THE PUNISHER PLASMA IN HELLDIVERS 2 FROM CUTTING EDGE WARBOND NEEDS SOME LOVE

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE PUNISHER PLASMA AND THE OTHER WARBOND WEAPONS?
0:00 - INTRO
0:39 - THE PROBLEMS
3:18 - FACING OFF WITH THE AUTOMATONS
5:08 - FACING OFF WITH THE TERMINID
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[@kingsmanlad4147]

Hot take: this weapon should be capable of dealing with heavily armored targets. Allowing for a viable load out where the LMGs can be used for crowd control

[@jeckstone5060]

This is a great fix. I feel like this might have been there original design. Then the pay to win thing started and the rail gun issue. Right now I feel none of the new war bond weapons are worth using over any other primary. I don’t want them to replace a strategic spot. I just want it to compete with the other primary weapons.

[@c.wubby.u861]

Irl logic: plasma can melt and cut through titanium and most metals My brain: Exploding ball plasma hotter than fire can melt through heavy armor right? Game logic when shooting at hulk or charger: NAAH SON 😝

[@Treyiixi]

Just shoot the plama orbs under the chargers. Let the splash damage hit the underbelly. You will kill it in 8-10 shots. Plasma will not defeat armor but has a damage multiplier on weak/unarmed parts.

[@Treyiixi]

The anti Material rifle kills charges easy shoot at the unarmored leg joints. Laser cannon kills chargers by Focus on one leg and mag dump it kills chargers from heat buildup. Grenade launcher kills chargers bounce grenade rounds under the charger kills in 1 mag. We have to experiment. We are so focused on chasing a meta many players refuse to use these weapons as intended. It's not about point-shoot kill. And KZbin click bait isn't making it any better.

[@Someguy6571]

No primary is ever going to have an anti-tank role. Keep dreaming

[@Zorbis1337]

I've unlocked all warbonds and haven't paid extra, Not close to finishing them though. I don't understand how some people see this as pay to win.

[@afroamasiaca]

It’s a grind medals to win system

[@AHoardyBoi]

Love how you can actually grind for each of the warbonds for only a few hours’ playtime, or less if you’re focused

[@ss_hat]

They don't, it's a rage bait IGN article that took the opinion of one stupid guy and blew it waaaay out of proportion, effectively making a story out of nothing, classic IGN.

[@Battle4theBacon]

@@ss_hatthis ^

[@ghostinthesmoke3267]

I feel like this would have been great IF the plasma grenade was a launcher on the bottom of a normal shotgun.

[@SeudXe]

Yeah I was expecting a plasma scorcher kinda gun except it spreads out but when I saw the trailer I kinda knew I wouldn’t like it that arc seems really annoying to play with. I wanted a plasma shotgun not a weaker grenade launcher that can’t even close bug holes.

[@RoflcopterPunch]

Once enough people can farm at least one warbond's worth of super credits in-game, I'm hoping the developers will give this gun an overhaul. Its firing type has promise, but the power creep potential is high. Would be a joy to see better balanced or with a more unique, dedicated play style!

[@realdoodlehole]

Been loving the new warbond. I use this for terminids and the sickle for bots.

[@mersenniusprime]

I don't think that they're trying to spoil the warbonds. I think they probably just don't do very broad playtesting. This is a game of combinatorics - nine difficulties, 1-4 players, two normal weapon slots, and (typically) four stratagem slots makes this a very complicated game to actually understand, even before you start to get into niche weapon roles and abilities. Weapons and stratagems that seem terrible to one group may seem incredible to another, all dependent on what the rest of the group is bringing. Couple this with how little we, the players, actually know about anything in the game (pages of hidden weapon stats, any information on enemy health and hitboxes, etc.), and it's no surprise that the community is constantly torn on weapons. The punisher plasma feels like a weapon that got lost in this combinatoric soup. Even if all the pro-plasma people are exactly correct in their assessment and it is completely trivial to two-shot chargers within seconds every single time, that still would not be of benefit for me and my group, the way we play. The simple fact that I can't reliably use it to deal with waves of hunter spam makes it unusably bad for me, in the context in which I play. I think it's fine to have niche weapons, but they do have to be careful of weapons that fall too deeply into a niche, to the exclusion of all other positive traits, and we need to be given enough information to more clearly identify those niches.

[@AntoRoberts]

Man I have been absolutely destroying bugs with the arc thrower, switched to this and was left wanting so much more

[@Someguy6571]

Terrible comparison. Arc thrower is a primary. You simply cannot compare the two

[@ernestgibson8792]

im okay with it being underwhelming on release if it means doing more buffs and less nerfs

[@TheVeryHungrySingularity]

plasma weapons look cool though

[@MilkCalf]

I am glad that despite this being a negative video, it is very fair and well researched. I feel a lot of content about this gun, be it positive or negative, tends to be very unrefined.

[@Mr_Big_Head]

I disagree. It usable but not that great versus bugs. Against the bots it’s overall better than the scorcher but there are certain instances that the scorcher out performs. It’s best utility is it one shots striders. Stun locks devastators and you can kill packs of berserkers at a time. The trick is aim for the feet to utilize the aoe dmg. It pairs very well with railgun or antimaterial rifle

[@tone-vz2qo]

I feel your pain bud 😮‍💨🤬 4:56

[@Jumbuck1151]

Try hitting the ground next to them instead of aiming for direct hits. Pair it with the redeemer to deal with close quarters. It's actually one of the better primaries against chargers since you can damage it from any angle.

[@Bishop1664]

I think if they are going for a 'weak warbond weapon' approach then they will quietly buff the weapons up to standard in the future.. Maybe they're just playing it safe to start with and don't want power creep to set in with every new set of weapons, which I can understand tbh. The sickle has pretty much already made the liberator obsolete which is a shame

[@huevote9474]

Liberator was pretty mid anyways, hope it gets a buff of 5 more damage and 10 more bullets in the magazine. Sickle is balanced out by the fact it needs to spool up which is a huge negative when multiple hunters are right on top of you.

[@c.wubby.u861]

I wear 50% explosive restistance when using the plasma weapons, but that being said I agree with most of your take on the plasma punisher, use the scorcher instead.

[@c.wubby.u861]

9:48 why don’t they just have personal orders or major orders that give out 100-200 super credits to alleviate the “problem”? So they can buff these unfortunate low tier weapons? Or gives us new “free” stratagems released alongside the new warbonds that can be a utility to the new primary/secondary weapon?

[@lordgrey5223]

This wouldnt do anything. The people that complain about it being locked behind super credits already dont play the game, otherwise they would know you get plenty from bunkers. It's a made up problem by people that dont even own the game.

[@c.wubby.u861]

@@lordgrey5223Sigh...tis mostly true, hence why i put the "problem" in quations, But something has to be done about the underwhelming performance new warbond weapons every upcoming release

[@SR20FTW]

It has a niche place. I'm not a fan. I dont feel like it can compete with the Sickle or the Scorcher for either Terminid or Automatons.

[@Jan-oe4cc]

I honestly believe that all "explosive" type weapons could use a buff in the explosive part since they barely feel explosive at all, at the moment they don't really feel useful enough to warrant me switching to any of them. :(

[@Sk8RJOSH94]

Would feel better if it had a grenade launcher reticle rather than a dot

[@wharfrat74]

I like it against bugs but need alot more mastery on robots. Breaker Incendiary is 2nd only to new Sickle imo

[@Eruqf]

I like it alot

[@alekruberry2939]

4:55 I know that pain...

[@superc5845]

Kratos coming back for another S-tier weapon review

[@ericmiltner3604]

It is fun in team play. Wouldn't take it on solo

[@nidhoog]

Ok so the problem with buffing this is that the grenade launcher exists. If you buff this and not the launcher, you put the launcher in a useless pile of weapons. You would have to buff both but I dont think the devs want to do that.

[@nidhoog]

@calebheisserer5391 it isnt a direct 1:1 but there are plenty of similarities to each other with the exception of one being a strat. I haven't tried the weapon yet since not enough medals so I cant say how bad this gun is but it looks decent

[@calebheisserer5391]

@@nidhoog that’s true, I personally was not a very big fan I do hope it gets some kind of buff in the future because the design theme is awesome

[@nidhoog]

@@calebheisserer5391 that is true

[@taymanffb]

Seeing some creators saying it's amazing and can 4-5 shot this...I used it again and it still was bad. That def makes me not want to watch those creators, unlike yourself. Thanks for the honesty in each of your videos.

[@method16R]

sometimes i dont understand the reasoning behind certain weapon designs. why it doesnt shot like scorcher? why it have this weird ballistic?

[@StayProteus]

TIP: the size of the AOE for the plasma ball explosion is dependent on the range from the target (or maybe the distance the plasma ball travels but it’s hard to tell), in other words the longer the range the larger the explosion and the larger the explosion the less damage it seems to have. I find it works best if you stay behind your team and lob shots over them like artillery and use the arc thrower for unlimited ammo and large groups or things like brood commanders which are harder to hit with a plasma ball directly and are harder to kill without a direct hit, and then use the SMG pistol as a secondary for hunters that manage to get close and keep it on semi automatic to conserve ammo since hunters only need a few rounds anyway. Personally I generally use the Breaker Spray and Pray or the SG8 Plasma paired with the ARC Thrower and either the laser guard dog or the plasma shield and the orbital laser and the 500kg but I’m thinking about swapping one of the 2 for the 120mm or whatever rocket pods

[@0Vageta0]

Ngl this weapon is close to being good, on a playtest level this seems pretty acceptable for if they were trying to play it safe and buff later. (Literally a bufg of damage, penetration, capacity or accuracy/splash would make the weapon goated) and it honestly isnt that bad with a stalwart EAT setup. (Btw for some fun shenanigans this weapon + a granade laucher is so much dopamine.)

[@SO-if3yn]

The love the Punisher Plasma but the damage needs an increase not the AOE. I already take myself out when trying to run and gun, have to be quick to switch to support.

[@ShadowofProvidence]

Yeah I went back to the scorcher lol.

[@zarfilg]

Agree, there is a youtube clown who put this thing on S tier because he was able to kill a charger in 5 shots after isolating him and with stuns. *eyeroll* This thing is a clunky inconsistent mess and is only good for egg missions. As far as the battle pass - the sickle makes up for all the lack luster guns in the battlepasses, its glorious.

[@Goldendroid]

I think this weapon is best used as part of a chaff clearing MG setup. The MG can mow down medium armoured enemies for the most part, but the plasma can get behind some annoying armour bits like the scout strider etc. Bring an EAT for heavy armour and 2 offensive air strikes/orbital stuff and you got yourself a decent loadout as a dedicated clearance specialist. Or solidify your role even more and take a rover backpack instead of an EAT and focus solely on clearing little dudes. I also believe the devs said something about the blast radius not working as intended. So that will get fixed eventually.

[@ManiacMcCurtis]

I feel like if this weapon could take out hives or fabricators, then it could be a justfiable weapon. In it's current state, it's just not that good.

[@Treyiixi]

Guys shoot the plasma rounds "Under the bugs" Do not use it as a direct impact weapon its not how it is designed. This has become by favorite weapon. It even kills chargers fast.

[@mikeg5914]

Just doesn’t though does it, use an E.A.T for chargers and bile titans then use other weapons and stratagems for crowd control and nests

[@Treyiixi]

@mikeg5914 It does for me. It kills in 7-8 to the underbelly of chargers on T9 and kills most other medium-sized bugs. Try it and let me know. Aim right under the head in-between the mandables . The explosion aoe will hit the underbelly and do high damage.

[@my0866]

This gun is only useful if they buff its damage and magazine or reduce cool downs on strats. Never been a fan of shotguns in any game.

[@philliphart6327]

I think everyone knows it’s not S tier, but when it came out some ppl were saying it was utter trash and it’s not that either. It’s a fun low-A tier gun. Jet pack, EAT, and the plasma are a fun load out. It’s like a mini grenade launcher. Now if you want to talk about a crap gun, that blitzer gun is really, really bad. Maybe 3rd worse in the game.

[@KBC2012_]

It’s really good against chargers I swear

[@jeremymcarthur1930]

I didn't use it extensively as the only positive I could see was the knock back. I noticed he is just shooting the ground around the chargers. Is that even effective? Would it not be better to land it on the body itself?

[@shadow_Wizard627]

​@@jeremymcarthur1930 it only does damage to the back and the blast radius can hit it in the back from the front but it still takes a lot of shots to kill

[@KBC2012_]

@@jeremymcarthur1930 you gotta hit the floor toward the back of the charger, it gives you knock back plus damage. You can kill it in like 5-7 shots with the AOE

[@fredericoeusebio9770]

if this gun needs an ammo buff imagine what the scorcher needs... if the scorcher had double ammo id would want to use any other gun in the game, that aside how the fuck can u people complain about a weapon that has 3x more ammo than the grenade launcher

[@lachskartoffel]

with the nade launcher it doesn't matter if you miss by a meter, everything goes boom. the scorcher is very accurate so the is no real problem to hit every or at least most shots. this thing is very hard to aim and while needing to be somewhat accurate. that's the problem. I feel like if they just increase the mag size and then reduce overall carried mags it would be fine. that way you can whiff some shots but land all the others.

[@kutdownongaming1935]

Like when the charger rush at you move out the way, when it stop stun it, you have time to LAND 2 direct shots in the chargers butt to kill it with plasma shotgun! 2 shots!!!!! I know b/c I posted a clip on TikTok and X showing this. So I know you didn’t try this COMBO or still stuck in a box when it comes to creating loadouts

[@daved.8483]

This game is not pay to win, PERIOD! If you think differently, then you just don't get the game design and intention. The best and most exciting games I've had, are the ones with shenanigans, not the ones I won. I join the game, hoping to find those people whom I can laugh with. Winning? It's a PvE, have fun with your friends. Primiry weapons are not designed to be better than others. They only provide options for the playstyle that you enjoy the most. Some of them might need some adjustments, but overall, they are fine. This weapon is great. However, it has just a learning curve. If you like the GL, you will love this weapon.

[@TMNUYN]

Has its moments, but not amazing

[@rand0mGT]

Definitely punishes you that’s for sure

[@Cosmis5]

It can't even close bug holes or bot factories. It's current setup of 8 rounds is just laughable. If they're going to keep it at 8 rounds, then it needs to absolutely melt anything that's medium armor. Used this piece of shit for 10 minutes and binned it.

[@kutdownongaming1935]

Sir you’re absolutely wrong! That shot gun has to be paired with the right stratagem like guard dog laser or bullet and grenade launcher. This plasma will help clear large groups of trash mobs in combination with the rover. You can 2 shot a charger by pairing it with a stun grenade! charger will stay in place and you can kill it with 2 shots! If you’re running that shot gun alone with a shield generator it’s bad. You have to have the right gear! Light medium armor, guard dog, stun grenade it’s a wrap. Especially with stun grenade you hold them in place and I plasma shot GONE

[@DhiscoStu]

Bless you trying to make it work, but that weapon is a heap of shit :P

[@Someguy6571]

For people that think the plasma shotguns is terrible are liars. This weapon is super good. Can deal with packs or bugs at once and will easily stun lock devestators. Will also destroy scout striders from anywhere in the front. Eve if you drop it on the ground in front of them. If it doesn’t destroy them it will instantly stun them. It also stuns all small and medium bugs. Can also kill chargers. People just need to get good

[@JR-kv6ez]

Hate to be that guy, because you are usually pretty proficient from the content of yours that I have seen but you are quite bad with the punisher plasma. I understand that the weapon requires more finesse and more mechanical skill, but there wasn't a single clip in this video where you were able to display the appropriate mechanical skill needed for the punisher to shine above other options. That said, it does indeed shine above the others when in the right hands.

[@El_zio_Luca]

This weapon is trash, no range no destructive power, it's a perfect team killer only this

[@mikeymishima7167]

It’s the only primary that can take out chargers in one clip you hating on the gun this feels like you had nothing good to say about the gun just all bad

[@TacynMegan]

It is rough I give you that

[@MrJigglebits]

How would it be pay to win if you can earn the war bond by playing the game? I played a mission and got 100SC 1/10of the whole war bond in one mission. Maybe don't make all the war bond weapons OP but there has to be some incentive