Yeah, this thing is absolutely awesome against the terminids. No clue why so many people are complaining so much about it, especially its speed. It isn't slow, it's about as fast as sprinting in heavy or heavy-medium armor at all times.
@@pwyll63627 I'D disagree, I've used it on the harder difficulties and it works like a dream. You got a good team that deals with fodder, the mech and kill everything. The mech in the end of the day is a fire support weapon. Not vanguard.
i also think its important to point out that the mech's explosion on death is pretty large, so get out of it strategically when its out of ammo and chuck a grenade at it in the middle of enemies. The explosion can kill chargers.
It's also good a) as mobile cover and b) to bounce the arc thrower over ridges and around corners, as it is highly conductive. I almost always hold on a spent mech until I can use it to block a path and then, after getting some distance and letting the swarm close in on it, turn around and conduct arcs thru it to get some easy kills. Good defensively and as a utility as long as it's standing
3:00 To clarify, Ratatoskr means the spewer scavengers, specifically the ones who lob acids blobs at fellow Helldivers. Those are dangerous to deal with because stepping on them will hurt the mech, as they explode on death, alongside the spit they'll fire at you which Ratatoskr already mentioned. Just wanted to ensure this point made sense.
The charger rush actually does damage to the mech. I tested it myself and it takes 8 charge to fully destroy a full HP one. Just remember if it connect they'll get stunned for a few sec so it's not the end of the world.
It used to one shot your mech in hd1 and it was extremely hard if not impossible to dodge, which is probably it does very little damage to the mech now
@@ratatoskr6324 The mech is actually 100% impervious to the charge attack, what probably killed him is the animation cancel melee attack chargers like to do immediately after a charge attack. It’s different from the crushing charge.
@@mastergecko1178 There is also a "bug" where the aiming clearance of the missile pod can intersect with the front hull of the armor, so shooting a right-mounted rocket in the pod too far to the right will make the missile hit the hull, detonate and kill you.
The Charger can one-shot the Exo if you're boarding it or if it's unattended. Our current theory in my playgroup is that the Charger is coded during it's charge to turn into a Damaging Environmentally Destructive Hitbox, and it can smash through buildings and objects, like Turrets and when the Exo isn't active - we're pretty sure it's counted as an 'Object' not an active 'Player' entity. So when the Charger executes its 'I am now a environment-destroying hitbox' and nobody is in the Exo, it just plows over it the same way it does a Turret, Supply Drop, or non-terrain destructible building. Moreover, when you're in the Exo you're immune to EMS and Gas attacks as stated in your video, and seemingly ground-effect Fire, but not the explosive hits from dropping Napalm initially. So right now even against Bots the Exo-45 is an unstoppable force if you run 2x2, 2 Exo Pilots, then 2 Helldivers on foot using the Orbital EMS/EMS Mortar and weapons like Autocannons and such to clear trash and stunlock Devastators, because the Exo-45 can then wade-in to the EMS strike's range at no penalty and cut entire armies of Bots to pieces with its Gatling Cannon, which will shred even Devastator Chest armor in seconds. Rockets will close bug holes, but only destroy Fabricators if you hit the vent like a grenade/autocannon round and do not appear to reliably down dropships, better to leave that to a on-foot ally with the EAT17. Treat it like a real-world tank, it needs infantry screens to handle anti-tank threats and to allow it to simply be a force-multiplier for your other stratagems. Bomb objectives with EMS/Gas strikes then pincer them between your two EXO pilots and cut everything to pieces, with your two infantry divers cleaning up stragglers, doing objective interactions and calling out/marking/stunlocking anti-armor enemy units. EDIT: as the comments reminded me you CAN get one-shot inside of the Exo by chargers, but it's a bug (heh). Chargers can't kill it in one hit with the CHARGE, but they will frequently glitch out and do a zero-frame animation cancel into their 'Crushing Claws' attack and that WILL one-shot the mech, but since it doesn't correctly transition to the claw animation and just glitches to it, it'll play the wrong death message. Chargers are coded very, very poorly. You can check the subreddit if you can stand it and find a lot of examples to go off of people have recorded.
@@alexarchivechannel6673That one isn't the 'charge' it's the double claw-slam it does afterwards. The problem is Chargers are coded like complete ass and will often zero-frame animation cancel from the charge into the double claw-smash and appear to oneshot you. Backpedal as you shoot like in Rato's video and they'll nearly never be able to land it even if they hit you with the charge.
One thing I've noticed with the chargers is that if you don't back away after the charge they will follow up with a melee attack, and that attack will one-shot your mech.
@@J.J.Spencer that's true I guess the death message is rather misleading as the claw-attack is labeled as the "Charge" while the actual charge is labeled as "Impact"
@@alexarchivechannel6673Yeah pretty much, Chargers are hands-down the worst-coded entity in this entire game. They are buggy in more than just their species.
Another thing to not overlook is when to call in the mech. The dropship that unloads it uses its autocannon turret while hovering to drop it off, so you can essentially use that to soften / destroy additional enemies at literally 0 cost to your turrets or the mech
@derkaiser9881 If the quad autocannon mech we're supposed to get in the future has that type of stopping power I may never use anything else again lol. Love my heavy dakka
I’ve been a huge fan of the emplaced HMG, but I feel like the mech is going to seriously challenge its space in the game. The mech works best to lock down a huge area of the map from a safe spot, but you get the added bonus of relocating when you need to, and 12 rockets. The only downside is the two drop limit, but I usually don’t deploy the emplaced hmg more than twice anyway.
One tip to add on top of being able to stop the Charger dead on with the mech is also the Stomp. If you aim the stomp towards the legs, you can actually kill them in two melees. Really handy if you want to save ammo, or if there's an EMS deployed giving you ample time to crush it underfoot.
I wish the stomp actually worked. Most of the time the button just doesn't do anything. When the stomp does happen (1% of the time), the feedback is very slim - it makes a very weak sound for an attack that can two shot chargers. The rockets can also explode in their pod if you're spinning the torso while trying to fire (which isn't something you should do anyway, but it's annoying when it happens regardless). The mech is also a bit too allergic to explosions of any sort, even frag grenades do severe damage to the mech. This last one probably won't be fixed, but the other two really should be fixed.
0:25 The Helldivers (2015) music kicking in gave me massive nostalgia. I would love if the developers released a Helldivers 1 inspired pack that featured classic designs from the first game, similar to the Tactical Legacy Pack from X-COM 2 that added a bunch of weapons and armour from X-COM Enemy Unknown. Would've been cool if Helldiver 1 vets were awarded a battle worn Helldivers 1 armour set and cape kind of hinting that this was our old armour past down through generations from the first games conflicts. But anyways awesome video going over the mech. I feel like alot of new players are making the mistake of spawning it in right away and then complaining it's too slow to travel around the map in when this was something alot of new players did in Helldivers 1 as well. You'd jump into a game and a level 1 would spawn in a mech only for everyone to slowly follow them around the map lol
I'd be genuinely surprised if they dont change the Rocket devastators in some way They're quite literally 100% accurate at all ranges, insanely tanky and shoots volley after volley basically forever, and only 1 rocket hitting you is enough to 1 shot you and mechs alike I think the very least thing they can do is reduce their spawnrate. And im not kidding when i say i'd rather fight a Hulk than face 2 Rocket Devastators
I also find the mechs most useful during defense missions and during extractions, especially if your mission timer is about to run out (thus your mech is a last stand method).
Your videos are simply great. You get to the point quickly, your delivery is pleasing to the ear, and the content is simply well-written. What do you do for your profession? I hope it's something that makes use of your talents.
Thank you! I'm glad i'm not the only one whom noticed the mech helps empower the sentrys! (even in solo play, I used rockets and autocannon) I'm currently trying to figure out a strategy with the mech and the shield emplacement (if possible) on the robot planets (they at least can fit inside the sheild).
I think it would have been good to mention the utility of rockets. Destorying nests, spore spewers, buildings etc. can save a lot of time and ammo on side objectives.
I do wish it took a couple more rockets from automatons considering rocket devastators exist but its still decent if you take care of the cannon turrets
I think to make the Mech work against Automatons you need to send in your other infantry guys first to deal with the Cannon towers and the Devastators. Then send the Mech in but don’t use the bullet sponge philosophy. If you play the Mech like a real life tank, which I think was their intention, the Mech is as effective against the Bots as it is to Bugs. It requires more legwork but it’s not off the table.
@@speedyazi5029 I think it's more engaging than using it against bugs, not to mention the mechs ability to figuratively step on devastators of non rocket variety. It tanks bullets and rockets like crazy, as long as your team are on the ball or close enough removing priority targets you're more than fine.
Strongest stratagem in the game by a mile. Even against bots I've found it effective in helldive. Basically it is useful for escaping at the end, but also if you can get to a safe enough position to set iy up. You can die fast but you still can kill multiple tanks easily. But against bugs, it can kill like 4 bile titans on its own. By far the highest amount of damage possible from a stratagem.
I don't know why people say the Patriot is bad and shouldn't be used against Automatons. I can clear two optionals with it on Helldive as a solo-the gatling makes short work of anything that isn't a Hulk so long as you're aiming for weak points; that's the backs of Devastators and abdomen of the Berserkers. The Hulks can go down in two rockets, and tanks easily go down in three, and you could probably gatling the back of it too if you're in a good position. The small arms fire from the raiders do pitiful damage and the Scout Striders go down in a single rocket, that or just gatling the legs as if you didn't have AT. If you're worried about rocket raiders/devastators then target priority will help save your rear end.
Scout Striders going down in a single rocket is precisely the problem, you only have so many. You can manage it in solo that's fine, its just when you're pugging it everyone always ends up attracting more attention than is necessary.
I do agree on long lasting strats with the mech: em morter with regular morter and an autocannon is a frankly vile combo, good for covering a retreat with the guns between you and your on-foot allies. But, i also ran mech/supply pack/grenade launcher/railcannon strike and it did wonders for me. When i was down a mech i gave it some time before calling my next, running a full loadout to replace the cc on my team and keep a little bit of anti-armor. Also breaker incendiary did fantastically on this, had my back hard tbh. I dont have the s&p yet but im gonna try that next.
One thing to be wary of, though: If the charger's charge ends before it runs into your mech, it might do its rear-up slam attack at close range. This can do a ton of damage to your mech, and will destroy one of your arms if the attack comes from a side angle.
Can be useful against robots with proper team play and if you use Mechwarrior game logic. By this I mean treat it like a more real tank, its tough, not indestructible. For example its left and right sides are more armored and durable than its front so turning to brace against incoming harm can help mitigate damage if you think you might get slammed by say a charger or a rocket. Also if you need to fire at a range enemy use cover by peaking out from behind large obstacles such as boulders, buildings, or mountains, limit the enemy's access to direct shots on your mech and peak out to blast them at opportune moments and it'll last a whole lot longer. Keep one to two team members on foot to guard your feet, while the stomp melee is strong you will lose it quickly if you take too much damage to your legs. Side note, the free to use mech currently available, is actually more fragile and even tempermental than the real thing, not sure if its a bug or a funny ha ha lore feature. I have the actual mech stratagem unlocked and can say with certainty, the freebie one has a bad tendancy to be tempermental such as its stomp ability not working for seemingly no reason when it first gets dropped in, or just outright exploding randomly.
Still depends on the difficulty in my experience. If you're at a level where Rocket Devastators are common enemies, usually 6 and above, then spawning a mech is honestly not even worth the effort. They usually spawn faster than you can kill them, and the ammo required to kill just 1 isn't worth the time or bullets spent, when they only need 1 or 2 rocket hits to knock you out. You cant really aim for headshots either since the MG is very inaccurate
@@CrispyMuffin2 I use it around those difficulties with bots and bugs, bots less often as terrain dependance is important, lots of cover like rocky terrain, good, open flat terrain, bad. It also heavily depends on your team composition and if your team mates are willing to play around the mech. If you have excessive rocky terrain on a planet then peaking out from cover is entirely viable, but it also depends on your playstyle and willingness to go at a slower pace with the mech than you would usually in a terminid mission. But the spawn rates in general can be a problem regardless of what you're running at these difficulties so finding breathing room to call in the mech can be difficult. Once we get the other mech variants I'm sure we'll have a mech load out that will be a great deal more decisively useful on bots, such as the quad auto cannon mech which has high accuracy and lots of armor pen. The current model we have is from the original game and meant to be an all rounder support mech that should stick along side team mates that can keep its legs clear of pest mobs, which is partly why some folks seem to think it needs a buff.
I feel like this guide will be super useful when the mechs stop killing themselves with their own rockets, hitting themselves with their own melee stomps, being destroyed by the Pelican that drops them off, losing 1/3rd of their health to bilebaby and terminid mine explosions, getting oneshot by ice flowers, etc, etc
To my mind the mech is more a long range fire support platform. It can take a hit but not too many and so it needs to be used carefully. Think of it more like a self propelled gun, and stay out of direct fire and you’ll do fine, act like a tank and you’ll get blown up in very short order
I love the mech but am still hoping for our autocannon mech someday. Theres some really cool toys from the first game that would be brilliant to see in HD2. Good tutorial though, I needed an efficient counter for chargers on Extreme+ where there's just so many of them
Another option for maximizing stratigems. If your in a group of 4, use your teammates special weapons. By doing this each teammate gets 1 extra stratagem (which could be used for turrets) while you no longer EVER need to leave the mech. Also, as most backpacks do nothing, you could choose the ammo pack as a free refil for your team if needed, though that would have to be a case by case thing.
The mech shreds, you just can’t call it down in the middle of a swarm. You have to call it in in anticipation of a big fight, or way outside the fight and bring it in so you are only facing enemies from general direction.
couple of things I wanted to say. 1: you actually can totally run the exosuit against bots, I've done it plenty. its just a matter of awareness and taking out targets that are a higher threat. regular bots and even devastators are largely harmless since their guns only hurt infantry. you wanna focus down rocket enemies and anything heavily armored like hulks and tanks. 2: you actually can walk on and crush the scavenger bugs with the exosuit so you can completely ignore them and save ammo for other targets. though nothing else in the game to my knowledge is small enough to step on, aside from maybe your friends. to put into perspective how durable the suit really is the only times I died to bots was when I got shot by a tower and later a tank, when I stepped on a mine and immediately after was hit by a rocket trooper, and finally a full barrage from a rocket devastator while already damaged.
One thing worth noting? The first game had a stratagem launcher for mechs, so it's notable that this isn't the case in the sequel, or more accurately it might yet be the case. The sentry playstyle is certainly a strong one, but I think AH have probably saved the stratagem launcher mechanic as a ship upgrade, which will mean this isn't the only optimal playstyle with mechs! Until then? Have fun stomping bugs, lads! And let your sentries do some of the legwork too.
The issue with the mech is that it was framed as something to fight back against the robots, but it’s actually good for bugs. I think that’s why people feel it’s bad.
Right now while the mech event is happening where everyone gets one, if you bring an extra stratagem, the game effectively gives you 3 mechs. 2 right away and one after 10 minutes
My go-to strat for Mechs against bugs is to jetpack somewhere high and hope the ship drops off my mech where i want it. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about excessive amount of chargers or sometimes even bile titans since I'm so high up that they can't spew at me.
It feels very well balanced against the bugs, being able to defend against large swarms, chargers, and Bile Titans as well as single handedly take out nests by itself. Yet its ammo pool, speed, and health makes it fair. You cant just go in guns blazing or let yourself get swarmed or suprise attacked. You've still gotta think about your situation and how many round you have left before you bail out. Cant quite say the same thing for the bots, hopefully more Exo-suit variants come out soon so that the squad synergy can reach a whole new level. Imagine this mech, with the quad-autocannon and the OG games flamethrower Mech. That's a solid team comp right there.
If I'm driving and have a team mate horde-clearing (like with a bug zapper) I'll save ammo and only cover that team mate from bugs that get too close, letting them do the heavy lifting. That way the mech's MG ammo lasts until I find good targets for all the rockets. Teamwork - the best strategem of all. =P
Charger charge DOES do damage to the mech, if it hits you straight on from the front of the back it can destroy the mech. But if it hits you at an angle, or directly on the side, the armor on the arm absorbs most of that damage. I’ve had a charge just run straight through me and instantly died and blew the mech up.
8:24 Did they do something to improve the rocket pod sentry? I remember this thing being borderline worthless previously (At least compared to the autocannon and the mortars). Anyway, I would also suggest complementing a loadout like this with the "Servo Assisted" armor perk. With a little practice, it can help you place your sentries in all sort of fun places (higher = better), and if you're mostly in the mech anyway, you won't get much use out of the other perks. (I would also recommend this armor perk at all other times, but that's kind of besides the point)
I like to play a hyper mobile strategy with grenade launcher, energy shield backpack, 500kg bombs and the Mech, I run around blowing up hives and grabbing samples while the rest of the team focuses on the objective, I save the mech for when I’m overrun or when I link back up with my team. I love kneecapping the bugs early game with closing their bug holes.
I'm extremely happy with how the mech is! You can't just stomp in and kill everything, you need to play intelligently. Conserve ammo, prioritise targets, and have infantry screen you against small enemies. It works best WITH guys on the ground.
You can stomp with the melee button and it will kill a charger in two hits. However, you cannot stomp once you start smoking. Being on fire also seems to reduce speed.
Yes and no... FYI, titans are inconsistent (have been since launch and irregardless of difficulty it does seem to vary between missions), sometimes they will tank several shots to the head... Also, I think when folks say "mechs are too weak @ higher difficulties" they really mean helldive(9)... I disagree w/ the movement argument, for 2 reasons, it depends on the planet you are, mechs seem to take dmg from terrain (inconsistently) and I'm sure the smoke spores do DMG (which is bizarre, since those don't do direct DMG to characters), second much like automatons, terminids at helldive will spawn ranged units more frequently, puke(spew) and mortars are one-shot againt mechs, also you can't move fast enough when titan are moving fast (yeah, titans' speed is also inconsistent in case you don't know) and if it's too close when it dies a single brush from its limp leg will blow the mech on spot... Also as I've experienced one too many times already, if there are 2 or more enemies "shooting" at you you're as good as dead even when moving cuz come in very fast and if you didn't see the moment a spewer shot it's mortar you won't be able to see when and where is going to hit... All in all, every tip you gave is ultimately true, but also for any player who knows how to fight w/out mechs would figured those out very very quickly... Maybe try and do a vid on known bugs (some I've mentioned above, but also stomping mechanics being glitched) and less known facts like "self-destruction from turning too fast while firing rockets" or "splash DMG from explosions are very very dangerous" and so on... Also if you can't or won't test at helldive difficulty be sure to mention that, cuz enemy numbers alone will make the difference as mechs being viable or just a wasted stratagem.slot... Cheers
My first time trying to use the mech was during the wait for extraction on a hard bugs mission. As things were heating up, I called it in - and it landed right on top of the beacon and I couldn’t get to it. Got overrun about 15 seconds later, failed to extract. Sure woulda been nice to have that suit…
I haven't played with the Patriot much since the update but it's very good, idk how people are calling it bad. My only thing(s) is that I wish we could rebind controls and have a strategem launcher like in the original. I'm not a particular fan of the MB1/MB2 layout and would absolutely rebind to MB1 for the chaingun and either 5 or G for the rockets- makes more sense to me anyways. Would definitely like if they added a way to keep the chaingun revved or at least for longer after firing.
Fun fact you can kill a charger by stomping on its legs twice. If the future stun grenade works on the chargers you might not even need to use rockets on them all the time.
I really dislike everyone just writing mechs off vs bots, as if it’s a horrible idea to use against them. Counterplay is a thing, and a mech with good spacing/distancing can take out droves of bots, especially with teammates that take care of the fodder, just like with the bugs. It’s been a game changer in dealing with tanks/hulks/artillery for me and my friends.
Ya, I agree. I don't think this type of mech is the "meta pick" against bots but who cares? You can still make it work effectively, you just have to keep distance and keep better situational awareness for rocket bots.
love the mechs. the bug where you rocket yourself is annoying, and I can't wait for the different kinds of mechs built to engage different enemies... but they're just amazing to play with. oh, also the bug where your melee stops working for no discernable reason (I think it seems to be tied to exiting and entering the mech too much? not sure)
Use deployable shied generators and back up your mechs as infantry Treat them like actual tanks There big targets but can offer a lot of fire power when given space
People need to treat the mech like a tank in combat. Properly supported it will roll over everything. But if it’s left to fend for itself, it won’t succeed
The mech is like a tank in real life, a single tank is not geat against a group of light infantry, it need infantry unit using corresponding tactics to support it to make it most effective.
A lot of things including small environmental things instantly kill the mech and sometimes I instantly die apon entering it and don’t understand why because I’m in a clear area under no threat at the moment They are extremely strong against the tyranids but do get overwhelmed by admech rockets on higher difficulty I’d really like the ability to reload their weapons with a supply pack. Have it cost 2 charges and must be done from outside the mech and be a small animation (think Matrix 3)
My only complaint? You can’t pick the weapons! This thing would be so sick if you could take, say, the turret version of the Autocannon and blow your enemies to bits with it. Some customization options wouldn’t go amiss, either
If they can fix the bugs with the mech (rockets self-killing come to mind) it would be perfect! I do think throwing reinforcements should be a thing, it was a thing in Helldivers 1.
As someone that wasn't a fan of mechs in the first game, I'm pleasantly surprised at how they're performing vs bugs in this one. My only issue is that they lock you out of using strategems. Feels very clunky, especially when teammates keep dying.
Something that annoyed me about the mech suit was that for a while I thought it didn't have a melee attack. Not because it didn't have one but because I guess it is bugged and sometimes just does not work.
while it is good , Im still divided whether its going to keep being that way when we no longer have it as a free stratagem , im not sure id take it over another stratagem , spetially when there is that modifier that reduces them by 1.
The more correct question is, is there any reason to take any other stratagem other than the mech? the mech packs the most firepower than any stratagem tho. Within the same cool down period of the mech, the 110 rocket and 500kg bomb will let you kill 4 bile titans each on a good day, meanwhile the mech guarantee 7 bile titan kills or 14 chargers on every drop, so long as you conserve ammo and aim carefully. Not even the pre-nerf railgun was anywhere as effective.
The only complaint I agree with against the mech is that apparently it dies from the frost flowers and non-lethal environmental hazards, which really doesn't make sense. (Mines and other lethal harzards obviously should damage the mech btw)
is the EXO-45 Patriot still able to achieve the same results in the current balance patch? I don't seem to be able to get the same results breaking charger leg armor and bile titan kills that are being shown here with careful aim
The prob with mechs is, people think they are tanks. They're not. They are mobile support artillery that needs infantry support. If you want armor, wait for legit tanks or maybe the APC
I noticed you use the MG turret except it's worse than the Gatling, I have not noticed whether the MG turret lasts longer but not sure so my question is which sentry is best : Gatling or MG ?
