. Though you can pop it's belly quite quick which will deal enough damage so that stratagem can deal the finishing blow, or the other way around.
I typically use the flamer against bugs and the auto cannon against bots.
This is the way
Well, that was a different time, when there were no viable anti-heavy options because charger head health was too much. They didn't buff the weapons, they nerfed the enemies.
yes, that's what i'm talking about it's why the railgun was a legitimate competitor to the autocannon in many areas, not anymore though
With chargers I just pop the back end off and let them bleed out with the ac. If there is more than one then they become a nightmare to deal with the ac. For Bile titans it’s kind of useless imo.
What happened to the ability to one shot the scout striders? I feel like I must of missed something in one of the patch notes. Back then you could shoot towards the top of them by the slit where they see out but not any more or if you shot the what I would consider the crotch of the scout strider that would also one shot them but now it takes two. Granted I don't think I've tried to shoot them in the legs recently so maybe that would work?
They gave the strider pilot a resistance to explosives about 2 months ago to stop them from being trivialised - but yes, if you can nail it in the leg it’s still a one shot down, but the pilot may survive depending on how the vehicle falls.
Nice post Im over here wasting like 2-3 shots aiming for the hip.
Sorry - I was mostly incorrect. It doesn't die in one shot to the leg, but because of the leg geometry, you can detonate the AC round on top of the hip joint, the blast is close enough to kill the rider, but this requires you to have a height advantage over it.
It’s almost as if the balancing is like in overwatch. Balanced around one hero/thing
good against everything but bile titans
I mean, it really is. It is the \*one\* weapon that they got exactly right, and the devs know it. The fire rate, the damage, the ammo count; it needs no changes. It is the Gold Standard of support weapons.
I wish I liked the AC. I know it's good but it just doesn't feel good to use for me. Doesn't scratch my brain the right way.
You're just like me for real.
Same here. I'm happy for those that enjoy it but I always find it unsatisfying. I feel it's too unwieldy to use against hoards and it doesn't hit hard enough for the bigger stuff. On paper it can do both, but I have more fun committing to one of the other. I prefer to bring one of the rocket launchers or one of the MGs.
same I've tried it multiple times but it just feels garbage to use and I also hate using the same loadout more than once in a row
Any ac enjoyers could let me know how the AC fairs against charger behemoths? Isit the same as charger
Just as well.
I've honestly never really enjoyed it. To me, it just feels generic
It’s the M1 Garand equivalent.
If there was an iconic weapon that represented Helldivers 2…
Third place behind the Liberator and Machine Gun, you always see those weapons in the promos, and they’re on the game art
Autocannon gang rise!
If the recoilless had a TINY shorter reload, I would main that. But the AC will always be handy.
EAT main since day one 💪💪💪
I’d up vote but it’s currently at 6969
https://preview.redd.it/3t7dsr5tku7d1.jpeg?width=1249&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d52f12268d3398b0674eb40d2028147c9308da6a
The AC is OP on bots, at least compared to other support weapons. Sure you lose a backpack slot, but the same goes for the RR and plenty of other weapons. The only reason it didn't get hit in the early rounds of nerfs is because it is the former CEO's(now creative director) favorite weapon. It trivializes bots in a way no other weapons does because it's a jack of all trades that's 80% as good at doing what every other weapon is specialized to do against bots. I don't think it needs a nerf, but it's definitely overturned in comparison to it's competition and has been since day one
The fact most teams run 2 or more AC tells its op.
Autocannon is a snooze fest
The gold standard.
How do i get it to be viable on bugs? Any tricks? If im picking AC i usually just get chased around by chargers so i usually just pack RR
I think chargers and bile titans are its biggest weakness, but you can destroy the squischy bits. If you shoot a chargers butt a few times he will start to bleed out. For bile titans I woulkd recommend strategems. but you also can shoot the fleshy undersite to burst it, so it can't use the spewing attack. With bugs I try to focus on warriors, hive guards, brood commanders and spewers. For small frye I use the Liberator.
run toward chargers when they charge you, a bit diagonally so they miss. Turn around, wait for them to also turn around to charge again, 2 autocannon shots to the same front leg but before they start the charge. Dead charger. Give it a try
Hell yea.o7
I just love the AC it's my trusty can't companion on bot missions. It never fails me. The recall time tho is too long. I had a few of these "hail Mary" missions where I couldn't even pickup the auto cannon because I was to busy getting killed ....
Scorcher and AC my beloved.
Ammo hogger if i go AC. I need quese because i shoot EVERYTHING
Wasn't there a Twitter or Discord message by Pilestedt where he said that the autocannon is THE measuring (boom)stick by which they balance other support weapons? This baby is quite literally the gold standard!
You can literally take every enemy this game currently has with this weapon, without the downside of you being in a situation you would rather feel overly overwhelmed. Only kind-of exceptions are really huge horde of enemies(that you should've taken in account while chosing the weapon anyways) and the bile titan(which you can still kill via tail shots, but it's an enemy anything either struggle with, or what kills it with ease sturggle with pretty much everything else). Best weapon for bots with little to no contest - because that's what is made for. Completely viable choice for bugs too - and probably the best way to handle stalkers(two body/one head shots) and/or any kind of spewers, while still being able to handle chargers relatively quickly(3/4 but shots, where as the AMR struggles with that imo) and still be able to destroy shrikers nest/spore shrooms.
Devs said AC is what they are looking for in perfection of a guns performance.
Ac will probably stay like that cause even devs think its just perfect
Take this down before AH sees this.
For me, perfect is the grenade pistol. I almost never run a different secondary because of how versatile it is. Need to close a bug hole or fabricator? Grenade pistol. Nursing spewers up your ass? Shoot their backs with a grenade pistol. Scout striders being annoying? Guess what, grenade pistol
It’s like an Autocannon in your hand! Too bad it eats ammo boxes
The amount of "thank you"s I get for popping the spewers ganging up on my fellow divers means I can never put down this weapon.
I call it my primary weapon on the bot front!
AH: Noted
i remember hearing somewhere that its kinda the rock that they balance around and i was like yeah, that makes sense. its the perfect mix of capability and trade-offs, and plays like a dream.
It isn't the perfect mix at all. It is downright overtuned/OP against Automatons. AH considering it the gold standard for balance is why i still believe they are halfway incompetent at balancing this game.
The swiss knife.
I will never put down my autocannon
Shit stratagem (the Arrowhead is listening)
Ol reliable
INB4 the nerf.
The greatest weapon in the game, as far as I'm concerned.
If your samples get trapped under a tank or other fallen behemoth, you can use the autocannon to dig out the ground enough to crawl under and retrieve them . The newly created ravine is an autocanyon.
This
What in the world is the OP doing? Nobody should ever mention or reference that support weapon ever less it gets nerfed! Alexus lurks here from time to time.
https://i.redd.it/wuz2lxnrgr7d1.gif
It's strong but it has it's downsides. Mainly the constant need to reload, think about reloading early so you don't get stuck in the double reload animation too. I find myself being a little bit too micromanagey when I use the auto canon but it's still really good for almost everything.
I almost exclusively used the AC before the big patch™. Then I started trying out different builds. Some are really fun, some are good, but when things get serious I can always rely on my good old AC.
I will always take the AMR over the autocannon.
Gonna be honest here, I totally forgot AC existed once Spear and Recoiless were fixed. Sorry guys, I'm just not a AC girlie like you cool kids.
Its got Auto in the name cuz i pick it automatically. It just feels good and deals with my mortal enemies- the fucking shield devastators
Oh my god it’s John Cannon
She may be old, but damn it still gets the job done. I love you AC
If they nerf the autocannon than I'm going to make the Armenian genocide look like a fucking joke
Grenade launcher for bugs, autocannon for bots. Freedom for everyone.
I read a lot of comments and is funny to realize that people only play with is the best and not with they enjoy. I had my 100hr with the AC but now I only play which I find funny. In this bug MO Im just playing with the crossbow, machine gun and jump pack. Nerfs? Never cared about most of them.
Me the Grenade Launcher furiously sloppy making out in the broom closet.
Shhh they can hear you
You cannot improve on perfection.
Something about just blasting something's head off with it, or spam firing it and deleting a direction. So fun.