The Helldivers 2 Stratagem Tier List

I ranked all of the strategems in Helldivers 2 from F TIER to S TIER! Enjoy!
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#helldivers2 #tierlist #strategems

[@TheMacroShow]

Obviously I meant Supply Pack, but uh… I done goof’d 😭 But DEMOCRACY doesn’t care about typos 🫡

[@Erchut]

Democracy will prevail💪💪💪🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

[@EdwinCaldwellBills]

I can beat level 9 can you

[@manboy4720]

for demcraycy!

[@DeviousToes]

No more communism

[@julienvalley28]

@@manboy4720 for democrussy!

[@Riley_Potato]

should be two tierlists, how good its at killing enemies and how good it is a killing your teammates

[@JeancarlosRPerez]

And how good is against bots vs How good it's against Terminids. Really makes a big difference to what you take towards each faction. Can't wait to fight the Illuminate 🎉

[@arttops2563]

@@JeancarlosRPerez SILENCE DISSIDENT! Their are no such heretics in this or any galaxy!

[@illuminate6984]

​@@arttops2563 my oficial of democracy say other things,

[@2MeterLP]

Mortar is definitely top of S tier in team kills. Followed by the rover, which is mostly a good boy, but sometimes randomly decides to laser your head off.

[@zwenkwiel816]

@@2MeterLP lol yeah, I played dozens of hours without getting a single team or self kill with the rover but than all of the sudden one day it just decided to go on a murderspree or something XD

[@trollosgaming7724]

Expendable Anti Tank is actually insane vs the Terminids. With the somewhat recent patch that allows it to one shot chargers to a headshot, and you getting 2 every 70 seconds prevents Chargers from existing while allowing you to take a backpack. The fact that this strategem is unlocked on what I believe to be level 5(?) is insane, essentially being a early game response to anything armored. Versus the bots, it's a "decent" way to deal with Tanks and Hulks, but not much more than that. It should be noted that most explosives like grenades, EAT, Recoilless Rifle, Autocannon, etc... can break structures like spore shrooms, illegal broadcasts and more is the cherry on top.

[@h2o848]

- Landing a rocket on the vents of the hulks/tanks will break them instantly, leading to an eventual kill. This usually requires teamwork. - You can break spore spewers with almost any gun. Just shoot in their general direction for a bit.

[@outland9872]

Yeah, the EAT is my go to charger solution, head hitbox is pretty easy to hit after the patch, and even if you miss it, you probably hit one of it's legs, hit that same leg with another one (Conveniently, you get 2 per drop" and the charger's dead. Worst case, you kill 1 charger with a single drop. Best case, you kill 2.

[@loaduscoolclipz5505]

the anti tank is the goat strategem for bug missions, i love not having to worry about losing my support weapon every death. +you can pretty easily kill a charger with its pod impact if u combo it with a stun grenade

[@ppnico12]

Keep this between me and you alright, but the stratagem ball actually stick to the charger itself. So when your surprised with a charger and you don't have an AT on your back you got your trusty EAT and stick it right on the face of the charger. Make sure its the front so it lands right on him. Every EAT call down is actually 3 dead charger.

[@julienvalley28]

but against bots, you can also take out the dropship with eats too by aiming it at the engines

[@nathanstewart9045]

0:50 bro looks like he's about to steal the chaos emeralds 💀

[@TheMacroShow]

😭

[@Anonymous-73]

He looks like he’s about to make an announcement

[@EchoOne101]

LMFAOO

[@Phantom_Kraken]

He looks like he’s been reading the gaia manuscripts

[@AnxiousCinder]

Bros dr egg man

[@Maxybro]

I definitely think the EAT and Machine gun should be higher. The EAT has the same punch as the recoil-less but doesnt take up a backpack slot, and its short cooldown means you can spam these all over the map. The MG has good armor pen and is great for clearing out hordes, and it makes bots less accurate with suppressive fire. good tier list regardless tho

[@CaymenEditz]

i think the stalwart is better than the mg. bigger mag, better rpm (i think), more mobile, and you can move while reloading it

[@deadgunslinger8489]

​@@CaymenEditzno medium pen tho

[@CaymenEditz]

@@deadgunslinger8489 i just aim for weak spots and it’s fine

[@sindrisuncatcher653]

@@CaymenEditzThe big advantage of the first machinegun is the armor penetration. The lighter one is easier to handle, but it bounces right off anything that you can't already kill with your normal weapons, which kind of defeats the purpose of a support weapon IMO.

[@Violet-my5jq]

@@CaymenEditz Nope there no point to use stalwart anymore even for clearing trash mob, with new sickle you pretty much have infinite ammo to clear trash mob also MG did alots more dmg and can penetrate medium armor like hive guard and commander also easily kill bile spewer because this guy have low health in the head but have medium armor.

[@h2o848]

smoke is basically on-demand cover; if you've ever been to the creek, you know how valuable that can be tesla tower is just a minefield but zappy: treat it like one, and you won't be dying (you can avoid dying to it if you just go prone too, as said in its description) laser cannon is super good against automatons, can kill ANYTHING, including hulks from the front and tanks from the back jump pack mobility is underrated; getting elevation is busted against bugs and saves lots of time running up slopes compared to turrets, mines are a much lower risk solution: your turrets can get oneshot by the same enemies that oneshot you (a LOT), and mines will ACTUALLY slow down enemy waves while turrets just thin them out does the shield generator relay EVEN HAVE HEALTH? i'm pretty sure it just lasts a set amount of time because i've never seen it go down right after a shot...i've seen it eat rockets, tank shells, and thousands of bullets though (it's also good for luring enemies away and protecting your turrets) IF YOU SET YOURSELF ON FIRE, JUST DIVE AND YOU WILL BE FINE IN A FRACTION OF A SECOND! do they not teach "stop, drop, and roll" anymore? i think EATs and recoilless rifle should be the same tier: they do the same job but have some slight trade offs (maybe it's just because i play a lot of solo and find EATs more handy)

[@AC-hj9tv]

How many years does it take to kill hulks w laser cannon

[@digitalhomic8155]

theres cutting edge armor that prevents 95% of tesla damage and u can use yourself as range extention :)

[@rexoplex4814]

@@AC-hj9tv About 2-3 seconds. It can penetrate the medium armored eye/head piece on the front, just takes a couple seconds of sustained, accurate fire on that part to kill them. Easier said than done when they're rushing you and you're being shot from all directions, but if you have a moment to aim it kills them plenty fast

[@zwenkwiel816]

"as said in its description" reading is for communists!

[@slayerbobby4029]

​@@digitalhomic8155 I have done this and it works really well. Killed my whole team with a single zap 🤣🤣🤣

[@dek_1707]

Autocannon is fairly placed but just a few side notes: it can destroy bug nests and bot factories if you ricochet it off of the hatch, also terminate illegal broadcast side quest can be shot cross map and destroyed with 1 bullet, spore nests can be destroyed in 2, chargers can be killed in 3 bullets (if aimed at back legs from behind), brood mothers in 1 if you headshot them, and the clip for it is 10, just keep count of the ammo and you should be good. in high level lobbies since railgun got nerfed we normally take a recoilless for chargers and Biles (not going to say the spear is bad just it has less backpack ammo then the recoilless), and note the recoilless can 1 shot a charger in the head. 2 Autocannons, and a grenade launcher for cleanup, (level 9 Difficulty)

[@sir_captainmorgan]

The expandable is absolutely A-tier as a solo queue, you can one tap so many enemies if you hit weak points, including chargers, bot ships, and even bile titans if you hittem right. And you get 2 of them, both for you or one for you and one for a random who needs a quick kill. Finally, it isn’t a backpack, which is so damn important when you need something like a supply pack or a guard dog

[@62cky4powerthirst]

Seriously. When I learnt you can destroy the engine of dropships with one EAT and sink a robot squad it became my favorite support strategem. Nobody gets mad if you bring EAT.

[@M.L.official]

Where do you hit bile titans for an instant kill? Number 1 I don't think it's possible and number 2 if it is, it probably shouldn't be. They fixed the spawns now so you don't get more than 2 titans on any given breach. Making them trivial is not the coolest thing to do. I sport a 500kg bomb and if that can't one shot it sometimes, EAT being able to do it is super imbalanced

[@62cky4powerthirst]

@@M.L.official I think there are bile sacs behind the base of the jaw where it connects to the skull, it's inconsistent: but i've scored crits that way

[@sir_captainmorgan]

@@M.L.official I was overselling it on the insta kill, but I have headshot a bile titan and killed it completely on a level 7 mission with an expendable rocket, it happened a few times that mission and was so satisfying, so not always an insta kill but a solid finisher if you hit the head dead on

[@sir_captainmorgan]

@@62cky4powerthirst facts!

[@seanv42]

Your list is both low difficulty skewed and bug oriented. Bots require an entirely different stragatem loadout, as well as higher difficulty bugs.

[@IohanSanchez-wj7zb]

Then go watch a different video 😂

[@Anonymous-73]

Who asked

[@BNRanger]

Man it's almost like he said he doesn't play the higher tier missions right at the start of the video

[@specshade807]

He said he plays lower difficulties.

[@Pass1ngStranger]

It's almost like he said "if you disagree feel free to leave a comment"

[@ckie-nk3de]

the arc thrower is the best support weapon in my oppinion because if used correctly it CAN take out bosses without using ammo while also killing the goons.

[@nilsekluund]

​@urchinsify Na, it takes out all bugs except charges and bile titans with ease. And the fact that it kills the small bugs around the big bugs that you are shooting is amazing. Plus the range is very good.

[@CaymenEditz]

i personally prefer the stalwart/eat combo

[@wsawbi6402]

​@nilsekluund YEAH. Unless your team has EATs or similar it find it's best to let arc throwers just solo a charger on their own rather than have teammates swarm it to shoot its butt

[@yeetman1344]

@@urchinsify i dispute this i bring it to level 9 missions all the time bot and bugs and it usually replaces my primary the arc is a bit janky but when you get it down it takes everything under super heavy enemies down in a few hits Chargers in 6 and if you get the right distance and elevation even titans in a few its especially if you have a Ps5 host.

[@urchinsify]

@@yeetman1344 I might give it another try. Where do you aim it for bile and chargers?

[@Rando1481]

GUYS TODAY IM JOINING THE HELLDIVERS FOR DEMORACY AND LIBERTY

[@fynix9963]

the lazer canon takes out hulks really quick and its underrated for automatons for that reason.

[@0verride881]

Meh, 9/10 times, you're dying to the hulk before your cannon can take it out - unless you snipe it.

[@DmitrySabFo]

Wtf guys, just use anti matter rifle and 200m scope

[@SnailSnail-lo4pm]

Anti materiel and railgun both kill way faster

[@enbee7515]

Laser cannon is actually pretty good in my experience, though its mainly good for the bots, the bugs it can work against but a lot of the bugs come at you too fast and have too much armor for it to be effective, but the bots usually have a weakspot right on their face, and with the laser cannon you can track that at medium distances easily, and take out medium sized enemies without using ammo, and in a pinch it can take out a small group of enemies with good heat management, so take a good crowd control primary for small bots and its pretty decent against medium sized bots

[@wh0s_hippo534]

Yeah but there are way better options

[@enbee7515]

tru usually, but its still has its place imo, esp solo on medium difficulty missions where theres enough enemies that ammo can be scarce but not so many that you dont have the time to make use of the laser cannon@@wh0s_hippo534

[@Hulkman5000]

idk what your on, i use the laser cannon and i have the complete inverse opinion. I found for bots the laser is so bright and big it's literally impossible to see whether you're hitting their face or not and for crowd control it is actual dogshit. Where it shines in my experience is in melting through bile and nursing spewers or making quick work of those bugs with the armour plates at their front (it pierces that armour.) Its useful for terminids but pretty bad for anything else.

[@Bluberry31]

Ahh yes the autocannon sentry…. One of the best backpacks

[@AMETK15]

i had to come here to confirm 16:07

[@dariofleitas2996]

the orbital rail cannon is good but it falls short very fast in higher difficulties do to the large amount of tanks (and many times the cooldown debuff) plus it's long base cooldown

[@loaduscoolclipz5505]

i used to have it as my go-to titan killer up until i stared playing 8 / 9 difficulty lmao. now i usually really on launchers + rocket pods for them

[@LordZedz]

This. Orbital Railcannon is giga bad and I'm not sure why people seem to like it. The cooldown is way too long for something that can't even reliably kill Bile Titans. EAT, 500KG, Orbital Precision, hell even Rocket Pods do what it does better and with much shorter cooldowns. No contest now that stun grenades exist.

[@kevinwlee1]

There's actually good reason to run the ballistic shield vs the automatons. It is very effective damage mitigation when you are running with the SMG and your sidearm. It can also block shots if you're laying prone and using the railgun to take out armored targets like walkers. In general, I enjoy using it; but I support a group of friends by laying down double mortars and we hit from long range against bots. I wouldn't have more than one person using it, but it's useful for someone who is attracting attention from the group and while crouching you can use your SMG to hit those face shots that down bots with a good deal of accuracy while the ballistic shield is protecting you.

[@samtam2984]

might have to try it out sometime

[@thesentry8981]

It’s great when paired with the armors that grant reduced recoil when crouching and prone, making your shots more accurate. Also, the armor helps with explosive damage which there is a lot of vs Automatons

[@KhanKhav7]

i take eagle airstrike into everything. i love how flexible it is in every situation

[@CaymenEditz]

it’s very versatile

[@AC-hj9tv]

Eagle airstrike chads unite 💪😎 👍

[@M.L.official]

Only time I don't is if you can already call in an airstrike as part of the planet buff, I would take an orbital or sth

[@Pablud3S]

​@@M.L.officialwhere does that happen

[@ferdithetank7535]

​@@Pablud3Sat least half of all missions have "load the artillery cannon" side objective that you have to discover. There you get to choose which shells do you load (they have different properties) and from there on you get 5 shots of free artillery for the rest of the mission.

[@Baldrjac]

The only things I would change are the arc thrower and the EAT should go in A or S tier. Most people don't use the EAT correctly, it's more of a squad weapon than your weapon. Pick up a squadmate's extra weapon, throw down the EAT when needed, boom some chargers, titans, tanks, hulks, dropships, pick up the other weapon and continue with your day of democracy. Really effective and you still have a backpack, plus the fast call in time allows you to use the call in as a weapon in itself, it'll down a charger just with the deployment. The arch thrower is stupid powerful against bugs. Pretty decent against bots but probably the most useful against bugs. For the sake of credibility, I play on helldive, have 150 hours plus, and have everything maxed out.

[@2MeterLP]

I am my teams dedicated heavy enemy removal, and I always run EAT on bug missions. Its been so awesome since they nerfed the chargers' head! I can insta-delete two chargers every minute, or three if I'm feeling cheeky and manage to stick the beacon to a chargers booty.

[@0verride881]

I still don't have a full grasp of how the game decides if my strat is going to bounce off the charger vs just land on it

[@zwenkwiel816]

yeah I really overlooked the EAT at first, like only 2 shots and than it's done?! I'll take the backpack full of rockets thank you very much XD but that's not how it works at all. EAT is better if you use it right. (also get killed a lot less while reloading XD)

[@jacobward6787]

If you die bc of a reload problem then you should get better at positioning ​@zwenkwiel816

[@jacobward6787]

I have more hours 🥱

[@morbidmirage726]

Orbital gas turns off bug breaches for anything below a charger. Also amazing for choke points, just won’t let anything through. Plus if something makes it through, your rover merely has to look in its general direction before it’s dead.

[@CubanPanda]

Personally I find the gas to be pretty trash, not F-Tier but a solid D-Tier. It just lowers the health and only kills off the tiny enemies which are pretty easy to deal with. I would rather bring an Air Strike since it will kill the enemy instead of leaving it alive with partial health. The air strike also destroys nests and buildings plus covers a decent area. It can destroy a small to medium nest on its own. Plus the strike is almost immediate like the gas strike. I really only play against Terminds on lvl 5 difficulty so i don't know if it's different for the robots.

[@isaacstevenson7971]

@@CubanPandathe gas lasts for so long though. Sure the air strike will kill things quickly but then the next batch of bugs comes right out. Also you said the gas doesn’t come immediately. It only takes like 2-3 seconds to call in?

[@CubanPanda]

@@isaacstevenson7971 I meant "like" not "unlike", typo on my end. The gas lasts for a good chunk of time but you can also cut yourself off from going in that direction for the entire time. You throw it into a nest and now have to wait just to destroy all the tunnels. Destroying the nests prevents them from coming out again and the air strike will destroy the nest as well. If the Gas Strike also slowed the enemies I could see it being much better but again it only kills of the weak stuff and lowers the health of the big stuff.

[@SuperMemeBoi-fz7nd]

Macro, BTW the autocannon can be used to destroy bug nests and automaton factories if aimed correctly!

[@Cheesequicksand]

And illegal broadcasts and spore spewers

[@D3vilTube]

Pretty decent for chargers too. If you avoid their charge and hit them in the back legs they usually go down in 3-4 shots

[@LeadMetal82]

​@@D3vilTube they will go down if you shoot one of their back legs twice.

[@CaymenEditz]

the thing with the eat is that you can use another support weapon and just call it down when you need it. you can also scatter a bunch of them around an objective over time and give all of your teammates rly good rocket launchers just laying around. it’s not meant to be used as a stand alone support weapon. it’s meant specifically for heavily armored enemies so that you can run some other support weapon for swarms at the same time

[@h2o848]

valid! i solo'd my first termicide mission on d7 with EATs, arc thrower, and two mine sets

[@CaymenEditz]

@@h2o848 they’re so underrated because people usually use them inefficiently. you gotta throw one down immediately after the cooldown runs out and you’ll be unstoppable

[@Pablud3S]

I use it with randoms without any other support just to not be tied down to something I have to pick up again because I got TK'd again 😂

[@fropsL]

10:09 the expendable anti tank is one of the best stratagems currently. With the capability to one shot chargers and bile titans it’s insanely useful. furthermore with the upgrade it only takes a minute to recharge allowing you to cover the field with them which any teammate can pick up and use when needed. In my opinion it’s way better than the recoiless which takes years to reload and only carries 5 in the backpack. The fact that it’s a single use also works as it frees up your backpack slot from the recoiless and allows you to carry a different support weapon that does other things such as the arc thrower or grenade launcher. I think C is a vast under rank and should be higher especially in higher ranks where heavy armored enemies are so common

[@TS050-]

EAT in C Tier with the Spear in A Tier is crazy to me when the Spear feels worse to use in every single way

[@robonator2945]

EAT or MAYBE railgun if they fix/buff it (currently it's just shit gotta be honest, but there is apparently a bug where if you're playing with a ps5 player the damage is way higher or something so sometimes it feels okay) + a supply pack makes you a god tier loner. If you run with more nades you can be holding 18 nades on-demand. If you go with more stimes, you can be holding 18 stims on demand. (3*4=12 12+6=18, 12 in the pack, 6 on the belt) Plus, since it drops fully stocked you can replenish yourself while the rest of your team can keep the resupply. The supply pack is just horribly underrated IMO. With a supply pack and some sentries you can seriously break off on your own and get shit done fairly reliably.

[@EspyMelly]

Tesla tower is probably the biggest one I think is very wrong in this. It's dangerous and takes getting used to its radius, but it lasts a long time and will clear everything that isn't heavy armor. especially great against terminids, against bots you'll likely have to put it behind cover so it doesn't take pot shots, but I haven't tested it enough on those guys.

[@sirsquadie3383]

I love the 380mm! You just throw it and the enemy fabricator hubs or nests and they just get removed! Great for solo play. Just drop it and get out. "Friendly fire is an inevitable fact of life!"

[@ALE199-ita]

380mm I hate it because I used it to do that and it missed EVERY SINGLE SHOT. Something which the Airstrike would've done better.

[@bardninja]

This. I usually run the 120 myself for the same reason: yeet it in, and just keep running to the next one since it's dealt with. If my squadmate wants to run in after I've called it out, that's not the 120's fault.

[@thesoulsender]

I think the gatling barrage is actually really good, because while it doesn't really damage armour, it's amazing at clearing a bug spawner or dropship, and has a short rearm time. Usually I'll just take it with another heavier strategem like the railcannon, laser, or bomb.

[@jalontf2]

Laser Cannon actually wrecks chargers now. Just shoot em in the pooper for a few seconds. One of my new faves alongside the guard rover

[@DmitrySabFo]

5-6 head hits for arc thrower when they charge at you and alt to the side, repeat Easier

[@Drac0nianTheboss]

The thing that makes the arc thrower amazing for me is the fact that it has direct damage. no armor can save the enemy's from it, but it does kill teammates more often than not.

[@cursedboyir]

Aside from the glitchyness of the ballistic shield, it's very usefull againts gunner shield robots. It gives you enough time to line up any shot to the bot. Weather it be the head or it's gunner arms. It also does more protection when running away from hellfiring bullets that the bots can do and is great for all smg weapons.

[@arttops2563]

*Macro:* "I'm not your dad!" Me: Quietly sobs

[@HippioKass]

jump packing onto a high ground versus the nids with a flamethrower is an S-tier niche

[@beakwooda.k.aadregallus8788]

I run the Stalwart at Helldive, its insanely OP (with increased RPM) against the majority of things but Chargers and Titan. It clears mobs of Hunters insanely well, deals with Medium armor rather easily and it can pack a punch on Stalkers. It's just a really powerful gun to use as primary (I use Scorcher to shoot hard targets). That paired with the Laser Guard makes you untouchable. When it comes about the heavy armor nothing an EAT or the Mech can't handle.

[@LordZedz]

Why don't you just use the Scythe, which is a better Stalwart with infinite ammo, and take something useful for your support so your team doesn't have to carry you?

[@thescrambler6354]

​@@LordZedzthe scythe better than anything?

[@LordZedz]

@@thescrambler6354 Meant Sickle.

[@thescrambler6354]

@@LordZedz I figured. Haven't tried it yet been playing with the plasma shotgun

[@flairwolf2367]

16:08 It does say the wrong thing here lol. Great video though! I'm thinking about buying this game.

[@Fishnuke14]

You should get the game for democracy if you have friends make sure they get it also

[@Phant0ms722]

Hey macro, can you make a video where you try apex legends clone pls

[@JayRondon]

The Tesla tower and laser cannon in D disqualified him from making tier lists

[@hoodee3144]

This is probably one of the most accurate tier lists for helldivers ive seen so far good job

[@thediodoin1000]

Idk about most people but I love the Stalwart it’s awesome for mowing down rows of bugs. Also you forgot to mention how it holds much more ammo than the normal machine gun. I keep finding my self using it in higher difficulties because it’s the only thing keeping me from getting swarmed.

[@douwe4254]

You need 1 lawnmower player in every team. Rover, Stalward, engineer armor for extra grenades, I prefer the punisher for the high dmg and extra cc. Pair this up with the autocannon and rockey turret to support your heavy armor friends and you'll be hitting 3-4 times their kills keeping them alive from hordes. You can kill everything, but be handicapped against chargers, hulks, tanks and titans. We do duo 7's at times, and if my buddy goes anti heavy armor, I take care of the rest.

[@lukashajas7047]

@@douwe4254 Arc thrower is just a much better weapon than stalwart for clearing hordes, why not just take that ? Plus you can kill heavy enemies with it quite easily.

[@douwe4254]

​@@lukashajas7047 I disagree, plus you have the extra risk of bringing down a teammate who can support you flanks. There are two downsides people overlook with the Arc Thrower and that is range, teamkill potential and bad lightning jumps. And it isn't great either when enemies get closer to you. Stalward allows you to cover the flanks of your teammates from almost any range. Meaning if they are being chased by a small group of critters/bots, you can help them within 4 seconds. You can't do that with the Arc Thrower unless everyone is wearing the armor set, which in turn handicaps certain builds. Equally, meta builds (Arc + armor) builds always get nerfed, so this is a temporary build at best. If you need to clear a group of 20 small critters, that will take me about 4-5 seconds with the stalward, and I got half my magazine left, if not more. It does not matter if they are stacked or spread out. WIth the Arc, if they are spread in width, you will need many shots or relocate, which isn't possible on higher difficulties all that often. If they are stacked, you also need to get lucky with the leaps, and some enemies like the hunter won't go down right away allowing them to get close, you'll likely turn, increasing the risk of blowing your teammate up. Arc thrower is a better middle ground weapon. Stalward + the rest of my kit allow me to focus on everything with the exception of heavy armor. I'm always highest on kills, nearly double that of by teammates, if not more. No accidentals unless by teammates hug my turrets, which in turn saves the team loads of downtime due to retrieving their old gear. Arc is great, but not specialized enough. And due to my engineer armor + my turrets I can focus on the smaller enemies while my turrets mow down the big ones, and if there are too many big enemies, I got 2 teammates who are fully specialized in killing heavy armor enemies.

[@morbidmirage726]

I’ve used Tesla towers quite a bit and you have to put it in choke points so it only kills enemies. Once you look out for choke points it can be extremely useful. It also is good for distracting enemies like a bile titan for example.

[@zwenkwiel816]

I think you should only use it if you communicate with your team though, like I've played with randoms and every time they placed a tesla I just had to destroy it cuz it was teamkills waiting to happen (like on those really small maps where you have to kill 400 bugs or something, just don't use the tesla XD)

[@ferdithetank7535]

Basically it's just a big landmine, I always ping my Tesla coils so teammates don't get killed by it

[@robonator2945]

​@@zwenkwiel816 bro if you see a giant blue arcing lightouse and decide to walk towards it, that's just darwin putting you in your place. Who knows, maybe you'll reincarnate as a moth a few times to learn why "run headfirst into the brightest thing you can see" isn't a good survival strategy.

[@zwenkwiel816]

@@robonator2945 you don't always see them being put down behind you though. But go on and continue killing your teammates like a moron. You're probably one of those idiots who brings a mortar sentry on bug killing missions too....

[@notlasaugna6951]

I found the machine gun insanely good for crowd control even in late game. i used it for the TCS missions on suicide and it was still very viable Anti material rifle is also insane for late game automaton cause it can one shot hulks in the face plate. And it is a weak point killer kinda like the railgun

[@spaceerror_3571]

Haven't try it with bugs, but for automatons, mortar or EMP mortars can be great even in offensive mission. Before going into a enemy base you can set one up just right outside the wall of the base, even tho the enemy reinforcement may or may or may not drop outside the wall they will go into the base as soon as they landed because all of the players are inside, so as long as they didn't drop right on top of that mortar it can keep killing enemies inside the base without any disruption, and it can be a huge difference when you dealing with swarms of bots. Edit: not sure if they nurfed it but I wasn't able to kill a bile titan with orbital rail cannon recently, it only peel the back plate away and make the titan low on health but not able to one shot it. Usually it need to be follow up with a rocket to the wounds or in most case people just following up with a 500kg which are already capable of atomizing a full health titan if it lands, making rail cannon feels kinda wasteful to be use on a titan.

[@urchinsify]

Machine gun - obliterates every bug other than chargers and titans Tesla Tower - completely broken for defensive missions (as long as you're not an idiot that gets too close). Both are extremely broken but you placed it on D tier... I can't take this tier list with any respect after these horrendous placement. First of all there's literally no other gun that can match the machine gun in damage output and penetration. It penetrates even the warrior bug which can bounce off almost every other gun in the game. Not even the Stalwart has that kind of capability. I can even bring it to level 9 difficulty as long as I still have at least 2 anti armor strategem with it. If you time your reloads properly you are never going to get swarmed because this gun just wipes everything with just a couple bullets. The magazine capacity is insane, not sure exactly how much bullet a mag carries but it's probably 150-200 more or less. Regardless, this gun is S tier with proper firing discipline. Ammo is never an issue with all the ammo lying around and resupply available every 3 minutes. Secondly, tesla tower basically one shots every bug in the game except chargers and bile titans. It even bounces between bugs which allows you to completely have confidence there's no bugs where you place it. In fact I haven't seen a charger destroy a tesla tower yet (i'm level 47) probably because tesla kills it. Or chargers probably doesn't prioritize it like they do to sentries. Regardless, tesla tower is completely busted for missions where you have to defend an area. Better than both mine strategems combined as it doesn't expire after a kill. Also people always misjudge it's range, it probably has the range close to that of a mine field.

[@ggbruhteehee3162]

This is the truest stuff I've ever seen

[@herrfantastisch7489]

Yeah, their placements caught me off guard. Especially the placements of the 120 and 380 barrages. The 120 is fantastic for clearing clustered enemies, and the 380 for a wide area. They make great escapes, too. We were retreating, and my 380 destroyed over 50 bots while we escaped. Not to mention they’re phenomenal for destroying bot bases. It can be annoying when they miss, but that seems to only be the case before they were buffed. They hit frequently now, and when they hit, they hit.

[@urchinsify]

@@herrfantastisch7489 I don't touch the 380.. It's insanely inconsistent. The 120 is great for big bot bases. But not that great for bug hives that has 7+ holes for the same reason.. Insanely inconsistent. Sometimes they hit everything, sometimes you're lucky to get 1 kill. Also there's a bug right now and the kill streak counter doesn't really count everything. Especially when you shoot down bot drop ships you don't get the kills even tho they die.

[@elliottreed5283]

As a skull admiral with hundreds of dives under my belt I found this list to be severely misleading and very poorly thought out.

[@TerryD5000]

lets hear your top 10 then so that other lvl 50 skull admirals can nit pick it, say the same things u just said and feel the same way you do lol.

[@--9801]

Same here I have 220h in the game only play helldive everything unlocked and some stuff is simply not right

[@--9801]

​@@TerryD5000a list like this should be done via votes in my opinion and not by preference of a small grupp of people or 1 person

[@Morfik45]

Orbital Precision Strike with the new stun grenades is my most favorite combo for now, + grenade launcher to close bug nests + supply pack for infinite ammo

[@brianjentzen2335]

For the Jump Jet points at 9:00, I wanted to be heavy armor with a rail gun when I started using it because of Zone Troopers from C&C3, not Boba Fet but now I'm just used to the enhanced mobility when trying to stealth around solo.

[@gamerproductions5469]

well you are kinda right about the 120mm and 380mm but they are very useful at one thing Bases especially automatons so pretty much one grab them if you need to destroy a big stationary target otherwise it's meh.

[@Zane12ai]

Chief, eagle rocketpods are better for destroying bases. It gets outclassed by an ability considered one if the worst in the game

[@Sir_Meowss_A_Lot]

EAT is easily S tier

[@CaymenEditz]

i prefer the ems mortar over the regular mortar mainly because it does less friendly fire damage

[@thenoru.4435]

brother put arc thrower in the b tier not knowing there is tech that doubles rate of fire and kills chargers in 5 seconds

[@Aaroncoop9162]

Fr?!

[@killerwhale__]

​@@Aaroncoop9162just shoot at 50% itt does the same dmg

[@BlueMoonFuzz]

Honestly fighting automatons in stead of bugs is like playing a different game. Laser cannon is s tier for bots. Smokes are important for situations where you gotta gtfo. A tier list for both factions separately would probably be a lot more accurate

[@thedumbone2687]

rocket pods are kinda underrated tbh, since the railcannon strike is not guaranteed to kill a bile titan, i use them to finish the job. They also have a low cooldown and are also effective against chargers

[@amelialouma4762]

So about the expendable anti tank, I personally find it superior to the recoiless because it drops two of it at once meaning it can equip two helldivers and it only has 60s cooldown with the ship upgrade which is nothing. And with some skill you can consistently drop it on top of heavies, essentially making it drop three rockets. So in summary, it frees up a support weapon slot in the group and essentially has infinite ammo + lots of funny drop pod kills.

[@Jonathan-be9sv]

not letting other people have a vote on the tier list isnt very democratic.. might you be an automaton macro?

[@shadowhunter8246]

No, you see macro managed the democracy

[@Nope_Bbp]

12:09 missed opportunity for don’t say I didn’t WARM you (because fire)

[@user-to7yd4bs3t]

Great video. Information was really helpful but your commentary was outstanding! Keep it up!

[@clipso9061]

the orbital shell barrages are best used with a or ems as it targets stationary targets. its like 50 shots out of the atlas cannon

[@coronacrockford3656]

the stalwart in D tier is a crime!

[@gremlin384]

Agree.

[@speeedspector2662]

WE LOVE DEMOCRACY BOOOOIS

[@pockets8548]

I love the balistic shield but i can agree that in the state it is in now is not good, looking down while holding it clips through your legs, the item interaction bug, and also not seeming to block attacks some times (even tho the attacks are going over the shield or at your sides for the melee attacks but do prevent some of the damage when the attack first makes contact with the shield and block spitters but not too reliant) good thing about the shield is that when not wielding a light weapon it still covers your back, preventing getting shot in the back or at the least reducing the damage and getting less headshots from behind

[@user-wb3ge7gp3x]

So happy this came out on my birthday. I love your videos Macro!

[@davidc.]

If you can't go into level 7 your tierlist is hardly credible brother. Everything is usable in thr lower levels

[@Raveneye2000]

The Stalwart works well as part of a mobile anti-chaff build on bug missions. Helldivers is mainly a team game and you don't necessarily need to have an anti-armor support weapon. Stalwart + Rover laser backpack works a treat to clear out the little guys so your team can focus on the chargers and bio titans.

[@biolumenescentcommie]

Walking orbitals are amazing for taking out the control bunkers on automaton missions you can just toss it in the direction of the base and you dont even need to use a hellbomb or 500 or even get close for that matter, its super slept on.

[@detective_spy]

I can say that anti mat rifle is pretty good for automatons. if you use it exclusively for the mid tier enemies and above, you will almost never run out of ammo. its also very consistent as it will 3 body shot the weird chonky bois that can have a simple arm gun, rockets or shield and the weird walker things that are manned by the small automatons (if you want to kill them from the front). it becomes very good when you get used to the recoil and so can comfortable shoot it somewhat fast, and when you start to consistently kill hulks with the two head shots.

[@Pablud3S]

Isn't that the same as auto cannon but with less boom?

[@detective_spy]

@Pablud3S I think so, but it's easier to shoot over long distances ig with the scope, so you can kill hulks more safely? Plus it doesn't need a backpack to reload so you can have jetpack to get to high places. Tbh I find the anti may rifle fun to use but i would probably find the auto cannon better. I would still probably go back to the anti mat rifle since It's fun to use. Even if auto cannon is better, it doesn't mean both of them aren't good in comparison to everything else, or anti mat is. But I 100% agree that the auto cannon is probably better

[@vitinmokwa8177]

thank you patriot!!!! Your tier list will be so useful for new recruits

[@nathanhiggs8750]

Love the tier list, 1 thing I have to say though, the orbital airburst I think is slept on. It hits 3 times. I usually miss the first burst but then they start walking towards me and I kill 14 in one go. It's the best for crowd control, especially when your swarmed.

[@F20BootyWizard]

Machine gun in D tier Is a CRIME!!!

[@woodstockings6545]

true should had been f tier

[@gremlin384]

Agree.

[@Itzbeenrevoked]

It's trash

[@urchinsify]

People who diss the Machine gun have no clue how to use it 🤣 I would even bring it to level 9 just so everyone else can save their strategems for the big bugs while I clear EVERYTHING ELSE. LITERALLY KILLS EVERYTHING (except chargers and biles)

[@KasomaTendo]

​@@urchinsifygatling better

[@mitchymc_1460]

the orbital ems is great with the new punisher plasma because it allows you to kill chargers by shooting them underneath the head while they're standing still

[@horvathferenc3768]

I enjoyed this tielist and i am a huge fan of macro, but i dont like some of the placement for example the emp stuffs all diver a tiep up cuz of the new silo denfense mission type love ur content, keep it up!

[@thebucket2154]

I have some disarements/elavorations. The stalwart and mg can have a really good dps if you crank the fire rate (hold down R). Also, you can use the expendable anti tanks hellpod as a great orbital strike, that can one shot a charger, and you also don't need to stand still to reload when solo. The arc thrower ignores armour. You can use the autocannon as the grenade launcher, as it is explosive, it can take out bug holes/automaton fabricators. That's all, good video tho.

[@rightnut6270]

With the inclusion of the stun nades, the basic precision strike has easily risen to god tier. Being game to stun anything and then immediately insta kill it is amazing

[@Yottenburgen]

Use both the gatling and machinegun turret to cover corners with a autocannon/rocket/mortar behind them. Turrets take so much agro and having these two defend the stronger but slower turrets is really valuable.

[@silentjohn117]

Expendable antitank, rover, 500kg, anything else as needed. Defense missions: autocannon sentry, expendable, rocket sentry, gatling sentry or EMS mortar.

[@frostysimo1394]

shield gen relay has alot more use than just being a "team shield", i use it as a "grouping of bugs" ability for the bigger strategems to take care of, its also good if you are stealthing around the place trying to get from one side of the mao to the other wothout getting detected

[@kazzookaE]

I’d personally put 500kg bomb over rail cannon strike, because if you have all the eagle upgrades, you get 2 uses, a faster cooldown, splash damage, and the ability to 1 hit bile titans. The only thing worse about it is that it can be somewhat hard to hit chargers, but you should be able to kill them without that anyway.

[@alexpryhoda2403]

You can take out nests and auto factories with the auto cannon too for nests and factoies it just needs to be head on. The plus is it can be done from very far away.

[@iggyzeta9755]

I've never disagreed with a list more, but I appreciate the perspective. It's fresh and critiques the mechanics well. Never seen the Orbital Walking Barrage rated so high and it's good to see Orbital Precision Strike get some appreciation. Your A and S tiers are pretty spot on though

[@EVERYTYME]

I LOVE the Punisher(pump shotgun) with gaurddog rover! The shotgun will stagger medium-sized enemies while the rover DPSs them down! And small enemies get absolutrly mowed down! Its such a good combo

[@planetvaporwave9055]

The Quasar cannon being added btw after this bodies unlimited 1-2 shot ammo thing is cracked but due to the cooldown i feel fairly well balanced

[@gavinb7372]

You did the orbital gas strike so dirty, it's so slept on. It can kill bot fabs as well as hold chokes and wipe out all the little guys so you can focus on the big dudes.

[@johndodo2062]

Rail cannon and eagle cluster bomb are awesome. Orbital laser is really good for nests

[@themadelksta]

before the nerf i used to have a standard "any task" loadout for missions which i didnt know the objective was. it was Railgun, Shield Bag, Orbital Railgun, and Orbital Laser now though i use Orbital Railgun, Orbital Laser, Patriot Exo, and Recoiless Rifle OR Flamethrower (depends on the mood im in)

[@Accelos]

Wanna make a case for 110 rocket pods for automatons, it actually replaces my orbital rail cannon slot in most automaton maps since I use autocannon/railgun for hulks. That leaves the only real threat to me being tanks and if I'm not packing the new stun nades ( or I run out of em) a 110mm rocket pod will consistently one tap both devastator and annihilator tanks, and is better than railcannon in higher difficulties when they start dropping 3-4 tanks on you per flare. You pack two guys with rocketpods you can kill 6 tanks between the two of you before a short 2 minute cooldown, compared to the two tanks on a 5 min cd for railcannons. I know that it's a general use tier list but, just for anyone who didn't know where it's strong.

[@thegunreaper3418]

could you do a tier list on weapons? every other one I've seen makes no sense

[@jbash0824]

On the 110s, I used them all the way up until i got the rail cannon strike. The 110s always one shot tanks if you stick em right on there, which isn't very hard to do with tanks. You also get three of them with a pretty short cooldown before eagle has to rearm. And about the 380s, they're fantastic if you want to clear a heavy base but you really don't want to go through the trouble of blowing up the fabricators yourself. I used them for that all the time.

[@projectTyrasa]

EMS + Any Lethal Stratagem is a really good set up, you can stun problem targets ally-ooping your Teammates into an Easy High priority target elimination

[@h2o848]

i've found the call-in time to be a bit long (skill issue i know), but i think the stun grenades in the new warbond are basically mini EMS strikes

[@projectTyrasa]

@@h2o848 They are granted with a lesser stun effect and no persistence of the Effectiveness Radiu. It's great for snap plays if someone has them though even letting a Solo Operative One-Two Punch big threats like Hulks to easily get behind them. But they also eliminate the ability to use grenades to bust bunkers or nests a Nice alternative Choice for certain and way Easier to Use with expected draw backs it's honestly the only reason I've considered getting the cutting edge warbond being Honest. The sheer utility and Ease of use would definitely make it perfect for Guerilla warfare especially Hit and Run tactics under a panic without needing to worry about the Call in time of a Stratagem.

[@Agent-op4mw]

Hey Macro, I think I found out (but I may be wrong or it may have gotten patched or fixed) but I think the EMS strike practically completely disables Bug Breaches, I haven't done much testing but I would love it to be like... Peer Reviewed or smth?

[@vitotorres1743]

Laser cannon is AMAZING on bot missions: it is infinite ammo on a gun that can kill turrets, tanks, and hulks while also being able to mow down little guys. The best part is the long range so you can deal with threats from afar

[@lukaslee7380]

with the new Shreiker nests, i've found that the laser cannon absolutely shreds them and has enough range to kill it without spawning shriekers

[@Vaderman011]

Autocannon can also destroy bug holes, automaton factories, the spore spewer objective, and the terminate illegal broadcast objective tower. It 3-4 shots tanks weak spots as well as automaton mortars and the large turret towers.

[@Ayto27]

Autocannon is the best support weapon in the game change my mind. This shit legit let’s me solo diff 8 (against bots)

[@SomeAutomaton]

Honestly, ever since they buffed the ballistic shield backpack I’ve been using it on robot missions more than the laser shield, being able to block a shit ton of bullets without losing it.

[@randomcarno11]

The laser cannon is underrated, it’s great for popping bile spewers and can work well for crowd control

[@WilliamAcosta-fs8ct]

It's now April and the new Quasar Cannon came out after this video came out; I just unlocked it and I think it's at least A, if not S Tier. I went from struggling with Chargers and Bile Titans to just dominating them. Yes, it takes 3 seconds to "spin up" and 10 seconds to cool down after each use, but it's upsides more than make up for that. It does massive damage, has essentially unlimited ammo and it doesn't take up a backpack slot so I can still carry the Rover.

[@adrianholder7595]

Since I like solo gameplay, I’d say the jet pack helps in many situations, and the strategems I would use are to deal immediate damage, and maybe add the sniper to the mix

[@kapicziss]

Orbital Gatling is more focused on doing damage over time and stunning bigger enemies. Also when you drop it on bugs that are going in line they will casualy walk in it, orbital airburst is more focused on medium enemies that take a bit more time to kill and it wont stun as much as for example gatling.

[@DismayingHades6]

the main reason i would use 120mm strike is for heavy bug hole areas, but the 380mm feels like it misses those holes more often then the 120mm, and has been working for me still as you rated it, C tier its average 100%

[@pockets8548]

IMO all the stratagems have their purpose but is knowing how to fully use them effectively within a team dynamic and managing cooldowns its not just "oh you want to always bring things to take out heavys" when either you have a drop in weapon for that or a member or 2 with those or orbitals/strikes to deal with them

[@shvex5931]

For me I’m only at challenging so that probably makes a difference but the barrages are so fun for outposts just watching it blow up and it weakens strong big outpost pretty well just my opinion

[@joshfritz5345]

Other than the ballistic shield and the MG sentry, no strategms in HD2 are less than a C tier. Everything else has viable use cases where they really come into their own. The Stalwart and LMG make excellent "primary" weapons, the gas strike kills bug eggs, does decent crowd control and has a quick cooldown, and the HMG turret is excellent at killing large numbers of enemies in a fortified position. Both minefields and the tesla tower are good for crowd control, they can shut down approaches for enemy units. The EMS strike is a good opener for a powerful strike that you want to garuntee a hit with. Immobilize a large group of enemies then hit then with a 500 kg or a precision strike.

[@cwiskus4956]

I was surprised by the nade launcher grate for spewing bugs 2 hits good crowd controll an kills nest

[@fxsantazo]

HMG emplacement is a great help as long as you place it properly. it requires a bit of skill, but it will hold the line, or cover a flank properly. it takes care of the little guys, so the other dudes can take care of the larger ones. i dont expect everyone to understand.

[@aidan9411]

I love the stalwart for its small enemy shreddong capabilities, you just need a friend with something to shred larger stuff and work together Also, automatons can be suppressed and will slow down firing by the orbital barrages, making them perfect replacements for EMS while also getting some kills on the side