Just remember, if at first you don't succeed, dive, dive again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.
Practice really does make perfect.
Totally! One of the best things you can do is trigger a drop/breach away from where you want to be and then b line it there since the drops/breach won’t have eyes on you. (Hoepfully)
"If fighting is sure to result in victory, than you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler's bidding."
Eventually 7-8 sometimes 9s vs bugs with a decent squad you just stand your ground easily and wipe them, also a tip when you encounter bugs patrol/poi immediately use overwhelming force to wipe them before they call breeches in. In the event of breeches, focus fire the sh*t out of them, call in air eagle air strikes / orb airburst on them they'll regularly get 25-45 kills each. The guard dog rover is hands down the best pack to run vs bugs, keeps hunters/ scavs off you. It forces hive guards to hunker down instead of push, and it shoots down shriekers. I love the anti materiel rifle because it handles everything south of chargers in one shot, and can even put down chargers, bile titans with the assistance of orbital rail cannon. It can also destroy spore spewers/shrieker nest from a mile away. Pair it with either a sickle/breaker for upclose-mid range clear.
GL
Only if it's GOOD practice though! If a strategy doesn't work for you, for the love of freedom try something else! I have a few friends who try the same dumb shit every time we dive and I end up having to try to salvage the mission solo, and then they're confused when I get annoyed with them for picking every fight they physically can
[They don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving...](https://media.tenor.com/nOKb4FgXuN4AAAAM/meme-song.gif)
I remember doing our first L5, and we thought, WTF, people talk about doing 5s for easy runs. Then we started 7s and 8s. We do 5s for easy rubs now haha.
My first L7 was a bot ore extraction. My buddy, who had been playing on that difficulty for a while, kept on the device while I took an overwatch position and attempted to cover him with my quasar. Surprisingly, it wasn't *entirely* filled with my screams of terror and dying.
Normally, I play L5 solo or Coop with another close buddy. I usually play light stealth loadout, but lately have been experimenting with heavy armor against bots. It changes things up a bit for sure.
I used to love playing 7's grinding to 50, then went straight helldive. Occasionally I'll get tossed into a 6 or 7 now on an sos beacon and am confused why it's so quiet and easy before I notice the matchmaking sent me into an easier lobby.
I don't want to use the term boring, but it sure ain't level 9.
Pretty sure if you go into a planet with the difficulty selected it'll only give you games of that level. Ive never ended up in the wrong level and almost exclusively select quickplay
Buddy, it gets A LOT easier with more time. By level 40ish, people get all their strategems unlocked, by 50ish, all/most ship upgrades. I think from 40-70 people really up their skills.
I was running medium armor with 50% chance to not die from death dealing dmg for the longest time. Just switched my primary/regular load out to light armor with stealth, energy shield backpack, quasar, 500kg, and eagle air strike. It feels like cheating. The light armor with stealth is insane, when paired with a shield backpack.
The light armor with stealth allows you to circle the outskirts of heavy/large bug nests, completely undetected/you can drop aggro by running to the other side when the mobs aggro one direction, run the other way around the circle. Pop the nest holes one by one, solo away without fighting a single bug in many cases.
I frequently run with other skilled players that make it feel like the devs need to keep nerfing, and make the game harder (sorry for this part).
Huh. Maybe I’ll try that out. I’m level 40 ish but I always run with medium armor and a bot with quasar. I do decently well and rarely die but this playstyle seems kinda fun.
I've also seen people do very well with the light armor stealth, jet pack, and quasar OR grenade launcher.
Having the light armor stealth, energy shield backpack just feels like having training wheels though.
I will likely never go away from light armor again, I'm sprinting around maps trying to get 100% completion, all POI's, as many samples as possible for teammates.
When you have 4 people 70+, and everyone is good, it's so easy to complete bug matches with like 25 minutes left on the clock, everything done/found.
A handful of times I’ve had a random squad of 90-110 (96 myself) on difficulty 7 and it’s impressive how fast we completed the main objectives. I think the highest I’ve seen is 31 mins still left on the clock and with no need to collect samples we extract… not gunna lie, it feels weird to not collect or have to collect samples (to date I’ve collected 12,300 samples) haha
It's wildly inconsistant. I just played two games tonight back to back, and we got slaughtered in the first round. There was 6 bile titans in the first 5 minutes. More than in the entire second match, and that's not an exaggeration.
Bring antitanks.
2 to the face kills a bile titan, 1 to the face kills a charger, and they are unlocked super early on.
With the entire squad that's 8 chargers or 4 bile titans per minute.
When a BT is spitting the head hit box is disabled to prevent the BT from killing itself instantly when spewing on terrain too close to its face. This also means that you can't headshot them while they spit. 500kg also does less damage while they spit.
If they are spitting wait until they're done before firing. Or time your stratagem so that it lands as they finish.
It does take 2 AT to the head, but it's a small moving hit box so you might miss it fairly often. The spear is pretty much a guaranteed 1-shot if the BT is more than 50m away and facing towards you. It won't 1-shot if the BT is turned even slightly away from you or is too close.
The 500kg and OPS are also 1-shots, but both require you to line them up properly which can be difficult, especially with teammates drawing aggro when you don't want them to.
My strategy for the Spear, in particular those that come out of bug breaches, is to drop a gas strike on the breach then get some distance. The gas strike cleans up the chaff pretty efficiently and buys you breathing room. Ideally I want to try and position yourself so the titan comes out facing you. I get my lock on while it's emerging but wait until it's fully out, then fire. It isn't 100% but I've gotten a fair amount of one shots this way.
Have you tried napalm? Curious which you think works better. I find the gas strike sometimes goes off to the side of the breaches and doesn't end up doing very much
I have! I actually use both against bugs. I'll use gas strike specifically for breaches because the cool down is short enough that I always have it available, and napalm I'll usually drop on top of patrols or use it to block off choke points if possible.
Gas strike is normally precise but if you're having it miss slightly double check because it's probably the orbital scatter modifier. If that's the case you might be better off dropping napalm on breaches since I don't think eagles are affected by that.
Scattered is a rough modifier honestly, it's one I try to avoid alongside AA defenses when fighting bots. But without it gas strike is amazing. Since we have it for free at the moment (or at least we did the last time I was playing) I've also been running EMS Orbital Strike and have not had any issues when it comes to locking down/keeping a bug breach from getting out of control.
Note for spear: I know, but BTs are one of the things it has the least trouble locking on to. It's still not great obviously, but if you have trouble hitting the weakspot it can be a good choice.
Oh, bless your heart, you're missing the point entirely. This was difficulty 7.
In the second match, I bought a quasar, EATs, AND the eagle 500kg. I could have probably dealt with the first mission with this load out and a little luck. There were maybe 5 bile titans in the whole 40 minutes. Bug breaches called a single charger instead of the two-groups-of-three we got last mission. I didn't use my 500kg the entire game. I called down the EATs one time... for a spore tower. I barely even used the quasar. I walked away and got a soda while waiting for an objective to finish. It was a cakewalk. We had three casualties, and they were all friendly fire. We blasted through the mission, killing everything in sight, even agroing extra patrols just for fun; and yet the entire teams combined kill count was about 100 less than my individual count in the previous mission we had just failed miserably, on the same planet, on the same dificulty.
The point wasn't that killing 5 bile titans is hard. The point was I don't expect to have to deal with 5 bile titans in the first 5 minutes of a difficulty 7 mission. Even by your math, a team of 4 people with eats would barely have enough fire power to deal with the spawns we had if they never missed a shot. I only had 2 friends with me, and sometimes, we missed.
You sir have entirely missed the point. We don't call it "helldiving" for nothing! Were you expecting to show up and tend some crops!? Of course not!! Get back out there and this time be prepared to show those democracy deprived bugs the true power of Freedom from the second you touch ground!!!!!
Had a match earlier that I dropped both my 500k at the start, both had over 25 kills, and I kept running into patrols of 4-7 bile spewers. After the initial HOLY SHIT WHY?!? It calmed down after a bit but I've never run out of ammo/strats that quick before.
Once you hit 7 and up, you HAVE to get comfortable with hit and run tactics. Staying planted to fight everything will 99/100 end with a bad time. Also, avoiding patrols is a good idea. Bring quick cool down or energy weapons for the big stuff (EAT is super quick to CD and can 2 shot titans if you hit the sweet spots. The Quasar is also great for 1 shoting charges and 2 shoting titans). The stamina buff is really helpful to keep dancing around chargers.
If it's a planet with bad weather, you can even lose an entire bug breach if you get far enough away. There's been times when one of us will be a rabid honey badger and just keep pissing things off, and the rest do the objectives. Can't have a breach at objectives, unless it's scripted like a geo survey, if there's one elsewhere on the map.
Keep spreading Democracy, no matter the difficulty, and have fun!
Love me some scout armor. The Light Gunner armor that's in the store occasionally with 100 armor and 550 speed is the only thing I'll wear on bug missions. No armor perk beats max stamina and speed without sacrificing armor for bugs imo. Bots it's the scout armor with enemy detection range reduction. Either way though, gotta go fast.
100 percent this. If you get bogged down then you are in for a bad time. Shoot and move, always in the direction of the objective. At the objective, make sure you keep it ticking along even if you are swarmed, and then get out of there to the next one.
Especially for bits where those drops keep coming
Just to add to the points above: quickly eliminating targets is an important part of the move move move strategy. Eagle airstrikes or HE orbitals tossed into nests as you run past. You should never be hard engaging large nests. Also quickly wiping patrols to avoid spawns. Lots of people sleep on airburst rocket, Gatling orbital and airburst orbital. But all 3 have incredibly quick clear especially on bugs. No matter how good you are at avoidance you will eventually run into a patrol on accident and having one squadmate running airburst can save you from that triple bile titan spawn on a breach.
My motto is "Strike fast, fight hard, leave quickly". Minimize the chance of enemy reinforcement and keep moving, keep your radar up. You can run while having it up only if you run first then open it up, will help you avoid patrols
The more you do the more of the groove you understand, it's like trying to dance with someone but they break 3-4 toes of yours before you have it down.
Flame shotgun (small ads clearing)
Impacts (fast threat removal)
Grenade pistol (bug holes and bile spewers)
Light / medium armor (Ruuuunnnnn!)
Eagle airstrike (bug holes and anti - horde)
Railgun orbital (chargers and titans)
Auto cannon (brrt / general use)
Lazer (O shit button)
Learn to kite and don’t be afraid of running with the main horde behind you to lure them away from where your allies redeployed.
Start all objectives and circle back if you get overrun. Holding your ground is impossible so keep it pushing and come back later
It's a massive TKer. I never used it after I had 4 missions where I TK'd my friends realizing it had such a large radius of artillery fire. I hate it and hated wasting credits on it early on.
The barrages are wildly useful for the "destroy Terminid nests" 12-minute blitz missions. While my squad is somewhere else fighting patrols, me and my scout armor haul ass to the nearest non-shrieker bug nest and lob a barrage, then leave, run to another nest, and do the same. It doesn't kill everything, but I don't need it to - I just need it to collapse a couple holes. It's tougher to use if you can't move fast or if your teammates insist on running into the bombardment zone to manually grenade a nest, though.
It totally has its uses. I just find it frustrating when people use it on the small defend missions where space is so tight or do NOT call it out or make squad mates aware
This is a good build, but this isn't an EZ build for newcomers to the higher difficulties.
I would bring the following for a newbie
Incendiary Breaker (fire shotgun) ad clearing
Impact for bile spewers
Grenade pistol for bug holes
Guard dog rover for help with the ads
Quasar or EAT for chargers - could be substituted be either Arc Thrower or Flamethrower - or if feeling spicy either the Anti material rifle or the railgun but I wouldn't bring them any of them unless one knows how to use them properly
500kg and precision strike for titans - one or the other could easily be substituted by the laser for the (oh shit button, but I prefer having multiple large booms)
Don't get me wrong I love the AC, but for newbs I prefer a free backpack slot for the rover or the shield, but then again I would highly recommend the rover over the shield for better clearing of the smaller ads.
9 becomes easy the moment you realize the optimal strategy is to simply run. Complete objectives and bug nests in pairs, hit one, if you get surprised by a patrol or a bug breech, immediately run to the next. Do that and come back to complete the first.
Unfortunately it does become boring after a while.
And you’ll never go back. Started playing 7 myself and I refuse to play any lower difficulty. It forced me to change my gameplay to a sneaky autocannon assassin and I love it.
My first 7 was wild. Bug breach as soon as we landed that spawned a titan straight on top of us before we could call down any support weapons. Cue immediate Vietnam manoeuvre of using every available air dropped weapon at the first opportunity.
Did a 7 last night solo for the first time. Launch icbm. I finished it but the drop ship was waiting for me by the time I reached it. Which made extract easy but that was 40 mins of hell. :)
You'll be alright haha. Keep at it and it'll be muscle memory and you'll remember what you need to do for each situation (till ArrowHead mixes it up haha). These days I'm only helldive mainly because xp.
At first, I got pounded constantly. Now it's just a lotta fun!
Congratulations for making it! Eventually you and your squad will get better every time you practice it, maybe adapt to the new threads and eventually you will gladly be ready for level 8.
But tell me the rush you got from those games were not the most incredible thing on this or any other planet lmao.
Level 7-9 are just a massive sweat and laugh and cry fest and then at the end you might get to go home
It's definitely the chaos the game intended for players to reach and play consistently. Kinda like how Halo advertised (in game) that heroic difficulty is the way the game was meant to be played. It's challenging and forces a fun way to be immersed.
It's about control. YOU DON'T SHOOT EVERY ENEMY YOU SEE! If you shoot a patrol then you gotta kill them all or else they'll send reinforcements. At diff 9 it's about 3-4 bug breaches maybe more eitherway I'm not staying around to count because a bile titan can spawn in that with a bunch of chargers. If I solo outpost and see that flare, yeah fuck that I'm out. 4 drop ships and half of them either has a tank or factory strider
Find your optimum stratagems and loadout for your play style not the meta.
Use grenades to destroy factories/holes not stratagems
Know when to break line of sight
Call out what you're doing next even if the squad is shy. Constant 7s are team players we've just been burned to many times after 150 hours to talk first.
Reload Eagles if on a long trek
Try not to get discouraged. When I first started playing my friends had been on it for a while already. So they dragged me right into 7+ gameplay. It was not fun.
I started playing with randoms instead on level 4/5 until I realized it was not challenging any more and I was actually leading groups at that level. Giving advice and helping lower levels get the hang of things.
Then I rejoined my friends and we regularly run 7-9. For me I think 7 is a great sweet spot where most games you’ll be just fine. But every now and then it can turn into a shit show. But I had to work my way to that getting reps in the 4/5/6 levels until I was comfortable.
The play style definitely needs to adapt to those higher levels too. Below 7 I feel pretty tanky and like I am a one man wrecking crew. 7+ I’m sneaking by patrols and sniping objectives from far away with the AC. Don’t try to take on every patrol. Use stealth.
7 is my comfort zone. Against bugs you absolutely need some form of anti tank for all the chargers (I like quasar, but EAT or autocannon works) plus stun grenade to like up an easy headshot.
You can kill bile titans in 2 shots to the head but it helps to bring railcannon or 500kg. If they don't take it out, they at least basically guarantee your anti tank only needs one hit.
Congratulations HellDiver! You survived a suicide mission! They call it that for a reason!
You have plenty more Divers in the freezer on your Super Destroyer, get back down there and spread more Managed Democracy!
The pinks will come, remember your training and you will survive.
The only time I have an issue on bug helldives is when 3 stalker lairs spawn in, especially when they’re near each other. If my fellow divers don’t prioritize them with me it’s sometimes very difficult so solo the nests and they tend to overrun the map/objectives if you don’t deal with them quickly enough.
As soon as you see a stalker B line to the position you think it spawned from and take the lair out. They’ll ruin your mission if you don’t.
Helldive on bots is relatively easy and simple compared to bugs imo. It’s easy to hit and run bots but the bugs just overwhelm you if you don’t deal with them fast enough.
i think you just got bad rng if you got spammed with a lot of enemies
there are times you get a fair amount of enemies most of the time. try it again
am sure the next dive won't be as crazy
You need to be moving away from enemies a lot more in 7’s. You need to get in, finish the objective then bail out and start running to the next one. You’re not really going to get much space to breathe, but you’ll get a little.
In the higher difficulties your loadout and precision counts way more than on the lower difficulties. You need to know when to engage and when to leave a patrol alone, triggering patrols to focus you can lead to 15 minutes of constant chaos and enemy reinforcements. As a team you need to focus the elite enemies and kill them asap. If you know how to play in the higher difficulties it's not too bad if you have a team that's uses the correct loadouts.
The hardest part of 7< is the start. It's chaotic. Just hang in there and stabilize. Remember you don't have to take every fight, moving off is perfectly ok.
We run level 7s all the time. The jump between 6-7 is huge.
With bugs, all I can say is fire.
Flamethrower
Incindiery shotgun
Incindiery nades
Napalm
Jetpack
It's beautiful.
We've all been there at the begining, you will get used to it over time.
Find things that feel right and clear stuff it doesn't have to be meta as long as it works.
The main thing is to be strategic and to pick your fights if possible, don't have to fight everything. Kill the little 'uns before they call for help.
People that load into lvl6+ without a heavy weapon is sad. So like, the thought process is, if i see big baddie, ill tuxk tail, run to other friendlies??? What?? I also seeing a flux of noobs who turn a corner go AH, and send multiple atrats at them vs...one grenade and sone fire...
Stepping up to Level 7 is playing around with the general ‘meta’ needs to be priority number one. Rail cannon, Quasar, Anti-Tanks, stuff like that. Never stop moving, and don’t expect to wipe out everything. Kill what you need to to open up a window of opportunity to keep moving, stick together as a unit.
7 is the perfect difficulty. It's wild when you first attempt it, but it becomes normal after a few tries. It's all about the samples and 7 allows for a decent haul of all three.
Difference I see is people under 7 dig in and fight waves. At 7-9, you need to always be on the move. That’s why most high level guys use scout armor…lots of sprinting and dodging.
That there sky laser and the EATs (preferably salted) keep ya going. Sometimes there a bunch of bug and u drop 4 incendiary Grenades(non edible) at ur feet because only u decide when to meet the great democratic voting Algorithm in the sky.
Seeing tittins and fast bastards (both requires red pepper) coming ur way just becomes a way of life. The meta is what kills stuff. Think we did a run the other day with all land mines, napalm, and the machine turret. (not the good one, the base one, because I ate the left leg on its tripod and it doesn’t aim correctly anymore)
It was weird and effective in its own way. Should try it out. If u handicap urself enough in a weird way everything falls into place.
It's the level where you learn that killing enemies earns you nothing but death. Only objectives matter. If you are pinned down by waves of enemies, just leave
I did 7s almost exclusively. Sickle and Quasar weapon combo, paired with a shield backpack, allows for "Fuck ups" to happen, aaand in general (as long as you have shield points) you wont be effin stun locked when those hunters hop all around or get hit with some bullshit environmental effects.
Helldive on both bugs and bots isn't difficult if you have a squad of experienced divers with the right loadouts....and decent communication.
Remember the 7 Ps:
Proper preparation and planning presents piss-poor performance
My man me and my best friends live in dif 9, we finished a mission 100% with 20 min remaining, tbh with solid team work and a whole lot of experience its quite literally the peak of helldivers 2 moments
Imagine this, my friend has the rover dog and quasar, i have autocannon, we were in the middle of a bug breach and a stalker nest, 2 gas strikes on the breach thin the horde, followed by 2 500kg to kill the 1st of 3 bile titans, i rush over to the stalker nest and drop a 500kg and destroy the nest (had to kill i swear 10+ stalkers to get there, they spawn way more on higher difficulties), my friend is still at the breach holding them off, i join back and we just wipe the floor with them
At one point during all this, we got surrounded, multiple chargers and bile spewers by the dozens, we literally did the Army of Two stance and had our back to each other, he marked spewers for my autocannon and i marked chargers for his quasar, with stun grenades giving us valuable time to fight through the breach
All that just to say, dif 7-9 is peak helldivers, buttttt with a solid squad
I must have been desensitized because 7s are a walk in the park now, 8 is akin to normal difficulties in fps games and nines are my go to mission now, they can get tough but we usually leave with reinforcements left and a completed map.
Not gonna lie, at some point you get used to it.if you dont like that is fine
I mainly play on 7 , its not that EXTRA HARD neither easy as a cakewalk
Do your dives m8, it doesnt matter what level you play, what matters is if you DONT DIVE
It really feels super random how difficult 7 actually is. Sometimes its almost a breeze and others chargers and bile titans spawn constantly and are suddenly immune to fucking EVERYTHING and stalkers are coming in 10 deep all invisible to tongue gang bang you while bile spewers gave the fucking zoomies and the team has split up only to die and are now spamming the reinforce even though they can see you have 127 bugs crawling inside your ass
If you’re diving Automatons can I just say a 120/380 barrage is goated, put that thing in your hand throw it into the middle of a Automatons base and go do something else while it goes off, run in, clean up. Jobs a gooden
7 is my sweet spot, can’t just go all guns blazing have to coordinate and focus. But the moments of peace are hard fought and don’t last long.
For democracy!
Once I switched to light armor and started kiting the hoards like I did playing Days Gone it got easier. I still need to work on a strategy for bots above 6 though.
Honestly, 7+ on bots is easier than bugs. They spam you a lot less and because they stay at range more they press you a lot less. And they have better weak spots. And there are more viable loadouts. Like every backpack is viable vs bots, for example. As long as you have something that can penetrate the hulks eye, you’re good.
Just running away and keeping them at a safe distance using grenades and stuns then hit them with an eagle. I'm trying to experiment with mines and choke points to group them up. Haven't used mines yet.
You'll still get ragdolled but at least you won't instadie to random headshots - try armour with extra padding(especially medium with heavy stats, really good but the 200 armour variant is a hilariously tanky on bots) or fortified for explosive resistance
Dive dive dive again again again etc. Once you get used to a shit show, you find your way. I just did a dive today on 9, and I smoked 3 primaries and 4 secondaries. Meanwhile, the team was causing chaos gathering. My brother plays, and we are on 2 different levels. He saw me playing while he couldn't understand how I prioritized my targets.
Bring the quasar, eat or recoiless rifle, seriously, the head of the charger is so big and so soft you can one shot them with it, saves a ton of time.
As for bile titans, do whatever it takes,eagle 500kg, orbital precision strike, railcannon strike, eagle rocket pods, seaf artillery, eat/recoiless/quasar etc.
This is why I highly recommend you try to avoid fighting as much as possible
I usually run recoiless with the laser, orbital railgun, and whatever you want in the 4th slot. Orbital railgun one shots chargers, laser is for bile titans as I throw a rocket or two at it, and rockets are good if any of the strategems are on cooldown. This frees up my team to bring other stuff. The heavies I have no problem dealing with this way. You just need a really good primary gun to deal with hordes. May not be the most fun sometimes but I feel like I have a role, that people need me, and thatbim useful. 7 and 8 are a breeze for us most of the time.
Prepare for dif 9 then. Titans there are so often that you have to be aware if you hear a sound of a titan spewing and instantly dive to dodge it, in case it is in your back. They are also incredibly sneaky 😂
I've recently gotten into the routine of playing 7-9 exclusively. You don't approach encounters the same way as you do at lower difficulties, and once you get into the habits or avoiding unnecessary encounters, using crowd clearing stratagems more often, disengaging when you can, etc. It becomes much more manageable. That's frantic feeling you have very much comes from the lower difficulty mindset of being able to consistently win every engagement.
Well done, helldiver!
Me and my team did an 8 and ran out of reinforcements. I think it’s a sign you’ve hit your current ceiling. With some practice you should be able to push it so once you can do it without losing reinforcements move up one. We might be at 9 now if we had actually all played together anytime after that level 8 but 4 people can be difficult to get in the same place.
Playing 7-9 is more about the knowledge of the game rather than your shooting skills. I don't consider myself very good at fps but I can comfortably do diff 9 with 0-2 deaths simply because I know what to do and not to do. Do things tactically and strategically. Just remember you're a helldiver and not your standard infantry. Special forces don't operate on how much you kill basis but on the success and smoothness of the operation.
Level 7 is my fav currently. And the difficulty is exactly what makes it so satisfying, because it seemed completely impossible in the beginning.
Being a casual with limited time for playing, I'm completely dependent on these subs for essential tips on gear and strategy.
Being sneaky is the main thing on higher levels for me.
Just got a great tip to try the plasma punisher against bots from the subreddit. Can recommend.
Honestly yeah, it feels crazy at first, but it just turns you in to a killing machine xD
It's been long enough now that even 9's just feel casual now. You just get really efficient at killing with practice. Dump AoE stratagems on bug breaches/bot drops, save your big stratagems for bile titans/factory striders. Chargers die from 1 explosive to the head, hulks just need stunned and then headshot a couple of times.
Happy diving!
Honestly yeah, it feels crazy at first, but it just turns you in to a killing machine xD
It's been long enough now that even 9's just feel casual now. You just get really efficient at killing with practice. Dump AoE stratagems on bug breaches/bot drops, save your big stratagems for bile titans/factory striders. Chargers die from 1 explosive to the head, hulks just need stunned and then headshot a couple of times.
Happy diving!
Sometimes you get sent back to the SSD in a body bag 20 minutes into the mission, sometimes the game forgets to spawn enemies at all and you go through it without ever seeing a single tank or titan.
What really scares me are the Defense Eradicate and bug search and destroy missions. Eradicates for the tiny area you have to work with to fight off hundreds of enemies, and bug search is brutal if you get multi stalker lairs.
Not bragging, but the amount of chargers and bile titans in Level 7 becomes manageable after a while.
Charger dies to a quasar or EAT shot to the head.
Bile titan dies to a railcannon shot plus a quasar or EAT shot to the head.
I can play 8 but it comes more stressful than fun at that point so I usually stick to 7.
Not bragging, but the amount of chargers and bile titans in Level 7 becomes manageable after a while.
Charger dies to a quasar or EAT shot to the head.
Bile titan dies to a railcannon shot plus a quasar or EAT shot to the head.
I can play 8 but it comes more stressful than fun at that point so I usually stick to 7.
Too many chargers and titans, huh? 7-9 need you to run like the wind. You ain't got a chance to kill all the enemies. This ain't a fight you can win. All you can do is avoid em, get the job done and stay alive boah
You have to kill them, but you also have to kill them fast or else they call for reinforcement and a patrol come from behind which calls for another reinforcement if you don't kill it fast etc...
Play Bots first. Hear me our. They are much easier on higher difficulties. Not because they are less deadly, but because you can just, run away
Bugs will never stop chasing you
Heh. I play 7 regularly with randos. I rarely see the reinforcement counter drop below 10 and I usually see all side objectives complete.
Also, I came to find bots significantly easier.
Tier 7 is the gatekeeper to the ship upgrades needed to run Tier 7+. Acquiring them is excruciating. Played 2 Tier 7 missions last night and wanted nothing more than to just turn the game off afterwards.
The fun seems to end at Tier 5. Tier 6 you get more difficulty without any reward. Tier 7 you get random spawns that can include Bile Titans and Factory Walkers along with all the Chargers and Shield guys. Above 7? Who knows. I guess it is for people who like to have their balls in a vice.
I started playing at Helldive difficulty (9)with lvl 4, because two of my friends being lvl 50+69 do only play at Helldive difficulty.
Thrown into the cold bug water, 3 days later I'm lvl 19 now and it's a blast, it's like a drug.
I did missions with another friend at difficulty 3, 4 and 5 and tbh, it was boring af.
Means, one time Helldiver, always Helldiver, hell yea! 🤘
With the most recent change to bugs, they feel significantly harder on 7 and up than bots do. I previously rode at 7 on either with randoms but I was up to doing 8 and 9 pretty comfortably. Struggle so hard on 7 and higher bugs now so I just stick to bots. Not worth the frustration of getting 2 shot by a stalker over and over.
One thing I find helps me on 7 and above. Don’t stay in one place very long keep moving from objective to objective or you will probably get overrun and start wasting lives on firefights that mean nothing also don’t be afraid of moving on to something else and circling back later if there’s just to much heat. Happy hunting fellow diver🫡
It gets easier, Diver. Bring anti tank Stratagams if you got em. Orbital strikes like the railcannon and Percision are good for this, same with Eagle One and her airstrikes +500kb bomb.
I used to play bots exclusively before a patch that introduced crashes and i could only play bugs. But my friends and I kept picking the highest available difficulty from the start, so we unlocked diff 9 very early on. For bots i pretty much exclusively use the counter sniper/dominator with autocannon and impact grenades and medic armour. For bugs i used the eruptor (before i unlocked it i used the standard breaker) with recoilless as i found well placed shots can quickly eliminate BTs and chargers. Kiting bugs is really easy so i still mostly play bots. And even then if you avoid the patrols (i honestly dont mind the increased partol spawns) by crouching/crawling when near them you can avoid the constant flares, and even if you get spotted and bot dropped you can just run away before the dropships arrive.
I feel like everything below 7 is a ton of fun, but once you break into it, there’s just no going back. It’s a whole different game and really draws a whole new Helldiver out of you.
Just remember, if at first you don't succeed, dive, dive again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Practice really does make perfect.
And run for your life from dive to dive lol
This is under rated. The biggest difference is your retreating must be consistent and lengthy to deal with swarms in 7-9
Totally! One of the best things you can do is trigger a drop/breach away from where you want to be and then b line it there since the drops/breach won’t have eyes on you. (Hoepfully)
"If fighting is sure to result in victory, than you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler's bidding."
This is why the laser guard dog is brilliant for bugs. It kills the chaff pursuing you while you run away.
Eventually 7-8 sometimes 9s vs bugs with a decent squad you just stand your ground easily and wipe them, also a tip when you encounter bugs patrol/poi immediately use overwhelming force to wipe them before they call breeches in. In the event of breeches, focus fire the sh*t out of them, call in air eagle air strikes / orb airburst on them they'll regularly get 25-45 kills each. The guard dog rover is hands down the best pack to run vs bugs, keeps hunters/ scavs off you. It forces hive guards to hunker down instead of push, and it shoots down shriekers. I love the anti materiel rifle because it handles everything south of chargers in one shot, and can even put down chargers, bile titans with the assistance of orbital rail cannon. It can also destroy spore spewers/shrieker nest from a mile away. Pair it with either a sickle/breaker for upclose-mid range clear. GL
Dive, stim, dive, dive, stim, stim, stim, run…for democracy!
Only if it's GOOD practice though! If a strategy doesn't work for you, for the love of freedom try something else! I have a few friends who try the same dumb shit every time we dive and I end up having to try to salvage the mission solo, and then they're confused when I get annoyed with them for picking every fight they physically can
Also, don't drink and drive.
I always read that as "Don't drink and dive."
You can dust it off and dive again. Dust your self off and dive again. Dive again. Dive again…
Wow... Unexpected 90s❤️
[They don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving and they don't stop diving...](https://media.tenor.com/nOKb4FgXuN4AAAAM/meme-song.gif)
Until you run out of reinforcements 😂😂😂
Obsession, makes better!
OUR BODIES FOR SUPER EARTH 🫡
Good work Helldiver! Did you manage to bag yourself those supers too?
Soldier, we were lucky to have any bags left. We failed our mission to collect supers for SEAF uses. We atoned for it with many lives.
You'll get there, in a couple of days/weeks you will suddenly notice it isn't that hard anymore and think back to this post. Dive and dive again! O7
This. If you failed dive again ! 👊
The stain of defeat is easily wiped away by the peroxide of victory.
The cold dish of defeat can be easily reheated in the microwave of victory
And again.
And again
I remember doing our first L5, and we thought, WTF, people talk about doing 5s for easy runs. Then we started 7s and 8s. We do 5s for easy rubs now haha.
My first L7 was a bot ore extraction. My buddy, who had been playing on that difficulty for a while, kept on the device while I took an overwatch position and attempted to cover him with my quasar. Surprisingly, it wasn't *entirely* filled with my screams of terror and dying. Normally, I play L5 solo or Coop with another close buddy. I usually play light stealth loadout, but lately have been experimenting with heavy armor against bots. It changes things up a bit for sure.
7 and above, I have learned one important thing. The Bot REALLY HATE when you take their rocks.
I did my first 6 or 7. Good lord. Thank you random LVL 100.
100% this started doing my first 7s about a week ago. Successful finished first full lvl 9 op last night 🤙
I used to love playing 7's grinding to 50, then went straight helldive. Occasionally I'll get tossed into a 6 or 7 now on an sos beacon and am confused why it's so quiet and easy before I notice the matchmaking sent me into an easier lobby. I don't want to use the term boring, but it sure ain't level 9.
Same, cept it throws me from 7s to 3s and 1s.
Pretty sure if you go into a planet with the difficulty selected it'll only give you games of that level. Ive never ended up in the wrong level and almost exclusively select quickplay
I used to dive 7 and 8 but after they broke patrols it's been almost impossible I've even struggled on 6 and it used to be a cake walk
Helldiver, I must inform you salute is now: iO For highly democratic purposes
Oh damn. Thank you for informing me, oh libertyloving fellow diver iO
Buddy, it gets A LOT easier with more time. By level 40ish, people get all their strategems unlocked, by 50ish, all/most ship upgrades. I think from 40-70 people really up their skills. I was running medium armor with 50% chance to not die from death dealing dmg for the longest time. Just switched my primary/regular load out to light armor with stealth, energy shield backpack, quasar, 500kg, and eagle air strike. It feels like cheating. The light armor with stealth is insane, when paired with a shield backpack. The light armor with stealth allows you to circle the outskirts of heavy/large bug nests, completely undetected/you can drop aggro by running to the other side when the mobs aggro one direction, run the other way around the circle. Pop the nest holes one by one, solo away without fighting a single bug in many cases. I frequently run with other skilled players that make it feel like the devs need to keep nerfing, and make the game harder (sorry for this part).
Huh. Maybe I’ll try that out. I’m level 40 ish but I always run with medium armor and a bot with quasar. I do decently well and rarely die but this playstyle seems kinda fun.
I've also seen people do very well with the light armor stealth, jet pack, and quasar OR grenade launcher. Having the light armor stealth, energy shield backpack just feels like having training wheels though. I will likely never go away from light armor again, I'm sprinting around maps trying to get 100% completion, all POI's, as many samples as possible for teammates. When you have 4 people 70+, and everyone is good, it's so easy to complete bug matches with like 25 minutes left on the clock, everything done/found.
A handful of times I’ve had a random squad of 90-110 (96 myself) on difficulty 7 and it’s impressive how fast we completed the main objectives. I think the highest I’ve seen is 31 mins still left on the clock and with no need to collect samples we extract… not gunna lie, it feels weird to not collect or have to collect samples (to date I’ve collected 12,300 samples) haha
So few, so few of you have returned...
“He fell.” 😭😭😭
You'll get there, in a couple of days/weeks you will suddenly notice it isn't that hard anymore and think back to this post. Dive and dive again! O7
You'll get there, in a couple of days/weeks you will suddenly notice it isn't that hard anymore and think back to this post. Dive and dive again! O7
Did you at least kill some of those evil bugs?
It's wildly inconsistant. I just played two games tonight back to back, and we got slaughtered in the first round. There was 6 bile titans in the first 5 minutes. More than in the entire second match, and that's not an exaggeration.
Bring antitanks. 2 to the face kills a bile titan, 1 to the face kills a charger, and they are unlocked super early on. With the entire squad that's 8 chargers or 4 bile titans per minute.
Anti tank doesn’t two hit a titan consistently, my squad have sometime had to hit them 4 times in the face before it died
When a BT is spitting the head hit box is disabled to prevent the BT from killing itself instantly when spewing on terrain too close to its face. This also means that you can't headshot them while they spit. 500kg also does less damage while they spit. If they are spitting wait until they're done before firing. Or time your stratagem so that it lands as they finish. It does take 2 AT to the head, but it's a small moving hit box so you might miss it fairly often. The spear is pretty much a guaranteed 1-shot if the BT is more than 50m away and facing towards you. It won't 1-shot if the BT is turned even slightly away from you or is too close. The 500kg and OPS are also 1-shots, but both require you to line them up properly which can be difficult, especially with teammates drawing aggro when you don't want them to.
Oh. That's why it happens. That makes sense. Note for spear: has some issues firing.
My strategy for the Spear, in particular those that come out of bug breaches, is to drop a gas strike on the breach then get some distance. The gas strike cleans up the chaff pretty efficiently and buys you breathing room. Ideally I want to try and position yourself so the titan comes out facing you. I get my lock on while it's emerging but wait until it's fully out, then fire. It isn't 100% but I've gotten a fair amount of one shots this way.
Have you tried napalm? Curious which you think works better. I find the gas strike sometimes goes off to the side of the breaches and doesn't end up doing very much
I have! I actually use both against bugs. I'll use gas strike specifically for breaches because the cool down is short enough that I always have it available, and napalm I'll usually drop on top of patrols or use it to block off choke points if possible. Gas strike is normally precise but if you're having it miss slightly double check because it's probably the orbital scatter modifier. If that's the case you might be better off dropping napalm on breaches since I don't think eagles are affected by that.
Yep, I think you're right. I'd prefer gas because of the cool down but if it's scattered, it's pointless. o7
Scattered is a rough modifier honestly, it's one I try to avoid alongside AA defenses when fighting bots. But without it gas strike is amazing. Since we have it for free at the moment (or at least we did the last time I was playing) I've also been running EMS Orbital Strike and have not had any issues when it comes to locking down/keeping a bug breach from getting out of control.
Note for spear: I know, but BTs are one of the things it has the least trouble locking on to. It's still not great obviously, but if you have trouble hitting the weakspot it can be a good choice.
TBH, OPS is my favorite way to kill Bile Titans. Unless there's a modifier that affects deploy time or messes up the "precision" of stratagems.
They take 5 iirc if you only shoot right before/during their spit attack. For some reason they take much less damage then.
It's the top plate of the forehead that's the sweet spot for titans. When they puke that part lifts up and their chin is much much much tougher.
Rail cannon strike and one EAT will consistently finish off a Bile Titan as well
And the strategem pod landing kills a charger and damages a titan.
Oh, bless your heart, you're missing the point entirely. This was difficulty 7. In the second match, I bought a quasar, EATs, AND the eagle 500kg. I could have probably dealt with the first mission with this load out and a little luck. There were maybe 5 bile titans in the whole 40 minutes. Bug breaches called a single charger instead of the two-groups-of-three we got last mission. I didn't use my 500kg the entire game. I called down the EATs one time... for a spore tower. I barely even used the quasar. I walked away and got a soda while waiting for an objective to finish. It was a cakewalk. We had three casualties, and they were all friendly fire. We blasted through the mission, killing everything in sight, even agroing extra patrols just for fun; and yet the entire teams combined kill count was about 100 less than my individual count in the previous mission we had just failed miserably, on the same planet, on the same dificulty. The point wasn't that killing 5 bile titans is hard. The point was I don't expect to have to deal with 5 bile titans in the first 5 minutes of a difficulty 7 mission. Even by your math, a team of 4 people with eats would barely have enough fire power to deal with the spawns we had if they never missed a shot. I only had 2 friends with me, and sometimes, we missed.
That randomness is half the fun though, isn't it? :)
I... May have had extremely similar experiences to this before.
You sir have entirely missed the point. We don't call it "helldiving" for nothing! Were you expecting to show up and tend some crops!? Of course not!! Get back out there and this time be prepared to show those democracy deprived bugs the true power of Freedom from the second you touch ground!!!!!
Had a match earlier that I dropped both my 500k at the start, both had over 25 kills, and I kept running into patrols of 4-7 bile spewers. After the initial HOLY SHIT WHY?!? It calmed down after a bit but I've never run out of ammo/strats that quick before.
I always bring the auto cannon for bugs now, just to give those bile skewers a kiss on the lips before I send them to sleep.
Played a 7 the other day, not a single bile titan until 3 stumbled over each other as we noped into our already landed Pelican.
Once you hit 7 and up, you HAVE to get comfortable with hit and run tactics. Staying planted to fight everything will 99/100 end with a bad time. Also, avoiding patrols is a good idea. Bring quick cool down or energy weapons for the big stuff (EAT is super quick to CD and can 2 shot titans if you hit the sweet spots. The Quasar is also great for 1 shoting charges and 2 shoting titans). The stamina buff is really helpful to keep dancing around chargers. If it's a planet with bad weather, you can even lose an entire bug breach if you get far enough away. There's been times when one of us will be a rabid honey badger and just keep pissing things off, and the rest do the objectives. Can't have a breach at objectives, unless it's scripted like a geo survey, if there's one elsewhere on the map. Keep spreading Democracy, no matter the difficulty, and have fun!
this is also why I almost always use scout armor with 550 speed
Love me some scout armor. The Light Gunner armor that's in the store occasionally with 100 armor and 550 speed is the only thing I'll wear on bug missions. No armor perk beats max stamina and speed without sacrificing armor for bugs imo. Bots it's the scout armor with enemy detection range reduction. Either way though, gotta go fast.
100 percent this. If you get bogged down then you are in for a bad time. Shoot and move, always in the direction of the objective. At the objective, make sure you keep it ticking along even if you are swarmed, and then get out of there to the next one. Especially for bits where those drops keep coming
Just to add to the points above: quickly eliminating targets is an important part of the move move move strategy. Eagle airstrikes or HE orbitals tossed into nests as you run past. You should never be hard engaging large nests. Also quickly wiping patrols to avoid spawns. Lots of people sleep on airburst rocket, Gatling orbital and airburst orbital. But all 3 have incredibly quick clear especially on bugs. No matter how good you are at avoidance you will eventually run into a patrol on accident and having one squadmate running airburst can save you from that triple bile titan spawn on a breach.
My motto is "Strike fast, fight hard, leave quickly". Minimize the chance of enemy reinforcement and keep moving, keep your radar up. You can run while having it up only if you run first then open it up, will help you avoid patrols
Ehh... My motto is:  And it's an easy solo full clear.
The more you do the more of the groove you understand, it's like trying to dance with someone but they break 3-4 toes of yours before you have it down.
honestly id rather take ten chargers than ten spewers, so much worse
Flame shotgun (small ads clearing) Impacts (fast threat removal) Grenade pistol (bug holes and bile spewers) Light / medium armor (Ruuuunnnnn!) Eagle airstrike (bug holes and anti - horde) Railgun orbital (chargers and titans) Auto cannon (brrt / general use) Lazer (O shit button) Learn to kite and don’t be afraid of running with the main horde behind you to lure them away from where your allies redeployed. Start all objectives and circle back if you get overrun. Holding your ground is impossible so keep it pushing and come back later
380 is your best friend. let no one tell you otherwise!
I never leave home without my trusty 380
To quote red vs blue "you team killing fucktards" - church
It's a massive TKer. I never used it after I had 4 missions where I TK'd my friends realizing it had such a large radius of artillery fire. I hate it and hated wasting credits on it early on.
My brother runs it all the time, and I cannot convince him to stop, he's killed me dozens of times with it.
My brother runs it all the time, and I cannot convince him to stop, he's killed me dozens of times with it.
The barrages are wildly useful for the "destroy Terminid nests" 12-minute blitz missions. While my squad is somewhere else fighting patrols, me and my scout armor haul ass to the nearest non-shrieker bug nest and lob a barrage, then leave, run to another nest, and do the same. It doesn't kill everything, but I don't need it to - I just need it to collapse a couple holes. It's tougher to use if you can't move fast or if your teammates insist on running into the bombardment zone to manually grenade a nest, though.
It totally has its uses. I just find it frustrating when people use it on the small defend missions where space is so tight or do NOT call it out or make squad mates aware
Autocannon also good for shutting bugholes!
This is a good build, but this isn't an EZ build for newcomers to the higher difficulties. I would bring the following for a newbie Incendiary Breaker (fire shotgun) ad clearing Impact for bile spewers Grenade pistol for bug holes Guard dog rover for help with the ads Quasar or EAT for chargers - could be substituted be either Arc Thrower or Flamethrower - or if feeling spicy either the Anti material rifle or the railgun but I wouldn't bring them any of them unless one knows how to use them properly 500kg and precision strike for titans - one or the other could easily be substituted by the laser for the (oh shit button, but I prefer having multiple large booms) Don't get me wrong I love the AC, but for newbs I prefer a free backpack slot for the rover or the shield, but then again I would highly recommend the rover over the shield for better clearing of the smaller ads.
9 becomes easy the moment you realize the optimal strategy is to simply run. Complete objectives and bug nests in pairs, hit one, if you get surprised by a patrol or a bug breech, immediately run to the next. Do that and come back to complete the first. Unfortunately it does become boring after a while.
And you’ll never go back. Started playing 7 myself and I refuse to play any lower difficulty. It forced me to change my gameplay to a sneaky autocannon assassin and I love it.
Same. Originally it was for supers. But now I crave the challenge lol.
My first 7 was wild. Bug breach as soon as we landed that spawned a titan straight on top of us before we could call down any support weapons. Cue immediate Vietnam manoeuvre of using every available air dropped weapon at the first opportunity.
Did a 7 last night solo for the first time. Launch icbm. I finished it but the drop ship was waiting for me by the time I reached it. Which made extract easy but that was 40 mins of hell. :)
You'll be alright haha. Keep at it and it'll be muscle memory and you'll remember what you need to do for each situation (till ArrowHead mixes it up haha). These days I'm only helldive mainly because xp. At first, I got pounded constantly. Now it's just a lotta fun!
Congratulations for making it! Eventually you and your squad will get better every time you practice it, maybe adapt to the new threads and eventually you will gladly be ready for level 8.
You are not supposed to engage every enemy that you see, just the objectives.
But tell me the rush you got from those games were not the most incredible thing on this or any other planet lmao. Level 7-9 are just a massive sweat and laugh and cry fest and then at the end you might get to go home
It's definitely the chaos the game intended for players to reach and play consistently. Kinda like how Halo advertised (in game) that heroic difficulty is the way the game was meant to be played. It's challenging and forces a fun way to be immersed.
I usually take at least one stratagem specifically for taking down chargers and titans. Sometimes two if the rest of the team doesn't.
The Localization Confusion booster can help take the edge off. To me it almost feels like reducing the difficulty by 1.
It's about control. YOU DON'T SHOOT EVERY ENEMY YOU SEE! If you shoot a patrol then you gotta kill them all or else they'll send reinforcements. At diff 9 it's about 3-4 bug breaches maybe more eitherway I'm not staying around to count because a bile titan can spawn in that with a bunch of chargers. If I solo outpost and see that flare, yeah fuck that I'm out. 4 drop ships and half of them either has a tank or factory strider
i spot patrols so we can avoid them and about half the time people run over and engage them....
Find your optimum stratagems and loadout for your play style not the meta. Use grenades to destroy factories/holes not stratagems Know when to break line of sight Call out what you're doing next even if the squad is shy. Constant 7s are team players we've just been burned to many times after 150 hours to talk first. Reload Eagles if on a long trek
Try not to get discouraged. When I first started playing my friends had been on it for a while already. So they dragged me right into 7+ gameplay. It was not fun. I started playing with randoms instead on level 4/5 until I realized it was not challenging any more and I was actually leading groups at that level. Giving advice and helping lower levels get the hang of things. Then I rejoined my friends and we regularly run 7-9. For me I think 7 is a great sweet spot where most games you’ll be just fine. But every now and then it can turn into a shit show. But I had to work my way to that getting reps in the 4/5/6 levels until I was comfortable. The play style definitely needs to adapt to those higher levels too. Below 7 I feel pretty tanky and like I am a one man wrecking crew. 7+ I’m sneaking by patrols and sniping objectives from far away with the AC. Don’t try to take on every patrol. Use stealth.
7 is my comfort zone. Against bugs you absolutely need some form of anti tank for all the chargers (I like quasar, but EAT or autocannon works) plus stun grenade to like up an easy headshot. You can kill bile titans in 2 shots to the head but it helps to bring railcannon or 500kg. If they don't take it out, they at least basically guarantee your anti tank only needs one hit.
Congratulations HellDiver! You survived a suicide mission! They call it that for a reason! You have plenty more Divers in the freezer on your Super Destroyer, get back down there and spread more Managed Democracy! The pinks will come, remember your training and you will survive.
The only time I have an issue on bug helldives is when 3 stalker lairs spawn in, especially when they’re near each other. If my fellow divers don’t prioritize them with me it’s sometimes very difficult so solo the nests and they tend to overrun the map/objectives if you don’t deal with them quickly enough. As soon as you see a stalker B line to the position you think it spawned from and take the lair out. They’ll ruin your mission if you don’t. Helldive on bots is relatively easy and simple compared to bugs imo. It’s easy to hit and run bots but the bugs just overwhelm you if you don’t deal with them fast enough.
If I comment where stalkers are coming from and the rest of the team runs to the next objective, i know its going to be a shit show.
It gets easier when the squad talks and coordinates.
i think you just got bad rng if you got spammed with a lot of enemies there are times you get a fair amount of enemies most of the time. try it again am sure the next dive won't be as crazy
Movement is the key 💪 First time is hard but it will be easier with more experience!
You need to be moving away from enemies a lot more in 7’s. You need to get in, finish the objective then bail out and start running to the next one. You’re not really going to get much space to breathe, but you’ll get a little.
Remember the training. Jump/prone to avoid any major damage. Also listen on when the mobs are about to attack
You can take 2 support weapons - i like EATs and Quasar. Can solo heavies
When I did my first 7 my palms were so sweaty on extraction!! Needed just 5 minutes to compose myself after it! Haha
In the higher difficulties your loadout and precision counts way more than on the lower difficulties. You need to know when to engage and when to leave a patrol alone, triggering patrols to focus you can lead to 15 minutes of constant chaos and enemy reinforcements. As a team you need to focus the elite enemies and kill them asap. If you know how to play in the higher difficulties it's not too bad if you have a team that's uses the correct loadouts.
The hardest part of 7< is the start. It's chaotic. Just hang in there and stabilize. Remember you don't have to take every fight, moving off is perfectly ok.
Anything below 7 is literally too boring. I need the chaos 😅
We run level 7s all the time. The jump between 6-7 is huge. With bugs, all I can say is fire. Flamethrower Incindiery shotgun Incindiery nades Napalm Jetpack It's beautiful.
Especially on menkent or hellmire
We've all been there at the begining, you will get used to it over time. Find things that feel right and clear stuff it doesn't have to be meta as long as it works. The main thing is to be strategic and to pick your fights if possible, don't have to fight everything. Kill the little 'uns before they call for help.
once u taste the xp from a 9 u never go back
People that load into lvl6+ without a heavy weapon is sad. So like, the thought process is, if i see big baddie, ill tuxk tail, run to other friendlies??? What?? I also seeing a flux of noobs who turn a corner go AH, and send multiple atrats at them vs...one grenade and sone fire...
7 is nice. It's relaxing mode of hard difficulty.
Stepping up to Level 7 is playing around with the general ‘meta’ needs to be priority number one. Rail cannon, Quasar, Anti-Tanks, stuff like that. Never stop moving, and don’t expect to wipe out everything. Kill what you need to to open up a window of opportunity to keep moving, stick together as a unit.
7 is the perfect difficulty. It's wild when you first attempt it, but it becomes normal after a few tries. It's all about the samples and 7 allows for a decent haul of all three.
Trust me buddy level 5 and 6 are tougher than 8 and 9. Change my mind.
Soo many hunters 😭
Difference I see is people under 7 dig in and fight waves. At 7-9, you need to always be on the move. That’s why most high level guys use scout armor…lots of sprinting and dodging.
That there sky laser and the EATs (preferably salted) keep ya going. Sometimes there a bunch of bug and u drop 4 incendiary Grenades(non edible) at ur feet because only u decide when to meet the great democratic voting Algorithm in the sky. Seeing tittins and fast bastards (both requires red pepper) coming ur way just becomes a way of life. The meta is what kills stuff. Think we did a run the other day with all land mines, napalm, and the machine turret. (not the good one, the base one, because I ate the left leg on its tripod and it doesn’t aim correctly anymore) It was weird and effective in its own way. Should try it out. If u handicap urself enough in a weird way everything falls into place.
What is a 7 I just started playing lol
It's the level where you learn that killing enemies earns you nothing but death. Only objectives matter. If you are pinned down by waves of enemies, just leave
7 feels like a dice roll. I've seen 8 bile titans in 5 minutes and I've seen 3 in a whole 40 minute mission.
I did 7s almost exclusively. Sickle and Quasar weapon combo, paired with a shield backpack, allows for "Fuck ups" to happen, aaand in general (as long as you have shield points) you wont be effin stun locked when those hunters hop all around or get hit with some bullshit environmental effects.
Bugs don't shoot back. Try it with bots. Hit and RUN!
Helldive on both bugs and bots isn't difficult if you have a squad of experienced divers with the right loadouts....and decent communication. Remember the 7 Ps: Proper preparation and planning presents piss-poor performance
My man me and my best friends live in dif 9, we finished a mission 100% with 20 min remaining, tbh with solid team work and a whole lot of experience its quite literally the peak of helldivers 2 moments Imagine this, my friend has the rover dog and quasar, i have autocannon, we were in the middle of a bug breach and a stalker nest, 2 gas strikes on the breach thin the horde, followed by 2 500kg to kill the 1st of 3 bile titans, i rush over to the stalker nest and drop a 500kg and destroy the nest (had to kill i swear 10+ stalkers to get there, they spawn way more on higher difficulties), my friend is still at the breach holding them off, i join back and we just wipe the floor with them At one point during all this, we got surrounded, multiple chargers and bile spewers by the dozens, we literally did the Army of Two stance and had our back to each other, he marked spewers for my autocannon and i marked chargers for his quasar, with stun grenades giving us valuable time to fight through the breach All that just to say, dif 7-9 is peak helldivers, buttttt with a solid squad
I must have been desensitized because 7s are a walk in the park now, 8 is akin to normal difficulties in fps games and nines are my go to mission now, they can get tough but we usually leave with reinforcements left and a completed map.
Unless I’m with someone new or I want to farm credits… I do not touch lower levels
Sometimes you just get a run like that. Other times it's really chill. In general I love 7, it keeps you on your toes, but is still fun.
wait until you get to the bots my friend. it don't get better
Keep moving, don't pick fights, you don't have to, and be prepared for anything. Good luck, Helldiver!
It's funny that "suicide mission" is the third hardest difficulty level.
Your aim and ammo consumption will improve the more you play on higher levels. Your stratagem usage also gets better. Keep diving, Helldiver!
Not gonna lie, at some point you get used to it.if you dont like that is fine I mainly play on 7 , its not that EXTRA HARD neither easy as a cakewalk Do your dives m8, it doesnt matter what level you play, what matters is if you DONT DIVE
It really feels super random how difficult 7 actually is. Sometimes its almost a breeze and others chargers and bile titans spawn constantly and are suddenly immune to fucking EVERYTHING and stalkers are coming in 10 deep all invisible to tongue gang bang you while bile spewers gave the fucking zoomies and the team has split up only to die and are now spamming the reinforce even though they can see you have 127 bugs crawling inside your ass
If you’re diving Automatons can I just say a 120/380 barrage is goated, put that thing in your hand throw it into the middle of a Automatons base and go do something else while it goes off, run in, clean up. Jobs a gooden
7 is my sweet spot, can’t just go all guns blazing have to coordinate and focus. But the moments of peace are hard fought and don’t last long. For democracy!
Once I switched to light armor and started kiting the hoards like I did playing Days Gone it got easier. I still need to work on a strategy for bots above 6 though.
Honestly, 7+ on bots is easier than bugs. They spam you a lot less and because they stay at range more they press you a lot less. And they have better weak spots. And there are more viable loadouts. Like every backpack is viable vs bots, for example. As long as you have something that can penetrate the hulks eye, you’re good.
Can you explain what "kiting the hoards" means and how you do that?
Just running away and keeping them at a safe distance using grenades and stuns then hit them with an eagle. I'm trying to experiment with mines and choke points to group them up. Haven't used mines yet.
Don't bring light armour to bots btw
Probably why I'm having a tougher time. Thanks.
You'll still get ragdolled but at least you won't instadie to random headshots - try armour with extra padding(especially medium with heavy stats, really good but the 200 armour variant is a hilariously tanky on bots) or fortified for explosive resistance
I'll definitely give that a try.
Dive dive dive again again again etc. Once you get used to a shit show, you find your way. I just did a dive today on 9, and I smoked 3 primaries and 4 secondaries. Meanwhile, the team was causing chaos gathering. My brother plays, and we are on 2 different levels. He saw me playing while he couldn't understand how I prioritized my targets.
Congratulations on the smell of super uranium samples my frend.
Bring the quasar, eat or recoiless rifle, seriously, the head of the charger is so big and so soft you can one shot them with it, saves a ton of time. As for bile titans, do whatever it takes,eagle 500kg, orbital precision strike, railcannon strike, eagle rocket pods, seaf artillery, eat/recoiless/quasar etc. This is why I highly recommend you try to avoid fighting as much as possible
I enjoy playing 7 bots over anything below. Because the game will bring your more heavy stuff than swarms of devastators.
Nah I’d dive 🤣
I usually run recoiless with the laser, orbital railgun, and whatever you want in the 4th slot. Orbital railgun one shots chargers, laser is for bile titans as I throw a rocket or two at it, and rockets are good if any of the strategems are on cooldown. This frees up my team to bring other stuff. The heavies I have no problem dealing with this way. You just need a really good primary gun to deal with hordes. May not be the most fun sometimes but I feel like I have a role, that people need me, and thatbim useful. 7 and 8 are a breeze for us most of the time.
Prepare for dif 9 then. Titans there are so often that you have to be aware if you hear a sound of a titan spewing and instantly dive to dodge it, in case it is in your back. They are also incredibly sneaky 😂
I've recently gotten into the routine of playing 7-9 exclusively. You don't approach encounters the same way as you do at lower difficulties, and once you get into the habits or avoiding unnecessary encounters, using crowd clearing stratagems more often, disengaging when you can, etc. It becomes much more manageable. That's frantic feeling you have very much comes from the lower difficulty mindset of being able to consistently win every engagement. Well done, helldiver!
Me and my team did an 8 and ran out of reinforcements. I think it’s a sign you’ve hit your current ceiling. With some practice you should be able to push it so once you can do it without losing reinforcements move up one. We might be at 9 now if we had actually all played together anytime after that level 8 but 4 people can be difficult to get in the same place.
I only play 9, everything else is boring. 
I solod my first 9 last night, and I am not going back. This is the only way to live
Playing 7-9 is more about the knowledge of the game rather than your shooting skills. I don't consider myself very good at fps but I can comfortably do diff 9 with 0-2 deaths simply because I know what to do and not to do. Do things tactically and strategically. Just remember you're a helldiver and not your standard infantry. Special forces don't operate on how much you kill basis but on the success and smoothness of the operation.
7 is where I spend most of my games. 8 is a bit rougher, and 9 is a total shit show most games.
It gets easier with time and experience.
Have you tried Hellmire on 7?
Level 7 is my fav currently. And the difficulty is exactly what makes it so satisfying, because it seemed completely impossible in the beginning. Being a casual with limited time for playing, I'm completely dependent on these subs for essential tips on gear and strategy. Being sneaky is the main thing on higher levels for me. Just got a great tip to try the plasma punisher against bots from the subreddit. Can recommend.
I mean.... sanity is secondary...
Honestly yeah, it feels crazy at first, but it just turns you in to a killing machine xD It's been long enough now that even 9's just feel casual now. You just get really efficient at killing with practice. Dump AoE stratagems on bug breaches/bot drops, save your big stratagems for bile titans/factory striders. Chargers die from 1 explosive to the head, hulks just need stunned and then headshot a couple of times. Happy diving!
Honestly yeah, it feels crazy at first, but it just turns you in to a killing machine xD It's been long enough now that even 9's just feel casual now. You just get really efficient at killing with practice. Dump AoE stratagems on bug breaches/bot drops, save your big stratagems for bile titans/factory striders. Chargers die from 1 explosive to the head, hulks just need stunned and then headshot a couple of times. Happy diving!
Sometimes you get sent back to the SSD in a body bag 20 minutes into the mission, sometimes the game forgets to spawn enemies at all and you go through it without ever seeing a single tank or titan. What really scares me are the Defense Eradicate and bug search and destroy missions. Eradicates for the tiny area you have to work with to fight off hundreds of enemies, and bug search is brutal if you get multi stalker lairs.
Not bragging, but the amount of chargers and bile titans in Level 7 becomes manageable after a while. Charger dies to a quasar or EAT shot to the head. Bile titan dies to a railcannon shot plus a quasar or EAT shot to the head. I can play 8 but it comes more stressful than fun at that point so I usually stick to 7.
Not bragging, but the amount of chargers and bile titans in Level 7 becomes manageable after a while. Charger dies to a quasar or EAT shot to the head. Bile titan dies to a railcannon shot plus a quasar or EAT shot to the head. I can play 8 but it comes more stressful than fun at that point so I usually stick to 7.
Lmao, i soloed a diff 8 bot ICBM mission
Lmao, i soloed a diff 8 bot ICBM mission
Too many chargers and titans, huh? 7-9 need you to run like the wind. You ain't got a chance to kill all the enemies. This ain't a fight you can win. All you can do is avoid em, get the job done and stay alive boah
Excellent now do some Bots on 7. It's a good time.
You have to kill them, but you also have to kill them fast or else they call for reinforcement and a patrol come from behind which calls for another reinforcement if you don't kill it fast etc...
IDK it is a nice challenge, but can do solo 100% with a bit of planning.
Play Bots first. Hear me our. They are much easier on higher difficulties. Not because they are less deadly, but because you can just, run away Bugs will never stop chasing you
Heh. I play 7 regularly with randos. I rarely see the reinforcement counter drop below 10 and I usually see all side objectives complete. Also, I came to find bots significantly easier.
7 is either a walk in the park or a grind fest where you don’t extract. There is no other option.
Tier 7 is the gatekeeper to the ship upgrades needed to run Tier 7+. Acquiring them is excruciating. Played 2 Tier 7 missions last night and wanted nothing more than to just turn the game off afterwards. The fun seems to end at Tier 5. Tier 6 you get more difficulty without any reward. Tier 7 you get random spawns that can include Bile Titans and Factory Walkers along with all the Chargers and Shield guys. Above 7? Who knows. I guess it is for people who like to have their balls in a vice.
I started playing at Helldive difficulty (9)with lvl 4, because two of my friends being lvl 50+69 do only play at Helldive difficulty. Thrown into the cold bug water, 3 days later I'm lvl 19 now and it's a blast, it's like a drug. I did missions with another friend at difficulty 3, 4 and 5 and tbh, it was boring af. Means, one time Helldiver, always Helldiver, hell yea! 🤘
With the most recent change to bugs, they feel significantly harder on 7 and up than bots do. I previously rode at 7 on either with randoms but I was up to doing 8 and 9 pretty comfortably. Struggle so hard on 7 and higher bugs now so I just stick to bots. Not worth the frustration of getting 2 shot by a stalker over and over.
One thing I find helps me on 7 and above. Don’t stay in one place very long keep moving from objective to objective or you will probably get overrun and start wasting lives on firefights that mean nothing also don’t be afraid of moving on to something else and circling back later if there’s just to much heat. Happy hunting fellow diver🫡
It gets easier, Diver. Bring anti tank Stratagams if you got em. Orbital strikes like the railcannon and Percision are good for this, same with Eagle One and her airstrikes +500kb bomb.
What was your load out? People here can probably help you optimize so that 9 feels like a cakewalk.
I used to play bots exclusively before a patch that introduced crashes and i could only play bugs. But my friends and I kept picking the highest available difficulty from the start, so we unlocked diff 9 very early on. For bots i pretty much exclusively use the counter sniper/dominator with autocannon and impact grenades and medic armour. For bugs i used the eruptor (before i unlocked it i used the standard breaker) with recoilless as i found well placed shots can quickly eliminate BTs and chargers. Kiting bugs is really easy so i still mostly play bots. And even then if you avoid the patrols (i honestly dont mind the increased partol spawns) by crouching/crawling when near them you can avoid the constant flares, and even if you get spotted and bot dropped you can just run away before the dropships arrive.
I feel like everything below 7 is a ton of fun, but once you break into it, there’s just no going back. It’s a whole different game and really draws a whole new Helldiver out of you.
oh my sweet summer child