10 Important Things You STILL Didn't Know About Helldivers 2 | Hidden Mechanics

[@johndane9754]

Remember boys, the Commissar is the one with the sword and gun.

[@TerranWatch]

FEAR ME BUT FOLLOW!

[@zerotrig8331]

idk if it was a bug or not ive seen the ones with 2 red antana behind their head, form a V, whatever they're called, shoot the flare that being said, i only seen it once at launch day

[@johndane9754]

@@TerranWatch Retreat is not an option.

[@Breakingfasst88]

@@zerotrig8331 not a bug I think. I believe any of those guys will shoot a flare, but they act differently. From my experience, they will go to the flare once some losses have been taken first and they take a slightly longer time to call it since they have to switch to the flare. Comissars will call one as soon as fighting breaks out.

[@thatchanguy]

Death before dishonor!

[@RainD4]

One of the CEO tweets implies that enemies do notice your flashlights, so turn it off if you're trying to stealth

[@Venomonomonom]

Hmm bugs didn't notice me when I had flashlight on while crouched. Maybe flashlight doesn't count as much as running (standing) or something.

[@arkvsi8142]

Welp, i was hidden, far and behind rocks... a small flying bug still found me...despite my squad dying far from me.

[@bearj.4363]

Did a duo stealth mission on Helldiver difficulty. It's worth turning off lights and crouch walking/crawling

[@jaydeleon8094]

No clue how to turn it on so I’m set

[@kamcosmic]

@@jaydeleon8094if you hold the reload button you can change your gun settings

[@zerotrig8331]

fun tip, if u dolphin dive and throw items(strategems or grenades) around half a sec delay u throw it roughly 10meters further, if u're on a slope throwing downhill, that goes even further

[@WisdomThumbs]

Neat! 👍

[@yungdomino4718]

I figured this out when I was narrowly avoiding being overrun but didnt wanna lose distance getting an air strike within throwing distance.

[@Tclans]

Got my throws pretty much down now, but I’m definitely going to try and practice this!

[@FreshKitty]

Jump pack throwing is addictive, can launch those things for miles

[@zerotrig8331]

@@FreshKitty very interesting idea on the initial ascend and throw?

[@khajio7403]

Im the scout player in my Squad! I do side objectives and search for epic samples solo. I carry a supply pack that way the fire team can call in resupplies while taking most fights head on while on Helldive difficulty! Thanks for the stealth shoutout!

[@MoistyMartian]

what weapons/strategems do you run?

[@khajio7403]

@@MoistyMartian I use the breaker shot gun, machine pistol (run as semi auto) and impact grenades. I use stamina booster pref. Strats I use are: Orbital Rail cannon Supply pack Grenade launcher Last one is optional, I use either Orbital EMS, Eagle cluster bomb, or Eagle 110mm

[@fake._]

Supply pack and stealthing makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the tip.

[@theknight1573]

​@@khajio7403I run the Eagle strike with similar build, since I manage to destroy nests and factories most of the time with them without even being too close if I encounter them. Tho I might switch to the autocannon and then free up the supply pack stratagem

[@ThunderMan2212]

Diligence is also a fairly solid choice as far as primaries go. Less skirmishing potential, but being able to clean out a scouting party from insane ranges with a few well-placed shots is incredibly helpful if you're trying to avoid getting mobbed. Combine it with a support weapon that can handle the bigger targets for your faction (Machine Gun or Flamethrower for bugs, AMR or Autocannon for bots) and the EAT and you have a loadout that's great for picking apart objectives without risking your neck more than you need to.

[@Earliersphere]

Don't sleep on the waypoint radar you get with the scout perk, that radar range get's boosted by the nuclear radar and recon booster. Between your suits radar and the waypoint you can reveal quite a bit of the map for patrols and ambient spawns. I've done doubles with both of us in scout armour and we can scan like a 4th to a 3rd of a map.

[@Acrid_Arsonist]

That's how I solo helldive constantly keeping my eye in the map and avoiding all patrols even when I'm at an objective I will actively leave and circle back around I've done an entire mission with no alerts

[@AC-iz7eh]

Sweet, you guys are a bunch of Elite Infiltrators 😂 you guys running the rail gun and shield backpack loadout?

[@ChrisWilliams-lf8ex]

​@@AC-iz7ehI also run missions with the Scout perk, but I've found the best way to do it is the Slugger shotgun, the Railgun, and the Supply Pack. Ammo for days.

[@bwaaaaaaaaalwaaaaaa]

You can exceed your max grenades by 1 if you hold your grenade when resupplying.

[@mikezbr]

I was wondering why i have 5/4 grenades sometimes...lol

[@AlkisGD]

That's such a cool detail!

[@FKyoutubeSERIOUSLY]

The real tips were in the comments.

[@chigz2]

@@FKyoutubeSERIOUSLY the real comments were the tips we made on the way

[@timmanning5206]

How do you just hold a grenade without throwing?

[@DoubleJJizzle]

Commisar is not the only one that can launch a flare. They are the ones that will focus it first in most cases, but all of the smaller soldier bots can do it. I watched an assault bot, the one that has just a machine gun fire one off. Also the one that has the flared back with what looks like wings will do it as well. However, from what I can tell, it's only if there are no Commisars around.

[@Breakingfasst88]

Commissars do it out the gate, the other bots will call it in once they start taking losses. I also noticed that the drops are different but haven't really tested the drops thoroughly. Honestly, I'm just waiting for silenced weapons to go stealthy. I've been itching to scratch that Metal gear vibe.

[@fatsackafat1476]

And they all wait until you're reloading lol.

[@DoubleJJizzle]

@@Breakingfasst88 No idea about the drops, but I could see the commissars being the fastest making sense, probably why they prioritize it over the other bots. I to desperately want those silenced weapons lol.

[@DoubleJJizzle]

@@fatsackafat1476 oh lord i don't even wanna think about it.

[@Eturian]

@@DoubleJJizzle I've seen the regular small robots launch flares too, many times. If you notice them raise their right arm and the red flare smoke begin to appear, you can quickly shoot their arm off to prevent it being launched. (Or also just kill them)

[@aethericice9949]

Planet modifiers such as Fog, Rainstorms, Sandstorm, Snowstorms etc. while also running the mission at night AND running light armor with the 30% decrease to detection perk can literally enable you to crawl your way past enemies within less than A SINGLE FOOT. As well, any fog created by larger bug nest areas and other things around the mission area even on planets without reduce visibility modifiers can help you stay hidden. Shrubs, tall grass, weird green mist from nests, and so on can make literally invisible in almost any situation and even help you escape combat if you need to resupply or don't have time to fight the 6 spewers spawned by the 'Game Masters' that can see through walls.

[@silvergeneration]

Do the spore spewer giant mushrooms also increase stealth?

[@aethericice9949]

@@silvergeneration It doesn't seem to as noticeably on bug missions I've been on even with 2 Spore Spewers spawning next to each other and overlapping their fog radius. So I assume since the fog clears once its destroyed, it doesn't affect the bugs since they live in it? or something I guess.

[@R3TR0J4N]

Damn wow stealth was underrated and they put a lot of that much mechanic in mind getting close to a Tom Clancy Wildlands stealth teamplay for a co-op horde shooter. HD2 really is amalgamation of the genre seeing WWZ has a stealth option.

[@shahs1221]

In regards to Commissars, the map also plays a huge role. My team and I have been taking them down from afar pretty well on wide open maps like the desert map. The cheeky part is when you take one down near a building/barrier and there's ANOTHER one standing next to it behind cover and you won't notice it until the flare's gone up 😂

[@discounthero9972]

I've found them hiding out just watching a bunch of times on small evac and defend missions.

[@turiel86]

I've noticed that's it's not always the commissars that shoot the flare out - sometimes it's the double-sworded raiders or even machine gunners too.

[@shahs1221]

@@turiel86 ye it's been mentioned somewhere that comissars are like the priority while other mobs can call for reinforcements when they're in need later in the battle. Makes sense since the bugs can also do this.

[@discounthero9972]

I've seen an in-game tip confirming prone reducing explosion damage. Diving and going prone saves your cape so often even in open fields.

[@DirtyMike124x]

I hammer the dive to prone button relentlessly , and can confirm the stuff I have survived has just blown my mind, but luckily not my body up . My helldiver just get ragdolled around like I jumped out of a car in GTA 4, yet I'll only take 1/4 to 1/2 health bar of damage much of the time . Its when you hit the ground that you gotta make sure to get up and diving again. If your teammate's mortar is indiscriminantly lighting the jungle up, you gotta chain those inputs perfectly lol

[@discounthero9972]

@DirtyMike124x I suspect there's a brief window of i-frames when we dive but can still be pushed during that window. I can't confirm it. I figure it's an extremely important mechanic because that was what we were taught before learning how to heal or holding a weapon. HellDIVERS, yknow? It also always prompts you to dive to avoid danger when you get hit hard.

[@Hexen_Wulf]

@@discounthero9972 So I don't think it's i-frames, I think it's damage reduction based on the angle of the blast, the angle of your cover, and if there's any structure behind you. I've had cases where I've gone prone to protect myself from an Eagle dive (As we all have) and I've either been just fine, or exploded into gibs. It seems that when I have cover and I'm prone, I'm more or less fine. If I'm prone without cover, I'm gonna take damage, but that's okay. If I'm prone and there is a structure behind me, I'll take more damage than I would just prone in the open. I think it's taking blast physics into account.

[@DirtyMike124x]

@@discounthero9972 I am curious if there is straight up i-frames for sure... Fun fact I just learned tonight, a charging charger, when killed, can slide into you and absolutely destroy your self manned HMG emplacement and support turrent duo... Very very fun fact I hadn't heard in any of these videos that would have been great to know 💀 I would have spammed dive like I always do. 😂

[@DirtyMike124x]

@@Hexen_Wulf I am extremely curious to see some analysis into these game's mechanics. Good thoughts and preliminary theorizing . Sounds reasonable.

[@McGeistly]

I got into stealth last night as I was soloing a Challenging operation. It was good until the end when I had to juggle a few Chargers trying to complete an optional objective. I then wanted to test out the anti-materiel rifle which is surprisingly useful for medium bugs. I did a stealth mission hunting down two chargers on medium. I brought a railcannon stratagem of course, so the actual chargers were one shot, but it was fun playing hide and seek with some patrols.

[@DatCheese]

Does anti mat rifle work on charger? Does it one shot spewer, either yellow or green?

[@jasonhenry8067]

@@DatCheeseI think it 3 shots spewers

[@McGeistly]

@@DatCheese The anti-mat rifle is a good follow-up leg shot to a charger after the armor has been taken off. Spewers I think can be shot in the head with one shot from the anti-mat though I didn't get an opportunity to test it. It is usually a very difficult angle because the most exposed time is right before they spew acid on you.

[@MartinTraXAA]

@@McGeistly Yeah, if you hit the spewer right in the face *the very 'tip' where the brightly colored mouth and such is, not the plated part above) you kill in 1 hit with the anti-mat rifle. They also pen the hive guard from the front. Surprisingly useful on big open maps where you can clear out the bullet-spongy enemies and leave the squishier enemies for your team or primary.

[@a1sauce516]

Impact grenades are good at killing chargers but probably only do it as a last resort because grenades are important

[@kendaar9002]

Stealth is amazing in this game, me and a group of friends were tackling multiple Extreme missions at around level 15, just sneaking through and sniping primary objectives to farm medals fast, we could complete a mission in the 15-20 min range without getting destroyed by the threats that clearly outclassed us. Before that in lower difficulties I was going solo sniping primary objectives while my friends went loud and cleared the map of secondaries and bases/nests to draw attention away from me. If you havent done a stealth run yet, do it, once you get a feel for it your perspective on the game changes.

[@cryw1092]

I remember the first game allowed for stealth tactics as well. It was fun to try, and I might give that a go later.

[@Sorain1]

That 'loud team and quiet team/individual' tactic is really solid.

[@R3TR0J4N]

Wow That's actually cool reminds me of the allure of Tom Clancy Wildlands covert teamolay and WWZ survival horror when tackling higher difficulties

[@Trespahsser]

A little tip I’ve found out (not sure if it’s been mentioned before). But if I remember correctly on PS5, if you hold down square (reload on PC) an option will pop up to where you can use your D-pad to change your scope distance when you aim in First-Person as well as change your weapon to single shot or full auto.

[@davidbycroft]

This was mentioned in one of his earlier beginner tips vids. He covers the settings for remembering it per gun in this Vid. Tip 6 IIRC

[@Felic_HRZN]

They need a stealth sniper and SMG or pistol to go with the stealth armor for a true Halo ODST experience.

[@ChrisWilliams-lf8ex]

They did have a silenced SMG in the first game, that was part of a content pack released after the game's release. They might be bringing that one back in. I believe it was a variant of the Knight SMG, too.

[@SirTayluh]

Dude playing that with the ODST soundtrack would be such an awesome experience.

[@kungfusteeze]

What I would give for that...

[@Razumen]

Not really needed, you can kill multiple bots in stealth and remain undetected as long as others don't see you. If you could do it with impunity, then it would be OP.

[@mtl2010ps]

I’d love some blue tracer bullets 👀

[@mrbigglezworth42]

If you go prone, you're less likely to be hit with ranged attacks because you present less of a target. Another word on stealth and getting the drop on enemies, if you attack from a far enough distance, the enemy won't immediately notice you either. you can clear out a POI or outpost by selectively picking off enemies at 100m or further. The AMR is surprisingly good at this against bots especially, all those poppable heads means easy one shots on devastators.

[@spartan456]

Something I'd like to add is that cyborg dropships can be shot down with the recoilless rifle or EAT-17. One shot to either of the _REAR_ engine nacelles will cause it to spin out and fall on top of the tin cans they just dropped off. There is lots of room for taking time on this, too. No need to rush and miss a shot because of pressure, the dropships linger for a few seconds over their drop zone before taking off. I've had plenty of time to line up shots on these and ensure they are taken down. Not only does the falling dropship eliminate whatever it falls on, it serves as hard cover which can protect your team from incoming patrols or bots shooting at them from further away. Even if that flare goes out, if someone has the RR, they are guaranteed to take out at least one dropship along with whatever enemies have come out of it. I usually reload the RR manually (not that I don't trust someone else to do it for me, they usually have their own backpack slot). In my own testing on 7+, I've found more often than not the RR can be safely solo reloaded by the time another dropship occurs. I fire it off, then make sure to check my map and surroundings and hop behind hard cover to reload. This has helped me carry teams of randoms through 7+ difficulties against bots. It can get absolutely insane sometimes though, with 4 or 5 dropships occurring in extremely rapid succession (most of which at the same time). In these situations you NEED two RRs, and two other people on assisted reload, and the homies firing the launchers NEED to be 100% accurate. But the point is, recoilless rifle can completely prevent a bot spawn all together.

[@PlebNC]

The "Super Earth Protects" armour perk is god-tier. It's on one of the pre-order armours and one in the free warbond that I know of. This perk makes hits that kill you have a 50% chance to not kill you and completely prevents bleeding damage from chest wounds/injuries. It's a great general purpose survivability perk.

[@overkill1994]

It's my fave

[@dr3amless345]

Its on all the golden "royal" looking armours including the super citizen one

[@cas9564]

Depending your own abilities as a person, it's actually somewhat advised to move the stratagem input keys on PC from WASD to the arrow keys or whatever extra keys you have so that you can actually move while inputting commands. While this does mean your mouse hand is moving back and forth between mouse and keyboard now, it does open up being able to flee to a better position while also quickly calling in a sentry. Additionally, some people find it easier to process than trying to go from arrow to WASD in their heads, moreso while in combat or getting literally swarmed by bugs

[@bigbalticbox]

Yeah I swapped day one so I would stop dying like a goon, just standing still and taking it up the rear while playing DDR on my wrist

[@dhoppa6234]

Hi can I ask how do I swap WASD to arrow keys?

[@Porrasite]

@@dhoppa6234 change keyboard bindings through the settings menu

[@joshharris2793]

@@dhoppa6234key bindings, I also recommend changing the stratagem menu to press not hold so you can sprint too

[@ashton_9022]

@@dhoppa6234you can go into your control settings, go to key bindings and then change it there

[@nicolleprohns6733]

A few things about the bots and aiming: It does work without even hitting them (as long as projectiles pass by close), but the effect differs per bot. The grunts are most susceptible to it. Also: fire damage counts too. To the point that if you fling a napalm grenade into a group of bots (or even tanks!)- they shoot each other. Friendly fire applies to the enemies just as well. What you did with the rocket devastator was something different, another not explained mechanic: Stagger. You can stagger enemies. How well depends on the enemy and damage applied, weapon and armor. A favorite way of doing so: Melee attacks. So next time you are hit by a stalker- smack them in the face, then follow up with a shotgun.

[@themarlboromandalorian]

Oy. I wanna point out you can drop your support weapon, your backpack, the sshd, and your samples by holding down a button(on ps5 it's down on d-pad) to pull up a circle menu. I bring this up, because the person with the super samples can take them to the evac point and drop them on the ground for with the last man to grab and leave. It's possible to run a bug blitz mission, land in the middle of the map wearing scout armour for the 30% enemy ignore bonus, drop in and fan out, grab the samples, go wait at extraction while fortifying the area, and when the 12 minute timer runs out, extraction arrives 2 minutes later. I did this with a two man team. One with minefields, ems mortars, and anti-tank rockets, and the other with turrets, space laser, and railgun. Extraction was surrounded by minefields and filled with anti tank tickets by the time or mission ran out.

[@anderskronquist9750]

It's X on keyboard for PC, if that helps!

[@Happiest_Potato]

For the Commissars, I noticed that when they shoot it in the air. IT NEEDS to be STRAIGHT. That means that if you hit them and it goes at an angle at the sky it usually doesn't set it off (most of the time) or the animation to shoot it stops when you hit them.

[@infusionparkour5287]

Following the tip on stealth, Helldivers 1 had a mechanic where if you crouch or prone in foliage, you were VERY hidden where the enemy had to pretty much walk on-top of you to find you. Looking at your clip at 14:34, they transferred this mechanic over :) if you weren't in that bush, they would have spotted you.

[@Sapphire_Eye]

7 spawns 3 super samples 8 spawns 5 9 spawns 6

[@jacksonmcmillen3209]

For the bot drops I like to bring the disposable anti tank, you can call it in after seeing the flare and it arrives before the drop ship and then you can take out an engine and drop the ship. Since you get two you can get two ships, I like the auto cannon against bots so it also lets me pick that back up. If there’s too much chaos for you to be calling it in on reaction and staying in one place the recoilless rifle is a good choice

[@A_Wild_Dyzzy]

When I play solo it is so much fun to spot patrols and move around them to avoid being spotted. Stealth is a blast! It’s the narrative version of your character playing the part of a paratrooper diving deep into enemy territory to destroy infrastructure.

[@PlebNC]

The tip about Commissars is half right. Any small bot can call a bot drop, however Commissars can call extra bot drops in addition to that, which makes them a priority target. Additionally, unlike a bug breach, a bot drop can be completely prevented once it is called by shooting any corner thruster of the dropship with a powerful explosive weapon like a recoiless rifle and disposable RPGs. If you're fast enough you can destroy it before the bots deploy neutralising the entire wave. I've yet to really test if the destroyed dropship falling to the ground and exploding does damage to bots after they deploy.

[@NguyenDex1993]

Commisars are not the only bot that shoot flares, they are just the fastest.

[@tylergust6839]

Another pro tip. If you travel sideways in time to another dimension, you'll find a lapse in space time where you actually have a chance to get into the servers before they're full. Hope this helps.

[@Meiscarth]

I find it MUCH easier to prevent a Bot Drop than a Bug breach. It feels like even if I kill the bug starting the breach it always goes off, not with the bots. You can see them readying the flare a mile away, while the bugs just need 0 time to get their breach going.

[@nade5557]

100%, by the time you see the bug releasing the orange stuff its too late. But the flare gun guy has a very choreographed animation

[@nickrl113]

One thing to note about stealth: Just because they're shooting doesn't mean they know where you are (see smoke stratagem video demonstrations on your ship), and enemies that are dropped in don't automatically know your location. You can easily pick off enemies from a distance with the amr or the dmr, stealth away off to a different angle, and you might find that enemies are still just spraying down the general location where they last saw your weapons fire. You can also find bot drops just kinda wandering around like a patrol if they don't immediately spot you (you can notice this on extractions if you're not just running around and shooting at everything as it comes down) Of course, obliterating the entire place with some orbitals or air support is usually a lot faster, but it's a nice change of pace every now and then.

[@thatoneguy985]

I'm so impressed with this game, that actually solid small unit tactics when employed correctly allow you to dominate the battlefield

[@kylelantan9220]

As a tip for the Super samples, you can take scout armor (ping the map for radar) to help you find them. If you are in that armor as you move the cursor around the minimap on non-obscured maps it will tell you point of interest. Pinging the map can also reveal enemies hanging around points of interest. If you look carefully at your map, you can even pick out certain landmarks, such as SEAF artillery on the map. The silver towers also show up on the map so with a bit of practice you can pick it out on the map and confirm it with the scout armor.

[@Sevness]

I actually noticed Suppressive Fire earlier when playing, and going prone is a great way to avoid damage of all types, the only drawback is being in meelee and doing it, but even then it can result in you ducking attacks. As for stealth, I ALWAYS try to be sneaky as a I can, crouching or going prone, I love watching a patrol walk by, before carrying on. Plenty of times I have been crouching or prone, toss out something, and never got spotted. And the last tip... yeah, I have done that before, arming a strategem, ready to use, only to get knocked over, by a enemy or friendly, and then running away very fast as something comes down atop of me.

[@chobitASHL3Y]

another thing to note: i'm pretty sure this game's ai goes after the most aggressive player(s) nearby. i had to step away from the game earlier and told my friend not to reinforce until i got back, but he had already called it in. i was away for a good 15-20 seconds, in the middle of a wave of bugs on suicide, and i hadn't taken any damage at all. i was able to run through the wave and catch up to my team without taking any aggro, and it wasn't until i turned around and started shooting again that they changed their focus to me.

[@blackout3187]

Can confirm. Had to afk for a good 10minutes. A mate stood guard over me. He dealt with 3 Patrols and 2 breaches, while standing right next to me. I survived until a charger wanted my mate and accidentally killed me too. It seems WE are the baddies, the xenos are quite chill

[@sirjazz1268]

The Stealth advise is very true, soldiers : there will be time where democracy goes with subtility. If you can, mark the patrols to keep them on tracks for a good while... With proper perk, mark the map to spot any coming patrols around the marker, and remain as close of the ground as possible, ideal to get close of targets before deploying bombs. Though, there will be time were the numbers outmaches us, and we will enter in gunfight... I Hope in the future we will develop a portative camouflage device, crafted from samples on the bugs, allowing us to bypass, for a short delay, discretly _THROUGH_ enemy hordes and go for a quick escape... Or sabotage. That's be sooo~ neat !

[@TormentedPenguin]

I use the scout perk for stealthing and run pathfinding for groups.. I love using the stealth technique while also using the scanner to move past groups and identify upcoming threats. You can avoid lots of stupid fights since killing each bug/bot doesn't gain you anything...except joy and freedom.

[@cooldog8580]

Another tip: You can shoot down the dropships with explosives if you hit their thrusters. I've only ever done this with Expendable Anti-Tank, but im sure it works with other explosive weapons as well. The crash and explosion that follows usually kills whatever was trying to come down, but I've found this to be inconsistent

[@The_Wailing_Doom]

Nice videos! Another tip is if you use the expendable anti-tank weapon on one (of the four) engines from a bot drop shop, the whole thing crashes. You can destroy it as it's coming in before it drops off bots or destroy it after drop off, so it comes down on all of them and kills all but the heaviest bots.

[@cryw1092]

I believe other anti-vehicle or anti-armor weapons can do this as well, like the Recoiless Rifle and the Railgun. Taking the ships out also causes them to drop to the ground, naturally, which crushes all but the sturdiest bot units.

[@eztvfilms3667]

@@cryw1092have you taken down dropships with the Rail Gun? That hasn’t worked for me. Recoiless, single shot anti tank and the spear are the only thinks I’ve seen take it down and the spear not even all the time.

[@cryw1092]

@@eztvfilms3667 I did see a video of a Railgun shot ricocheting into a bot ship and taking it down. Maybe it needs to hit a more specific spot?

[@Tclans]

Bot drops: Shoot the thrusters of the drop ships before their cargo disembarks. I have found the EAT works great for this and has a short cooldown. Which in turn makes it very useful in that horrible extraction mission. Just have two guys on EAT duty and the third opening the doors of the civilians. Don’t forget to have the third player to have EAT too and throw theirs in the direction of the other two players, so there is enough shots available.

[@ダルマック]

I hope they fix the armor ratings soon. Resupply is extremely helpful, but fighting bots on 7+ is tough without the shield backpack. Having explosive resistance and higher survivability would make it easier to justify bringing other items. IME, commissars also like to hide behind objects. Try to scout enemy positions as well as you can before popping off, because what looks like three bots around a shelter might actually be four, and as soon as one of them goes down, that commissar will fire off a flare.

[@Musiclover6404]

I low-key was expecting this to be clickbait but this is an actual knowledge that I didn't know, I think I'm going to try the easy mode and all stuff just to practice

[@eddyram4932]

I wish we had some suppressed weapons for actual stealth. Even if it means your weapon would do a little less damage.

[@sappypngn]

A lot of weapons are weakish as is with medium armor. They would only have to gimp the velocity and range to make longer shots harder and up closs ambushes more calculated. Breakpoint sort of did this but you were limited in the no damage cap by the class you chose.

[@Jebotito]

if they add suppressors they should add subsonic and supersonic ammo aswell. supersonic is still loud but with a can onyour gun enemies have a harder time figuring out where the shots came from and actually surpressors rise the muzzle velocity of supersonic rounds, making them shoot more flat and the bullets flying faster in real life

[@eddyram4932]

@@Jebotito this is a game not a real life simulator😂

[@Jebotito]

@@eddyram4932 ??? If they give us the option to run surpressors, they should give us ammo options too it's my opinion like yours is to have surpressors in the first place

[@eddyram4932]

@@Jebotito most games don’t have that option and you know it, they add suppressors as a “noise reduction”, regardless of the ammo. Your opinion would fit more in a COD game or Battlefield.

[@Tclans]

Hey Don, I wanted to express my appreciation for your video’s and in particular this one. Some superb tips mate. This video slaps. Not to talk down on the enormous amount of ‘beginner tips’ video’s out there. But around lvl 30 and having most stratagems and most ship modules, one is looking for some sophisticated content. And that’s where you shine. Thanks buddy! 🙏🏼

[@Justaduck-u3o]

Have you watched his Elden Ring walk-throughs? Dom's a legend.

[@mr9r]

Oddly enough, the vertical depth of view doesn't warp the edges of the screen, it warps the middle, which I think is objectively worse lol

[@zerotrig8331]

imo the only situation where screen warp is good is that when u have a curved screen

[@mr9r]

@@zerotrig8331 Yea I wonder if it's better with multiple screens though because I have a Samsung G7 monitor and it still felt really weird. BUT that most likely could be an issue specific to me

[@DadsYourUncle]

At what FOV does it start to warp your screen?

[@sushii4you]

Not only that, but increasing your FOV reduces the view distance in the center of your screen

[@jordanberry2358]

I know it’s weird but I think there’s a reason for it as it’s a third person game and the devs probably like chargers sneaking up on players

[@mcflufferkins]

Having unlocked the Trailblazer Scout helmet within the first week, I noticed the stat adjustment for lowered rating and raised speed/stamina. It also shows that some medium and light sets will have slightly larger adjustments. Drone Master has a bit less rating, more speed/stamina compared to other medium bodies.

[@nicolascuellonunez812]

For the suits I like the one that gives me 2 extra stims, since it’s also a light armor suit, the increased stamina helps my aggressive “run and gun” play style, rather than advantaging from stronger arms to throw stuff farther

[@Darthenator]

My guy, you missed the biggest settings change. Changing the stratagem input keys to the arrow keys lets you run while calling in.

[@zerotrig8331]

thats actually big but tbh i can''t imagine letting go the mouse mid-combat just to input strategem faster

[@oBlackIceo]

Imagine having arrow keys, function keys, or a numpad.. couldn’t be me. 60% for life

[@lateshow4783]

​@@oBlackIceoha... h-ha... yeah..! Y-Y-Yeah! You tell them..!😧

[@LordTomi2011]

@@zerotrig8331 It is really weird at first, but it can be insanely clutch. Like, there's a Bile Titan on your ass, about to do something to you not even god would want to witness and all of your teammates are dead. You can call reinforcements while running so they might drop on that Titan and save you and possibly your samples. It saved us many times, especially at times when we're out of reinforcements.

[@Dragomire]

@@zerotrig8331 You can't shoot while inputting stratagems so just pick a direction to run and let go of your mouse you lose very little to do so. No reason to aim a gun you can't shoot.

[@Khranitel]

I fucking love the final scene of you, your teammate and a bug hauling asses together from the airstrike. There are no friends or foes when Eagle is on approach.

[@ToastedLobster]

I've noticed the bugs that try and trigger the bug breaches will also emit an orange gas or powder too

[@zackkestner]

By then it's too late

[@lupercal2402]

FINALLY! A video worth watching! Filled with actual insights and useful tips! So tired of these level 13 "KZbinrs" handing out wrong information without bother being good at the game. You've earned my sub and like.

[@SWRDFSH3850]

Rocket launchers have back blast, learned that the hard way

[@jackcoleman1784]

And the autocannons rounds are actually explosive tipped. Was having a great time bringing managed democracy to bots when I switched over to the terminids to obey the order and I thought I'd bring my trusty autocannon and have a grand old.time. Didn't take long for me to try to put a round through a terminind charging me and end up blowing myself up.

[@XstreamRiptide]

I don't know if you really cover mechanics that may also happen to be glitches, but I've not seen anyone else find this. You can hold 5/4 grenades (or 7/6 grenades with some armors). The way you do it (I'm on PS5, just in case that matters), is throw one grenade and get your grenade reserves to show 3/4 then make sure a grenade is in hand and pick up a resupply or a grenade resupply off the ground (with grenade still in hand) and it will fill your reserve up to 5/4 grenades because it counts the one equipped in your hand as an extra. Could be kinda helpful when it comes to clearing holes or fabricators.

[@DonnellKane]

Cool

[@bowlingc6231]

One of the biggest tips I can give is changing your stratagem keybinds to your arrow keys so you can keep running while calling in stuff

[@shaderunner7.0]

I have had many messed up stratagem calls due to trying to hold-sprint or WA/D while inputting stratagem with arrows, bc how keyboards are usually made. Mainly a problem with left/right arrows. Maybe numpad instead?

[@moltenbullet]

My standard load out is 500kg, gattling sentry (for bugs), supply pack, and railgun, with all ship upgrades unlocked. It's essentially 100 railgun shots, 6 grenades, and two 500kg bombs, with a super fast rotating gattling that is now less likely to friendly fire while rotating. That supply pack with railgun is just incredible. I use it on everything except the littlest enemies.

[@LordHarvestA]

Bot Drops / Bug Breaches: I had an encounter on Suicide difficulty against the bots where one of those Glowy Red X Assaultron-like bots called in a bot drop right after we killed the commissars in the group. Similar to the way another of the bugs in the pack will take on the shrill screech to call in a breach. Either they're considered commissars too or commissars aren't the "only" bots that can call in bot drops. Whether this is difficulty specific (like a mechanic unlock based on difficulty) or if it's something they've always been capable of requires further testing and observation because, we just kill them first seeing as they're more threatening than seeing a "rank and file" bot only to realise it was a commissar all along. Just something I discovered/noticed recently in my dives. Benefits of Prone / Diving: On prone reducing explosion damage, 110% verifiable. With a full shield pack walking into a bot landmine is instant death, we can test this over and over, the result is always the same, ragdolled into the air with all your limbs missing, easy. However! If you were silly enough to not look before you leapt, you can survive diving onto a landmine with a shield pack. I think this is because once you're past the diving stage and into the ragdoll falling stage of the dive, the game considers you prone giving you the explosion damage reduction. I tested this last night in a suicide mission and yeah, 4/4 swandives into landmines and I survived (albeit with a sliver of hp, ~5%). It's also saved me from being caught in 120mm/350mm orbitals and even a 500kg bomb when my teammates who were further out from the epicenter of the explosion running away, got annihilated. Prone saves lives and limbs!

[@denomaly646]

Good fact about the Commissar: They will stop for a moment, and tweak some things on their gun-arm like setting it into 'flare mode' before being able to call in drops. Likewise they will take some time doing this before they're able to shoot you with regular ranged attacks. It gives you some time and also helps with spotting them in larger groups because only they will do this specific motion

[@MindxFreakx]

I believe you should add that you don't need to engage in every Combat, or get the attention of every patrol. You don't get exp from killing it'd all about the objectives! 😊

[@ghostderazgriz]

On top of stealth, not enough people use the smoke bomb stratagem. When no amount of fire power helps, a smoke strike is just a free get out of jail card. It can also protect citizens during a evacuation mission.

[@connor7o7]

My favorite thing about AA game launches is seeing small KZbinrs becoming THE KZbinr for that game. Congrats Dom! 😃

[@arent4771]

1) I am pretty sure that only Brood Commanders call in bug breaches. You even see them raising their heads and spewing out pheromones right before the breach happens. To stop this, shoot them in the face with a shotgun or the like to break them out of the animation and the breach will be canceled. Bonus tip: the slugger shotgun is great for breaking animations. It can stop enemies shooting, bugs from spewing, commanders from calling breaches etc. I usually bring it for this purpose alone. It gives you a lot of extra time to react. The spewers become useless as you can simply just stunlock them to death, for instance. 2) To stop bot drops, bring the anti material rifle and get some high ground from a distance. Stealth armor recommended so you can get closer. Locate the commissar and then count down so you shoot the commissar roughly at the same time as the rest of the team call in orbitals, giving the bots very little time to respond. There can be more than one commissar in a base, so make sure to scout it properly before attacking. This is a pretty reliable way of canceling the drops from my experience, even on difficulty 6+.

[@evanwest271]

The less damage from laying down works so well with the armor that prevents death ive survived friendly cluster bombs while im standing on it and a entire hell bomb while i was standing on it

[@Djinnistorm]

Weird. I completed my first Impossible bug operation tonight and unlocked helldive difficulty, and in all 3 missions I could have sworn the super sample rock had 5 samples, not 3. Something I can check again tomorrow I guess.

[@Kalder44]

One of my favorite things in game is going full commando with the stealth armors and getting the samples and nests/factories (if possible) while my team focuses on main and side objectives, and stop every now and then to drop turrets and orbital rail guns/lasers for them whenever I'm off CD

[@thememeilator2633]

That stealth tip is so good to hear from someone else man! The moment i booted up the game i noticed the game controls almost identical to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Seeing that stealth works is so good.

[@akiraic]

10:00 that resets when picket up again. Example: the single use rocket, if you grab another one, the aim will be third person by default, regardless if you used first person last time

[@Termicidal]

the last tip is wild, the community isnt as toxic as you make it out to be. i rarely have anyone shoot or punch me, be it on purpose or accidental. i have 100 hours, and the community is truthfully very nice

[@mrtoestie2707]

I find the bug breaches much more annoying to stop than the robots. I don't play against the bugs much, but it seems like whenever I kill a bug that is calling for help another bug will practically instantly start calling for help. The robots it seems are much quicker to call in backup, but if you can stop them then you get more down time before another bot decides to call for help. It actually seems a lot easier to dismantle groups of robots and prevent reinforcements from even being attempted compared to the bugs in my experience.

[@xmusic2049]

Just a tip about keeping the samples safe during mission: Once you pick them up take them to the extraction zone and drop them there and then complete any objectives that you have left then when you go back to extract just pick them up and go.

[@Auvas_Damask]

12:52 Especially lately, I tend to find myself traveling alone very quickly, doing objectives while the others take care of the main objective, and being undetected helps me more

[@Valen-mh9fh]

Thanks Re Super Samples, Suicide = 3, Impossible = 5, Helldive = 6. If you find the radar station, they seem to show on the map as a point of interest. You can sometimes make a decent guess of which point is the right one from the minimap. For difficulties 7+, focus on speed over killing ads. If you can out-run the ads and they're not interfering with an objective then leave them (less applicable with bots given they can shoot). Given the focus on speed (and armour rating not doing anything presently) use light armour. Preferably with the extra stims perk. The extra stims are handy due to the over heal meaning you can tank a mob of hunters (or similar) while you reload, reposition, etc. for longer. Also note, stims restore stamina, not just health. Don't discount the value of portable shield generator packs, essentially means you can take a free hit or two without losing health.

[@b_a_n_s_h_e_e9054]

so far, what I've learned from the bugs is pretty much this: only the spitters, spewers, and chargers cannot call the hive. always prioritize the calling bug, but another important tip too is that a calling bug can be stunned out of their animation. always take the shot, even if you can't kill them right away. major caveat is the hive guard will tank your shots and still try call regardless, so if they call and you have a half mag it's joever.

[@boredgamer7841]

I have never been able to stop a bug breach, never. I've seen a bug start the calling animation and killed it before it starts making noises and fuming orange (pheromones?) and it STILL triggers the breach.

[@ZombiePotatoSalad]

I think that's server desync. Sometimes I can stop it in times, other times, it feels like it's practically instant.

[@carterwalters5915]

You have to be super quick. I've only ever stopped one and it was last night. You have to be constantly on watch for it

[@doglog5748]

@@carterwalters5915keep trying. I’ve definitely stopped them

[@vedritmathias9193]

8:11 The recoilless rifle and expendable anti-tank rocket can destroy dropships before they unload the bots, if you hit an engine. Using co-op reload, I believe it's possible to take out all dropships before any bots hit the ground

[@mylo-]

The settings tip reminder after playing for a while was clutch thanks!

[@mythman30]

i've seen almost every type of small robot send out flares, including the rocket ones, the ones with sword hands, the assault rifle one and the regular commissars, as long as you focus down killing all the small bots and prioritizing any that stop moving and raise an arm up you can usually catch them before the flare goes off, i find its actually a lot harder to stop the bugs cause some of the medium size ones can call reinforcements too and they take more than one shot to stop.

[@ihavenomindandimustthink]

As far as i know I'm pretty sure this is the first game to actually implement how frag grenades work in real life with being prone while the grenade blows up next to you. The way a frag grenade works is it shoots the frag up into the air at a very slight angle. So in laying down next to a frag grenade on flat ground should keep you alive.

[@FKyoutubeSERIOUSLY]

uhhh, That's highly doubtful. You wanna be diving away from grenades, not laying down next to them.

[@starsofsirius559]

Yeah, you keep believing in that information lol.

[@ihavenomindandimustthink]

@@starsofsirius559 go look it up then

[@J_1709]

Another tip for those who don't know!! You can resupply yourself with the supply backpack and not just your friends! By pressing 5 on PC, not sure what it is on console but it took me about 30 ingame hours to learn about this... I have tried and tested this and can confirm it works!

[@honbeeee]

Another tip- if you can't take out the commisars before they call in a bot drop, you can instead just take out the bot drop ships as they fly in. This also seriously reduces the difficulty of that encounter. Team reloading with a recoilless rifle will let you pretty much deny bot drops entirely if you hit each bot ship's engine every time.

[@kurtjustiniani1354]

Also one hidden feature is to run from breach than fight them. Had 3 Bile spawn on me while away from team (finding stuff) and just run out of there. Once I'm away for certain range (100+ m) they just stop chasing and left them alone the whole run. Also my scout armor probably helped a lot (speed and detection range) Helldive is just Main objective and Optional with little bit of minor interest on the side, the exp you get on early end (time bonus) outweighs the exp you get on outposts. Try to get 2-3 optional then some minor interest plus super samples will net you more than 100% clear the map. Less time, more exp and medals plus 10+ common and rare with super samples is the best grind in my opinion. You'll just earn fine with requisition and probably don't need it anyway, super credits are just a nice bonus.

[@lastwymsi]

A tip I have discovered, the Ballistic Shield backpack is fire resistant. You can use it to survive a Flame Hulk's fireblast. HOWEVER you have to face it towards them.

[@bigmonke7661]

You know what’s worse than bug breaches and bot drops The fucking patrols that randomly appear in front of you

[@user-ip6wq7vr7m]

The SC-37 Legionnaire Armor is by far my favorite, the 30% more throw distance and 50% limb protection has saved my skin so many times.

[@lowresolutionbunnyfeng3919]

Best XP grind strategy is doing Eradicate Defense mission on Automatons on Helldive. The run takes at most 3 minutes if you’re doing it with a full squad, and you’ll get 1000+ XP and a few thousand Requisition. If you’re extra coordinated, there’s 10 common samples each run. Just set up mortars and turrets and they’ll kill everything within 3 minutes

[@Ichidan9]

I totally agree with you on the Stealth part. I just finished Extreme and Suicide difficulty solo using stealth, it works

[@lordemperion1446]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but if you bring the recoilless rifle to a bot mission you can shoot the drop ships down taking out any armor along with it. Hit it anywhere in the thrusters and it will come down killing the traitorous cargo.

[@theroguerider]

The game quote you give is saying, or I take it as saying, that the person laying down suppressive fire will maintain the focus of the automaton so that others can get to their flanks, or backside to attack. Basically the first person shooting them is using taunt and will maintain their attention until either one of them is dead. Also, your “test” effectively tripled the distance from your first test. They were inaccurate due to distance, not your shooting.

[@robby_or_rob_or_robert_or_8585]

2:00 the reason drops will bug out is if you spam pickup it will always bug the third pickup in a row and break it

[@Skipper20009]

To maximize your ammo ressuply, try to spend your ammo equally, since you refill around 1/4 to 1/3 of your total ammo each time. Also, refill before spending your last mag to carry full mag capacity when refilled.

[@AzeUnkn0wn]

I loved the Dynamic aim mode - on. Hold RMB will be aim on 3rd person while pressing RMB will ADS or aim in 1st person. Just like in PUBG

[@blackout3187]

Another tipp: If you leave the combat zone (edge of the map) and remain outside until the timer runs out, you will be marked as a traitor and inprecise artillery fire will target you until you die. If you dont stop moving, you can survive for a long time and abuse that fire. Just remain far from your mates and question what you did wrong for that to be usefull

[@Chris-rz5rb]

About the supply pack. You can use it yourself and still give it to allies. If you on PC, use 5 and you will resupply yourself. You can then still supply your allies as per normal

[@Zed-4]

Don't pick up samples while moving and don't spam pick them up. Currently there is a bug that even you press E to pick them up you get nothing. You can tell at 3:20

[@williammell845]

The precision weapons like the AMR, and both Diligence rifle variants are surprising effective against bots as everyone of them except the tanks can be taken out from the front with 1-3 accurate shots to the eyes. The added range and strength of these weapons actually makes taking out commissars pretty easy as they are easy to identify at range and will die to 1-2 body shots from any range.

[@ramrod1016]

Bot drops are so much easier to stop than bug breach as the flare is way more telegraphed and you have alot longer to take them out before they fire it, in the chaos of a bug swarm there is little to no time to shoot the offending bug before the pheromone cloud appears by which time its too late.

[@klyde5248]

Thanks Dom for the tips, very useful. I have been subbed for quite some time, not sure why people don't. Not like it costs anything. 🙂

[@thedudeabides3138]

Great tips Dom, much appreciated.

[@Zchlong]

Armor does work now. They've changed the armor ratings and how it affects you when you take damage. So the extra padding perk works now and actually means something

[@M.L.official]

Problem with Bug breaches is that even if you prevent it from happening, the next encounter you face, they will try to get it going again, making it impossible to prevent. If you have to destroy eggs then you have no chance of stopping it. One thing I think can work is if you have a full party, split up and do different objectives. As far as I've seen, you can't have more than one bug breach active at a time. This may be different on difficulty 8 and 9 as i haven't played them yet.

[@ROFLWAFFLELAWL4]

Also for anyone on M/KB and dont like that they have to sit still to use a strategem you can rebind your strategem inputs to different keys like your arrow keys. This will no longer lock your movement when calling strategems.

[@JoshuaHernandez-rx4xq]

BEST TIP!! - If you get super samples early in game, RUN TO EVAC, DROP SAMPLES, FINISH MISSIONS, when you exfil pick up the super samples before boarding