Helldivers 2 - The Ballistic Shield May Be Better Than You Think (Helldive Difficulty, Solo)

The ballistic shield is genuinely a good choice vs automatons, providing a lot of cover for the the constant gunfiring, only leaving you to really worry about the rockets
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
#helldivers #helldivers2 #helldiver

[@_Jay_Maker_]

The shield - a fucking _shield_ - not blocking all melee attacks is absolutely batshit to me.

[@rohan0724]

Against the smaller bugs, it should block some, but those chainsaw dudes honestly stand a good chance of hacking right through it. It’s also good to note that the bugs are build to dig through rocks, and humans, even armored and shielded aren’t rocks. We’re not dwarfs after all

[@mattwing05]

​@rohan0724 then i know who we ought to call. *Rock and stone!*

[@levipaswaters3933]

Should be able to melee with it aswell

[@user-mz6sh4uo7u]

laserdog is best dog, he protects and attacks you just have to treat it like a real ability, like its a third arm, and not just a bot that jus sits and zaps *positioning* controls the bot

[@nopenope8418]

Well, you are getting hit by a machine made for war that is probably ten times stronger and heavier than you, ain't no way you could hold the shield up to that kind of strength. Against the small bugs hitting your knee high, i think it would be justifiable to reduce the damage in an arc in front of the shield, but against the bigger bugs... Yeah ain't no way you can block the attack from a brood commander from overhead with all his bodyweight on it or a charger charge.

[@____ssp5980]

in the first game there was a double barrel shotgun with incindiary rounds - the double freedom. it was one-handed and very fun. I hope it comes back at some point

[@angelcrush3320]

i'm still holding my breath for when the laser swords get to celebrate a comeback

[@Whiteobamas]

Sawed off sidearm would go crazy

[@GreenSans-wn5my]

we all know why you chose that specific armour. the ass factor is dialed up to 100. (literally, spin around and you'll see.)

[@c.wubby.u861]

Hey it’s just…an extra padding…passive 😏

[@CharlesUrban]

It worked in Warframe, and it can work here.

[@dvxAznxvb]

Stellar blade hell diver armor

[@stijnvanlankveld9893]

You've just made 35k people stare at a Helldiver's ass and frankly I don't think this kind of power should be wielded by anyone

[@itsraventm]

This, trench medic, and that new demolitions specialist armor got shock-absorption built in on god

[@Tyrann7]

So I don't know if you already knew this but the shield will block shots if you have it on your back. I like to switch to my support weapon when running away from to many bots to block their fire. Pretty useful, so just in case you didn't know

[@betamine903]

so the shield blocks back shots

[@zssdfounder4607]

If you use the emote you'll place it on your back, and if you tap the stratagem window you will re-equip it if your still holding a 1 handed weapon.

[@Honeybadger5408]

@@betamine903 oh man, but I love back shots 😢

[@me3q]

@@Honeybadger5408 do you want some backshots

[@oldman6916]

But what if I want the back shots😏

[@DacianGradaMusic]

i love this new style of intro with the voiceover! i'm a fan of varied setups like this or maybe even melee in the future, but we need more options for it. The one-handed weapons aren't nearly enough to fully enjoy the shield IMO, so we'll see how it goes in the future!

[@dillis2188]

When the bot turret tower shoots, the red light flashes momentarily - if you dive in that moment, you are able to dodge pretty consistently, allowing you to approach without cover.

[@LegunaB]

24:52 A one handed shotgun does exist. Some revolvers have enough bore diameter to chamber shotgun shells. If you're a Payday 2 player, the Taurus Judge probably sounds familiar. It's a revolver that can chamber .410 shotshells (Really a lot of revolvers that can fire .45 colt could theoretically fire it since it's about the same diameter but those shotshells are pretty long). Not particularly large, especially compared to traditional shotgun shells but it's something and they do exist

[@D1gglesby]

When I run the ballistic shield, I take pretty much the same kit as you, with one exception: the Defender, Grenade Pistol, Stuns, and AMR. Then the last two strats are whatever; usually an Airstrike and a Walking Barrage, but it can really be anything.

[@8-7-styx94]

Ballistic with SMG, sidearm is grenade pistol, grenade of preference Then I go Orbital airburst for bot drops Ob Laser for hulks and then Eagle smoke or Quasar When you take it, it's best to play around the shield as your primary weapon. Use the airburst whenever bots drop and it should take most of them out quickly with it's medium pen. Use the orbital laser for hulks when they decide to come after you, or you can airburst cause it should pen them as well from above. Eagle smokes buy you time while Quasar lets you snipe hulks/tanks. Personal preference here, I use both but that smoke is amazing for a get out of jail free card. Just drop and run like hell. Most of the time it's easy to get away and reposition, or just flat out hide.

[@p0dski]

I'd strongly recommend using ballistics shield, defender, grenade pistol, AMR and stun grenades - the revolver is great but you can pop devastator heads just as well with the defender! I also use a medium armour with fortified. You end up essentially being able to disengage at will since if you hold the AMR, the shield goes on your back (and bots always aim centre mass). Crouching is also your friend, and you can deal with berzerkers with 2 AMR shots to the midsection.

[@svn5510]

Hey, that’s 100% my kit as well! Only difference I use the explosive protection armor (light) to better tank rockets. I use shield, defender smg, grenade pistol (for factories), and stun grenades (makes hulks easy) Other stratagems. AMR for all medium armor up to hulks. One thigh shot kills the small striders, head shots for everything else. Eagle airstrike for factories, objectives, AT-AT and tanks. 110s or precision airstrike for the same. Or sometimes I run ems mortar You can literally kill any bot in the game, move quick, and have surprising durability. The grenade pistol and stun grenade combo compliment each other really well. It’s become my favorite loadout by far.

[@Eight-Bytes]

30:00 - Something that can save your life; whenever this situation happens to you where you get knocked down and low on health. You first instinct after getting back up should be to prone, then stim immediately after. Specifically because of what happens to Takibo afterwards.

[@bilbon1175]

Its my go to build honestly, light armor with explo resist shield and knight smg with a laser cannon for all the little devastors (also shield doesn’t block rockets but seems to reduce the damages taken when hit on the shield

[@Oddy666]

My go to win loadout for bots is autocannon, orbital laser, eagle airstrike, sickle or dominator, grenade pistol, stun grenade, and heavy armor with explosive resistance. Can pick whatever for last stratagem slot but i typically use orbital railcannon for tanks/tank towers that are aggro on me.

[@MW-qt9ts]

Shield does actually protect you SOMEWHAT from rockets. The explosion will hit you but the direct damage from the rocket won't, so the armor that reduces explosion damage will trivialize a lot of the damage. You might still get ragdolled to death by a rocket hulk or a barrage of them from a few devastators, but the shield usually keeps you from getting one tapped by them. Keep in mind though that enough rockets can actually destroy the thing. I've had some weird instances of the shield protecting me from things though. Hulk buzzsaws and flamethrowers, bot arty, ff clusterbombs, it even saved me from getting launched half way across the map by the physics having an issue. Not sure HOW, but I landed with most of my health and the shield broke. I don't think people realize just how janky the shield is, it's amazing. The thing is basically a carried physics object with a collision mesh. You can drop it on the ground and it still 'works'.

[@gangsta_goose]

Your load out here is already really solid. You could try running the grenade pistol, stun grenades, and armor with explosive resistance. Also you could try the HMG instead of the AMR if you want to spice things up.

[@fistan5447]

Ballistic shield is underused becuase we really dont have alot of options to use with a shield. We got SMG which is only usable short range as it loses alot of power at range, and revolver, which is behind Super Credits and not even available in the good warbond. Ive been using it because its as you said, superb against heavy devastators, which are the worst offenders in Automaton side. you only need a support weapon to deal with gunships/hulks/dropships.

[@coleostimie9725]

I recommended it last week 😂 I use this loadout every now and then. I use eagle airstrike and orbital rail cannon and light armor with the extra grenades

[@bluemew6457]

AMR, Ballistic Shield, Defender, and Senator is my usual loadout, and I love the shield. I would like some more variety in options for my primary, though. I wish the exploding crossbow was one handed and could destroy fabricators, as my usual playstyle has me using my Senator much more than my Defender, and the xbow even looks one handed. Having a one handed primary that could destroy fabricators and be used as a distraction would be a great asset to my playstyle, even with its drawbacks. I also wish you could stim without putting the shield away, and I wish you could manually put the shield away without entering the semi-broken state that stimming currently puts you in, because sometimes I want to use my weapon sights at range. I find that stun grenades are the best overall grenade type for this playstyle outside of specific circumstances where smokes or impacts would be superior. Also, the Defender two shots devastators in the head, so I find that using its burst fire mode is very effective at killing them when whipping the big iron out isn’t an option. I use full auto to destroy tanky targets and for crowd control, and I use semi auto for small scale engagements with light units where I want to conserve ammo, or if I want to clear a minefield. Aside from the aforementioned changes to the xbow that I’d love to see, I would also like a silenced or energy based SMG. Oh, I run the stealth armor btw. Rather than a tank, I play like a fast skirmisher and use the shield to cover for my otherwise lackluster survivability.

[@TepidLemonade]

My shield loadout is usually the Defender as my primary and the Redeemer as my secondary. Strategems are Eagle Airstrike, Rocket Pods because they kill tanks in one salvo, and then something else, based off of what the rest of my squad is taking.

[@Fohogoroh]

I think it is a nice problem to have that there is no clear best loadout against the automatons. Makes different builds fun AND viable :) My personal goto for automatons is the sicle, grenade pistol, stun grenades, eagle airstrike, 110mm, railcannon strike and autocannon. Armor depends on my feeling for the day.

[@TecXture]

I only use the ballistic shield build when playing against automatons. There's something so satisfying about walking towards a heavy devastator fo the perfect headshot. Stratagems: Eagle airstrike cuz it's good clear for both units and structures. Then Ballistic shield backpack, obviously. Laser Canon, cuz it can handle tanks, towers, hulks, gunships, and any other automatons. It also helps with side objectives like mortars. And finally a shield generator relay. Short cool down, emergency cover, good with laser canon for enemies with missiles cuz the shield block the missiles while you laser a perfect headshot. Since the shield absorbs the blast, you won't sway so landing headshots is easy. Primary: Defender, despite being the only option, it works well because of the low fire rate. Secondary: Grenade pistol, good for scout striders, fabricators, or anything that you would need a grenade for. Grenade: stun grenade. Combos well with the laser canon. If you see a hulk, just stun it and laser the red eye. Or throw one and reposition to safer cover. The utility is endless. Armor: I personally prefer light armor with explosive resistance or extra padding. But this is easily swappable to your hearts content. And there you go. Something for everything. The only hard time is against factory striders, but hey that's what you're teammates WHO ALWAYS HAVE A QUASAR CANNON are for.

[@nicodecosta3566]

Did anyone notice at 5:15 the anti-air placement follow the eagle with the airstrike? That's a neat detail.

[@Karmicasura]

just to be a bit helpful, you can take out the bot drops the same way you take out the gunships, as long as you destroy the engine before it drops off the bots

[@aznboy123]

It wonder if it's worth trying to use the Dagger with the Ballistics Shield so you can free up the actual Primary slot for something with more utility like the Eruptor or Dominator to take out medium targets. I know this means using the shield less in certain situations but I'm curious if it is viable because you can switch on the shield for protection when needed and still have a stronger weapon than the Defender SMG. I guess it depends if it's worth the trade off of losing a strategem by carrying the shield at all. Another Ballistics Shield loadout that might be worth trying is carrying Stun Grenades and the Laser Cannon with Grenade Pistol. In that case keeping the Defender might be okay.

[@ConspiciousCultist]

Rare AMR gameplay being pulled off extremely well.

[@madkaris7224]

I've a similar setup : Balistic shield, AMR, SMG, Grenade pistol, Ligth armor with engineer stats and stun grenade. Used it in helldive in group play and solo.

[@chrisparky]

How does the grenade pistol go with this build? I've run this load up a few times and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't like not being able to shoot down airdrops. On levels 5 and below, I feel like the build is actually OP !!

[@Hunt8rJob]

At least your character isn't dropping it when getting ragdolled or falling off a small ledge. The improvements on 1st person are much better as well. It's needs to be able to block all melee attacks, even if it comes at the cost of having the shield destructable.

[@jmcclain33]

I lean towards the armor set that provides the explosive resistance in group play and it saves my ass a lot. The few times I’ve played solo I can go either explosive resistance or the med perk.

[@scorpion563]

ok now i need to test the revolver with the green reticle so that I can actually see where it's aiming + test the sheild + defender against bots, that looks pretty good so far

[@DNayte-pp1hy]

With this setup i would bring the stun grenade, the grenade pistol and the armor wich has explosive protection. You can deal easyer with the chainsaw dudes and the hulks.

[@tomc.5704]

Why don't you crouch or prone when making those AMR shots against the hulks? Is giving up movement to make those shots too risky?

[@michaeltsang1748]

It feels so good to crouch walk to a Heavy Devastator and shoot it in the face.

[@brotein7157]

You should try using the auto cannon sentry on bots. I use it in my main load out and it’s amazing for taking out hordes of bots. Catch is you have to be smart with its placement or it gets hit with rockets.

[@Oddy666]

3:48 helldiver schizophrenia is real

[@luckiestluck819]

honestly, the only major issue with the shield isnt even the shield, its the lack of primaries and secondaries to help spice it up, theres to my knowledge 2 one handed primaries, one is locked behind 20$ upgrade and seems kinda mid, and the smg to me is very boring, low rate of fire, pretty inaccurate so it makes hitting the heads on rocket devastators very difficult, and because of the low damage its not worth it to aim for the rocket pods, its fun tho, when running away from bots, i find it to keep me alive better than the shield gen if you put the shield on your back

[@GamerNesto]

Has been my go-to since the fix!

[@drakeabel5948]

I see the struggle is real. Here is what I run. Try it and let me know what you think. Stratagems: AMR Shield pack Orbital rail cannon Orbital laser Primary: sickle Secondary: grenade pistol (for factories) Grenade: stun Lmk what you think.

[@dice_m]

Shield is going on your back when you stim. Not sure if they count it as a glitch, I would certainly prefer if it stayed in your hand.

[@kivo902_]

You mentioned you have a go to loadout for the termanids, what is it?

[@SueBoi3909]

If you’re going in with a team then I suggest bringing the MG43 instead of AMR

[@jaryl13]

As a ballistic shield enjoyer, people tend to forget that they’re using a one handed weapon and can run while blind firing behind them. Berserkers are infinitely kitable with this one little aspect of the build especially with light armor as their run speed matches yours. Just casually run away while blind firing, they’ll never catch you. You can use your shield to protect a teammate by crouching in front of them. If they’re standing, they can fire over you Army of Two style. The shield protects you even when it’s on your back so when you’re running away from a group, swap to your support weapon to have it cover your escape. You can throw grenades and stratagems with it protecting you as they are one handed. Just hold right click and throw. Using a stim will put the shield on your back. After using one, immediately swap to your secondary to put it back in your hand.

[@johnthesuper8022]

This guy does amazing solo runs like , me and a full squad cant even do it this easy looking . BUT i came here for a purpose , takibo , you need to know that eagle rockets 1 shot tanks , and you get 3 uses , so , if you wanna try it ?

[@LexLootHoe]

I prefer the Senator as is, reload and animation cancel creates a steady rate of fire with practice. If you were to pack stun nades, then you need an explosive primary or secondary.

[@alongtimecoming7334]

what was the reason not going for super sample xD?

[@gabhoule]

Your gameplay looks so good. Is it PS5 or PC? I feel even at max settings, PS5 looks somehow better.

[@Legendary_Honey]

He's on PC. I believe he's mentioned that he's on a 4090, so I assume this is all maxed out.

[@FrankMeansTruth]

Turn on laser on smg to help aim fpv

[@Sylith242]

I feel that Takibo is just too good so anything he uses seems ok. When we use it though. Different story.

[@BeepTalford-nu8mm]

Light explo armor with shield is beefy and nimble.

[@nopenope8418]

I think they should really nerf the Senator to be less powerful than a riffle as any handgun should be (aka recoil not ripping the gun out of your hand/breaking your wrist) and it only be a gimmick/antiquity weapons. Revolvers do not really have any justification to exist anymore since semi-automatic pistols can carry the same power and more ammo with extremely reliable actions (not every action type but some are incredibly reliable). Especially in the future where even more reliable actions could be manufactured with futuristic materials and alloys. There is no such thing as a real combat handcannon (more powerful than a regular rifle in joules) and the most powerful pistols or revolvers are not combat-ready pieces that could be readied and fired quickly on instinct in a split second during a life or death situation for more than a shot before readjusting your aim, a 9mm, yes. Now there will always be a niche for revolvers, and that is collectors, heck i own a 1911 simply for the feel of the thing in my hand at the range but, i know this is an antiquated piece of gun technology that can only hold 7 rounds and uses a good but not incredible action. But anyway, that is only my opinion and feel free to agree to disagree and bring arguments about it!

[@PaperMage236]

Explosion resistant medium armor has been a literal lifesaver for me. Have seen a clear improvement in survivability while still having good mobility. Can recommend.

[@BackwardsPancake]

There is also an explosion-resistant light armor, which I would argue is even better - Because most explosive one-shots are headshots anyway, and armor does nothing against headshots. But, that set is superstore-only. P2W smh.

[@LethalOwl]

@BackwardsPancake "Pay to win" my ass. It takes less than a game session to find enough super credits to buy that armor. Don’t have to spend a dime. Just have to play the game and explore the map and suddenly you have more credits than you know what to do with, which is my situation.

[@Jaeger_89]

I hardly use anything other than the Eradicator (light with fortified) for bots. It's wonderful!

[@BackwardsPancake]

@@LethalOwl I was being mostly sarcastic here. The fact that it's the only armor of it's kind does kind of suck though. With most things you have at least some options. (But the whole armor/perk system needs an overhaul anyway - Maybe one day they'll let us customize it some more)

[@LethalOwl]

@@BackwardsPancake Ah, right. Sorry for the somewhat aggressive response, in that case. Yes, I kinda agree there should be a Light armor eventually available with the same perk in maybe a fututre 'free' warbond. But yes, still one of the cheaper armors to get, fortunately.

[@tree4575]

@the_takibo Light armor with fortified perk. Helps you avoid getting annhilated by rocket devs if you get caught out of position Weapons: Defender smg (2 taps devistators to the head, weapon has perfect accuracy for some reason, never use first person) Gernade pistol (kills fabricators and frontaly kills scout striders) Stun gernades (you know why these are good, use liberaly especialy when solo) Anti material rifle (kills hulks, gunships, tanks and striders in a pinch) Offensive Strategems Percision strike: Quick structure kills (detector towers, jammer towers when disables, and anti armor with limited aoe) Eagle airstrike: kills tanks every time, kills hulks most of the time, destroys mortar bases efficently Using percision strike + 2 eagle airstrikes is a garenteed efficent kill on a factory strider Some more notes about defender smg Breakpoints: 2 hits devistators if you tap fire their head 1 hits any infantry bots if you tap fire head You can kill beserkers by not aiming and moving backwards, this isnt fast, but they cannot keep up with you so its safe The factory strider will actualy not shoot you with the miniguns if you have your shield raised Finaly, the alternative fire modes arent useful on the defender because it fires so slowly. Just use it like a dmr that has 45 bullets, it has the same breakpoints for some reason.

[@KTheStruggler]

That is literally the exact build I use. It's also fun with the laser cannon, good for hulks but can vaporize gunships and the gatling guns on the striders disgustingly quick. The laser cannon is becoming one of my favorite support weapons against bots.

[@tree4575]

@@KTheStruggler I've been experimenting with laser cannon and I definetly agree. Its got alot of good utility and sustain.

[@EnergyLawyer]

I'm exactly with you both. Laser cannon may need more time on hulks, but stun nades help there! Laser cannon also blows up rocket devastater's rockets real quick and easy, quickly neutering the biggest annoyance.

[@inrainbows-h2z]

​@@EnergyLawyer Yeah, but the laser only has three uses. I prefer to use it to shred heavy outposts.

[@itsraventm]

@@inrainbows-h2z They aren't talking about the orbital stratagem, they are referring to the support weapon. As for the post, I would probably still prefer the quasar or EAT in a build like this as the defender already covers chaff very well, and you just can't give up the ability to neuter hulks with one shot to the leg. Also with factory striders and gunships it is invaluable to have a quick way of dealing with them. Arc thrower is KING if you have a way of dealing with the XXL threats though.

[@Eight-Bytes]

It's pretty cool, but they need to fix a few things; make first person view not a glitchy ugly mess, add a shield bash melee option, allow players to keep shield up during stim activation. It would also be really nice if it could resist melee attacks up to 50% of the damage or something along those lines. Additionally, there needs to be more 1 handed weapons to pair it with and it would actually be a nice pick. As it is right now, while not terrible, it could really use some more to add variety to it.

[@nopenope8418]

If you've ever wielded an actual ballistic shield, which are much smaller than this one, aint no way you can bash with it other than body-slamming into the shield onto something, which would leave you an unprotected unstable mess about to fall on the floor. These things are extremely heavy.

[@BackwardsPancake]

To be honest, even the current one-handed weapon situation is kind of sad. For primaries, you only have the two SMGs: The Defender is decent but boring, and the Knight is not actually an SMG (It's a worse Stalwart in the primary slot - The one-handed feature on it is pure bait, it only works reasonably when two-handed from prone or crouch) For the sidearms, you pretty much only have the Redeemer and the Grenade Pistol, both of which are workable but have terrible ammo economy. (The Peacemaker is objectively statistically worse than the Redeemer, the Senator is cool but too slow to keep up with the sheer number of enemies at any difficulty above midrange, and the Dagger is unironically the worst weapon in the game)

[@Krauser84]

​@@nopenope8418 While I agree Ballistic Shields are heavy as hell in real life, there's no reason why this wouldn't make sense to put into this game considering anything remotely "realistic" is thrown out of the window. I feel like the devs will eventually buff the ballistic shield more and the suggestions by OP would not only make it more viable but actually fun to use as well.

[@cjwat1118]

@@Krauser84 Case in point, Rainbow Six Siege has you ramming enemies with shield no problem, and that game's meant to be more realistic. Ballistic shields are definitely heavy, exactly why you can do a quick bash with them. No, you might not be able to swing it super easily, but you certainly can ram things with it.

[@CashFlowz16]

How funny would it be if they also gave it a parry, like you just reflect the rockets from a hulk or sum lmao😂😂

[@muzman486]

When I run the Riot shield, I go Quasar, Eagle, and Autocannon Turret, with Stun Grenades and grenade pistol. And I run with Fortified armor to cover explosive dmg and tighten up the Defender aiming. That build will cover all situations. Hulks you stun and Quasar to the face, also shoot down any drop ships. Grenade pistol for factories or Eagle them. The turret just provides cover.

[@fredericosanchez9000]

I have a friend who plays a similar loadout. Instead of the Quasar he runs the Hevy Machine Gun, though. Yeah, I found that weird at first, too. But turns out a stunned hulk can easily be killed by a short burst to the eye with the HMG. I thought the HMG was extremely bad at first. It always seemed worse in every way compared to the Stalwart or the normal Machine Gun, but in this niche, it actually seems pretty good. A mag of 75 rounds suddenly doesn't seem so bad if it means you can kill 5-7 hulks with it.

[@the_takibo]

Ballistic shield; In your opinion, is it 🔥 or 💩 ?

[@erikbell1723]

🔥

[@_Jay_Maker_]

Neither? It's kind of middle of the road. If it could block all types of melee attacks - you know, like the entire point of a shield - then it'd be 🔥immediately.

[@Necrotes_]

I mean, it's good, but also kinda boring at the same time i guess. It uses a backpack slot, only protects against projectiles from the front (or back if not equipped), does nothing against melee (pretty sure at least). It also restricts what kind of primary you can use, which makes sense, but there aren't enough primaries to choose from, so overall meh from me. That's just for my own personal sake though, nothing wrong with it mechanically, it just needs more weapons that are compatible, and maybe some damage reduction from melee attacks (if it's supposed to be useful for the bugs at all, it is a giant piece of metal after all, I feel like it should have some melee defense).

[@joreneikema]

Don you have a schedule for your streams somewhere?

[@BARBARBINKLE]

It’s 💩 anyone saying otherwise is just being contrarian

[@XEONvE]

you - 2 or 3 shot a hulk even when all 3 shot wasnt on the red dot. me - takes 8 shots to kill a hulk with all 8 landing on the red dot.

[@chilllax8358]

I've been rocking the ballistic shield recently and have been thoroughly enjoying it so far. Using heavy explosive resist armor with the HMG as the support has been working well for me. Stun grenades help secure an easy hulk kill as the HMG shreds hulks with a few bursts to the eye and can kill devastators/gunships reliably as well. I bring eagle airstrike for quick factory/tank kills and orbital laser to quick clear side objs & large factories. Love your vids man, keep it up!

[@adamironbender5120]

You can drop gunships with the HMG?!! I can't wait to try this.... you aim for the engines?

[@chilllax8358]

@@adamironbender5120 Hell yeah brother, engine shots are way faster, but you can still dump in their general direction and swat them out the sky. Honestly I find aiming in 3rd person easier by following the tracers

[@PostRook]

Using the terminals with the shield out looked so funny just punching in input with your mind.

[@joreneikema]

Love the content man keep it up you're gonna end up being big. Never used the ballistic shield but you make everything look good😂

[@B4umkuchen]

I hope they add a Laser SMG in the future (HD1 had one). A Laser SMG with infinite ammo would pair really well with the shield. Other than that I used to play my Shield Build with the Lazor Cannon and Stun Grenades. Lazor Canon is like the Swiss Army Knife with infinite ammo for everything involving bots and Stun Grenades really helps to get you out when you get surrounded, they are also really useful to shutdown these pesky Hulks.

[@ConvoBreaker]

The best part of the ballistic shield is that it genuinely helps with explosives! On direct hits, explosives ignore armor rating, but the shield ISN'T a direct hit! Combined with fortified armor, you can survive a canon turrets blast directly as long as you've got the shield between you and the blast. I usually run it with dominator/senator/laser canon. Putting it on your back to focus enemies Infront of you is insanely useful.

[@MrSefiroh]

Thanks! Always enjoy your great runs.

[@goujin454]

I find that the balistic shield is best used with a engineer armor. The engineer armor allows for better accuracy with the defender, which let's you pop the heads easily as long as you crouch. I like medium armor because it gives a bit more breathing room if you are hit even with the shield up. Impact nades will get rid of tanks and striders quickly with the shield still in front of you. Support weapon, the Anti material rifle or the laser canon. I vary between the stun grenades and impact nades. Stun allows to trivialise hulks. When I do get the secondary pistol grenade launcher, I will probably stick to stun grenades and fallback to the pistol grenade launcher for fabricators and scout striders.

[@Z-Tbh]

It would be so cool if there was a ship upgrade or something that would let you dual wield SMGs sacrificing ur pistol and visa versa

[@themelon_1785]

26:00 Balistic shield with HMG can be a strong choice: if you have teammates, which doesnt apply to takibo lol Laser cannon is a really strong pick to go with balistic, so is AMR, both fill the same role of high medium armour pen, just in different ways. Thats generally what you need to pair with the balistic shield. Railgun is also decent, however it's just outclassed by AMR and laser cannon HMG would be the a good option if you have teammates covering your lack of ranged damage, as long as you conserve HMG ammo. And senator is a good secondary choice as your only primary choice is the defender. grenade pistol can also be a decent secondary choice if you bring stun grenades Strategums wise, yea eagle airstrike is the best, as always... Coinsedentally I also just bring percision strike with eagle airstrike, just like the loadout here... 50% explosive dmg reduction is always worth it, more so than +2 stims imo, it covers the shield's weakness against explosives

[@basedSHARK]

I hope they add a shotgun that can be used with the ballistic shield, would be so sick.

[@IliumGaming]

the other passive benefit of the explosive resist armor is what takes it over the top for me, recoil reduction is super nice.

[@c.wubby.u861]

So if used carefully, smoke is very useful against the bots especially for slow devastators and the bruiser hulk. All automatons can only shoot what they see, so smoke and some map effects like blizzards and fog storms, screws up their aim. I’m still experimenting with a loadout of smoke and stun. But using an eruptor shot on smoked devastators is satisfying

[@c.wubby.u861]

The arc thrower can kill targets through smoke also

[@0evedgebah0]

I use Ballistic Shield a lot. Here are my load outs: Explosive or Medical Armor, Light or Heavy depending on mission. Quasar/AMR - SMG - Grenade Pistol - Stun Grenade - Eagle Airstrike - Airburst/Flex Stalwart - Grenade Pistol - Stun Grenade - Rail Cannon - Orbital Laser or 500kg (not a solo build as can't handle Elite spam. Could use EAT-17) Quasar/AMR - Senator - Eruptor - Flex others. Experimenting still, so unsure of other stratagems.

[@pommesschnitzel8673]

fun fact you can tank the miniguns from the factory striders using the ballistic shield

[@florianbielawa2919]

14:20 there is a reason most of the playerbase isnt even touching bot missions even when they are the target of major orders.

[@InakaGames]

The white armor in the super store rotation. "Medium plus" offers explosion resist, recoil reduction, and is +25 armor and only - 25 to stamina and regen. (also looks cool as hell) Use the stamina booster to compensate, and you have all the advantages of heavy and none of the demerits. Eagle air strikes and orbital laser for when overrun or doing bunkers. Eagles for striders. AMR and other gear the same. Great in group and solo. Swap for scorcher and bubble shield/team shield or laser cannon as necessary.

[@25xxfrostxx]

I love the shield with stun grenades (helps a lot with berzerkers), grenade pistol, and Quasar. The bots are more deadly but they are also more predictable in a lot of ways so once you get used to them it's pretty manageable. Now we just need a plasma SMG or something. Armor wise I run either extra grenades or extra stims and whether it's medium or light depends on how I feel about map layout.

[@fiesesalien]

I always use the MP with the shield. It's so insane how inrelevant everything but explosive gets. Because rockets can knock your shield out of your hand. Cannon shots will destroy the shield but you only take a small amount of damage. With heavy armor and explosive protection it makes everything relatively easy going. Yes you're slow but you can laugh while hopping around frolicking and plucking samples from the ground. Sure, kill speed is slower as you have to be a bit more precise with the mp and always have a good support weapon like the anti material rifle but that's a loadout thats very good against automatons. It is INSANE in group play. Nothing gets past you while your group can eliminate everything while you hold aggro. I absolutely adore the shield and I want to be able to carry two and melee the sh*t out of automatons :D Also: Get used to extreme quick weapon swaps because the shield bugs out extremely often. Stay crunchy.

[@idkanymore6897]

i just ran this (with heavy mg instead of AMR) and its a pretty good combo if you want to be the chonky tank (especially if you have heavy fortified armor) but its definitely not the "always pick this" loadout, its fun but not very practical, definitely need more one-handed weapons that arent sidearms

[@itsraventm]

The problem isn't the shield, its the fact that there's only two primaries that can be used with it- and they both fulfill the exact same role. Good guns, but limited. I would kill for a pair of lever action shotguns that are slug and buckshot respectively, just like the slugger/punisher duo. If the senator had a speedloader option I am sure it'd also see more use.

[@GooiYingChyi]

Add some defense against rockets, then I will consider using it. Otherwise it is a waste of programming all the animation and one-handed reloads. I have clocked in 200 hours of gameplay, but yet to see a single player using it.

[@adriancapataz7304]

What is your go to build vs Bugs?

[@timesathousand]

As far as armors go: For securing wins as solo vs bots: Light Stealth Armor. It's boring but very reliable to NOT big dick it Co-op vs bots: Medium/Heavy Explosive Armor. With the number of stray rockets flying around it feels necessary. It also gives decreased recoil when crouch/prone which makes it MUCH more reliable to eye-shot hulks and nail the face of shield-devs.

[@godslayer9000]

ever since the buff I've been running nothing but the shield in bot missions, even in the evacuate missions. here's how I deal with rocket devastators: 1. find out where and how many, whether or not they're shooting you. 2. Prioritize them over any other enemy (except bruiser hulks and gunships) 3. headshot with AMR, or kill them first with any other long range weapon 4. If above is not viable, try the following: Close in the gap, bait rockets (they crouch down right before firing), and dive perpendicular to the rockets. It is important you dive AFTER the rockets have been shot. Now you have an approximately 3-5 second window to headshot them with any weapon of your choice, or seek cover, or call stratagems on them. Repeat these steps as necessary. 8/10 times I've dodged all rockets, and even when I get hit it's a lucky airshot which only slams me on the ground.

[@kitgarchow]

I love the show, but let's please stop with Jimmy. He's not even remotely enjoyable to watch. Whenever he's on I tend to skip. He's just so toxic.

[@Texas1845]

I can't speak for solo play but my go to loadout for bots is: Medium 50% Explosive DR or Medium Extra padding, Sickle, senator (I hardly use it, but it looks cool), stun grenades, and the stratagems are Eagle Airstrike, Orbital precision, Autocannon, and the deployable shield.

[@Throwaway51]

Try out the Medium Armor with extra padding. With the buff to heavy armor its so viable, heavy armor stats with medium armor mobility. Stratagems I used 380mm, Orb laser, eagle airstrike, Quasar. Scorcher Senator and stuns. This what I’m most comfortable with, but at least give the armor and the 380 + laser combo a try, you can literally decimate heavy bases and objectives easily on the hardest difficulties

[@TacticalYeti20]

The glitch where you put away the shield also triggers when using a stim. Explosive resist armor also gives bonus aim so its a solid choice for shield and one handed in general. Also why did you opt for the precision strike as opposed to the orbital railgun for your hulk killer? I really like the Knight for this style of play but not everyone has access to it or likes mag dumping in less than a second lol, plus they see smaller dmg number and automatically think "WORSE!" You are right about stun grenades being the optimal choice for this build, IMO Im hoping the Liberator Patriot is one handed and can bridge the cap between Knight and Defender. The Tanto laser SMG would also be a welcome addition. Shotguns with shield might be super OP and fun, so it'll never be added lol.

[@dizzytricksta8451]

My go-to loadout for bots is Defender / Grenade Pistol / Stun grenade with explosive resist light armor, and the AMR / Ballistic Shield / Eagle Airstrike / Precision Strike. The trick is devastators die with two shots to the face with the Defender so you don't need the Senator to deal with them. With this load out you can quickly deal with every threat other than factory striders, gun ships, and tank towers. You can switch out the AMR for the Laser Canon to get a better match up into gun ships, but it's noticeably less effective against striders.

[@Ifyoucanreadthisgooglebroke]

This thing was made awesome in that patch a month ago that buffed it. Too bad it locks you in to one weapon, even if it is perfectly decent. My issue with it is that I don't like my backpack slot being "down" when I switch to support. This is much more defense, but effectively covers a narrower range. (both literally in a geometry sense and figuratively in a weapon choice sense) As I see it, the decision matrix for the backpack slot against bots is: Offense (aka choose to roll the auto cannon), Flexible Defense (shield), Conditional Defense (ballistic shield). And between the perfectly respectable power of other support weapons not named auto cannon and the desire to be protected when using them, I favor the middle path.

[@fredericosanchez9000]

While I would generally say that Polar Patriots is the worst warbond so far, it is actually very good if you use the ballistic shield. The SMG-72-Pummler is just awesome for that playstile. It is basically like the defender but it staggers enemies so you can prevent them from closing in on you or shooting back. Especially useful against those pesky rocket devestators!

[@Jimbaraya]

HD1 had several 1 handed primaries that they could bring into HD2 - Ninja. Silenced SMG - Tanto. Laser SMG - Double Freedom. 2 shot incendiary sawed-off shotgun

[@GmrDad82]

Similar build though I play heavy with explosive resistance and I like Knight smg from the deluxe.

[@angryman2406]

OUCH.... I felt that last death in my bones. Nice work though!

[@njensen218]

I pair shield with explosive resist armor, stun nades, and the nade pistol. Either AMR or Laser Cannon. Then Rocket Pods for tanks. Crouching improves aim, which can be very critical for those times you need to hit Dev heads, and crouching helps protect more of your body from the front. With the explosive resist armor, you can dank a Rocket Dev hit no problem.

[@spaghettisama]

I pretty much main the shield against bots. Armor of choice is usually heavy with fortified, and then AMR, 500kg and railcannon strike to take care of hulks and tanks. For secondary I take a grenade pistol or senator, and stun grenades compliment the AMR nicely. The laser pistol is also surprisingly versatile.

[@Kyrox2]

I now run the 50% explosion resistance armor with the ballistic shield. It doesn't help with the bug where the rockets delete the shield, but it allows you to survive much longer vs gunships and devastators. Use the SMG to take off the rocket pods and you can then mostly ignore the devastators, if they start to become a problem. I do think the punisher build (punisher, grenade pistol, shield gen, AMR, stun grenades) is the optimal loadout for automatons, though. It still has the stagger and deals with all devastators, berserkers, and scouts with ease.

[@michaelmontesvo]

Shield, Defender, Grenade Pistol, Stun 'nades, and laser cannon support against bots. Alternatively, the ballistic shield actually helps mitigate one of the major issues with the Dagger secondary by allowing you to avoid damage while you aim for weak spots. It's not amazing whatsoever, but having an infinite ammo secondary to take out things like mines all over the place and mop up some of the smaller enemies is actually kinda nice.

[@blakhand6847]

You are a good player but you are using the shield and smg not to its full potential. So here are a few things you might deem worthy to integrate in your next game play. Use the smg to shoot crazy into the little guys even if it’s rocket guys. They all will miss the rockets while you are shooting at them hence negating the shield one draw back. Stand ground and shoot you are a wall. Don’t heal while using the shield mid fight it will bug out and put the shield on the back. Try utilizing run and shoot over shoulder when running from jet pack guys and berserkers. That’s the beauty of using one handed weapons. Bring the armor that uses more grandes. You can swap to throw grenades while the shield is up. Makes short work of devestaors I don’t like the big revolver with shield prefer the Uzi or the new grenade pistol. One is a great secondary and the other one is good against devestators and striders. Shield + smg = aggressive spartan style fighting. Stand ground and take your picks Do not underestimate the smg it’s better than most of the assault rifles and it’s great when combined with the shield. I feel AMR is counter intuitive to the shield and smg play style. I prefer using EAT or grenade launcher to quickly take out threats. But these are just an opinion of one man. Nothing more. 😊 Great job with the content keep it up. 👍

[@rohan0724]

Defender SMG, Grenade Pistol, Shield + Lazer Canon, stun grenades, with Orbital Lazer and 380 HM for emergencies is my typical go to if I want to run the shield

[@StrutZ007]

Noob question! I enjoy the shield but was under the impression the shield generator pack was a straight upgrade? Does the shield still have a place once you've unlocked shield generator pack i.e. pros I'm oblivious to?

[@Damglador]

Its still too bugged. I used it before T-pose bug and it was gread, no doubt (not with my aim, or lack of, but good) with T-pose bug its obviously bad, after there is a bug that stim sends shield on your back and you have to swap weapons to get it back. Without any bugs shield is gread, however I would like to have more one-handed weapons

[@Hartbreak1]

Now this is how my typical Helldivers game goes 😂. I see many people playing helldive difficulty solo with bots and there’s almost no patrols, no reinforcements and they make it look like they’re playing difficulty 4 or less which is never my experience 😂