Honestly with the eruptor nerf, my go-to setup for Automatons has become the Diligence CS with the AMR. CS buffs make it great for small crowds since its ergonomics are tighter and it has enough damage to onetap any basic bot. It can even oneshot devastators with a headshot, making it good for conserving ammo on the AMR. Meanwhile the AMR does what it does best in killing any ground based bot quickly, it can even kill gunships reliably with 4 shots to an engine. Throw in the grenade pistol for fabs and stun grenades to help with headshots on things like hulks and it's damn near perfect.

@andrewjordan590

2 ай бұрын

I was never big on the eruptor for bots. But since the cs can one shot devastators now this has been my exact light armor set up for bots. It’s super fun

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, love how the Diligence CS feels now. And people say the devs only nerf fun :P

@curtisyager7130

2 ай бұрын

I've been trying the CS a lot lately vs bots too, but I've been packing the autocannon instead. For AMR I like to use the pummler + shield. Both are lots of fun.

@toddsilverwolfe

2 ай бұрын

I usually run the Dominator or Sickle with the AMR, but the DCS is definitely a solid choice. Also very thematic.

My favorite aesthetic in this game is running around with the AMR and tactically eliminating targets of priority, saving and resupplying allies, and then dissappearing into the fog of war. Such a good feeling getting all those "thank you" emotes from my team of randos.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Sniping will always feel cool.

Boss gave me the day off work AND there’s a new Spike video? BLESS UP

Great video, the first few minutes were chaos as always with bots,but that's what makes helldivers 2 fun

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Bringing order to chaos is what Managed Democracy is all about o7

Nice work man. Explaining your thought process in the description is super helpful and has encouraged me to try out different combinations. I'm glad you use most of what's in the game effectively and provide a reasonable review of primary/secondary pros and cons. I've picked up all sorts of little tips/tricks from your runs, the Airstrike/stun combo was a game changer for me handling Chargers

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Thanks! Just how I try to think about every game, even if the execution isn't perfect, everything's usually designed with a role in mind, and sometimes it takes time to figure it out. Stun nades really opened things up, yeah. Love stuff that shows its values in ways other than just damage. Would love something like a decoy nade too...

14:55 'Have a taste of Democracy!' while standing within arms reach of the Democracy vending machine is kinda gold

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

This message was brought to you by: Eagle Sweat (TM)

@GoofyChristoffer

2 ай бұрын

@@newspiked7385 I half expected him to start throwing cans

always a delight watching your guys slick coordination. that synchronized takedown of the outpost was pretty cool! I may recommend trying to hip-fire the AMR when those Berserkers get up in your face. it is quite accurate with minimal recoil. Even without a reticle I think you will surprise yourself how much easier (and visually pleasant) it is. Plus not reducing your visual awareness is simply ideal.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

True - with all that practice I had with the HMG before they added the crosshair, it should be no different! Good tip

I've been waiting for another Automaton video from Spiked, super hype!

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

More to come! Do kinda have a really nice bug RR run that I wanted to put out, but I know it's been all bug lately.

I've been running nearly an identical loadout for the past few days, with the exceptions being Diligence CS with Grenade Pistol. It's been a blast. I've was using the autocannon so much vs automatons that I forgot how good the AMR feels.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

AMR and AC are goated for bots! And yeah, I like the Diligence CS way more now that it handles great.

The Jar and Scorcher both can make quick work of bile spewers and hunters too. One shot for each.

I like how the more we end up using EMS grenades, the more we want primaries or secondaries that can reliable close enemy spawners to make up for the damage-aspect of the grenade slot. Seeing how many AMR hits those attacking Marauders need before they drop is heartbreaking...

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Yeah - at least we have one option per weapon slot now, but more would be cool. More stuff that could fulfil the stun role would be cool too... Oh and I'm just noobing, marauders go down quicker if I actually aim straight :P

Oh snap I'm kinda early! You make some great points right at the start, and I feel that may be one of the biggest challenges with balancing this game at times. The massive amount of medium armor enemies can be so polarizing for a load out if you just aren't prepared to cover for it. And it's the niche ones, like bile spewers, that can be the worst if you don't think to bring something to deal with them. I don't feel it is problematic, as with experience you definitely start to learn what you can bring vs what you *need* to bring to succeed. This dynamic can wildly change depending on the strength/composition of your team as well, which I love. As always, great upload, keep being awesome brother.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Right - the start of the whole conversation was cut off, but my point wasn't to criticise the game, but rather that people tend to underappreciate the middle ground of support weapons that can deal with both mediums and some heavies (like the Railgun, or Autocannon), and overvalue the AT specialists (which are great, don't get me wrong, but not essential must-picks for a "meta" setup).

@ifhefitzhesits5209

2 ай бұрын

@@newspiked7385 Oh that makes sense! I didn't see it as criticism, nor did I intend to sound like I was criticizing any aspect of the game either, I think I just sort of got off topic on my comment quickly. I agree heavily with your point though. I run AC a LOT but nobody I regularly play with sees it's incredible value as they're very stuck to some concept of "my support must handle heavies or it's a wasted slot"

Yeah, the Eruptor nerfs are hard, i used it as a main for over 100 missions and now... it's on the wall with a "certified piece of trash" tag from Alexus on the stock. I't only use now is closing bug holes and destroying fabricators. Other than that it's a slow-to-fire autocannon with less AoE, it used to be much more polyvalent and still being balanced because of it's abysmal rate of fire.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Let's hope it gets rebalanced again, word from the devs does seem like they're open to changes so I'mma stay optimistic!

Oddly soothing watching you guys go about your business. Much better than my group where we yell in panic half the night 😂

That looked like an insane amount of fun! Well played all

love the scene around 13:00

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Flashbacks to Ghost Recon Wildlands for me :P. Didn't quite work out smooth this time but feels great when you get a flawless takedown!

Absolutely loving this chat as yall are getting going on this dive... priceless

I love your videos bud, keep it up!

Love your teamwork, its great

Sick video but also a suggestion for your solo MG build in the works Bring stun grenades and precision strike, been sick for me. Stun and precision 1 shots chargers on quick cooldown, mg to ass while stunned in a pinch. Precision one shots bile titans if you bait them into stopping to melee This same concept applies to factory striders but vs bots the stuns and MG to vents covers everything tbh. Could replace precision for EATs

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Yup! Been using it already, check out my recent Stalwart solo run. Precision Strike is really underrated, great damage, low cooldown, and doesn't share a cooldown with the Eagle stuff so you can minimise downtime. Still waiting on an Eruptor rebalance before I revisit my MG build, as I really liked how it complemented the MG before, so fingers crossed!

1930 ish.... when you went around that corner and there they were, I dang near dropped my phone. 😂😂🎉

kermit the frag liked this video

Slugger is goated for dealing with bile spewers

Wake up babe Spiked uploaded again

I love games where as you play through the content you revisit the tools you are given early on in the game and realize they are quite good. Im loving thr precision strike and the default liberator (and it's respective guard dog) isnt half bad against bots

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Yup! Horizontal balancing is a lot more interesting to me. Designing a gun just to be discarded halfway through the game seems like a waste of resources.

I used to use the eruptor for chargers since i main amr. Well, rip that, lol.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

The one-shot was a little silly tbh, but the 4-shot to the ass was fair I thought.

@TheMMObro

2 ай бұрын

@@newspiked7385 2 to 3 depending on how good the hit was, was good. 1 was nuts, yes

Yo spiked i think you should try out the plasma punisher. Its op

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Definitely, I keep overlooking it because I wasn't a fan of the aesthetics, but it deserves another chance!

I've ran the Eruptor + Stalwart against bugs, or Eruptor + AC against bots occasionally, but I'm waiting for the day they bring back the shrapnel to this weapon before touching it again. I have a friend who still runs this in bug missions, but he's disappointed in its recent change. I'm glad other weapons like the plasma punisher have gotten better, but it would be nice to have less demoralizing nerfs. Anyway, excellent co-op run a always! Supply pack is always good, but I often either ran AC or Ballistic Shield + AMR against the bots, lol!

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Let's hope it's brought back to its former glory!

16:07 lol. wheeeee!

@arkenexus_

2 ай бұрын

😂bro went flying

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

The bigger the enemy, the funnier it is to see them go flying

Surgical as always

Those bots REALLY did not want you to take that SAM site...

Blizter excels at taking down bilespewers now, slept on for sure.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Definitely. There's a few medium pen primaries that can take on spewers and other mediums pretty well, but they also tend to have not enough ammo for hunters and scavs.

@remnnt2418

2 ай бұрын

@@newspiked7385 Fair point but in the blitzer case, it has infinite ammo and allows for sprint bursts in-between shots, amazing for making distance while still controlling a large amount of enemies.

wow that strider drop in the first minutes was rough but you and your team handled it like champs i know plenty of helldivers that would flee at even the mere suggestion of one being in the area

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

In some ways it's good to get it early, all our strats are ready to go :P

The dominator is pretty good at killing bile spewers. And since it‘s explosive, it‘s actually really good at killing chargers, so you can take the stalwart without having to use EATs as well

@christianmogol960

2 ай бұрын

Idk if i was tripping back then but you could one shot chargers with it pre nerf, idk if thats still the case

@franzoloranzo7302

2 ай бұрын

@@christianmogol960 wait what how

@thedankestdungeon8091

2 ай бұрын

@@franzoloranzo7302 Shrapnel had a chance to explode just right to basically blow out the chargers ass and cause it to either die instantly or bleed out very fast. Since Alexus decided he wanted to turn his autism up to 15 and ruined the Eruptor, i know you can't do that because of shrapnel cause the shrapnel gun no longer shoots shrapnel, another moment to thank Alexus for being a drooling tard who needs to be fired, but you might be able to do that with a direct hit now, haven't really touched Eruptor since its basically not the Eruptor anymore.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, I gotta take it into a bug game soon!

@christianmogol960

2 ай бұрын

@@franzoloranzo7302 wait i thought you were talking about the eruptor lmao i guess i was high

Very Noice.

Scoping an AMR while a 500KG dropped burns my eyes...

What armor were you rocking for this one? I thought light scout armor, but then you took a hit that seemed like it should end you.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

It is the light scout armour - the rocket damage is not nearly as scary as it once was though. Only "one-shots" I still see are when the rocket launches you into the environment, so the impact damage finishes you off

Have you tried the plasma punisher vs bots since the buff? I am loving it w the AMR or AC

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

On your recommendation, tried it out for a game tonight. It's pretty amazing! Good damage, much bigger AOE than I remember, and stunlocks the Devastators for easy kills.

Someone has probably mentioned that the amr can be hip fired. I am not the best but i am getting better. Just look and shoot and pray lol 🍻

@toddsilverwolfe

2 ай бұрын

It gets better with practice. Start with only CQB ranges when hipfiring and slowly increase your engagement range as you get more comfortable with the feel. Eventually you will be no-scoping at 50+ meters comfortably. Makes for great clips and makes you feel like a badass.

Eruptor/AMR/Ballistic Shield has become quite the comfort loadout for me while soloing even post-nerf, definitely feeling the loss of the shrapnel though. It’s still…fine? on bots since the ability to delete fabs or transmission towers from a range is invaluable but the only time I’m ever pulling it out for combat is to shoot striders or take out a particularly aggravating Heavy Devastator. Hopefully it gets some TLC soon from Arrowhead.

@garfis2606

2 ай бұрын

Also, shoutout to the unfortunate ‘bot getting flung from the base to the Radar Station by your teammate’s Eagle at about 16:07 🫡

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Yeah - I'm bringing it only for utility these days, which is alright, but it felt a little better before, bugs aside!

@toddsilverwolfe

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, I've moved back to the Dominator or Plasma Punisher instead of the Eruptor. I just take the grenade pistol to give me an option to deal with fabs and holes in a pinch

Hello, I’m fairly new to the game. With the AMR what scope setting are you using to zoom in 50m? 100m? 200m? I can’t seem to get my scope to zoom into the enemies? Any help/tips? Thanks.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

If you hold down your reload button, a menu should pop up showing different zoom options, firemodes etc.

How do you like the Erupter after the changes?

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

It doesn't feel great to me tbh - I think the shrapnel and large AoE really helped distinguish it from the other AoE weapons like the plasma punisher and scorcher, and was a good payoff for the slow firerate. Obviously the stuff like the 30m shrapnel ricochets back to the player and charger oneshots had to go, but if they could fix those without touching the rest of its combat effectiveness, it would be perfect. Main thing it should still be able to do are, imo: 1) take out bug hole and fabs (still does) 2) oneshot bile spewers with a headshot, or 2-shot to the ass 3) take out a bunch of tightly grouped troopers with one shot 4) one-shot brood commanders and hive guards if you hit the head (this was inconsistent before). 5) 4-shot charger asses, necessitating either a stun or multiple matadors. 6) kill scout striders through their shield 7) kill heavy devs with one headshot, but not with a simple shield shot. Sounds powerful, but fair imo given how slow it fires. You'd still be able to take out all those enemies faster with an AMR, for example.

Is that a screen freeze when alt tabbed in full screen while live streaming? It kept happening to me… not only that, but my PC would lock up when I tried to alt tab in full screen, had to change my full screen settings to stop it (can’t remember what it’s called)

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Not livestreaming, but something to do with how Geforce Experience does recordings, since I'm alt-tabbing to the window in the other screen it seems to just freeze the recording until I switch back

@ProfShikari

2 ай бұрын

@@newspiked7385 ah I gotcha, I guess the GeForce Experience is trying to capture game footage, so if you aren’t on a screen with game footage, it will simply freeze the frame but you’ll still hear it, basically what my games would do when I was switching from a game scene to let’s say Discord or my desktop view when on Twitch :) Love the content fellow Brit, could watch the whole back catalogue of Helldivers 2 footage… if AH would stop nerfing/making some of the loadout suggestions less viable 🤣

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

@@ProfShikari ha...I think most of the builds I've posted have survived unscathed, but there are always casualties in war o7

@ProfShikari

2 ай бұрын

@@newspiked7385 there are indeed mate, thankfully, I still find this game a lot of fun to play, I have only been playing for about a month and it is very different to my usual content… I played World of Warships pretty much exclusively for 4 years and Helldivers 2 was the game I NEEDED to drag me away from what made viewers happy vs what made me happy… low and behold, barely anyone stops by for my Helldivers streams… but I don’t care, I needed to have fun playing games again and those geniuses at AH have provided me with that haha

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

@@ProfShikari Haha nice. Always gotta play for yourself first, people can tell when you're having fun and I think that's what people enjoy watching the most!

I thought my PC screen froze, gave me a heart attack..

Constant weapons "balancing" has put me off the game. I've not played for 3 weeks and I don't feel like I'm missing out

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

Sometimes you need a break from a game, it's all good!

So ive heard people talking about and also seen different enemy "compositions," but i cant find any documentation of the different types.

@thedankestdungeon8091

2 ай бұрын

You can find chargers that look more like giant rhino beetles in evac civilians missions, but idk if they have any stat difference cause they are usually stuck in place and are shot in the head before they can do anything.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

I haven't really noticed any different compositions for automatons, but for terminids there are quite clearly rolls with bile spewers and no nursing spewers; nursing spewers and no bile spewers; and no spewers at all.

@arkenexus_

2 ай бұрын

@@newspiked7385 yes same

Glaras Spiked collab?! 💦😮💦

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

When's the CoolUsername collab!?

@CoolUsername69

2 ай бұрын

@@newspiked7385 lol well it won't be in Helldivers. 😆 We do need to plan something for Remnant though. I have a vid coming tomorrow and then one more after that, then I'm down for whatever.

What has happened to your precision?

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

What happens when I spend too long away from the AMR :P

screen frozen while i'm alt tabbed

First

Helldivers 2 hitting an all time low player count with the SNOY incident... then comes nerfs to weapons across-the-board. Talk about killing a game.

@newspiked7385

2 ай бұрын

From what I know, the retention is actually still pretty respectable, especially when comparing with other games that were very flavour of the month on release, then fell off (Palworld, I'm looking at you). I honestly think that it's just a more natural burnout of playing just one game since release, which is natural. Every game has growing pains and imperfect balance on release, in fact I'd argue the game balance was even worse at release (peashooter anti-tanks, railgun one-shots on bile titans, anyone?), but people looked past all that because the game was fresh. Burnout is real, and more than that it's ok, don't force yourself to play something you need a break from.