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

[@Odog78]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@Ki_Adi_Mundi]

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

[@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.

[@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..

[@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.

[@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. :)

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@Micholex]

As a solo helldive player the only real option is and always has been the PLAS 1 Scorcher. It melts overseers actually fastest if you compare the time with purifier, splash damage helps in crowd control and 5 extra bullets are really helpful, it can even destroy the harvesters if you are desperate although it cannot take down the ship shields. Its still the best weapon in the game and judging by how much you have to grind to get it, its actually fair.

[@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)

[@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

[@helghanmerc2765]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@blulikefriendlyhit1213]

The Spray & Pray is top tier vs the illuminates

[@GryphonM]

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

[@matthewanderson1916]

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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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?

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@jmcclain33]

Took down that video about the collab event huh? That shit went private while I was watching lol.

[@SwanyPlaysGames]

Yes. I am making a new video explaining why.

[@jmcclain33]

@ I’ll be on the watch. I thought you guys went a little hard on them. But I think my opinion overall differs than most of the community.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@thedudeabides3138]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@bayonettakertok2363]

Crossbow, Redeemer, Stun Grenades. Arc Thrower, Shield generator, flame sentry and anti tank emplacement has been working great for me

[@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

[@dannewman2998]

One loadout i like is having one orbital precision strike, one the shield goes down on a illuminith ship, you can send in the precision shot and boom, its gone. Definately a researchance for me on that starting stratagem

[@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.

[@AndrewOnYoutube]

SES JUDGE OF INDIVIDUAL MERIT reporting: our Helldivers have seen great success with the Blitzer shotgun, and the Laser Cannon

[@FarFrom_Puken]

I've been running .. blitzer, laser cannon, nade pistol, rover backpack, anti tank emplacement, 500kg been loving it!

[@RuTube981]

Eruptor also is really good. Takes out like 6 voteless at once and takes out the harvester in 5 leg shots.

[@DigitalDeath88]

I've been loving the counter sniper for the illuminate staff/flying guys, eats them up. Or I'll run the fire pump shotgun for the zombies and use the laser cannon for the overseers. The pump fire works ok for the overseers too.

[@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

[@bigbarrettbob]

The Incendiary Breaker Shotgun is my GO-TO Primary against the Illuminate. For my Support I rock the MG on the highest fire rate. Secondary, I take the grenade pistol. I pop ship shields with the MG then fire a grenade through the doors. I've been having a lot of success with the gas grenade as well when using this loadout... gas em and light em on fire with the incendiary Breaker!

[@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

[@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.

[@335chr]

I have been finding the cookout works great. All the benefits of the breaker incendiary and having a solid knock back

[@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)

[@neowolfgrimm4652]

Using conclusive weapons to stun and then shred the overseers with an MG or other medium penetration or higher weapon works well too.

[@happyn00dleboy]

Guard dog backpack and Arc thrower work like a dream, but this map is perfect for the jet pack

[@Telashar]

I had quite good success using torcher with new wasp launcher to snipe medium elites from across the map, before rushing in to burn everything. Harvesters are kind of pain for it, but with 2 (or currently 3, since wasp is free) slots, you can put enough firepower to deal with those too.

[@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?

[@samgau2]

My fav weapon against the illuminate. Is this the sicle. Just to be able to kill drones and drop shield. I save my fellow divers from across the map. Add a commando and harversers died too. For overseers. You need to be able to shoot at the same spot for 3sec to kill. So you remove that part of armor. For flying. Aim at chest. for the ground one. Aim at leg, so you can shoot when he's shielding. For loadout I use strafe run. 500kg. Orbital waking barrage. Commando. Orbital waking barrage can destroy all outpost by itself. Every time if you make sure your line is over all ships. 500gk. For single ships Strafe good against all illuminate Commando with strafe is perfect for the harversers

[@紅鬍子]

Amazing alone and even better together; Heavy anti-recoil armor, crossbow, senator, medium machine gun, supply pack. Simple, strong, versatile, and mixable style with nades/stratagems can beat any Illuminate right now cause there is no heavy armor. If you are accurate it’s powerful MG beats everything, aim for strider body-leg joints and barely takes 1/3rd of mag, it can feel slow to kill on Voteless and Squids so recommended max RPM. Crossbow deletes strider shields, Squids, and can blow up emplacements from shooting in the door and good voteless crowd control. Senator can 2-tap the reinforcement caller at any range, 1 shot headshot squid’s at close, and take down striders, good for getting out of pinch.

[@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.

[@nickg8100]

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

[@Remember-l2u]

Illuminates are the best faction right now, you can basically choose any weapon cause they have no heavy armoured troops except the tripods which need medium pen I think. But still, great and fun faction

[@WubWubbbZ]

Between the Slugger's stagger and the Halt's pure damage output they out-preform most of these weapons and it's not even close Also, the laser rover helps with Voteless while you're dealing with anything else

[@aryantaneja3192]

Not having the Cookout on this list feels a bit criminal imo. It works super well with the new armor set. It stuns enemies. Especially overseers that chase you with a stick. The number of times I've gotten out of situations where I almost died because this weapon stunned overssers that had me cornered is insane. Plus it causes them to drop their shield when the pellets hit them anywhere the shield doesn't cover them. The fire damage against the voteless is the cherry on top

[@SwanyPlaysGames]

I did mention that the cookout was close. I really like the cookout, it's a good choice.

[@mattoliveiraeugenio]

The new Hellghast Assault Rifle is really good against them. Rapid fire, large magazine, good damage.

[@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

[@ProudDMims]

The problem with the explosive crossbow is when your in the city, the bolts skip when shooting the ground. It is famtastic on terrain and i believe is the best weapon. But, with the skipping in the city, not so much.

[@ninyomend]

Plasma punisher, Arc throwers, Laser Gaurd Dog, Grenade pistol, Frag, Orbital battling, Eagle Strafe Run.

[@xmoltarx8768]

Loadout: Primary = Halt Shotgun Secondary = Verdict pistol Specialized Equipment = Stalwart LMG Combo: Use the stalwart to fight off the vote less while using the Halts Flechette rounds to penetrate and stop the overseers

[@tommywilkinson33]

Yeah, the over seers don’t have medium armor. They have destructible armor that can soak up damage which makes it seem like weapons like the tenderizer isn’t working at first. But if you concentrate on one segment with it you can take them down very quickly with it. I like it a lot for lower difficulties, on higher difficulties though you really need a mix of horde clearing and some medium pen for the harvesters so I don’t use it as much sadly :/

[@eirikjohnsbraten6370]

My favourite combo right now is Arc Blitzer and the liberator guard dog. The guard dog trivialises Overseers and Watchers. Then I use machine gun for shields and Harvesters and grenade pistol for outposts.

[@bluewolf5582]

I tried the adjudicator, tenderizer, halt, purifier, sickle, scythe,crossbow, eruptor, lib pen, DCS and maybe a couple more I am forgetting. My face was surprisingly the tenderizer despite the light pen. (I am a purifier main so it's a total change of pace for me)

[@ecfeclipse]

The Guard dog backpack is good for taking care of voteless, so you can bring a heavier weapon to take on armor

[@rideordie295]

From my experience flame throwers are not good on the higher difficulty levels. They just don’t kill fast enough allowing you to get overwhelmed by the enemy.

[@LordRazer3]

Liberator concussive paired with the guard dog. It still kills voteless in 1 shot to the head and overseer get stun locked while the guard dog kills them. Throw in a turret, emplacement gun and gas grenade and your good to go.

[@mrfawkes9110]

Siege Ready Armor + Crossbow + Stun Spear + Guard Dog(ballistic) + AMR or Laser Cannon is god tier for the illuminate. I run it with Gatling Turret and Strafing run and have had no issues, it's almost too reliable.

[@no2party]

The Blitzer and Arc Thrower are great at killing Illuminate, Automatons, Terminids, and Helldivers.

[@Sprinic]

Good Vid. Ty

[@stumpyduby]

No love for the Cookout?! Its like the inc. breaker but does more damage, tighter spread for range and has a stun effect. Criminal...

[@tyhamilton3673]

Love running the Arc 12 Blitzer and Arc Thrower, however my teammates don’t appreciate it😂☠️

[@Madhuntr]

diligence counter sniper. my choice for bots and squids. works like a charm.

[@ThehandleSigmawasstolenfromme]

Illuminate armor is all light (Barring Harvesters) and have their own health pools. Once you break the armor, they die pretty easily to even the base pistol.

[@BisexualPlagueDoctor]

The overseers are armored, but their armor is actually armor instead of being made of metal, so there are gaps, which still reduces the amount of damage you can deal to them quite substantially

[@VindensSaga]

ammo is an issue because HD2 is supposed to be a squad based game and you're supposed to play with other people. You are also supposed to play as a squad, staying together and working together. Maybe you should consider that in the future.

[@SickBoyKD]

That is why I use the tenderizer or any laser rifle so I don't gotta worry about staying with my fellow helldiver's ;]

[@hurrikane_gaming]

PLAS-1 Scorcher gets red hit markers on shields too

[@TheReaI0ne]

Pair a DCS with a machine gun... amazing combo

[@jsn_alva]

Are all of the illuminate projectiles arc based? I'm wondering if the Cutting Edge armors would minimize their damage.

[@huntcringedown2721]

10:10 bro the new armor makes it shoot 25% faster as time between shots counts as reload

[@Bradderz407]

Havent played in months need to get a new controller and get back into it for this one

[@sebastianteister]

Incendiary weapons are there to put dots on enemies, not for autofire. less is more

[@alexgutierrez8058]

The arc can destroy the harvesters. You just have to Go inside their shield and shoot them under, and it will destroy them

[@givesbeetdip0055]

Hold up, for your testing you used something that buffed the weapons? How does that make any sense to do?

[@majorastorm]

I use the Purifier. Great for big boom needs. And flame thrower for secondary

[@Urrelles]

The very first loadout i did on Illuminate launch day has worked best. Arc Blitzer Grenade Launcher Crisper Guard Dog Orbital Laser Autocannon Turret

[@daox3]

You going to test out that Helghan armor & weapon?

[@shaftoe195]

Purifier's name is appropriate, given the circumstances...

[@Cable12]

Let him COOOK!!

[@Q..M]

The adjudicator being weaker than the tenderizer is ridiculous to me 😂😂😂

[@notsohandyandy]

I still don't know why anyone calls the Reprimand an SMG. It hits like an assault rifle. It handles like an assault rifle. You can't use it one-handed, which is really the distinguishing feature of SMGs in this game. It's an assault rifle.

[@nahnanananananana2914]

Look up the HK UMP-45. It is what the Reprimand is modeled after.

[@iamalaser4185]

Its an smg cause its made to resemble a real world smg, which are different from assault rifles and still not meant to be held in one hand

[@BisexualPlagueDoctor]

Possibly because its name is "SMG-32 Reprimand"?

[@thoughtgaming492]

People in your replies are not getting it. For all intents and purposes this functions identically to how an assault rifle does. it being called an SMG and classified with the smgs is no different than it being called a rocket launcher and classified with the explosive weapons. It simply doesnt fit function wise. And regardless of what it is modeled after in real life, in the game, in still functions identically to an assault rifle.

[@mrfawkes9110]

Stats wise it's superior to every single Assault Rifle, its just a better Adjudicator. And I don't really care if it was modeled after the USP-45(if it was they did a piss poor job of it) since looks have nothing to do with weapon classification. These two classes are based on their ammunition, assault rifles are select fire and use intermediate rifle cartridge, SMGs are select fire or fully automatic and use pistol ammo. You don't get pistol rounds that are more effective than intermediate rifle rounds, that's a physical impossibility. There's no such thing as an SMG that outperforms an assault rifle in anything but handling, it's disappointing coming from a dev that wants the game to be a mil-sim.

[@ReykuTheDefiler]

The only weapon I used against the Squith is my trusty Constitution Rifle like my father before me! 🫡 🌎 Viper Commandos never die!

[@abiggs4828]

I haven’t gotten to the Illuminate yet, but is there any love for the Eruptor?

[@mozkuthehermit5909]

You are kinda sleeping on lazer weapons Infinite ammo goes hard plus really precise Sickle is amazing but scythe somehow dont pack a same punch as sickle but still usable Crossbow is strong but against Illuminate, it isnt as strong like it could be In SH10, Crossbow becomes your greatest enemy, i have seen MANY people just blowing themselves up because there is just too many grunts coming all over the place (it has been also reason why many people fail missions, its strong yes but not against illuminates) Spray and Pray is also good when they buffed its handling so it doesnt jump all over screen Most consistent weapon off my testings is Liberator Penetrator, like it just does wonders, consistent firerate, good sight, good reload speed, good ammo reserves and its medium penetration Yea dominator exists but somehow it is less reliable than Liberator P. Illuminates just throw many relied support weapons out of the window because harvesters shields, so best support weapon out of all tested is Heavy Machinegun I just got so fustrated on many heavy antitank weapons like recoiless and commando Flametrower does alot of work but dont take it if there is no one in team with heavy machinegun at sh10, you just piss and cry whole 40 mins

[@Dagger1Echo]

ADJUDICATOR, GRENADE PISTOL,GAS NADES MMG OR HMG , BALLISTIC GUARD DOG, MG AND GATLING TURRETS All bases covered!! 650+ kill consistently