EDIT: 300>200 is a 50% increase NOT 33%. Man, I wasn't mathing in that moment. Sorry for that. But hey, speaks even more for the buff it received. 2nd EDIT: 2:02 should show the Slugger vid thumbnail NOT the Scorcher one. *sigh*... Dang, I'm tired this week. Too many mistakes. Sorry, guys. Also, there's a musical Easter egg in the intro. See if you can figure out what it is. 😉 I'm already working on the next review, after that I got a few ideas but I'm also open to suggestions... What weapon y'all wanna see next?!
The illuminate are watching. They are coming. And they Can Not be stopped. stand vigilant Helldivers. for you have not yet fought a greater threat than them.
Spear. But I bet testing and getting footage for it would be a very frustrating experience. But I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated if you come up with a way to get it to reliably lock on target.
Tip: Turn off the flashlight, the propellant gas from each shot blinds you with the flashlight. - The Green laser sight is what I use to aim it, the ADS and shoulder circle arn't nearly as reliable. Bullet goes where the green line is. - Projectile acceleration is also kinda slow, against high deflection shots at moving targets you gotta lead. - Against Hunters i've found their legs can sometimes take the hit and the hunter survives. I've once put 3 dominator rounds into a single hunter because his flailing arms were taking the hits. This combined with hunter's love of side hoping they are definitely one of the worst opponents for the dominator. - Against the bot's walking factory the Dominator can shoot out the 2 machine guns under the head in like 2 hits each. - The full reload animation when your mag is empty takes very long, pulling that bolt back takes a lot of time. If you can reload with at least 1 round in the chamber the speed is much nicer. - It is a LOUD gun, firing it will alert a very wide area around you compared to other primaries.
oh my god YES the hunter legs are so annoying. i've literally seen them perfectly functional with every single one of their legs blown off except 1. they're floating around on 1 leg like a magic trick. absolutely ridiculous
@@DmitrijsVoicehovskis we don't really know exact details, some people have tested some weapons and found enemies get alerted to gunfire and explosions and that range varies between weapons. For example, the senator is apparently one of the quietest weapons to shoot. Meanwhile another example would be the auto cannon, if I shoot far enough the enemies near the point the shot hit won't hear the gunshot and will instead move towards where the shot hit (and exploded). I still havn't seen much concrete evidence how it works but the Dominator seems to be on the louder end of the weapons.
I am so, so glad the JAR got the buff it deserved. I've always loved it and I'm glad it finally has a chance to really shine. It's a _great_ companion to the MG's like the Stalwart and 43. When using it in Burst mode, remember to aim low. That recoil is going to drag your sightline up anyways, so just let it ride.
It was very underwhelming before the buff, considering it's the last gun in the first premium warbond. Now I take it on almost every mission. Such a great buff without making it too OP.
the buff turned it from trash tier to one of the most viable weapon for both sides. Used to take the sickle+arc combo back when arc thrower was still op, but after nerfing arc, I needed something to deal with bile spewers effectively. dominator is one of the best primaries for that, pair it with a rover and it makes for a great all rounder loadout
You've got my sub. I've watched the other 3 weapon reviews now, and frankly this is truly a brilliant series and I hope you continue it for a long time.
A few things to note with this weapon: 1. The clip is a bit limited and the reload isn't short. So, every shot counts. 2. The 3PV aiming is often off. Meaning you'll waste a lot of shots unless you're very careful. Do not waste your shots. 3. You can get much better aim if you toggle to FPV, but your slew rate is horribad. It's essential for longer range shots, but be quick to return to 3PV when you get swarmed. I regularly use this, and it does shred with medium armor penetration. It's that good, but you have to take care. As a note, if you have a quasar cannon or AT weapon, you may not want to gut the bile titans. This prevents them from spraying, which also prevents them from staying in one spot while they spew, and eliminates a key moment to take aim and score a headshot. This forces the use of a stratagem, which are limited.
Even the FPV can be off at times, use the green laser to better guide the shots in for more precise aim. Pulling back the charging handle when reloading completely empty takes a LONG time, ideally reload at 1 round for much faster reload. =P And turn the flashlight off since it blinds you after firing in the dark against the propellant smoke so you can see the green line.
Great summary, it recently replaced the Sickle for me in bot missions, mainly because of the stagger keeping beserkers at bay. One little tip that you overlooked in this video is if you reload before it's fully empty it cuts the reload time significantly because you dont have to use the charging handle to charge the weapon like when it's fully empty, which sometimes means the difference between a dead enemy or a dead helldiver. Off now to try it in burst mode because of your recommendation.
I have debated covering reloads/reload times - ultimately just haven't done it. But I'm thinking about covering it more, especially with the next review considering the weapon, and how long it actually takes to reload it.
I'm so glad the Dominator got the TLC it needed. It feels amazing to use now and this video is a great illustration of that. I'm curious to know what you think of the Punisher Plasma though!
I think it needs some love, too. Very inconsistent with the blast damage and at times takes WAY too many shots to take out certain enemies. But on the other hand has some unique strengths because of the explosion dmg, similar to the Scorcher. I think both it and the Blitzer are fun, unique weapons that I'd definitely like to see more of! But I also think they need some tweaking to meet their full potential.
this was the first weapon (after finding out that the blitzer wasnt really a shotgun) that I was REALLY excited for. It's still my favorite, despite a few drawbacks. Perfect for focusing down berserkers or medium bugs so your team can clear the easy stuff or focus fire on heavy enemies
I don't normally check out smaller channels with lower views, so I don't know how I wound up here, but I'm glad I did. Nicely edited and well-articulated video! Sticking around for more Helldivers content for sure
This is how you know he actually loves what he’s doing and deserves our support far more than the high sub count click farms. This is one of those channels that will get views for the next decade, even if he were to stop making new content.
This thing is amazing after the buff. Bug loadout: Light armor with med Incendiary grenades Dominator Quasar Rover Eagle airstrike 120mm Lvl 90. I only do full clear on 7-9. Let the rover do horde clear. Switch weapons rapids to respond to the threat. Rover and redeemer for small groups of littles. Mediums get dominator. Most are 1 or 2 shots. Breaches get airstrike or incendiary grenade, the fire helps with continued spawns like no other grenade. Small bug lairs get airstrike. You can close 2-3 holes per strike. Medium and large get the 120. It will solo anything less than a 10 hole lair. Chargers and titans get the quasar. The goal is to always be doing to things at once. Rover, and rifle. Grenade fire plus a terminal. 120 on a lair while you run to a nearby stalker lair. Each thing lets you focus on something else. Don’t forget to hot swap quasars. If you suddenly have 3+ titans on screen bring in a fresh quasar. Fire one, pick up and fire the second while the first cools down. Don’t sit and watch stuff and never fight garbage. You can do a 40 minute helldive (difficulty 9) mission in about 15 minutes and still get all objectives and close all lairs.
Something else to note I'm pretty sure if you fire at a light / no armor enemy The shot will penetrate through and hit behind making it more effective against hordes than people might think
Lol. I have literally never had someone compare me to Swanson until I started doing narration in my videos - something about my cadence, I guess. But I find it hilarious and consider it a compliment since I consider him sort of a spirit animal of mine. One of my all time fav sitcom characters. I just embrace it (that's why I use gifs of him).
I've been really enjoying post-buff dominator! In particular, I've found 2 really well paired loadouts that cover some of the weaknesses of the dominator, one for bugs and one for bots. For the bots I take the dominator, grenade launcher, supply backpack, stun grenades, and 2 red or green stratagems of your choice. The dominator can handle stunning and killing anything below a hulk, but the grenade launcher is there to take out whole groups of small bots, grouped up berserkers, and striders. Just absolutely carpetbomb whole groups of enemies, you have a supply backpack, and it gives you 2 magazines of grenade launcher, and 2 grenades every time you use it. You've basically got infinite ammo as long as you're at least hitting 50% of your shots since it gets a charge back every time you pick up a resupply, essentially doubling your ammo pickups, and allowing you to resupply at all times. The grenade launcher can even be shot up into the underside of dropships to kill bots before they even drop. The stun grenades are for hulks and troublesome groups of enemies, or if you need to run. Stunning a hulk will allow you to drop an offensive stratagem on them, flank them to shoot the heatsink on their back with the dominator, keep them still for an ally's heavy weapon, or if you just need some breathing room. For bugs I take the dominator, stalwart, EAT-17, stun or impact grenades, and two stratagems of your choice. I've taken a shield backpack or a jump pack, but usually I take some red or green stratagems for more firepower. Here the dominator handles warriors, hiveguards, brood commanders, and both varieties of spewers with ease, stun and knocking back even charging brood commanders. It can be used for spitters and scavengers, but that's what the stalwart is for. In this loadout, the dominator is your support weapon, while the stalwart is your primary weapon for trash clearing. The stalwart mops up all the bugs smaller than warriors, and can even handle warriors+, but the dominator really is more ammo efficient for them. For bile titans and chargers you've got EATs + whatever extra stratagems you choose, but you can even kill chargers with just your dominator if you're good at hitting the butt. It's a lot easier if you learn to crouch and aim in first person with the dominator after you've dodged the charger, since it almost entirely negates the dominator's harsh recoil, allowing you to get decently accurate butt shots on the charger. The EAT drop pod is also great for splattering chargers with, meaning you can take out 3 chargers with 1 EAT call in if you're good. The trick for getting the one-shot kill on charger with the drop pod is waiting to throw it so that it lands on the tip of his nose after he rises up and comes back down at the start of his charge. It's a reliable spot to aim for once you've had some practice at it. Then you get him to stop charging so the pod hits him in the head either by dodging past him a couple of seconds before impact, so that he stops before his next charge, or use stun grenades on him before it drops.
PSA - if you need very precise shot with it at close range, in FPV use laser, not the reticle, as high over bore can mess-up your shot. Especially important if you are starring down the shield devastator's barrel.
For chargers if you let them run past you and shoot their back legs while they're still charging it will break off the armor for their back leg in one or two shots leaving a small area in which you can pump a few legs shots in to kill it. You can pull it off after one charge but it's really hard to do and if you're dealing with lots of little bugs as well it's going to be really difficult to pull off. But it is an option that can quickly take down a charger if you're left with nothing else.
Pairing the Dominator with Laser Rover on Bug missions feels great. Rover helps a lot with add clear as you focus down more high priority targets. Pair those with the Quasar and you can deal with everything the game throws at you.
I play the Dominator basically as a secondary. I call in a Stalwart to use as Primary automatic weapon, grenade pistol to take care of bug nests and such, Jetpack to get out of situations and the Dominator as anti-Armor.
Man, the buff to this thing really made me feel the pain of post-nerf Slugger. Stuck with the old girl for a while, but now I'm alternating between Dominator and Punisher.
@@afroamasiaca It's still a good gun, but it lost its role for me as an enemy staggerer, particularly against the bots. It's still one of the best sniper weapons in the game, so if I need it for that, it's still there. There are MUCH worse guns you could use than the Slugger.
Slugger really has no place now. As much as i dislike the dominator. The slugger legitimately has no reason to exist. Its just the dominator but worse in every way except round reload lol They need to give it at LEAST its stagger back if not the demolition as well
@@TheCosmicAstro- I don't entirely agree. There is a formfactor the slugger fits that appeals to people like me who like a pump-action shotgun, and the range of it is pretty good and decently accurate. There are obviously better guns in its previous role, but there's a lot of guns that are both way worse, and get used plenty. It's not an unusable weapon like some of them are, and still manages some pretty mean feats against medium armored enemies. A master Slugger user could run circles around a novice Dominator user, y'know?
@Mihomiti no. If youre using the slugger you may as well use the dominator. Lol. There is literally zero real reason to use the slugger. Obviously not including "cause I want to" But im guessing you're trolling when you say the slugger will run circles around the dominator lol.
The projectile speed was something I had to get used to with it but the smoke that seems to exist just to make it annoying to aim down sights and it being inconsistent on striders were my issues with it. I didn't know that the legs on a strider would be an option though so ill have to give it another go.
The issue I have is that it exists in a weird place in the sandbox. I was super excited to use it, even before the buff, but even after the buff I have trouble wanting to take it. It's just much easier to have a primary like the slugger, sickle, liberator or even the Scorcher to handle the striders and the small bots, and to bring a long a larger strategem weapon, like the anti-materiel rifle, quasar cannon, recoiless or EAT to handle the medium to large enemies. I could see a world in which you bring this along as your anti-armor option and then just load up with 4 eagle or orbital strategems, but the dominator doesn't take out devastators as quickly or from as long range as the AMR.
Just so you know, you can totally rip off leg armor from a charger with the dominator. After you avoid their charge, immediately shooting the rear side of the front leg can damage it and result in stripping parts of the frontal leg armor which in turn lets you take down the charger easily. You will actually be able to damage them from the front as you will notice cracks and damage to its frontal leg armor. I have killed chargers in roughly half a mag with this technique. This makes the dominator a suitable alternative for killing chargers, not as quick as EAT’s but when in a pinch or a 1 v1 situation with a charger, it’s super effective although sometimes inconsistent.
The reload on the Dominator is also exceptionally long if you let the magazine run completely empty. Unless you really need that last shot, I advise against it.
I hate running the rover but I also use it 90% of the time just to take care of the trash. I like the sentry's, so I'm going to run gatling and machine gun sentry instead of rover, My thought is I'll only have 30-40 seconds without a sentry, 2 min cooldown and they stay up for around 30 seconds each. alternate between gatling and machine gun for each fight and that should handle everything without killing yourself or teamates as much. Free up a backpack spot as well.
It's a great weapon after the buff, I just unlocked it yesterday. However, I'm still going to be running mostly the breaker and incendiary breaker, as I usually pair it with the arc thrower for staggering power. It's just so satisfying to effectively NOPE out a hulk. Even killed a bile titan with it, though that was more desperation than anything else, and took ages :D
I didn't know Burst mode still allowed you to single fire it nor that FPS mode has reduced recoil. Great tips. I'm frequently on the fence for taking the Dominator vs the Punisher. With these improvements, I'll probably retire the Punisher.
Titan suggestion. Never break their bile sacks. They’re easier to kite, to shoot, to line up stratagems and to land on when they’re slow. The bile spew isn’t hard to avoid until you get more than 5 in a small area. And if you have that many let the stratagems do their job. Lvl 90. I only do full clear on 7,8,9.
I like the gun, but is it really necessary for it to smoke grenade your face every time you shoot? On maps with low visibility, it magnifies the problem many times over.
After you break the belly of a Bile Titan it will take more damage from all sources specifically Orbital Rail Cannon can now one shot it from any angle afterwards
I had the best experience. I watched a few videos showing the dominator CLEARLY being a bad gun. I still grinded for it anyway CUS IT IS COOL and i knew it would be buffed to reach the legendary expectations of a "bolter gun". 1 day before i got it it was buffed. MY first experience with the dominator was well DOMINATING!
I tend to use this When facing bugs. When it comes to bugs I need a shotgun. Bots only get a shotgun if it is an elimination mission because the map is small. Otherwise I mainly use the counter sniper for more stealth gameplay. That being said, aiming is tough as my mouse’s right click can sometimes be finicky. Anyone advising the thumb buttons, dive and stims already take those spots.
Something you didn't mention (though it is visible in the footage) is the extra smoke coming out. Maybe not the biggest deal, but it certainly looked like there were times you couldn't tell whether your target survived until it cleared.
I love this gun now after the buffs, very confused by the way they nerfed my baby the slugger though. If they wanted it to be less of a sniper they should have increased damage drop off instead of reducing the stagger
Against bots, I'd easily say it is the best primary - and beats out the Scorcher and Sickle by an even larger margin on hot planets where your heat sink is a big problem, while the Dominator is unaffected. It's not as good against bugs however. Not because it isn't devastatingly effective, because oh yes it is - the downfall is the small mag and the swarms of tiny bugs they tend to throw against you, and all the flanking, leaping enemies that are much harder to hit with the unresponsive aim and slow rounds. You will get rolled under unless you do a LOT of kiting, and sometimes that isn't an option because terrain or an objective proximity or time limit prevents it. No, right now the king weapon for bugs is the Breaker Incendiary - you can hose down an entire swarm in seconds, and most of the bugs will just burn to death if you hit them.
I’ll try and give it a go again. My main problem was how slow it was when you shifted your aim when shooting at hunters from the side or shriekers/stalkers. I’ve kept coming back to the punisher.
Please share this idea I think everyone will agree. I think the studio should allow real companies to run ads on the ships TVs. The companies would have to create ads as if they were in the Helldivers universe. This would allow Arrowhead to generate more money for the studio. We would also get a ton of hilarious commercials and everyone wins. Could you image a Tide commercial where a soldier is using detergent to clean blood or oil off their armor? Or grabbing a Pizza Hut pizza after killing bugs all day? I think it’s a great idea what do y’all think?
Played JAR-5 prior boost against bots. Its only problems before were slow aim down sights. And aiming laser separated from sight which lags behind optics for no reason. (None of those are fixed.) But even then, it was not hard to take out devastators with head shots. With its current boost, it did not become that much better against bots as hits which did one-shot before do still... one shot. And if you miss weak point, then you still need 4~5 hits or hit that weak point. But it became somewhat useful weapon against bugs, as mentioned in video. Before, required precision and spent ammo was not worth it due to aiming problems mentioned above. (Especially due to hunters having tendency to strafe jump before laser & sights align. And having rather overkill damage for scavengers.) And here comes consequential main problem: => While it is quite universal and efficient weapon against bots, in case of bugs, its target group is rather small: Warriors, Guards, Commanders, Stalkers, Screechers This makes it inefficient against small and large bug enemies. (Spewers are somewhere in between "not great, not terrible") Requiring to have great secondary against trash + keep switching weapons. And then to have support/stratagem strike even against chargers. => This means mandatory use of 3 weapons. And we do not really have optimal side arm against bugs. I wish they improved P-4 Senator reload mechanic. Its round reload is by far slowest in game. And it does not use speed-loader when empty. Considering that it is, as JAR-5, low ammo + skill shot weapon. (Severely punishing misses.) It's reload mechanic makes it even worse. So what actually JAR-5 needed instead of 50% damage boost? Either competent secondary weapon which one shots trash bugs and aims fast. Or fix its unrealistically slow aiming, and laser vs optics problem. (Or both.) Because that aiming makes it unsuitable for dealing with any moving targets. I would gladly trade 50~100dmg per shot for aiming fix. Side note: While i categorize Hunters as trash tier in size, they are most dangerous counter to JAR-5. (And many other weapons.)
It takes 2-3 shots to kill a Devastator if you shoot their waist. And consistently kills Berserkers in 3 shots if you shoot their crotch, making it the best primary weapon to bring vs bots.
@@squeezyjibbs6643 Since important part is "vs bots", I do agree. But isn't it other way around? Berserkers having red, glowing weak spot between rib cage and hips. (While having weirdly armored head which takes about same amount of damage as upper torso around it.) And all devastators having weak spot head - one hit kill.
@DarkFox2232 You are right, glowing red parts are weak points for berserker. For weapons with weak armor penetration that is. Since Jar has medium pen, more different parts of bots become weak points for it, like Berserker's crotch. I do believe you can kill berserker with 1 headshot, but it's unreliable when (1) they bob to sides too much, (2) the head hit box is much smaller than it seems, and (3) handling of the Jar is way too low. You are, again, correct about 1-shotting devastators to the head. I'm just talking about situations when you don't have time to line up a precise shot, which happens a lot on higher difficulties when you're getting surrounded.
Dominator might be considered objectively better for both, but the Scorcher performs amazingly well against bots more than bugs, and I like variety - so Scorcher for bots and Dominator for bugs. Sickle for both as solo. I'll consider the incendiary when they finally confirm the DOT is working properly. Most of the rest could use buffs or some tweaking to give them a niche, aside from basic Liberator, Punisher, Breaker and Diligence, which are perfectly fine for early game.
The scorcher IS a great weapon, especially for bots, but you can't one-tap devastators or stop them dead in their tracks. I do however like how the scorcher makes stupid quick work of striders.
Me when I put on the Dominator: "AND I SHALL BURN THE HERETICS FROM MY SIGHT, AND THE ALIEN SHALL BE CAST DOWN IN MY RIGHTEOUS FIRE. I AM THE FLAME AND IT LIVES IN MY CLENCHED FIST. SO AM I ARMORED FOR WAR, A BRAZIER TO PURGE THE DARKNESS THAT ENCROACHES. IT IS RUIN AND FURY. MY HEART IS MOLTEN INCANDESCENT AS THE BLOOD OF THE EARTH. CONSUME THEM! RENDER THEM UNTO ASH AND SMOKE!"
I tried it for a bit, but the scorcher is more reliable. Small clip size and long reload time plague both the guns, but the scorcher not as much. Negligible differences in damage against certain enemy types... all it comes down to is the reliability. The JAR 5 Dominator is just out of ammo way too often. The weapons are in a weird place right now. You have a bunch of guns that aren't good enough to kill half the enemies, and a select 1 or 2 which are good enough to kill all the enemies. And 1 that does it better than the other. Plus, everything that's good enough to kill everything has a severe caveat - such a limited clip size, slow reload speed. So really, you're left with people having TWO CHOICES if they want to successfully kill everything. And because of the severe caveat they are now playing with to 'balance' the weapon? They're getting more frustrated and having less fun than they were using a Liberator against Trivial difficulty enemies. Saying our choice of weapon is about choice but then having things like 'medium armour penetration' 'explosive' traits like THAT on some things, completely contradicts and conflicts with the intent to have everything a mere choice. I mean, with the way it works now, some weapons are *PEASHOOTERS* compared to others.
Used it whole lot before the buff,thinking it was good,but it needed more...now that it got it,it finally made the steel veteran warbond worth it,and oh man does it dominate now. Still needs skill using it at longer ranges due to the slow projectile speed,but man can it punch stuff better now,amd now with the arc trower change its the combo i roll for killing basically anything
EDIT: 300>200 is a 50% increase NOT 33%. Man, I wasn't mathing in that moment. Sorry for that. But hey, speaks even more for the buff it received.
2nd EDIT: 2:02 should show the Slugger vid thumbnail NOT the Scorcher one. *sigh*... Dang, I'm tired this week. Too many mistakes. Sorry, guys.
Also, there's a musical Easter egg in the intro. See if you can figure out what it is. 😉
I'm already working on the next review, after that I got a few ideas but I'm also open to suggestions... What weapon y'all wanna see next?!
Illuminates are coming brother
The illuminate are watching. They are coming. And they Can Not be stopped. stand vigilant Helldivers. for you have not yet fought a greater threat than them.
Spear. But I bet testing and getting footage for it would be a very frustrating experience. But I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated if you come up with a way to get it to reliably lock on target.
you should do the las rifle next
Hahahhahahha. How many people paused the video to comment about this?
at last the bolter has recived the emperors blessing
The Emperors voice made manifest
that intro was one of the best I've ever seen on any helldivers video. Well done
High praise. Thank you!
Tip: Turn off the flashlight, the propellant gas from each shot blinds you with the flashlight.
- The Green laser sight is what I use to aim it, the ADS and shoulder circle arn't nearly as reliable. Bullet goes where the green line is.
- Projectile acceleration is also kinda slow, against high deflection shots at moving targets you gotta lead.
- Against Hunters i've found their legs can sometimes take the hit and the hunter survives. I've once put 3 dominator rounds into a single hunter because his flailing arms were taking the hits. This combined with hunter's love of side hoping they are definitely one of the worst opponents for the dominator.
- Against the bot's walking factory the Dominator can shoot out the 2 machine guns under the head in like 2 hits each.
- The full reload animation when your mag is empty takes very long, pulling that bolt back takes a lot of time. If you can reload with at least 1 round in the chamber the speed is much nicer.
- It is a LOUD gun, firing it will alert a very wide area around you compared to other primaries.
Didn't even realize the flashlight turned off
@@tokivikerness8863 I never really had problems with the flashlight until I used the Dominator. xD
How do you know how loud it is?
oh my god YES the hunter legs are so annoying. i've literally seen them perfectly functional with every single one of their legs blown off except 1. they're floating around on 1 leg like a magic trick. absolutely ridiculous
@@DmitrijsVoicehovskis we don't really know exact details, some people have tested some weapons and found enemies get alerted to gunfire and explosions and that range varies between weapons.
For example, the senator is apparently one of the quietest weapons to shoot.
Meanwhile another example would be the auto cannon, if I shoot far enough the enemies near the point the shot hit won't hear the gunshot and will instead move towards where the shot hit (and exploded).
I still havn't seen much concrete evidence how it works but the Dominator seems to be on the louder end of the weapons.
I am so, so glad the JAR got the buff it deserved. I've always loved it and I'm glad it finally has a chance to really shine.
It's a _great_ companion to the MG's like the Stalwart and 43.
When using it in Burst mode, remember to aim low. That recoil is going to drag your sightline up anyways, so just let it ride.
It was very underwhelming before the buff, considering it's the last gun in the first premium warbond. Now I take it on almost every mission. Such a great buff without making it too OP.
the buff turned it from trash tier to one of the most viable weapon for both sides. Used to take the sickle+arc combo back when arc thrower was still op, but after nerfing arc, I needed something to deal with bile spewers effectively. dominator is one of the best primaries for that, pair it with a rover and it makes for a great all rounder loadout
You've got my sub. I've watched the other 3 weapon reviews now, and frankly this is truly a brilliant series and I hope you continue it for a long time.
A few things to note with this weapon:
1. The clip is a bit limited and the reload isn't short. So, every shot counts.
2. The 3PV aiming is often off. Meaning you'll waste a lot of shots unless you're very careful. Do not waste your shots.
3. You can get much better aim if you toggle to FPV, but your slew rate is horribad. It's essential for longer range shots, but be quick to return to 3PV when you get swarmed.
I regularly use this, and it does shred with medium armor penetration. It's that good, but you have to take care.
As a note, if you have a quasar cannon or AT weapon, you may not want to gut the bile titans. This prevents them from spraying, which also prevents them from staying in one spot while they spew, and eliminates a key moment to take aim and score a headshot. This forces the use of a stratagem, which are limited.
Even the FPV can be off at times, use the green laser to better guide the shots in for more precise aim.
Pulling back the charging handle when reloading completely empty takes a LONG time, ideally reload at 1 round for much faster reload. =P
And turn the flashlight off since it blinds you after firing in the dark against the propellant smoke so you can see the green line.
Now it feels like a boltor
If only it had the boltors mag and rate of fire. Hahaha
we need a heavy Dominator with full auto for...democratic reasons 💪🏾🗿
@@thesadboi8421 They couldn't even get the heavy stubber (HMG) right but heck, I'd let them try!
It's spelled Bolter
@@motymurmit's a primary in warframe, he spelled it right
Great summary, it recently replaced the Sickle for me in bot missions, mainly because of the stagger keeping beserkers at bay.
One little tip that you overlooked in this video is if you reload before it's fully empty it cuts the reload time significantly because you dont have to use the charging handle to charge the weapon like when it's fully empty, which sometimes means the difference between a dead enemy or a dead helldiver.
Off now to try it in burst mode because of your recommendation.
I have debated covering reloads/reload times - ultimately just haven't done it. But I'm thinking about covering it more, especially with the next review considering the weapon, and how long it actually takes to reload it.
I love Dominator. Both on Bugs and Automatons its incredible.
I followed 3 words into your intro. I could tell your production is top notch!
Fucking hated the dominator when I first used it, but YT Ron Swanson has made me love it!!!
Great vid, this is made/narrated/edited like the documentaries on Discovery channel from the 90s early 2000s
I'm so glad the Dominator got the TLC it needed. It feels amazing to use now and this video is a great illustration of that. I'm curious to know what you think of the Punisher Plasma though!
I think it needs some love, too. Very inconsistent with the blast damage and at times takes WAY too many shots to take out certain enemies.
But on the other hand has some unique strengths because of the explosion dmg, similar to the Scorcher. I think both it and the Blitzer are fun, unique weapons that I'd definitely like to see more of! But I also think they need some tweaking to meet their full potential.
You got a little Ron Swanson swagger in your voice. I approve.
Used to be awful but now it's great - that knockback / stagger is game changing.
this was the first weapon (after finding out that the blitzer wasnt really a shotgun) that I was REALLY excited for. It's still my favorite, despite a few drawbacks.
Perfect for focusing down berserkers or medium bugs so your team can clear the easy stuff or focus fire on heavy enemies
Precisely.
I’m a blitzer main but with this video I’ll give the dom a fair tryout
Warrior, your kill’n it, your out here selling more product than Billy Mays.
I don't normally check out smaller channels with lower views, so I don't know how I wound up here, but I'm glad I did. Nicely edited and well-articulated video! Sticking around for more Helldivers content for sure
Man's an undercover goat
This is how you know he actually loves what he’s doing and deserves our support far more than the high sub count click farms. This is one of those channels that will get views for the next decade, even if he were to stop making new content.
This thing is amazing after the buff.
Bug loadout:
Light armor with med
Incendiary grenades
Dominator
Quasar
Rover
Eagle airstrike
120mm
Lvl 90. I only do full clear on 7-9.
Let the rover do horde clear. Switch weapons rapids to respond to the threat.
Rover and redeemer for small groups of littles.
Mediums get dominator. Most are 1 or 2 shots.
Breaches get airstrike or incendiary grenade, the fire helps with continued spawns like no other grenade.
Small bug lairs get airstrike. You can close 2-3 holes per strike.
Medium and large get the 120. It will solo anything less than a 10 hole lair.
Chargers and titans get the quasar.
The goal is to always be doing to things at once. Rover, and rifle. Grenade fire plus a terminal. 120 on a lair while you run to a nearby stalker lair. Each thing lets you focus on something else.
Don’t forget to hot swap quasars. If you suddenly have 3+ titans on screen bring in a fresh quasar. Fire one, pick up and fire the second while the first cools down.
Don’t sit and watch stuff and never fight garbage. You can do a 40 minute helldive (difficulty 9) mission in about 15 minutes and still get all objectives and close all lairs.
The steak house comment is GOLDEN
Something else to note I'm pretty sure if you fire at a light / no armor enemy The shot will penetrate through and hit behind making it more effective against hordes than people might think
Absolutely! I am pretty sure all medium armor pen weapons do this.
great review, well done
Having at least one person with a stagger primary on your team is a huge game changer.
You and your content is like a youtube sleeper build
Wym?
Ron Swanson plays Helldivers?
Lol. I have literally never had someone compare me to Swanson until I started doing narration in my videos - something about my cadence, I guess. But I find it hilarious and consider it a compliment since I consider him sort of a spirit animal of mine. One of my all time fav sitcom characters.
I just embrace it (that's why I use gifs of him).
@@WarriorVII Helldivers feels like a game Swanson would play. If he could install it.
It does indeed. That just makes it better. A game about liberty and freedom? Sounds like the perfect game for Mr. Swanson. @@muzman486
I've been really enjoying post-buff dominator! In particular, I've found 2 really well paired loadouts that cover some of the weaknesses of the dominator, one for bugs and one for bots.
For the bots I take the dominator, grenade launcher, supply backpack, stun grenades, and 2 red or green stratagems of your choice. The dominator can handle stunning and killing anything below a hulk, but the grenade launcher is there to take out whole groups of small bots, grouped up berserkers, and striders. Just absolutely carpetbomb whole groups of enemies, you have a supply backpack, and it gives you 2 magazines of grenade launcher, and 2 grenades every time you use it. You've basically got infinite ammo as long as you're at least hitting 50% of your shots since it gets a charge back every time you pick up a resupply, essentially doubling your ammo pickups, and allowing you to resupply at all times. The grenade launcher can even be shot up into the underside of dropships to kill bots before they even drop. The stun grenades are for hulks and troublesome groups of enemies, or if you need to run. Stunning a hulk will allow you to drop an offensive stratagem on them, flank them to shoot the heatsink on their back with the dominator, keep them still for an ally's heavy weapon, or if you just need some breathing room.
For bugs I take the dominator, stalwart, EAT-17, stun or impact grenades, and two stratagems of your choice. I've taken a shield backpack or a jump pack, but usually I take some red or green stratagems for more firepower. Here the dominator handles warriors, hiveguards, brood commanders, and both varieties of spewers with ease, stun and knocking back even charging brood commanders. It can be used for spitters and scavengers, but that's what the stalwart is for. In this loadout, the dominator is your support weapon, while the stalwart is your primary weapon for trash clearing. The stalwart mops up all the bugs smaller than warriors, and can even handle warriors+, but the dominator really is more ammo efficient for them.
For bile titans and chargers you've got EATs + whatever extra stratagems you choose, but you can even kill chargers with just your dominator if you're good at hitting the butt. It's a lot easier if you learn to crouch and aim in first person with the dominator after you've dodged the charger, since it almost entirely negates the dominator's harsh recoil, allowing you to get decently accurate butt shots on the charger.
The EAT drop pod is also great for splattering chargers with, meaning you can take out 3 chargers with 1 EAT call in if you're good. The trick for getting the one-shot kill on charger with the drop pod is waiting to throw it so that it lands on the tip of his nose after he rises up and comes back down at the start of his charge. It's a reliable spot to aim for once you've had some practice at it. Then you get him to stop charging so the pod hits him in the head either by dodging past him a couple of seconds before impact, so that he stops before his next charge, or use stun grenades on him before it drops.
I love this damn "You ready" commentary so much. subbed.
I like the dominator for how its close to being a bolter. I think it earns the nickname I gave it, “baby’s first bolter”.
"Free opportunities for hip replacements" That was a GREAT line!!! XD
i love how satisfying it is to shoot. i still need to get used to the recoil
thank you for your hard work!
Great vid and damn how I fucking love your narration voice. You have new subscriber. Thank you.
Thank you!
amazing review!! looking forward to checking out your other videos now
2:38
Love your style! AND the music is awesome as is your voice! Your review has made me want to get this game. 👍👍👍👍👍
Bro went hard on that intro
PSA - if you need very precise shot with it at close range, in FPV use laser, not the reticle, as high over bore can mess-up your shot. Especially important if you are starring down the shield devastator's barrel.
Was just telling my squadmates this last night.
"How do you one-tap those devastators so often?"
Use the laser, not the reticle.
forgot to mention turning off the flashlight removes the issue of the gunsmoke obscuring your vision
For chargers if you let them run past you and shoot their back legs while they're still charging it will break off the armor for their back leg in one or two shots leaving a small area in which you can pump a few legs shots in to kill it. You can pull it off after one charge but it's really hard to do and if you're dealing with lots of little bugs as well it's going to be really difficult to pull off. But it is an option that can quickly take down a charger if you're left with nothing else.
I knew about the backs of their legs and just completely forgot to test/showcase it.
I can’t wait to unlock and try this one out.
Fellow Heldiver, I will recommend you as a consultant to the Ministry of Truh. What an awsome edited video.
Your last weapon review got me to use a shotty I'd never would have touched. I'm gonna give this one a shot now too.
That theme song does it for me every time.
Another awesome review! Keep em coming! ❤
Excellent video and incredible intro!
Pairing the Dominator with Laser Rover on Bug missions feels great. Rover helps a lot with add clear as you focus down more high priority targets.
Pair those with the Quasar and you can deal with everything the game throws at you.
I play the Dominator basically as a secondary. I call in a Stalwart to use as Primary automatic weapon, grenade pistol to take care of bug nests and such, Jetpack to get out of situations and the Dominator as anti-Armor.
I was using it before the buff, now it’s an absolute beast of a gun!!!!! I Love It…..
Man, the buff to this thing really made me feel the pain of post-nerf Slugger. Stuck with the old girl for a while, but now I'm alternating between Dominator and Punisher.
sorry for your loss, i didn't realize the slugger took so many medals
@@afroamasiaca It's still a good gun, but it lost its role for me as an enemy staggerer, particularly against the bots. It's still one of the best sniper weapons in the game, so if I need it for that, it's still there. There are MUCH worse guns you could use than the Slugger.
Slugger really has no place now.
As much as i dislike the dominator.
The slugger legitimately has no reason to exist. Its just the dominator but worse in every way except round reload lol
They need to give it at LEAST its stagger back if not the demolition as well
@@TheCosmicAstro- I don't entirely agree. There is a formfactor the slugger fits that appeals to people like me who like a pump-action shotgun, and the range of it is pretty good and decently accurate. There are obviously better guns in its previous role, but there's a lot of guns that are both way worse, and get used plenty. It's not an unusable weapon like some of them are, and still manages some pretty mean feats against medium armored enemies. A master Slugger user could run circles around a novice Dominator user, y'know?
@Mihomiti no.
If youre using the slugger you may as well use the dominator. Lol.
There is literally zero real reason to use the slugger.
Obviously not including "cause I want to"
But im guessing you're trolling when you say the slugger will run circles around the dominator lol.
That was an AMAZING intro
The projectile speed was something I had to get used to with it but the smoke that seems to exist just to make it annoying to aim down sights and it being inconsistent on striders were my issues with it. I didn't know that the legs on a strider would be an option though so ill have to give it another go.
Ron Swanson giving me Helldivers tips awesome
The issue I have is that it exists in a weird place in the sandbox. I was super excited to use it, even before the buff, but even after the buff I have trouble wanting to take it. It's just much easier to have a primary like the slugger, sickle, liberator or even the Scorcher to handle the striders and the small bots, and to bring a long a larger strategem weapon, like the anti-materiel rifle, quasar cannon, recoiless or EAT to handle the medium to large enemies. I could see a world in which you bring this along as your anti-armor option and then just load up with 4 eagle or orbital strategems, but the dominator doesn't take out devastators as quickly or from as long range as the AMR.
man the intro was fire
Just so you know, you can totally rip off leg armor from a charger with the dominator. After you avoid their charge, immediately shooting the rear side of the front leg can damage it and result in stripping parts of the frontal leg armor which in turn lets you take down the charger easily. You will actually be able to damage them from the front as you will notice cracks and damage to its frontal leg armor. I have killed chargers in roughly half a mag with this technique. This makes the dominator a suitable alternative for killing chargers, not as quick as EAT’s but when in a pinch or a 1 v1 situation with a charger, it’s super effective although sometimes inconsistent.
This with the ammo pack and quasar cannon is a banger, and it's my first choice for killing the bots.
The reload on the Dominator is also exceptionally long if you let the magazine run completely empty. Unless you really need that last shot, I advise against it.
I think the slow handling speed is why I run the rover. I can't handle a small rush of bugs otherwise.
I hate running the rover but I also use it 90% of the time just to take care of the trash. I like the sentry's, so I'm going to run gatling and machine gun sentry instead of rover, My thought is I'll only have 30-40 seconds without a sentry, 2 min cooldown and they stay up for around 30 seconds each. alternate between gatling and machine gun for each fight and that should handle everything without killing yourself or teamates as much. Free up a backpack spot as well.
Man, that smoke from the barrel is really obstructive
will finish later. intro made me start up HD2 to fight for democussy
It's a great weapon after the buff, I just unlocked it yesterday. However, I'm still going to be running mostly the breaker and incendiary breaker, as I usually pair it with the arc thrower for staggering power. It's just so satisfying to effectively NOPE out a hulk. Even killed a bile titan with it, though that was more desperation than anything else, and took ages :D
Working as intended, all in his name. FOR THE EMPERO...I mean DEMOCRACY!
This gun is beast ! Thank you devs
I didn't know Burst mode still allowed you to single fire it nor that FPS mode has reduced recoil. Great tips.
I'm frequently on the fence for taking the Dominator vs the Punisher. With these improvements, I'll probably retire the Punisher.
Titan suggestion. Never break their bile sacks. They’re easier to kite, to shoot, to line up stratagems and to land on when they’re slow.
The bile spew isn’t hard to avoid until you get more than 5 in a small area. And if you have that many let the stratagems do their job.
Lvl 90. I only do full clear on 7,8,9.
I like the gun, but is it really necessary for it to smoke grenade your face every time you shoot? On maps with low visibility, it magnifies the problem many times over.
Turn off the torch! It stops the muzzle flash of smoke from obstructing your view!
Great tip
I wanted to see how this weapon works before claiming it myself and honestly, I’m sold.
I resisted the Dominator for a little while, then I used it and it saved me from two patrols of Berserkers and I fell i love.
Dominator unironically dominates medium armor enemy after patch. Please review the Blitzer next, it's my favorite niche anti-bug shotgun.
Catch the end? 👀
Uh-oh.
After you break the belly of a Bile Titan it will take more damage from all sources specifically Orbital Rail Cannon can now one shot it from any angle afterwards
I had the best experience.
I watched a few videos showing the dominator CLEARLY being a bad gun.
I still grinded for it anyway CUS IT IS COOL and i knew it would be buffed to reach the legendary expectations of a "bolter gun".
1 day before i got it it was buffed.
MY first experience with the dominator was well DOMINATING!
My fav primary , look up gyrojets
I tend to use this When facing bugs. When it comes to bugs I need a shotgun. Bots only get a shotgun if it is an elimination mission because the map is small. Otherwise I mainly use the counter sniper for more stealth gameplay. That being said, aiming is tough as my mouse’s right click can sometimes be finicky. Anyone advising the thumb buttons, dive and stims already take those spots.
Your videos regarding these reviews makes me feel like im watching a discovery channel show. Its great ! Would you like to review the stalwart ?
I'd like to see him review all of the MG's, particularly the Stalwart and HMG.
Something you didn't mention (though it is visible in the footage) is the extra smoke coming out. Maybe not the biggest deal, but it certainly looked like there were times you couldn't tell whether your target survived until it cleared.
A bolster from 40k and I love it for the memes.
I love this gun now after the buffs, very confused by the way they nerfed my baby the slugger though. If they wanted it to be less of a sniper they should have increased damage drop off instead of reducing the stagger
Against bots, I'd easily say it is the best primary - and beats out the Scorcher and Sickle by an even larger margin on hot planets where your heat sink is a big problem, while the Dominator is unaffected. It's not as good against bugs however. Not because it isn't devastatingly effective, because oh yes it is - the downfall is the small mag and the swarms of tiny bugs they tend to throw against you, and all the flanking, leaping enemies that are much harder to hit with the unresponsive aim and slow rounds. You will get rolled under unless you do a LOT of kiting, and sometimes that isn't an option because terrain or an objective proximity or time limit prevents it. No, right now the king weapon for bugs is the Breaker Incendiary - you can hose down an entire swarm in seconds, and most of the bugs will just burn to death if you hit them.
I enjoyed the original version of the Domi, the reload speed was a drawback, but good use of secondary offsets the low SPR.
I’ll try and give it a go again. My main problem was how slow it was when you shifted your aim when shooting at hunters from the side or shriekers/stalkers. I’ve kept coming back to the punisher.
Please share this idea I think everyone will agree. I think the studio should allow real companies to run ads on the ships TVs. The companies would have to create ads as if they were in the Helldivers universe. This would allow Arrowhead to generate more money for the studio. We would also get a ton of hilarious commercials and everyone wins. Could you image a Tide commercial where a soldier is using detergent to clean blood or oil off their armor? Or grabbing a Pizza Hut pizza after killing bugs all day? I think it’s a great idea what do y’all think?
Ahhh, my favorite bot crushing weapon.
I'm wondering if turning off the flashlight would reduce the glare from the rocket trail.
It absolutely does.
Love this weapon. it's powerful.
The Jar has good and bad things, Personally, I love the dominator, and the plasma weapons due to the amount of fun i have with it
That's all that matters.
I feel like they've increased how well it handles too, previously the weapon felt very sluggish and heavy to aim around, but its now a real favorite
They did. The subreddit recorded a stealth buff to its handling after the update. It's a touch less sluggish than it used to be.
Played JAR-5 prior boost against bots. Its only problems before were slow aim down sights. And aiming laser separated from sight which lags behind optics for no reason. (None of those are fixed.) But even then, it was not hard to take out devastators with head shots.
With its current boost, it did not become that much better against bots as hits which did one-shot before do still... one shot. And if you miss weak point, then you still need 4~5 hits or hit that weak point.
But it became somewhat useful weapon against bugs, as mentioned in video. Before, required precision and spent ammo was not worth it due to aiming problems mentioned above. (Especially due to hunters having tendency to strafe jump before laser & sights align. And having rather overkill damage for scavengers.)
And here comes consequential main problem:
=> While it is quite universal and efficient weapon against bots, in case of bugs, its target group is rather small: Warriors, Guards, Commanders, Stalkers, Screechers
This makes it inefficient against small and large bug enemies. (Spewers are somewhere in between "not great, not terrible") Requiring to have great secondary against trash + keep switching weapons. And then to have support/stratagem strike even against chargers.
=> This means mandatory use of 3 weapons. And we do not really have optimal side arm against bugs.
I wish they improved P-4 Senator reload mechanic. Its round reload is by far slowest in game. And it does not use speed-loader when empty. Considering that it is, as JAR-5, low ammo + skill shot weapon. (Severely punishing misses.) It's reload mechanic makes it even worse.
So what actually JAR-5 needed instead of 50% damage boost? Either competent secondary weapon which one shots trash bugs and aims fast. Or fix its unrealistically slow aiming, and laser vs optics problem. (Or both.) Because that aiming makes it unsuitable for dealing with any moving targets. I would gladly trade 50~100dmg per shot for aiming fix.
Side note: While i categorize Hunters as trash tier in size, they are most dangerous counter to JAR-5. (And many other weapons.)
It takes 2-3 shots to kill a Devastator if you shoot their waist. And consistently kills Berserkers in 3 shots if you shoot their crotch, making it the best primary weapon to bring vs bots.
@@squeezyjibbs6643 Since important part is "vs bots", I do agree.
But isn't it other way around? Berserkers having red, glowing weak spot between rib cage and hips. (While having weirdly armored head which takes about same amount of damage as upper torso around it.)
And all devastators having weak spot head - one hit kill.
@DarkFox2232 You are right, glowing red parts are weak points for berserker. For weapons with weak armor penetration that is. Since Jar has medium pen, more different parts of bots become weak points for it, like Berserker's crotch. I do believe you can kill berserker with 1 headshot, but it's unreliable when (1) they bob to sides too much, (2) the head hit box is much smaller than it seems, and (3) handling of the Jar is way too low.
You are, again, correct about 1-shotting devastators to the head. I'm just talking about situations when you don't have time to line up a precise shot, which happens a lot on higher difficulties when you're getting surrounded.
this is very interesting to me, I didn't think it would be good vs Bugs, Ive been taking it vs bots every mission now
Dominator can also kill tanks when firing at the weak point at the back of the turret and will take it down in under a mag.
I've been using it and really like it, especially against the bots, but I also need to travel with someone who can take out the spam.
I like all my man. Like they are all fun.
Dominator might be considered objectively better for both, but the Scorcher performs amazingly well against bots more than bugs, and I like variety - so Scorcher for bots and Dominator for bugs. Sickle for both as solo. I'll consider the incendiary when they finally confirm the DOT is working properly. Most of the rest could use buffs or some tweaking to give them a niche, aside from basic Liberator, Punisher, Breaker and Diligence, which are perfectly fine for early game.
The scorcher IS a great weapon, especially for bots, but you can't one-tap devastators or stop them dead in their tracks. I do however like how the scorcher makes stupid quick work of striders.
Good primary. Love this gun.
Even with the slight nerf its still one of the best weapons against bots
My only gripe is that the smallest bit of brush on the map is effectively a wall.
Its a very good weapon. Not a big shotgun fan, but really love this one.
Me when I put on the Dominator: "AND I SHALL BURN THE HERETICS FROM MY SIGHT, AND THE ALIEN SHALL BE CAST DOWN IN MY RIGHTEOUS FIRE. I AM THE FLAME AND IT LIVES IN MY CLENCHED FIST. SO AM I ARMORED FOR WAR, A BRAZIER TO PURGE THE DARKNESS THAT ENCROACHES.
IT IS RUIN AND FURY. MY HEART IS MOLTEN INCANDESCENT AS THE BLOOD OF THE EARTH. CONSUME THEM! RENDER THEM UNTO ASH AND SMOKE!"
I tried it for a bit, but the scorcher is more reliable. Small clip size and long reload time plague both the guns, but the scorcher not as much. Negligible differences in damage against certain enemy types... all it comes down to is the reliability. The JAR 5 Dominator is just out of ammo way too often.
The weapons are in a weird place right now. You have a bunch of guns that aren't good enough to kill half the enemies, and a select 1 or 2 which are good enough to kill all the enemies. And 1 that does it better than the other. Plus, everything that's good enough to kill everything has a severe caveat - such a limited clip size, slow reload speed. So really, you're left with people having TWO CHOICES if they want to successfully kill everything. And because of the severe caveat they are now playing with to 'balance' the weapon? They're getting more frustrated and having less fun than they were using a Liberator against Trivial difficulty enemies.
Saying our choice of weapon is about choice but then having things like 'medium armour penetration' 'explosive' traits like THAT on some things, completely contradicts and conflicts with the intent to have everything a mere choice. I mean, with the way it works now, some weapons are *PEASHOOTERS* compared to others.
Used it whole lot before the buff,thinking it was good,but it needed more...now that it got it,it finally made the steel veteran warbond worth it,and oh man does it dominate now.
Still needs skill using it at longer ranges due to the slow projectile speed,but man can it punch stuff better now,amd now with the arc trower change its the combo i roll for killing basically anything