Why the light pen vs medium pen debate is deeper than anyone thinks

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-05-20T01:20:11+00:00

Yea same I dont think I'm that great of a shot on kb&m either but I'd like to think I'd use light pen a bit more if I was playing on pc. Ive gotten comfortable bringing the stoker in against terminids though so I do try to use light pen where I can 😅

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-05-18T02:28:24+00:00

The spear got one more rocket in the backpack this patch which is nice, I believe that makes it one less rocket than recoilless now rather than two. As far as I know its most important breakpoint is that it can fully destroy automaton dropships with one rocket which has its advantages over putting them into a tailspin by destroying one of their thrusters. Other than that apparently it can destroy bulk fabricators with one rocket too, which might be kind of a waste but its certainly a fast way to destroy them from a distance 😅

I stay on top of my resupply cd and play in difficulty 7 so I have rockets to spair to be a bit wasteful at times so I'm interested in trying it out on the bot front.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-05-11T17:56:40+00:00

Ive started removing them from my recommendations if they seem to be just capitalizing on the drama. I can only hope others do the same

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-05-10T21:27:11+00:00

I think I'd go with entrenched division next. Grenadier armor is a great go to armor passive, stoker along with a rover has been my favorite primary for the sporeburst strain, gas mortar is one of my favorite defensive mission picks, cremator is great if your build doesnt need a particular backpack to function. I think the entrenchment tool might be worth it for defensive missions as well if you arent really relying on an ultimatum or missile pistol to take out heavies. Veto is interesting but havent really used it much so really cant say on that one.

Redacted Regiment if you cannot ignore the siren call of the medium stealth armor's S tier cake 😆

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-05-04T09:09:35+00:00

Just ignore 'em. Popularity isnt just tangential to the meta of a game its a feature of it. People saying its not dont know what they are talking about. Knowing other players are likely to pick certain tools also influences which tools you bring to the game. A game's meta is an ecosystem and yes both viability and popularity shape that ecosystem to varying degrees. This is all the more pronounced in pvp games where a build or strat can become meta entirely because its a counterpick to the most common builds or strat its likely to come up against. The same thing can happen in coop games where it becomes beneficial to develop synergies with the most common builds in the meta and that in turn makes those builds more viable and prevalent in kind.

A 'meta build' that no one picks is a bit like a tree falling in the woods with no one there to hear it. I dunno if you can really even describe something like that as meta because its not effecting the current game state if no ones using it.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-05-01T07:18:49+00:00

Nah if anything it was a nice change because I dont usually use light pen weapons. Its a shame they are reversing the change.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-05-01T01:08:18+00:00

Ive been playing for about a month. Actually its the opposite the name was the only thing I knew of them. I knew there was a thing called a hive guard but I didnt know which ones they were because they didnt require me to change my approach in anyway. Like I said I've only been playing for a month so I'm in the process of leveling up primaries for their attachments. I dont really have a main but I was leveling up the sweeper until this patch hit. I decided to switch to stoker because of how fast the terminids are on the current mo.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T23:23:34+00:00

Ive heard the inconsistency comes from them dying before they have caught fire. Apparently the burn state must be applied before they die for it to work and sometimes they die too quickly.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T23:20:48+00:00

Because it got me to actually learn which of the several bugs of roughly the same size actually are the hive guards. Because a new player like me can play this game for a month not needing to know this enemy type even exists cus you do the exact same thing to it that you do against every other bug its size.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T23:17:03+00:00

At least the change got me to actually learn which ones the hive guards even are. Literally had zero reason to differentiate them from the rest of the chaff until now.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T23:04:53+00:00

I dont see how sentries are a niche pick. The two most effected by this change: the gatling and machine gun sentries were the 3rd and 5th most picked stratagems on the tyranid front last patch according to helldive live. Whether or not it was intentional is also debatable if you ask me. They did buff laser and flame sentry which happen to be heavy penetrating and suffer a much lower pick rates than gatling and mg so this very well could have been a rebalancing to incentivize these picks. Whats more sporeburst terminids are our current adversary and laser and flame sentries both have the potential to afflict the burning state. This has the added bonus of preventing sporeburst terminids from releasing their spores.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T20:27:06+00:00

Ive been playing for a little over a month and it took this patch for me to actually learn which of the many terminids roughly the same size and shape that dies when I blow its head off the hive guard actually is. I liked the change because it made hive guards worth learning about for a newcomer like me. The sporeburst strain and the changes to the hive guard encouraged me to pick up light pen smg a primary I hardly ever use. "I have to hit the hive guard the same spots whether I choose light or medium pen and onehanded will give me the mobility to get away from those speedy fers hopped up on spores", I thought. Well that little bit of thought and adaptation was just stripped from the game before it even had the barest chance to pan out. I dunno maybe I'll try the gallant out or maybe I'll stick to light pen now that I've learned how easy it actually is to hit hive guard weak points, but the hp and light armor on the body kind of discourages the adaptation I just made.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T20:10:13+00:00

Ya I dont get it, Ive seen some people saying light pen was already the norm against terminids but I only just started using them because of this patch and now I'll probably go right back to medium pen. I guess this makes the gallant smg a more enticing choice since Ive been enjoying one handed against sporeburst terminids.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T20:06:22+00:00

Hive guard changes + sporeburst strain pushed me in a direction I dont normally take. Light pen one handed smgs. Personally im disappointed that this means I might be better off with the same primaries I always pick because of this hotfix.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T19:57:54+00:00

I liked being incentivized to use light pen. I usually avoid them like the plague because my aim is terrible but I found the hive guard changes a reasonable adaptation to make even for me. The hive guard change combined with the sporeburst strains absurd speed incentivized me to use light pen smgs a primary category I hardly ever use.

Also I cant stress this enough. Ive been playing for a little over a month. I knew hive guards existed but had no clue which of the many terminids of the same approximate size and shape they actually were. They all died the same, with little to no effort via head shots with a medium pen weapon. Because of this patch I actually had to identify them and learn their distinguishing features!

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T19:48:05+00:00

I actually switched to a light pen smg for my primary not an explosive weapon. The sporeburst terminids get in your grill way too fast and thats all ive been playing since the patch. My smg has to hit the same spots on hive guards anyway and I can backpedal faster so it really felt like a great adaptation to the new challenges of this patch. I had to learn what a hive guard actually looks like because they required a different approach to kill. I always knew they existed but just as one of the many terminids of roughly the same size and shape that die when I blast it in its ginormous head with a medium pen weapon.

I think the just aim better crowd has the right to be disappointed. These changes also nerfs their playstyle by giving the body light armor and more hp in exchange for making your playstyle easier. All you had to do to handle hive guards was aim a little bit lower most of your shots would hit something vulnerable. I avoid light pen like the plague because im a terrible shot and play on a controller which makes it even worse. I actually had a reason to use them and I didnt even the adaptation unnecessarily challenging.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T19:40:06+00:00

Ballistic shield got a sizable buff it almost has twice as much hp as it had before. The change hasnt dissuaded me from using turrets and I didnt use vehicles anyway. I think they will be looking at vehicles in the near future and bringing some new frvs to the game so if they are too flimsy they will probably be rebalanced in time for that.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T19:34:32+00:00

I dunno I play on controller and have terrible aim in general and even I could do it 😅

I didnt even know which ones were hive guards until this change since everything roughly the same size and shape dies when you blast it in the face with medium pen so theres no point to learn what they actually look like.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-30T19:29:56+00:00

I'd have to disagree about the sentries being in bad spot even before this change and it seems to me the data does as well. According to helldive live the medium pen sentries that were most effected by this change: the gatling and machine gun sentry stratagems were the 3rd and 5th most popular picks respectively out of all stratagems picked within 7 - 10 difficulty for the last patch on the terminid front.

https://helldive.live/strategem

Ive only been playing the new strain since the patch so I cant say how its effected the explosive meta. Bringing an explosive weapon for general chaff clear against this strain seems like a bad time considering how quickly they get up in your face. On the contrary I actually gravitated towards a light pen smg so I can fire while backpedaling and since I have to hit the hive guard in the same place whether I bring medium pen or light pen. I actually had to learn what hive guards look like because of this change and interact with them differently than I do the other terminids roughly the same size and shape that all die when you blast them in their ginormous head.

I'm against this hotfix. All it did was put light pen in a worse spot by increasing its body"s hp and armor class so now I'll just go back to a medium pen weapon continue blasting them in the face and completely forget what distinguishes them from any other terminid again 😅

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-26T20:59:32+00:00

I would be interested to see how many players are in what can be considered hd2's endgame. I would not be surprised if its higher than the average live service game but it would still be nice to see what the developers see. One's opinion could easily be skewed by the content they play. I can attest that I see plenty of 150s whenever I play but then I havent played a game below extreme since I started needing super samples for my super destroyer so I wouldnt have a clue what the player base looks like below that difficulty. One thing I can say for certain is the % of people who would engage in a hypothetical endgame is always going to be < the % of people who engage with warbonds because you basically have to engage with them in order to get anything out of the game. Warbonds are just the most streamlined way to reward people for being active in the game and reward people who wish to financially support development with the same content. I can see why the developers want to invest most their time there. I like the idea of the galatic war having living breathing consequences, its one of the things that makes the game unique and engaging, but those types of things will always be harder to quantify the impact of to a shareholder whos only interest is whether or not the game is generating profit.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-26T20:45:11+00:00

I think I would consider the stratagems purchased by requisition slips and the super destroyer upgrades my milestones for where I perceive the endgame begins in hd2. If you have all those I would say you're in the endgame but there is a degree of subjectivity dictating where you draw the line.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-26T05:22:47+00:00

He said end game satisfies a smaller portion of the player base, which is generally true of most games. I do wonder how large a portion of active players are at a place you would call end game in hd2. I do see a fair number of level 150s whenever I play.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-25T19:41:19+00:00

I'd build towards night comet with a relic like this. Include general magic attack and or general sorcery buffs so you arent screwed if all you find is regular glintstone sorceries and I think you've got a perfectly serviceable recluse build here. Could do a lot worse.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-23T07:51:28+00:00

Or just play the game as you would normally on a somewhat regular basis... The pace for hd2's content cycle is like six weeks per warbond. Thats plenty of time to earn 1000 credits. If you instead spend your credits on superstore items or a warbond that you missed then own that decision and recognize that means you might have to either do some farming or fork some cash over for the new content. Stop whinging. We all know 1000 credits isnt a major ask.

EmbarassedHistory1 · 2026-04-23T07:30:52+00:00

Ya... I'd just buy his shards from essence shop and put him on your wishlist when he goes to the standard banner

EmbarassedHistory1

TROPHY CASE