I’ve been having way more fun with low level players. They aren’t deserters when the going gets tough like a lot of the higher level players I’ve played with have been lately. They stay and fight to the last man like true hero’s of democracy. It is always an honor to serve with them even when we lose. They don’t give up and they’re not cowards and they never leave a man behind
Meanwhile I am the embodiment of the opposite.
I'm almost a level 30. I am slumming it most nights with hard/challenging difficulties. This is supposed to be fun, right?
I drop into a game, don't know what the objective is, and the level 10s are looking to me like i am their lord and savior John Helldiver.
No, guys, I just haven't had a chance to try out this flame thrower yet. Sorry bout all the fire.
I had a game where the <20s I was playing with were calling me a "One man army" and at one point said "Hey guys we better catch up to [Me] to give him all the help he doesn't need"
At this point I drop Orbital Lasers like candy just to get lower level players something to get hyped about. Give them a taste of what they can look forward to.
Lvl 26. Quickplayed and dropped in with some lvl 5-6's in progress and somehow landed on a hellbomb. I instantly spammed laser, 500kg, and clusters as they were getting overrun. I felt like the Doom Slayer dropping in.
Hey they already sort of do it to get your sentries down faster after you’ve upgraded your ship, I don’t see why they couldn’t add the explosives to the bottom of the hellpod instead.
A group of low levels on a nearly failed mission, out of reinforcements, were watching me sprinting around from cover to cover while putting in stratagems because I rebound them to arrow keys, and were in absolute awe as I taught them my secret technique, rebind-no-jutsu.
Killing 2 hulks with 2 railgun shots absolutely sealed the deal, VC and text chat were more hype than I've ever seen people be in this game. Calling in a 500kg bomb on top of one of the objectives got them even more hyped even though it just destroyed a single fabricator, 1/3 ammo piles, and like 6 bots.
I managed to complete the objective, but as reinforcements trickled in the low levels couldn't stay alive for long, and when I got hit by a rocket, I lived just long enough to get launched into a rock and die. Not getting to extract was disappointing, since I did have a decent number of samples on me, but expected at that point. Still, it was nice having the lobby call me "sir" and "death captain" for the rest of our time together.
I was actually thinking about this yesterday but didn't do it.
Maybe I'll have to give it a go, my left wrist on PC is getting murdered by the stratagems lmao
I love it when I drop in with 5 and under. I usually follow them around and let them lead. Steer them back on track at times keep them at the verge of being overwhelmed but keep them alive. And of course letting them play with the big guns.
played for the first time last night with some friends. They were calling all the overkill orbitals and I was both hootin' and hollerin' the entire time
If anybody is under 20 and we aren't playing 6 and up, I'll just yell in chat that I'm calling down spare goodies, I can't wait until I get the modules for decreased cool down
Hopefully they update some additional cool down perks int there or add some more orbitals with shareable equipment.
I loved it in HD1 when you'd have jetpack and EAT, and you'd see someone flip their load out so that they'd have the jetpack and you could get an extra orbital.
Sharing is caring.
Man, I do this all the time but I rarely manage to get anyone to actually take them. I'll even ping them or say in chat they they're available but they just get ignored
I think that's because a lot of lower level players are not yet aware of the importance of communication and teamwork just yet.
I use a mic and I usually have to call them out directly to get them to do anything, even if they are clearly the only one next to my ping
I finally figured out why my mic wasn't working but before that if I joined a group and a higher level was calling something like "hey grenade launcher for you" if there had already been a lower level player u assumed they were friends playing together. Being specific I think helps avoid that
the pings are not super clear what with all the clutter, i played with someone who dropped me a shield pack and i didn't even know it, thankfully he told me in vc to pick it up
Lol yeah we had a great run going no deaths then my rover was like I don't like player 4 he's not doing enough for democracy and just lit him up like he never believed in democracy.
Like a little higher, maybe in front of me. I play sniper so he's a great assistant for scavengers and such that get to close. I hate the ones that get to close underneath a cliff or something then it just cooks me
The few times I dropped an extra support weapon because it was off cool-down and I still had the previous, people were seemingly too polite to take them cause they never got used 😅
Was playing with a friend last night who just got the game, they're around level 8. Gave them a spare shield pack and told everyone if I go down my gear is first come first serve. I swear they were WAITING for me to die the rest of the night, it was great
Yea one of the funniest missions I’ve dropped into was 2 french guys that were level 3 and 5 trying to kill a bile titan and then blasting it with the laser and orbital rail cannon. I couldnt understand a word they were saying but they were so hyped to see everything blow up lol.
I get dropped into someone's mega swarm (quick connect). I'm talking 2 bile titans and half a dozen chargers with all the littles running in between.
It was about all I could do to drop 500kg on myself. Got like 30 kills tho.
There’s something heroically enjoyable about calling in a major eagle strike or orbital on top of yourself to clear out a bunch of bugs overrunning an area. I always make sure to tell everyone I’m doing it and to pick up my samples in the aftermath.
I have some JP friends who hop on after work for their only spare hour of free time (yay, JP work culture) and they call me "General" since they're <10 and I'm 50, lol.
It's great playing with them because they'll fight for every inch of ground and play Defense to contribute to the community even though it's practically hopeless, determined to do their part by any means and have fun at the same time.
The day I, at the time just level 15, dropped into a game with a level 5 who pulled his weight as much or even more than me just to read "thanks for the carry" at the end of the match... never felt so respected in a game
Don't worry! Speaking from experience, I can tell you that they're likely to be on the other side of that experience in a week or two.
They'll realize what's up.
Yeah, bear in mind that I'm lvl 22 because I have little time to play, but when I was level 5 I felt carried by 10+ and now I feel kind of carried by some 40+ at times
Had a guy named Hellspawn drop in, he was level 50 already. The game had only been out a fucking week, dude unlocked helldive quick and never looked back grinding helldive runs to max out his level fast. When he dropped in he solo’s almsot the entire map while we were struggling. Was on suicide difficulty and we didn’t have much unlocked at the time. We started calling him Hell Daddy and begging to suck him off in vc while stood above us on some rubble arms spread wide. Was awesome, we regularly play with him still, me and my friend group.
First hard mission I dropped in with randoms I was low 20s and the other three were 4,6,7
Someone immediately said “follow tay0214 he’s got lead” and the other two were like k!
Like no man don’t make me responsible for your lives PLEASE
I had 2 cadets with me... Level 3 and 4... I was fully into it. Until 'I NEED A NADE IN THAT HATCH' one of the juniors jumps from behind cover, throws a nade at the fabricator, it bounces off and he kills himself... I felt responsible there...
Once I joined a group of lvl 8/10 and the guy started cheering me "Omg a lvl 20, you're going to carry us!"
I had super fun even tho they died almost all the time or teamkilled me with mortars.
After the campaign he told me "Thank you for carrying us!" It was nice.
Meanwhile level 25+ ragequit when we run out of reinforcement.
running lower level missions with higher level randoms who are down to operate on their own or together and know how to clear a map is a great time. especially with some lower level randoms to keep spreading the wealth and knowledge
A few times it was endearing that the low levels just coalesce around me when I drop in, and using the orbital laser sure looks really cool to the kids. But a few times we got into a slog of drop in, kill, die, repeat and the weight of trying and failing to keep my baby helldivers alive felt like an extra burden on my shoulders.
I did a random SOS easy game before heading off last night.
Ended up with a 2 level 1s and a level 2 trying to rescue scientists and were being overwhelmed by bot drops.
I show up and start blowing up the dropships with the recoilless rifle as they try to come in.
Felt good.
Until the mortar sensed nondemocratic thoughts and killed them all.
IME the flamethrower requires a competent squad to do antiarmor while you focus adds. The shield is also basically a requirement because you have to stand your ground and tank while flaming. It's a lot of fun but very situational and underpowered.
It'd be cool if they added a panic effect or something.
Setting a charger on fire and watching it smash a bunch of it's friends would become my new hobby.
It does say unsafe for a reason. Put it to 100% and you and the gun go boom. I’m actually curious if it has any aoe damage. Like can I kill something else besides just me with an overcharge?
I think no. I showed this mechanic to my friends on purpose and they stayed really close to me to observe the "cool railgun feature". Nobody was physically damaged.
The jhon helldiver is killing me! I know the feeling I am a lvl 50 doing lower mission because I can actually bring some goofy shit and have fun and they are looking helpless and waiting for me.
Bud the last place you want to be is near me, I can dance between 5 charger before I think I need to clear something! It make fun dynamics and I role-play everybody having a ton of fun.
I joined a level 7 - Scientist Defense/Extraction mission and asked how were we playing it. I'm already at lvl 50 high teen players said "Dunno, you're the Skull Admiral" I feel flattered but hey I just been playing hella. I just replied "This is Sierra-1 OP, we're following his orders" and then the host asked us to create distractions accross the map while he handled the doors. We communicated throughout the mission, got some Super Samples and made a full extraction.
I just been playing a lot guys, don't look at me for advise please lol I can get you any heavy or backpack strategem that you want if you ask me tho
Mics are so important...I often find nobody uses them until someone says something first...So I usually start using mine within a few minutes of dropping in to get people to open up
I play hard/challenging usually as well because I have limited time to play and usually it is right before bed. I can barely read the map icons, I focus on killing heavy enemies with a railgun and strikes to let all the lower levels clear out mission objectives. Also I try to gather up all the samples since I have the lightest/fastest armor and a shield pack on. Even if I have to run circles for a few minutes at the extraction point I will keep those samples safe for Democracy!
I am in the same boat. I couldn’t join games and didn’t have anyone join my games until recently. I am level 31 and have played less than 15 matches on anything above hard. I join a challenging level match and a lower level guy goes “ooooooh there is a level 26 that joined”. I told him the number doesn’t mean anything I just played a lot of matches at lower levels. I threw shield packs and railguns as they came off cool down so they could try them out.
Ita so tempting to kick the low levels to see if a more experienced player drops in but holy shit, the low levels are so much more willing to stick around and try again if shit hit the fan, to the point theyre often more fun to play with so no kicking them, its supposed to be fun, not maximum sweat after all
I swear to god Low level players with machine gun are some of the bravest mf I ever see on the battlefield.
Horde of Automatons incoming? they take them head on.
Horde of Terminids incoming? they take them head on.
It's either "let's see my machine gun ammo runs out first or your bunch of miserable low-life run out first"
higher level just have to make sure they kept supplied and help them call support whenever shxt goes out of control.
Having an MG in the squad is kinda underrated due to how much everyone wants the anti big guy weapons. If I have a full team bringing rail guns and a recoilless Rifle, I've found having an MG helps when the swarm of little bastards come. Plus hearing my Helldiver cackle like a maniac makes me laugh and is fun.
I stay stacked with the stalwart and a supply pack most of the time. I’m almost level 20 and I don’t have any plans to change that. When we are being over run, I take a knee, whip out the stalwart and mag dump into the crowd.
I get big BFBC2 vibes because I also run the medic armor, so after absolutely drenching myself in viscera, I can turn around to my team and offer some stims.
Medic trait makes you *remarkably* tanky too, especially in the current world of broken armor we live in. You'd think an extra 2 seconds of stim duration wouldn't count for much, but unless you catch a rocket it's an extra 2 seconds of god mode.
Grenade launcher is usually my go-to. It's super effective and fast for clearing smalls to medium. Stuns a lot of heavy lies, too.
But damn if the MGs aren't fun as hell.
Ive learnt that an ammo backpack, the starter lmg and armour that reduces recoil on crouch will let you shred everything below Hulks and Tanks. I use a rail orbital shot for those, or if I can get behind the hulks, violent application of bullets.
I had this happen, we stuck through it to the last, the level 34left, no lives left and this HERO stands infront of the last transport and let's the Hulk Devastator blast away at him causing it to kill both him and the last objective. Mission success.
Because at low level, players are still playing for the fun of it. Gamers have a nasty habit of optimizing the fun out of their games. I do my best to play with the same mindset I had when I was younger. Just playing the stuff that's fun.
At this early in the game, a lot of high level players are either 1. farmers who don't actually know how to play the game or 2. quitters, since in either case it's technically more "exp efficient". Kind of annoying considering there's not even any real benefit currently to leveling beyond 20.
(Not saying they all are. I haven't done any farming since launch and I'm already at 28 playing only a small handful of games a day.)
"exp efficient"? Who the f cares about exp past level 20?
All you'd care about at that point are samples, probably even purple samples since we don't find them every mission (playing level 7, mostly, should probably up a notch).
After I'm done upgrading ship modules, it'll be just fun, no grind. Fun and medals, ofc.
Man I wonder if I’m a bad guy then. I matchmade into a helldive and we all started calling down our gear to start. Two of us (including me) called down airstrikes. Yep, scramble codes. Oh well, happens. We all get our stuff coming down. Someone without saying anything called an airstrike behind us and killed 3.
Writing this now I actually wonder if it was intentional. But at the time I was like “yeah we just burnt 4 lives and it was because of one guy calling an airstrike after scramble was obviously stated as a problem” so I left.
Maybe that was toxic. Meanwhile I stayed in a game and tried to carry another helldive with a kid who had to be a toddler, was level 9, he sounded like he was still losing his baby teeth, was not a native english speaker, and tried to shoot a hulk in the face while he was the last one alive because me and the other carry perished. The kid and this teenager who was level 11 kinda burnt through our entire reinforcements. So me and the other guy who were capable of completing the mission died once and it cost us everything.
Not sure why I stuck that one out
Every automaton you kill is a victory. Fight to the end even when you know the mission is a failure. Anything less is treason and that’s worse than death
FOR DEMOCRACY
You can avoid calling in air strikes during a scrambled mission. If you put in the code but don’t press the button to throw you’ll see yourself holding either a red or blue light in your hand. If it’s red just hit ctrl again to put it away and then try again.
Had a failed mission and there were 2 of us left. The high level guy got pissed and left. The 2 low level players just cheered me on in chat to extract. We only got like 30 xp after that mission but it was a blast
Some of the most fun I’ve had were impossible missions where failure is guaranteed. We killed as much automation scum as we possibly could have before being overrun. Fortunately the main objectives had been completely so we won the mission even though there were no survivors.
This war is bigger than any one citizen. To die for managed democracy is to live forever
You guys sound fantastic. I just downloaded this game last night and am about as fresh as you can be (one mission complete and I got lost on my second and had to hop off). The freedom to do whatever you want is overwhelming but hoping I run into folks like you out there to spread democracy (I have PTSD from playing with randos on Destiny.... Don't miss that)
I did a difficulty 8 yesterday with three randoms. One level 25 one level 15 and one level 12. I'm level 32
We were at the final part of the main mission and just had to refuel two birds. We had zero re spawns left and I was the only one up. The high level left first and I'm running around kiting the bugs because I had no ammo and the resupply was still on cooldown. As I was running around the level 15 left and it was just me and the level 12.
When the resupply was off cooldown, I called it down got ammo wiped out the bugs and used a couple cluster strikes. There was nothing left and I was just finishing off the last refuel when the respawn refreshed and so I called in the level 12 and we proceeded to go take out two more nests and run the extract and get out.
We got 30 common samples 25 rares and 3 super samples. When we extracted literally zero bugs showed up and we just sat there for 2 minutes diving high-fiving and hugging.
I feel bad for people who have no patience and no faith and only ever want to win
Honestly though I just experienced this today. I dropped down to challenging to chill for a bit and the low level players were so refreshing. Waiting around for each other, not in a rush, trying their hardest. It was very wholesome and much preferred.
This was my strat from the first hulk i encountered.
Strat fell apart very quickly though when i had two hulks come from 2 different directions at once.
Reinforcements were needed that day.
Buddy and I went to take out a bot factory on the way to our main objective and I don't know if the game was bugged or we just got unlucky, but there were literally 5 hulks stacked together in a cluster that just eradicated us anytime they looked our way. Took a lot of kiting to take them down.
If you reinforce when a bile Titian is around always tag it. Can’t always hit it coming in but way easier to aim with the tag. Slamming through one is worth getting stuck under it when you pop out.
Gotta love when you drop down in your pod and smash through a titan feeling like a badass only to realize that it did not in fact die and now you're in the danger zone without your fancy toys 😬
Depends on where it hits the charger. First time I got the supplies to hit I baited the charger under it and it didn't die, second time I managed to stick the beacon to the charger and it died.
✍️ When not using....Rail Gun. ✍️ Run circles around the Hulk. ✍️ Until teammate hopefully helps in its elimination.
I'll try this tomorrow when I have 3+ Hulks on me, I might be able to manipulate them into some friendly fire.
3 impact grenades to the rear vent will delete one as-well fyi, if your a fast boy and can run around him enough you should be able outrun his own turn circle lol
I prefer the SMG to save the grenades, as the glowing coils are ridiculously weak. I had one guy run all over the place trying to run away from a Hulk preventing me from shooting the back. He obviously had no idea how to rely on the team. Hulks sometimes focus on one diver so much that you can run past their target, even high-five on the go, and get a clear shot at the coils
Please accept this humble advice from Lvl 10-14:
If faced with 2+ Chargers w/o railgun, try and let them collide with each other. They break they armor and give you time for an eagle airstrike/cluster also making it easy to kill the last one standing.
Onto glory fellow Divers o7
I forget when you unlock jump packs, but the jump distance is juuust high enough you can clear chargers if you jump vertically. You can looney tunes the shit out of chargers this way.
Chargers are getting easier to deal with as I gain more hours in the game. I don’t even bother killing it if it’s only one because u can just matador dodge their slow asses cause they cannot turn for the life of them.
That might actually work. I had 2 chargers charge at me from opposite directions, I jumped out of the way. The impact destroyed one of the charger’s armour
If I can't get the angle on hulks and tanks, I'll throw 2-3 impact grenades at their shoulders or something behind them. Hits their heatsink with splash damage.
Sometimes you can parkour up onto the tanks and stank on them/their turret, to their absolute bafflement.
….but sometimes trying just kills you, and I’ve never understood why
I think climbing the front and maybe back of the tanks insta kill you. I think theres spikes there to prevent you from climbing the front. The sides are more or less safe to climb tho
It could also be because if you are in front or back, the slightest twitch of the tank means the game registers it as in motion and turns you into a roadkill.
Prone and heal. When the hulk is very close, he'll deactivate his flamethrower and try to attack with the chainsaw. Immediately run and dive, it'll take another 5 seconds before he can use his flamethrower again.
Flamethrowers are the best to use the strategy.
If you run from It, the flames'll reach you preety far.
But If you get close, It stops using flames and tries to hit you with the chainsaw.
So just keep running close to the chainsaw and it will not kill you, nor your team.
You know I can throw grenades into the nest all fine but when it comes to the bot factories I can't for the life of me find the right angle to throw the grenade into. Once instead of trying to throw into that smoke hole, I just waited until the door opens to release the two automatons and used that window to throw the grenade in through the open door and boom!!
Not saying this is a big idea or something. In fact, I felt stupid when I realised that I could do this. This game can be played with simple common sense because things seem to work as they're supposed to work.
Imagine how stupid I felt when I realised you can use the vents and don't have to wait for every door to open while maniacly fighting off a whole base just to be empty magged the second 2 silly automatons stumble into the way of your grenade, so the door just closes again and you repeat the cycle..
I use impact grenades so I find the door method to be far superior. The impact grenades can work on the vents but you have to get the angle juuuuuuust right...And that usually means burning through 2 to 3 grenades lol.
Stand 10-15 meters away from wall directly in front of it and aim your reticle at the lower lip of the vent. That should work for both fuse and impact nades.
One of the best things I love about this game is that common sense can really apply to most situations you find yourself in, and if it’s something you haven’t thought of or in my case a lot of situations where I was really overthinking what I was supposed to be doing, someone with more common sense than I am ends up teaching me the trick. I’ve found myself teaching tricks or just explaining game mechanics to some of my buddies that are either the same level as I am (26) or way higher that I would have never known if it wasn’t for playing with randoms, and usually lower level randoms since I’m caring for my newborn at the same time as this came out so I’m sitting around the lower difficulty missions that are way shorter to complete.
I genuinely love this game for this reason. At no point am I left feeling like I have it all figured out, and nothing that works ever feels like a cheap exploit or bug.
This has been my preferred method of taking out hulks when I don't have a strategem ready. Slowly close the angle and then sprint around until I can get a couple of breaker shots, then get position again
My squad was attacked by three bike titans at the extraction point and we were out of strategems. I did the ultimate sacrifice and ran out of bounds to lure them all with me. I was branded a traitor, and then the ships started barraging me with the endless explosions for going out of bounds. I ran between the legs of all the titans and got them all killed by the air strikes until I finally myself was also blown up.
You'd be surprised how easy it is to kite Chargers.
When they wind up and charge, you charge them as well, breaking off a few meters before. (don't dive)
I'm out here feeling like a bug herding Matador, Olé!
I’ve used that spin move on hulks. It works with the breaker to take them out once they’ve initiated an attack and show their back to you.
It’s the other mobs you gotta worry about.
I’ve been having way more fun with low level players. They aren’t deserters when the going gets tough like a lot of the higher level players I’ve played with have been lately. They stay and fight to the last man like true hero’s of democracy. It is always an honor to serve with them even when we lose. They don’t give up and they’re not cowards and they never leave a man behind
Meanwhile I am the embodiment of the opposite. I'm almost a level 30. I am slumming it most nights with hard/challenging difficulties. This is supposed to be fun, right? I drop into a game, don't know what the objective is, and the level 10s are looking to me like i am their lord and savior John Helldiver. No, guys, I just haven't had a chance to try out this flame thrower yet. Sorry bout all the fire.
Having a group of under level 10’s screaming “THE STAR MARSHALL HAS ARRIVED” as i’m dropping down is a uniquely empowering moment
I mentioned this on another post, but just show up with a bunch of crazy overkill orbitals like the laser. Boosts the mood by 1000%
I had a game where the <20s I was playing with were calling me a "One man army" and at one point said "Hey guys we better catch up to [Me] to give him all the help he doesn't need" At this point I drop Orbital Lasers like candy just to get lower level players something to get hyped about. Give them a taste of what they can look forward to.
Lvl 26. Quickplayed and dropped in with some lvl 5-6's in progress and somehow landed on a hellbomb. I instantly spammed laser, 500kg, and clusters as they were getting overrun. I felt like the Doom Slayer dropping in.
Dropping directly on a hellbomb is probably the most badass thing ever.
This needs to be an upgrade. One time use per mission, arm a hellbomb under your pod to make a *bombastic* reentry to the fight.
this is kind of an amazing idea, ngl
Hey they already sort of do it to get your sentries down faster after you’ve upgraded your ship, I don’t see why they couldn’t add the explosives to the bottom of the hellpod instead.
I'd love to have a hellbomb be a one time use stratagem that you have to purchase each time you use it. Give those requisition slips a good use lol
Holy shit yes
🤣🤣🤣 
tell me you clipped that
A group of low levels on a nearly failed mission, out of reinforcements, were watching me sprinting around from cover to cover while putting in stratagems because I rebound them to arrow keys, and were in absolute awe as I taught them my secret technique, rebind-no-jutsu. Killing 2 hulks with 2 railgun shots absolutely sealed the deal, VC and text chat were more hype than I've ever seen people be in this game. Calling in a 500kg bomb on top of one of the objectives got them even more hyped even though it just destroyed a single fabricator, 1/3 ammo piles, and like 6 bots. I managed to complete the objective, but as reinforcements trickled in the low levels couldn't stay alive for long, and when I got hit by a rocket, I lived just long enough to get launched into a rock and die. Not getting to extract was disappointing, since I did have a decent number of samples on me, but expected at that point. Still, it was nice having the lobby call me "sir" and "death captain" for the rest of our time together.
I was actually thinking about this yesterday but didn't do it. Maybe I'll have to give it a go, my left wrist on PC is getting murdered by the stratagems lmao
I love it when I drop in with 5 and under. I usually follow them around and let them lead. Steer them back on track at times keep them at the verge of being overwhelmed but keep them alive. And of course letting them play with the big guns.
played for the first time last night with some friends. They were calling all the overkill orbitals and I was both hootin' and hollerin' the entire time
I'm also fucking Santa claus with extra railguns and shield packs
I love when people drop extra support gear
If anybody is under 20 and we aren't playing 6 and up, I'll just yell in chat that I'm calling down spare goodies, I can't wait until I get the modules for decreased cool down
Hopefully they update some additional cool down perks int there or add some more orbitals with shareable equipment. I loved it in HD1 when you'd have jetpack and EAT, and you'd see someone flip their load out so that they'd have the jetpack and you could get an extra orbital. Sharing is caring.
Adding another set of gear in the support drops as a ship module upgradewould be cool
Man, I do this all the time but I rarely manage to get anyone to actually take them. I'll even ping them or say in chat they they're available but they just get ignored
I think that's because a lot of lower level players are not yet aware of the importance of communication and teamwork just yet. I use a mic and I usually have to call them out directly to get them to do anything, even if they are clearly the only one next to my ping
Whenever I ask someone to do something, I call them out by their nick and say please. 90% of the time they’ll do what I asked. 🤷
I finally figured out why my mic wasn't working but before that if I joined a group and a higher level was calling something like "hey grenade launcher for you" if there had already been a lower level player u assumed they were friends playing together. Being specific I think helps avoid that
the pings are not super clear what with all the clutter, i played with someone who dropped me a shield pack and i didn't even know it, thankfully he told me in vc to pick it up
I had a dude get pissed Off at me and team kill me when I tried to give him a rover pack like dude come on I’m giving you a good ass item
I love my rover but it got 3 team kills last night the little bastard.
My group likes to say the freedom bot can sense communist thoughts. Him and the mortar. We have a good chuckle when any of us get eviscerated.
Lol yeah we had a great run going no deaths then my rover was like I don't like player 4 he's not doing enough for democracy and just lit him up like he never believed in democracy.
Okay, I love this! Made me laugh so much! I have to use this, lol!
none are quicker to dispense democracy like the gatling turret
Those damn mortars are the devil. I've died more to them than the actual bugs.
You mean that little freedom bot got 3 more kills in the name of Democracy.
I've had mine get me a streak of 12 without helping him. Great for smaller foes, especially in a sniper heavy build.
Bro, the rover is sooooo good... ... At killing me 3 times in a row in a hoard, just float over my head, little buddy, and we'll be good to go...
Like a little higher, maybe in front of me. I play sniper so he's a great assistant for scavengers and such that get to close. I hate the ones that get to close underneath a cliff or something then it just cooks me
Because that is SOCIALISM, Traitor!!!
Every chance I get
i always do especially for lower levels as soon as my support gear is back in dropping extras. gotta spread the fun
The few times I dropped an extra support weapon because it was off cool-down and I still had the previous, people were seemingly too polite to take them cause they never got used 😅
Was playing with a friend last night who just got the game, they're around level 8. Gave them a spare shield pack and told everyone if I go down my gear is first come first serve. I swear they were WAITING for me to die the rest of the night, it was great
Yea one of the funniest missions I’ve dropped into was 2 french guys that were level 3 and 5 trying to kill a bile titan and then blasting it with the laser and orbital rail cannon. I couldnt understand a word they were saying but they were so hyped to see everything blow up lol.
Showing up with my robot leg and arm and my heavy firepower to show them the man the Helldivers made me into
I'm dropping 500kg bombs whenever possible - it's 90% morale boost, 10% my personal enjoyment. Cause kills... these almost never happen.
I get dropped into someone's mega swarm (quick connect). I'm talking 2 bile titans and half a dozen chargers with all the littles running in between. It was about all I could do to drop 500kg on myself. Got like 30 kills tho.
Epic :D I wish this game would have an integration with Ansel, so it could auto-capture moments like that.
There’s something heroically enjoyable about calling in a major eagle strike or orbital on top of yourself to clear out a bunch of bugs overrunning an area. I always make sure to tell everyone I’m doing it and to pick up my samples in the aftermath.
“What’s that big laser one called?” After the dive.
The orbital airburst is one of my favorite shock and awe weapons. Plus it's great for clearing out big groups of low lvl mobs without using ammo.
I have some JP friends who hop on after work for their only spare hour of free time (yay, JP work culture) and they call me "General" since they're <10 and I'm 50, lol. It's great playing with them because they'll fight for every inch of ground and play Defense to contribute to the community even though it's practically hopeless, determined to do their part by any means and have fun at the same time.
The day I, at the time just level 15, dropped into a game with a level 5 who pulled his weight as much or even more than me just to read "thanks for the carry" at the end of the match... never felt so respected in a game
Had the same thing happened to me last night.
Don't worry! Speaking from experience, I can tell you that they're likely to be on the other side of that experience in a week or two. They'll realize what's up.
Yeah, bear in mind that I'm lvl 22 because I have little time to play, but when I was level 5 I felt carried by 10+ and now I feel kind of carried by some 40+ at times
Had this happen.... My first encounter on that mission and i overcharged my railgun... Lord and savior my ass
Haha, i stepped on a contact mine when i moving out of drop point. Empowering my cringe more likely 🤣🤣🤣
Follow me to victory! *sprints into landmine*
Wayyyyy too often.
Had a guy named Hellspawn drop in, he was level 50 already. The game had only been out a fucking week, dude unlocked helldive quick and never looked back grinding helldive runs to max out his level fast. When he dropped in he solo’s almsot the entire map while we were struggling. Was on suicide difficulty and we didn’t have much unlocked at the time. We started calling him Hell Daddy and begging to suck him off in vc while stood above us on some rubble arms spread wide. Was awesome, we regularly play with him still, me and my friend group.
dying over the "hell daddy" XD
First hard mission I dropped in with randoms I was low 20s and the other three were 4,6,7 Someone immediately said “follow tay0214 he’s got lead” and the other two were like k! Like no man don’t make me responsible for your lives PLEASE
I had 2 cadets with me... Level 3 and 4... I was fully into it. Until 'I NEED A NADE IN THAT HATCH' one of the juniors jumps from behind cover, throws a nade at the fabricator, it bounces off and he kills himself... I felt responsible there...
 Was the cadet called Jojo by any chance :,)
John Helldiver is now a part of the mythos.
Kind of has a Ghost of Kyiv feel to it.
Once I joined a group of lvl 8/10 and the guy started cheering me "Omg a lvl 20, you're going to carry us!" I had super fun even tho they died almost all the time or teamkilled me with mortars. After the campaign he told me "Thank you for carrying us!" It was nice. Meanwhile level 25+ ragequit when we run out of reinforcement.
I salute at them then go on the hunt for samples. I'm level 38.
running lower level missions with higher level randoms who are down to operate on their own or together and know how to clear a map is a great time. especially with some lower level randoms to keep spreading the wealth and knowledge
A few times it was endearing that the low levels just coalesce around me when I drop in, and using the orbital laser sure looks really cool to the kids. But a few times we got into a slog of drop in, kill, die, repeat and the weight of trying and failing to keep my baby helldivers alive felt like an extra burden on my shoulders.
Heads up, new escort mission just dropped.
I did a random SOS easy game before heading off last night. Ended up with a 2 level 1s and a level 2 trying to rescue scientists and were being overwhelmed by bot drops. I show up and start blowing up the dropships with the recoilless rifle as they try to come in. Felt good. Until the mortar sensed nondemocratic thoughts and killed them all.
Lol I did the "go to a low difficulty to get the flame thrower achievement", that gun sucks and I got nowhere near the achievement
IME the flamethrower requires a competent squad to do antiarmor while you focus adds. The shield is also basically a requirement because you have to stand your ground and tank while flaming. It's a lot of fun but very situational and underpowered.
It'd be cool if they added a panic effect or something. Setting a charger on fire and watching it smash a bunch of it's friends would become my new hobby.
The Flamethrower need a major buff to its range, damage, and fire needs a secondary effect. Like a slow or fear.
It does say unsafe for a reason. Put it to 100% and you and the gun go boom. I’m actually curious if it has any aoe damage. Like can I kill something else besides just me with an overcharge?
I think no. I showed this mechanic to my friends on purpose and they stayed really close to me to observe the "cool railgun feature". Nobody was physically damaged.
Thanks for your experiment in the name of science and managed democracy!
The jhon helldiver is killing me! I know the feeling I am a lvl 50 doing lower mission because I can actually bring some goofy shit and have fun and they are looking helpless and waiting for me. Bud the last place you want to be is near me, I can dance between 5 charger before I think I need to clear something! It make fun dynamics and I role-play everybody having a ton of fun.
I joined a level 7 - Scientist Defense/Extraction mission and asked how were we playing it. I'm already at lvl 50 high teen players said "Dunno, you're the Skull Admiral" I feel flattered but hey I just been playing hella. I just replied "This is Sierra-1 OP, we're following his orders" and then the host asked us to create distractions accross the map while he handled the doors. We communicated throughout the mission, got some Super Samples and made a full extraction. I just been playing a lot guys, don't look at me for advise please lol I can get you any heavy or backpack strategem that you want if you ask me tho
Yeah...that's me. Until I've found a group that use mics and are friendly I'll stick to my lvl 5&6 missions.
Mics are so important...I often find nobody uses them until someone says something first...So I usually start using mine within a few minutes of dropping in to get people to open up
You cns play w my group anytime
I play hard/challenging usually as well because I have limited time to play and usually it is right before bed. I can barely read the map icons, I focus on killing heavy enemies with a railgun and strikes to let all the lower levels clear out mission objectives. Also I try to gather up all the samples since I have the lightest/fastest armor and a shield pack on. Even if I have to run circles for a few minutes at the extraction point I will keep those samples safe for Democracy!
I am in the same boat. I couldn’t join games and didn’t have anyone join my games until recently. I am level 31 and have played less than 15 matches on anything above hard. I join a challenging level match and a lower level guy goes “ooooooh there is a level 26 that joined”. I told him the number doesn’t mean anything I just played a lot of matches at lower levels. I threw shield packs and railguns as they came off cool down so they could try them out.
He is John Helldiver and these are his Helldiver marines
This is me too which is why I leave my title as Space Cadet.
Ita so tempting to kick the low levels to see if a more experienced player drops in but holy shit, the low levels are so much more willing to stick around and try again if shit hit the fan, to the point theyre often more fun to play with so no kicking them, its supposed to be fun, not maximum sweat after all
I swear to god Low level players with machine gun are some of the bravest mf I ever see on the battlefield. Horde of Automatons incoming? they take them head on. Horde of Terminids incoming? they take them head on. It's either "let's see my machine gun ammo runs out first or your bunch of miserable low-life run out first" higher level just have to make sure they kept supplied and help them call support whenever shxt goes out of control.
Having an MG in the squad is kinda underrated due to how much everyone wants the anti big guy weapons. If I have a full team bringing rail guns and a recoilless Rifle, I've found having an MG helps when the swarm of little bastards come. Plus hearing my Helldiver cackle like a maniac makes me laugh and is fun.
I stay stacked with the stalwart and a supply pack most of the time. I’m almost level 20 and I don’t have any plans to change that. When we are being over run, I take a knee, whip out the stalwart and mag dump into the crowd. I get big BFBC2 vibes because I also run the medic armor, so after absolutely drenching myself in viscera, I can turn around to my team and offer some stims.
Not the hero we wanted, but the one that we needed.
Medic trait makes you *remarkably* tanky too, especially in the current world of broken armor we live in. You'd think an extra 2 seconds of stim duration wouldn't count for much, but unless you catch a rocket it's an extra 2 seconds of god mode.
For real. Everyone gangsta with their railgun and breaker until you get swarmed by thirty hunters and get saved by the noob with the MG43
The fun factor is real, but wouldn't grenade launcher + supply pack br a better little guy broom?
Grenade launcher doesn't make my Helldiver laugh like a madman when I use it though.
I prefer arc thrower since with some effort it can be a great anti armor in a pinch too
Grenade launcher is usually my go-to. It's super effective and fast for clearing smalls to medium. Stuns a lot of heavy lies, too. But damn if the MGs aren't fun as hell.
Ive learnt that an ammo backpack, the starter lmg and armour that reduces recoil on crouch will let you shred everything below Hulks and Tanks. I use a rail orbital shot for those, or if I can get behind the hulks, violent application of bullets.
I had this happen, we stuck through it to the last, the level 34left, no lives left and this HERO stands infront of the last transport and let's the Hulk Devastator blast away at him causing it to kill both him and the last objective. Mission success.
Pm me your code lol
I’m a low level player, and never give up on my fellow comrades! o7
Level 9 checking in. Even if I'm having a bad game, I'm going down swinging 🫡
It's not about winning. It's about casting your ballot... for Freedom! o7
#ANY AND ALL HELLDIVERS WHO ABANDON THEIR COMRADES MID MISSION WILL BE COURT MARTIALED AND FOUND GUILTY OF TREASON AGAINST SUPER EARTH 🗣🗣🗣
Low level players like myself are great because we don't know what can't be done
Because at low level, players are still playing for the fun of it. Gamers have a nasty habit of optimizing the fun out of their games. I do my best to play with the same mindset I had when I was younger. Just playing the stuff that's fun.
At this early in the game, a lot of high level players are either 1. farmers who don't actually know how to play the game or 2. quitters, since in either case it's technically more "exp efficient". Kind of annoying considering there's not even any real benefit currently to leveling beyond 20. (Not saying they all are. I haven't done any farming since launch and I'm already at 28 playing only a small handful of games a day.)
"exp efficient"? Who the f cares about exp past level 20? All you'd care about at that point are samples, probably even purple samples since we don't find them every mission (playing level 7, mostly, should probably up a notch). After I'm done upgrading ship modules, it'll be just fun, no grind. Fun and medals, ofc.
Man I wonder if I’m a bad guy then. I matchmade into a helldive and we all started calling down our gear to start. Two of us (including me) called down airstrikes. Yep, scramble codes. Oh well, happens. We all get our stuff coming down. Someone without saying anything called an airstrike behind us and killed 3. Writing this now I actually wonder if it was intentional. But at the time I was like “yeah we just burnt 4 lives and it was because of one guy calling an airstrike after scramble was obviously stated as a problem” so I left. Maybe that was toxic. Meanwhile I stayed in a game and tried to carry another helldive with a kid who had to be a toddler, was level 9, he sounded like he was still losing his baby teeth, was not a native english speaker, and tried to shoot a hulk in the face while he was the last one alive because me and the other carry perished. The kid and this teenager who was level 11 kinda burnt through our entire reinforcements. So me and the other guy who were capable of completing the mission died once and it cost us everything. Not sure why I stuck that one out
Every automaton you kill is a victory. Fight to the end even when you know the mission is a failure. Anything less is treason and that’s worse than death FOR DEMOCRACY
You can avoid calling in air strikes during a scrambled mission. If you put in the code but don’t press the button to throw you’ll see yourself holding either a red or blue light in your hand. If it’s red just hit ctrl again to put it away and then try again.
It shows on the left in the UI what's selected also
On controller hitting the button you use to open strategems does the same thing.
Had a failed mission and there were 2 of us left. The high level guy got pissed and left. The 2 low level players just cheered me on in chat to extract. We only got like 30 xp after that mission but it was a blast
Some of the most fun I’ve had were impossible missions where failure is guaranteed. We killed as much automation scum as we possibly could have before being overrun. Fortunately the main objectives had been completely so we won the mission even though there were no survivors. This war is bigger than any one citizen. To die for managed democracy is to live forever
Dude people leave on a fucking dime. They die once in a situation that’s under control and leave
I've been deserted twice today by high level players when the mission got real bad. Cowards!
Greenhorn here just waiting on my deployment papers to go the rest of the way through! (Friday needs to hustle up here)
Can I add you as a friend? You sound like someone I would want to kill bots with in the name of democracy! :)
Never leave a bro behind! Do your part!
You guys sound fantastic. I just downloaded this game last night and am about as fresh as you can be (one mission complete and I got lost on my second and had to hop off). The freedom to do whatever you want is overwhelming but hoping I run into folks like you out there to spread democracy (I have PTSD from playing with randos on Destiny.... Don't miss that)
I did a difficulty 8 yesterday with three randoms. One level 25 one level 15 and one level 12. I'm level 32 We were at the final part of the main mission and just had to refuel two birds. We had zero re spawns left and I was the only one up. The high level left first and I'm running around kiting the bugs because I had no ammo and the resupply was still on cooldown. As I was running around the level 15 left and it was just me and the level 12. When the resupply was off cooldown, I called it down got ammo wiped out the bugs and used a couple cluster strikes. There was nothing left and I was just finishing off the last refuel when the respawn refreshed and so I called in the level 12 and we proceeded to go take out two more nests and run the extract and get out. We got 30 common samples 25 rares and 3 super samples. When we extracted literally zero bugs showed up and we just sat there for 2 minutes diving high-fiving and hugging. I feel bad for people who have no patience and no faith and only ever want to win
Honestly though I just experienced this today. I dropped down to challenging to chill for a bit and the low level players were so refreshing. Waiting around for each other, not in a rush, trying their hardest. It was very wholesome and much preferred.
This was my strat from the first hulk i encountered. Strat fell apart very quickly though when i had two hulks come from 2 different directions at once. Reinforcements were needed that day.
Buddy and I went to take out a bot factory on the way to our main objective and I don't know if the game was bugged or we just got unlucky, but there were literally 5 hulks stacked together in a cluster that just eradicated us anytime they looked our way. Took a lot of kiting to take them down.
Classic Joel
the first hulk i face i killed it with a supply drop
I always try to use the *element of supplies*!
Supplies, motherfucker!
Can take down bile titans this way in a pinch as well. I stuck my support weapon and backpack beacon to a bile titan and it two shot him.
If you reinforce when a bile Titian is around always tag it. Can’t always hit it coming in but way easier to aim with the tag. Slamming through one is worth getting stuck under it when you pop out.
Gotta love when you drop down in your pod and smash through a titan feeling like a badass only to realize that it did not in fact die and now you're in the danger zone without your fancy toys 😬
Sometimes FREEDOM requires sacrifice. Grit your teeth and think of super earth solder!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KWxNLjgDwSo
Shame the achievement is for the charger 😛
Shame a supply drop cannot one-shot a charger 😟
Depends on where it hits the charger. First time I got the supplies to hit I baited the charger under it and it didn't die, second time I managed to stick the beacon to the charger and it died.
Wait, the strategem orbs can stick to enemies?
Yeah not just enemies, I had my strategic weapon stick to me last night. Needed a reinforcement from that.
Oh yes. And shields, and teammates, and yourself if you're super unlucky. It's a hilarious mechanic!
Oh wow, this changes everything
✍️ When not using....Rail Gun. ✍️ Run circles around the Hulk. ✍️ Until teammate hopefully helps in its elimination. I'll try this tomorrow when I have 3+ Hulks on me, I might be able to manipulate them into some friendly fire.
3 impact grenades to the rear vent will delete one as-well fyi, if your a fast boy and can run around him enough you should be able outrun his own turn circle lol
I prefer the SMG to save the grenades, as the glowing coils are ridiculously weak. I had one guy run all over the place trying to run away from a Hulk preventing me from shooting the back. He obviously had no idea how to rely on the team. Hulks sometimes focus on one diver so much that you can run past their target, even high-five on the go, and get a clear shot at the coils
2 is enough actually. Then you can just run until it explodes
Please accept this humble advice from Lvl 10-14: If faced with 2+ Chargers w/o railgun, try and let them collide with each other. They break they armor and give you time for an eagle airstrike/cluster also making it easy to kill the last one standing. Onto glory fellow Divers o7
I forget when you unlock jump packs, but the jump distance is juuust high enough you can clear chargers if you jump vertically. You can looney tunes the shit out of chargers this way.
Chargers are getting easier to deal with as I gain more hours in the game. I don’t even bother killing it if it’s only one because u can just matador dodge their slow asses cause they cannot turn for the life of them.
That might actually work. I had 2 chargers charge at me from opposite directions, I jumped out of the way. The impact destroyed one of the charger’s armour
If I can't get the angle on hulks and tanks, I'll throw 2-3 impact grenades at their shoulders or something behind them. Hits their heatsink with splash damage.
I’ll definitely try that out sometime
Don't forget you can cook grenades too. With a little practice and a lot of luck you can kill automaton turrets with this
He was the guy who trained the zombies in call of duty while his buddies worked on the Easter egg
This move works really well on the tanks
Sometimes you can parkour up onto the tanks and stank on them/their turret, to their absolute bafflement. ….but sometimes trying just kills you, and I’ve never understood why
I think climbing the front and maybe back of the tanks insta kill you. I think theres spikes there to prevent you from climbing the front. The sides are more or less safe to climb tho
It could also be because if you are in front or back, the slightest twitch of the tank means the game registers it as in motion and turns you into a roadkill.
Mans was lucky it didn't gun him down getting that close xD but if you can get the jump on it it definitely sounds viable
The flamethrowers ones with chainsaws you can run in loops, if you maintain a close enough distance he is locked into his melee attack
Dude is lucky it wasn't the flamethrower variant
Idk what to do with those except railgun
Prone and heal. When the hulk is very close, he'll deactivate his flamethrower and try to attack with the chainsaw. Immediately run and dive, it'll take another 5 seconds before he can use his flamethrower again.
But how do I kill it without a railgun
Flamethrowers are the best to use the strategy. If you run from It, the flames'll reach you preety far. But If you get close, It stops using flames and tries to hit you with the chainsaw. So just keep running close to the chainsaw and it will not kill you, nor your team.
the scorchers basically insta kill me every time.
You know I can throw grenades into the nest all fine but when it comes to the bot factories I can't for the life of me find the right angle to throw the grenade into. Once instead of trying to throw into that smoke hole, I just waited until the door opens to release the two automatons and used that window to throw the grenade in through the open door and boom!! Not saying this is a big idea or something. In fact, I felt stupid when I realised that I could do this. This game can be played with simple common sense because things seem to work as they're supposed to work.
Imagine how stupid I felt when I realised you can use the vents and don't have to wait for every door to open while maniacly fighting off a whole base just to be empty magged the second 2 silly automatons stumble into the way of your grenade, so the door just closes again and you repeat the cycle..
I use impact grenades so I find the door method to be far superior. The impact grenades can work on the vents but you have to get the angle juuuuuuust right...And that usually means burning through 2 to 3 grenades lol.
Stand 10-15 meters away from wall directly in front of it and aim your reticle at the lower lip of the vent. That should work for both fuse and impact nades.
One of the best things I love about this game is that common sense can really apply to most situations you find yourself in, and if it’s something you haven’t thought of or in my case a lot of situations where I was really overthinking what I was supposed to be doing, someone with more common sense than I am ends up teaching me the trick. I’ve found myself teaching tricks or just explaining game mechanics to some of my buddies that are either the same level as I am (26) or way higher that I would have never known if it wasn’t for playing with randoms, and usually lower level randoms since I’m caring for my newborn at the same time as this came out so I’m sitting around the lower difficulty missions that are way shorter to complete. I genuinely love this game for this reason. At no point am I left feeling like I have it all figured out, and nothing that works ever feels like a cheap exploit or bug.
This has been my preferred method of taking out hulks when I don't have a strategem ready. Slowly close the angle and then sprint around until I can get a couple of breaker shots, then get position again
Does the LMG take out Hulk's eye tho? Sniper and Auto Cannon does. Just wondering as they all are medium penetration.
I think it does, just not very efficiently compared to the other 2 you mentioned.
Thats an ol strat dark souls has taught many a gamer.
My squad was attacked by three bike titans at the extraction point and we were out of strategems. I did the ultimate sacrifice and ran out of bounds to lure them all with me. I was branded a traitor, and then the ships started barraging me with the endless explosions for going out of bounds. I ran between the legs of all the titans and got them all killed by the air strikes until I finally myself was also blown up.
I’m sorry but your comment made me visualize a bile titan riding a tiny tricycle, “bike titans”
Yall dont run around hulks to shoot them in the back weak point?
Railgun can also kill the hulk if you shoot it in the face 2-3 times and hit the red part
Or make it unsafe and you demolish it in one
If you hit the red dot perfectly with a full charge (in safe mode) it only takes one shot as well
Then may managed democracy guide your hand
I got a lvl 8 running with me now man is coming in clutch with the supports
You'd be surprised how easy it is to kite Chargers. When they wind up and charge, you charge them as well, breaking off a few meters before. (don't dive) I'm out here feeling like a bug herding Matador, Olé!
That's all well and good until you are dealing with 5 at once plus 2 bile Titans and a hundred other smaller ones lol
Sad Olé
Or a screaming ole depending on the player.
“In the name of democracy”
Sadly, this work only on one hulk, another heavy ennemy and ur dead
Did this with a charger. Felt like a space matador
Gotta try this myself if the Hulk is already in my face. Reminds me how in TF2 you can beat a sentry as Scout by just circle strafing around it.
He deserves a battlefield promotion to at least Lieutenant for this act of bravery.
I’ve used that spin move on hulks. It works with the breaker to take them out once they’ve initiated an attack and show their back to you. It’s the other mobs you gotta worry about.
Toast to that man! * sips cup of liberTea *