It's really nice seeing lesser used/looked down on strats and weapons being used in their niches, people are so obsessed with 'top tiers' and 'meta' that they forget a lot of things in Helldivers are actually quite effective if you just stop to think about what niches to use them in
There's maybe 3 or 4 things lagging behind the rest, but some people made it sound like there's only 3 or 4 viable options. Glad people are embracing the variety these days!
The HMG used to be okay against bots purely because of the armor pen, but the buffs really pushed it into top tier. 1. The increased damage over the stock Machine Gun makes it really good for killing Devastators. Since they only have 3 chest armor and the HMG has 4 armor pen, you can just burst fire into their chest for fast kills, and you can't put a price on killing Devastators that quickly. The buff to its damage per round only made it better at doing this. 2. The Hulk's eye has 4 armor, so with a stun grenade you can stand right in its face and kill it, which feels awesome. The buffed damage also makes it a lot faster at killing them with heat sink shots. 3. There was a YT clip awhile back (before the buffs) that showed someone mag-dumping into a Factory Strider's stomach and killing it, which was wild given how underpowered the HMG was at the time. After the buffs, it can do that even more efficiently, even with the ROF nerf. 4. The buffs gave it more structural damage (from 23 to 50), so it can actually do decently against Gunships. There are better weapons for it, but just having the option on this weapon is really comforting, especially since there are random Gunship patrols now. 5. If you can get behind a Tank you can just dump into its heat sink and kill it (it has 3 armor so stock Machine Gun would have trouble doing this). It used to be harder before the buff to structural damage, but now it feels like getting the drop on a Tank lets you almost immediately delete it. 6. It can destroy small building objectives like AA and Mortar just by shooting them, which saves you the trouble of calling in a Hellbomb or using one of your stratagems. Super convenient. 7. The reload speed buff alone makes it so much more usable. Since it only has 75 rounds, having to spend 7 seconds reloading every time you quickly go through your mag felt like the game was punishing you for using the weapon. The faster reload leaves you less vulnerable, and it's even better if you can master doing tactical reloads and get the new Payroll Management System upgrade. So before the buffs, the HMG was just something you brought along bot missions for very specific niches (fast Devastator kills, killing Hulks from the front and mag-dumping Factory Striders). After the buffs, it's just better at everything and you don't feel like you're dragging your team down by bringing it. I don't think it's ever been good against bugs since every enemy smaller than a Charger only has 3 armor at the most so stock MG could kill them fine only with twice the mag size.
Good breakdown! I know some people still enjoy HMG vs bugs but it feels like it's only really better at Charger ass kills, everything else the standard MG does better. Vs Bots it's a great choice. Still wish I could find some place for the Stalwart and MG vs Bots, but seems like HMG's the only good one for now
@@newspiked7385 I can't say I've played enough with the Stalwart to be an expert but I've always treated it as the primary weapon in my kit when I'm dropping in with more specialized weapons.
Hope it's not too much! I just learnt my lesson not to hold them back to space them out, because when an update comes I end up never uploading the old runs
@@newspiked7385 Never too much, could watch these videos multiple times a day. Always high quality and these are where I get the confidence to try out some new loadouts by seeing how they work through you first.
Love the stream of content recently! Dont ask me how but after criticizing the HMG constantly it has somehow become my main weapon against both bots AND bugs, its so satisfying😂
Dropped into impossible last night right onto a double Ship Fabricator with a Walker right next to it, we were in the fight of our lives for half the mission XD
The Main Man Spiked! Thanks for what you do! You’ve helped me get better at helldivers and I’m always wanting to try new load outs thanks to you! Hope you keep having fun with the game and keep on keeping on!
Think the Guard Dog would be picked more if you could use ammo drops on the floor to resupply it like you do with the weapons you carry. The constant need to drop a resupply to replenish it's mags whilst running past ammo drops on the floor is a pita 😂.
@@newspiked7385 yo, Yuri Lowenthal voices the default Helldiver AND Smoke form Mortal Kombat 1 so it'd be a dissservice NOT to make a smoke ninja loadout
Really enjoyed this video. I really like how you show that whenever you're against bots, it's not about being the best gunfighter or having dead-eye accuracy but more so about situational awareness. Not saying you can't aim or anything lol, just saying that your game sense is amazing and every action you do in game contributes to your performance greatly. In a game where things can get chaotic pretty quickly, staying calm and focused while being able to make decisions is amazing in my opinion. I'm not super great at solo as I've only clocked in about 60 hours in the game as I purchased it last month but I hope I get there. Much love!
Thanks! Definitely how I feel about the game too, game sense > mechanical skill, though having both helps. Also good luck with solo, you'll get there for sure!
i played helldivers this morning and it was everything i was expecting! your vids taught me a lot of strats and techniques that made sure i wasn’t kicked out as a lvl 5 playing w/ lvl 50+ players
I've always loved using all the machine guns (usually on max RPM) even when some of them weren't as "effective" AH has done some amazing audio visual design on them
I think the liberator guard dog is strongest on solo runs, I never saw it completely run out because you always got to have all the resupply drops, I would really like to have it be more ammo effective in random co op because thats basically all I play in
Shouldn't make a big difference if it fully refills with one resupply, I don't think I really revisit resupplies on this one. They definitely should fix it so that small supply boxes help refill it too tho!
Wait. There's an impact damage bug for the Ballistic shield? No wonder the bubble plants killed me instantly, lol! Also at 28:35, remember that tank you ran past there? Apparently it came back to destroy the Strategem Jammer for you, haha!
I still don't see my 110's hitting consistently... bugs (eg **stunned** charger) or bots I wonder if it's some kind of host desync thing like we used to have with DoT?
Think the heavies being relatively rare is just a solo thing, was playing on 7 and 8 the other day and they were dropping 2 factory striders at once on us
I can't stand the rover. It doesn't hit what it's aiming at for me. It shoots the ground more often than the target, and kills me FAR more often than the standard guard dog for some reason. Meanwhile the guard dog absolutely wipes the floor with bots. It even goes for headshots periodically. I've seen it two (possibly three) tap berserkers and devastators. It has two primary issues: It shoots at fabricators, so I always lose at least a magazine when I approach an outpost, and it can't be restocked from random ammo boxes. You can see the liberator mags on the back. If you can restock an assault rifle, you should be able to restock the guard dog.
Rover still puts in good work for bugs, if you're lacking the firepower to keep the little ones off you. I pretty much only take it for laser builds tho. Yeah, the fabricator targeting is silly, both that and the small ammo boxes should be fixed.
![โฮ่ง! (SUGOI) - LYKN [ OFFICIAL MV ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nFp4zjAARFs/mqdefault.jpg)
It's really nice seeing lesser used/looked down on strats and weapons being used in their niches, people are so obsessed with 'top tiers' and 'meta' that they forget a lot of things in Helldivers are actually quite effective if you just stop to think about what niches to use them in
There's maybe 3 or 4 things lagging behind the rest, but some people made it sound like there's only 3 or 4 viable options. Glad people are embracing the variety these days!
The HMG used to be okay against bots purely because of the armor pen, but the buffs really pushed it into top tier.
1. The increased damage over the stock Machine Gun makes it really good for killing Devastators. Since they only have 3 chest armor and the HMG has 4 armor pen, you can just burst fire into their chest for fast kills, and you can't put a price on killing Devastators that quickly. The buff to its damage per round only made it better at doing this.
2. The Hulk's eye has 4 armor, so with a stun grenade you can stand right in its face and kill it, which feels awesome. The buffed damage also makes it a lot faster at killing them with heat sink shots.
3. There was a YT clip awhile back (before the buffs) that showed someone mag-dumping into a Factory Strider's stomach and killing it, which was wild given how underpowered the HMG was at the time. After the buffs, it can do that even more efficiently, even with the ROF nerf.
4. The buffs gave it more structural damage (from 23 to 50), so it can actually do decently against Gunships. There are better weapons for it, but just having the option on this weapon is really comforting, especially since there are random Gunship patrols now.
5. If you can get behind a Tank you can just dump into its heat sink and kill it (it has 3 armor so stock Machine Gun would have trouble doing this). It used to be harder before the buff to structural damage, but now it feels like getting the drop on a Tank lets you almost immediately delete it.
6. It can destroy small building objectives like AA and Mortar just by shooting them, which saves you the trouble of calling in a Hellbomb or using one of your stratagems. Super convenient.
7. The reload speed buff alone makes it so much more usable. Since it only has 75 rounds, having to spend 7 seconds reloading every time you quickly go through your mag felt like the game was punishing you for using the weapon. The faster reload leaves you less vulnerable, and it's even better if you can master doing tactical reloads and get the new Payroll Management System upgrade.
So before the buffs, the HMG was just something you brought along bot missions for very specific niches (fast Devastator kills, killing Hulks from the front and mag-dumping Factory Striders). After the buffs, it's just better at everything and you don't feel like you're dragging your team down by bringing it. I don't think it's ever been good against bugs since every enemy smaller than a Charger only has 3 armor at the most so stock MG could kill them fine only with twice the mag size.
Good breakdown! I know some people still enjoy HMG vs bugs but it feels like it's only really better at Charger ass kills, everything else the standard MG does better. Vs Bots it's a great choice. Still wish I could find some place for the Stalwart and MG vs Bots, but seems like HMG's the only good one for now
Yeahhh I fs think with the buff it's one of the big four multi-purpose, bot support weapons. Alongside the las-98, Autocannon, and AMR
I mean now it‘s basically just a close-range alternative to the AMR
@@newspiked7385 I can't say I've played enough with the Stalwart to be an expert but I've always treated it as the primary weapon in my kit when I'm dropping in with more specialized weapons.
You've been on an uploading spree lately! Not that I'm complaining, with so much content to watch 🥳
Hope it's not too much! I just learnt my lesson not to hold them back to space them out, because when an update comes I end up never uploading the old runs
@@newspiked7385 Never too much, could watch these videos multiple times a day. Always high quality and these are where I get the confidence to try out some new loadouts by seeing how they work through you first.
@@newspiked7385 that makes sense, and nope it's not too much at all, love your videos! thanks for the many uploads!
Had alot of success recently with HMG paired with plasma punisher and bubble shield. Great vid as always
The Plasma Punisher's stagger is so useful. Bubble Shield makes sense to avoid being flinched while you're busy HMGing too
Love the stream of content recently! Dont ask me how but after criticizing the HMG constantly it has somehow become my main weapon against both bots AND bugs, its so satisfying😂
@@maximumzozzle4699 haha awesome. The reload buff was huge!
Dropped into impossible last night right onto a double Ship Fabricator with a Walker right next to it, we were in the fight of our lives for half the mission XD
@@thatzachguy76 nothing like a hot drop :P
The Main Man Spiked! Thanks for what you do! You’ve helped me get better at helldivers and I’m always wanting to try new load outs thanks to you! Hope you keep having fun with the game and keep on keeping on!
:D thanks, hope you keep finding new ways to have fun with it too!
@@newspiked7385 Suppressing Fire!!!! 😂, Will do!
You've been on a hell of an upload run! Loving it
Think the Guard Dog would be picked more if you could use ammo drops on the floor to resupply it like you do with the weapons you carry. The constant need to drop a resupply to replenish it's mags whilst running past ammo drops on the floor is a pita 😂.
Yeah, must be an oversight, there's no reason to it
I really like the detailed descriptions you use to explain your loadout and it’s components.
Thanks! It takes some time to type out but I think it helps to explain how I try and have every threat handled by something in the loadout.
my man is crushing it lately
can't wait for that smoke strat build 🌬
Haha, one day...ninja build!
@@newspiked7385 kapamaru, is that you?
@@newspiked7385 yo, Yuri Lowenthal voices the default Helldiver AND Smoke form Mortal Kombat 1
so it'd be a dissservice NOT to make a smoke ninja loadout
Really enjoyed this video. I really like how you show that whenever you're against bots, it's not about being the best gunfighter or having dead-eye accuracy but more so about situational awareness. Not saying you can't aim or anything lol, just saying that your game sense is amazing and every action you do in game contributes to your performance greatly. In a game where things can get chaotic pretty quickly, staying calm and focused while being able to make decisions is amazing in my opinion. I'm not super great at solo as I've only clocked in about 60 hours in the game as I purchased it last month but I hope I get there. Much love!
Thanks! Definitely how I feel about the game too, game sense > mechanical skill, though having both helps. Also good luck with solo, you'll get there for sure!
i played helldivers this morning and it was everything i was expecting! your vids taught me a lot of strats and techniques that made sure i wasn’t kicked out as a lvl 5 playing w/ lvl 50+ players
:D Welcome to the war!
I've always loved using all the machine guns (usually on max RPM)
even when some of them weren't as "effective"
AH has done some amazing audio visual design on them
I didn't spend my requisitions scrip on this to use it at lowered RPMs
@@newspiked7385 this is the dakka way
They need to double the mag on the rover for me to even consider that stratagem.
I wouldn't say no...
Yeah definitely, that and maybe an increase of how many mags can be carried or cooldown reduction
I think the liberator guard dog is strongest on solo runs, I never saw it completely run out because you always got to have all the resupply drops, I would really like to have it be more ammo effective in random co op because thats basically all I play in
Shouldn't make a big difference if it fully refills with one resupply, I don't think I really revisit resupplies on this one. They definitely should fix it so that small supply boxes help refill it too tho!
Keep uploading bro, I was watching since Aliens fireteam, Now I’m a Helldiver🤝🏾
Thanks for following :D
Love your vids man❤
I too came to the discord, soon i'll ask to get into the 8s and 9s w/ folks. It's been a rough experience up there so far.
we got u fam
You make me feel so crusty and old when I see how fast you bang those arrow keys on the terminals
Time for a new prosthetic hand, with the Steel Veterans Warbond (TM)!
I love how they messed up the ballistic shield right in time for the bot MO
I kinda suspect all impact damage is busted, but it's just more noticeable with the shield :/
This is a Chef's Kiss loadout. Only thing I'd personally do is swap in Plasma Punisher for primary.
yeah, that'd make a lot of sense in retrospect, stagger the bots for the guard dog to finish off
Also, it'd be so nice if we could use the backpack button to activate & deactivate our guard dog, so you can stealth better w/ it.
3 detector towers, you'd think you're back in the creek
In my restless dreams, I see that creek...
This grenade headshot was cool. I didn't know you could do that. - 15:00
Lol, while I'd love to take credit, it's more likely my Guard Dog getting that headshot!
@@newspiked7385 Well they should add grenade headshots to the game! It looked cool.
Can the HMG deal with gunships? They are by far my most hated enemy on the automaton faction!
sound bug? No, I think you mean realistic simulation of ptsd auditory hallucinations!
For super earth!
Is it PTSD if the trauma is still ongoing? @_@
Fun to watch and listen. Fun loadout. Sub :)
Thanks for the sub!
Wait. There's an impact damage bug for the Ballistic shield? No wonder the bubble plants killed me instantly, lol!
Also at 28:35, remember that tank you ran past there? Apparently it came back to destroy the Strategem Jammer for you, haha!
Lol that's what it was? I mean...exactly how I planned it
I still don't see my 110's hitting consistently... bugs (eg **stunned** charger) or bots
I wonder if it's some kind of host desync thing like we used to have with DoT?
Hmm should be very reliable now, unless you're playing on a swamp map with lots of trees
@@newspiked7385 regardless of biome, they just don't hit for me most of the time (like in the olden days)
so i wasn't tripping when im getting thrown around and getting instantly killed in bot mission using heavy armor and the ballistic shield
I think actually all impact damage seems overtuned, but the ballistic shield gives you more opportunities to receive it since it acts like cover now.
Think the heavies being relatively rare is just a solo thing, was playing on 7 and 8 the other day and they were dropping 2 factory striders at once on us
Yeah, my coop games are much busier. Think I may just do more coop for now, solo maps are feeling a little quiet these days
Anybody also catched that Jingle 8:33?
Sounded like a Mario Theme lmao
When's the konami code gonna turn up?
can you please shre some of gazillion samples you have, much appreciated
I would if I could!
bro playing sub 50 fps is insanity
Just use the force
I can't stand the rover. It doesn't hit what it's aiming at for me. It shoots the ground more often than the target, and kills me FAR more often than the standard guard dog for some reason. Meanwhile the guard dog absolutely wipes the floor with bots. It even goes for headshots periodically. I've seen it two (possibly three) tap berserkers and devastators. It has two primary issues: It shoots at fabricators, so I always lose at least a magazine when I approach an outpost, and it can't be restocked from random ammo boxes. You can see the liberator mags on the back. If you can restock an assault rifle, you should be able to restock the guard dog.
Rover still puts in good work for bugs, if you're lacking the firepower to keep the little ones off you. I pretty much only take it for laser builds tho.
Yeah, the fabricator targeting is silly, both that and the small ammo boxes should be fixed.
The 110 one shots hulks?
Since the last rebalance, seems to do it pretty reliably yeah
@@newspiked7385 interesting I’ll have to check it out. Usually bring rail cannon for that
Please obtain super samples!
Imho guard dog is better than guard dog rover
I just love how punchy it sounds
Be nice if the Guard Dog was smart enough to flank things you were engaging.
Earlier models had this capability, then one upgrade too far...long story short now we have the Automatons.
@@newspiked7385 🤣🤣🤣
Arc thrower slander booo
Alright alright arc run incoming