Helldivers 2 - The 10 Best Primary Weapons to use against the Illuminate

[@SwanyPlaysGames]

Keep up the great loadout ideas! I'll test out as many as I can for my next video.

[@skillfiend7865]

They added a weapon in the Super Store from Killzone, just a heads up

[@smaug9617]

@@skillfiend7865pretty nice one in my opinion.

[@Micholex]

Best build for squids so far (crowd control) Heavy armor with passive bonus to reload and mag size Plas 1 scorcher (obviously) Plas 15 loyalist Supply pack Grenade launcher 500kg bomb Orbital strike If you want to be able to destroy ships on your own then swap grenade launcher for either heavy mg or normal mg. Supply pack with scorcher does wonders on squids, do not use shield its not worth it, having 4x of everything is always going to be better. With supply pack, your primary is basically a stratagem, fast firing plasma rifle takes out entire hordes

[@konsta6012]

My go to right now is: Liberator penetrator, Grenade pistol, gas grenade, Eagle strafing run, guard dog, laser cannon and Gatling sentry

[@bigsloggo]

Try the Crossbow (Explosion) and Stalwart-combo. The Stalwart melts the ships shields while a ex-crossbow into the hatches blows the whole thing up. The 500 kg for the big ones or when you do not feel like shooting the warpships. that leaves an empty slot for preference. Jump-pack is nice, but pretty much everything that hits your fance works as well.

[@Odog78]

I'm realizing that the Illuminate side is more about weapon pairing than any one primary.

[@NixxVixx]

yep! machine gun support and heavier primary, or heavier support and crowd control primary (concussive liberator actually isn't bad at keeping voteless at bay)

[@MrFartinacan]

@@NixxVixx I was eyeing that but wasn't sure. Fire rate seemed rough but can't argue with a 60 round drum. I'll give it a shot.

[@LethalOwl]

Quite right. My favorite build right now uses xbow, gas nades and a baton secondary while wearing light peak physique armor. For strats I bring the HMG, Guard Dog liberator, gatling sentry and machine gun sentry. Absolute bullet hell build that can take out every enemy in a matter of seconds, tops. Makes it easy to snipe the doors on the spawners too, since grenades are a little unreliable. Grenade pistol also works wonders for that, if you'd prefer a different primary than xbow. Peak physique is also optional, but I felt it had good use when I brought a baton as well as the HMG. Made it very easy to shoot legs off of the tripods.

[@mattshriner4897]

Been favoring Scorcher (for overseers), grenade pistol, and some flavor of MG (depends on difficulty and armor choice).

[@NixxVixx]

@@MrFartinacan fire rate is iffy but if you start getting overwhelmed switch to first person and back up while firing

[@ghilliecamo222]

3:29 Overseers don’t have medium armor, they have light armor but their armor is segmented and can break, making continuous shots into the enemy in the same spot do more damage.

[@ZerekXD]

So having a weapon that can continuously hit the same area with precision, very low need to reload and have a bleeding/burning affect can really do a number on them then?

[@SwanyPlaysGames]

I meant their heads have armor. That's my bad.

[@TheHouseAlwaysWins123]

@@ZerekXD for continuous fire against overseers the sickle does the best at it. Just be weary about the heatsink

[@TheHouseAlwaysWins123]

wary

[@GalaxyEdgeStudios]

​@@ZerekXD The new killzone AR with the quick reload armor kills them fairly quick, I vastly prefer the Dominator though as you'll kill them in a couple bursts to center mass AND it staggers them. Jar 5 + Shield pack means you can walk down the overseers and just obliterate them without fear, add some heavy armor and you feel like you're a 40k space marine in the wrong game.

[@jahjah7940]

The thing I love in particular about this update, is that since the beginning of the game we were wired to pick certain stratagems and weapons to bugs and bots. Now, the illuminate throw that out the window, and we can’t quite tell (yet) what is good against them and what is not.

[@LethalOwl]

More dakka is best. Was predictable for those of us who played HD1 xD Just more and more bullets, since the enemy is not going to bring much armor, just more shields and techy shit. Can't wait for them to get their snipers back, if AH intends to do that.

[@brandondb6190]

Orbital napalm. Trust me

[@TheNightOwlKS]

@@jahjah7940 From what I can tell, you simply can't rely on heavy hitting single shot strategems against the Illuminate, with a few exceptions (Orbital Railcannon, Orbital Precision Strike).

[@dalej4241]

Bring a lot of kinetic firepower hmg and breaker no incen is solid and it’s crazy I’ve seen no one running the breaker when it’s just better than the incen against illuminate railgun has bad ammo economy and ttk for overseers imo

[@LethalOwl]

@@TheNightOwlKS Railcannon is inconsistent and may not 1-shot the tripod, even with the shield down. Not worth it for the cooldown, better to use the HMG or some other med armor pen with lots of damage and aim for the leg joints near the main body.

[@Goldilocks7O7]

Kinda shocked the sickle didn’t make your top 10, imo the tenderizer isn’t even in the same league as it. Has basically no recoil, somewhat infinite ammo, and even if you shoot until you have to reload it can fire for twice as long as the tenderizer before that happens. Plus it’s one of the best primary options in the game for dropping shields(something I think was largely overlooked in this selection).

[@walkerspectre]

Based take

[@smz257]

ye I agree, I know its subjective, but the sickle is so much more clearly effective for the Illuminate compared to the other factions, primarily for the Voteless, but it still hold up well for the medium enemies. I think he prioritized primaries that more easily take out the Overseers, but I think you're right that it should replace the Tenderizer

[@celestial002]

My only problem with the sickle is that I want a reason to use an assault rifle. And also it's kinda big and ugly and I can't make it not yellow.

[@reecethurman4714]

The sickle is sooooo much better than its stats show. My favorite all rounder

[@toxicfpv304]

The only downside to the sickle is the warm up time to send shots down range. If you get swamped between reloads it can really put you in a sticky situation. Don't get me wrong I still think its a great weapon (even more so with the new armors extra mags)

[@Sharkie504]

Two downsides that I've observed with the Blitzer are, it just straight up misses enemies that are point blank range or very close to you, and it's got a pretty slow fire rates which can sometimes get you into trouble.

[@RickyBobby2169]

I haven't seen anyone mention this tec and its hard to do, but in pinches you can switch between the blitzer and another weapon to help increase the firerate of the blitzer. Paired with the armor that increases swap speed it can be useful

[@TheNightOwlKS]

Pair the Blitzer with the Guard Dog Rover to compensate for its lack of range & slow fire rate, & Stun Baton for when they get too close. Also, the Machine Gun Sentry works very well with the Blitzer as you can stun lock enemies while the sentry can mow them down.

[@noneyaonenoneyatwo2879]

I pair blitzer with jetpack an grenade pistol. Im going to try incendiary grenades for crowd control soon but the hmg emplacement wipes everything off the map except their ships from any distance.

[@MidLoafCrisis]

My load out preference Crossbow Senator Incendiary Grenades Machine Gun Sentry Gatling Sentry EATS Pick up a Machine Gun that's lying around seemingly everywhere in the towns.

[@danielhittle2343]

I agree, I pair the blitzer with the verdict which I find solves the problems I have with the blitzer. I’ve also added the new wasp as it’s really good at both pot shotting overseers and taking down striders. Plus the ammo is easy to get.

[@Foxador]

Overseers actually have light armor, which is why you get the grey marker when you hit them which means that you're armor matching them and doing only 65% damage. Only their head has medium armor. The biggest issue with the overseers is their adaptive plate armor Edit: I know it's not a primary weapon... but the best weapon I've found is just the basic MG43 gun you start the game with. Go prone and aim for the legs of the voteless and you'll take them all down, same goes for the overseers Voteless can get kneecapped by most weapons in a single shot which puts them into crawler zombie mode but also a 10 second bleed out. Lot of times I just kneecap and move on

[@SwindoMMT]

Can we get a little honorable mention for the SG-20 Halt shotgun? The stun allows you to hold back the horde and freeze up both types of Overseers AND the scout bots! The flechettes spread can drop quite a few tightly packed Voteless in one shot, and it staggers Overseers and shreds their armor! It is more of a precision weapon then the Breaker Incendiary and you do chew through ammo at quite the clip (pun intended) but with all the ammo boxes lying around it's not a huge issue. Anyway, great video, let's keep field testing our arsenal on those xenos scum and see what kills best! For Super Earth and Democracy! The Helldivers will not back down!

[@EliWintercross]

I've been using it all the time against the squids. The flechette rounds can kill voteless with a shot to the head, or you can take out their legs and just walk away from them. Gotta manage your reloads well, but it's a solid option and I have really enjoyed it.

[@matthewcichy4187]

I run the halt with the guard dog drone and it works wonders. I mostly use the stun rounds and let the drone do the killing.

[@AC-hj9tv]

​@@matthewcichy4187nice

[@exeonx6561]

I'll add to this that the JAR dominator is also very capable at dealing with overseers and taking out shields. You can drop a 500KG bomb on a walker, pull out the dominator and kill the shield with time to spare. It's less effective against voteless (I mean they do get 1 shot) but ammo per clip wise it's a worse scorcher due to overkill, at least against the voteless. If you pair it with a Arc thrower though, it's insane, stun the overseer, swap to dominator and kill them.

[@scottlurker991]

I've also been running the Dominator because it pops shields so fast.

[@CrayonMechant]

And it can penetrate the voteless to remove a whole bunch of them if they line up! Paired with the new armor that increase ammo it's great

[@scottlurker991]

@CrayonMechant yeah, I had 160% accuracy the other night because of that.

[@schiftyJJ]

Instead of the Breaker Incendiary, I like to use the Cookout. It has the fire of the weapon while also staggering any enemies hit by a single pellet. Sacrifices area coverage for more damage and staggering.

[@angusowen9863]

Big shoutout to the sickle, which I have always loved but found inadequate for both bots and bugs, but is my go to vs the squids. You absolutely melt hordes and it's not hard to kill an overseer by focusing down their armour. The big deal for me is the ammo- it costs me nothing to dump 60 rounds into a shielded saucer or tripod, allowing for good follow up. 9 times out of 10 I can run in between letting the gun cool, but 3 reloads is plenty if I decide I need to just keep dumping a bit longer. Pair with any AT and you're golden.

[@CrunchyRhombus]

Sickle for shield breaking is fantastic.

[@anihilist460]

Sickle shreds bots.

[@TheNightOwlKS]

Sickle with Guard Dog Rover & Laser Cannon. Full laser build works wonders against the Illuminate

[@TwelveTables]

Sickle w/ laser cannon had got to be the most rediculous loadout I've seen for the illuminat. Over heat sickle swap to laser, as that over heats oh sickle is back up. And once that is empty the laser is good to go. By far the best combo I've seen absolutely destroying ever encounter on 7 difficulty.

[@Noc-1112]

Inadequate for BOTS?? the sickles destroys every bot aside from the hulks. Take a sickle and a railgun and you shred bots. It’s inadequate for squids. Plas-1 is king

[@vyraall8430]

Honorable mention goes to the stalwart, I think it is the best "Primary" besides the crossbow as it shreds the voteless and the overseers. Dont be afraid to drop the rate of fire down to 700 as it will conserve ammo as less bullets will miss due to bullet spread. Then bring other stratagems to answer harvesters.

[@blulikefriendlyhit1213]

It's not even a primary what?

[@Bricriu-gj9dd]

Hell yeah!!! We stand Stalwart in the face of the Xeno Menace!

[@Mlgpug553]

it honestly should be a primary

[@xosxpress]

Hell yeah! Stalwart and crossbow combo!

[@xmoltarx8768]

It also helps with aim and stability bringing down the rpm

[@LegendPurpleDragon152]

Blitzer, Stun Baton, Viper Commando Armor, Ballistic Guard Dog, Commando, Strafing Run and Machinegun Sentry has been working fantastically for me. Topping the kill charts pretty much every mission.

[@nokturnallex2160]

Scorcher or Purifier, Grenade Launcher, Ballistic Guard Dog and Commando are my gotos. Grenade Launcher alone can kill all their infantry. Strafing Run is great for dropping shields and Orbital Laser can solo the Heavy Bases. Commando outshines the other rocket launcher as you can 1 shot the walker to the leg joint.

[@generaloverlord2988]

I Tried both the ballistic guard dog and the Rover for the illuminates and the Rover is always better because they are weak to fire. What is so good in the normal guard dog for you to use it?

[@LeonDegrelle14]

@@nokturnallex2160 machine gun sentry loves friendly fire more than anything else lmfao

[@iowkey_9339]

pick either blitzer or stun baton, cause they do the same thing.. theres no reason to ever use the stun baton if youre already stun chaining everything with the blitzer.. which also makes the viper armor useless as the blitzer doesnt need less drag. if you do need the stun baton cause enemies get close, youre either not kiting well enough or not utilizing the blitzers aoe enough.. and diving is enough to get enough distance to stun something again..

[@LegendPurpleDragon152]

@ Actually there is. Sometimes you can get jumped by the voteless, or your ally could be getting swarmed and the Blizter won’t clear everything away fast enough, or firing it risks hitting your teammate. That’s when the melee comes out. The enemies don’t always come from the same direction and there’s no guarantee you won’t just dive into the waiting arms of the horde. Also you’re forgetting the Commando, guidance mode or not, the faster you can get it on target the better.

[@royal1814]

Yeah my first mission with the Illuminate I took the punisher, which was my go to for bots and bugs for its stun. Senator as secondary, heavy laser as support weapon, and the guard dog so I can deal some extra damage. I got totally wrecked. The voughtless died in one hit most of the time, or if I was inaccurate, their legs would be blown off. But due to their number I’d run low on ammo quick, even more so trying to use the pun on the medium armor enemies. But, first mission, live and learn. Lvl 32 acc.

[@MoragStyx]

I have a similar story. :)

[@TheNightOwlKS]

I usually run with Blitzer, Senator, Thermite, & Guard Dog, & Quasar Cannon. Once I realized nothing was heavy armored, the shields were the major issue, & I needed grenades to blow up the ships, I swapped to the Grenade Pistol, Stun Grenades, Guard Dog Rover, & Arc Thrower while bringing along the Machine Gun Sentry & Orbital Gatling Barrage. I pretty much stun locked everything & mowed them down with the sentry & Gatling Barrage taking out shields. Quick cooldowns FTW.

[@ayansaigal9015]

Try the explosive crossbow

[@matthewanderson1916]

the dominator hits a lot of excellent breakpoints on illuminate, gotta recommend it

[@LlamaTheory]

Been running a heavy armor setup (fortified) with the Purifier, Laser Pistol, HE Grenades, Jetpack, Quasar, and two optional stratagems (often the 500kg & Minigun Turret). Purifier for general use, laser pistol for shields, and the Quasar for demolition work and popping harvester legs. The jet pack keeps you ahead of the hordes and lets you shortcut a lot of choke points in the towns. FYI: All of the laser weapons are extremely good at nuking the squid's shields, even the pistol can take out a harvester's shield with a little over one clips worth of constant fire.

[@nb3280]

I am a fan of the Halt shotgun, it's flechettes do pretty good damage, but I really like using it's stun shells to stop (elevated) overseers, negating their damage and/or making it easy for a follow up headshot with the senator (if you can avoid their bullet-absorbing fingers)

[@helghanmerc2765]

Arc 12 has been my go to for a while Super underrated

[@TheNightOwlKS]

I use it for everything, including bots

[@Shywer]

Yep the only problem are Watchers too far away not even my Laser Doggo shoots at. Or Watcher behind/clipping into something.

[@Ki_Adi_Mundi]

Not a primary but the arc thrower absolutely melts and is great crowd control.

[@CrunchyRhombus]

Me and another helldiver were both using Blitzer as our primaries. Went fantastic. Good to here arc thrower does well. Ty

[@TheNightOwlKS]

I typically run Blitzer, Arc Thrower, & Guard Dog Rover against the Illuminate. I always rack up a bunch of kills & never worry about reloading.

[@kirbyplush240]

Full arc-diving might be the best overall strategy for the illuminate, infinite ammo shotgun, ranged stun locks from the arc thrower, and 95% resistance to their arc attacks while they run into your tesla towers, just don't forget motivational shocks and muscle enhancement to resist the slowing effects and your team becomes a ball of death

[@I.AM.ON.MY.WAY.]

Arc thrower is definitely the way to go, full electricity build makes it to where ammo isn’t really an issue. Only downside for me is that spamming the arc thrower over and over can get stale sometimes, but it’s certainly effective. And did they slightly increase the fire rate of the arc? I feel like I can fire it faster now

[@lorddeathofmurdermountain76]

I arc throw as well and yes I am usually the one with the most kills and the most friendly fire because dumbass's don't equip the arc proof armor.

[@pure9933]

Yall are sleeping on the Breaker Spray & Pray

[@blulikefriendlyhit1213]

That's what I'm sayin

[@thetaoist8]

100%. The new armor passive works really well with it too. I pair it with the plasma pistol to deal with the Overseers

[@skylerspurlock4755]

Spray and pray all I run in illuminate!!!!!

[@paparovits888]

@@thetaoist8 There it is, exactly. Breaker P&S has so much more ammo, and is amazing at keep firing at the horde, while being somewhat effective at dealing with overseers too due to the opressive damage it does. And if you don't want to wait, the Loyalist is the perfect answer to them.

[@Gaaaaaame]

Pray and spray? Lol​@@paparovits888

[@GachaLugia]

I actually have been using the liberator penetrator. It has been surprisingly viable for me because it has that medium armor penetration, and I don't have the adjudicator or the crosssbow at the moment. I have used sickle but it was annoying focusing down the armor on the overseers while I was getting overrun by voteless.

[@Beastlyxxnorris]

I don’t care for the pummeler for bugs or bots, but it’s AMAZING and heavily slept on against the illuminate. It stun locks the hovering overseers, allowing you to focus on one piece of their armor to break it off and kill them shortly after. It also helps teammates take them down quickly with their harder hitting weapons since they are stun locked. Taking out those scout drones are easy to do as well as they too get stunned. It’s been my go to with the ballistic shield and lance combo with the heavy peak physique armor. That lance can easily take out a squad of grounded overseers with the hammers and a horde of voteless without issue. I never struggle with the illuminate anymore. Also, with the lance, it’s a quiet weapon as well, and with the illuminate having very short sight range, it’s an amazing secondary. Then for harvesters, I use the HMG turret. Then I use gas strikes and orbital precision strikes for the ship fabricators.

[@wlanalex]

i have learned to love the crossbow, two tapping the overseers, blowing up shieldless ships and as long as im at a distance, decent for helping with hoard clear vs voteless

[@I.AM.ON.MY.WAY.]

I just tried it against the bugs last night and was genuinely surprised at how well it performed, against bots its S tier. Being able to deal with chargers quickly with just a crossbow is amazing, I was even able to 1v1 a bile titan with just a crossbow, best weapon in the game.

[@natehanson9672]

Try out the knight with directional shield and the new armor with reload speed and more ammo. It’s fantastic and lets you be a front line tank

[@supergoodadvice853]

The Breaker is amazing. Shotguns shred the Voteless. Can two to three hit the drones. And since Illuminate armor works in segments, it shreds through that as well.

[@brettrichards4048]

One other great thing about the breaker incendiary specifically against the illuminate is the cities have so much extra ammo laying around it's crazy. You can find ammo around every corner. So the magazine limitation weakness is barely noticeable, I've never come close to running out against them.

[@sliphstream4927]

I absolutely love the Cookout shotgun against these guys. One-hit voteless at close range while fire DOT takes care of them at mid range. Best part is that the Cookout can stunlock the overseers! This shuts down the ground units when they charge at you and makes the flying units drop their grenades.

[@blackedoutkillagaming8210]

I absolutely love how the Eruptor just gets ignored by the community. It's is the best weapon in the game, works against every faction, and with this new armour passives it is an absolute monster. To be fair I don't really use any other primary, the thought of not having my Eruptor at hand messes with my Chi. Even when the Eruptor went through it's dark period during the escalation of freedom campaign, I refused to put my baby down. I was over the moon when super earth returned the shrapnel ammo to the Eruptor mains. I take it on every drop. Against the Squids, It destroys the voteless, It kills the overseers in 2 shots, you can kill groups of them with 3 shots in the general area. With the new armour passives the reload feels fast and you get 8 clips. You can even blow the harvesters apart with 6-8 clean shots at weak points. All my fellow Eruptor mains I salute you for not giving up on the weapon and enduring it's general dismissal by the community.

[@DuyLeNguyen]

The bolt action reload takes so long though!

[@SwanyPlaysGames]

I like the Eruptor. I just only had room for 10 weapons lol I had to make some hard choices.

[@KYPC17]

I agreed with you at one point. After I swapped my builds so much during the dark nerfing ages I learned to appreciate the Jet Pack (before buffs) and the adjudicator (before buff) for bots. The eruptor was king for bots before the initial nerf. But I wore the explosive proof armor. Now without that armor the thing is very easy to kill yourself with. The eruptor unfortunately just requires you now to build around it well to work well. Where if you use the Crossbow and or Scorcher allow way more diversity.

[@KYPC17]

I should also add the eruptor is too slow for high intensity situations. I play mostly 10 and I can’t recommend it for anything other than bots, especially when the crossbow is like twice as fast to shoot, reload, and is easier to handle.

[@Odog78]

Doesn't the crossbow outclass it in every regard? I want to love it, but they need to split the power / roles between crossbow and erupter.

[@Verminator4]

One weapon that didn’t get mentioned here that might have warranted it is the Knight SMG. Not a weapon that many people have, but you can spray it into a crowd and get a bunch of kills, plus you can kill overseers very quickly by magdumping them and focusing on one spot. As a bonus you can fire it over your shoulder while running away from zombies, and as another bonus it’s insane fire rate means you can strip the shields off of warpships and harvesters insanely quickly. You run out of ammo really quickly though so it’s best to bring a supply backpack

[@matwuzheer]

Pairing the anti-material rifle with the slugger has been a blast for me. One-shots the watchers and overseers if you snipe a weak spot, the harvesters go down pretty quick, and the slugger just melts the hoards of voteless.

[@Jaxx0099]

I got plenty of time with the fish faction and I’ve tried just about everything against them. I will say you NEED a dedicated weapon for each enemy type. Ad clear for voteless and medium pen for overseers. Bring a primary that’s good for either type then bring a stratagem weapon for the other type. MG and HMG are kings on the battlefield being able to deal with literally everything. Secondary is pretty open for anything but I take full auto pistol for quick shield damage or in a pinch voteless cleanup

[@bion-geek-le1109]

I love running scorcher, it takes down overseers, brutes, and even tripods, the explosion damage also goes right through the brute shields taking them out in about 5 shots

[@Watch_Point]

I’ve been using this too with supply pack it’s working well for me

[@studio7gaming504]

Try the purifier it’s charged shot helps with crowd control

[@HugoAllissei]

I do like to use the LASER build against them, and it works well against them! And most importantly, it is fun! Primary a Laser (Scythe), heavy a laser (Laser Cannon), and backpack a laser (Guard Dog Rover). When one of my lasers is about to overheat I just change weapon and keep the laser going! I usually keep using the Grenade pistol to be able to destroy their ships.

[@ProudDMims]

YEP! Love this build.

[@MatzeMB85]

Use that build too. It's awesome! I do prefer the handheld flamethrower however to create some distance if anything gets too close.

[@ARTEMISXIX]

I run this exact build with the 95% arc resistance armor and it's kind of disgusting. If you didn't know the tripods can't use their laser beam attack when you're too close instead opting for an arc shot that's usually devastating but with arc resistance it does next to nothing. Laser Cannon absolutely deletes tripods and everything else tbf and Sickle busts shields alongside providing efficient horde-clear. I've also been using the laser beam rifle (forgot the name) since it sets Voteless on fire making it very efficient as well.

[@blulikefriendlyhit1213]

The Spray & Pray is top tier vs the illuminates

[@GryphonM]

It is, and it pairs well with the HMG or MG.

[@FazeParticles]

@@GryphonM HMG is a must since it slaps Harvesters and Overseers. you just need to pair it with a good voteless clearing primary weapon.

[@EliWintercross]

​@@FazeParticlesHMG is pretty awesome

[@Verminator4]

The torcher really comes into its own here. I actually like it better than the support weapon flamethrower because you can move around while firing a little faster and the shorter range doesn’t matter as much in the more restrained colony streets where engagement ranges are shorter. The fact that it boils illuminates soldiers in their armour as well as giving you area denial against the zombie hordes is pretty amazing

[@fistfullofsalt6311]

I just started playing yesterday and the Illuminate were my first faction contact, and I've got to say that I really enjoy the base starting primary AR-23A for the Illuminate.

[@GnarledStaff]

For the adjudicator, single fire mode is better than full auto against the illuminate. You do not need to go into 1st person if you use the single fire mode. 2-3 shots on voteless depending on the body type (big, bulky mutated ones take 3 hits), half a mag on an overseer, and less if you hit heads. It does not have quite enough ammo to deal with hordes of voteless so you’ll still want a support weapon, backpack or ally nearby to help, but its a solid pick.

[@johnprater3729]

Another thing to consider is how effective the guns are against shields. The Purifier is my favorite, but it takes most of a clip to down a harvester shield and several clips to down a ship shield. Unlike the Sickle which can drop a ship shield in seconds. Something tells me future enemy types are going to include more shields.

[@jacobevertson5411]

My go-to loadout so far has been a medium penetration assault rifle to deal with the overseers as well as ship/tripod shields, grenade pistol to kill the parked ships, incendiary impact grenades for the hoards of voteless, guard dog for everything, AMR for sniping overseers, killing the watchers, and killing the tripods or disabling their shield regen. And then a couple of for fun stratagems like the heavy barrage, 500kg bomb, orbital laser, etc.

[@IzzytheMelody]

The total lack of the Halt is silly. Its easily the best shotgun for the fight, with incredible CC, being a getaway enabler, being high damage and staggering the overseers as well. It also breaks shields down well unlike the Crossbow, making it useless against warp ships until the shield is down. The stun shot and ability to switch to real rounds on the go, which uses its own ammo count, means you can pump out 16 shots before needing to reload which is faster than ever. It has the most utility of any weapon It ha

[@radimakesmusic]

I’ve been a fan of using the Punisher Plasma since it has small explosive radius for dealing with voteless and 4 shots to the oversees down them on any body part. That paired with the AMR for a support weapon to take out a harvester with ease has been a solid game plan so far!

[@toxicfpv304]

I honestly have been loving running the OG assault rifle. With the plasma sidearm flame grenades. The new wasp stinger is OP for the call in. The electric charge up weapon is also a really good call in as it stuns larger enemy types. Can take out harvesters and wipes out mobs pretty quickly.

[@2ndRAK25]

Honestly I feel like the sickle mixed with any other continuous beam secondary is a good combination You don’t have to worry about ammo unless you keep overheating it, and once it gets hot you can switch to your secondary until the sickle cools down and then switch back

[@alanbunbun6961]

I've been using siege ready armor w. dominator (one shots overseers on a crit, high ammo, high range) / grenade pistol (high damage on ground overseers + clearing warp ships) / incendiary grenade (easy crowd clear + kills overseers if close when detonates) Pair it with a guard dog, eagle strafing runs (to clear a patrol, warp ship shield, etc), orbital gatling barrage, and a support weapon like the AMR (which 2-shots the harvesters in the joints). Guard dog has a ridiculous amount of uptime, and with a free medium-pen auto-aim buddy you can handle pretty much every enemy except the harvester, which your support should cover. You can push into hordes with the guard dog, take out the ships with strafing run + grenade pistol, and get out immediately, it's great.

[@Allen2142]

Honorable mentions for the Pummeler. That little SMG has a big mag, big damage, good handling and the stunning rounds can stack up on all kinds of targets for an easy kill. ESPECIALLY the watcher scouts. One or two rounds into one of those, and no reinforcements are gonna get called from that little bloke. Saved my teams more times than I know

[@ParadoxicaI_insomnia]

Laser and melee weapons thrive against the squids. The heavy laser and the other lasers melt shields and having basically infinite ammo for groups if you balance it with melee is amazing

[@bluelaser1012]

When I started using the Torcher as my primary and Stalwart as my calldown against the Illuminate, I was amazed at how instantly my performance improved. The Stalwart takes care of Overseers in a second or two, while the Torcher mows down the Voteless. Recommend this pair to anyone

[@Newage416]

I’ve been running with the blitzer recently and it’s put in some good work. It being able to arc through multiple enemies helps a ton against the Voteless

[@stevenobrien7686]

So happy to see the Reprimand in this list, it’s my favorite primary honestly. I wish they would fix the bloom on the accuracy so the bullets actually go where you want them every time. Other than that it’s a perfect weapon.

[@DelightfullyMADD]

Good list, though I would personally argue that the Sickle is better than the Tenderizer overall. Both struggle against the Overseers due to lacking penetration, but the fact that the Sickle has infinite ammo so long as you're good at handling heat puts it above the Tenderizer despite the Tenderizer's better damage, because honestly damage is not really a concern against the Voteless since they have all the durability of wet cardboard. There is basically no discernable damage difference between the two against the Voteless, so given that's the case the Sickle is just better since you don't have to worry about constantly needing to reload or run out of ammo which is a godsend vs. the hordes, and then just use a support weapon to deal with Overseers (which honestly I feel is just more efficient anyways)

[@sisyphus69420]

It isn’t a primary, but I basically use the AMR as a primary. I run crossbow for crowd control, senator for “oh shit oh fuck” instant headshots on overseers and leg shots on harvester, and the AMR to snipe overseer heads, harvester shield gens, and snapping their legs off. AMR is seriously busted. One shots overseers to the head, six shots break Voteless generator shields, I believe 3-4 break harvester shield, and then its 4 shots to the same leg weakspot to kill. It also one shots the harvester shield gens (you only need to break one, not both. breaking both completely disables it, however breaking only one delays it for so long that its practically disabled)

[@neijrr]

Arc thrower + Drone backpack (either normal or laser) is best combo I've found so far - Arc thrower instantly kills several zombies per shot and stunlocks everything else (yes, including harvester). Drone saves you charge time when there are just a few voteless and defends you while you focus on overseers and harvesters, and you have 2 stratagem slots left (usually I go with 500kg for destroying ships and gatling turret for holding position). It doesn't even matter what primary and secondary weapons you choose, since arc thrower essentially becomes your primary (thought it is preferable to get something that would work against most threats when arc thrower is not an option).

[@aryhon6222]

I know its a meme pick but the constitution has been so fun to use with peak physique, and running the HMG also synergizes well with that perk with the increased weapon handling. Its been a nasty combo for me

[@elitedragoon6484]

If you dont like the first two assault rifles, i found liberator penetrator assualt rifle also can be used here. Another gun that has been pretty decent is the eruptor. It does more aoe than the crossbow so it can easilly deal with hordes, it does take three shots to kill the overseers but if you want crowd control that flame throw can do, Eruptor is a great choice, especially mid to long range, close range is a bit hard but use a pistol and your good to go.

[@TheHuffur]

Eruptor is a pretty good choice against them as well if you dont use it as the "primary" weapon, one or two shots into the big hoards thins them out a lot but its also generally a 2 shot kill against any Overseer(shrapnel being a bit random as always) but the main reason to bring it is the utility. Eruptor has enough destructive force to take out the Illuminate tesla towers and it will get rid of the spawn ship shield with 1-2 shots if you shoot under them, then you can blow them up with a single shot into a door. It also has enough damage and stagger to be useful against Harvesters if you lack any other better way of dealing with them. So with a Eruptor you are kinda free to grab that MG/Stalwart while still having everything you might need on the mission. Punisher and Slugger are also and still massively overlooked despite a near endless stream of enemies being like the "We were made to excel at this!" scenario for them... Yeah you do want a Supply Backpack with them if you are going to push them to their limit but I do not see that as a drawback.

[@sabre_phoenix5996]

I've been on the crossbow ever since it came out! Not surprised it made the list here. I can't wait to get back in the fight! FedEx needs to hurry up and deliver my GPU!

[@f1scher209]

I know this is about primaries; but without question the best thing I have found is using the standard Guard Dog (gun, not laser). Absolutely gives you a ton of space w/ voteless, and brings a ton of heavier damage for overseers. Also you worry less about hitting shots on the flying overseers bc it auto tracks. Ton of ammo in Illuminate maps as well sitting around. Gives you more flexibility in picking a primary and a heavy. Typically been using a heavier primary + stalwart, and using strats/grenades for walkers/ships. Or using a light ar (imo Sickle by far best) + commando or quasar. In either instance, the guard dog racks up literally hundreds of kills per game and gives you alot more space in these crowded urban maps. I think the most important thing w/ Illuminate is that they have a more diverse requirement for the types of damage you bring - explosive, ballistic, energy, etc. and it doesnt always make a ton of sense on what works vs. doesnt.

[@Shywer]

We can even store the Doggos in the Backpack with 5. And when you need em press 5 and say Shoot Doggo your a good boy. =)

[@liljeman]

Halt + Verdict is a great combo with the new armour passive. Stun -> Headshots will let you drop Overseers one after another. Weaker if you're in the open against many Overseers but will absolutely save lifes within the narrow alleys against the melee overseers.

[@iogamer9844]

The crossbow is really good for the Illuminates imo, as it can: - two shot overseers - kill more than 10 zombies with one shot if close to each other - take out the Illuminates' 'fabricators' (forgot the name) from afar if paired with an appropriate support weapon or secondary - take out the Illuminates' tesla towers - is one-handed - and can even take out an unshielded Harvester. I first went up against the Illuminates using the incendiary breaker, grenade pistol, as well as the AMR, and I struggled with both ammo and overall firepower, but then I saw someone using the crossbow, so I tried doing using it instead with the AMR and the faster version of the peacemaker (forgot its name), and it's been going great.

[@HawkTTM]

I have been running the plasma scorcher and the sidearm flamethrower. Plasma for the overseers and the voteless is the flamer. Shoot the ground in front of you to make a fire wall for them to walk through instead of shooting the voteless. It’s worked pretty well for me. I use the quasar or commando for the harvesters.

[@Tsenngu]

Very very nice top 10 here. It is a sweet mix of all kind of weapons depending on 1st person or 3rd + fire modes. That in itself gives you strategic options compared to the playstyle you like.

[@Kujra]

The new flavor of the month premium weapon from kill zone 2 collab is solid

[@Targon999]

Really nice video, may I ask, at around 16:10, what do you mean with "new armor"? Thx a lot

[@too_s0ber910]

So why was the crossover video removed? Just watched it and went to comment, then YT tells me the video is private.

[@SwanyPlaysGames]

Working on a follow up video to explain why.

[@thedudeabides3138]

Great video, helped a lot in the decision making process, thank you.

[@gregoryburgess2317]

The only thing I've noticed with the Crossbow, as that has been my go to weapon for some time, is that it seems to bounce across the city streets before exploding. Typically with groups of enemies, I would aim at the ground and try to blow many of them up. But with this, at least up close, it bounces away and doesn't explode until farther down the street. Perhaps I'll have to take up actually aiming at an enemy more so, that or give the Purifier a try.

[@rumblethereaper8169]

The crossbow and directional shield has been my go to for bots. absolutely insane combo imo

[@deathless_actual4936]

Major Note, the sickle specifically has one of the fastest times for primaries on taking down illuminate shields. This is not to be overlooked.

[@reecethurman4714]

Been running the blitzer and the senator. The blitzer can handle any horde I run into even on helldive, I’ve been getting 50-60 kill chains with it like crazy. For the overseers I just stun them with the blitzer and follow up with a headshot from the senator to down them. That load out is so efficient.

[@MrDarkidiot]

Don’t sleep on the cookout, it may have a low rate of fire, but the spread/knock back/fire damage melts hoards, while keeping them under control.

[@ProudDMims]

YEP!.The Cookout is so good I can't believe it didn't make the list. It absolutely dominated the Voteless and Overseers at close to medium range.

[@RazalasTrebla]

How good is it on overseers?

[@ksuvikhor3364]

And the new urban armor’s passive makes “rounds reload” weapons like the Cookout reload SUPER fast - if you haven’t tried it yet do so!

[@_d295]

I’ve been doing solo successful Helldives with: Adjudicator Crisp secondary Stun Grenade 500kg Gatling Sentry Jump pack Commando

[@beardannyboy]

My favorite missed the list it seems. I've been loving the Plasma Punisher vs the illuminates. Deals super well with crowds of Voteless and you completely dominate Overseers, just absolutely bully them to death even if there's multiple. Flying units are only slightly tricky, but the proximity detonation makes it easier than you might expect. Go to loadout is: Medium Grounded armor (Arc resistance) Plasma Punisher, p-19 redeemer, gas grenades Guard Dog, Medium Machine gun, Orbital Precision Strike, Gatling Turret

[@vidaistvan1418]

Breaker(spray and pray and basic both work well) for "zombies", Heavy machine gun for everything else is my comfort pick for illuminate. Bringing a bullet guard dog takes a lot of heat off your back as well

[@muscularclassrepresentativ5663]

Shooting overseers in the legs with stalwart has always killed them super fast for me. Same with 2 crossbow shots. These guys seemed real hard to me at first and then real easy, reminds me of not understanding how different bots were as a super noob but I’ve already been avoiding them til they get more enemy types. I liked the section testing the reprimand and pointing out how aiming and headshot burts are actually faster vs spraying into the crowd with the wild fire rate and assuming that would be better. Even the voteless sponge better than any real world infantry lmao. It’s like the exact opposite of how you’d wanna be aiming for center mass with that irl but it makes sense against whatever kind of space durability bullshit the enemies of freedom have brought to the battlefield

[@IonoTheFanatics]

With regular bullets you are not supposed to be shooting on overseer armor gap you are supposed to choose and concentrate fire on one armor section on the overseer because overseer's armor is only light armor but it is ablative, the armor is destroyed when hit with sufficient amount of damage but until the armor is destroyed it is capable of stopping the majority of damage even a direct hit from unsafe overcharged railgun. Once the armor on a specific part of the overseer body is destroyed, you can hit the overseer's actual body underneath it to do full damage. Any weapon can do it because again the armor is only light armor, not medium. You can unload liberator on the overseer and it will kill it so long as you concentrate fire on one section and not spread it all over.

[@IanChunck]

Lately I've been using the knight (on burst) and a shield as my primary and while it can be easy to get overwhelmed if the voteless get too close, it seems to do a good job in most situations. I also bring the senator as a backup with the AMR for popping overseer heads and harvester legs

[@dinosaurwithcake1256]

Not a primary, but the Laser Cannon support weapon is a good choice. If you don't overheat it and have to reload, its practically unlimited ammo. I also use it alongside the laser drone, cuz for some reason it think it works well, someone in here will probably correct me, but it doesn't have to reload, so constant firing, and when it fires on the same target like the Overseers, I think it works wonders. Even against the tripods, the laser cannon does decent against their shields, and I believe does decently against their armor.

[@OutcastMosquito]

Liberator penatrator, blitzer and sprayandpray are my personal recommendations. Also the laser pistol is fantastic for taking out the shields of the harvesters

[@teeheeteeheeish]

I love the purifier, except in certain matches when the overseers randomly decide to be extra scooty

[@blinkdragon8010]

most medium pen weps can kill tripods shooting there joints which is the actual weak spot for them, which the counter sniper does really well with

[@blueshell4859]

Liberator Concussive + Siege Ready passive is fantastic. So much up time with all the bullets per mag, faster reload, and the slower fire rate. The stopping power keeps Voteless and Overseers stunlocked. They can't come near me.

[@funnythings5454]

Some notes when making the loadout: .something that deals with overseers fast .hords are not too important, just something that lets me babysit them comfortably .something that kills overseers fast .it neather needs to turn tripods to ash or makes me fuk off from them quickly. I dont care if they are dead, i just want them out of my way quickly .somthing that kills overseers fast .perfer to stay mobile. I really dont need to stay in one spot for too long, but something that can hold a possision for like, a minute at best. Maybe 2 .something that kills overseers fast .somethjng that kills overseers fast .something that kills overseers fast Some notes: Idk if i mentioned this but i really want to get rid if the overseeers. They are such a pain to deal with, especially because they are the only competent enemy and are very armored. Normally this isnt an issue untill you also have to babysit a ton of mindless zombies. One last thing: something that kills overseers fast

[@Shrodingers_Box]

The jump trooper: Stock Liberator, Senator, AMR, frag grenades, jetpack, EXO 45 Patriot, Eagle strafing run. Try to stay on the rooftops and snipe the heads off overseers. Alternatively, the hoplite: crossbow, stun lance, ballistic or directional shield, stun grenades, machine gun, Eagle strafing run and 500kg bomb.

[@ChenAnPin]

I've been enjoying using the Tenderizer against the Illuminates, the high RoF and decent mag capacity is great against the Voteless and works decently against the Overseers, who aren't impervious to light armor penetrating weapons (except maybe the head) but are just a bit more tanky than the Devastators. And it's perhaps the closest we'll get to the Halo Assault Rifle and thus feels like fighting the Flood and Covenant.

[@Moeru_Gatsu]

Personally, i just found a passion for the eruptor it's just so good like: can one shot the crone's 2/3 overseers, okay against voteless, annihilate the big bots shield and it's an explosive weapon so you can destroy the ships without a shield (which i use the gatling plane strategy for, it's also good against voteless since there run at you in a straight line

[@huntercrawford5556]

The liberator penetrator has been my favorite weapon for a while since they added medium armor pin and a 45 round mag. Feels like a mini stalwart just with better armor pin

[@cheesebubble20001]

Me too, the higher mag and lower recoil helps clear the horde better than the reprimand and adjudicator

[@panlusterko12]

I realy like the Blitzer+reedemer+contact fire granades (but that's replacable i just like to burn the voteless)+guard dog backpack+quasar cannon+eagle strafe run+orbital gatling barage loadout. You can use it with any armor, but i don't recommend the new passive because the quasar cannon and the blitzer are infinite so only the reedemer gets plus one mag. The way you use it is basicly that you shoot everything with the blitzer, (which makes quick work of voteless and stunlocks the oversears) the guard dog shoots down oversears pretty quickly when they're stunned, (same goes for the watchers but you don't have to stun them obviously)with the reedemer you can quickly take harversters armor off( or also use it to take the warp ships armor off) and the quasar cannon will kill them with one shot to the leg joint. The air strikes can kill hordes or destroy shields of both the harvesters and warp ships. That's the loadout i personaly use when going aginst the illuminate, have fun testing🥳

[@Ian_Comics]

Illuminate energy shields only take up to 100 damage per hit unless the hit is strong enough to overwhelm them. This put's the Adjudicator (90 damage) in an interesting niche of being very efficient at dropping warp ship shields when on full auto.

[@lukejosef_]

You can kill a Harvester with the Blitzer. It will take a little while, but he will eventually go down. And the Harvester doesn't step on you like the Bile Titan does and seems to not be able to target you with his super laser at close range. You just need the conduit armor to not get melted by his arc thrower. Biggest issue is just getting mobbed by voteless while you take him out.

[@Chesterfried]

If running a support or secondary that can deal with Elevated Overseer's, the Breaker Spray & Pray is easily one of the best primaries for dealing with the Voteless.

[@liamwatson3840]

Scorcher, stun baton, Hero of the Federation armor, rail cannon strike, orbital laser, shield generator pack, stalwart works great for me. Scorcher takes out the overseers and the stalwarts take out the voteless. Rail cannon one shots warp ships and harvesters with their shields down, plus orbital laser if things get sticky

[@EddyA7]

also, with the crossbow if you have a LMG like the stalwart, you can easily take down Illuminate camp shields and one shot the whole thing with one bolt in the door

[@WesAG23]

For overall just usefulness and versatility, I have been sticking with the sickle, has enough to clear out hordes, strip shields of tripods and warp ships, and good to pace shots with by yourself or a whole squad. I was more so a proponent of the Quasar, however the HMG has won me over when dealing with these guys great at taking out the Tripods and Overseers. TIP FOR DEFENSE MISSIONS: Pick at least two Turrets (MG , Gat, motor) Tesla Tower For Dropships Spear or Recoiless Rifle (aim for the circle at the bottom) one shots them Please don't use airstrikes as they don't really help against the overseers that can fly and that has been thing killing your team most often.

[@SteveAkaDarktimes]

The illuminate really bring in a tricky mix of armor and mass swarms that require clever weapon pairing. and unlike the other factions, there is a bigger variety of viable combinations. So far, Turrets are incredible against them because they bring their own ammo, shred and stun overseers, and can distract Harvesters.

[@BETRvids]

I enjoyed fighting the squids once I got the hang of it, but even though I have a loadout that will allow me to survive against the squids, there's just something about the bots that I find way more appealing to fight.

[@nickg8100]

Is it really hard to find samples on the urban maps or is it just me?

[@Kaiju-Driver]

Nice list, gave me alot to think about. :)

[@neoaustin164]

I've been running the Sickle and it's been a dream. Takes nearly a full battery to kill an overseer but bring Senator to swap to when overcharged and *low whistle*

[@garrythepridelesshobo5173]

Counter Sniper paired with the HMG is my go to illuminate loadout, it's really really good. Go to loadout is Any Armor with the new armor passive; Counter Sniper Grenade Pistol Frag grenades Orbital Gatling Barrage Orbital precision strike HMG Supply Backpack

[@ROB2K88]

Crossbow + Stalwart for me rn. Pop shields in like 3 seconds with the stalwart, quick switch to crossbow to blow up the ships. Stalwart mows through hordes, and Crossbow for Overseers or when reloading, extra CC. Amazing.

[@craigp427]

What do you use to deal with harvesters?