Stress Testing Helldivers 2's STRONGEST Gun

The SG-8S Slugger is the most powerful weapon in Helldivers 2. Naturally you would assume that makes it the best gun in your primary slot. But is that actually the case? We thoroughly review it here to find out.
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[@1987metalhead]

Even if you CAN'T land that headshot on a Devastator, the slugs can continually stunlock them just by hitting them, which is useful if you need some breathing room, when several come trudging over a hill towards you

[@lemurlock4689]

You can shoot in the head and one shot devastator just aim

[@1987metalhead]

I'm aware, but when there are several all taking chunks out of you, staggering to reposition is very helpful. @@lemurlock4689

[@SledTillDead]

@@lemurlock4689 Way to miss his point you fucking automaton

[@charlieashwood]

Came here to mention the stun lock. Every shot knocks back medium and lower targets effectively stun locking them. It's amazing.

[@lemurlock4689]

@@charlieashwood you can knock back and stun everything expect titan and tank if you shoot on weak point for heavy

[@FartLordGaming]

While it wasn't mentioned in the video, the Slugger is, for whatever reason, the ONLY primary in the game that can open hidden shipping container cashes instead of using a grenade. I have absolutely no idea why it does this considering some support weapons can't even do that, but we ball for Super Earth.

[@empty5013]

it probably has armor pen high enough to do it while every other gun is the tier below, would be my guess

[@zydrate3539]

The Dominator doesnt?

[@FartLordGaming]

@@zydrate3539 Weirdly it doesn't, tested it before I sent the comment in jusssst to make sure. Slug > Rocket Round B)

[@jrg14961]

Some people don't have the premium battle pass. So usually you won't see people talk about it. ​@@zydrate3539

[@hujron]

Liberator explosive can also open shipping containers

[@MrBogThing]

fun fact the left tube of the Slugger lodes much quicker than the rhit so keeping it topped up is even more effective it first seems

[@vincevalentine2407]

the slugger is a single barrel shotgun.. what left tube? you also load it from the bottom of the gun so the magazine tubes above the barrel make absolutely no sense.

[@brayden6876]

@@vincevalentine2407 review the model of the weapon. The SG-8 is a dual-tube pump action shotgun.

[@vincevalentine2407]

@@brayden6876 im looking at the weapon right now. there is a single barrel for the shells to be dispenced. two magazine tubes above the barrel which are apparently just for show as the animation for reloading the gun is him sliding shells under the gun, so loading the two magazine tubes are feed in the same spot, so how doe loading one increase in speed over the other

[@starwarscards7142]

@@vincevalentine2407kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6mngZeClpVpe80 it shows it in the video that it loads both sides... not saying one loads one faster as I don't have the gun unlocked to test it yet but yeah the animation is in the video of it loading each side. :|

[@MrBogThing]

the slugger's mag can be split into two different parts, the left tube the first 8 rounds in the mag and loaded from the left side of the gun and the right tube the rounds 9 to 16 of the mag and loaded from the right side of the gun, meaning you have to reach over the gun to put the shells in. if you don't believe me empty the slugger or the punisher and pay close attention to the reload animation and speed @@vincevalentine2407

[@GetSomePants]

A couple of extra things to note about the slugger: - the slugger can damage striders from the front when targeting their legs - the slugger has heavy stagger capabilities, allowing you to stunlock stalkers, brood commanders, devestators etc. This makes it the best primary in the game for dealing with stalkers especially

[@Nicholas-qy5bu]

not everywhere in the legs but indeed it works, even more so from the side

[@dominat0r3600]

Most guns can damage striders when you attack their legs though. You can kill a strider if you hit them 2x in the leg with all pellets with the breaker.

[@nicktaylor1667]

Stiders have a weakpoint where the leg meets the body. Breaker can take them down from the front with couple hits right at that spot

[@dubbmoon]

PC divers be cautious with this tip, sorry ya have so many bugs. Tip for you. If you collect the super samples or any samples, head straight to the extraction and hold down on the dpad then use the right stick to select samples and release the down button. You will drop the samples and you don't have to worry about dropping them in a bad spot. Also please pick them up before you summon the extract just to be safe ,not after I don't get why anyone would do that but don't please.I'm just trying to help you don't have to take my advice. Keep up the fight divers.

[@dubbmoon]

I don't know how to it on PC but on PS5, hold down on the dpad and then use the right stick to select samples then release the down button and you will drop them.

[@Tantive]

@@dubbmoonholding X key by default on pc I think

[@AverageJ03Gaming]

oh man.... that's a good one.

[@douggibson2030]

Now here's a useful tip! Many thanks.

[@dubbmoon]

@@douggibson2030 no problem, gotta have my fellow Helldivers backs.

[@whozyourdaddy]

The cool thing about the slugger is the little switch that flips when you've fired half the weapon's capacity. It has two loading tubes and automatically switches to the right tube once the left one is empty. Cool little detail. Like a KSG.

[@Sparkofhope621]

What a cool detail. Can you believe they still make games today where a character loads a REVOLVER with a MAGAZINE! 🤦‍♂️

[@SledTillDead]

@@Sparkofhope621 What game is that?

[@stephenlawrence554]

another neat detail is that the slugger's barrel is actually rifled, while the punisher is smoothbore. Just something interesting for gun nuts to pick up on, I guess

[@Sparkofhope621]

@@SledTillDead One example from personal experience is in Cyberpunk 2077 there are 1 or 2 revolvers that have the cylinder empty animation of a revolver with the reload animation of a handgun. I also saw a short the other day about another game that did the same thing and it was patched immediately because of all the memes about devs being made. Can’t remember what that one was but still hilarious 😂

[@darkdruidsvale]

@@Sparkofhope621 i wonder if there is any realistic reasoning you could put behind that kinda thing, maybe if you where worried about a fired round causing the rest of the mag to cook off you could justify it, but then you'd just wanna move the round farther from the mag and fire it there instead of having a complex mechanism that cycles them into a rotary mag from the standard one

[@gabzsy4924]

The slugger is what the basic marksman rifles should have been. This weapon makes the Machine Gun and Stalwart secondaries actually viable where you focus especially on dealing with hordes of small and medium targets and let your teammates deal with the bigger stuff.

[@GameFuMaster]

I think the heavy MG is not viable, because of its lower ammo count and slow turn speed. Stalwart is much better in comparison when paired with slugger. But I agree, this is what the marksman rifles should have been. If the marksman rifles were buffed to the level of the slugger, then I think the slugger should get even more damage boost, but with fall off. So it will 1 shot the medium armored units close range, while requiring 2 or maybe 3 shots at longer ranges.

[@D.H.1082]

​@@GameFuMasterUh, it is definitely viable. Viable means useful to some degree. The MG does more damage than the Stalwart, thus it is useful.

[@GameFuMaster]

@@D.H.1082 requires way too much ammo to kill medium armor targets. You can easily just aim below the armored areas on the medium bugs with the stalwart

[@vincevalentine2407]

i agree marksman rifles damage is depressingly low.

[@h2o848]

arc thrower/flamethrower not bad for swarms either! friendly fire beware though

[@wafflehund6904]

I love that you use the Total Annihilation OST for your background music. March Unto Death 🤌🤌

[@hearmewhine2467]

Came here to make this comment - found there was already a man of culture in the comments.

[@Sorain1]

They're all classical tracks that kick ass and de-facto no company owns them anymore, so you can actually use them.

[@TechnoLogicPC]

Hey cheers on having the best video quality/bitrate of literally anybody uploading this game. Breath of fresh air

[@ivanfranebijelic7009]

This is not stated in game but the Slugger actually has Medium armor penetration, not light. What this means is that just like the Liberator Penetrator and Dominator, it can kill a Scout Strider by shooting its hip joints and it can do damage to a Hulk's head. It also has a VERY SEVERE damage dropoff at longer ranges, if you're shooting at 70+ meters, you won't be able to oneshot the basic Automatons even with a headshot. The Dominator is a very strong alternative that has a much faster fire rate, the same performance for each enemy type (except it can't stagger Devastators without a headshot), essentially zero damage dropoff at any feasible range at the cost of being more clunky to aim with, and it has more overall ammo in exchange for a smaller individual mag.

[@Erik-cl5ff]

It can't do damage to hulks head. I tested it. it is not medium pen. It is above light but it is still not medium---A medium can damage hulks head, this can't.

[@chigurh8947]

I’m not sure about that damage drop off. I was just one-shot sniping low tier robots from a long ass distance away. Scientific. But really tho like as far away as I could see them, I could one shot them. Also that goddamn dominator sucks to swing around. It’s good at range but try turning a corner with it and it’s over. Hopefully it gets better handling in the balance patch.

[@jackcoleman1784]

Sluggish doesn't really cover it. It's like molasses. The 200m scope is nice but you can't really make quick adjustments which sucks.

[@jackcoleman1784]

​@@Erik-cl5ffYeah it's not medium. It's close though.

[@ivanfranebijelic7009]

@@chigurh8947 I would rather give it heavy armor pen instead of improving handling, we don't need another generic big damage slow fire rate weapon and if you can have a primary with heavy armor pen, that opens up so many builds with other strategems and you don't need a railgun to play the game on higher difficulties

[@loafofmilk972]

Since the update that nerfed the Railgun, both versions of the pump-action shotgun have been greatly improved. 50% more ammo, increased stagger, and the punisher has more pellets. These are now pretty much my go-to primaries.

[@sonicx059]

The slugger is my go to and that explains why i have more success at using turret strategems with my friends. Although no one notices me taking down the slightly armored enemies all that often.

[@mr.meanwhile]

That Total Annihilation soundtrack hits just right

[@Crevanclaw]

I was really excited to grab the slugger, especially because i always preferred the punisher to the breaker. Punisher and slugger are two of my most used guns.

[@23paingel]

Ever since my group got their hands on a slugger, we've found it difficult to switch off when fighting bots. Breaker for bugs, slugger for bots. This is what people dont realize when they talk about 'meta' builds. You need a different loadout for bugs and bots, they are two very different enemies.

[@Boost400]

Thats what bots like you dont get. Try playing on harder difficulties (8-9) and you would realize why a primary with 40 bullets wont do shit

[@23paingel]

@@Boost400 I only play on helldives. It's not my fault you skill issue your shots.

[@jackcoleman1784]

​​@@Boost400I play on helldive and don't have a problem with using the slugger. You just have to be active in looking for ammo much more than you do with other guns. But if you're moving the map that isn't really a problem as almost every minor location has ammo.

[@FlowerKnight2]

This has been my primary weapon for the last five or six days now, I love it.

[@Brandon-ml2zw]

I fell in love with this game the moment I unlocked the punisher, which alongside the DMR are my only favorite weapons so far based off of looks and performance. All I was disappointed with was realizing the Punisher didn’t have slugs as a fire mode…just to find out about the Slugger. Choosing which one to take on a mission is like choosing between which kind of badass I want to be.

[@tEzekielt]

I just purchased this yesterday and, once I first used it, I was so happy to have a viable alternative to the Breaker shotgun. I personally really like the Scythe Laser Rifle, but it's a little lacking in the damage department. And the sniper rifles all seem very lackluster at any difficulty higher than Easy. The SMG is alright but it too feels a little lacking. The Breaker shotgun is by far one of the best and only choices for higher difficulty play simply for its rapid fire and buckshot spread. It lets you kill a lot of stuff really quickly and then you can reload fast to do it again. Add to that the fact that it hits harder the closer something is. The other weapons simply can't deal out enough damage in a short enough amount of time to make them worth bringing into higher difficulty content. You'll quickly find yourself swarmed while trying to kill just a few enemies. The Slugger is a great alternative to the Breaker not necessarily because it can kill a lot of stuff quickly, but because it can kill instantly and has massive stopping power on larger enemies that it can actually damage. It helps to alleviate some of the need to switch to the Railgun while also offering a far more viable long-range option than the Breaker shotgun could ever hope to be. That massive stopping power even takes effect at long range as well. If not killing with 1 shot, it straight up stops some of the larger enemies in their tracks until they recover from the stunned animation. Things that can withstand an entire magazine from a Breaker and keep coming at you, can go down in 1-5 shots with the Slugger. I have to say that it's almost like a breathe of fresh air. The Breaker is fine and all, but I hate having to play with a traditional shotgun with bullet spread. I never really care to use them in games because they feel like easy-mode. And the Breaker basically is easy-mode. It only really falters with armor penetration and enemies at range. The Slugger takes slightly more skill to use. You have to lead your shots on moving enemies at times. Like Ermz says in the video, it can legitimately be used as a sniper rifle with a high degree of accuracy, but the bullets do need time to travel and they do end up dropping over far distances. All in all, the Slugger is going to be my main weapon for a while at the very least. Literally the only downfall it has is the fact that it has to be loaded single shells at a time. And that can be a good or a bad thing depending on your playstyle.

[@porkerpete7722]

The Breaker is hardly even a shotgun. It practically shoots through a tube.

[@Toothydeere]

i honestly dont understand how people can like the scythe, it just feels so underwhelming. does it go through mobs so you can do damage to many in a single swipe ? when I used it, I just absolutely hated it. I felt like the default Liberator was a better option tbh.

[@ChristianKnight-1054]

​@@Toothydeere I liked it a lot but stopped using because of the low damage.

[@S8n_501]

@@Toothydeere It's really decent against bugs. Slice their claws a bit and they're out the game. If you want to exactly just ramo up your kill count, then no :D

[@Mister_Blean]

The reason the shots to kill a Charger can vary (with any weapon), while using the leg armor breaking method, is the Charger is actively bleeding a lot of the time when doing it. And based on how much you need to dodge/move around they may have taken more or less damage from the bleeding. Railguns/Rockets love making armored targets bleed, even when it's not listed as something the weapons do.

[@Zayats_MW]

You said it can't take off charger's leg armor but at 3:40, you did exactly that. It didn't completely take off the armor obviously, but if you shoot the yellow, uncovered spot, it'll actually count as shooting the leg without armor

[@olegdusov4273]

40 ammo, gets 24 out of ressuply Meanwhile other guns get full from ressuply SG8 needs a buff, so it can do that as well.

[@chenyasu4628]

yeah, need searching ammo box often or bring supply pack

[@BlockID0815]

maybe thats the tradeoff for the benefits of it? just thinking...

[@olegdusov4273]

@@BlockID0815 dominator has medium penetration, slightly less dmg, less stopping power, but twice the ammo and gets full from resupply and faster firing speed

[@BlockID0815]

@@olegdusov4273 aside from the fact that these number did change in the latest patch... why bring in a complete diffrent gun to the discussion? slightly less damage? wtf what are you talking about?

[@olegdusov4273]

@@BlockID0815 because it was direct upgrade from sg8 slugger in every way, now its itsnt As it should be

[@writehse]

Was amazed how well this performed after unlocking. I was hoping the marksmans would fit the bill but this'll do.

[@Battlemaster952]

Something I noticed in this video is at 3:40. When he shoots the Charger's front leg, two shells bounce off, but one actually manages to punch a small hole in the spikes at the top of the leg. I could be wrong, but im pretty sure that hole can be shot by other weapons that dont do armor pen at all. I've seen bugs with armor that have holes in the armor like that before (hive guards and chargers most commonly), and I remember being able to shoot that spot with small arms fire and it did some damage. This is a cool thing the slugger can manage alone, but it might also make anything with medium pen able to potentially break armor in some kind of hidden weak spots. That or it all has to do with actual deflection physics, and if it does...that's way harder to do. lol

[@ArthurNiculitcheff]

Yeah, maybe it was the angle? Charger leg armor is quite angled, so it hits shallow if you shot it from the front, maybe the slug can get through if it hits at a 90º angle?

[@danieldean8253]

Running a slugger, it totally can poke off different parts of the charger leg armor, I regularly blast off a few chunks of it and then lay into it@@ArthurNiculitcheff

[@VaasYanovich]

Slugger is also capable of destroying spore mushroom structure in 8-9 shots! And a very cool feature is that the shotgun can also stun for a second bigger enemies like berserkers, devaststors, hulks (into a weak spot), stalkers, bile spewers and brood commanders. I also saw that the stun denies bike spewers and nurse bugs bile attack.

[@Gift4mybro.]

I've been using the slugger ever since I unlocked it. It's a beast I swear

[@TacticalGoldfishy]

Fun additional facts: 1) You know how the Punisher got buffed few days ago with a larger ammo pool? Turns out that buff also got applied to the slugger too! 60 spare ammo is gold. 2) All "round reload" weapons have reload cancelling, but reload animation resumes after partial reload. This means that you can mashing reload while firing the slugger without interrupting either, and keep firing while you have spare ammo. The downside is that you lose your sight / reticle while doing this, but with target-rich situations you won't be missing much. 3) It can destroy cargo containers and even spore throwers. Haven't tried it against illegal broadcast towers, but I suspect it does too. Question for other slugger users: Anyone have a good slugger loadout for high-difficulty bug missions? I haven't found a versatile loadout with the slugger that isn't helpless in at least one situation. You either bring one of the chaff-clearers (flamethrower, MG, stalwart, etc) to deal with ankle-biters, or you bring a heavy-AP (railgun, DAT, etc) against big boys, but whichever you choose you remain vulnerable against the other. OC/Eagle stratagems help a little bit, but the cooldowns leave you struggling with multiple chargers and/or bile titans. Thoughts?

[@dezvul4817]

I like to go all orbitals/airstrikes with a backpack and either find a gun along the way or get an ally's second gun call-in. Chargers are easy to kill with blue drops: resupplies, or your backpack when it's off cooldown; if you throw it so that it sticks to the charger, unlike the red call-downs, the blue call-downs follow the bug it sticks on, as long as the charger isn't charging when it comes down it's going to kill it, to prevent the chargers from charging walk slowly right in front of it keeping perfect distance and it won't start charging again. For bugs, I usually take jump pack, orbital rail strike, cluster bombs, and 500kg bomb. You can remove the chaff plenty well with cluster airstrikes and 500kg and railstrike can handle titans and chargers, the best part of the 500kg bomb is it can easily handle 3 chargers at once and sometimes multiple bile titans. Chargers usually eventually get synchronized in their charge where they're all close together, learn how far they run past you and throw the 500kg bomb on the opposite side of you as they're getting close, boost over them with the jump pack, and watch them all die in a single blast. Sometimes I take EMS strike instead of 500kg bomb or rail strike. It's on a low cooldown and you can protect yourself from one side entirely. It lets you disengage from chargers and loose their agro. It also groups mobs, I kill 100 mobs with a single cluster bomb occasionally because EMS strike rounds them all up into a small area. Moreover the chargers abdomen takes 90% reduced damage from non-explosive damage, meaning explosive damage is effective against it; this means that even though the cluster bomb is bad against them, it's better against them than a lot of people think. 3 well placed cluster bombs will blow the charger abdomen off leaving it unable to charge and it'll bleed out shortly after; the EMS strike gives you time to place all 3 of of those cluster bombs if you throw one into the EMS strike area right after throwing the ems strike beacon. Even if you only get 2 well placed cluster bombs off on them they'll only be a few gunshots to the rear away from their rear being blown off. Sometimes the abdomen gets taken off of chargers with 2 well placed cluster bombs alone.

[@TacticalGoldfishy]

@@dezvul4817that's amazing, thank you! i'll try those tricks in my next run.

[@O_Coisa_Ruim]

And now it just got BUFFED!

[@ZuilzonDTD]

I would like to add due to the slugger being single reload and you can interrupt while reloading, you can animation cancel a little bit of the reload. If you reload after every shot it helps steady yourself after the recoil and basically turns all your ammo reserves into one continuous stream of slugs to chuck at the enemy. The slugger opens up options that other primaries normally wouldn't allow for sure. It lets you be horde control for the bugs by having a solid and ammo effective way to eliminate heavier infantry. In particular it was mentioned the machine guns are good compliments but I would also suggest using the HMG Emplacement. It's cooldown is honestly insanely low and even against automatons it actually seems to provide decent cover from small arms fire and a off center rocket will just knock you off. The super destroyer upgrade changes it to only a 6 second inbound timer, negating the calldown and thus any calldown modifiers making it consistent to drop in. I think it's stats are probably just 2 stock machine guns because it absolutely tears up infantry of all make and size the same way but with over double the magazine capacity. You can then just call it in during defense areas or around chock points to use later in a pinch since they don't despawn. Combine with EMS, Supply Pack, and probably a 500kg/Airstrike to combo with the EMS and you've got a setup that can lock an area down and thin out everything except the heaviest units. It's kinda weird the counter sniper isn't doing what the slugger does. It's a real shame to because it has that heavy sway of a machine gun like weapon yet it just doesn't perform significantly better than the diligence.

[@EndlessInfinity1]

I don't play helldiver but you get a thumbs up immediately for using music from total annihilation

[@vedomedo]

The slugger is very good, my only issue is that it's worse at clearing a bunch of trash compared to the Breaker. And the things the Slugger does well otherwise, the railgun does better. So I feel it's somewhat in limbo. That being said, the slugger is really good, and I enjoy using it

[@JulieLamia]

Worth noting that you can actually kill Devastators in two shots with the Slugger - if you hit the same leg or the pelvis twice. This requires more aim than simply shooting the torso, of course, but is obviously extremely efficient.

[@brandonauyong8493]

The poor bot at the start that got shot in the face as he came up the hill is hilarious. Great vid. Thanks :)

[@Lv1Jolteon]

The variance on weapon damage is graze shots if you are moving and not steady, your shots can cause graze damage instead of full damage Gray’s damage is anywhere from 75% to 50% of full damage that’s why when you crouch and aim you deal more damage but you’re more vulnerable.

[@dustingrim9095]

Slugger has been my go-to primary since i've started gearing towards horde clear, while my buddies take care of the big targets. Incredibly reliable, can handle most of the armored infantry units in the game and VERY ammo efficient. Paired with a stalwart (for bugs) or a machine gun (for bots) the bois know who to take cover behind when the gotta reload. EDIT: little tip for hive guards, shoot their front legs off with one shot, then mow them down with your secondary or whatever. Saves you 2 shots and contributes to your overall ammo economy in the long run. It shouldn't matter at all if anyone is running a supply pack, but in case you need or want to use other backpacks this can actually make you run out of bullets much slower.

[@jacobscott2473]

I once shot a Walker through the viewing slit on the front of their armoured panel with the machine-pistol side arm. I haven't had any higher caliber rounds go through the gap and I was quite close and low to it, so the angle of trajectory might have helped.

[@MingaLSOD]

Man Total Annihilation 1 music is sooo good!!

[@ssjcajas]

I love the Slugger. Been using it for a while now. I rotate it with the Breaker every now and again.

[@pinkworm5348]

Tryed it out last week, its really good and is now my 2nd favorite gun, first one being the mp-98 knight. Also not mentioned in the video slugher can destroy containers doors.

[@frankieM_]

1:00 Im pretty sure its a typo in the item description, but its definitely medium armor pennetrating because it can go through the nest guard bug's head armor (which is considered medium armor) and doesnt bounce off the devastators chestplate like the slugger and other weapons if you don't aim for the head or lower body

[@Barl3000]

It is very powerful, but can feel a bit slow when aiming and firing. I made the mistake of pairing it with the Senetor sidearm and that weapon kinda fills the same role of the Slugger, midrange prescion shots, that can penetrate armor on anything but the elites (and also has one round reloads). If you pair it up with the Redeemer or Peacemaker, you will have something to fall back on if you get swarmed by chaff enemies and need to reposition. Also I would like a numerical value as the stat for armor penetration instead of the descriptor. Both the Slugger and Senetor can as I said penetrate armor on all normal enemies, but are both still classified as having "Light Armor Penetration". It is clear there are a lot of hidden values going into that description.

[@morzorkatvfm]

I think the Slugger could come with 20 more ammo to make it really good. It's technically efficient but its starting ammo isn't that high and can run out fast.

[@SuperCatacata]

Even at max ammo the gun doesn't have enough. Compare the breaker's total ammo count to this or the regular pump action. It's a shame. Hopefully this is one of the upcoming fixes in the balance patch.

[@thelordofcringe]

No, it's good for balance as-is. They do need to change the restocking tho, it's ridiculous that you only get 12 shells

[@Courtesyflush52]

@@thelordofcringebalance for what? I’m still gonna take the Breaker because the Slugger is only useful for one thing and doesn’t have enough ammo to last through encounters The Breaker does twice the DPS and has triple the ammo

[@RuiNDieM1988]

​@@Courtesyflush52the breaker sucks against anything with any kind of armor. That's why guns like this, the Lib Pen, and the Dominator all have such good utility.

[@morzorkatvfm]

@@thelordofcringeThat could be it if that's the case. Probably why it feels like it's always short on ammo.

[@mrdoomman97]

The random number of shots required to kill a charger on leg shots is likely due to you hitting the leg armor while it's weak spot is clipping through the armor during some animations.

[@plasmathrower]

slugger does strip armor, just not off the front of the charger and only near the joint. its a weapon that excels at ripping limbs off any of the enemies in game. seems to do more limb damage than any other weapon. shooting the groin of armored robots up to rocket devastators will rip them in half in 2 shots

[@christopherliang5192]

Punners rejoice, for the Engineers of Super Earth have blessed us in today's update with a biggerer betterer gunn

[@silence433]

Just got the slugger last weekend and I can't put it down. My friends won't listen to me that it's really good, all I see are Breakers everywhere with no one wanting to deviate from the meta and actually vary their builds. Hopefully more people give it a shot. I love just crushing the hive guards with zero fucks to give about their armor

[@Whale_stream]

You need to make more mention on overall gun ammo economy. Supplies are vital for anyone not carrying a pack for it -- how many lights can the gun reliably kill before it's dry vs. the breaker, defender, etc?

[@danielreynoso6352]

I laughed when he said, "massive single shot slugs" lol, like yes that's what Slug means! love the content! Please do a review for every weapon!

[@mot_wadd3441]

There are so many cool potential loadouts in this game. Hope they balance everything out soon without nerfing the powerful weapons, just boost the others!

[@V1510N_]

some of the footage is in diff 7 and others in tier 5 diff, it does have an effect on amount of shots needed to kill certain enemies

[@irvine5732]

I'll definitely look to use this once I can get it unlocked. I liked using the other rounds reload shotgun, but wanted a longer range option and wanted something that can hit harder than the early marksman rifle.

[@aelux4179]

I'm really enjoying the Knight SMG, I know it's not good, but it sure as hell is fun. Would love to see a review on it. It eliminates a stripped charger leg in 1 mag, which is about 0.5 seconds thanks to its insane fire rate.

[@TubeTubeToby]

The awesome stagger is what truly makes this weapon shine.

[@geeves21312]

I feel like I run out of ammo really quickly with the slugger, where those 7 mags of the breaker go for longer.

[@WillyDrengen]

The Dominator feels like a better slugger because of the simelar damage but way better ammo

[@demon_spawn1535]

The slugger actually has medium pen, same as the p-9, dont know why, but you can see this via the shield bugs. It will pen its head unlike anything with actual light pen. Also if you actually move around the map to get the ammo boxes and the ammo is fine. The good thing about it is thar you can reload a round every single time you have to pump it at the same time

[@saitamaonepunchman8176]

if you run out of ammo quickly ima be honest here, you're probably not using the slugger how it should be, carefully lining up your shot to hit atleast center mass on enemies instead of spray and pray that the breaker lets you do, when I use the breaker I find myself tunnel visioning on just emptying my mag into whatever is in front of me, with the slugger even if the thing I'm shooting is right up in my face or just a scav I take my time to line that shot up to 1 hit it. it's a much more methodical and calculating gun, the breaker can clear anything infront of you quickly but you'll be reloading alot, if you hit your shots, slowly back up and know what to shoot first you can very easily go a whole mission without getting overrun (that is if you're using your secondary and supports when they're needed obviously)

[@WillyDrengen]

@@demon_spawn1535 That's true, but on higher difficulties you can't risk going for more ammo boxes at those places, since there will be bugs/bots there and you can risk attracting more of them. It's also not mag fed, so mid-fight having to reload individual shells is a pain. You also refill all of your ammo with the dominator by just one resupply, so it's more resupply efficient as well.

[@demon_spawn1535]

@@WillyDrengen i solo helldive difficulty and go to them just fine. Just shoot the ones that can call the drop first. Its not that hard

[@joemama114]

I always loved shotguns in most games, even when they're heavily OFF meta, slug shot specifically always tickles me the right way.

[@philippecavaciuti6308]

Come for the Helldivers content, stay for the total annihilation OST.

[@GameBooAdvancePlus]

for medium bugs, aim for the limbs. You can de-limb them near instantly with this weapon and make them useless. And because its medium penetrating, you can down a shield bug in a second with this method. As for bots, If you don't got line of sight to a devastator's head, you can also de-limb them easily with this weapon. Very useful if you see a teammate being pursued by a pack of chainsaws or a shield devastator.

[@manateewarrior1543]

The slugger is my go to automaton primary, i like that it can stagger the shield guys.

[@dnddude9652]

I’ve been doing Bugs a lot ‘cuz of the MO (and ‘cuz all my friends fight the Bugs religiously), but once I go back to the Bots, I’ll definitely bring the Slugger. I already like using the Senator for the rank-and-file bots, so using the higher punch Slugger definitely helps deal with the Devastators and Berserkers

[@Nikoli420]

Slugger is AMAZING, shoot twice, reload twice. Never run out and stagger/stunlock just about anything smaller than a Charger

[@chrisedwards6573]

Other than penetrating armor, the Defender does a better job at all of this, as a percentage of magazine and total ammo capacity, and does it quicker. Sure, I'm putting two rounds into the trash mobs instead of one, but each shot out of a slugger is 2.5% of the total ammo capacity. you get 7 mags of 45 rounds in the defender. So yes, it can handle hive guards and brood commanders. So can an autocannon, and you get more total rounds. The slugger just doesn't have enough total ammo. Between that and it's slow fire rate and it just doesn't perform. And that defender? It's going to put that charger with it's leg armor removed down faster and for less of the total ammo capacity. It's a niche gun. I always take a defender vs bugs and a scorcher vs bots, but the defender works well on bots too. You can kill everything lower than a hulk with it, if you aim, and it staggers and throws off their aim. The plasma also lets you destroy tanks if you can get to the weakpoint, which is something the defender doesn't. But, the defender won't kill you with it's explosion the way the plasma will. And it's one handed. IMO the Defender is the best gun in the game, all around. Large magazine, more magazines, accuracy at range, a firerate that's high enough to let you use it vs groups of trash and slow enough you're not wasting shots, and it does decent damage vs most of the targets you'll face, and lets you use your support weapon when you need a support weapon, and you can fire it while retreating without turning around if you don't mind some inaccuracy. It reloads quickly. It's just generally good vs everything. Sort of like the Railgun. Sure, it won't open containers like the slugger, but so what. The slugger has too many downsides for it's few upsides. And it's upsides are few. It hits hard and penetrates medium armor. It's reload is slow, it's total ammo capacity is low, it's firerate is low, it's value vs trash groups is low, and it's ability to take on armored targets is limited.

[@Synthwavedoge]

Fun fact the slugger and in extension most guns including the stalwart can sometimes relatively reliable penetrate a crushers hindlegs dealing stupid damage

[@nwstraith]

+1 for all the Total Annihilation music!

[@thelonelypigeon9554]

My opinions on the Slugger is that it's highly desirable when in a situation against something like MG/Rocket Devastators. You can shoot them with it to flinch them. You can do a follow-up onto the head if you're a good shot, if not, shoot off the MG or rockets off. As for the Hulk, it's great if it's on the back, shooting the arms of a Hulk doesn't do much. It's great if you're respawning and your support weapon is far off or on Cooldown.

[@brothatscrazy3418]

I do think the Slugger is overall one of the better primaries in the game but not for its killing potential but overall utility. It can handle a broad range of enemies leaving to where you really only need something else to deal with hordes or heavies. It does have some drawbacks, one being quite a major one. First off, it reloads fairly slow, secondly when you are done reloading it doesn't properly recenter and doesn't have the best handling either. Then lastly and arguably its biggest drawback is that when picking up ammo/supply bricks it only refills roughly 1/3 of your total ammo. Meaning not only is your ammo limited but you're going to have a harder time getting resupplied. This doesn't make the gun unusable, as I said its one of the better guns in the game. I'd argue on the totem of Primary weapons I'd go Breaker, Scorcher, Dominator and then the Slugger. With that said I still don't think it even comes close to the Breaker, no gun really does. I'm hoping that fairly soon we see a large balance pass to the weapons(stratagem weapons included) to help elevate most weapons to be "competitive" with the Breaker. And if it does happen I hope its not just a ton of damage buffs, sure some weapons need them but most don't. Most weapons just need more utility like better armor pen(Jar-5 Dominator with heavy armor pen plz and thank you), attachments like silencers, more spare mags and etc.

[@DuskoBalagic]

Remember fellow divers any loud booms or rockets that go across the map, the terminators tracks where it came from so be careful around a lot of bases and objectives

[@ryantalbot1465]

Not sure if it has been mentioned in the comments but the slugger doesn't in fact have light armor penetration it has medium this is proven by the fact it can damage through the hive guards armor which is medium armor.

[@timithylaurel3101]

you can actually strip leg armor off a charger if you dont deflect your round you can see it at 3:34

[@benjamincarmona3703]

Damn, this sells the weapon to me even over the breaker. I hate spamming shots and the recharging the breaker on an empty mag feels horrible. I am 100% taking this in my next games.

[@charlesdaugherty321]

Scorcher also makes short work of walkers from the front.

[@blahbaconblah]

I love this gun. Most satisfying in the game to use. The only issue is it lacks ammo. If the doubled out of gun capacity or even increased 50 percent, it would be my go to.

[@AUS-NewbiTLorD]

I've found the best Weapon to use against all Mobs with a bunch of testing. Charger: Arc Thrower. Bile Titans: Arc Thrower. Every Automaton: Arc Thrower. Team Mates: Arc Thrower.

[@MachineWraith]

My only complaint with the slugger is the low total ammo count, just like all the 'rounds reload' weapons. Other than that it really is great.

[@LordofWar609]

oh this is the shotgun i randomly picked up once in a mission

[@mossblomma]

I wish literally every weapon/enemy video didn't assume everyone uses the railgun at all times.

[@bucket936]

He says "take our your railgun". *Laughs in spear*

[@shawnofdadead1805]

You will really love it when you find out shooting the back of a chargers front legs is it's real weak spot, no need to strip armor since it doesn't have any on the back of it's legs. If you waste time stripping the armor off it's leg don't waste primary ammo when the redeemer is probably the fastest way to kill it after stripping the armor...

[@kennethrobinson5111]

Belive that I two shot one like this once ... maybe three

[@cmdrwiggley4736]

The slugger can damage the hip joint on strikers. Also, if you're running recoilless rifle and shot the heat sink on any heavy, 1 slugger round will finish it off from any distance

[@GutterV]

The Slugger takes on a more strategic role for me as a primary weapon, much like the Railgun/Camper did in the Prequel game. I really hope the Break-Action shotgun gets a primary/secondary weapon variant, too. I miss my Double Freedom lol.

[@LeafMaltieze]

Very nice. Just like the last gun stress test, I have a new gun to try out, that I previously wrote off before really giving it a chance.

[@WatschMeNow]

Great use of Total Annihilation music. One of my favorite tracks too. Track 5, i think?

[@andrewriggio]

I love that you use Total Annihilation music in your videos

[@markusschmidt1193]

I don't know you but you get one like from me for using one of my favourite music track from total annihilation

[@Commander_Appo]

The shotguns in Helldivers are crazy. Even the normal shotguns can be used at medium range to kill enemies

[@troyjohnson2137]

Just like real shotguns!

[@jackcoleman1784]

​@@troyjohnson2137Was about to say this.

[@sphinxoforion7422]

The Slugger has some hidden stats and features that unique to it and it only; The description states it blasts big holes in big targets, well thats actually true. Shooting a medium armor target will crack the armor, allowing for light armor piercing rounds to hit the fleshy parts underneath; You can do it to a Charger as well, IF you hit the back of their leg, hitting the front won't work. I think its extremely handy to have one teammate run this over a scorcher/breaker for the utility of opening the cargo containers, stunning medium targets with its stopping power, and opening holes in armor. It desperately needs a higher ammo pool however, 40 is not enough for a primary weapon, especially a single fire slug lobber; I think around 80 would be nice.

[@jackcoleman1784]

If they give it anymore ammo it would be too meta in my opinion. It wouldn't have much of a weakness. And that's OP as if it isn't already. They're probably going to nerf the slugfer as is. Which I'm okay with.

[@sphinxoforion7422]

It got a buff this new patch and its really good lmao, 60 rnds & 280 dmg. I love it. @@jackcoleman1784

[@thegreenprometheanm8951]

i still feel like the breaker is better just because it has more ammo per mag and 100 more bullets in the pool total, and the fire rate isn't awful. The damage is 50 points higher per shot too. I love the breaker so much because it's the only primary you can spam at a bug hole and get 10 kills just by holding left clicking for 2 seconds. The slugger felt really inconsistent and you have to reload all the time. Plus if you're getting swarmed, you might as well just whip out the secondary because you wont be killing stuff fast enough to save yourself.

[@rubiolo1019]

The slugger can kill chargers with their armor intact, you even did damage to one in this video and maybe didn't notice. 3:40 is the exact shot that went through and it usually takes me 4 shots to kill one without stripping them.

[@RuiNDieM1988]

Quick tip, reload between shots during fights. Its fast and will keep you from running out of ammo.

[@DoIoannToKnow]

I'm glad there's no specific TTK or stat impacts on many of the items. When people start trivializing games down to numbers and statistics, it makes it much less fun. it keeps everything refreshing and does not make you feel like you have to use only particular set of items - I am not a fan of the META paradigm in games now obviously

[@frankurrutia7782]

We just got a buff lets gooooooo! 60 rounds and we recover all of it with one supply pack.

[@StrikerV3]

Nice use of Total Annihilation music. I approve

[@kaptainkoffee9074]

Brilliant review also I am surprised you have the Total Annihilation soundtrack on in your review good taste soldier 😎.

[@thesmerelajiah2805]

I think the slugger has medium armor pen, I have read somewhere that it is labeled incorrectly.

[@c.chepre8452]

i really like it, i started using it after i was disappointed by the scorcher, together with an ammo pack it´s currently my favorite loadout, for both bots and bugs.

[@NOGRIZZGUY]

The damage variance might be caused by the host being on Playstation or not btw, if host is then for some reason the rest of the lobby gets a damage buff(allegedly)

[@cookieprophet595]

Stress test the liberator next! Super underrated considering it’s the first available

[@oOBlackadderOo]

So the Slugger is the bolt-action rifle in disguise of a shotgun. I really fancy the game but the overall performance of gear really needs a tweak when only 3-5 loadouts really shine. And in a PvE-Enviroment that means buffs to things that are expensive but not deliver.

[@waffle4589]

the Domi is another gun like this you trade the out the slow reload for a quick one and have less damage a shot but it still one taps warriors as well as most of the light terms its another shot gun that is more of a Markman rifle its a breaker shotgun that fires jet propelled slugs its great

[@nguyentrung-ui4mf]

Slugger can shoot down a spore spewer (mushroon) yea it takes a few shots, but it works when ya in a pinch. Also, the range in which it can hit the mushroom is insane.

[@dr_jalux]

I've heard that it actually has Medium armor penetration and its just an error from the devs, but idk if that's true or not

[@DustinBlaise]

Definitely plan to get the slugger. I'm actually just a few medals away from getting it.

[@nicholasboyd-gibbins9763]

Great video man. I'd love to see some videos on good / interesting setups generally