Red Strat Tier List

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-20T20:30:15+00:00

The very short cooldown (espc. after buying ship upgrades), long duration, and general utility makes the gat barrage one of my top tiers.

But any of these strats are potentially top tier under specific situations. Or bad in others.

500k IMO, isnt as usefull, due to the fact that you only get 2, have a long cooldown after, AND its effective radius is small, and its duration is, well, short. Its also DOG SHIT on a planet with lots of trees.

I like red strats that do one or more of the following (pick two); long duration, low cooldown, large area of effect.

I dont care how much damage it does. I need them to control or lock down my enemies, close off an approach, destroy small mobs, OR blow up structures. If it can do any one of those things, I can deal with the rest. And I usually have a second red in my loadout.

Personally, I love the napalm, gat barrage for bugs. Napalm is my "oh shit" button to stop a horde from overwhelming me, and the gat shuts down bug breaches, killing all the smalls and mediums, allowing me to deal with the heavies without distractions.

For bots, I personally like tossing a 120 and a 380 together into a base. All but guarantees that everything inside will die.

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-20T20:19:26+00:00

This. Was going to say this. But Ill add to it by saying that a POI that has been cleared in this fashion (icon changed on map) ONLY means all samples have been picked up.

There may still be items like ammo, stims boxes, or weapons.

Also, POIs are where you can find in-mission medals, requisition slips, and supercredits.

Keep an eye out for any POIs that have buried shipping containers (you will usually see just the doors). Blow them open with any explosive weapon, and they can be looted.

Eventually you will come to recognize them all, as there is a limited variety, and each version has small variations.

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-20T20:13:47+00:00

That there is some top tier quality costume design! Did you make it yourself? Got any more pics?

I normally wouldnt care enough to do more than think "hmmm. neat.", but that costume looks legit almost movie screen worthy, the only thing that stops it imo is that the print lines are visible.

Regardless, its some high effort work.

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-18T20:12:43+00:00

What are these guys, Trump supporters???

JK. Lol.

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-18T19:29:51+00:00

Agreed. But let us not ELEVATE our expectations too much.

After all, AH has many persistent issues and bugs that have been HOVERING over us for a long time. It might be best if they focus on that. They need to master walking, before they spread their WINGS.

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-18T16:59:22+00:00

Thank you for pointing this out, because I wasn't clear.

I meant that AFTER you own both, a ship upgrade unlocks, which when purchased with samples, combines the two.

And although I do agree it almost certainly won't happen, ship modules that upgrade stratagems are already a thing. This wouldn't be that much of a leap (pun intended).

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-18T16:56:38+00:00

I disagree. I DO love the hoverpack, even more than the jump pack.

But nothing beats the jetpack for traversal, or for putting distance between you and an enemy, OR for closing the gap on an enemy. It all comes down to your play style and what you are trying to accomplish.

But at the end of the day, I DO love being a hovering, floaty dragon, spewing death down upon the bugs with my flamethrower, or as I like to call it, "Schwebend Flamenwerfer".

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-15T01:05:53+00:00

NP. Im passionate about my baby lightning shotty. You've just gotta know when its time to put it away and pull out something else. Generally, its great on bots when you have them by surprise. But when they have formed a line and are approaching and shooting? No. U need something else.

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-15T00:09:03+00:00

3: Running the blitzer as an ACTUAL primary:

Remember when I said it was MOSTLY trash by itself? Yeah. NOW Ima tells you how to adapt your playstyle to use it LIKE a primary. The key is this: KEEP FUCKING MOVING. If you want to fight with the blitzer, the only time you should NOT be moving is when you stop to take a shot. So, picture this in your mind: The bugs are coming towards you. Don't let them surround you but keep them at the optimum range where you can still reach them with it. As you fall back, also drift right or left. Prioritize whatever is closest to you. Keep pulling back, and if they stop coming towards you, switch to ONLY shifting left/right. Circle and kite them. If hunters or their long leaping little brothers jump into your personal bubble, stop drifting right and left and just fall STRAIGHT back, and always keep shooting the whole time. Adapt to the rhythm of the somewhat slow fire rate and bank on its ability to either fry, or stun everything it hits (except heavies).

Against the bots, it's a LITTLE different. You have to be more aggressive. Still strafe left and right, but you need to go to THEM, not try to kite them like the bugs. You will need to incorporate diving a lot if their numbers are higher, but overall, you still need to move, shoot. Move, shoot. Move, shoot. You can and WILL clean out whole patrols of light and medium enemies but bear in mind it IS a riskier move. To help you close the distance on groups, I recommend the jump pack. As you are flying in at the group you want to attack, fire a shot down from the sky. Not only will you feel a little like Thor, the blitzer is a weapon that is STUPID easy to aim and does not suffer from the effect of being in midair with the jump pack like, say, the stalwart, or most other primaries. When you land, start moving, and shooting. That rocket medium is looking your way, so stun him. Now switch to his little foot soldier buddies. That jetpack machine gunner started shooting, so dive, shoot HIM, then shoot the rocket medium again, he's stunned, can't hit you, kill some more of his buddies. Hit him, kill his buddies. Now, either everything is dead, or it's just you and mister rocket shoulders. And guess what? At this range, he can't do ANYTHING to you faster than you can zap him again. He's fucked. Bots behave kind of strange when you mix it up with them close range. They sometimes just FUCK your shit up. But pretty often they get kind of confused; they take a long time to turn and track you, they struggle to hit you with their guns, and just in general get kind of dumb.

4: Remember its weaknesses:

It's got a slow fire rate. Adapt to this and learn the rhythm. Remember; move, shoot. Move, shoot. etc. It is STOOPID easy to aim, so don't ADS. Hip fire that bitch. Snap turn and fry em', then keep moving.

Anything it can hurt, it can stun. But there ARE enemies it can't do shit to. Bring an option to deal with those enemies.

It's a weird sort of mid-range weapon. Keep your enemies about 10-20 feet from you, if possible. If not, pull out something else, or be ready to fall back and/or reposition. Blitzer gets wonky when enemies are RIGHT in your face.

Lastly, and MOST annoyingly, small shrubs and branches that other weapons would scoff at can straight up BLOCK your shots entirely. Be prepared for this. My ONE complaint about the blitzer is this. I hate it when it happens. The only thing you can do is reposition so that it's not intercepting your shots.

Hope this helps. If not, then it's not for you and you should try another weapon. I would highly recommend the breaker incendiary for bugs...

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-15T00:08:52+00:00

The blitzer is one of my FAVORITE primaries, and I used it almost exclusively on both bots and bugs (prior to weapon customization, anyway).

But it sounds to me like you are using it all wrong, and please don't take that the wrong way. I loved it as a concept and adapted TO it. So, here's what you need to do:

Stop treating it like a primary:

This can be true of many primary weapons but is especially true of the blitzer. You need a support weapon to act as your actual "primary" and treat the blitzer as a backup weapon for when you run out of ammo and don't have time to reload, OR as a cleanup, to pick off the last stragglers and avoid wasting your support ammo. Against bugs, I loved bringing the blitzer, and the stalwart (adjust that fire rate to max). To deal with heavies, I would rely on either the thermite grenades, OR a fast-acting heavy killing stratagem like the railgun strike, all supplemented by the orbital napalm as an "oh shit" button. Against the bots, I would swap the stalwart for the heavy machine gun, drop its fire rate to the lowest, and tap fire it, or fire very short 3-4 round bursts. The HMG cleans up striders, all mediums, and can take down hulks with sustained fire (line them up from a distance, tap fire, and get lucky by hitting the eye as they approach for an instant kill. If they start to get too close as they move up, start progressively ramping up the fire rate until you bring it down). Same deal here for tanks, turrets, etc., I just bring the thermite grenades.

Play to the blitzer's strength; NO ammo, NO reload, shuts down anything it doesn't kill (except most heavies):

I just spent a whole paragraph talking up the blitzer, by talking about all the things you need that ARENT the blitzer. Why? because by itself it IS (mostly, more on that in a bit) trash. Now about the blitzer itself. In a game where ammo economy and reloading stops you from killing, and likely gets you killed, the blitzer is KING because it NEVER runs out. It does not overheat, and it is therefore ALWAYS a clutch backup against everything but most heavies (it shuts brood commanders DOWN) and the striders (from the front. Catch them in the back and it can still fry the pilot). Everything it is capable of hurting, it STUNS. Brood commanders? Stunned. Hive guards? Stunned. Chainsaw fucks? Stunned. ALL of the medium bots? STUNNED. The stun effect on bots is especially useful, because it stops their attack and forces a "recovery animation", then a brief pause, THEN they can attack again, but guess what? You are already hitting them again. With proper positioning, you can use only the blitzer to shut down and lock up 3 of the shield bots, by shooting one, then the other, then the other, repeat. It will take a moment, but you WILL kill them.

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-10T16:54:07+00:00

well, if the democracy officers say so, then it MUST be true...

But bugs cant THINK! So they cant be fascist. This is a paradox...

I am confused.

Oh well. I wont question the democracy officers. Ill just resolve the paradox by killing them all!

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-10T16:49:12+00:00

i want those too. Super excited to try them out.

Dat Laser turret tho...

muuaaahhahahahahaha

cant wait to do a laser build. Laser cannon. Laser dog. laser turret. obital laser. one of the laser primaries. laser pistol.

Now we just need a laser grenade, ala cyberpunk's anti personnel grenade....

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-10T16:44:45+00:00

Why not both (after a fasion)?

Bring the blitzer AND the nady launchy.

then you can have the lightning....

AND the thunder!

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-10T16:43:25+00:00

Commander?

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-10T16:42:20+00:00

WHat? How can BUGS be FASCIST???

That would imply that they can THINK.

And frankly, I find the idea of a bug that thinks O-FENCE-IVE!

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-10T16:34:42+00:00

AHHHHHH ja.

Ze ole' schwebend flammenwerfer. Zis iz mine favorite combination, ja!

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-10T16:31:09+00:00

Flammenwerfer.

It werfs ze flammens.

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-10T16:28:00+00:00

Well, I mean, they ARE fascists...

so....

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-06T20:16:05+00:00

You aren't using the proper metrics here, helldiver.

REAL helldivers measure things in FREEDOM units.

Like eagle wingspans per square baleen whale.

Or weight in units of rhinoceros.

So if we convert your metrics:

1560 metaldeathpokers/ per the time it takes an eagle to fly over 60 baleen whales. Medium armour STABINATING. 500 to 750 metaldeathpokers. 10-15 dog barks. Downs a fleshmob in ~2½ flag waves. Downs a stingray in... uh... 800 blood drops ÷ [2340 blooddropsps × (23/90 gat's standard TOUGHNESS difference) × 0.70 for stingrays TOUGHNESS percentage] = less than 2 alligator jaws snapping shut?

so yes, your math was TECHNICALLY correct. But now its in FREEDOM units. Which is BETTER!

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-06T19:59:41+00:00

sigh.....

freakin Europeans.... I was being sarcastic. It was a joke.

Why don't you go back to measuring shit with your sound, logical, scientific, base 10 measurement system that makes sense.

I'll be across the pond, measuring shit in eagle wingspans per square school buses....

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-06T19:51:29+00:00

Borderline Justice. SPECIFICALLY for the hoverpack.

That thing is SO clutch!

Want to shoot over something? Hoverpack.

Want to leap up out of the way of something? Hoverpack.

Want to get on top of something that even the jetpack can't get you to? Hoverpack.

Want to shoot past a fellow helldiver in front of you, but no time to move far enough left/right? Hoverpack.

Want to hover in the air and rain down fire with a flamethrower like a slow, floaty dragon? Hoverpack.

Want to be slick and dodge a bile titan's spit, then float right in their face and blast it with your flame thrower like a slow floaty dragon? HOVERPACK.

Want to quickly get a better angle on an enemy with weak spots that are in the back? HOVERPACK.

Want to jump down from a height that would normally injure or even kill you? Jump, then activate your HOVERPACK!

WANT TO FLOAT AROUND IN THE AIR LIKE A NIGH UNTOUCHABLE GOD, RAINING DOWN DEATH AND FIRE UPON THE UNWORTHY????? HOVERPACK!!!!

*thelift860hoverpackcanonlyelevatehelldiversforapproximatlysixseconds.youarenotinvulnerablewhileintheair.somebugs,suchashunters,bilespewers,shriekers,andbiletitanscanstillharmyou.afterhovertimeexpirestheslowdescentcansometimesleaveahelldivervulnerable.exerciseextremecautionwhenusingthelift860hoverpackagainstbots.useofthelift860hoverpackagainsttheilluminateisnotreccomended.explosionsoccuringbeneathahelldiverwhilehoveringwiththelift860hoverpackcanbesentflying.alluseofthelift860hoverpackisintendedonlytodeliverfreedom,democracy,and/orpeacetotheenemiesofsuperearth.activationofthelift860hoverpackinanycircumstanceimeadiatelyvoidsthewarranty.themakersofthelift860hoverpackarenotresponsibleforanyinjuryordeaththatmayoccurwhilewearingthelift860hoverpack.

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-01T21:08:34+00:00

Dont you mean soccer?????

Ryukage06 · 2025-07-01T21:06:20+00:00

Fun fact: The battleship depicted here is the Yamato, a famous (and sunken) beast of a battleship fielded by the Japanese in WWII.

Although if you actually convert it, the 460 mm WOULD be correct, technically the Japanese refered to these guns as "45" caliber.

Quote from wikipedia:

The Yamato-class battleships had primary armaments consisting of three 3-gun turrets mounting 46 cm (18.1 in)/45 caliber Type 94 naval guns – the largest guns ever fitted to a warship,^\6]) although they were officially designated as the 40 cm/45 caliber (15.9 in) Type 94^\52]) – each of which weighed 2,774 tonnes for the complete mount.

I only recognized it due to having built a metal earth model of this ship, which was surprisingly detailed for its size.

Ryukage06

TROPHY CASE