What's the best primary weapon vs illuminate?

[@lama8984]

I'm crying with how the blitzer gave him enough time to cook an inspiring speech about not giving up and discipline

[@hawk9mm]

Blitzer took him so long he turned into a TED talk presenter about meeting challenges.

[@tygersigma7454]

Me too that was masterfully savage 😭😭😭

[@Fast5Yi]

For a gun with unlimited ammo no reload that auto aims idk it's my favorite gun when I'm drunk. Sometimes you just gotta let the meme live.

[@thanquolrattenherz9665]

maybe but the wise one would have known that there is a tool for everything and the blitzer is there for voteless and overseers not shields and harvesters. its like using your lighter to open a bottle, sure you can do it but using a bottle opener is probably easier and will not invalidate the use of a lighter in other scenarios

[@lama8984]

@@thanquolrattenherz9665 That's his whole point the purifier IS the tool for nearly everything against illuminate

[@Gator_Planet]

>reprimand in video thumbnail >not in video What did he mean by this?

[@SilenceUnspoken]

Think it was just a good primary weapon pic, I don’t have it but I don’t think the reprimand’s all that great iirc

[@OhDough]

It looks better as a thumbnail than all the other weapons

[@protonjones54]

Reprimand is a good choice against squids

[@kyleba342]

​@protonjones54 i agree I use it all the time

[@nixniemand4802]

@@SilenceUnspoken it's great against the bots and alright against everything else, fun to use and pretty versatile

[@M8Stealth]

The best primary is the Machine Gun. Then what one brings in the first slot doesn't matter.

[@thoughtgaming492]

Bring a dedicated voteless weapon as your primary and machine gun for everything else.

[@euphoricstamen9562]

@@thoughtgaming492 MG can do that too funnily enough. The Illuminate really brought about a machine gun renaissance, a lot of people are using at least one of them.

[@thoughtgaming492]

@@euphoricstamen9562 Yeah of course it can, its just a waste of ammo when it doesnt have to.

[@znail4675]

@@euphoricstamen9562 But MG can't be reloaded while running making getting bringing a primary along that you can reload while moving a good idea. If you pick a SMG then you can even shoot while running as well and why I kinda like the new free SMG alongside the MG.

[@100percentnotabear]

@@znail4675 bring the stalward then. It kills everything too. Did you know walker's eye is only armor 2

[@BluePoo52]

4:22 fyi folks crossbow takes so long to break the warp drive overshields cuz the shields are immune to explosive damage. Only the ballistic damage component is damaging the shields in the clip

[@KBWrecker]

Yea, this genius just things every weapon should be equally viable in every situation 🙄

[@singed420snowinit9]

@@KBWrecker No, the point is if a weapon is better, why choose a worse one? For example, the Blitzer does nothing to Harvesters, shields, or Overseers, and takes forever to kill the Voteless. The Purifier, however, handles all these effectively. Blitzer is a worse weapon, so why pick it over the Purifier? Simple answer: you think Blitzer is fun. That's the only argument. It'd be nice if the weapons that struggle were brought up in power a little, assault rifles for instance are dog water.

[@MeaslyVids]

​Cap cap cap. Blitzer is great for hordes/trash ads. Use the new SWARM for the jetpack dudes and spotters. Strategems for the walkers. Also the blitzer staggers the jetpack guys and makes it to where the spotters can't call a horde (and it 2 shots them). Not to mention it has infinite ammo! Tbh the best weapon is the weapon you like/are good with/fits in your build.

[@JTB-1]

Personal preference is the sickle, because its infinite ammo, a legit laser, bullies the watchers, breaks sheilds easily, and is a spray weapon.

[@LaserTractor]

Spray weapon?🤣 Oh wow, last thing I heard was "combo weapon". But that was about HMG. Spray weapon is something new for sure coming from the glaze foundation

[@JTB-1]

@LaserTractor glaze foundation? The sickle unironically works really well. Especially paired with a senator.

[@LaserTractor]

@@JTB-1especially when it heats up and you carry only 3 spare "heatsinks"? Or when it puts out 687 dps of light pen when even Tenderizer can do 950+?

[@ultrawankerobliterator420]

@@LaserTractor >using heat sinks ngmi

[@dbzfanexwarbrady]

@@LaserTractor i too use the Sickle , and its bc it effectivly has infinate ammo

[@Ghost_dv01]

1 more thing for crossbow, you can destroy illuminate arc tower with it

[@OhDough]

True

[@ianhollanders501]

That and the 2 shots against overseers, even with their shields drawn, is why the crossbow is my pick.

[@duolingobird8196]

you can also use the directional shield with it which helps against the flying overseers and the melee overseers ranged attacks too

[@KKmar2025]

​@ianhollanders501 you can also ground blast voteless consistently if you no scope your shot while running away from them

[@insubordinategoy7466]

Stalwart crossbow and thermite you can deal with every enemy really fast . You then have any secondary and 3 stratagem anti fuck about with . Gas shield hmg or machine gun sentry.

[@fainyance11]

"this may be shocking, but the blitzer..." intentional? lol

[@OhDough]

the sarcasm was the pun was not

[@mwhighlander]

Blitzer is amazing, when paired with a backpack autocannon. Shotgun that can hit several targets, decent range, never need to reload, and most importantly it stuns the "observers", and "Elites" letting you get an EASY single headshot kill with the autocannon. The autocanon can also "mag dump" kill a harvester. Great with an engineer armor that has extra grenades (I use stuns) and to reduce the recoil of the AC.

[@MeaslyVids]

I agree 100%. The blitzer has been amazing for illuminate. Pairing it with the new SWARM stratagem is S tier!

[@KKmar2025]

Blitzier is actually the best primary weapon for me, you can wipe out voteless, stunlock multiple overseers and kill them eventually. You can also 1 tap headshot overseers while they are stunlocked with majority of support weapons, loyalist & senator

[@Deadsnake989]

3:35 The reason for this is because Harvesters have explosive immunity, and the majority of xbows damage is explosive, same reason why Purifier takes some time to kill the main body. There are some parts of the Harvester which are not explosive immune, but the torso and upper legs definitely appear to be.

[@MegaSJ]

JAR-5 should also be in the running. I'd probably put it ahead of the adjudicator, because, like Ohdough says, gas grenades exist to fix horde clearing issues. In narrow alleys though, this horde clears pretty well piercing through rows of voteless. The biggest selling point for the JAR-5 would be the 1 shot kills on overseers if you land your headshots, and body shots will stagger them back. It's also one of the best primaries at killing Harvesters if you want to go without a support weapon or pick the Stalwart. One of my favorite strategies with this weapon is to go in with Arc immune armor and just bully harvesters. You can horde clear while underneath the harvester before finishing it off with the JAR-5. As long as you're near it, the harvester's lightning bolt doesn't hurt you, and if you're behind it, it can't target you. Just pick a leg and feast.

[@MisterZimbabwe]

Are you sure it can one tap the overseers on head shots? I've been trying it for awhile now and it hasn't been able to 1 tap them at all, it always breaks the helmet armor on the first hit and then the second hit kills.

[@fringehouse]

JAR is just not that fun to use because of how clunky and slow it feels. and the recoil is so JARRING 🥁

[@MegaSJ]

@@MisterZimbabwe i just played 4 hours with the JAR 5 and I am getting 1 shot kills when I land head shots. I can hit them from the back or side for 1 shots, too. You might be aiming too low and hitting the neck, because the laser dot is jank af.

[@MegaSJ]

@@fringehouse it takes getting used to, but it undeniably has the power for 1 shot kills once you get good with the gun. It helps if you quick scope more than staying in ADS mode. I agree with you though, it's unfun if you don't have the player skill to make the JAR-5 a good weapon. The purifier and crossbow are much easier to use, so I recommend you try those out rather than the JAR-5.

[@cryptidon]

JAR absolutely is a one-tap on overseer headshots. But as we all know, the game we love can be finnicky. You'll one-tap 3 out of 5, despite the exact same placement. I was worried about clearing voteless, but same applies. GET GUD and 'go for the head'. Turns unfun, into a challenge.

[@konchy]

If it's just against overseers and watchers, I like the scorcher at full auto

[@PIGEON5265]

I love the Illuminate logo guy. Looks like they're in a blanket. 😀

[@Sinclaire8800]

Bro is comfy af

[@denyzn6517]

I think it's one of their ships, but now I can't unsee the little guy in a blanket 😂

[@rhetro777]

Purifier really went from being one of the worst weapons in the game, an absolute joke to one of the best. I already use it enough against the other factions, so I prefer to bring ballistic weapons against Squids for fun and variety.

[@dankachilles9356]

I've been using the purifier since it came out. I've always thought it was a solid weapon. Before I had the multi-shot and it was just charge up it was awesome against bots. Now it's just everything.

[@ferdithetank7535]

Same for explosive crossbow. On release it was a hot garbage that's only uses were ballistic shield loadouts and egg missions on bugs. Now it's effectively a one handed grenade launcher with better ballistics that frees both your support weapon and grenade slots. The other warbond weapons? Eh...

[@LaserTractor]

@@ferdithetank7535on actual crossbow release it was the same beast. But then it was nerfed. Then buffed to it's current glory.

[@ferdithetank7535]

@@LaserTractor factual false. I used it right when that warbond came out, it was 2 handed, couldn't destroy fabricators/bug holes despite being explosive, had slower fire rate and worse ballistics. Still somewhat decent, but very narrow use option. Then they nerfed it and only way later during buffdivers month it was fixed to the current state.

[@LaserTractor]

@@ferdithetank7535 compared to it's nerfed state, it was good on release

[@weswyleven9540]

May I suggest the Breaker spray and pray. That choke allows you to kill entire hordes of voteless in a few shots, melts shields, and can stagger overseers and take them out if you move in close. You cant do much against harvesters or the ships, but combined with a grenade pistol solves that. Personally, I roll with EATs and/or machine gun, and I can solo lvl 10s atm. Don't sleep on the breaker spray and pray.

[@Dead_Pool_Rising]

😂😂😂😂 no. It doesn't do a damn thing to overseers. Pretty much every weapon can kill the voteless with little effort.

[@Gaaaaaame]

I checked it out, but it doesn't hit the breakpoints for insta headshots easily, high fire rate rifles seem better to me..

[@Ashen75]

Spray and pray is fun against the voteless but it's so god awful at taking down overseers, especially the flying ones. It takes almost an entire magazine to kill one overseer, or even more if the overseer isn't in point-blank range. Against the voteless it also often takes two bodyshots to kill which really doesn't feel good even if you're hitting multiple at a time, especially considering that there's so many better options for taking care of hordes in the secondary and grenade slots. The regular breaker always one-shots the voteless to the body and only takes around half a magazine for overseers while being capable of taking them out from a decent range due to the tighter spread, so I'd take the regular breaker over the spray and pray in every situation.

[@hawk9mm]

@@Ashen75 That's what I've found, took a full drum just to kill a hoard of zombies but dealing with anything beyond that and you're screwed completely. Again either the damage just isn't there or the hitbox is messed up because firing into a literal hoard of voteless and I still have to reload just to finish the mob off is not the sign of a good weapon.

[@LordVader69420]

That thing is hot garbage, one of the worst shotguns you can use.

[@LastFantasiaWeapons]

I get the feeling that rating primary weapons based on their ability to accomplish every possible objective neglects the fact that you have a lot more than just one gun. If the gas grenade is the best tool for killing voteless, why measure a primary weapon's ability to kill voteless if its exclusively worse?

[@Sombriage]

Blitzer is still the best primary since it's Christmas and I'm pretty sure one of Santa's Reindeer has the same name. Probably is giving that electric recharge to Rudolf's rage nose.

[@mcdull68]

No wonder why blitzer is ass, it gets put in the same mash as Santa’s fucking reindeer

[@atakan971]

half way into primaries and bro started an entire explanation on why experiments should be controlled for all variables except the independent one. love you my man

[@rexoplex4814]

The eruptor can actually 1-shot harvester shields, since the shields are weak to lots of small projectiles and the shrapnel is treated as such. It isn't 100% consistent due to how random the shrapnel is, but its generally a great shield deletion machine. Pair it with a laser/autocannon/MG and you can de-shield and leg break a harvester in like 3-5 seconds. Its one of the extremely rare cases where the crossbow doesn't just totally eclipse the eruptor lol

[@kompott_addict]

hyped for the "car mechanic" armor. glizzle glizzle

[@hawk9mm]

Passive reads "Puts lead weights on your body so that it doesn't flip as easily" or something... god that would be terrible, just fix the vehicle, stop with the passives that we can't change.

[@dankachilles9356]

​@@hawk9mmso much THIS!!!

[@gangrenebob7281]

Yes +30% tire repair and roadside maintenance perk aka the CAA buster armor

[@LaserTractor]

Hey uhh You know they removed stims from supply pack? I bet it's TOTALLY to sell us solution to this "problem" by introducing "medical supply pack". Create problem -> give solution to this problem. Arrowhead logic™️

[@OVOgooner]

Auto-repair for vehicles might lowkey slap

[@blinkdragon8010]

just a side note if you didn't try it out the tenderizer is pretty strong, breaks shields fast, kills overseers quick and handles hordes, only thing it cant do is kill tripods but yea

[@jackeltheripper5570]

I’m finding the marksman rifle “deliverance” I think it’s called to be effective with a machine gun and grenade pistol. And maybe the expendable launchers in the loadout just to try and take out the tripods faster

[@Bigcountry-zp1pq]

Only thing bad about using the purifier against this faction is if you can’t create distance your dead

[@nurgle333]

Gas grenades

[@OhDough]

Get creative with the blast radius

[@skywardsoul1178]

Jetpack, having a sidearm or support that you can switch to when things get too close, light or medium armour etc. I don't have a problem with this and I regularly run heavy armour.

[@Bigcountry-zp1pq]

Yeah all of that’s great but if I’m kill farming I’m bringing blitzer , grenade pistol, gas grenade, guard dog, machine gun, machine gun sentry, eagle strafing run and I’m chilling you can make them both work with the right build

[@Bigcountry-zp1pq]

And run arc resistance armor

[@RomanGuro]

The Jar-5 Dominator is the best primary vs illuminate. It can one-tap Overseers, quickly remove the shields, kill Tripod from far away with 8 shots. But the Sickle + HMG or AMR works best for me.

[@CA-V9]

I always take sickle and arc thrower, I use the arc thrower for killing and keeping everything away from me without aiming, and the sickle for range, when the arc thrower is aiming at the ground for no reason, removing shields, or trying not to kill my teammates. It works pretty well. Also grenade pistol for structures and crowd deletion. It’s fun. Therefore I win.

[@ShadowNinjaMaster93]

I use the Crossbow primarily, mostly because I don't have the purifier and don't feel like spending 💰 to get the war bond for it. If I farm enough super credits I MIGHT snag it if there's no other war bond I want, otherwise the crossbow does fine.

[@McHadies]

The impact napalm nade from the same pack is also fun v illuminant

[@LordVader69420]

The warbond is worth getting if you get enough SC. The Tenderizer is probably the best AR overall, and the Verdict puts in work as well.

[@IRMentat]

Crossbow really should have 6/7 in the magazine. It spends as long reloading as it does firing.

[@thread_astaire]

I like blitzer + machine gun. When the voteless get close, I like how it can take out 3-4 per tap, ammo free. Then the machine gun for everything else.

[@ferdithetank7535]

Idk if it's just me or Elevated Overseers having reverse flinch as mechanic?🤔 When they shoot you on their own, they rarely land more than a single plasma bolt, being more annoying than dangerous. But somehow if you try shooting them while they're firing, their aim becomes deadly precise and you instantly die from a full burst hitting you.

[@gasracing5000]

@3:53 You are going for "Consistency by controlling variables for replicatable results". This is very important when running experiments. The term "control" itself is a well know reference, something for which you already know the result. A positive and negative control should always be used. I get what you are trying to say, just trying to help your verbage. Knowing is half the battle.

[@godofm3tal1]

Armor and boosters are quite literally solving problems they created. Like not touching down with full ammo and stims then requiring you to blow a booster slot on it to fix the problem. Logically in an age where we have warp capable ships to travel the galaxy and drop commandos safely onto planets using drop pods and using handheld rail guns and shit, we shouldn't have to deal with not dropping in with a full kit of ammunition.

[@hawk9mm]

Yeah they are just band-aids, pure and simple, always have.

[@normanbestboi9117]

Or just call in a resupply at the start?

[@ThePartisan13]

I think you're overestimating how much helldivers are meant to be regarded. Why would Super Earth waste all of those resources on someone whose life expectancy is like 15 minutes?

[@HoVAzura]

I would get it for the sake of progression. Like how you don't get full support weapon ammo till you did the first upgrade. But the fact that re/spawning with full ammo and stims isn't an upgrade yet is just wild.

[@xraze6906]

@@ThePartisan13 Super Earth's entire thing is wasting hilarious amounts of resources in the Helldivers program. Why waste resources giving someone who you expect to die access to on-demand artillery barrages, mechs, hellbombs, and personal CAS.

[@splashyatom22]

The best primary is just going in and having fun with the chaos with the weapon of your choice

[@LaserTractor]

Nah. You can have totally calm and chill dive with competent team with good loadouts OR you can have whacky mess that chews through your reinforcements just because "team doesn't know anything and wants to have fUn"

[@splashyatom22]

​@LaserTractor yup and that's me and I'll die on that hill.

[@balitopic711]

@@LaserTractor i run what ever i want and me and the bois only play heldive mostly off meta 100% quick completions the games not nearly hard enough to be leaning on meta lol

[@LD-sx9pr]

Reprimand in theory is one of the better options in dps vs Overseers due to the damage and AP. But in praxis it’s awful due to the uncontrollable spread and recoil. Especially Elevated Overseers which try to back off from you which moves them away from your ideal range of engagement

[@rhetro777]

I love the look and feel of the Reprimand but it really is mid AF except under the most ideal circumstances. Hard to believe some KZbinrs were calling it god tier when it came out.

[@thelegendaryklobb2879]

@@rhetro777 I really don't understand what's the charm of that weapon, it has so many devoted fanboys.

[@curtisbrown547]

Its ok. Occasionally it one taps a voteless or accidentally 2 shots an overseer in the face. Other times its a genuinely like shooting a gun from counterstrike that has a "spray pattern" (it shoots bullets at a 45 degree angle from where the gun is pointing....

[@dztrict1000]

one of the worse weapons imo; recoil and inaccuracy makes it bad vs bots, low mag and slow reload makes it bad vs bugs. It's high damage can sometimes shine on the bot front but it's not usual

[@mcdull68]

It’s ass because there’s 0 reason for it to be this bad

[@ItsBigJ]

This was a great vid OhDough, enjoyed the comedy too

[@Marcin-qy6cn]

Yeah those weapons are good but I love 850 rpm tenderiser

[@LordVader69420]

Slept on weapon

[@LaserTractor]

@@LordVader69420ah, I love wasting whole mag on one Overseer😂

[@LuckyDuke468]

Saying that before watching the vid : been using the Jar 5 Dominator, even if Seer heads' hitboxes are way smaller than they appear to be, being able to one shot them is priceless

[@Farly98]

I love the dominator. If you miss the headshot, the overseer is stunned and won't be knocking you over

[@scoople6]

Love the dominator too, but find it pretty painful to use without peak physique. Bit of a skill issue but those jetpack dudes zoom around so fast that it's tough to hit the headshots with the heavy drag. And plust it handles the tripods well. Pairs well with he stalwart for squids.

[@Farly98]

@scoople6 I agree. I take PP armor and pair with heavy machine gun, supply back pack and go wild! There's nothing I can't solo with that get up. Love it

[@LuckyDuke468]

@@scoople6 i agree for the flying guys, i usually try to kill them off-guard if posible. I run 500kg and eagle napalm for voteless packs and autocanon deals with flyers if they move too much. Worked ok so far, did some LV8 solo with that, no vehicles (broken inputs)

[@pill0h130]

The crossbow is a bit tougher due to the bounce, which means you need to instead go for directs, which is better than just having it slide under evryone's feet. But directs do not allow you to center the explosion in a crowd.

[@robertleowulf1745]

Thank you for testing these out and making a video about it. You gave me a different perspective on the purifier, a weapon that I personally don't use much. Have you tried the eruptor against the illuminates, and if so, what are your thoughts?

[@OhDough]

I did, eruptor wasn't worth it for me. Doesn't do anything better than other weapons at least not consistently

[@DRGEngineer]

4:20 don't think youre supposed to be breaking shields with the crossbow lol. stick a redeemer in your pocket and you'll delete the shield and then it only takes one bolt to blow up the ship. shields dont necessarily respond to a ton of damage at once, they respond to multiple ticks of damage at a high frequency. personally i feel thats more interesting than the shields basically being an additional healthbar.

[@LaserTractor]

Only these "outpost shields" are immune to explosive damage. Hovever Harvester shield can be broken by 3 crossbow bolts and Overseer shields can be totally ignored (they will block projectile damage from crossbow, but won't protect them from explosion)

[@RxBando]

Merry Christmas brough

[@will4996]

😂😂 where’s the amor to flip a vehicle. That had me dying. 😂

[@Arkar-pl9ku]

Fun thing about these videos is seeing so many people have no idea what they’re talking about in the comments. Anyways, if you really want a “I am the stratagem” loadout Purifier + Nadepistol + AMR + GunRover + Car + MG turret Combine with Fortified armor Congrats you can now solo every Dif10 Squid mission.

[@riven4121]

That Kermit impression is scarily accurate

[@Klinktastic1]

My current kit for most missions is: Sickle Laser Guard Dog Laser Cannon MG Turret Missile Turret Grenade Pistol Inferno Impact Swapping between sickle and laser cannon on any non heat world lets you shoot constantly. Laser cannon can take out anything they have right now. The rest of the kit can horde clear but is useful against the harder targets too.

[@Hedgepook]

09:43 HOLY JESUS. Day of the Dead

[@prebenkul]

ive actually tried to report the skipping, jumping, or bouncing of projectiles, it can actually happen to every single weapon other than beams, even bigger weapons like the RR. But alas they dont seem to want to remove it, they actually are in thoughts to keep it according to support. I aint using the eruptor till they fix it, cant hit for shiz if its gonna bounce every time.

[@Xaxxus]

i had good success with the tenderizer as well. lower recoil than the adjudicator, around the same damage. Does really well vs the watchers. Also the sickle is great for mowing down the voteless.

[@ylethyrbrekan5993]

Best one is the one you are comfortable and effective with while having fun, not the ones that influencers rank

[@Fenix138]

I'm a big fan of the purifier. It's my go-to against the bots. But I was really pleasantly surprised at how nice the scorcher is against the illuminate. I think a lot of people, myself included, considered it a lesser version of the purifier after the recent buffs because it lacks the charge mechanism, but it really shines against overseers. The lack of a charge plus virtually no recoil means you can dispatch them in 4-5 rapid shots without having to pause for that second charge up.

[@vyrv6719]

sickle is a great combo weapon with the arc thrower specifically. Especially in group play. Lets you DEMOLISH shields from anywhere on the map, which is nice because the arc thrower SUCKS vs shields but absolutely bullies anything the illuminate have that has its shield down. You become the "everything is stunned while my team demolishes them." Both of them feel pretty terrible without the other which still surprises me, because I kind of lucked into that combo early when testing, and didn't realize how BAD they felt on their own till much later.

[@RuTube981]

Dog you’re sleeping on the Eruptor. Thing hammers the illuminate and all its enemy types. Gets x8 with one shot to a crowd of voteless. Kills overseers in 2 shots (you can speed this up if you swap and fire the grenade pistol after) and 2-3 shots the harvester shield, then 3-4 shots to the leg joint and its down. Not as good as the purifier but it’s probably second best imo and you won’t kill yourself if you’re too close to the explosion.

[@StephaneLevs]

I feel like the eruptor shines a bit more when you can have some distance but since most units in this faction are either close range or they'll fly towards you, it's always a bit more awkward to pick it over the crossbow IMO. The other problem is that it can bounce on the ground even more easily and miss (which is so annoying) But I definitely don't doubt its efficiency since it's still in the same range as the crossbow which is amazing. Being able to destroy ships and those arc towers is always a nice thing.

[@RuTube981]

@ yeah I have a guard dog for the up close enemies like the voteless. And you’d be surprised how close you can fire it without it killing you or even affecting you.

[@LaserTractor]

X8? That's what? 1 crossbow shot but without atrocious ergonomics and fast firerate Slept on totally yeah😂

[@no4shroom675]

Please tell me this is supposed to be a funny copypasta

[@DOMi-_-Domi-VXXX]

says wheres the armor to flip a vehicle, next warbond thats our armor pasive

[@scaIawag]

crossbow+dagger+gas grenade+machine gun+any backpack is my absolute favorite loadout for illuminate. you can kill harvesters, voteless, and overseers very easily and the mg43 pops ship shields for the crossbow in a quarter mag.

[@sirslayerca4704]

Honestly the SMG with a siege ready armor set goes really hard, I’ve been using it on everything except the occasional shotgun load out on bugs. And I am/was a hardcore punisher/cookout main for a long time

[@le0castle]

For me the best one is the SG-451 Cookout. Awesome at clearing hordes and even if it doesn't kill overseers as fast as other guns it keeps them perma stunned.

[@diydrivenGA]

As a console player, I prefer the sickle because it removes the very real issue of fat fingering the controller and killing yourself due to a voteless getting too close. If you focus on the heavies legs, it can take them down relatively quickly.

[@apanmarius]

i'm usually running the scoarcher for the staff/flier guys + zombies + shields (tripod and ships), HMG for the tripods, nade launcher secondary for the ships, incendiary nades and rover for zombie hordes, then i also take a turret most of the time and some orbi or some eagle strike

[@americancitizen4259]

My personal setup is laser guard dog, arc 12, laser cannon and machine gun sentry. Being the grenade pistol for destroying ships. The laser cannon is great against the harvesters of you hit them in the shoulder joing they go down pretty quick and it destroys their shields. With medium armor penetration and head shots it takes out everything else quickly. The blitzer and rover handle the vote less like nothing. I am immortal against them with this the bigger enemies are the only thing I need to focus.

[@McHadies]

so far illuminate maps are urban, please try the bullet dog, ammo is everywhere and it can drop crowds and even overseers quite a bit faster than the laser dog

[@Soggysenpai]

Now that you said it, theyre gonna make QOL vehicle flipping tied to armor😂

[@Fireheart318]

I like the Tenderizer, personally. It can two-tap zombies and is great for dealing with watchers in its higher-RPM mode! Everything else can be dealt with with an MG

[@izayagenesis]

Blitzer fires slow enough to melee in between shots without losing anything. You can stun lock overzealous overseers with it guaranteed this way.

[@dilutedphoenix8099]

10+ kills of voteless with one crossbow bolt, 2 for even a shielded overseer, 1 for the watcher things, can blow up their voteless fabricators, blows up tesla towers, and I can't remember if it's good against harvesters or not but it's definitely my pick. The new armor makes it even better.

[@duo1666]

The breaker spray and pray is unironically actually good against them. Its not the best, but it being GOOD is a statement.

[@B-U-T-C-H-E-R]

Scortcher, the armor that gives it more ammo and faster reload, and you're good against everything except walkers

[@zemufinman1639]

I dont really need a primary that deals with voteless because thats what the baton. DOT grenades, running away and good movement are for so thats why I use the melon popper 9000, the JAR Dominator But when i want to mix it up I go for the purifier

[@DMXKonCur]

One thing you should account for with the crossbow is that it can destroy Tesla turrets very easily.

[@salvarious]

Tenderizer & grenade pistol now that the Wasp is released. Up the RPMs & the tenderizer can drop the shield on a warp ship in one mag, then pop it with the pistol. Fast & easy without relying on strats. Tendi is good against votless but takes some work against overseers, which the wasp is for. Scan the enemies with it's lock-on & find them even hiding in a crowd. Use your regular grenades for crowd control -i like fire impacts, is that just me? Wasp is an ammo dump for harvesters tho. So FRV & HMG emplacement are probably the most efficient at taking them down, because they give heavy machine guns, without having to carry them around.

[@toxicvisions7452]

I've been using the Sickle, Stalwart (max rpm), grenade pistol and incendiary grenade. Love this loadout

[@hivecasts]

I know it's about primary weapons, but as a combo Lib Carbine and AMR is what does it for me vs squids.

[@mrgaud]

The halt shotgun is the best I've found for the squids. it 2 taps an overseer. 1 stun then one close up headshot with armor piercing. I pair it with the ambassador pistol to 1 shot the flying guys after I've stunned them at range

[@beakwooda.k.aadregallus8788]

And when you pair any of those with support the crossbow covers the most anyway.

[@OhDough]

It doesn't lmao

[@mandude-w2z]

@@OhDough Blitzer is the GOAT, at least on bugs.

[@BubbleShield570]

11 body shots with a low ammo in mag, medium pen, kinda high dmg, poor handling weapon with a big recoil on overseers is CRAZY. Thank god for the purifier because they are nuts in the balance team.

[@KKmar2025]

I've been using purifier, arc thrower, eats combo to takeout all enemy types, last one is 500kg for crowd & ship destruction

[@Thunderfro]

Secondary, stratagems and grenades next lol.

[@ludoletono]

Obligatory comment on how the gas grenade being the best primary against the squids

[@skywardsoul1178]

I came to the same conclusion. Consistently getting far more kills than others in the team, and I don't feel like I'm struggling to deal with basic enemies, which is the important part. Very ammo efficient too.

[@lperez3000]

Halt is the best one. You can easily stun vote less, overseers, and watchers. Then switch ammo or support weapon to kill them. Halt is good at removing harvester shields and breaking their horns. But I just love making flying enemies easy targets. It also cancels out the flares from watchers.

[@StephaneLevs]

IMO, it's almost easier to say which weapon isn't viable for the illuminates xD The fact that light armor pen shine a bit more compared to the other factions (which truly favors medium armor pen in general), there isn't a lot of weapons that I would call challenging or useless. Like sure, some are definitely more versatile (100% agree with the purifier being the best overall) but you can absolutely use anything and be fine in you make a decent build. We have plenty of support weapons, secondaries and grenades choices to help compensate any weakness your primary might have (like an underrated pick is the redeemer which can easily break shields) without even including any eagle/obrital.

[@Ima9ineBreak3r]

The crossbow bouncing has to change. It is so annoying. It basically makes it so that you can't shoot the ground within like 12 to 13 m or else it will either bounce (too far) or kill you (too close).

[@McHadies]

heavy armor + vitality booster lets you do the most horizontal rocket jumps in the world with the xbow. That has to count for something right?

[@singed420snowinit9]

Because its not a close range weapon, it is a medium range weapon. Same way a sniper is a long range weapon but terrible at close range, or a shotgun being terrible at long range but good at close range.

[@StephaneLevs]

I would rather die by my mistake than having it bounce because it's too close... It was already annoying versus the bugs, it's even more annoying when it happens with this faction too.

[@leonsixt2744]

I like the Tenderizer for fast dps. Fits my scout sniper playstyle, in combination with the dcs for most heavy stuff. It could be better tho. Many scopes are pretty bad or very useless through effects from the weapons, like charge or recoil. For the illuminates I have the most fun to split my power force specialized for enemy encounters. So one weapon to deal with the medium to heavy enemy’s and one for the zombies.

[@OrAngelicBlitz8633]

Merry Christmas! 🥳

[@OhDough]

Merry Christmas!

[@xxstylinonyaxx2622]

I'm praying we get weapon cus sometime soon a large majority of the primary weapons feel useless

[@mercthejerk8945]

purifier+stalwart special weapon+gattling barage+500kg bomb= S++ loadout which has all bases covered Edit: best part of this loadout is the 4th stratagem you could use whatever you want i recommend the vehicle though it comes in clutch

[@captainknuckles4096]

Juan-tap

[@ondrejmalek1322]

Merry xmas dough

[@tryingisrare]

Cookout for controller players: No need to aim. One pellet making contact with a Voteless is enough to take them down after a few seconds. The stagger is great for making space, and it even staggers the big bois, regardless of distance. Because of the stagger, it's a support weapon with tons of damage, as long as you can be patient. I bring it with the gas grenades. Still trying to choose my support weapon, but so far I'm leaning HMG, given that I'm not great at aiming with a controller.

[@nitrocool2.0-1]

how does adjudicator make it into this video and scorcher doesnt

[@OhDough]

Purifier is so similar yet way better

[@singed420snowinit9]

The G-10 Incendiary Grenade is better than the gas grenade imo. The gas grenade doesn't even eliminate half of them because they just run out of the gas, and since the DoT is so low they won't die. Plus, they scatter in random directions (i.e., split up), making it difficult to finish them off. With the G-10, they just walk over it and die within a couple of seconds, even their toe touching the fire guarantees they die. As for primary, I've found it's best to bring the MG-43 which can handle everything with ease, even does well against Harvesters. The primary weapon is largely irrelevant; I usually just use it to conserve MG-43 ammo. The Purifier is probably the best in slot, with the Crossbow being a close second. Alternatively the AMR to take out any armoured dude and Harvesters, then primary can be something for Voteless.

[@JarrydJunkin]

At the end of the day just enjoy the game and the guns you like, sometimes meta is just boring and playing with wacky builds with friends is always fun lol. I use the Dominator or the Torcher against the Illuminate

[@alexparadies9939]

4:34 well I agree the crossbow is not good at breaking shields that’s what secondary’s or machine guns or strafing runs are for if your running it. Anyone running crossbow needs to know shields eat explosive rounds. It’s not good tier but anyone trying to use it to break shields is eating crayons. Good breakdown.

[@damaito1829]

Crossbow with LMG OR HMG is good. Do not use crossbow for breaking shields. LMG or HMG will shred through the shields and crossbow finishes off the warp ship. Quickly move to the next. LMG or HMG can take out harvesters with ease too. I personally prefer the LMG. Crossbow is good because. - One-handed - Destroyers the Arc Towers - AOE - 2 shot Overseers - Destroys ships - Can kill harvesters - Silent - No charge-up

[@r.t.hannah9575]

I suck at aiming and need to git gud.So in the mean time, I just pack the machine gun turret and the guard dog to clean up flyers.

[@AlexiaRoss]

I'm sticking with my trusty liberator. Thats the only gun you'll ever need helldivers.

[@TheAlbertos]

I love the halt

[@DeathinRed01]

im a play what you like guy (lib pen/gp, and trying smg/gp with support weps). i like these tier lists but i do wish after we got to the top 5 you would do considerations with secondary weapons, like for the crossbow would pairing it with the uzi bring it closer to the purifier for ships and harvesters? this is a consideration because for the purifier to effectively kill ships you need the nade pistol or your nades to actually kill them otherwise ship shields dont matter on this tier list since you gave negative marks to crossbow for it when the crossbow can destroy the ship but the purifier cant. i think it may just be how i feel weps should be used but i think all weapon tier lists should include both pri and sec weapons since you will always drop in with both and they are meant to support eachother.

[@paulydude8753]

My favorite combo so far vs squids is Jar dominator and the Arc thrower. I do know the purifier is better but I hate having two weapons with the charging mechanic and I don't want to give up my arc thrower lol.

[@milos-7712]

X-bow > Purifier + One handed (can carry box, shield, shoot behind you) + No charge up time + Destroys grounded ships + Destroys teslas + Bigger blast radius + Better red dot • Around the same dmg • Bow has less ammo but takes a longer time to use it since no full auto mode - No safe full auto panic shots - No stunning

[@shizumeru_]

Looks like purifier, grenade pistol, and gas grenade are the go-to. I still stand by my stim pistol though.

[@evilsmoo3358]

I quite enjoy blitzer/arc/shield/nadepistol. Arc tears at range and stunlocks all illuminate (so far). Blitzer handles better at close range when pressed, multihits and stuns. Shield pack is 100% a crutch, lets you ignore fire for a moment and maybe catches enough of a harvester laser that you survive what you wouldn't without. Nade pistol for ships and towers, ofc.

[@user-bm7mo2ck6r]

I do this but with jet pack

[@LaserTractor]

If someone will again say "Light pen weapons are so good! Purifier is bad against light units! It's not universal!" Show them the 8:39 moment

[@bebopsynthguy6629]

Scorcher (with ammo pack/armor passive) and DCS is pretty good too. But I agree purifier is king. I use scorcher when I don’t want to deal with charge time