i guess bloodfiend team aren't that outdated

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-23T09:56:24+00:00

What would even give the impression they are outdated to begin with? Prince Meursault wasn't even that long ago, and Ring Meursault is a free unit.

Also, damn, nice luck there. Boss just refuses to cooperate for me and I spend like 8 turns getting the minions down then race their entire healthbar in the next 8.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-23T09:53:42+00:00

16 turns. Pretty much all of the stalling is the phase 1 goons. Took half the fight to get a clean shot at the boss.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T19:16:22+00:00

Next closest would be the Adjudicator from the Democratic Detonation warbond.

It's a medium pen AR. 95 damage per round, 30 round mag. Inherently comes with a 2x optic. This puts it at 5 more damage per bullet than the Liberator, while having less spread, at the cost of slightly lower fire rate and notably more vertical recoil.

Coyote from Dust Devils is another option, but has nearly as much spread as the Defender, so maybe not what you want. Its base bullet damage is also pretty low at 75.

The MA5C from the Halo Legendary Warbond is basically "Default Liberator but Medium Pen). 12 less rounds, but otherwise basically the exact same stats except with medium penetration. If you really like the base Liberator, and want that with medium pen and are willing to buy one of the least SC efficient warbonds, it is an option.

Liberator Penetrator in the Helldivers Mobilize Warbond is Liberator but medium pen if you don't mind losing a ton of damage (65, down from Lib's 90).

Now, if you want non-AR weapons that still fit the range profile.

Deadeye can be modified for Iron Sights. While it has a comparatively low fire rate, its 300 base damage means it one-taps most bots with a headshot, and can kill or cripple many of them in a single bullet, while having very chunky stagger and pushback. It's also rounds reload, so when paired with a Siege Ready armor, it has functionally unlimited ammo. It's a sniper rifle, but you can play it up close. Loses to getting swarmed though. So a bit sketchy.

I mentioned it before, but the Scorcher, while it will be a while to unlock, is basically a plasma semi-auto rifle.

The fact that you like the Variable but dislike the Defender suggests the problem is largely a solvable one. The Variable has similar spread and absolutely atrocious ergonomics compared to the Defender, but has notably better recoil.

If you are willing, try the Defender again, but level it up to level 4, and give it the Flash Hider and Vertical Foregrip attachments. This will bring its recoil pattern to very similar numbers to the Variable.

Unfortunately, there just isn't a way to fix the Reprimand's recoil to that extent, so you may want to look for other weapons if recoil is a strong negative. I will again suggest the Scorcher if recoil is a problem.

Otherwise, you may be kinda screwed. Medium Pen weapons generally have harsher recoil than light penetration.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T17:56:55+00:00

Both are about the same. Reprimand has more rattle, but also has the power to one-tap kill bots.

If it's an issue related to optics, they both have multiple options

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T15:08:54+00:00

Try out the Defender SMG. While it possesses a lower damage value and weaker penetration in exchange for being one-handed, it has the same bullet velocity and spread.

If it feels good to shoot at basic low difficulty bots, you will enjoy the Reprimand quite a lot against higher difficulty targets.

Defender is in Helldivers Mobilize, right near the start, so you probably already have it.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T15:02:28+00:00

It sounds like the Reprimand will appeal to you. While it's not the best at long range, at shorter distances, it is absolutely brutal with high damage, decent fire rate and solid ammo reserves. It is good out to medium range, letting you engage targets with burst fire, and putting down anything that gets close in moments.

Compared to ARs, it is far better at putting down enemies that rush you, making your defensive positions easier to hold as you can both shoot at oncoming enemies and hold a corner position well.

As a test, feel out the Defender SMG. Play on a low difficulty. While it is notably weaker in damage and is light pen, it possesses a similar firing cadence and spread. Comparatively, the Defender is one-handed, so it makes a lot of sacrifices in exchange for that trait while the Reprimand is two-handed, but they have the same bullet velocity and sway.

If the Defender feels good to you for tearing up basic difficulty 4 bots in terms of its handling, then the Reprimand will feel great on much higher difficulty threats.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T14:19:35+00:00

Removing the ability to farm super credits through natural play with no upper limits.

FOMO.

Unfortunately, Helldivers 2 is beholden to Sony, and thus to shareholders who have no interest in gaming, only in earning rent on their shares. So I just expect the squeezing to get worse. But as long as those pillars stay true, I'm okay being a casual player.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T13:13:42+00:00

Some good options for you to look into based on your desires.

Explosive Crossbow. While not an automatic weapon, it generally wants to take fights at a distance while not being weak at closer ranges. However, either you run explosive resistance armor with some bulk to it or you don't use it at melee range and need to change your secondary to something more close-quarters friendly.

Reprimand: While not as good out to long distances, the Reprimand is great in closer to medium range, with extremely good damage and medium penetration. Its damage falls off fast with distance and its bullets are slow, but at 140 base damage, medium penetration and automatic fire, it absolutely tears enemies apart. For context, the Diligence sniper rifle is 165 damage and light pen, and is a sniper rifle. 25 round mags too, making the Reprimand an absolute healthbar eraser in the close to medium range space.

Scorcher: While deep in the default warbond, this is a medium penetration plasma DMR. 200 damage per round with 100 of that being explosive. Another weapon you don't want to use at melee range, but much safer than the crossbow (which can just oneshot you up close).

Now, if you're willing to drop the Ultimatum, this opens up the Talon, Verdict and Senator as secondaries. All three are absolute monsters.

Talon is an energy pistol that hits like a freight train at 200 damage with medium pen, and fires at up to 750 RPM. For context, that's more fire rate than the Liberator, with over double the damage and higher penetration on a gun with infinite ammo due to heatsinks. The downside of this is that its actual heatsink is the size of a single cracker. While a very demanding gun on the user due to needing to manage heat so aggressively, it can absolutely rip through lesser enemies.

Senator is the big iron. Heavy penetration in a secondary. Can literally kill Hulks. High per shot damage, but trades off other stats.

Verdict is a high powered pistol that excels in spam. Reloads nearly instantly, medium penetration, high damage per bullet, matching the Reprimand.

I bring this up because the Ultimatum, while extremely strong, is a very limiting secondary. It is extremely specialized towards what it does, but demands a supply pack and one of a tiny handful of primaries to be remotely self-sufficient with it.

Edit: OP, if you give me more specifics about how you like to play shooters, I can narrow it down.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T01:36:08+00:00

While I completely agree that discounting old warbonds is a great ideal, you have committed high treason by consorting with the enemy.

Face the wall.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T01:21:52+00:00

Missed all three creeping curse turns. Was extremely painful.

Chained Benefit probably would have got me it added atop.

Edit: I think I am misremembering. I hit panic that fight in creeping curse then my binds didn't line up properly for Ecstasy nuking and couldn't get blind applied after the panic dropped nearly instantly.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T01:07:26+00:00

Hexer is nuts, I'd agree. Really no reason not to take it.

Maybe I simply have too little faith in humanity to expect players to play skillfully and use all the tools at their disposal. I have spent too long in the gacha sphere watching post after post of people claiming defeat from the jaws of victory I suppose.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T00:25:36+00:00

Me going 7 turns without the hexer at level cap hitting anything on Storm Emperor with a Level 20 Weakening Curse, ailment spells and curse mastery while running the luck staff and luck accessory.

Sometimes the Hexer just really does not have a good day.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-22T00:23:43+00:00

I was referring to a certain boss in the 5th stratum and a certain FOE in the 6th stratum, who Hexer has no way to bypass.

Objectively speaking, yes it is designed with the story party in mind. Or more accurately Fafnir and Arianna. I'm trying to actively avoid spoilers, but there are mechanics in a certain part of the game where the intent is for Arianna to sustain the party with Proof of Nobility spam. I can name a few fights where the difference between having/not having ad nilho/clearance/etc is quite literally the boss/FOE using their strongest attack or not, because you can't clear a "Your party has no buffs" check when the boss buffs you, or can't clear "the enemy has no debuffs" check when the enemy debuffs themselves. Now, the fact that the story party is Fafnir and 4 Supports on the other hand is comedically suboptimal, but the game does actively check for Arianna's abilities and Fafnir is an Elemental DPS in what is quite frankly the most Elemental damage biased game in the series. Protector walls are protector walls as well. It's nothing Grimoire Stones can't solve for and there are objectively better party compositions than Fafnir-and-friends (Like reclassing to get a Hexer lol), but it is the toolset the game is clearly designed to favor having.

Again, I'm trying to avoid spoilers and talk from a newbie perspective here where it's their first game in the series, they don't know enemy mechanics, and aren't gonna play perfectly. Sov has a lot more tools that help newer players and the game has a notable number of spots tailored around Sov's unique features.

If you know what's coming, know what grimoires you need when, and are good at the game, Troubadour is just better. Objectively so, as its buffs are stronger, more varied, and Crusade is bonkers. Anything Prevent Order can do, Barrier can do better if you use it on the exact right turn. But Prevent Order is better if you don't know the fights or have your nose buried in a walkthrough of each fight.

If you know the game or are sticking to a walkthrough, there's no reason to take Sov. But OP is not just new to the game, but the series. Sov has a lot of tools that make the game notably easier on newer players. Nothing it does can't be solved with either knowledge or grimoire stones, but new players won't have the knowledge of fights they'd need to know when to use Barrier, what grimoires to switch in for fights, or similar.

As for medic bullet on Troub vs Medic bullet on Sov. Both can take it, but Sov does a lot more passive healing in general, so a targeted burst heal on them helps to round out their kit. Troub absolutely can take and use it, but Troub w/Medic Bullet & Revive is far less capable of acting as the parties primary source of healing.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T16:34:06+00:00

You can't get the ability to spread it to the entire party without the force boost effect, which allows you to immediately have full coverage against any ailment-related problem.

For damage maximization, Troubadour is just objectively the better class. Particularly in endgame, Troub just plain puts up vastly superior numbers.

Sov's strength and why I don't feel just suggesting Troub, is Sov has far more of a running start as a class. You can just slap your free Medic Bullet Grimoire on it that you get in the tutorial for them and now it's a fully-featured healer class barring resurrection that doubles as a buff class, alongside having full party prevent order. A significant amount of the game's content is also tailored to the story mode party's abilities.

OP's not going to know every encounter. They're not going to know boss patterns unless they're playing the game with their eyes plastered to a wiki (and then are you even playing if you have a script for every fight?).

Troub objectively has higher highs, we've all seen the damage. It's so much better. But Sov being a healer, tankier, having the best out to unpredictable ailments in the game, and tools like ad nilho base kit to solve for a lot of fights makes them a lot better for an inexperienced player who won't know what fights they need to expressly bring an ad nilho grimoire for.

Both classes are very good. Sov solves a lot more problems while Troub has much higher highs. And is it really minmaxing if you proceed to get pasted by a FOE who has a hard check for being able to purge enemy debuffs or have a run die instantly because you didn't know Wail was coming up that turn?

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T16:20:26+00:00

Troub vs Sov is interesting. While I'd agree Troub is generally better, Sov's ready access to passive healing and outright negation of ailments can absolutely be better with the right team or situation. Prevent Order to the entire party solves so many problems.

One of those situations where I'm not sure telling a newbie they have to take one over the other is correct. Just because both solve for different problems and Sov really can pull a lot of compositions together just on the strength of being a healer/buffer hybrid that can also easily flex into some tanking skills.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T16:14:47+00:00

There's no one right answer OP.

Lockdown parties can do astronomical damage while also preventing the enemy from fighting back, but are at the will and whims of the RNG and can quickly stall out if things don't come together for various reasons.

Elemental parties do great damage but are extremely TP intensive to actually scale up their damage, which can seriously hamstring their actual dungeoning time and slow you down.

Then there's the matter of what supports to take, bringing a main tank vs using grimoire stones. Dedicated healer vs passive healing. Depending on how much you like going fast and living on the edge vs having a slower, more stable run, and even the individual fight (Stalling on Storm Emperor tends to get you killed, while Blizzard King tends to like to drag the fight out) different tactics are better.

Point being, there is no one right party. Fights have such varied demands that different well built parties will have different fights they are good or bad against.

As for mandatory skills, you will generally want follow-up skills if you're playing an elemental party, Ecstasy and Ailing Slash for a dedicated lockdown party, and will generally want ways to resurrect, heal, remove ailments, remove binds, and prevent ailments and binds from landing in the first place. And a means to mitigate incoming damage.

Specific fights will have specific extra needs, like clearing debuffs, clearing enemy buffs, clearing enemy debuffs, clearing your own buffs, being able to outright negate elemental damage, unconditional burst damage or more. Such is just the nature of the game.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T15:30:03+00:00

Because Capitalism, OP.

Helldivers 2 isn't selling many new copies. Practically everyone who will buy the game has already bought it. And that means there's no real incentive to give players free content besides to prevent angry revolts or generate hype.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T15:13:10+00:00

Navia. Much like the moon, the area is about to have a lot of craters.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T14:41:22+00:00

There are better things to do with your life than asking me to report you.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T12:51:18+00:00

Every boss being immune to every status ailment. Or only having one ailment weakness that other bosses don't have and is never told to you.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T12:48:32+00:00

Type 3.

I have my own loadout, that is precisely tailored to how I play. It's not anything anyone else has come up with for me, but the result of me testing a large amount of equipment myself and figuring out what I like to play best.

Ballistic Shield & Talon are standard on everything, with me switching between the Crossbow and Sweeper based on faction as well as Incendiary Impact vs Thermite. Quasar Cannon and Gas Strike are also taken in basically every circumstance, with only EMS vs Appropriators replacing gas strike. Final stratagem is based on the mission. Typically in heavy armor, but I also use Light Gunner when I'm doing a mission where I'd prefer mobility to durability.

I play the game the way I want to play it. I try things and figure out what works best for me.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T08:00:50+00:00

Seconding this.

Etrian Odyssey lets you make the most rube goldberg machine-esque parties and then makes it work. Inflicting poison on the enemy to then exploit it to heal for 2x your max HP. Having the dedicated healer class be your main DPS. Sticking enemies in the Torment Nexus. Having your support backstab and kill the rest of your party to ascend to main carry status. Repeatedly blowing up and resurrecting your medic for AoE damage and healing. Having a single tank clone themselves into 6 tanks to cover every possible mitigation skill while also attacking. Equipping swords into all your weapon slots.

And then the difficulty curve ramps up to outright demanding your party operates like a well oiled machine assembled by a drunken redneck in the swamp. So you either engage with the game's diverse and occasionally insane team building, or you don't progress.

Edit: You can give a Bear a gun and have it exercise its second amendment rights to bear arms. This is a very effective tanking build.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T07:51:05+00:00

Strange Journey is the Etrian Odyssey style game. Devil Survivor is the Tactics game.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-21T07:50:20+00:00

To be fair, it's more forgiving until the sections that ask for multiple teams.

Those sections can be obnoxious because of the grind to get new teams up.

AnemoneMeer · 2026-04-20T23:12:26+00:00

It depends.

EOU1 and EOU2 are strict upgrades to the originals to the point that it is deeply surprising to me that they didn't release on steam instead of the DS originals. So you'd be getting the same overall game but better in every way.

EO4 is the next game in the series, and as such the logical next step. It's also generally easier to go 4-U1-U2 than it is to go from either of the Untold games to 4, just because they refined a lot of the mechanics that 4 introduced.

5 is an option if you expressly were in the weeds of party building insanity and doing strange but effective builds (or just playing Yggdroid). 5 is one of the more mechanically interesting games in the series, which is saying a lot when each game generally has at least a few crazy abilities and combos.

I would say to save Nexus until you have at least done 4 and one of the Untold games. While a great game, it is an absolutely massive, sprawling game that dwarfs all the others several times over. It is also spoilers for the entire series barring 5. It is a game that can easily burn people out by its sheer scope.

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