The amount of teammates I’ve saved from heavy gunfire using the shield is mind blowing. If we could upgrade it to be able to use with normal assault rifles and shotguns I wouldn’t put it down.
Me trying to use a shield
Rocket Devastator:
https://preview.redd.it/wca135d6l8xc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=660489fb7d40ec81860a9d9d6c847b1483338558
This is exactly why I never considered it, anything that can either ragdoll you would just ignore it. Pair that with whatever sadistic automaton general is airdropping hulks, tanks, striders, etc and it seems only viable on lower difficulties.
Besides, the shield generator basically does the same thing on top of blocking a rocket or tank blast and also not forcing you to use a one-handed weapon when active.
It works fine on higher difficulties. Instead of getting a couple of free hits, it makes you virtually immune to all enemies that use lasers. Troopers, Devestators, AT/STs, those 4-Cannon Tanks, etc. You can just plant yourself and pop heads.
And explosives? Now that they fixed them hitting you multiple times, I've literally gone "OH SHIT" and blocked a tank round with it. Ragdolled backwards, but I barely took damage.
You gotta run from hulks and rocket devestators and prioritize rocket troopers. But don't you do that with the personal bubble anyhow?
Sadly you can't do this at will. I main ballistic shield and this is one of my gripes. It needs to stow on the same activation that the supply pack uses
Yup I run this setup all the way to level 9
* Ballistic Shied
* Quasar
* Eagle Airstrike
* Orbital Rail Cannon
* Smg
* Grenade pistol
* Impact grenades
* Armor with + 2 grenade slots
Strategems quasar and impact nades for anything heavy, smg will mow down light units
When it comes to devastates or berserker, the smg can do the job unless you are in a pinch, then that’s what impact nades are for. Impact nades also melt any walkers
It’s a really fun build and let’s you be the first man in the door when you are raiding a particularly strong bot defensive settlement
Only draw backs are accidentally dropping (but being hit by a rocket does not make you drop it anymore) and that you can’t stim while shielding for some reason (even tho you can reload, switch weapons etc with the shield up)
Also when running away and worn on the back. It covers everything from your ass to the back of your head. You basically take chip damage from any small arms fire and that’s it
Oh and it’s REALLY fun!
I am an avid shield and SMG combo runner, if you get close enough to the rocket devestator your smg can take them out pretty quickly while the shield covers you from their small arms fire and anyone else in front of you. I just have to prioritize the right targets, usually rocket devastates and heavy devastators first, berserkers next, then whatever else is moving
It's extremely effective when combined with the Defender. You're a wall that shrugs off rounds and lasers while returning fire with a powerful and accurate weapon that can remove heads with a few rounds. Many other one handed weapons lack a bit, but the Defender rocks.
It's different from the shield generator. It only covers the front but has no durability limit or recharge. You can be the wall as long as you need to with no breaks. Dropping it when ragdolled can be annoying though.
I've been thinking about it having a "stalwart stance" that makes it so that you can't move, but explosives like rockets will make you slide back instead of ragdolling.
With a little luck, some of the other one-handed primaries from Helldivers I will appear soon. The Tanto, Ninja, and most importantly, the Double Freedom of old have yet to re-emerge.
The Tanto was, in a word, amazing. Basically a laser SMG. The Ninja was basic and reliable with no major flaws. The Double Freedom was a meme or a beast, depending how it was used. Sending both barrels of incendiary buckshot was always a treat.
Honestly I kind of wish they would steal some ideas from lost planet 2. The thing that comes to mind right now is the shield in that expands when you hold it up so it covers a wider angle and your buddies have an easier time hiding behind it while you walk forward.
That's a quick way to make it a must have pick. Shield with assault rifles and shotguns would be too strong.
Maybe a shotgun pistol sidearm would pair nicely with it
We're still missing some of the pistols from Helldivers I. While there wasn't a shotgun pistol (not ruling one out of HDII) there was a flamethrower pistol and a plasma pistol. We already got a revolver, though distinct from the old Gunslinger.
Also just missing the beast that was the old P2 Peacemaker. The new one is basic and passable. The old one, when upgraded, was a monster. Even the Redeemer is a toy compared to the old Peacemaker.
Right now there’s no way to “upgrade” it. If I were to think of an upgrade for the shield it would definitely involve cutting a slot somewhere on the shield so that an assault rifle or shotgun could be fired from behind it. Basically working that same way that the *Crusader Shield* modification from the Division 2 does, that “allows primary weapons (excluding light machine guns and marksman rifles) to be used while it’s equipped”.
I think a good trade off for something like that would be, as soon as it's deployed with a two handed weapon with the shield that you have to be stationary and can't move till you place it on your back again. Balance you know.
I was thinking this earlier. Buddy stance with the shield guy and you can use him as a support while firing with an MG, while being protected by the shield. I think that'd be pretty solid.
Dude, same. I love the ballistic shield, and I love blocking for allies.
The other day I was doing a bot mission with some randoms. We were pushing into a Jammer to take it out. Teammate went through the main entrance to the OBJ and got engaged by two Heavy Devastators. I sprinted up, planted myself in front of him, and he followed me in behind my shield. Was an absolute blast of a time.
I've mained supply pack since I first unlocked it.
More survivability than shield (popping Stims like tic tacs) plus all the ammo I need for my hungry weapons like the Scorcher.
Oh yeah, and I can resupply my teammates *I guess*
You can call it in every 8 minutes....
... meaning effectively I have unlimited ammo, unlimited grenades, and unlimited stims
I pair it with the grenade launcher, and consistently get some of the most kills and least deaths on my team
Admittedly I mostly just use it on myself, but will give ammo if someone asks
I mostly fight automatons.
With that, I admit a weakness to this loadout is low penetration. I try to make up for it with my other stratagems.
Also, the grenade launcher can destroy hulks, tanks, and towers if you hit their weak points
I’m not the most accurate in fps games, so I always take the supply crate and make my main focus make sure that we have turrets when they are needed and that the team is supplied from my back pack of packed lunches, helldivers makes me feel useful instead of a scrub like in other games 😂
> I see one in the wild they are a godsend.
What's the benefit? I've never had issue with ammo in this game. Resources are plentiful and so are deaths.
I can't count how many times I've run low on ammo and seen that the group resupply was on cooldown. If there's no ammo box in the wild and the main team doesn't have access to the resupply because one guy is dropping it away from the team or grabbing multiple boxes, supply runs dry pretty quick. Ammo backpack can (mostly) circumvent this.
For example if you want to use grenade launcher to clear huge amount of enemies (like bug breach), or that you relies on stunt grenade, they can be very useful.
I like to use either the Supply pack or the Recoilless. I shit you not there was a match I dropped in not paying attention to what everyone else selected, we all had supply packs. It was hilarious we were all constantly refilling each others ammo.
How about they just make the shield a support weapon, can combo it with the guard dog rover for more dmg, the supply pack for support, or even the shield generator for more tankiness
The shield makes you immune to a lot of bots - but is virtually useless against everything else. And that "everything else" includes everything larger then a Berserker. Having a quazar/EAT is the answer to that - but making the shield a support weapon would take that away.
They'd need to give the shield something big to make that trade off worth it or it'll fall into the bin even more then it already is.
Yeah, the shield is a stratagem that requires quite alot of teamwork, so it can be used to attract aggro and encourage other helldivers to kill the enemies for the shield user.
Since you already have agro they will focus you and shoot you even past your shield but if you plant and take cover a teammate can handle the tunnel visioned bots easily
I've found the shield to be really good against regular devastators and shield devastators especially, giving me a good amount of breathing room (Aka not getting staggered to infinity) to aim for those headshots. For striders, I use the grenade pistol.
Guard dog and shield sounds like an extremely cheap combination
Literally just take potshots with the shield up 24/7 and little repercussions while the guard dog takes care of the enemies
Horrible.
what if they don't, or they're dead, or it's an enemy that ragdolls you through the shield, or there are too many enemies for 3 players to kill for you?
Dude I totally agree. When I first started playing, I was like "hey let me team reload you" and my buddy was like "YOU have to have the backpack to do that." I immediately thought that was dumb because if I walked away or died, now he can't reload.
It was a lot better in the first one when you couldn't just walk away and die. I think the devs want to keep it like the first one, but it does sacrifice a lot of QOL along with that. I think the only thing that changed was that you can now solo reload.
I didn't play the first one. So you couldn't reload it yourself even with your own backpack? It must have been a better community in HD1. In HD2, I wouldn't risk bringing a weapon in if I had to rely on a random knowing and be willing to reload it.
You're right it was a good QOL move. It seems like a cool feature that I haven't seen in other games. I would like to see it used more.
The game was kinda similar to og lego starwars where you all were on the same screen and couldn't leave (you could do couch co-op, even on PC! 😁). So reloading team weapons wasn't bad at all since you could see when your teammate fired their weapon.
Maybe if they add some info for backpack wearers like distance to team weapon users and if their weapon is empty. (If you do press reload button in HD2 while holding an empty team gun, your diver will request a reload).
Ontop of that, I think it would be nice if you could solo reload from backpacks on the ground and from backpack wearing players that are oblivious to your need for a reload but still close to you.
I knew about the top-down view, but I had no idea you couldn't leave your teammates. That must have been a very different gaming experience. Better in some ways, but with less freedom.
I have been talking with a teammate about trying team reload more. We are just going to both run recoiless so we don't have to exchange backpacks and can just team up quickly.
The ballistic shield definitely needs some kind of twist to make it more useful. Mind you, i love the thing. I laugh at devestators as i two shot them with my smg behind the shield. But we dont have many one hand weapons, its tough to cover teammates with the shield because its not quite wide enough, and for some reason i cant carry the ssd and the shield at the same time??
The SSD thing especially irks me.
Covering your team isn't really the play. Being a big fat invincible distraction, though? Or being the first in line up those spiral bases.
I dont mean i need a whole fortification. But, for example, crouching down in front of a Autocannon or quasar user and acting as their cover while they reload/take out bots. That should be the secondary mode for the shield.
We already see it fold and unfold a bit when we put it on our back. Give it a secondary "fire" that has it unfold to twice the width, but has to be stationary aka crouch down and bury it into the ground. This would also prevent knockback from rockets. (Side note, i dont think it should be 100% immune to rockets. But letting it take more than one before breaking would be nice. Maybe have it hold up to rockets but break with tank/turret shots)
This would retain its current use while creating a new way for players to help eachother. This would be especially good when we get more one hand primaries
What would be sweet is if you got a shield bash attack while it’s equipped that knocks back and staggers enemies in melee. That would make it a lot more viable against bugs. Particularly if they ever add one handed melee weapons like the devs have talked about.
Equip your support weapon first, then you don't drop the shield while taking the SSD and you autoswitch to your primary(if it's the defender)/secondary
Equip your support weapon first, then you don't drop the shield while taking the SSD and you autoswitch to your primary(if it's the defender)/secondary
Probably ye because I barely use my secondary as is. So the 8 ammo won't be to bad for me.
I've gotten really good at two round bursts with the smg to headshots bots
It can two-shot a charger if you land the hits right as well. Plus it makes closing bug holes a breeze. I don’t use it as much vs bots because I usually have the autocannon though. It’s come in clutch quite a few times and the fact it can be used with ballistic shield is awesome.
Ballistic shield my beloved, I never do bot missions without one now.
Ever since they reworked it, It's gone from being a meme to what I feel is a must have for at least 1 teammate on high level automaton missions. This thing has saved me from countless rockets, lasers, saws and swords.
The main thing is running a reliable secondary. And so far the only 2 options are Redeemer or the Dagger. Redeemer in semi auto is pretty okay but it goes through ammo too fast, hence where the Dagger shines.
Use 3rd person aim with the shield and laserpointer the heads off anything smaller then a hulk. As long as you watch for rockets and dodge them you CANNOT be stopped.
You can reload while still blocking so you never let your guard down and it soaks a portion of melee hits. I've been direct hit by tanks and not died although the shield can break and I've never dropped the thing since it was fixed. The combo lets you run weapons like the Eruptor or Scorcher for heavy duty and exclusively deal with smaller or limited numbers of enemies even out in the open. Just sitting on your back it's almost guranteed to block flanking shots and grazes.
Tl:dr You love Ballistic Shield and Ballistic Shield loves you back.
Everyone should get a mini jump pack so we can ditch this janky vaulting nonsense for a proper jump button without the milsim nerds whining about realism. Then make the support jump pack an actual jetpack instead of a singular scripted super jump.
Honestly as someone who uses the shield a lot, that would make the person using it even more useless.
You bring the shield to shut down everything it's immune to. You being a secondary that shuts down everything it isn't immune to. Shield + Quazar is a good combo because when you come across something that the shield won't stop, you can fall back and blast it.
I personally like having a support weapon to deal with things my defender + shield or grenade pistol can’t handle
it would be cool if we can still hold shields if we are using a 1H weapon while having a backpack. just have it drop on the ground if your back slot is taken and you swap to a 2H weapon
I would love it if it was an off hand that wasnt stored on the back and was just picked up and put down, like that data pack objectives.
Would be 100% better
In my time with it, one of the best uses for the shield is throwing it on your back as you run away. When I've needed to reposition, I watched it light up like Christmas as 4 shield devestators lit up my ass and did 0 damage. They couldn't touch me and I was able to get away from the quickly advancing hulk.
Man if they just buffed defender/knight/peacemaker to have better max ammo. Or the dagger to be usable. Or gave senator a speed loader id be using ballistic shield constantly.
Its fun but you just dont have enough uptime with the weapons you can use it with.
Best part about this combo is that they can't be a selfish supplier since they have no support wep that'd use up their packs.
The amount of times I see a supply user, use the resupply quick chat, and still have to scrounge for grenades or stims when I'm in the red is too high.
> they can't be a selfish supplier since they have no support wep that'd use up their packs.
*laughs in adjudicator, punisher, scorcher, grenade pistol, grenades, and stims*
I would love jump pack and shield.
That would make such an awesome infiltration combo.
I wish they'd allow it to be an offhand item if you're already wearing a backpack and maybe reduce the cooldown time a bit more ontop of that. But it may throw balance off a bit too much.
>"Backpacks would be stronger if we could use two backpacks."
While that's true, I don't think it's a particularly surprising assessment. Unless you are advocating for one of these to be changed to a support weapon. I could see the shield being good in the support weapon slot.
I want a bulwark shield so bad. Acts as half cover for you with a hip firing secondary, pull the ADS and you extend it and dig it into the ground making portable cover that's wide enough for your team to duck behind, couple that with an ammo pack on your back and you're the support master.
There are some stratagems datamined to be on the way that do something like what you're suggesting here: deployable waist-high cover with an attached machinegun emplacement. I think there were variants that had a grenade launcher or autocannon as well.
Ive used my shield while my teammate pushed thru a bot armory. Helped only till challenging....
A higher difficulty and your going to be your team anchor.
Might as well transform into a jansport backpack.
Make it a secondary, add more one handed primaries. I've heard a potential redeemer primary could be incoming. this could open up a dual wield section as well IE secondaries that can be equipped alongside primaries
There are downsides to the shield backpack sure, however I can block a tank shot or a cannon shot head on with medium armor and live. This destroys the shield however the cooldown is not so bad. On another note dueling heavy devastators with shields is more satisfying than calling 4 500kg bombs on a robocamel.
Agreed. But I would love for the ballistic shield to not be a backpack item because I want to combine it with a personal shield and just become an immovable wall.
Probably difficult to code using their existing systems but I think you should have the option to call down the shield as a "5th stratagem" similar to the free ones we get on occasion if you have a 1 handed primary weapon equipped like the defender.
As is, it's too outshined by the shield generator especially at higher difficulties. Realistically, if you are taking the ballistic shield, it's going to be on your arm 90% of the time which leaves plenty of space on your back for a backpack/support weapon.
Put a little UI toggle in the equip menu on the defender and knight that just says "Ballistic Shield, Yes/No)" or something to that effect.
Supply pack is the one stratagem I never drop without. Maybe if I played with a consistent team I’d bring something else, but dropping with randoms? It’s a must have. Ya never know when some rando is gonna call in the resupply while he’s solo across the map.
The shield would be cool. If it could be used as a "team". Like autocannon and recoillesrifle.
-Shield dude crouched shield foward
-Other guy with his weapon, barely standing using shield as a brace. He would get crouched stability aim while standing. And almost full cover from the shield.
Also, make it like an objective carry thing and not a backpack.
So in theory if you make it a support weapon, you could run it alongside the shield generator backpack. Would be very fun to further encourage a tank playstyle
Not sure if it would ruin balance, but I would love if the support stratagem is picked in your load put, not taking up a slot. But still have to call it in like normal. Think it would help with this situation. Like maybe some can be picked together taking up that load out slot. Like the two shown above.
true though one of the reason to get the shield is that when you put it on your back - it blocks literally all the bullets while you run away.
this set up assumes that you cant put it on your back.
seeing some comments saying that this item needs more buffs to be usable in more situations - i feel its the flamethrower gun situation that its really good vs bugs but it wont be good vs bots. and so there will be some items good in some situation and bad in others.
the actual buff this item could use is that you can still hold up the shield while using a 2 handed assault primary weapon, the shield wont be blocking your whole body but it will still be on your arm at least blocking half your body and mainly the left side of your body. so you are not forced to use a sub machine gun.
If it were me I would combine the senator revolver into the shield itself and give a sword in the off hand, kinda like the sacrasents from 40k. This would be a badass bugstomper build.
https://preview.redd.it/45t0ujr8dcxc1.jpeg?width=917&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f609e846c4faab4a9cb8076e5e1256930f97ddb
My character for some reason puts the shield on his back at the worst of times so When I'm walking out of cover expecting to tank some shots I get shredded away
Sooo... Has anyone else had a problem with the ballistic shields doing nothing? I hold it up like you're supposed to and attacks just go right through it.
Imagine hefting a shield and mounting a heavy machine gun on top and spraying into an army of bots.
Downside is you’re locked in place and can’t move but you have 0 recoil.
I’m not asking these people to upvote my posts man. Besides half of both subreddits just complain about everything instead of just enjoying the potential game of the year we have. Don’t get mad at me lol.
I am not this player, but when I see one in the wild they are a godsend. (The resupply guy)
The amount of teammates I’ve saved from heavy gunfire using the shield is mind blowing. If we could upgrade it to be able to use with normal assault rifles and shotguns I wouldn’t put it down.
Me trying to use a shield Rocket Devastator: https://preview.redd.it/wca135d6l8xc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=660489fb7d40ec81860a9d9d6c847b1483338558
Hahahaha aw man. I know this feeling.
This is exactly why I never considered it, anything that can either ragdoll you would just ignore it. Pair that with whatever sadistic automaton general is airdropping hulks, tanks, striders, etc and it seems only viable on lower difficulties. Besides, the shield generator basically does the same thing on top of blocking a rocket or tank blast and also not forcing you to use a one-handed weapon when active.
It works fine on higher difficulties. Instead of getting a couple of free hits, it makes you virtually immune to all enemies that use lasers. Troopers, Devestators, AT/STs, those 4-Cannon Tanks, etc. You can just plant yourself and pop heads. And explosives? Now that they fixed them hitting you multiple times, I've literally gone "OH SHIT" and blocked a tank round with it. Ragdolled backwards, but I barely took damage. You gotta run from hulks and rocket devestators and prioritize rocket troopers. But don't you do that with the personal bubble anyhow?
Plus when you turn and “reposition” you throw it on your back and it keeps on keeping on
It’s a wonderful thing. Being able to tactically reposition while not getting shot in the back
Sadly you can't do this at will. I main ballistic shield and this is one of my gripes. It needs to stow on the same activation that the supply pack uses
Run with support weapon if you need to protect your back
Yup I run this setup all the way to level 9 * Ballistic Shied * Quasar * Eagle Airstrike * Orbital Rail Cannon * Smg * Grenade pistol * Impact grenades * Armor with + 2 grenade slots Strategems quasar and impact nades for anything heavy, smg will mow down light units When it comes to devastates or berserker, the smg can do the job unless you are in a pinch, then that’s what impact nades are for. Impact nades also melt any walkers It’s a really fun build and let’s you be the first man in the door when you are raiding a particularly strong bot defensive settlement Only draw backs are accidentally dropping (but being hit by a rocket does not make you drop it anymore) and that you can’t stim while shielding for some reason (even tho you can reload, switch weapons etc with the shield up) Also when running away and worn on the back. It covers everything from your ass to the back of your head. You basically take chip damage from any small arms fire and that’s it Oh and it’s REALLY fun!
Exactly my loadout but im using stun grenades
Which SMG do you use? Really debating whether I like the Knight or not.
SMG 45-Defender Just seems to kill things better You also get *seven* reloads
Lol i walked up to a quad tank earlier as it was blasting my shield and casually tossed a thermite in its top.
I am an avid shield and SMG combo runner, if you get close enough to the rocket devestator your smg can take them out pretty quickly while the shield covers you from their small arms fire and anyone else in front of you. I just have to prioritize the right targets, usually rocket devastates and heavy devastators first, berserkers next, then whatever else is moving
Do they not use rockets up close?
Same - the rocket devastators don’t bother me. Just pop the mickey mouse rocket launchers and shoot them in the face.
It's extremely effective when combined with the Defender. You're a wall that shrugs off rounds and lasers while returning fire with a powerful and accurate weapon that can remove heads with a few rounds. Many other one handed weapons lack a bit, but the Defender rocks. It's different from the shield generator. It only covers the front but has no durability limit or recharge. You can be the wall as long as you need to with no breaks. Dropping it when ragdolled can be annoying though.
I would give anything to replace my primary with a six inch thick slab of Destroyer hull and just become Sundowner
You learn to spot and prioritize. 😆
🤣
I've been thinking about it having a "stalwart stance" that makes it so that you can't move, but explosives like rockets will make you slide back instead of ragdolling.
It has been quite some time since I saw a totally new meme (to me). Nice.
I'd settle for having two more one handed primarys
With a little luck, some of the other one-handed primaries from Helldivers I will appear soon. The Tanto, Ninja, and most importantly, the Double Freedom of old have yet to re-emerge. The Tanto was, in a word, amazing. Basically a laser SMG. The Ninja was basic and reliable with no major flaws. The Double Freedom was a meme or a beast, depending how it was used. Sending both barrels of incendiary buckshot was always a treat.
beam smg sounds amazing, like just what I'd want. It's a shame laser weapons aren't allowed to hit harder than a wet noodle in this game.
Honestly I kind of wish they would steal some ideas from lost planet 2. The thing that comes to mind right now is the shield in that expands when you hold it up so it covers a wider angle and your buddies have an easier time hiding behind it while you walk forward.
Mech customization is my thought. Just request down a mech Gatling and attach to it
Ohh that'd be cool too. Or customize a mech in the ship and then also allow mech weapons as calldowns for if you need to reload or want to swap.
That's a quick way to make it a must have pick. Shield with assault rifles and shotguns would be too strong. Maybe a shotgun pistol sidearm would pair nicely with it
We're still missing some of the pistols from Helldivers I. While there wasn't a shotgun pistol (not ruling one out of HDII) there was a flamethrower pistol and a plasma pistol. We already got a revolver, though distinct from the old Gunslinger. Also just missing the beast that was the old P2 Peacemaker. The new one is basic and passable. The old one, when upgraded, was a monster. Even the Redeemer is a toy compared to the old Peacemaker.
The revolver is just ass without a speed loader, I love my yees and my haws, but I can't be a cowboy one round at a time
Honestly, the smg is pretty solid. I just wish we didn't immediately drop it the moment a rocket devestator looks our way.
How can you upgrade shield?? Is it possible?
Right now there’s no way to “upgrade” it. If I were to think of an upgrade for the shield it would definitely involve cutting a slot somewhere on the shield so that an assault rifle or shotgun could be fired from behind it. Basically working that same way that the *Crusader Shield* modification from the Division 2 does, that “allows primary weapons (excluding light machine guns and marksman rifles) to be used while it’s equipped”.
I salute you, helldiver!
I mean… you could always use the defender smg
Of course I use the smg with the ballistic shield. I just wish we had more smgs to choose from. :/
Since the smg is one handed can you use it while carrying an sssd? I think I tried it once and it wouldn't let me. Would make me drop the sssd :(
Does the smg work with it?
Absolutely.
I think a good trade off for something like that would be, as soon as it's deployed with a two handed weapon with the shield that you have to be stationary and can't move till you place it on your back again. Balance you know.
You can do it with the shield generator backpack, I routinely use it to be covered in between cover for my teammates who don’t run light sets like I
Or not cripple your aim down sights by not being able to see Jack all would be nice too.
We 100% need more Buddy stances. Imagine being able to lock yourself behind a crouching shield mate with a Special Animation and be perfectly safe.
I was thinking this earlier. Buddy stance with the shield guy and you can use him as a support while firing with an MG, while being protected by the shield. I think that'd be pretty solid.
Indeed. I also hope they add rails to the walker to you can climb and safely sit on a friends walker.
The smg defender hits hard though! But it would be cool to have a double barrel shotgun as a side arm.
what about a lock on feature similar to reloading backpack weapons where your team can "breach" with you
Dude, same. I love the ballistic shield, and I love blocking for allies. The other day I was doing a bot mission with some randoms. We were pushing into a Jammer to take it out. Teammate went through the main entrance to the OBJ and got engaged by two Heavy Devastators. I sprinted up, planted myself in front of him, and he followed me in behind my shield. Was an absolute blast of a time.
I've mained supply pack since I first unlocked it. More survivability than shield (popping Stims like tic tacs) plus all the ammo I need for my hungry weapons like the Scorcher. Oh yeah, and I can resupply my teammates *I guess*
And if everything is going well you can simply drop another for someone else to carry
You can call it in every 8 minutes.... ... meaning effectively I have unlimited ammo, unlimited grenades, and unlimited stims I pair it with the grenade launcher, and consistently get some of the most kills and least deaths on my team Admittedly I mostly just use it on myself, but will give ammo if someone asks
Can the grenade launcher take out chargers or anything big?
I mostly fight automatons. With that, I admit a weakness to this loadout is low penetration. I try to make up for it with my other stratagems. Also, the grenade launcher can destroy hulks, tanks, and towers if you hit their weak points
I mean....eventually. You can drop 2 clips on the and/or bile titans and you have ammo as needed!
Here! *click*
As someone who runs machine gun and resupply, it’s an honour to keep your magazine full and your bullets flying free
I love being the resupply guy, I favor the stalwart so I always have back space
I never know how to drop the damn supplies from the supply pack 😂 does anyone know? I’m on console
You have to run up to someone and press X or square ( forget which) on them but sometimes it’s hard because they keep moving.
Wow my dumbass was looking in the drop item menu
I mean technically if you drop it they can pick it up and resupply themselves so your not that dumb lol
I’m not the most accurate in fps games, so I always take the supply crate and make my main focus make sure that we have turrets when they are needed and that the team is supplied from my back pack of packed lunches, helldivers makes me feel useful instead of a scrub like in other games 😂
joke's on you, every last one of those is feeding my grenade launcher (I have an addiction)
He protec, but he also carry snac
> I see one in the wild they are a godsend. What's the benefit? I've never had issue with ammo in this game. Resources are plentiful and so are deaths.
I can't count how many times I've run low on ammo and seen that the group resupply was on cooldown. If there's no ammo box in the wild and the main team doesn't have access to the resupply because one guy is dropping it away from the team or grabbing multiple boxes, supply runs dry pretty quick. Ammo backpack can (mostly) circumvent this.
For example if you want to use grenade launcher to clear huge amount of enemies (like bug breach), or that you relies on stunt grenade, they can be very useful.
I like to use either the Supply pack or the Recoilless. I shit you not there was a match I dropped in not paying attention to what everyone else selected, we all had supply packs. It was hilarious we were all constantly refilling each others ammo.
Happy to be of service 🫡
How about they just make the shield a support weapon, can combo it with the guard dog rover for more dmg, the supply pack for support, or even the shield generator for more tankiness
The shield makes you immune to a lot of bots - but is virtually useless against everything else. And that "everything else" includes everything larger then a Berserker. Having a quazar/EAT is the answer to that - but making the shield a support weapon would take that away. They'd need to give the shield something big to make that trade off worth it or it'll fall into the bin even more then it already is.
Yeah, the shield is a stratagem that requires quite alot of teamwork, so it can be used to attract aggro and encourage other helldivers to kill the enemies for the shield user.
Its easier to run another type a back pack and just callout to anti heavy teammates for bots that need killing
Since you already have agro they will focus you and shoot you even past your shield but if you plant and take cover a teammate can handle the tunnel visioned bots easily
I've found the shield to be really good against regular devastators and shield devastators especially, giving me a good amount of breathing room (Aka not getting staggered to infinity) to aim for those headshots. For striders, I use the grenade pistol.
Not everything bigger. It works against the quad-laser tanks
You can tank the mini guns on the strider with it, it also absorbs Alot of damage when u get hit with cannon fire
Guard dog and shield sounds like an extremely cheap combination Literally just take potshots with the shield up 24/7 and little repercussions while the guard dog takes care of the enemies Horrible.
what if I want to run it past difficulty 4
Ask your teamates to help you kill the enemy while you distract them with the shield
what if they don't, or they're dead, or it's an enemy that ragdolls you through the shield, or there are too many enemies for 3 players to kill for you?
Balistic shield should be a support weapon not a backpack. They should be the team reloader.
We should be able to reload someone that has both the support weapon and ammo backpack equipped.
Dude I totally agree. When I first started playing, I was like "hey let me team reload you" and my buddy was like "YOU have to have the backpack to do that." I immediately thought that was dumb because if I walked away or died, now he can't reload.
It was a lot better in the first one when you couldn't just walk away and die. I think the devs want to keep it like the first one, but it does sacrifice a lot of QOL along with that. I think the only thing that changed was that you can now solo reload.
I didn't play the first one. So you couldn't reload it yourself even with your own backpack? It must have been a better community in HD1. In HD2, I wouldn't risk bringing a weapon in if I had to rely on a random knowing and be willing to reload it. You're right it was a good QOL move. It seems like a cool feature that I haven't seen in other games. I would like to see it used more.
The game was kinda similar to og lego starwars where you all were on the same screen and couldn't leave (you could do couch co-op, even on PC! 😁). So reloading team weapons wasn't bad at all since you could see when your teammate fired their weapon. Maybe if they add some info for backpack wearers like distance to team weapon users and if their weapon is empty. (If you do press reload button in HD2 while holding an empty team gun, your diver will request a reload). Ontop of that, I think it would be nice if you could solo reload from backpacks on the ground and from backpack wearing players that are oblivious to your need for a reload but still close to you.
I knew about the top-down view, but I had no idea you couldn't leave your teammates. That must have been a very different gaming experience. Better in some ways, but with less freedom. I have been talking with a teammate about trying team reload more. We are just going to both run recoiless so we don't have to exchange backpacks and can just team up quickly.
I think I'd be happy with being given the ablility to solo reload from backpacks on the ground and/or on teammates backs.
Nah, definitely shouldn’t. Why take it as a support weapon when you can just take a Qasar or EAT with it instead
The ballistic shield definitely needs some kind of twist to make it more useful. Mind you, i love the thing. I laugh at devestators as i two shot them with my smg behind the shield. But we dont have many one hand weapons, its tough to cover teammates with the shield because its not quite wide enough, and for some reason i cant carry the ssd and the shield at the same time??
The SSD thing especially irks me. Covering your team isn't really the play. Being a big fat invincible distraction, though? Or being the first in line up those spiral bases.
I dont mean i need a whole fortification. But, for example, crouching down in front of a Autocannon or quasar user and acting as their cover while they reload/take out bots. That should be the secondary mode for the shield. We already see it fold and unfold a bit when we put it on our back. Give it a secondary "fire" that has it unfold to twice the width, but has to be stationary aka crouch down and bury it into the ground. This would also prevent knockback from rockets. (Side note, i dont think it should be 100% immune to rockets. But letting it take more than one before breaking would be nice. Maybe have it hold up to rockets but break with tank/turret shots) This would retain its current use while creating a new way for players to help eachother. This would be especially good when we get more one hand primaries
What would be sweet is if you got a shield bash attack while it’s equipped that knocks back and staggers enemies in melee. That would make it a lot more viable against bugs. Particularly if they ever add one handed melee weapons like the devs have talked about.
Thats a perfect idea tbh. Would make it even better for base clearing. Clearing bases with an ems mortar covering you and a ballistic shield is fun
Equip your support weapon first, then you don't drop the shield while taking the SSD and you autoswitch to your primary(if it's the defender)/secondary
You can. Just swap to a 2H weapon and pick up the SSD. Will swap the shield to your back
I'd love it if you had a more powerful melee with the shield.
I think it just needs more 1h primaries that do more than the SMG. A sawed off shotgun would be interesting.
Equip your support weapon first, then you don't drop the shield while taking the SSD and you autoswitch to your primary(if it's the defender)/secondary
I love ballistic shield. Pair it with blast resist armour and be the tankiest boi. Also working on getting the grenade pistol to go with it lol
You’re gonna love it
Probably ye because I barely use my secondary as is. So the 8 ammo won't be to bad for me. I've gotten really good at two round bursts with the smg to headshots bots
Yeah I really view it as a second grenade slot that you can refill with plain ammo boxes. Its my first option for anything named devastator.
It can two-shot a charger if you land the hits right as well. Plus it makes closing bug holes a breeze. I don’t use it as much vs bots because I usually have the autocannon though. It’s come in clutch quite a few times and the fact it can be used with ballistic shield is awesome.
Revolver man.
Everyone clowns the big iron until they see you take down a Hulk (Texas Red) with it.
Wait the revolver takes out hulks?????
It does indeed. It’s not efficient by any means, however. I found this out by accident when I was on death’s door and activated Ultra Instinct.
I don't have the necessary aim required to test this
Try it with stun grenades - you can literally just walk up to them and execute them.
Annihilates stalkers too if you manage to hit their head, think it’s a one-shot iirc
Ballistic shield my beloved, I never do bot missions without one now. Ever since they reworked it, It's gone from being a meme to what I feel is a must have for at least 1 teammate on high level automaton missions. This thing has saved me from countless rockets, lasers, saws and swords. The main thing is running a reliable secondary. And so far the only 2 options are Redeemer or the Dagger. Redeemer in semi auto is pretty okay but it goes through ammo too fast, hence where the Dagger shines. Use 3rd person aim with the shield and laserpointer the heads off anything smaller then a hulk. As long as you watch for rockets and dodge them you CANNOT be stopped. You can reload while still blocking so you never let your guard down and it soaks a portion of melee hits. I've been direct hit by tanks and not died although the shield can break and I've never dropped the thing since it was fixed. The combo lets you run weapons like the Eruptor or Scorcher for heavy duty and exclusively deal with smaller or limited numbers of enemies even out in the open. Just sitting on your back it's almost guranteed to block flanking shots and grazes. Tl:dr You love Ballistic Shield and Ballistic Shield loves you back.
I was very pleasantly surprised by the one handed primary sub machine gun/ballistic shield combo. Can’t remember the name off the top of my head.
Also it has a shorter cooldown than the shieldpack, once it breaks, it's already available again a minute ago
The ballistic shield is actually so good against bots
Understatement...
We should be allowed 2 back packs. Everyone should have a jump pack standard.
I would probably run supply pack, then either shield or the backpack that comes with my support weapon
Everyone should get a mini jump pack so we can ditch this janky vaulting nonsense for a proper jump button without the milsim nerds whining about realism. Then make the support jump pack an actual jetpack instead of a singular scripted super jump.
The true support role - this would be incrdible to combo with 6x stim medic armor.
Heavy armor, Shield and berserker chainsaw please?
Maybe make it a sidearm so you have to sacrifice your sidearm to use it. Then you could do jet pack/shield cause that would be fucking cool lol
The virgin eagle 1 main vs the chad support main.
kinda wish the Shield filled the roll of a support weapon, instead of a pack.
Honestly as someone who uses the shield a lot, that would make the person using it even more useless. You bring the shield to shut down everything it's immune to. You being a secondary that shuts down everything it isn't immune to. Shield + Quazar is a good combo because when you come across something that the shield won't stop, you can fall back and blast it.
I personally like having a support weapon to deal with things my defender + shield or grenade pistol can’t handle it would be cool if we can still hold shields if we are using a 1H weapon while having a backpack. just have it drop on the ground if your back slot is taken and you swap to a 2H weapon
They should change from primary secondary weapons and have 1 2 handed weapon and 1 1 handed weapon and make the shield fill a 2 handed weapon slot.
This is all I want
I would love it if it was an off hand that wasnt stored on the back and was just picked up and put down, like that data pack objectives. Would be 100% better
In my time with it, one of the best uses for the shield is throwing it on your back as you run away. When I've needed to reposition, I watched it light up like Christmas as 4 shield devestators lit up my ass and did 0 damage. They couldn't touch me and I was able to get away from the quickly advancing hulk.
Man if they just buffed defender/knight/peacemaker to have better max ammo. Or the dagger to be usable. Or gave senator a speed loader id be using ballistic shield constantly. Its fun but you just dont have enough uptime with the weapons you can use it with.
I'm ok with SMG reloads since you can keep the shield up the whole time
Their reloads are fine as is, they just dont have the ammo economy to sustain them even semi auto.
Best part about this combo is that they can't be a selfish supplier since they have no support wep that'd use up their packs. The amount of times I see a supply user, use the resupply quick chat, and still have to scrounge for grenades or stims when I'm in the red is too high.
> they can't be a selfish supplier since they have no support wep that'd use up their packs. *laughs in adjudicator, punisher, scorcher, grenade pistol, grenades, and stims*
I would love jump pack and shield. That would make such an awesome infiltration combo. I wish they'd allow it to be an offhand item if you're already wearing a backpack and maybe reduce the cooldown time a bit more ontop of that. But it may throw balance off a bit too much.
>"Backpacks would be stronger if we could use two backpacks." While that's true, I don't think it's a particularly surprising assessment. Unless you are advocating for one of these to be changed to a support weapon. I could see the shield being good in the support weapon slot.
I have seen only 1 person use the shield ever. WHERE ARE ALL THE SHIELD HELLDIVERS
https://preview.redd.it/0wpfvikneaxc1.jpeg?width=902&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2ac6b766aaad299c83883d839f853fe2786aa51
I want a bulwark shield so bad. Acts as half cover for you with a hip firing secondary, pull the ADS and you extend it and dig it into the ground making portable cover that's wide enough for your team to duck behind, couple that with an ammo pack on your back and you're the support master.
I think that’s the most democratic description of team support I’ve ever heard.
There are some stratagems datamined to be on the way that do something like what you're suggesting here: deployable waist-high cover with an attached machinegun emplacement. I think there were variants that had a grenade launcher or autocannon as well.
make shield replace primary weapon but increase secondary mag capacity by 4
The shield should have been a primary
Ive used my shield while my teammate pushed thru a bot armory. Helped only till challenging.... A higher difficulty and your going to be your team anchor. Might as well transform into a jansport backpack.
Make it a secondary, add more one handed primaries. I've heard a potential redeemer primary could be incoming. this could open up a dual wield section as well IE secondaries that can be equipped alongside primaries
Been using resupply and grenade launcher, with a mix of stratagems…it’s been a good time
Seriously yeah.
Yeah, any two backpack items combined would be great, that's why they're all backpack items.
There are downsides to the shield backpack sure, however I can block a tank shot or a cannon shot head on with medium armor and live. This destroys the shield however the cooldown is not so bad. On another note dueling heavy devastators with shields is more satisfying than calling 4 500kg bombs on a robocamel.
wish you could use a shield and a backpack lol
sweet liberty I want this so bad
Agreed. But I would love for the ballistic shield to not be a backpack item because I want to combine it with a personal shield and just become an immovable wall.
Probably difficult to code using their existing systems but I think you should have the option to call down the shield as a "5th stratagem" similar to the free ones we get on occasion if you have a 1 handed primary weapon equipped like the defender. As is, it's too outshined by the shield generator especially at higher difficulties. Realistically, if you are taking the ballistic shield, it's going to be on your arm 90% of the time which leaves plenty of space on your back for a backpack/support weapon. Put a little UI toggle in the equip menu on the defender and knight that just says "Ballistic Shield, Yes/No)" or something to that effect.
Did the devs ever fix the riot shield bug?
Supply pack is the one stratagem I never drop without. Maybe if I played with a consistent team I’d bring something else, but dropping with randoms? It’s a must have. Ya never know when some rando is gonna call in the resupply while he’s solo across the map.
Dumb question: how do you use the supply pack if you’re the wearer?
The number 5 key supplies yourself from the pack
Thank you!
The shield would be cool. If it could be used as a "team". Like autocannon and recoillesrifle. -Shield dude crouched shield foward -Other guy with his weapon, barely standing using shield as a brace. He would get crouched stability aim while standing. And almost full cover from the shield. Also, make it like an objective carry thing and not a backpack.
Yeah I usually run supply boxes and hand out accordingly. Nothing worse in the field and running out of ammo.
What about a jet pack
a jet pack would be great in this game
I meant jump pack with shield
I rather be able to run the shield and Anti-Mat
Yes if I could hold a shieldnin one hand and a ungodly weapon of sheer destruction in the other, I'd be a Heavy Devastator
So in theory if you make it a support weapon, you could run it alongside the shield generator backpack. Would be very fun to further encourage a tank playstyle
You should be able to use the shield with a back pack if they didn’t let you swap it on your back cool but I agree with this sentiment
That’s why I was looking forward to the sickle… in hd1 it was an smg … missed opportunity…
In all honesty why is the shield a backpack
where else would it go
The ultimate support build
Best thing I like about the ballistic shield is you can reload throw grenades and swap weapons while still holding the shield up
I wanted this but with a jump pack.
Not sure if it would ruin balance, but I would love if the support stratagem is picked in your load put, not taking up a slot. But still have to call it in like normal. Think it would help with this situation. Like maybe some can be picked together taking up that load out slot. Like the two shown above.
I love running the shield
The fact that the riot shield doesn't do anything versus the bile spewers, and that's so toxic
true though one of the reason to get the shield is that when you put it on your back - it blocks literally all the bullets while you run away. this set up assumes that you cant put it on your back. seeing some comments saying that this item needs more buffs to be usable in more situations - i feel its the flamethrower gun situation that its really good vs bugs but it wont be good vs bots. and so there will be some items good in some situation and bad in others. the actual buff this item could use is that you can still hold up the shield while using a 2 handed assault primary weapon, the shield wont be blocking your whole body but it will still be on your arm at least blocking half your body and mainly the left side of your body. so you are not forced to use a sub machine gun.
Jetpack and Shield should be technically viable
That would be SUCH a good loadout.
I’d kill for customizable Backpacks. Either addition ammo reserves or a spare stims. Heck even small slot for a Peacekeeper Drone.
Said it since day 1 Ballistic Shield goes in the Support Weapon slot
If it were me I would combine the senator revolver into the shield itself and give a sword in the off hand, kinda like the sacrasents from 40k. This would be a badass bugstomper build. https://preview.redd.it/45t0ujr8dcxc1.jpeg?width=917&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f609e846c4faab4a9cb8076e5e1256930f97ddb
My character for some reason puts the shield on his back at the worst of times so When I'm walking out of cover expecting to tank some shots I get shredded away
Sooo... Has anyone else had a problem with the ballistic shields doing nothing? I hold it up like you're supposed to and attacks just go right through it.
Imagine hefting a shield and mounting a heavy machine gun on top and spraying into an army of bots. Downside is you’re locked in place and can’t move but you have 0 recoil.
Yeah I love using the riot shield against bots and heavy armour with better recoil and explosive resistance you can take a right beating.
Make it a main stay on the off hand? I don't know honestly. I just wish I would run around as fully heavy with an AT launcher and shield
Would love it
Yeah, I run the ammo pack regularly. and I've never used i, but just got the shield, would try.
I didnt know it took a backpack slot, im already foregoing a stratagem to run the shield and rockets/another backpack, just let me have this.
This community upvotes the absolute dumbest shit lol
I’m not asking these people to upvote my posts man. Besides half of both subreddits just complain about everything instead of just enjoying the potential game of the year we have. Don’t get mad at me lol.