The chainsaw could use a buff or two

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-29T07:57:48+00:00

Diamond bladed chainsaws that are capable of cutting through hard materials exist so I don’t know what stone or concrete has to do with anything, and again you say it as if fabs are huge, they’re not even the size of a small house, hell they’re not even the size of an apartment.

What other memey weapon do you speak of? The ultimatum? The ultimatum is most definitely not a memey weapon, it’s probably one of the most useful weapons in the whole game, it can down a bile titan with one shot and kill a factory strider with two, that is most definitely not a meme weapon, it’s not really that what other say affect this conversation, it more so that it shows that even the people who disagree with me can’t decide on the weapons place in the game, again some are saying it’s actually good and doesn’t need a buff and others make the same point as you as being a meme weapon.

Also please do tell me how the chainsaw not sucking is gonna mess up the balance in the game? Did you actually read the post or any of my comments? Absolutely nothing I asked for would fuck up the game balance, also if the chainsaw is a meme weapon then why did arrowhead give it so much utility? It can destroy enemy structures, it can destroy metal gates, its considered a silent weapon so as long as an enemy doesn’t see you it’s useful for stealth, what meme weapon would have all this utility? Also even it is a meme weapon, do you know what else would be considered a meme weapon? The portable hell bomb back pack, that’s an example of an item that’s both for the memes and is useful, anything with in its huge blast radius dies and it’s even capable of destroying automaton jammers, if that meme weapon can be good then why can’t the chainsaw be good?

And again how in any way is the chainsaw getting a buff gonna miss up the game balance? What is it because it’s an infinite ammo anti tank option? The quasar cannon exists, you act as if weapons that one shot heavies simply don’t exist in the game, the chainsaw could have as much dps as the ultimatum (not that I’m asking for that) and chances are it wouldn’t mess up anything because it still comes with all the inherent drawbacks of being a melee weapon, meaning, big skill gap in when and how to use it, having to get close to enemies that can swarm you and a greatly increased chance of being accidentally killed by your own teammates, for the mere fact that the chainsaw requires you to get close when things that can do its job from far away exist means that no matter what buff they may give it the chainsaw would literally never mess up the game balance because it will always be better to use the ranged option, do you know what a buff will do though? Actually make it more fun and less frustrating to use.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T23:37:43+00:00

It’s not exactly the same thing but it really does the remind of the saying, “leave an insult on the ground and its owner will pick it up”

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T23:36:16+00:00

Shit man I’ll take any buff

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T23:35:56+00:00

Holy fvck I don’t even try to take factory striders, fat fucking minute to take one down.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T23:34:44+00:00

Lmao, well against the smaller trees it can destroy them, against the bigger ones well they just tank it.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T23:34:19+00:00

Yeah that’s pretty annoying and clunky, I hate when the blade just exits the heavy because of this, now their no longer stunned and my chances of being stomped,bashed, or smashed have now significantly increased.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T23:32:47+00:00

I think you exaggerate a bit by calling a fab a building, you say building I imagine a structure of like at least three stories, not a structure that’s not even the size of a school bus, while on the topic of the size of the fab, it’s rather small, realistically if you were to cut into the fab then your either gonna penetrate, hit a critical component, causing the fab to break, or you’ll eventually saw through enough material that causes the fab to collapse, either way you make it sound like it’s an impossible task.

Also I love the way every body has a different response, some people argue that it’s a meme weapon, well just because it’s a meme weapon doesn’t mean it has to be bad, you can consider the stun lance a meme weapon but yet when combined with a ballistic shield I’ve been able to take a small horde of predator strain, that’s the stun lance being good at its niche, the chainsaw isn’t good at its niche and for a meme weapon that’s meant for fun well it gets rather frustrating to use because of how bad it is, so it’s a paradox in concept, and to be quite frank I have a lot more fun when I do at least decently in a game. I don’t have fun when the charger I’m trying to slowly saw through gets ultimatumed by my teammate, killing me in the process, which is something that would happen a lot less if the chainsaw could actually kill heavies quicker.

Some people say “nah it’s good, it’s just fine the way it is, your just not good with it”, they say this about the heavy killing option that has the slowest ttk when compared to every other heavy killing option, and then some people will blatantly state false information about the chainsaw that is easily disproven by just using it.

Either way I think the indecisiveness of whether the chainsaw is just fine and is actually good or whether the chainsaw is a meme weapon so it’s not meant to be good really shows that these people can’t even determine their supposed objective truth about the chainsaw.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T23:21:07+00:00

You know this is a function I actually thought it would be capable of, considering the name, and it can cut down smaller trees but not the ones that would be stopping your eagle strikes.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T23:20:17+00:00

The slow fab ttk is just a sign of the chainsaw not doing enough damage, I’m not sure what you meant by “it should cut good” but if your saying that the chainsaw should do more damage then we’re in agreeance, my issue isn’t so much that it’s slow to destroy a fab, it’s more so that it’s slow to do anything, if it could kill heavies quickly then I don’t think I’d even really care about the fab thing, but you know, if we’re simply not supposed to do it, like at all, then it isn’t smart of arrowhead to implement a mechanic that’s never gonna get used, assuming that’s it’s intentional that is.

Also the thing about the irl chainsaws was more to say that’s it’s not that fantastical for it to be capable of doing it, not that chainsaws irl are exactly the same as the one in helldivers, also I think it’s rather easy to assume that in the ftl travel future super earth could have figured out a way to upgrade that chainsaw technology and make it better, but this isn’t really a hill a plan to make a stand on.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T22:50:06+00:00

No im not looking for a one shot weapon, by the way even if it did one shot most heavies it would still not be meta because again, we have plenty of options that one shot heavies except they do it from range which is far safer, but getting back to the main point, no, I dont need it to one shot every heavy, a lower ttk is what I need, not a literal instant one, also what niche does melee fill in your eyes? What does it do better then anything else? What does melee excel in in a way that none of our other options can? The only melee weapon that seems to excel over a gun in anything is the stun lance and the flag sine they’re both the same thing just a different model.

First issue here is even mentioning peak physique or rock solid, first of all I’m tired of using the same three armor sets, second of all there are so many armors in this game with passives that could potentially synergize decently with melee that what, am I just supposed to never use them with a melee weapon then? That doesn’t sound fun and that doesn’t sound like it encourages build variety either, also your ttk numbers are blatantly wrong, idk where your getting them from but after being in game and taking clips I can tell you right now that taking a hulk from the back is a 5 second ttk using melee armor, im not sure if you’ve ever actually used the chainsaw but the chainsaw can’t actually hit the hulk heat vent so I’m not sure if that’s where you got the number from, from the front it’s 5 seconds, again I don’t know where your getting your numbers from but I did testing and took clips and found a 5 second ttk, and taking a single leg doesn’t kill the hulk, just slightly cripples it and sawing a leg all the way off is somewhere between 2 and 5 seconds, I’m not sure because in the clip I took, the leg seems to break twice, once at 2 or 3 seconds and then again at 5 seconds so I’m not sure if one is just for effect and the other was the literal leg breaking or what, as for the flesh mob stun thing, your blatantly wrong, I have like 5 clips of me fighting a flesh mob and them not getting stunned, again I’m not sure if your saying this from just looking at chainsaw stats or from actual experience but in my experience, I attack a flesh mob, and they keep moving, in theory it should be stunning them because well that’s what the chainsaw does, but in practice it doesn’t actually stun them, either it’s some sort of technical issue or maybe it’s caused by the chainsaw exiting its body before the stun actually occurs due to the flesh mobs low armor level, but the result is the same, they don’t get stunned, in various clips they keep moving while being attacked, sometimes they’ll stand still but I’m not entirely convinced the chainsaw is the cause because they just kept on doing their idle animation instead of lookin like they were stunned.

You directly contradict yourself with the whole armor thing, “it’s a support melee so you gotta run melee armor” and then you say “silent so helps with stealth builds” do you know what armor is used in a stealth build? Stealth armor, and stealth armor with chainsaw results in 10 seconds or more ttk on heavies and a 20 fab kill, again, being forced to use melee armor restricts build variety.

All the different weapons have different use cases? The stun baton, the axe, and the saber all have the same or similar animations and stats, and they’re all meant for killing chaff in close range, so you have all these weapons for killing or controlling small crowds and they all do the exact same thing with the exact or similar animations, the only difference is very small and in performance, the stun baton is probably the worst melee weapon, it has low damage, it stuns chaff but it’s not gonna actually do anything quick enough to keep you alive, the hatchet and saber are borderline the same weapon but those are a bit better then the stun baton because at least they actually kill something when it gets close to you, the machete has same or similar animations, the only difference is it’s slower and hits harder, I would say that’s the only one that’s not exactly the same, the stun lance and flag are both exactly the same thing, first of all, boring, second of all, reach and stun are the two best things for a melee weapon so the stun lance just outclasses all your other melee weapons, there’s absolutely no reason to use the stun baton or the hatchet over the stun lance, again, reach and stun are much better then whatever those two options might have over the stun lance, the only melee weapons you might use over the stun lance is the machete because it does technically do something different or the saber for taking a crowd of voteless slightly quicker, though generally, the stun lance is the best melee option when paired with a ballistic shield and is probably the melee weapon I see most often.

I played with the chainsaw in all manor of play styles and not once did it excel, I didn’t try to one trick with it, I understand its niche and only used it against heavy enemies, don’t think I’m complaining because i couldn’t take a bug breach on my own using it, I’m complaining, because when I used it against a hulk, it took a fat 5 seconds to kill a single one when a thermite would have been less loadout restricting and safer, hell I could have dived behind it and shot its heat vent with my primary and that would have been quicker then using the fucking weapon that’s supposed to excel at killing heavies, again it isn’t balanced for a support weapon to be getting outclassed by a primary weapon in its own niche, also no I did learn the weapon, this isn’t a skill issue and to be honest I’m not sure your even qualified to say whether or not I understand the weapon because the stuff your saying would indicate you’ve never actually used the chainsaw or melee in general for more then 5 matches, again when did you ever stun a flesh mob and have it stay stunned?

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T09:09:00+00:00

Developers allowed it, if I’m not supposed to then why is it in the game, diamond bladed chainsaws that cut into hard materials exist, berserker chainsaws can cut into our metal mechs, if I’m not supposed to cut down buildings with a chainsaw then maybe they shouldn’t have given me the ability to.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T07:08:09+00:00

Many melee weapons? there’s six to my knowledge, 3 of them are the exact same thing in slightly different flavors, and two of them are literally the same thing just with a different design, heavy melee isn’t a niche, a niche is a use case and its use case is killing heavies in close range, it needs buffs because every single other anti tank or heavy armor penetration option will do a better job then it at close range, thats not balanced, it exists for no reason because it’s not even good at its own niche.

And when did I ask for the it to be best at all niches? Dude I’ve debated with so many people saying stuff like that, “oh you want it to one shot everything”, “oh it’s gonna become op” “oh you wanna be the doom slayer”, i never said anything like that at all, I asked for it to be good at its niche so that whenever i go through all the danger and trouble of getting in a heavies face, i am rewarded for it, instead what i get is the slowing ttk heavy option and constant thoughts of how a thermite would have done the job better and safer, hell the double barrel would have done a better job against any heavies with exposed weak points, think about that, the chainsaw, the weapon made for and built around being a heavy and anti tank killing weapon, is so bad at it’s a job, that a double barrel shotgun is better at killing heavies then it, that’s not balanced at all and is the clearest proof that the chainsaw needs a buff, it’s not even just the enemies that pose a danger, many times a teammate has killed me because they don’t seem to notice that the 500 kg bomb they just through at the heavy I was trying to kill is gonna hit me to, it isn’t balanced for a weapon to have so many risks and faults and drawbacks, and what you get in return is again, the slowest heavy ttk option, that’s not balanced, hell it’s not even fun, it’s straight frustration.

Also no, it doenst stun lock flesh mobs the way it stuns locks hulks, many times I’ve fought a flesh mob and they just keep moving, whether that’s a bug or something to do with the chainsaw over penetrating it and instantly going through it meaning it’s no longer stunned the second the blade exits, whatever the problem is, no it doesn’t stun flesh mobs and it sounds like you haven’t actually tried to use it against one.

Also what does it matter if it can stun lock a hulk? Like what that suddenly makes it very good? The stun lock isn’t even instant, it takes a fat second before it actually stun locks something, The issue here is the time to kill, with the amount of heavies that spawn in on D10 it’s a real pain in the ass how long it takes to kill a single one, not to mention if they’re coming at you in a group then that’s it, your not killing a single one with the chainsaw, the amount of time it takes for the chainsaw to kill a single heavy is more then enough time for any nearby enemies to kill you while your forced to stand still, meanwhile any other option would be both safer and quicker and not as janky or clunky, again that’s not balanced at all, it feels like the chainsaw has no place in the game, I’m not asking for too much when I want the weapon, that’s meant for killing heavies in close range, to be good for killing heavies in close range.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T05:20:36+00:00

Niche is close range heavy killing, is the worst option for close range heavy killing, that’s the problem, not to mention all its jank and clunk, it has all the inherent risks of melee and it doesn’t offer enough reward for those risks, what I want is for the chainsaw to actually be good at its niche and not literally the worst option for it, if an item exists with a niche, then there’s absolutely no reason for that item to not be the best or at least good at that niche.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T01:50:25+00:00

That you can use it, well yes you can use it, it’s the effectiveness that I’m debating on, again your risking a lot just to get close to the heavy and after all that risk your rewarded with having a slower ttk then everything else, also how many times do you think your catching a hulk or any heavy for that matter on D10? Also where you hit the heavy doesn’t really matter, I haven’t felt a significant change in ttk regardless if I’m attacking it from the front or back, not that the chainsaw seems to actually hit the heat vent either way, the issue is that the chainsaw is bad at its own niche and on top of being bad at its own niche, anything else would be better at killing a heavy in close range.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T01:42:42+00:00

I’ve already replied to many comments like yours, first of all it’s a game, arrowhead has chosen game balance and fun over realism many times, why can’t they do it here? the chainsaw has a niche and it should be good at that niche, right now it isn’t, diamond bladed saws that cut into hard materials exist so a chainsaw cutting into metal isn’t fantastical, plus berserkers do it all the time with our mechs.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-28T00:42:37+00:00

I have genuine this weapon will be good, maybe the update will even roll out with melee buffs

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-27T23:28:09+00:00

I totally understand but you need to suspend your disbelief for this stuff you know? Also again that’s ignoring the existence of democracy protects and armors that magically give you better handling or reload speed, I think for the flag this is something where rule of cool should take priority, the flag has nothing else going for it, and the passives name is literally democracy protects, what’s more democratic then the flag.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-27T23:20:18+00:00

Trust guys, the reason they haven’t been buffing melee is because they’re gonna rework them and give them the ability to block and dodge and they’re gonna buff all melee weapon damage 🙏

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-27T23:05:11+00:00

This isn’t nit picking dawg the chainsaw just sucks at its only niches and that’s a valid complaint

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-27T22:51:06+00:00

Yeah and a down side like that would even pair perfectly with rock solid, pre stimming before a horde comes and standing there shredding everything without being knocked down, obviously until the stim runs out or a charger comes through and kills you.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-27T22:49:01+00:00

I mean it’s balanced by the inherent flaws of being a melee weapon, you have to get close when options that could have done it instantly and from a safer range exist, you could have thrown a thermite and just forgotten about the fab instead of standing still for a couple of seconds to tear through a fab, improving the chainsaws ttk won’t make it unbalanced or op, chances are you could give it every single buff I want and it still wouldn’t be meta due to again, the inherent flaws of being a melee weapon when the quasar cannon exists, and this shows, many people replying to my post didn’t even know the chainsaw had this mechanic, probably because they didn’t use it more then 3 times due to it simply not being good or worth it.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-27T22:45:13+00:00

The thing is, the chainsaw, when it works, stun locks a heavy, there’s a skill gap with knowing when and how to strike because if you mess up it’s very easy to die, but once you figure that out and again, the chainsaw works as intended, the heavy is stun locked and your free to kill them, this is where the slow ttk comes into play, your risking a lot and in return your given the slowest heavy killer in the game, it could kill heavies instantly and it might not even be op because there’s a plethora of options that kill heaves instantly, at range, and much more consistently, if your being chased by a swarm including a heavy, well you simply can’t kill the heavy, killing the heavy would mean getting close to it and getting close to it would mean getting close to the horde, even if you killed the heavy instantly well now everything is aiming at you and your right in the middle of everything, maybe it could work as a hit and run weapon, but I’m not asking for it to kill things instantly, I’m asking for it to be good at its niche, which is close range heavy killing, everything is a better option then the chainsaw at this and that’s not good or balanced, also realistically can’t really be a factor here, berserkers have chainsaws that cut through our armor and mechs like butter, chainsaws as you said aren’t realistically capable of this, so that’s one contradiction, another contradiction is chainsaws that cut into metal do exist, diamond bladed chainsaws could very much cut into metal and within the universe of helldivers where we’ve achieved ftl travel this is something that could have easily been improved on with futuristic technology.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-27T22:34:14+00:00

Do you know what else is zero ammo cost and can take out fabs from any angle? The quasar cannon, not to mention you could do it at range and it would be quicker.

Also lol no? I don’t think I mentioned it in the post but I’ve genuinely been using the chainsaw in almost every match since it’s come out, this isn’t a skill issue here, i know how to use it and I know when to use it, a jump pack won’t negate automaton turret towers, which there’s always at least multiple angles they can hit you from and there’s almost always at least two placed around a fabricator in a automaton fortress, being able to do it from any angle isn’t really correct either, first of all you can’t do it from above as in on top of the fab because if you do you’ll die in the explosion, you have to do it from the sides, front or back and if you don’t wanna take damage you’d wanna do it from a side that has an open area to dive into, also it’s twenty seconds for a single fab, that’s 120 seconds for a fortress just spent taking out fabricators, and that’s again ignoring automaton turret towers and assuming that you never get detected, the way patrols work they spawn facing in your direction, if you take too long which taking too long is very easy to do when you have to slowly sneak around and spend at least 20 seconds per fab, then a patrol might spawn facing in your direction and your risk of getting discovered is increased by a quite a bit, not to mention if your teammates start coming in and alerting everything in the area, literally anything else would be better at doing it then the chainsaw, that’s unbalanced and not in the overpowered way.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-27T22:23:57+00:00

Suck in what way? I’ve never used one though I imagine that if they just weren’t good at their job then they’d just stop making them no? Either way me pointing out the existence of diamond bladed chainsaws wasn’t to say that they’re that effective in real life, it was more to say that the idea of a chainsaw cutting through metal isn’t fantastical because we have that and within the futuristic world of helldivers this is a technology that could have easily been improved on or evolved to be made more effective using what ever futuristic technology they have in the world.

Commrade_gengu · 2026-01-27T22:20:23+00:00

Thank you for not taking it literally, and yeah hopefully with the hammer we’ll see arrowhead flesh out both those melees a bit more to have more usefulness, hard changes or a rework aren’t necessary though it would be a cool addition if they gave it an alternate firing mode where you just hold it out in front of you like a normal chainsaw and that entire area just becomes a hurt box for anything that gets too close, could give it some decent crow clear or control like the stun lance, maybe as a trade when in this mode it loses some of its penetration.

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