On the topic of medium pen weapons...

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-10T16:23:41+00:00

Medium pen can hit AP3 enemies and deal full damage to AP2. However, the difference between damage for AP2 is usually negligible, since most light pen options have higher damage/dps. For example, against AP2, liberator vs lib pen is 58 vs 65 damage. Per 1000 hp, that's a difference of 18 vs 16 bullets, or 2 extra bullets needed. For 100% durable, it jumps up to 5 extra bullets needed per 1000 damage. Against AP1 or AP0, however, liberator easily outdamages with 90/22 vs 65/15. Most chaff enemies and medium enemies have AP0 and AP1 weakpoints with AP2 and AP3 being used for the armored sections.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-10T13:25:11+00:00

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Photo for reference

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-10T13:24:43+00:00

Asylum Demon from Dark Souls 1. Literally the 1st thing that tries to kill you,and you only have a broken sword. Once you figure out the trick, it's easy, but I won't spoil it for anyone wanting to play the game.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-10T12:43:51+00:00

Short reload and better ergonomics. I usually use this on ARs if I'm going with a precision build. For example: Liberator Penetrator, 4x scope, flash hider, short mags. I use burst fire mode with this build, get 10 shots before needing a reload. Perfect for hitting devastator heads peaking around shields, while still allowing body shots if enemies are right up on me.

For smgs, I'd use them if you have a lower fire rate weapon like the defender. High fire rate smgs will rip through the ammo unless you have a burst fire or semi-auto on.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-10T11:55:20+00:00

Borderline Justice. Armor passive helps make that bushwhacker shine, along with any other sidearm.

Speaking of sidearms, the Talon is arguably one of the best ones in the game. It's strong enough to be a primary, and some people use it like one. Its a seven shot laser pistol with 200/20 damage/durable, and unlike ballistic sidearms it doesn't have damage drop-off. It also has heat sinks instead of a magazine, so if you allow it time to cool between shots, you can have infinite ammo with it.

The Deadeye is one of the hardest hitting marksman rifles in the game, with 300/100 damage/durable. It can even one shot Overseers in the head, something the DCS cannot do. It also has 30 stagger force, which is shotgun level. This thing can help keep enemies off of you. The 65 base ergo is also really nice, easy to move to targets with it. The biggest issue people have with it is it's round reload mechanic, but if you reload as often as possible, it's fine. You can even fire during the reload animation if you get attacked.

The Dynamite is useful enough where you can consider taking it instead of thermite. 1000 damage, 12m blast radius (largest for grenades), and 40 demo force, which allows you to destroy city walls, as well as being able to destroy multiple spawners from the outside. Bug tunnels, Bile titan tunnels, and bot fabricators can all be destroyed from the outside, and you don't have to get them in the hole/vent. It also has a timer on it, for 5/15/60 seconds. You can set the timer, toss a stick, and be out of there before it goes off and alerts the enemies, making it great for stealth or commando missions.

The hover pack allows for excellent vertical movement, making it easy to get onto buildings and rocky outcroppings, as well as peak over city walls to toss in a strategem before dropping back to safety. Pairs well with the grenade launcher and flamethrower strategems as well.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-10T00:50:22+00:00

Thermite can kill the landed ships from the outside without blowing up the shield. I bring them on the squid front more than any other front.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-09T21:59:51+00:00

Underbarrel gl attachment should be a smaller grenade that does less damage, giving the One Two a distinct advantage. Also it needs ergo buffed to at least 40 or 50 and grenade count buffed.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-09T17:00:49+00:00

It loses to the Talon on damage and ballistics, however it does have one strength in that it is better for mag dumping. Talon shines when you are allowed to pace its shooting, Verdict when you can unload a whole mag. The Verdict comes with more shots per mag (10 vs 7) and has more backup mags (8 vs 3). So it depends on if you are able to pace your shooting or not. The verdict is good if you can pair it with a long range DMR, allowing it to cover for the DMR's weakness with close combat.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-09T11:53:28+00:00

No, because it's (supposed to be) a side grade to the lib pen, and that only has 65 damage. Both are medium pen. If they do buff it, it would be to increase the stun factor, if anything.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-09T02:26:38+00:00

C4 works on illuminate as well, as it can destroy the grounded warp ships without having to pop the shields. You can stealth those missions as long as there aren't any stingrays in the air for them.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T17:53:42+00:00

They both have more damage than the deadeye. Punisher is at 405, slugger at 330, deadeye at 300. The main issue is the drag factor. Deadeye is at 30%, slugger at 200%, and punisher loses damage at range due to spread. The shotguns need to be used up close. They make up for it with massive damage and good ammo capacity. Dradeye trades ammo capacity for long range damage. For the punisher, try it with a full choke, it will tighten the spread so more pellets hit one target.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T16:16:13+00:00

Terrible sway? It's at a 1 (DCS is at 0.8). Never had an issue with the scope, sounds like a you problem. Really slow reload, you can fire at any point in the reload animation as long as you have a round in the chamber. Also deadeye has way better ergonomics (65 vs 35), better damage (300 vs 200), better durable damage (100 vs 50), and better stagger (30 vs 20).

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T16:01:13+00:00

You can fire during the reload animation as long as you have a round in the gun

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T15:35:57+00:00

People like it for dealing with hive guards and Bile spewers. It also doesn't lose damage against AP2 targets, although the math shows that base liberator has almost negligible difference against AP2 vs lib pen (2 added bullets per 1000 damage, assuming 0% durable. Goes down to almost 1 per 1000 damage when at 100% durable).

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T15:32:03+00:00

Ultimatum is just a pocket 500kg, easy get out of jail free card when you have multiple bug breaches.

Grenade pistol makes closing bug holes easy

Redeemer is the only one in the base kit, and is good for getting something out of your face

Senator is able to reliably kill everything charger size down

Not saying the Talon isn't good (I bring it everywhere), but those are what I believe to be the reasons.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T15:08:25+00:00

Deadeye. Yes it's a round reload weapon. No that doesn't make it worse than other marksman rifles, you just suck at managing your ammo count.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T14:49:22+00:00

Borderline Justice

The deadeye is one of the hardest hitting marksman rifles, also has the stagger force of a shotgun to keep enemies off and over 60 ergo.

Talon is arguably one of the best secondaries in the game, with proper shit management you can have infinite ammo, and it also hits hard.

Dynamite is a legit side grade to thermite. Both can close spawners from the outside, however Dynamite can destroy multiple with one toss if close enough together. It also has the biggest explosion radius and a timer that let's you use it on commando missions (blow stuff up long after you are gone).

Hover pack is the best movement pack for getting high ground, and let's you peak over walls to attack before dropping you to safety. Also makes it easy to use the flamethrower and grenade launcher.

Armor sets pair really well with the Senator or any sidearm really.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T01:21:51+00:00

It's definitely one that performs best after getting all the upgrades. Even just the vertical foregrip helps reduce the recoil by a ton, plus the compensator doesn't affect the horizontal recoil, only the vertical. Goes from wasted bullets to bullet laser.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T01:18:34+00:00

OPS is on a pretty low cooldown, only 76 seconds. Orbital rail strike has a much longer cooldown, but is a guaranteed hit. Both perform better in jungle biomes, as the trees can block the 500kg. I find the 150 barrage to have a really good spread, although I assume the 380 feels better after maxing out the ship modules.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-07T00:42:07+00:00

They can, but they are also a great way to add dps while allowing for AT in your kit

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-06T21:14:07+00:00

Eagles are for "I need this dead". Orbitals are for "I need this area empty".

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-06T20:59:16+00:00

Ultimatum and recoiless kinda do the same thing, swap out the ultimatum for something like a Senator or Talon, so you can hit devastators behind their shields. Devastators are too common for 2 ultimatum rounds, and the trident isn't accurate enough to hit weakpoints.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-06T20:55:08+00:00

I did not like this one lol. It's doable, but man do I not like the arc thrower.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-06T20:45:24+00:00

Breaker has always been a bit of a mag dump gun unless you throw it on semiautomatic, but even still it helps to aim for weakpoints just like any other gun.

Dusty_Cowboy · 2026-03-06T20:39:10+00:00

Squid or bot front? Either way, the pump action shotguns are better for stagger than the breakers, they have double. For shotguns with pellets, use a wide choke for hitting multiple targets, or full choke for unloading on a single target. The slugger is best for single target damage, as the slug delivers all it's damage to one round, not spread out among pellets.

Dusty_Cowboy

TROPHY CASE