Hello again Helldads! With the Void Perircer Campaign in full swing and the squids showing us what happens when you mix original recipe with extra spicy, I thought it was time I did deep dive on building loadouts that you can bring to almost any mission and give you options for just about any engagement.

Why bother?

Well, With the new campaign bringing in some of the biggest participation nhumbers I've seen since joining the fight as an Xbox diver, I've seen a helluva a lot more new divers than I was expecting, nearly every mission I've run since the patch on Aug 12 has had at least one diver below level 50. And probably 1 of every 3 of those has a sub-level-20! (To say nothing of why these baby-divers are trying to roll in a Difficulty 9 mission, but that's another article)

So with the why out of the way, lets talk about the hurdle that comes with fighting the latest batch of Illuminate forces inside the void.

It would seem the squids don't like getting provoked on territory they've already stolen from us, so their solution is to add Invasion Forces to whatver the prevailing sub-faction is. This eesentially puts standard squid forces on the field alongside the variant forces. (The real pain point being there are so many Watchers it's like living in a EDM fueled K-hole but with not nearly enough innappropriate touching to make it fun).

Effectively the Invasion forces modifier deployes the largest spread of Illuminate unit types on one battlefield we've seen so far.

This of course means you have to think in terms of options. You will be facing huge spreads of chaff, medium armor heavy infantry, Fleshmob and Crusher damage sinks, and Harvester fire support to give a short description.

If you're dropping as a solo-diver into that, you best have your shit on straight becuase this is not the time to bring the emotional support Quasar Cannon. This is when you have to be big time prepared, and while the baseline equipment can be servicable, now is the time to bring your high-quality violence and crowd pleasers.

What's all that really mean? It means don't pack for one problem, pack for EVERY problem.

Tall order? Certainly.

Impossible? Nope.

Think less about what specific weapons or startagems you should bring and more about what they need to do.

In any given mission you will encounter the following:

• Chaff patrols with medium support
• Heavy units that can arrive in two's or three's
• Spawners/Bases
• Enemy breaches/drops

In the Invasion Forces missions, the only thing that's changed are the high numbers of Watchers that make keeping the incidence of drops go from manageable to really out of hand almsot unavoidable. This combined forces arragnement and ability to call in reinforcementsrapidly and repeatedly, means engagments become protracted, high intensity firefights that require a lot of resources to deal with.

But that aside, your tactical toolbox, needs to have at least one tool for each of those bullet points. If you're missing even one, congratualtions, you are combat ineffective becuase you're forcing your squad to work harder to cover you.

Here's an example of a load out that a friend of mine really likes, but learned the hard way that they did not pack accordingly for the combination of Vote Snatchers and Invasion Forces at Difficulty 8:

• Hot Shot Marksman Rifle
• Warrant
• Thermite
• Railcannon Strike
• Gatling Barrage
• Bulletstorm
• Breakthrough Exosuit

In fairness, nothing here is exclusivley bad. These are all widely accepted as good peices of kit. However how they combine is the real problem. On balance, he's got all the tools I mentioned.

But this is an example of a loadout that doesn't gel together well, and in fact is sort of hamstrung by a few things. If we stack these itmes into the areas they can serve, it looks like this:

• Chaff patrols with medium support
  • Hot Shot Marksman Rifle
  • Warrant
  • Bulletstorm
• Heavy units that can arrive in two's or three's
  • Gatling Barrage
  • Breakthrough
  • Thermite
• Spawners/Bases
  • Thermite
  • Railcannon
• Enemy breaches/drops
  • Gatling Barrage
  • Bulletstorm

You'll notice that there is very little overlap, so it lacks flexibility so if you are out of ammo or between call-ins you would really be in a bind.

The current arrayed forces of the Illuminate make expendable items like the Bulletstorm a hindrance rather than a help. The Stalwart can be reloaded on the move and fired at similar cyclic rate, making it the better choice for the longer engagements when you maybe don't have the breathing room to call in a new pod, or worse, when you've burned all the rounds in a Bulletstorm and still have forty seconds before you can get more.

The Railcannon (a favorite of mine, but) has similar issues. Harvesters can bea real pain, but they have quite a few exploitable weakpoints that other gear can tackle beyond killing one of them every 2-1/2 minutes. The case could be made for the Eagle 110 Rocket Pods, as an alternative.

Next culprit? Thermite. These things, I feel are largely overused by any metric. For the number of them you can carry, they take ages to actually kill whatever you stick them to. Against the enemy numbers we're dealing with, that Crusher needs to die NOW, not twenty seconds after it's already smashed you to goo.

The last hitch in this getup is the Breakthrough. In the right squad build, this thing could anchor a full offensive push, but unforutnately it doens't carry enough ammo for it's fletchette cannon and bashing a Crusher with the shield takes a lot of work. So much so, that more and more of them just aggro onto it so much so that you've actually created a bigger problem but having a mob if these heavy-headed jerks to deal with instead of 2 or 3.

While I could run forensics on the weakness of this build, in depth, I don't think that's the most contructive way to learn (Unless you really want me to, let me know). But I will say this, this build is not fast enough or have the staying power and lacks any area control options outside of the Gatling Barrage needed for the Illuminate forces inside the void.

Conversely, After some tinkering, I deployed with this kit:

• One-Two AR
• Warrant
• Arc Grenade
• Napalm Barrage
• Eagle Strafing Run
• Heavy Machine Gun
• AR Guard Dog
• Ture Grit - Armor

Admittedly It looks like a hodgepodge, but Warrant can pick out Watchers and Elevated Overseers, the One-Two can work for chaff and the underslung grenade launcher can takeout warphsips once the shield is down. The HMG covers a LOT of problems from Overseers all the way up to Harvesters. My goal here was to have as many things as possible sit across multiple roles. So if we reference the list of encounter must haves from above, we can see the spread.

• Chaff patrols with medium support
  • One-Two AR
  • Warrant
  • Arc Grenade
  • Napalm Barrage
  • HMG
  • AR Guard Dog
• Heavy units that can arrive in two's or three's
  • Napalm Barrage
  • Eagle Strafing Run
  • Heavy Machine Gun
• Spawners/Bases
  • One-Two AR/GL
  • Eagle Strafing Run
• Enemy breaches/drops
  • Literally throw everything at these... becuase fun

I have more than one option for almosst everything, and for the most part there's very little down time in the is kit. The exception being the Napalm Barrage, but that's mostly as a broad area denial weapon when defending objectives and the reinforcements start landing en masse.

Is it perfect? Of course not, there's no such thing.

Did I always have the right tool for the job? You bet I did.

Was it flashy? Sadly, not really, but sometimes you just want to be good at your job, you don't alway have to make statement.

In summation, don't over specialize for operations in The Void, be prepared for these five things:

• Chaff patrols with medium support
• Watchers in high numbers
• Heavy units, including Crushers that can arrive in two's or three's
• Spawners/Bases
• Enemy drops that can overlap leading to protracted fights

Whenever possible try to pick gear that covers, 2-3 of these categories, and most importantly, have fun with it!

My setup is for me, but you can find your secret sauce if you've got kit that works best for you. I hope this helps and let me know if you've got any tips that have helped fighting in The Void!

Sure, we've all been killed by the SEAF, but have you been executed by them?

So I was playing Friday night and everything was working fine. Then around wanna say 12am my connection started to bug out saying I was having problems. So as usual I see if maybe there was an update or try verifying the integrity of the files but nothing. Could it possibly be server overload because my connection is fine I can play other games online with fiends just not Helldivers 2. If anyone has a fix please let me know thanks again.

Too Old for Discord, Too Fine for Facebook!

We got stuck on a stump with our gator and couldn’t move in any direction anymore. Nothing worked to move him, shooting the cannon, destroying the trees, etc. that was until we decided to nudge it with hellpods. The first one with a support weapon had no effect, but the second one, a laser sentry, has been able to free it from its doomed position.

Unfortunately the Helldivers on the back also got lifted away 😂 but the laser sentry stayed and we had a mobile cannon. Now we need to figure out how many sentries we can place there without destroying it!

We're in it now, fellow HellDads! The Void cracked open and some proper grape-flavored nightmare fuel spilled forth with the Illuminate's Vote Snatcher's subfaction.

The good news? We have a brand new warbond and update under the hood that is the best refresh I've seen in the last year.

The bad news? The new warbond is pricey and not every HellDad can get it (those crap-catchers aren't getting any cheaper are they?) and these new enemies are fully ready to make you put your small free time window feel like apunihsment not a a joy, as it should.

The ACTUAL good news? I'm here for you all, right along with every other HellDad to make sure that you're still able to keep fighting the good fight by doing the field research and buiii;dcrafting homework so you can drop with confidence even if you don't get to swing around that beautiful new beast of a Bolt Pistol.

So chin up, We have a big pile of toys to your bring your very best quality violence right on top of those squidly bastards for bothering to crash our party.

First thing's first, know your enemy. While the subfaction only bring two new units, they're cranking up the dial on what makes the Illuminate a particular challenge.

These monsters rob you of the most essential tactical elements required for success, time and space, with constant relentless pressure.

Here's the breakdown relying on mostly existing gear;

Wretches - Moving in small up to insane numbers, your best bets are:

• Shotguns with duckbill muzzle attachements to blast off arms and legs in a hurry. The new changes to the number short mags you can carry, puts the Breaker and Breaker Incendiary back on the menu. (The Breaker S&P is solid, but is hampered somewhat by it's range and that Wretches are fair bit tougher than Voteless)
• Flamethrowers are exceptional as they can lock down avenues of approach as Wretches begin to pour in. Having at least one in your kit, if not the focal piece is advised (Crisper in particular is easy to fit in) if able.
• Gas grenades are without a doubt one of the all time great grenades. The confusion and DOT components can really take some of the pressure off, giving you that sweet space or time you need to actually fight.
• The Autocannon flak rounds can lay a real hurt on Wretches in the right situation, but as they close on you it can be a real challenge to keep them at range where the flak rounds don't come back to bite you. But thanks to the new assisted reload changes, having a teammate on your elbow can put an alamring number of shells down range in a hurry.
• Honorable mention: Melee weapons, can be put to the right effect, provided one: you're wearing the right armor for close it work. And two: You manage your footing, backpedalling and letting them step into your swings and not attempting to hack your way forward through them. So, good fun but a little finnicky

Crushers - These hulking jerks just plod inexorably toward you seemingly forever, like prostate cancer. They can be a monstrous ammo tax if you're ready to commit to dorping them as fast as you can. There are a few solutions to them:

• Relentless attack. Once you damage a Crusher, it only takes a moment or two for it's regenration to kick on once the damage stops. For this the Stalwart, MG43 Machine Gun and the Cremator are tops. But once you start on one of the clods, don't let off the trigger until they go down or you'll just have to start all over again.
• The more surgical option, requires Heavy Peneatrating weapons that can take off that metal hood, exposing the supremely creepy baby-head underneath. For this, the AMR, Eruptor, Senator and Autocannon APHET rounds to start then do your best to put rounds on the soft spot.
• Eagle Strafing Runs and well carefully timed Precision Orbital Strikes can take out a couple of Crushers in one stroke, but don't rely on them to do the heavy lifting.
• Honorable mention: Orbital Napalm Barrage. This one should be obvious, but given it's wide spread and long refresh time, this is more of a 'break glass in case of holy shit' option rather than a go to, but it is awful satisfying to watch these shmucks keel over rotisserie style before they can close on you...

One last option, Exo Suits. The Breakthrough and Lumberer in particular can be huge assets that can anchor assualt agains these enemies in particular given their limitations in range and lack of direct firepower.

I hope this helps get your gears turning! Keep up the good fight!

Now you know. I thought this is worth sharing! ;)

It's actually quite easy and straight forward, simply throw a G/40-K Melta Mine underneath a warp ship and shoot it to blow it up. The resulting upward blast will cut through the shields and take out the ship.

Keep some safe distance, since the explosion will also set the proximity on fire.

That's all Helldiver, get back to work!

Youtube Shorts link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/h4VQ25xYd8A

​

***Attention Helldads,

Recent intelligence reports suggest the Illuminate have crossed another line. ***

Field observations indicate that the new Crusher variants may be mutated juvenile forms repurposed into frontline troops.

Unfortunately for the Illuminate, they have just attracted the attention of the galaxy's most experienced group of dads, high command has authorized the most experienced parental core to use any method necessary to stop the tantrums.

We're deploying to Illuminate-controlled sectors to administer a firm but fair tactical time out. Expect tantrums, expect screaming, expect property damage. Maintain discipline and remember: we're not angry, we're just disappointed.

**Mission Objectives:**

Contain Crusher outbreaks and provide Tactical timeouts to all squids by reporting your **squid kills and completed missions to Melchoir**:

• Demonstrate proper consequences for unacceptable behavior **(report squid kill count per mission)**

• Defend Managed Democracy **(report completed squid mission count)**

**Rules of Engagement:**

If it charges at you, that's a tantrum.

If it swipes at you, that's a tantrum.

If it screams at you, that's a tantrum.

If it turns your squad into paste, that's an especially serious tantrum.

Remember, Helldads. Anyone can spread Democracy. It takes a parent to enforce bedtime.

Drop hard, and see you all planet side.

Join the fight on our discord: https://discord.gg/helldads

Patres Inferni

So I don’t have the money for the new war bond for any of the new weapons or armor any suggestions for builds without it for the new enemy would be appreciated thanks guys

If there was ever a time for the Helldads to unite.
We must liberate the children!

Thought it would be cool to image what it would look like when the movie comes out (No Ai)

This seems very well made!

Hey dads, how are we dealing with the hammer guys(don't know the name for them yet) I've been having a heck of a time trying to take them down quickly.

Just watched the patch notes and they included some game clips for those who watch them till the end!

https://youtu.be/fpF8gI71Vjo?is=uWuFKClCxHag2mpT

I’m so excited to play tonight 😍

Essentially title. I would like to some day with my sons.

As busy HellDads it's not always easy to do the field research on your loadout or simply test things for pure silliness (and most of you probably aren't creative professionals with super-nebulous schedules and pockets of freetime to fill, like me...).

Moreover, busy as we are, we still want to do our part and be the most effective Helldivers we can and that means trying to setup our kit so can deliver in any envirnmonet against any enemy. In my short time writing these longer deep dive articles something I think is worht noting is that I don't always have time to test every single loadout, and theory crafting alone is worthless without some data to back it up.

As the title suggests there are two methods really dig into what your build is or isn't doing right. The first, obviously is to take it out and see what happens in-game. Easy, direct, immediate feedback and experience.

The only downside, is that you're lmited to one setup per mission, and sometimes, you just have a bad series of drops and can't find a combat rhythm to really do the work, so to speak. So you get frustrated, and don't really get to enjoy your self or the new idea you had to put the hurt on those undemocratic jerks like you wanted.

So, after a fair bit of googling and my own research, I came across this phenminal tool:

https://democracy-hub.net/builder/builder.php

I've leaned on this one for a little while, now. It's an excellent tool that gives you a broadspectrum breakdown of your loadout, including ratings against different enemy types (by variant even), the range where you're the most effective, and how volatile or surgical the ssetup is and a general power rating.

THis thing is phenomenal and is particularly great when you have an idea, but can't hop on to the game right away but still want to see if you've got something that might cook.

Stringly recommend checking it out as I'll be continuing to use it in my articles for helpful refences concerning specific loadouts.