EDIT: There will still be 100 comments saying this anyways, but 1 I got the Plasma Punisher mixed up and forgot it's in Cutting Edge, I wouldn't change my rankings though 2. I love the tenderizer and that's the weapon I got reversed. 3 there is an editing mistake with the Senator where I say it's heavy pen but the card says medium. What Warbond do you think is the best Helldivers? Thanks for watchin!
Wow, absolutely fantastic info for any kind of mission, esspecially such reckle- esspecially such heroic Helldivers as mine who land straight on objective areas...
Early on I got around this by throwing the stratagem in the air, catching it with a personal shield generator, and dropping the shield to deploy the stratagem. Good to know you can use your hellpod as an alternative.
For those on a time crunch, from Best to Worst (the order Eravin recommends getting them in): 1. Democratic Detonation 2. Cutting Edge 3. Urban Legends 4. Viper Commandos 5. Polar Patriots 6. Steeled Veterans 7. Truth Enforcers 8. Chemical Agents 9. Freedom's Flame
Sterilizer could be buffed with a "heavy caustic" effect in line with the armor reduction of acid rain. Rationalize with "more reactive acid must be precisely distributed by trained personnel, restricting its use to handhelds" or something. It would soften armor, allowing teammates/self to more easily clean up heavy enemies when antiarmor isn't readily available.
You have to increase its range for that to work as well. Now, the range is too short, so you might just throw a thermite grenade to deal with that heavy enemy instead.
@@oMega-sm1egif you’ve fought the bots in Acid Rain, this effect is absurdly good, so buffing the range too much would be wild. It makes Hulks super easy to dumpster with even Med pen primaries, for example. Then the Senator and other AMR/AC tier penetrations can now just unload on Hulks without aiming and do damage. And since you aren’t being armor reduced by Acid Rain type effect, but the enemy is, that would be really devastating.
Unflinching is just a lazy implementation. They didn't even bother to reduce the flinching animation and/or make immune to flinching. It just deadlocks the weapon targeting to your crosshair. You can see this when using laser weapons like sickle. It doesn't "flinch" the projectile, but it does flinch the helldiver fully.
I will also say one nice extra use for the stim pistol is that you can also use it on people at full health to give them stamina boosts or activate experimental infusion when you’re trekking long distances, I’ve earned many “thank you!”s from heavy armour divers doing this :) another note is the stim dart cannot go through personal shield backpacks which is a downside .
Freedom's flame offers a large degree of freedom in build diversity, since you can have a flame thrower and an anti tank support weapon in the same loadout. I agree that it's nowhere near the top, but placing it at the very bottom seems like you just don't like flame throwers, and only view the warbond as useful due to the shotgun. Chemical Agents is literally only useful due to the grenade. The stim pistol is fun, but not great, and everything else in the warbond is basically useless. Freedom's flame at least gives you options, and build diversity, and fire grenades are still very solid options against both the bugs and the illuminate.
I actually love the flamethrower, which is why I think crisper and torcher suck. They’re just weaker versions of a weapon type you can’t really swap off to use your other weapons anyway, so why bring bad versions of it.
yeah, the crisper is my favorite to bring on illuminate. I don't like flamethrowers generally but they are undeniably useful for crowd control, and even the reduced power crisper is sufficient for this crowd control against the voteless if i need it in a pinch
@@EravinVT support weapons are supposed to be stronger than primary and secondary weapons, the torcher and crispr might be worse overall but it still offers some of what the flamethrower can give you while leaving you open to taking something more generally useful in that slot a quasar or autocannon. If anything I'd arguethey're better than the flamethrower because they freei up the support weapon slot for something anti-tank while still giving you above average chaff clear on demand.
Your #1 ranked Warbond was without a doubt correct imho. I feel like Polar Patriots got a lower rank than it deserved (incendiary impacts and the Verdict are solid), but all in all, I think the ranking was very logical and well done. Thank you for the video.
@@roboticrebel4092 Yeah, and the Orbital Airburst is an extremely random and inconsistent stratagem (And was even more so back in the day when it actually used that shrapnel) that only kills mediums at best and which gets completely overshadowed by the gatling barrage, so...
I just wanna share some love for the servo assisted armor passive. Adding range to your offensive stratagems (and thermites) just adds so much more capability than it sounds like it does. It lets you crush bases and cover teammates with MUCH greater flexibility, and it saves a lot of running for the heavy armor divers. You don’t have to leave cover for your throws, you don’t have to run closer to any threats to get in range, and you get extra limb health when vitality gets left behind for some reason. Like the new siege ready armor booster, it is also always in play. It’s my go to armor passive for bots, because matching their range is such a huge benefit to you.
Recently I learned vitality booster doesn't affect body part health, it's a myth. It actually is % damage resistance to health or overall. So you are harder to kill in general. As so, Servo Assisted loses nothing, can freely take it with this booster. Also fully agreed on throwing range. It's invaluable and possibly biggest game changer passive. I would be using it still if not for smoke grenades - which I adore - throwing these at my feet makes them bounce off away :D
@@13F4V1G It doesn't do anything for the head though, so the effect is placebo in reality. In this game, if you take a hit that doesn't instantly kill you, it doesn't really matter how much damage it did - The correct response is to stim either way.
The problem I have with saying the killzone armor is better than any said armor is that it's rare to need multiple resistances. You can benefit better just using the single resistance armor with more percentage. But on the other hand it has acid resistance which is it's main benefit for sure making it one of the best pick for bugs.
Lets me face tank bile spew while toasting everything, and lets me shrug off some of the inevitable back blast of fire. That acid resistance of the KZ armor is insane vs bugs.
Imho the Killzone armor is bar none the best terminid armor for flame thrower users. You don't get instakilled by spewers. If you catch fire it costs you way less HP (Assuming you can dive to put it out in a timely manner). You don't get hurt as much by overzealous styerilizer/Blitzer/Arc thrower users. (tesla towers still one shot you though)
And what's the venn diagram of new players, players who have all three options unlocked and players who are looking at which warbond to unlock first? In order to benefit from using the single resistance armor, you'd need to have each single resistance armor unlocked. So, here you are, a new/returning player looking at which warbond to put your first SC towards -- having just received the Killzone armor for free already. Are you going to pick your first warbond based on a slight percentage increase on *ONE* of three elemental resistances. Or are you going to base your decision on expanding your toolbox.
Eravin: makes a new warbond video breakdown Also Eravin: totally forgets all the new stuff, tactics and build diversity that was brought with the warbonds because numbers currently says that X is better than Y)
I will buy EVERY warbond, superstore item etc. WHY? Because arrowhead sold me a game for $40, made it fun, and gave me a ratatouille life flashback to my childhood enjoying games. That being said, demolition, cutting edge, and polar would be my first top 3 recommended.
@Ima9ineBreak3r Why take viper commando's? Just get the medium armor from the superstore. It's better anyway. And if you really like the booster just ask a teammate to bring it.
I really wish that the sterilizer would leave a cloud of gas in the area like the flamethrower leaving flames. Definitely would help making the sterilizer worth considering.
Although i would love a buff to the sterilizer, i still think it is a really good option for a more support build. With the amount of chaff thrown at you on high bug missions, having something that outright kills them AND makes them confused so they dont attack you is amazing once you get used to it. Also it has about double range than the flamthrower so when a bug breach pops up, just full sprayinto it and rack up like 50+ kills and let your other teammates deal with the charger, impaler, and bile titans.
I kinda like that it doesn't do that. The flames left behind by the flamethrower make it dangerous to advance. The sterilizer is a lot safer and more practical when moving foward. It does do way to little damage though.
Okay, yes, I agree that the Bushwhacker isn't the best secondary you could run...BUT, it does fulfill a specific niche: it provides ranged stagger force in the secondary slot. I love pairing the Bushwhacker with the Torcher to give me an emergency stagger button against aggressive Alpha Commanders and Stalkers. Plus, the Torcher does have something that the Flamethrower doesn't have: it's a primary weapon. This means you can bring the Recoilless and still have a flamethrower available for all the chaff. Love the video, Eravin! Keep it up!
The bushwhacker is a nice compliment to the crossbow in my experience. The stagger is so nice, and the newly buffed reload speed REALLY helps it feel smooth.
@@Ima9ineBreak3r THIS. it doesn’t matter if a hunter, stalker, or alpha commander is out to get you if you have the bushwacker equipped. if you’re running AT or explosive/plasma primaries on bugs, the pocket shotty lets you get them off your ass without risking a ragdoll and i love it bc of that. real clutch gun imo
Bushwhacker is one of the best secondary options for bugs when not using grenade pistol. It’s my favorite to run with crossbow/self damaging weapons. It staggers everything in one shot, and reliably deals with smaller bugs that get too close.
Also of note, vs illuminate it can burst the harvester shield down very fast. While the SMG pistol can also burst the shield with a full mag it takes time and you have less reloads compared to the whacker.
@@PerfectDeath4 It’s pretty good on Overseers in general. Melees aren’t a threat when running it, and jetpacks can be shot from mid/decent range if they are trying to fly on you.
I think you overlooked the flexibility the torcher brings you. It might not be as powerful as the support flamethrower but it still burns through the armor of overseers very quickly making these ridiculously tanky enemies a joke and deals with the voteless swarming around them at the same time. With that your support weapon slot is freed up for something that can deal with the harvestors or elevated overseers when they fly away from you. Torcher and machine gun has been my favorite loadout against the squids and after trying a ton of combinations I've found it to be the most reliable for me.
I run the reverse of that and it doesn’t cost a new players or returning player (who the video is aimed at) their super credits. AR+Flamethrower or Plasma Scorcher+flamethrower
Objectively, as it’s in order of which you should buy and when, why would I ever tell a new player to buy freedoms flame before anything else besides chemical
Did eravin forget that the verdict has medium armor pen now when proclaiming everything besides the purifier in polar patriots as trash? The thing one taps devastator heads and has great ammo capacity
@@TJKnight94Verdict has a larger magazine and a faster reload. Having a sidearm that can damage heavies is neat but doesn't mean I want to bring it just for that fact. (P.s. Tenderizer isn't garbage either imo)
@@TJKnight94the V is better for trash mob clearing but still retains your ability to take out medium armored enemies. Center mass hit can one shot all types of automaton troopers. It also has a much faster reload time.
It's cool, but practically speaking, it doesn't do anything unique or fill any niche that most primaries can't do better. If you care about ammo-efficiently controlling chaff stragglers and sniping devastator heads, you might as well use the Dagger. If you care about actually getting unique value out of your secondary slot, you might as well run the Senator or GP.
I love that we can agree on the top 3...and the last place one. For the firebugs, I love you, but it ain't for everyone. Now, Go get the top ranked one first cadets! It opens so many new ways to play.
In the end, it really depends on your play style, what you find cool and what you want to use. Bring anything you want in my lobbies. As long as you have fun. In my opinion, a missing point left out of the video is the synergie between warbond. For exemple the Torcher + Gaz guardog is very great to use, using the tic damage of both. I like the torcher over the stratagem flamethrower because it's not a hip fire weapon, being able to flame over obstacle is great.
Funny, ever since the reprimand landed in my hands i refused to put it down. It instantly became my favourite weapon in the game. The look, the sound, the stupid damage it has at close-medium range. I can even clip chaff at 60-70 meters with it in 1-3 shots depending on the mood of rngesus. It just feel right to me. Now this does not mean i think it is the best primary( it REALLY could use a bit of spread reduction and even then it would not become op), far from it but it is usefull enough as a pure damage dealer on all fronts and the other factors are a bonus.
especially since setting the reprimand to semi auto and just pacing your shots a little makes the recoil easy to handle its only the base spread that holds it back. If it had less spread but maintained recoil it'd be one of the best primaries plus like you said a few headshots to overseers absolutely melts them, I refuse to bring another primary against squids
Yep, Democratic Detonation was my friend's first pick after I gifted them the game about a month or so ago, and he didn't even watch any videos to make the choice. We just played together and he saw what works and what doesn't~
I agree with your placements, but I think the tenderizer is a decent enough to warrant a mention in the polar patriots warbond. That, combined with the purifier helps it earn its spot imo
Tenderizer does nothing to make polar patriots better for new players to buy, it's a slight stat adjustment on the starting assault rifle which is already a bad weapon that has no utility
Agreed. It feels more like a shotgun with frag slugs than anything capable of killing medium enemies in a single shot. The lack of any concussive splash damage is another issue too.
Yeah in my opinion the dominator should be the one primary in the game capable of busting through charger skulls and popping hulk eyes. I like the senator and I get that they gave it heavy pen for the big iron meme, but it doesn't sit right with me that a revolver is more adept at armor penetration than the boltgun
I think that would make sense in terms of lore, but the JAR5 is already one of the best weapons in the game and making it Heavy pen would DOUBLE it's damage against medium armor enemies while also letting it 2 tap heavies like Hulks. The only way I could see this working is if they significantly nerf it's damage and give it Heavy pen so it's better against medium/heavy enemies, but worse against small enemies.
Because it's a gyrojet gun. It's not physically possible for it to build enough velocity. Gyrojet rounds are very slow and inaccurate. There is a reason it wasn't revisited in real life.
@@rawrxdtonepforme9360 that is a good point, but still. in-game; it's big, it's heavy, it meant to be used on a single big target. Staggers like a mofo, and you don't get many. From a game perspective, that need a compensation for it, and Med Pen isn't it IMHO.
These are my opinions. If I don't mention something on this list, it is because it isn't that impressive in my opinion in comparison to the rest of the stuff in the warbond. Also we haven't seen more than half of the Illuminate faction, so most of this is dealing with the Automatons (Bots) and Terminids (Bugs). Steel Veterans: * Senator's heavy armor penetration buff makes it an amazing sidearm that can handle anything. Best use against Bot Hulks, Armored Striders, and Gunships. * Breaker Incendiary is still excellent against Bugs, but you might need to bring a Supply Pack for dealing with how ammo starved this gun got with the ammo clip nerf. * Jar-5 Dominator was my most favorite weapon for both Bots and Bugs for a long time. It is a very solid overall weapon. Cutting Edge: * Sickle is a very solid light penetration assault rifle that works better against Bots in my opinion just due to the fact that you can still headshot devastators with it. It is still okay against light chaff Bugs. * Las-7 Dagger is like the Sickle and is best used against the Bots and can headshot devastators really easily. The fire burn buff they gave to laser weapons makes it also great against light chaff Bugs and is amazing against Shriekers. Against Bots, you can sweep this gun across Jetpack Brigade members to detonate them in seconds. * The G-23 Stun Grenade used to be one of the premiere crowd-control grenades, but with the buffs to gas, now the G-4 Gas Grenade from Chemical Agents is now the premiere crowd-control grenade. Stuns are still very strong. * SG-8P Punisher Plasma for Bots and the Arc-12 Blitzer for Bugs are premiere crowd-control primaries that do enough damage and stagger to make them some of the best weapons in the game. Democratic Detonation: When this warbond came out, only the Eruptor was any good. Now, everything in the warbond is pretty decent if not amazing. Most people rate this warbond as one of the highest in the game at the moment. * G-123 Thermite Grenade started out as one of the weakest Grenade options in the game. But once it got its massive buff, it brought it up from basically unusable to the top grenade alongside the G-23 Stun/G-4 Gas Grenades. * R-36 Eruptor actually got nerfed (it used to have the shrapnel of the Orbital Airburst Strike stratagem - yeah, that happened - and now it has the shrapnel of the G-6 Frag Grenade), but it is still incredibly strong weapon that can also close Bug Holes and destroy Bot Fabricators (by shooting in the vents), giving it a lot of utility. * GP-31 Grenade Pistol is an amazing secondary that is tied with the Senator on how good it is. With the buff it basically fires the G-16 Impact Grenade and is also capable of closing Bug Holes and destroy Bot Fabricators. * CB-9 Exploding Crossbow is a primary that is basically the R-36 Eruptor or GP-31 Grenade Pistol, but multiple shots and was buffed to become one-handed. It is amazing against both the Bots and Bugs and is considered by many to be the strongest Primary in the game at the moment. Polar Patriots: I would argue that everything in the Polar Patriots is mid-tier compared to the three previous warbond entries on this list. With the buff to the P113-Verdict from light armor penetration to medium, it became okay, but I'd rather carry the Senator or GP-31 Grenade Pistol for my secondary. The only standout, after it got buffed, is the Plas-101 Purifier. It is now comparable to the various other S-Tier Bot weapons. Also, if I am rocking a fire build against Bugs, I might bring the G-13 Incendiary Impact Grenade from this warbond, but otherwise you are buying the warbond entirely for the Plas-101 Purifier. Viper Commandos: Like Polar Patriots, everything is pretty meh except the following: * Peak Physique Armor Passive is a very solid armor passive, and the look is immaculate. Though I tend to use Engineering Kit or Fortified and crouch to get a similar effect. * SG-22 Bushwhacker is a pretty solid staggering pocket-shotgun. It is a great "get out of jail free card". * Experimental Infusion Booster, like Polar Patriots, this is basically the real standout and the reason to buy this warbond. Bonus points: it stacks with Med-Kit Armor Passive. Freedom's Flame: Everything in this warbond is great against the Bugs. * SG-451 Cookout is a better SG-8 Punisher Shotgun. It trades some direct damage for fire burn Damage-Over-Time (DOT). It is by far one of the best Primaries against the Bugs right now alongside the Arc-12 Blitzer, and its stagger force is better than the Blitzer. * Inflammable Armor Passive is for when you bring a bunch of fire against the Bugs and you want to make sure you don't cook yourself. It is also one of the few Armor Passives that is good against an entire planet environment: the fire tornados. * Flam-66 Torcher and P-72 Crisper are slightly less damaging versions of the Flamethrower Stratagem AND they can kill Chargers from the front (aim for the spot between the head and the joints of the front legs). No stagger strength worth mentioning, so sweep the ground in front of you as you back up. Chemical Agents: * Advanced Filtration Armor Passive is great if you use the G-4 Gas Grenade AND the Orbital Gas Strike (both amazing crowd-control after the buff, these two have replaced the Stun Grenades in many Helldiver loadouts). You can basically walk into any gas and slaughter your enemy while they are helpless or are randomly attacking their allies. * G-4 Gas Grenade after the buff that gave them the confusion effect made them the premiere crowd-control grenade. I cannot overstate how strong this grenade is, and feels like a mandatory pick if you are not taking the Stun Grenade or Thermite. * P-11 Stim Pistol after the buff that made it capable of hitting a target AND if you are wearing Med-Kit Armor Passive AND someone brought the Experimental Infusion Booster, this is a premiere support weapon. If you have both armor and booster, shooting your allies the instant before battle will increase their survivability by a ton. It also helps if you have heavy armor wearing teammates, allowing them to keep up with the light armor wearing teammates. Truth Enforcers: The Unflinching Armor Passive will be great when they eventually give us a Heavy Armor version of this Armor. Until then, you are too squishy even with the Medium Armor for this passive to be useful. The Plas-15 Loyalist Pistol is okay, but the Senator is better. * SG-20 Halt is a great supporting weapon and also a great weapon for Stealth Divers. It's stun effect is amazing and is almost as good, if not better, than the Stun Grenade (man, the Stun Grenade went from one of the best grenades in the game to being like the third best crowd-control behind the G-4 Gas Grenade and SG-20 Halt primary). I recommend binding both the "Open Weapon Wheel" and "Weapon Wheel Right Side" to the same "Press [insert button]" for quick change between the two ammo types. * Dead Sprint - If you have Vitality Booster as well, then this Booster is amazing and will let you basically run across the map without stop. If someone is also P-11 Stim Pistoling you alongside that, your team can basically cover the map in half the time it normally takes. Amazing Booster if paired with Vitality Booster on a big map where sustained speed is king (also during Blitz missions). * SMG-32 Reprimand - I hope this gets buffed in the future to be one-handed, similarly on how they buffed the Exploding Crossbow from two-handed to one-handed. It is one of the strongest damaging assault rifles with medium penetration, though it has a huge amount of recoil and spread that makes it only really viable close up. Great against both Bots and Bugs. Urban Legends: This is an interesting Warbond, as it is a Warbond that is more enhancing your current weapons over getting new stuff (primaries/secondaries/grenades). And it has two really decent Stratagems. * Siege-Ready Armor Passive is pretty dang useful. I use it against the Illuminate or Bug factions because sometimes you really need the ammo to deal with the swarms. * Flame Sentry is great against Illuminate and Bugs as well. * Anti-Tank Emplacement is the standout Stratagem. This thing unmatched killing potential and the ammo to back it up.
Democratic Detonation for first, Steeled Veterans for second and Cutting Edge OR Polar Patriots for third depending on your preferences should be favored, in my opinion. There's not really anything in Viper Commandos that makes it better than the previous two mentioned. Keep in mind, Steeled Veterans is the only Warbond that gives you a Heavy Penetration weapon from the loadout screen -- this is a very unique and very helpful niche that no other weapon matches. Urban Legends could be the 4th pick, as the armor and ATE are easily S-tier and change the game.
At some point do you think they'll release a bundle that includes several of the older war bonds for a lower price? I feel like if this just keeps going no new players are gonna wanna shell out a hundred bucks or grind dozens of hours to buy the continuely growing number of bonds.
Pro tip: You can oneshot rocket striders with the stun lance (hit them in the Rockets). Side efects may include bleeding, blunt force trauma and or concussions or death Consult your doctor about blowing striders today.
I can't imagine unironically saying you shouldn't bring the crisper or torcher because you can bring a flamethrower. As if using your support weapon slot isn't a huge sacrifice. I always bring the crisper on illuminate missions. Having a flame thrower in my pocket is just so incredibly useful for horde clear.
This is NOT A TIER LIST, NEW PLAYERS SHOULD NOT BE SPENDING THEIR FIRST SC, GETTING GUNS THAT DO THE SAME THING AS OTHER GUNS, I don't know how to clarify this, but these comments are getting annoying
@@danieldusentrieb9958Don't worry. The dude is literally ranking the warbonds top to bottom. It's a tier list in everything but name. You have a very good point about FF. They talk about how great the grenade pistol is because it adds flexibility, but then says Torcher and Crisper are bad because the flamethrower is better?? Lmaoooo, by that logic the grenade pistol sucks because the grenade launcher does everything it does but better. It's fine if it's not top, but they do new players disservice by misrepresenting things.
@@joeggrant406he overtly says that's it's an order to buy the warbonds and the title itself says it's about saving super credits, ie buying the things that bring the most variety and options to gameplay.
I'd personally disagree on chemical agents and freedoms flame placement, sure gas grenades are strong and the stim pistol is fun, but torcher and cookout are definitely some of the best bug and squid weapons, but idk I have a love for fire, shotguns, and flamethrowers so it could just be me lol.
Happy to see some love for the flame weapons :-) I just wish the flame armor would make you inflammable, then I would probably like such loadouts more...
@@ludewich I definitely agree, in my opinion all the full status armors should completely remove the damage (and the animation of taking damage + ragdolling) (besides for fortified) to balance out that we have a passive that covers all of them. Me setting myself on fire all the time isn't enough of a reason for me to not my beloved fire weapons tho
I live by Steeled Veterans. The Jar and the Senator allow me to take on tougher enemies straight on. The 30% throw range is underrated. I like to lead the group to an area, toss in a 500kg or walking barrage, and then rush in behind the explosion. That 30% extra allows me to let the explosion to be the first activity and catch the enemies clustered.
If gas clouds could be ignited with fire, both warbonds would instantly jump in value. Imagine a couple gas grenades going out, confusing a whole group, then someone fires the Crisper a second and you've basically made a combo fire-smoke bomb. Complicated way to make an incendiary grenade, but sounds like fun to me lol.
I have six of the nine 'bonds already, but couldn't decide on which of the other three to purchase next, or if I should just save it for the next one. Thank you for helping me decide on the Cutting Edge warbond.
Ngl, the stun lance and shield is probably my favorite meme loadout when running missions with the boys. It’s funny as hell to form a phalanx or shield wall while smashint squids and bots
Freedom flame was my first war bond when I started in August, got so excited to use the Torcher and burn some bugs. Might not be good but it ranks high for me simply for the nostalgia.
It’s honestly an underrated warbond. I bought it a few weeks ago and having a primary flamethrower weapon is really nice. You can kill chaff enemies AND bring another stratagem.
Yeah honestly didn't find it awful as other players made it out to be, always scratched my head when I see it ranked at the bottom of UA-camrs tier list😅 Maybe it's just the saying Rose Tinted glasses lol.
Eravin, I wholeheartedly salute you for ranking the only two warbonds I own on first and second spots 😅 as a F2P veteran I should say they have saved my sweet libertea skin several occasions ✌🏼
Glad you did this vid, been binging your content a lot since returning to HD2. Had 3 warbonds left to get, this has helped me prioritize them. Thanks Eravin
Hey Eravin! Love the videos. Thank you for all the guides and breakdowns you've posted. They've helped me immensely. Also I've been wanting to ask, what's the story behind your channel's avatar? I've no issue with it -- just curious is all.
The heavy stagger, spread and incendiary property of the Cookout is great for all factions. Doubly so if you are a team player and are covering your allies. Interruptible reload and the ability to 2 shot devestators by body shotting them then moving in for the head. Holding groups off inside strategem zones is just great value for pissing away more bullets. My Automaton buster at the moment is cookout, grenade pistol, thermite, wasp, 120mm barrage, napalm orbital and rocker sentry. Tools for every occasion and you can run solo, you are ammo hungry but there are usually drops everywhere.
Great list. My only complaint is no mention of the verdict. IMO it's the best sidearm against the bugs if you already have a reliable method for closing holes.
It's the best sidearm in the game. If you're hellbent on closing holes you will run a GL or Crossbow anyway. Why use your secondary slot on a weapon that doesn't do it very well?
Thanks dude, been asked this a handful of times and never really had a ready response as I know my personal playstyle and preferences are *very* niche. Helps distil it down to something a bit more easily digestible for your average player.
While that's not wrong, it overlooks the main reasoning behind the ranking. Which is that it's primarily stated to be aimed at new players or returning players who don't have all the options unlocked already. The key qualifier to be able to pick out of the three specialized options is that you would need to have ALL THREE unlocked already. Meanwhile the Killzone armor gives a handy catch-all covering all 3 elemental types *PLUS* bile leaving new/returning players to focus their initial warbond decisions on more impactful value decisions first.
The vets is probably my favourite starting pass. It has allround good stuff, maybe some more niche, but i still love the senator and the armor to this day since it came out
Great video as always. I very much agree in general with your list. I always say demo det and cutting edge as 1 and 2. Then take your pick between urban legends, viper commandos, and polar patriots so that puts the top 5 as exactly what you have!
What you could've added to the provided info is this: - JAR-5 Dominator is the best primary for taking down squid shields with nothing being even close to that. It's the autocannon of the primaries, that's performing really well across the 3 factions(also kills really quickly harvesters and one-head-taps the overseers, aside of handling stalkers and spewers or zerkers/devos). - Bushwacker is the best secondary for taking down shields. For those reasons and - as you said - as the Steeled Veterans is more newbie oriented - I would personally probably suggest the Steeled Veterans as first purchase. Also the inc. breaker seems like godsend until you learn the game pretty well - but by the time those people would need staggering or other functionality primary - they would likely have the SC for another purchase. Cheers!
in a video the size of this one with as much to cover as this one alot is going to be cut, but this is actually a good argument for steeled veterans and one of the most intelligent and constructive comments in the video feed instead of just reminding me that although I said the Senator is heavy pen, because there is a typo I need to be informed it's heavy pen.
@@EravinVT I watch your other buddies too - thiccy, clay, mapple - I think you're the most technical about the game from all youtubers and I keep learning stuff now and then - even after 1200 hours of HD2 :D I think you deserve more credit. The fact is though... This game has a learning curve so steep and diverse, that people can't realise how different games one with 200-300 hours and one with 500+ of gaming are playing. So thank you for continuing doing all that without being disheartened... Well... too much at least :D I know how it feels.
Of course usually I never use the reinforcement booster, but it’s pretty useful for high level eradication missions. Especially when you’re playing with randoms😅
Incendiary Impact grenade from Polar Patriots would have been worth going over IMO, since the lingering fire is great for area denial and often lethal passive damage against pursuing enemies if you need to retreat from a swarm or when you're trying to reposition but don't want to/can't deploy a stratagem. It doesn't stun or paralyze like the EMS or Gas grenades, but it also kills enemies more effectively than the gas grenades anyway -- to say nothing of the obvious application in asset defense missions. Is that enough to put it above Viper Commandos? ....no, probably not depending on playstyle and/or enemy preference, but it is a factor nonetheless. I'd also point out that the Inflammable armors that come with Freedom's Flame can be useful against the Automatons even if you aren't using any flame weaponry yourself because of all the explosive barrels that can set you on fire when tackling outposts or objectives like Jammers. Combining that information with what you said about the Cookout, I think this definitely puts FF above Chemical Agents and maybe even Truth Enforcers for an inexperienced player -- especially if you're on console and AFAIK can't really customize inputs very much like on PC, meaning the Halt demands a higher skill threshold to fully utilize. Edit: yes, there's the free Killzone armor for fire resistance... but the freebie is only available for one armor class, with the other being a super store item and there not being a heavy armor variation. Freedom's Flame gives time-free access to both Light and Medium armor variants IIRC.
So I actually messed around with the Torcher a bit last night, and I need to back up what a few others have said: even if it's not as effective as the base flamethrower, the Torcher still offers the same utility while freeing up my support slot for anti-tank options like the Quasar or RR. Bearing that in mind along with what I said before, I definitely think Freedom's Flame should rank higher than even Truth Enforcers; arguably the only thing keeping it lower than Polar Patriots is how *overwhelmingly* good the Purifier is.
the sterilizer and guard dog NEED a lingering cloud, even if it only lasted a few seconds, it would dramatically increase effectiveness of both stratagems, as you can shoot in front of an enemy before its in range and the lock-on-until-dead targeting of the guard dog wont be as much of a hinderance. Though i like the ballistic and laser dogs, i really like how the gas dog doesnt just hang out with your head directly between it and the enemy, and instead actually goes out and hovers over the enemy. though of course, if they add a flame dog the gas dog will be useless, unless the aforementioned lingering cloud gets added. then again, the flame dog will also lock-on-until-dead just like the flame turret
I will say, the Stim Pistol is actually kinda ok but generally underutilized. You need to build your entire loadout to elevate it from mediocre but fun to Situationally Useful. Medic Armor/Super Stim/Weapons to do the secondary job (bug holes or anti-mediums/heavies). Its specifically good on defense, like the flag missions.
Haha, I use the stim pistol all the time. It's my goto secondary since I don't usually have problems with dealing with low ammo. With my gas armor and gas grenades too. I like using the gas set with the crossbow for destroying jammers and mega nests. Alone. Without sneaking.
As a Clanker-Main, I LOVE Democratic Detonation - the thermite making tanks a non-issue and the grenade pistol secondary allowing me to pop fabricators made me a solo-helldive-machine
The crisper is a nice solution to deleting a patrol of voteless in like two seconds, though, while keeping the primary and support slots free for other stuff.
The cookout is good and the two flamers open up some very fun builds both because of being pen 4 and for being flamers. Love my crispr against voteless and the torcher for bugs. Flame resistant goes hard against flamer hulks and looks cool too!
Freedoms Flame is my number 1 warbond, love the flamethrower, so having 75 percent fire resistance has saved me from killing myself many times. I also love the torcher cause I can light everything on fire and still bring a support weapon that punches through armor like the Heavy Machine Gun or Commando or Autocannon etc.
I agree that the viper commandos booster is amazing, and peak physique is an important passive for really enabling so many great weapons to really shine, but I'm not sure that should qualify the warbond so highly for new players. It's very likely, unless you've got a group of 4 new players all playing together, that someone else will have the booster, and since all the other must-have boosters are available in the free warbond, they can run one of those while letting someone else use the infusion. And peak physique is often available in the superstore. I had spare SCs when viper commandos came out so I picked it up. But the friends I always play with, who are always lagging a bit behind on SCs just got the peak physique armor for (I think) 150SCs, and now none of them really need that warbond at all. Of course that means you have to wait for it in the superstore, but it's probably worth mentioning, because unlike the other warbonds, the majority of this one's functionality can be gotten by other means. Though, to be fair, I guess you can also always trade primary weapons with other helldivers at the cost of a reinforce.
I think that where you have the Steeled Veterans war bond is fair for once you have all of them, but it would be the first one I’d recommend newer players getting. The weapons will eventually be outclassed (other than the senator) but unlike the warbonds with the Cookout, or Plasma Purifier, the steeled veterans warbond gives so much diversity. It gives one of the best bot primaries in the game (Dominator), the second best bug primary in the game (Breaker incindeary), and a good option against illuminate for crowd control (liberator concussive) all in one warbond, as well as having possibly the best secondary in the game. To me that makes it a great option for beginners to get first, before they can branch out into warbonds that are only really good for one thing, like the polar patriots, or freedoms flame warbonds.
Heres my order of warbonds: Base warbond; Stealed verterans (loaded with this in Idk if its cuz of super citizen edition or watever); Democratic detonation (comissar Kai told me to buy it first); truth enforecers(I hate liars); Urban legends( I got it as soon as it came out); Polar Patriots(My favorite warbond P:S plz buff the verdict arrowhead); cutting edge(I love edging + stun grenades and scikle go brrrrrr); Next warbonds: Viper Commandos(second favorite); freedoms flame(I love fire cuz I love flamethrowers); chemical agents( make stim pistol GREAT AGAAAAAAINNNNN!)
I would have said you forgot about the Adjudicator as a Medium Pen Assault Rifle improvement to the Liberator Pen, but with the buff that the Lib Pen received it can match the Adjudicator damage with its volume of ammunition.
Even though Steeled Veterans is still somewhat middle of the pack, I've been running Servo-Assisted armor since the start, and I believe that it's only become better with the thermite grenades and stratagem buffs.
Not putting the Gas Bond at last is insane but I somewhat understand your reasoning behind why Freedoms Flame is last. I even agree to a point, just simply refuse to put the Gasbond anywhere but last. (Gas grenades are GOATed though)
While I agree the primary and secondary flame throwers are worse, yeah that's kinda expected. Of course the support one is better but it takes a support slot you might want to fill with something else better for whatever you're doing. Personally my favorite loadout at least for the bugs is the primary flamethrower, plasma pistol and recoilless. Works very well in all fights I have encountered
From the perspective of a player with no warbonds, spending 1k to use worse flamethrowers in the primary or secondary position which required sustained usage meaning they diminish the rest of your weapon sets value at the cost of their first 1k sc is something nobody would every recommend, this is the logic that fuels the entire buy order
I'd personally rank Urban Legends second because of how strong the AT/E is. It frees up the support and backpack slots for non-AV options, whatever you fancy. Maybe rock a shield or jumpack for survivability, or a weapon/dog to sweep out the chaff even faster. You don't have to pack the RR or AC for all your missions anymore. Also I do appreciate the extra throwing range from servo armor. It makes thermiting certain heavies much safer, as well as throwing certain stratagem beacons cough cough 380/orbital napalm.
Goodness no love for the Verdict? If I'm not taking the Senator or the 'Nade pistol I'm usually packing the Verdict. Yeah, it doesn't quite punch up to the Senators weight but controls better, reloads faster and has more rounds. The Dagger is great for the Jet Brigade too. I'd take any of those before I took the Fire thing or the basic pistols or even the little triple shotty.
Apart from the torcher and crisper opening up some more loadout possibilities (which is of dubious value to a new player), I think the cookout is worth the price of the warbond all by itself. It's on my short list of go-to primaries for both the terminids and illuminates. It has excellent ammo economy, you don't need to pay attention to how many shots are left in the mag to avoid wasting ammo, it can be reloaded as fast as it shoots, and it has a very reliable stagger (enough to juggle multiple stalkers, even while killing chaff). It won't take out heavy units, but that's what support weapons are typically best for. As a beginner, I gravitated towards the basic punisher shotgun, and the cookout is just a massively more effective version of it. That may not be enough to put freedom's flame in the top few spots, but getting one of the most versatile, effective, and new-player-friendly primaries has got to be worth more than gas grenades (and I do love the gas grenades).
I got the game after the illuminate were added to the game and decided to unlock Urban Legends first. I gotta say, that AT emplacement is unreal against the bots. It just kills everything I don't find the flame sentry to be particularly great, as the flames almost never things before they get to the turret, so it feels significantly less effective than almost everything else, and the stun lance does laughably low damage, so I do agree with ranking this war bond lower than others, but seriously that AT emplacement is something else
If that freedom flames armor did 90% reduction to flame damage and the flames caused enemies to "panic" sort of similar to the gas does to enemies, then it'd be kinda good. Also it'd be so cool if that booster hit like a dang 120mm and had a big initial whoosh of flames it'd be so fun (if not a bit trolly)
I was a blitzer main on bugs for a long time but with the Halt I far more enjoy using it. Shoot stun round at commander, switch to flechet, two shots to head and dead. Also STUNS CHARGERS!! No other primary can do this. Sure can bring stun grenades but that’s limits you to 4 or 6 grenades. Being able to stun with the halt then use another grenade like the gas or the incendiary impact on bugs is great. It’s just far more enjoyable to use than the blitzer IMO
Demo set for the g-pistol, updated thermite and xbow (which really should be 7x7 ammo not 5x8). Steel vet for the JAR5, magnum, thermite nade and incen breaker. Urban for the AT emplacement maybe also the stun lance if you run explodey grenades/primary. Polar for the tenderiser n purifier L Cutting for the stuns n sickle Flame for the armour ignoring flamers. Chem for the grenade (lasts longer than fire) Viper for the armour passive Truth for the visual armour
The peak physique passive is also on the superstore rotation and I find that more palatable than buying an entire warbond (viper commandos) for the passive + booster. YMMV of course :)
Bushwacker from viper commandos is the best non-grenade-pistol sidearm for terminids. It has a powerful stagger and good damage. No medium armor penetration unfortunately but on d10 termininds you shouldn't rely on your secondary for medium armor penetration.
DemoDet was my first, I love the BR-14 Adjudicator, I call it the Workhorse Assault Rifle (although it's functionally better as a DMR). The Cutting Edge was my second, because of the LAS-16 Sickle which I actually like to use for a Full Auto AR, mainly because it reminds me of a Hot-Shot Lasgun that the Tempestus Scions/Kasrkin use from 40k... And they are absolutely badasses. The closest thing 40k has to Helldivers in function. I love Polar Patriots for the drip, and I think that'll be the next Warbond I'll work towards.
Reprimand on semi auto is good fun for bugs, lot of single shots and it feels like an increased clear rate over the Blitzer. Semi auto really negates the spread and lost shots issue imo.
Reminder that the stun lance can headshot, meaning it is VERY capable of bring down devastators and beserkers, if not just keeping them stunned. Is it dumb to bring to bot missions? Sure. Is it useful even without armour buffs against them? Surprisingly! Remember, swapping to your lightning stun stick is always faster than reloading.
This is a minor complaint from me about the killzone armor but every helmet floats above the neck because they didn't finish the neck up into the helmets. I know it's an easy fix but it bugs me every time I try to use that armor. I don't want a floating helmet
I think it would need to have a small AoE in order to be better -- as this would both resolve its hit-ratio issues (where many report it to be largely chasing enemies while only infrequently actually hitting) as well as expanding its general utility if it could hit more enemies if they are crowded together. And even then while it would be more useful, it'd still be outclassed by other options. Swapping gas out for bile while keeping its other current characteristics wouldn't address one of its main shortcomings which is that it's a bit like a dog chasing after an ambulance aimlessly and then not really knowing what to do with itself if it DOES finally catch up to it.
EDIT: There will still be 100 comments saying this anyways, but 1 I got the Plasma Punisher mixed up and forgot it's in Cutting Edge, I wouldn't change my rankings though 2. I love the tenderizer and that's the weapon I got reversed. 3 there is an editing mistake with the Senator where I say it's heavy pen but the card says medium.
What Warbond do you think is the best Helldivers? Thanks for watchin!
Democratic detonation
I agree
It will forever be Democratic Detonation
Great video I can show my casual buds who don't have everything unlocked. Always great to see a HD2 notification from you.
21:28
Did you know if you land on a high rock you can throw your strategems on your hellpod and it won’t bounce
@@kasonsao-fe3zt good to know, thanks for the tip Helldiver
Nice
I'm going to try this
Wow, absolutely fantastic info for any kind of mission, esspecially such reckle- esspecially such heroic Helldivers as mine who land straight on objective areas...
Early on I got around this by throwing the stratagem in the air, catching it with a personal shield generator, and dropping the shield to deploy the stratagem. Good to know you can use your hellpod as an alternative.
For those on a time crunch, from Best to Worst (the order Eravin recommends getting them in):
1. Democratic Detonation
2. Cutting Edge
3. Urban Legends
4. Viper Commandos
5. Polar Patriots
6. Steeled Veterans
7. Truth Enforcers
8. Chemical Agents
9. Freedom's Flame
thank you for helping viewers skip my video potentially in exchange for less then reddit karma
thanks !
@@EravinVT then add time stamps next time
@@BenLJudy thanks bro I was kinda in a rush and looking for this comment.
... OK? Rude and rubbish list btw
Sterilizer could be buffed with a "heavy caustic" effect in line with the armor reduction of acid rain. Rationalize with "more reactive acid must be precisely distributed by trained personnel, restricting its use to handhelds" or something. It would soften armor, allowing teammates/self to more easily clean up heavy enemies when antiarmor isn't readily available.
@@thermiteturtle3486 Great idea, no real reason to bring sterilizer over flamethrower but this will be a great idea
I like this idea a lot. Melting armor like acid rain would open up some great gameplay options
As another variant, it would be cool if... Fire + Gas = BOOM with big damage and stun. This 100% buff gas and fire weapon. It would be cool.
You have to increase its range for that to work as well. Now, the range is too short, so you might just throw a thermite grenade to deal with that heavy enemy instead.
@@oMega-sm1egif you’ve fought the bots in Acid Rain, this effect is absurdly good, so buffing the range too much would be wild.
It makes Hulks super easy to dumpster with even Med pen primaries, for example. Then the Senator and other AMR/AC tier penetrations can now just unload on Hulks without aiming and do damage. And since you aren’t being armor reduced by Acid Rain type effect, but the enemy is, that would be really devastating.
For unflinching, they really should add a damage taken reduction whenever you are aiming, aiming makes you slow so that would balance it
Unflinching is just a lazy implementation. They didn't even bother to reduce the flinching animation and/or make immune to flinching. It just deadlocks the weapon targeting to your crosshair. You can see this when using laser weapons like sickle. It doesn't "flinch" the projectile, but it does flinch the helldiver fully.
Make it so that you don't get staggered when stimming and i'll take that passive and armor any day.
They need a Heavy Armor version.
I will also say one nice extra use for the stim pistol is that you can also use it on people at full health to give them stamina boosts or activate experimental infusion when you’re trekking long distances, I’ve earned many “thank you!”s from heavy armour divers doing this :) another note is the stim dart cannot go through personal shield backpacks which is a downside .
@@GooiYingChyi"x is a lazy implementation" sums up almost every aspect of this game imo. Still fun, just lots of duct tape and "it works".
Freedom's flame offers a large degree of freedom in build diversity, since you can have a flame thrower and an anti tank support weapon in the same loadout. I agree that it's nowhere near the top, but placing it at the very bottom seems like you just don't like flame throwers, and only view the warbond as useful due to the shotgun. Chemical Agents is literally only useful due to the grenade. The stim pistol is fun, but not great, and everything else in the warbond is basically useless. Freedom's flame at least gives you options, and build diversity, and fire grenades are still very solid options against both the bugs and the illuminate.
I actually love the flamethrower, which is why I think crisper and torcher suck. They’re just weaker versions of a weapon type you can’t really swap off to use your other weapons anyway, so why bring bad versions of it.
yeah, the crisper is my favorite to bring on illuminate. I don't like flamethrowers generally but they are undeniably useful for crowd control, and even the reduced power crisper is sufficient for this crowd control against the voteless if i need it in a pinch
In the context of new player experience, freedom flame would be a rough pick.
@@EravinVTthis might be a stretch but the crossbow is almost like a worse auto cannon so by that logic the crossbow sucks
@@EravinVT support weapons are supposed to be stronger than primary and secondary weapons, the torcher and crispr might be worse overall but it still offers some of what the flamethrower can give you while leaving you open to taking something more generally useful in that slot a quasar or autocannon. If anything I'd arguethey're better than the flamethrower because they freei up the support weapon slot for something anti-tank while still giving you above average chaff clear on demand.
Your #1 ranked Warbond was without a doubt correct imho. I feel like Polar Patriots got a lower rank than it deserved (incendiary impacts and the Verdict are solid), but all in all, I think the ranking was very logical and well done. Thank you for the video.
Yea polar was one of the first I got cuz of the purifier
My OG Eruptor.......you were to pure for this world. RIP
It was using the shrapnel from orbital airburst, ok. The nerf was unfortunately understandable
Realism over Fun gotcha
it is very much still a OP weapon especially with rapid fire
@@roboticrebel4092 Yeah, and the Orbital Airburst is an extremely random and inconsistent stratagem (And was even more so back in the day when it actually used that shrapnel) that only kills mediums at best and which gets completely overshadowed by the gatling barrage, so...
Its really not that bad now, once they added back the shrapnel its pretty much perfect for what its supposed to be
I just wanna share some love for the servo assisted armor passive. Adding range to your offensive stratagems (and thermites) just adds so much more capability than it sounds like it does. It lets you crush bases and cover teammates with MUCH greater flexibility, and it saves a lot of running for the heavy armor divers. You don’t have to leave cover for your throws, you don’t have to run closer to any threats to get in range, and you get extra limb health when vitality gets left behind for some reason. Like the new siege ready armor booster, it is also always in play. It’s my go to armor passive for bots, because matching their range is such a huge benefit to you.
Recently I learned vitality booster doesn't affect body part health, it's a myth. It actually is % damage resistance to health or overall. So you are harder to kill in general. As so, Servo Assisted loses nothing, can freely take it with this booster.
Also fully agreed on throwing range. It's invaluable and possibly biggest game changer passive.
I would be using it still if not for smoke grenades - which I adore - throwing these at my feet makes them bounce off away :D
@@13F4V1G It doesn't do anything for the head though, so the effect is placebo in reality.
In this game, if you take a hit that doesn't instantly kill you, it doesn't really matter how much damage it did - The correct response is to stim either way.
The problem I have with saying the killzone armor is better than any said armor is that it's rare to need multiple resistances. You can benefit better just using the single resistance armor with more percentage.
But on the other hand it has acid resistance which is it's main benefit for sure making it one of the best pick for bugs.
Not only does it have a fairly strong effect, the drip is S-tier. I pretty much exclusively use it now, even if it isn't the most optimal ability.
Lets me face tank bile spew while toasting everything, and lets me shrug off some of the inevitable back blast of fire.
That acid resistance of the KZ armor is insane vs bugs.
Imho the Killzone armor is bar none the best terminid armor for flame thrower users.
You don't get instakilled by spewers.
If you catch fire it costs you way less HP (Assuming you can dive to put it out in a timely manner).
You don't get hurt as much by overzealous styerilizer/Blitzer/Arc thrower users. (tesla towers still one shot you though)
And what's the venn diagram of new players, players who have all three options unlocked and players who are looking at which warbond to unlock first?
In order to benefit from using the single resistance armor, you'd need to have each single resistance armor unlocked.
So, here you are, a new/returning player looking at which warbond to put your first SC towards -- having just received the Killzone armor for free already.
Are you going to pick your first warbond based on a slight percentage increase on *ONE* of three elemental resistances. Or are you going to base your decision on expanding your toolbox.
@@danjal87nl most new players are not getting the free KZ gear anymore, very small window of like 2-3 days...
Eravin really did the Tenderizer and Verdict dirty with this one
yeah the tenderizer is amazing on all 3 fronts
Eravin: makes a new warbond video breakdown
Also Eravin: totally forgets all the new stuff, tactics and build diversity that was brought with the warbonds because numbers currently says that X is better than Y)
I will buy EVERY warbond, superstore item etc. WHY? Because arrowhead sold me a game for $40, made it fun, and gave me a ratatouille life flashback to my childhood enjoying games.
That being said, demolition, cutting edge, and polar would be my first top 3 recommended.
Yes. Im not usually buy items in game. But for HD2 i just go all out, cuz i too wanna see this game evolve and bring more fun.
I definitely agree with DD and PP, but I might take Viper Commands over High Tech... its close.
@Ima9ineBreak3r Why take viper commando's? Just get the medium armor from the superstore. It's better anyway. And if you really like the booster just ask a teammate to bring it.
**WHOOOOOOSH**
I really wish that the sterilizer would leave a cloud of gas in the area like the flamethrower leaving flames. Definitely would help making the sterilizer worth considering.
It needs a complete rework currently dumpster butter tier
Honestly thats what i assume it would be before buying it. Turn out gas doesnt linger
Although i would love a buff to the sterilizer, i still think it is a really good option for a more support build. With the amount of chaff thrown at you on high bug missions, having something that outright kills them AND makes them confused so they dont attack you is amazing once you get used to it. Also it has about double range than the flamthrower so when a bug breach pops up, just full sprayinto it and rack up like 50+ kills and let your other teammates deal with the charger, impaler, and bile titans.
I kinda like that it doesn't do that. The flames left behind by the flamethrower make it dangerous to advance. The sterilizer is a lot safer and more practical when moving foward.
It does do way to little damage though.
Sir the plasma punisher is not in polar patriots!
Woops
@@EravinVT its in the cutting edge warbond
@@EravinVT tuff
@@EravinVT Do you play the game often?
@@EravinVTI only ask bc, it sounds like you've never used the crossbow here 19:50
Okay, yes, I agree that the Bushwhacker isn't the best secondary you could run...BUT, it does fulfill a specific niche: it provides ranged stagger force in the secondary slot. I love pairing the Bushwhacker with the Torcher to give me an emergency stagger button against aggressive Alpha Commanders and Stalkers. Plus, the Torcher does have something that the Flamethrower doesn't have: it's a primary weapon. This means you can bring the Recoilless and still have a flamethrower available for all the chaff.
Love the video, Eravin! Keep it up!
The bushwhacker is a nice compliment to the crossbow in my experience. The stagger is so nice, and the newly buffed reload speed REALLY helps it feel smooth.
@@Ima9ineBreak3r THIS. it doesn’t matter if a hunter, stalker, or alpha commander is out to get you if you have the bushwacker equipped. if you’re running AT or explosive/plasma primaries on bugs, the pocket shotty lets you get them off your ass without risking a ragdoll and i love it bc of that. real clutch gun imo
Bushwhacker is one of the best secondary options for bugs when not using grenade pistol. It’s my favorite to run with crossbow/self damaging weapons.
It staggers everything in one shot, and reliably deals with smaller bugs that get too close.
Also of note, vs illuminate it can burst the harvester shield down very fast. While the SMG pistol can also burst the shield with a full mag it takes time and you have less reloads compared to the whacker.
a must if you run torcher so you can stagger stalkers and such
@@PerfectDeath4 It’s pretty good on Overseers in general. Melees aren’t a threat when running it, and jetpacks can be shot from mid/decent range if they are trying to fly on you.
Crossbow / Bushwhacker is the best bug loadout imo
I think you overlooked the flexibility the torcher brings you. It might not be as powerful as the support flamethrower but it still burns through the armor of overseers very quickly making these ridiculously tanky enemies a joke and deals with the voteless swarming around them at the same time. With that your support weapon slot is freed up for something that can deal with the harvestors or elevated overseers when they fly away from you. Torcher and machine gun has been my favorite loadout against the squids and after trying a ton of combinations I've found it to be the most reliable for me.
I run the reverse of that and it doesn’t cost a new players or returning player (who the video is aimed at) their super credits. AR+Flamethrower or Plasma Scorcher+flamethrower
Objectively, as it’s in order of which you should buy and when, why would I ever tell a new player to buy freedoms flame before anything else besides chemical
@@EravinVT Doesn't that make dealing with harvesters difficult?
@@SonicFrakeYes. It also doesn't work very well against shields. The machinegun/torcher combo is way better.
@@SonicFrake no because harvesters pose very little actual threat, like the rest of the faction
Did eravin forget that the verdict has medium armor pen now when proclaiming everything besides the purifier in polar patriots as trash? The thing one taps devastator heads and has great ammo capacity
Senator does the same job but better, there's almost no point in bringing Verdict
@@TJKnight94Verdict has a larger magazine and a faster reload. Having a sidearm that can damage heavies is neat but doesn't mean I want to bring it just for that fact. (P.s. Tenderizer isn't garbage either imo)
@@TJKnight94the V is better for trash mob clearing but still retains your ability to take out medium armored enemies. Center mass hit can one shot all types of automaton troopers.
It also has a much faster reload time.
And it feels incredible mag dumping at close quarters.
It's cool, but practically speaking, it doesn't do anything unique or fill any niche that most primaries can't do better. If you care about ammo-efficiently controlling chaff stragglers and sniping devastator heads, you might as well use the Dagger. If you care about actually getting unique value out of your secondary slot, you might as well run the Senator or GP.
I love that we can agree on the top 3...and the last place one. For the firebugs, I love you, but it ain't for everyone. Now, Go get the top ranked one first cadets! It opens so many new ways to play.
First time I've seen anyone put Viper Commandos in the top 3 but to each their own
The hair physics on your Vtuber model is a really cool touch
I just noticed that pretty cool
In the end, it really depends on your play style, what you find cool and what you want to use. Bring anything you want in my lobbies. As long as you have fun.
In my opinion, a missing point left out of the video is the synergie between warbond. For exemple the Torcher + Gaz guardog is very great to use, using the tic damage of both. I like the torcher over the stratagem flamethrower because it's not a hip fire weapon, being able to flame over obstacle is great.
Funny, ever since the reprimand landed in my hands i refused to put it down. It instantly became my favourite weapon in the game. The look, the sound, the stupid damage it has at close-medium range. I can even clip chaff at 60-70 meters with it in 1-3 shots depending on the mood of rngesus. It just feel right to me. Now this does not mean i think it is the best primary( it REALLY could use a bit of spread reduction and even then it would not become op), far from it but it is usefull enough as a pure damage dealer on all fronts and the other factors are a bonus.
I love how fast it chews up overseers.
especially since setting the reprimand to semi auto and just pacing your shots a little makes the recoil easy to handle its only the base spread that holds it back. If it had less spread but maintained recoil it'd be one of the best primaries
plus like you said a few headshots to overseers absolutely melts them, I refuse to bring another primary against squids
Yep, Democratic Detonation was my friend's first pick after I gifted them the game about a month or so ago, and he didn't even watch any videos to make the choice. We just played together and he saw what works and what doesn't~
He is built for democracy.
I agree with your placements, but I think the tenderizer is a decent enough to warrant a mention in the polar patriots warbond. That, combined with the purifier helps it earn its spot imo
@@marcofromtropoje3169 but purifier is not in Polar, its in Cuttin edge
@@Benjamin.N.no purifier is definitely in polar
Tenderizer does nothing to make polar patriots better for new players to buy, it's a slight stat adjustment on the starting assault rifle which is already a bad weapon that has no utility
I never understood why the JAR5 wasn't Heavy pen... a pistol, sure... the big, massive, heavy... not so much :/
Agreed. It feels more like a shotgun with frag slugs than anything capable of killing medium enemies in a single shot. The lack of any concussive splash damage is another issue too.
Yeah in my opinion the dominator should be the one primary in the game capable of busting through charger skulls and popping hulk eyes. I like the senator and I get that they gave it heavy pen for the big iron meme, but it doesn't sit right with me that a revolver is more adept at armor penetration than the boltgun
I think that would make sense in terms of lore, but the JAR5 is already one of the best weapons in the game and making it Heavy pen would DOUBLE it's damage against medium armor enemies while also letting it 2 tap heavies like Hulks. The only way I could see this working is if they significantly nerf it's damage and give it Heavy pen so it's better against medium/heavy enemies, but worse against small enemies.
Because it's a gyrojet gun. It's not physically possible for it to build enough velocity. Gyrojet rounds are very slow and inaccurate. There is a reason it wasn't revisited in real life.
@@rawrxdtonepforme9360 that is a good point, but still. in-game; it's big, it's heavy, it meant to be used on a single big target. Staggers like a mofo, and you don't get many. From a game perspective, that need a compensation for it, and Med Pen isn't it IMHO.
These are my opinions.
If I don't mention something on this list, it is because it isn't that impressive in my opinion in comparison to the rest of the stuff in the warbond.
Also we haven't seen more than half of the Illuminate faction, so most of this is dealing with the Automatons (Bots) and Terminids (Bugs).
Steel Veterans:
* Senator's heavy armor penetration buff makes it an amazing sidearm that can handle anything. Best use against Bot Hulks, Armored Striders, and Gunships.
* Breaker Incendiary is still excellent against Bugs, but you might need to bring a Supply Pack for dealing with how ammo starved this gun got with the ammo clip nerf.
* Jar-5 Dominator was my most favorite weapon for both Bots and Bugs for a long time. It is a very solid overall weapon.
Cutting Edge:
* Sickle is a very solid light penetration assault rifle that works better against Bots in my opinion just due to the fact that you can still headshot devastators with it. It is still okay against light chaff Bugs.
* Las-7 Dagger is like the Sickle and is best used against the Bots and can headshot devastators really easily. The fire burn buff they gave to laser weapons makes it also great against light chaff Bugs and is amazing against Shriekers. Against Bots, you can sweep this gun across Jetpack Brigade members to detonate them in seconds.
* The G-23 Stun Grenade used to be one of the premiere crowd-control grenades, but with the buffs to gas, now the G-4 Gas Grenade from Chemical Agents is now the premiere crowd-control grenade. Stuns are still very strong.
* SG-8P Punisher Plasma for Bots and the Arc-12 Blitzer for Bugs are premiere crowd-control primaries that do enough damage and stagger to make them some of the best weapons in the game.
Democratic Detonation:
When this warbond came out, only the Eruptor was any good. Now, everything in the warbond is pretty decent if not amazing. Most people rate this warbond as one of the highest in the game at the moment.
* G-123 Thermite Grenade started out as one of the weakest Grenade options in the game. But once it got its massive buff, it brought it up from basically unusable to the top grenade alongside the G-23 Stun/G-4 Gas Grenades.
* R-36 Eruptor actually got nerfed (it used to have the shrapnel of the Orbital Airburst Strike stratagem - yeah, that happened - and now it has the shrapnel of the G-6 Frag Grenade), but it is still incredibly strong weapon that can also close Bug Holes and destroy Bot Fabricators (by shooting in the vents), giving it a lot of utility.
* GP-31 Grenade Pistol is an amazing secondary that is tied with the Senator on how good it is. With the buff it basically fires the G-16 Impact Grenade and is also capable of closing Bug Holes and destroy Bot Fabricators.
* CB-9 Exploding Crossbow is a primary that is basically the R-36 Eruptor or GP-31 Grenade Pistol, but multiple shots and was buffed to become one-handed. It is amazing against both the Bots and Bugs and is considered by many to be the strongest Primary in the game at the moment.
Polar Patriots:
I would argue that everything in the Polar Patriots is mid-tier compared to the three previous warbond entries on this list.
With the buff to the P113-Verdict from light armor penetration to medium, it became okay, but I'd rather carry the Senator or GP-31 Grenade Pistol for my secondary.
The only standout, after it got buffed, is the Plas-101 Purifier. It is now comparable to the various other S-Tier Bot weapons.
Also, if I am rocking a fire build against Bugs, I might bring the G-13 Incendiary Impact Grenade from this warbond, but otherwise you are buying the warbond entirely for the Plas-101 Purifier.
Viper Commandos:
Like Polar Patriots, everything is pretty meh except the following:
* Peak Physique Armor Passive is a very solid armor passive, and the look is immaculate. Though I tend to use Engineering Kit or Fortified and crouch to get a similar effect.
* SG-22 Bushwhacker is a pretty solid staggering pocket-shotgun. It is a great "get out of jail free card".
* Experimental Infusion Booster, like Polar Patriots, this is basically the real standout and the reason to buy this warbond. Bonus points: it stacks with Med-Kit Armor Passive.
Freedom's Flame:
Everything in this warbond is great against the Bugs.
* SG-451 Cookout is a better SG-8 Punisher Shotgun. It trades some direct damage for fire burn Damage-Over-Time (DOT). It is by far one of the best Primaries against the Bugs right now alongside the Arc-12 Blitzer, and its stagger force is better than the Blitzer.
* Inflammable Armor Passive is for when you bring a bunch of fire against the Bugs and you want to make sure you don't cook yourself. It is also one of the few Armor Passives that is good against an entire planet environment: the fire tornados.
* Flam-66 Torcher and P-72 Crisper are slightly less damaging versions of the Flamethrower Stratagem AND they can kill Chargers from the front (aim for the spot between the head and the joints of the front legs). No stagger strength worth mentioning, so sweep the ground in front of you as you back up.
Chemical Agents:
* Advanced Filtration Armor Passive is great if you use the G-4 Gas Grenade AND the Orbital Gas Strike (both amazing crowd-control after the buff, these two have replaced the Stun Grenades in many Helldiver loadouts). You can basically walk into any gas and slaughter your enemy while they are helpless or are randomly attacking their allies.
* G-4 Gas Grenade after the buff that gave them the confusion effect made them the premiere crowd-control grenade. I cannot overstate how strong this grenade is, and feels like a mandatory pick if you are not taking the Stun Grenade or Thermite.
* P-11 Stim Pistol after the buff that made it capable of hitting a target AND if you are wearing Med-Kit Armor Passive AND someone brought the Experimental Infusion Booster, this is a premiere support weapon. If you have both armor and booster, shooting your allies the instant before battle will increase their survivability by a ton. It also helps if you have heavy armor wearing teammates, allowing them to keep up with the light armor wearing teammates.
Truth Enforcers:
The Unflinching Armor Passive will be great when they eventually give us a Heavy Armor version of this Armor. Until then, you are too squishy even with the Medium Armor for this passive to be useful.
The Plas-15 Loyalist Pistol is okay, but the Senator is better.
* SG-20 Halt is a great supporting weapon and also a great weapon for Stealth Divers. It's stun effect is amazing and is almost as good, if not better, than the Stun Grenade (man, the Stun Grenade went from one of the best grenades in the game to being like the third best crowd-control behind the G-4 Gas Grenade and SG-20 Halt primary).
I recommend binding both the "Open Weapon Wheel" and "Weapon Wheel Right Side" to the same "Press [insert button]" for quick change between the two ammo types.
* Dead Sprint - If you have Vitality Booster as well, then this Booster is amazing and will let you basically run across the map without stop. If someone is also P-11 Stim Pistoling you alongside that, your team can basically cover the map in half the time it normally takes. Amazing Booster if paired with Vitality Booster on a big map where sustained speed is king (also during Blitz missions).
* SMG-32 Reprimand - I hope this gets buffed in the future to be one-handed, similarly on how they buffed the Exploding Crossbow from two-handed to one-handed. It is one of the strongest damaging assault rifles with medium penetration, though it has a huge amount of recoil and spread that makes it only really viable close up. Great against both Bots and Bugs.
Urban Legends:
This is an interesting Warbond, as it is a Warbond that is more enhancing your current weapons over getting new stuff (primaries/secondaries/grenades). And it has two really decent Stratagems.
* Siege-Ready Armor Passive is pretty dang useful. I use it against the Illuminate or Bug factions because sometimes you really need the ammo to deal with the swarms.
* Flame Sentry is great against Illuminate and Bugs as well.
* Anti-Tank Emplacement is the standout Stratagem. This thing unmatched killing potential and the ammo to back it up.
Democratic Detonation for first, Steeled Veterans for second and Cutting Edge OR Polar Patriots for third depending on your preferences should be favored, in my opinion. There's not really anything in Viper Commandos that makes it better than the previous two mentioned. Keep in mind, Steeled Veterans is the only Warbond that gives you a Heavy Penetration weapon from the loadout screen -- this is a very unique and very helpful niche that no other weapon matches.
Urban Legends could be the 4th pick, as the armor and ATE are easily S-tier and change the game.
Also, here's the Bushwhacker niche: You want stagger in your loadout. If Alpha Commanders are giving you trouble, this weapon says "no more".
Freedom's flame has two pen4 weapons ;-)
At some point do you think they'll release a bundle that includes several of the older war bonds for a lower price? I feel like if this just keeps going no new players are gonna wanna shell out a hundred bucks or grind dozens of hours to buy the continuely growing number of bonds.
I do worry about choice creep over the next two years. You don't want to overload new players with myriad choices.
Pro tip:
You can oneshot rocket striders with the stun lance (hit them in the Rockets).
Side efects may include bleeding, blunt force trauma and or concussions or death
Consult your doctor about blowing striders today.
Recently bought the game over the weekend. One of the first major purchases was the Senator. Thanks!
Crisper is S tier against iluminate. The reasoning that the support stratagem you use can do a better job than a sidearm, or even a primary, is crazy.
Well against a faction with 3 total units it makes sense
I can't imagine unironically saying you shouldn't bring the crisper or torcher because you can bring a flamethrower. As if using your support weapon slot isn't a huge sacrifice. I always bring the crisper on illuminate missions. Having a flame thrower in my pocket is just so incredibly useful for horde clear.
This is NOT A TIER LIST, NEW PLAYERS SHOULD NOT BE SPENDING THEIR FIRST SC, GETTING GUNS THAT DO THE SAME THING AS OTHER GUNS, I don't know how to clarify this, but these comments are getting annoying
@@EravinVT oh I'm sorry for you, but I also thaugt this is also a Tier list, you probably should pin this info at the top😅
@@danieldusentrieb9958Don't worry. The dude is literally ranking the warbonds top to bottom. It's a tier list in everything but name.
You have a very good point about FF. They talk about how great the grenade pistol is because it adds flexibility, but then says Torcher and Crisper are bad because the flamethrower is better??
Lmaoooo, by that logic the grenade pistol sucks because the grenade launcher does everything it does but better.
It's fine if it's not top, but they do new players disservice by misrepresenting things.
@@joeggrant406he overtly says that's it's an order to buy the warbonds and the title itself says it's about saving super credits, ie buying the things that bring the most variety and options to gameplay.
I'd personally disagree on chemical agents and freedoms flame placement, sure gas grenades are strong and the stim pistol is fun, but torcher and cookout are definitely some of the best bug and squid weapons, but idk I have a love for fire, shotguns, and flamethrowers so it could just be me lol.
Happy to see some love for the flame weapons :-) I just wish the flame armor would make you inflammable, then I would probably like such loadouts more...
@@ludewich I definitely agree, in my opinion all the full status armors should completely remove the damage (and the animation of taking damage + ragdolling) (besides for fortified) to balance out that we have a passive that covers all of them. Me setting myself on fire all the time isn't enough of a reason for me to not my beloved fire weapons tho
Great videos! For a new player like myself, you are by far the most helpful channel I’ve found for Helldivers 2.
I live by Steeled Veterans. The Jar and the Senator allow me to take on tougher enemies straight on. The 30% throw range is underrated. I like to lead the group to an area, toss in a 500kg or walking barrage, and then rush in behind the explosion. That 30% extra allows me to let the explosion to be the first activity and catch the enemies clustered.
If gas clouds could be ignited with fire, both warbonds would instantly jump in value.
Imagine a couple gas grenades going out, confusing a whole group, then someone fires the Crisper a second and you've basically made a combo fire-smoke bomb. Complicated way to make an incendiary grenade, but sounds like fun to me lol.
I have six of the nine 'bonds already, but couldn't decide on which of the other three to purchase next, or if I should just save it for the next one. Thank you for helping me decide on the Cutting Edge warbond.
The thermite grenade is also a great stealth grenade, allows you to attach it and get out of LOS before they can know where you were.
Ngl, the stun lance and shield is probably my favorite meme loadout when running missions with the boys. It’s funny as hell to form a phalanx or shield wall while smashint squids and bots
The Blitzer, combined with the AR Guard Dog, is the best Illuminate killing combo in the game
Freedom flame was my first war bond when I started in August, got so excited to use the Torcher and burn some bugs. Might not be good but it ranks high for me simply for the nostalgia.
It’s honestly an underrated warbond. I bought it a few weeks ago and having a primary flamethrower weapon is really nice. You can kill chaff enemies AND bring another stratagem.
It's cool you said that, because every warbond has use to SOMEBODY. Cutting edge is my personal favorite as a high tech UAS Laser diver.
Yeah honestly didn't find it awful as other players made it out to be, always scratched my head when I see it ranked at the bottom of UA-camrs tier list😅
Maybe it's just the saying Rose Tinted glasses lol.
The eruptor is my first love. The crossbow is very nice, but it doesnt feel as satisfying to pull the trigger on.
Dead Sprint vastly outclasses stamina enhancement on desert planets. The health drain isn't affected by the intense heat planet effect.
Eravin, I wholeheartedly salute you for ranking the only two warbonds I own on first and second spots 😅 as a F2P veteran I should say they have saved my sweet libertea skin several occasions ✌🏼
The Reprimand is amazing against bots. Make sure to have an armour with passive reducing recoil while crouched and you'll mow them down.
Glad you did this vid, been binging your content a lot since returning to HD2. Had 3 warbonds left to get, this has helped me prioritize them. Thanks Eravin
I think we can all agree that the Men in Black reference the "noisy cricket" for the Loyalist gun is dead ass hilarious 🤣🤣💀
Hey Eravin! Love the videos. Thank you for all the guides and breakdowns you've posted. They've helped me immensely.
Also I've been wanting to ask, what's the story behind your channel's avatar? I've no issue with it -- just curious is all.
its a custom trailblazer helldiver suit of armor
The heavy stagger, spread and incendiary property of the Cookout is great for all factions. Doubly so if you are a team player and are covering your allies. Interruptible reload and the ability to 2 shot devestators by body shotting them then moving in for the head. Holding groups off inside strategem zones is just great value for pissing away more bullets.
My Automaton buster at the moment is cookout, grenade pistol, thermite, wasp, 120mm barrage, napalm orbital and rocker sentry. Tools for every occasion and you can run solo, you are ammo hungry but there are usually drops everywhere.
Great list. My only complaint is no mention of the verdict. IMO it's the best sidearm against the bugs if you already have a reliable method for closing holes.
It's the best sidearm in the game. If you're hellbent on closing holes you will run a GL or Crossbow anyway. Why use your secondary slot on a weapon that doesn't do it very well?
Thanks dude, been asked this a handful of times and never really had a ready response as I know my personal playstyle and preferences are *very* niche. Helps distil it down to something a bit more easily digestible for your average player.
The specialised element armour should really just make you immune to the effects, especially the fire and gas sets.
While that's not wrong, it overlooks the main reasoning behind the ranking.
Which is that it's primarily stated to be aimed at new players or returning players who don't have all the options unlocked already.
The key qualifier to be able to pick out of the three specialized options is that you would need to have ALL THREE unlocked already.
Meanwhile the Killzone armor gives a handy catch-all covering all 3 elemental types *PLUS* bile leaving new/returning players to focus their initial warbond decisions on more impactful value decisions first.
Alternatively, it could offer you a short period of immunity to it, like not being set on fire for 2 seconds or not coughing for 2 seconds
The vets is probably my favourite starting pass. It has allround good stuff, maybe some more niche, but i still love the senator and the armor to this day since it came out
Great video as always. I very much agree in general with your list. I always say demo det and cutting edge as 1 and 2. Then take your pick between urban legends, viper commandos, and polar patriots so that puts the top 5 as exactly what you have!
What you could've added to the provided info is this:
- JAR-5 Dominator is the best primary for taking down squid shields with nothing being even close to that. It's the autocannon of the primaries, that's performing really well across the 3 factions(also kills really quickly harvesters and one-head-taps the overseers, aside of handling stalkers and spewers or zerkers/devos).
- Bushwacker is the best secondary for taking down shields.
For those reasons and - as you said - as the Steeled Veterans is more newbie oriented - I would personally probably suggest the Steeled Veterans as first purchase.
Also the inc. breaker seems like godsend until you learn the game pretty well - but by the time those people would need staggering or other functionality primary - they would likely have the SC for another purchase.
Cheers!
in a video the size of this one with as much to cover as this one alot is going to be cut, but this is actually a good argument for steeled veterans and one of the most intelligent and constructive comments in the video feed instead of just reminding me that although I said the Senator is heavy pen, because there is a typo I need to be informed it's heavy pen.
@@EravinVT I watch your other buddies too - thiccy, clay, mapple - I think you're the most technical about the game from all youtubers and I keep learning stuff now and then - even after 1200 hours of HD2 :D
I think you deserve more credit.
The fact is though...
This game has a learning curve so steep and diverse, that people can't realise how different games one with 200-300 hours and one with 500+ of gaming are playing.
So thank you for continuing doing all that without being disheartened...
Well... too much at least :D
I know how it feels.
My order of how I view the warbonds
Statistically speaking:
1.Democratic Detonation
2.Cutting Edge
3.Polar Patriots
4.Urban Legends
5.Steel Veterans
6.Viper Commandos
7.Freedoms Flame
8.Truth Enforcers
9.Chemical Agents
Cosmetic Wise:
1.Truth Enforcers
2.Viper Commandos
3.Chemical Agents
4.Urban Legends
5.Steel Veterans
6.democratic Detonation
7.Freedoms Flame
8.Polar Patriots
9.Cutting Edge
Of course usually I never use the reinforcement booster, but it’s pretty useful for high level eradication missions. Especially when you’re playing with randoms😅
Incendiary Impact grenade from Polar Patriots would have been worth going over IMO, since the lingering fire is great for area denial and often lethal passive damage against pursuing enemies if you need to retreat from a swarm or when you're trying to reposition but don't want to/can't deploy a stratagem. It doesn't stun or paralyze like the EMS or Gas grenades, but it also kills enemies more effectively than the gas grenades anyway -- to say nothing of the obvious application in asset defense missions. Is that enough to put it above Viper Commandos? ....no, probably not depending on playstyle and/or enemy preference, but it is a factor nonetheless.
I'd also point out that the Inflammable armors that come with Freedom's Flame can be useful against the Automatons even if you aren't using any flame weaponry yourself because of all the explosive barrels that can set you on fire when tackling outposts or objectives like Jammers. Combining that information with what you said about the Cookout, I think this definitely puts FF above Chemical Agents and maybe even Truth Enforcers for an inexperienced player -- especially if you're on console and AFAIK can't really customize inputs very much like on PC, meaning the Halt demands a higher skill threshold to fully utilize.
Edit: yes, there's the free Killzone armor for fire resistance... but the freebie is only available for one armor class, with the other being a super store item and there not being a heavy armor variation. Freedom's Flame gives time-free access to both Light and Medium armor variants IIRC.
So I actually messed around with the Torcher a bit last night, and I need to back up what a few others have said: even if it's not as effective as the base flamethrower, the Torcher still offers the same utility while freeing up my support slot for anti-tank options like the Quasar or RR. Bearing that in mind along with what I said before, I definitely think Freedom's Flame should rank higher than even Truth Enforcers; arguably the only thing keeping it lower than Polar Patriots is how *overwhelmingly* good the Purifier is.
the sterilizer and guard dog NEED a lingering cloud, even if it only lasted a few seconds, it would dramatically increase effectiveness of both stratagems, as you can shoot in front of an enemy before its in range and the lock-on-until-dead targeting of the guard dog wont be as much of a hinderance. Though i like the ballistic and laser dogs, i really like how the gas dog doesnt just hang out with your head directly between it and the enemy, and instead actually goes out and hovers over the enemy. though of course, if they add a flame dog the gas dog will be useless, unless the aforementioned lingering cloud gets added. then again, the flame dog will also lock-on-until-dead just like the flame turret
I will say, the Stim Pistol is actually kinda ok but generally underutilized. You need to build your entire loadout to elevate it from mediocre but fun to Situationally Useful. Medic Armor/Super Stim/Weapons to do the secondary job (bug holes or anti-mediums/heavies). Its specifically good on defense, like the flag missions.
Haha, I use the stim pistol all the time. It's my goto secondary since I don't usually have problems with dealing with low ammo. With my gas armor and gas grenades too.
I like using the gas set with the crossbow for destroying jammers and mega nests. Alone. Without sneaking.
As a Clanker-Main, I LOVE Democratic Detonation - the thermite making tanks a non-issue and the grenade pistol secondary allowing me to pop fabricators made me a solo-helldive-machine
@@TheDerpyDeed what do you use as a primary?
The crisper is a nice solution to deleting a patrol of voteless in like two seconds, though, while keeping the primary and support slots free for other stuff.
Honestly, my only "complaint" about you ranking the flame of truth so low is that the bond has more value than just one good grenade.
Cookout and impact grenade and that is it
The cookout is good and the two flamers open up some very fun builds both because of being pen 4 and for being flamers. Love my crispr against voteless and the torcher for bugs. Flame resistant goes hard against flamer hulks and looks cool too!
Freedoms Flame is my number 1 warbond, love the flamethrower, so having 75 percent fire resistance has saved me from killing myself many times. I also love the torcher cause I can light everything on fire and still bring a support weapon that punches through armor like the Heavy Machine Gun or Commando or Autocannon etc.
I agree that the viper commandos booster is amazing, and peak physique is an important passive for really enabling so many great weapons to really shine, but I'm not sure that should qualify the warbond so highly for new players. It's very likely, unless you've got a group of 4 new players all playing together, that someone else will have the booster, and since all the other must-have boosters are available in the free warbond, they can run one of those while letting someone else use the infusion. And peak physique is often available in the superstore.
I had spare SCs when viper commandos came out so I picked it up. But the friends I always play with, who are always lagging a bit behind on SCs just got the peak physique armor for (I think) 150SCs, and now none of them really need that warbond at all.
Of course that means you have to wait for it in the superstore, but it's probably worth mentioning, because unlike the other warbonds, the majority of this one's functionality can be gotten by other means.
Though, to be fair, I guess you can also always trade primary weapons with other helldivers at the cost of a reinforce.
Now let’s see warbonds ranked by fashion!
That's fun but too subjective
I think that where you have the Steeled Veterans war bond is fair for once you have all of them, but it would be the first one I’d recommend newer players getting. The weapons will eventually be outclassed (other than the senator) but unlike the warbonds with the Cookout, or Plasma Purifier, the steeled veterans warbond gives so much diversity. It gives one of the best bot primaries in the game (Dominator), the second best bug primary in the game (Breaker incindeary), and a good option against illuminate for crowd control (liberator concussive) all in one warbond, as well as having possibly the best secondary in the game. To me that makes it a great option for beginners to get first, before they can branch out into warbonds that are only really good for one thing, like the polar patriots, or freedoms flame warbonds.
I use something from DD in 90% of missions. Truly the best warbond from a playstyle perspective.
Heres my order of warbonds:
Base warbond; Stealed verterans (loaded with this in Idk if its cuz of super citizen edition or watever); Democratic detonation (comissar Kai told me to buy it first); truth enforecers(I hate liars);
Urban legends( I got it as soon as it came out); Polar Patriots(My favorite warbond P:S plz buff the verdict arrowhead); cutting edge(I love edging + stun grenades and scikle go brrrrrr);
Next warbonds: Viper Commandos(second favorite); freedoms flame(I love fire cuz I love flamethrowers); chemical agents( make stim pistol GREAT AGAAAAAAINNNNN!)
I would have said you forgot about the Adjudicator as a Medium Pen Assault Rifle improvement to the Liberator Pen, but with the buff that the Lib Pen received it can match the Adjudicator damage with its volume of ammunition.
Well, well, well... Finally saw the light with the Cookout on the Automatons huh? You didn't believe me when I told you how well it works on them.
Even though Steeled Veterans is still somewhat middle of the pack, I've been running Servo-Assisted armor since the start, and I believe that it's only become better with the thermite grenades and stratagem buffs.
Thank you for this guide.
Not putting the Gas Bond at last is insane but I somewhat understand your reasoning behind why Freedoms Flame is last. I even agree to a point, just simply refuse to put the Gasbond anywhere but last. (Gas grenades are GOATed though)
While I agree the primary and secondary flame throwers are worse, yeah that's kinda expected. Of course the support one is better but it takes a support slot you might want to fill with something else better for whatever you're doing. Personally my favorite loadout at least for the bugs is the primary flamethrower, plasma pistol and recoilless. Works very well in all fights I have encountered
From the perspective of a player with no warbonds, spending 1k to use worse flamethrowers in the primary or secondary position which required sustained usage meaning they diminish the rest of your weapon sets value at the cost of their first 1k sc is something nobody would every recommend, this is the logic that fuels the entire buy order
@@EravinVT I wasn't really recommending buying it especially not for a new person but i was just saying, I enjoy it.
I'd personally rank Urban Legends second because of how strong the AT/E is. It frees up the support and backpack slots for non-AV options, whatever you fancy. Maybe rock a shield or jumpack for survivability, or a weapon/dog to sweep out the chaff even faster. You don't have to pack the RR or AC for all your missions anymore.
Also I do appreciate the extra throwing range from servo armor. It makes thermiting certain heavies much safer, as well as throwing certain stratagem beacons cough cough 380/orbital napalm.
You pick Warbonds based on how good the gear is
I pick Warbonds based on how cool the armor looks
We are not the same
Goodness no love for the Verdict? If I'm not taking the Senator or the 'Nade pistol I'm usually packing the Verdict. Yeah, it doesn't quite punch up to the Senators weight but controls better, reloads faster and has more rounds. The Dagger is great for the Jet Brigade too. I'd take any of those before I took the Fire thing or the basic pistols or even the little triple shotty.
Apart from the torcher and crisper opening up some more loadout possibilities (which is of dubious value to a new player), I think the cookout is worth the price of the warbond all by itself. It's on my short list of go-to primaries for both the terminids and illuminates. It has excellent ammo economy, you don't need to pay attention to how many shots are left in the mag to avoid wasting ammo, it can be reloaded as fast as it shoots, and it has a very reliable stagger (enough to juggle multiple stalkers, even while killing chaff). It won't take out heavy units, but that's what support weapons are typically best for.
As a beginner, I gravitated towards the basic punisher shotgun, and the cookout is just a massively more effective version of it.
That may not be enough to put freedom's flame in the top few spots, but getting one of the most versatile, effective, and new-player-friendly primaries has got to be worth more than gas grenades (and I do love the gas grenades).
I got the game after the illuminate were added to the game and decided to unlock Urban Legends first. I gotta say, that AT emplacement is unreal against the bots. It just kills everything
I don't find the flame sentry to be particularly great, as the flames almost never things before they get to the turret, so it feels significantly less effective than almost everything else, and the stun lance does laughably low damage, so I do agree with ranking this war bond lower than others, but seriously that AT emplacement is something else
Don't have to worry about which war bond to buy when you have them all 👌
If that freedom flames armor did 90% reduction to flame damage and the flames caused enemies to "panic" sort of similar to the gas does to enemies, then it'd be kinda good. Also it'd be so cool if that booster hit like a dang 120mm and had a big initial whoosh of flames it'd be so fun (if not a bit trolly)
I was a blitzer main on bugs for a long time but with the Halt I far more enjoy using it. Shoot stun round at commander, switch to flechet, two shots to head and dead. Also STUNS CHARGERS!! No other primary can do this. Sure can bring stun grenades but that’s limits you to 4 or 6 grenades. Being able to stun with the halt then use another grenade like the gas or the incendiary impact on bugs is great. It’s just far more enjoyable to use than the blitzer IMO
Haha I've always thought of the loyalist as the Noisy cricket. My favourite secondary in the game.
Demo set for the g-pistol, updated thermite and xbow (which really should be 7x7 ammo not 5x8).
Steel vet for the JAR5, magnum, thermite nade and incen breaker.
Urban for the AT emplacement maybe also the stun lance if you run explodey grenades/primary.
Polar for the tenderiser n purifier
L
Cutting for the stuns n sickle
Flame for the armour ignoring flamers.
Chem for the grenade (lasts longer than fire)
Viper for the armour passive
Truth for the visual armour
The peak physique passive is also on the superstore rotation and I find that more palatable than buying an entire warbond (viper commandos) for the passive + booster. YMMV of course :)
Bushwacker from viper commandos is the best non-grenade-pistol sidearm for terminids. It has a powerful stagger and good damage. No medium armor penetration unfortunately but on d10 termininds you shouldn't rely on your secondary for medium armor penetration.
Honestly I would flip Polar Patriots and Viper Commandos.
Everything else is spot on though.
DemoDet was my first, I love the BR-14 Adjudicator, I call it the Workhorse Assault Rifle (although it's functionally better as a DMR). The Cutting Edge was my second, because of the LAS-16 Sickle which I actually like to use for a Full Auto AR, mainly because it reminds me of a Hot-Shot Lasgun that the Tempestus Scions/Kasrkin use from 40k... And they are absolutely badasses. The closest thing 40k has to Helldivers in function. I love Polar Patriots for the drip, and I think that'll be the next Warbond I'll work towards.
I have all the warbonds but am checking to see if your opinions line up with mine
Reprimand on semi auto is good fun for bugs, lot of single shots and it feels like an increased clear rate over the Blitzer. Semi auto really negates the spread and lost shots issue imo.
Reminder that the stun lance can headshot, meaning it is VERY capable of bring down devastators and beserkers, if not just keeping them stunned.
Is it dumb to bring to bot missions? Sure. Is it useful even without armour buffs against them? Surprisingly! Remember, swapping to your lightning stun stick is always faster than reloading.
If I remember correctly, the stun effect from the lance and baton also work on chargers and hulks. Not to mention ignore their armor.
I've killed several hulks with the lance too. Mighty fun that is.
I still say the Eruptor is unfairly maligned, and its long-range pinpoint accuracy is worth noting.
Kinda suprised the verdict side arm wasnt mentioned at all since it has medium armor pen
It’s a 24 minute video, the least remarkable gear was cut
@@EravinVT filtered
@@EravinVTYour other videos seemed a lot more thorough than that...
This is a minor complaint from me about the killzone armor but every helmet floats above the neck because they didn't finish the neck up into the helmets. I know it's an easy fix but it bugs me every time I try to use that armor. I don't want a floating helmet
took a break before polar patriots was added. now im back. here to see what iv missed.
I wonder if the gas thrower/gas guard dog would be better if it shot basically bile spewer goo instead of gas
I think it would need to have a small AoE in order to be better -- as this would both resolve its hit-ratio issues (where many report it to be largely chasing enemies while only infrequently actually hitting) as well as expanding its general utility if it could hit more enemies if they are crowded together.
And even then while it would be more useful, it'd still be outclassed by other options.
Swapping gas out for bile while keeping its other current characteristics wouldn't address one of its main shortcomings which is that it's a bit like a dog chasing after an ambulance aimlessly and then not really knowing what to do with itself if it DOES finally catch up to it.
As much as I love fire. Yeah, Freedom's Flame is pretty weak. It was in the awkward middle-ground where you don't get any orbital strategems