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Helldivers II review
Exceptional
by BloodScorchedSun

This game has so much replay value and things to unlock. It has it's issues when it comes to nerfing weapons and limited unlocks if you play constantly. The gameplay is extremely fun and teamwork is rewarded. The plans for ongoing support mean players will keep playing for a long time. 
«Can’t stop playing»
«Constantly dying and enjoy it»
«Better with friends»

Other reviews2

Concise Review:
An all time favourite. I loved this game from the get go and then it only got better and better. Easily my favourite Live Service Game ever. Also my favourite PVE Shooter ever. Super fun game and I can’t wait to see where it will be at in a year or two.

Journal:

The vibes are great. The satire is working. I’m really liking it.

Definitely a multiplayer game. I played a few solo rounds and it misses the chaotic fun that happens during coop.

The automatons are awesome. I usually don’t like fighting robots but these terminator clones are frightening and super fun to fight. And that Star Wars walker is fun to run from as well. The starship trooper bugs are probably still my preferred enemy by a bit though. I like both.

I’ve been impressed with the first four planets I’ve fought on. They have each been different and honestly quite cool. The graphics in this game are surprisingly good. Better than I thought they’d be for a $50 AA game.

This game is awesome. It’s so cool. The gameplay is epic. It’s intense. It’s cinematic. It’s comical. I’m loving it.

The jet pack is becoming an early fave. I also love the different sentries.

There are some incredibly intense, cinematic, awesome moments in this game. Sometimes fighting, sometimes fleeing for my life, sometimes making an epic run dodging through crowds of bugs to pick up dropped sample before rushing into the evacuation ship. For democracy!

Well timed. I went to Hawaii when the secret issues were happening and when I got back it was fine and fixed. When I got back I binged hard. This game is fantastic. I had a bunch of awful teammates for a few rounds which resulted in me having an epic heroic run. And then I solo’d for a couple rounds and at this point I actually don’t mind soloing. A good squad of four is definitely the best way to play but this game is impressive in that it’s still fun with everything in between. I’m loving Helldivers. Big surprise hit for me.

Still loving it. My current main loadout is breaker, machine pistol, impact grenade, jet pack, rail gun, eagle air strike and eagle 500kg. I fly around the map dropping bombs and sniping heavies with the rail gun. It’s awesome. I’ve landed on Suicidal - 7 as my favourite difficulty to play on. For now at least. 

I wonder how long until they release a new enemy.  It’s inevitable, but is that content update a few months away? 6 months away? Or is it a year away? My guess is it’s a major update than at least a year away but it would be pretty cool if it dropped sooner and unexpectedly. 

Absolutely loving Helldivers. I’ve been using the slugger now and enjoying it. I think the breaker is better but the slugger is pretty good too. It’s easier to get overwhelmed but if you can keep them at bay it’s pretty awesome. Helldivers is approaching an A rank. It’s a high A- currently.

Fuck it. It’s an A. It’s so good. I’m maybe giving this ranking a hair early but I can’t see it not getting there. I’m having so much fun and I respect the quality of the game and the live service elements of the game. They aren’t being slimey about it. Only good vibes from Helldivers.

First balance patch arrived. Nerfed rail gun and breaker a bit which I’m fine with. Bumped up flamethrower which I had a couple games with and the laser canon which I still need to test out. My new favourite weapon though is actually the single use anti tank rocket. It’s very epic, probably not the best weapon since you need to call down new rockets quite often which can be challenging when the chaos hits, but it’s really cool throwing down the support call in, sprinting away from a charger to pick up the EAT, dive to the side away from a charger attack and shoot this massive rocket blowing the charger to bits. It’s just really fun. 

The balance patch upped the spawn rate for enemies it seems. Maybe unintentionally? Not sure, the game is harder though for sure. I had a streak of games with bad teammates (sometimes me included) and we couldn’t extract so I numbed it down to 5 for a bit more breathing room. Still loving the game although I anticipate there will be some fixes incoming. The spawn rates seem to be flawed now.

Love this game. It’s so good. The loadout variety has gotten better with the last two updates. There’s lots to play around with. 

The amount of viable loadouts is awesome and it’s only going to keep getting better. I’ve been using the scorcher and pairing it with the machine gun in max RPM. I snipe the enemies from a distance and when things get hot or they get close I switch to the machine gun and make it rain lead. Very fun. 

Still climbing. It’s a high A currently.

The flying bugs on the fire tornado planet are sweet. Game keeps getting better. Also I love the scorcher. It’s S tier both bugs and bots.

I’ve finally started using the Autocanon (it was hard to give up Jetpack or shield) and it’s awesome. It’s really good for bots. It might become a go to for bots. Possibly S tier. Needs further testing but being able to kill hulks from distance is huge. 

Two new weapon stratagem unlocks. Quasor Laser and a heavy machine gun. First game with the Quasor and it’s awesome. 

Shooting down drop ships with the Quasor is awesome.

Slugger got nerfed :( RIP

I love my bots loadout right now. Shield, Quasor, Autocanon Sentry which is actually awesome if you place it well. And 500kg because it’s always useful and it’s still the coolest part of the game. Then you can pair it with a whole number of guns and it’s solid. It works with scorcher, slugger pre nerf, liberator P post buff, and Diligence CS post buff. All those loadouts rock. 

It’s an A+. This game is awesome. 

Post buff I really like the liberator P and the Diligence CS, at least for the bots. Sniping from a distance is very fun. It pairs so well with the Quasor Laser. There are more and more viable loadouts with every update. I miss the slugger but the overall package is better. Fuck I love this game.

At first I thought the Quasar was just the GOAT support drop but it’s only the GOAT for bots. It’s still great for bugs, it’s an A. But I think for bugs the EAT is better. The Quasar charge time makes it hard to one hit chargers. It’s a well balanced weapon. AH don’t nerf!

I am struggling to rank the Diligence CS for bots. For how good it is, it’s probably a B tier, but for how fun it is it’s an A tier. I solo level 7’d a couple hits rounds, one with the Liberator P which was epic and I even successfully extracted with my samples. For the CS I failed the mission the first time, got completely over run but a lot of it was a skill issue. Then the second round I beat the mission and was so close to extracting but I died 2 seconds too fast. I do really think it’s a fun weapon though.

Just used the AMR for the first time against bots. Which happened to be after it got its damage buff. And oh my. It’s so good. It’s the best weapon in the game for taking out rocket devastators, normal devastators, those heavy shield guys, and the chainsaw dudes. Plus it’s also decent against tanks and turrets if you get behind them. And it’s overkill but fine at killing the light enemies. This plus the range makes it pretty damn great. It also pairs well with the Autocanon sentry which I’ve been liking. This game is great. These days I prefer fighting bots over bugs which I never expected to feel.


Personal Tier Lists (Best/Faves):
———————————————————
Stratagems (BUGS):
S: Jetpack, Eagle 500kg
A: Shield, Eagle AS, Orbital Railgun, Gatling Sentry
B: Exosuit, Autocanon Sentry
C: Tesla Coil, Eagle Carpet Bomb, Mortar Sentry, Eagle Strafing Run, Missile Sentry, Incendiary Mines
D: Mines, 110 Rocketpods, 380HE

Support Weapon Stratagems (BUGS):
S: Railgun (pre nerf), EAT, Recoilless Rifle, Quasar
A: Machine Gun, Arc Thrower, Autocanon, AMR
B: Flamethrower, Grenade Launcher, Laser Cannon 
C: Stalwart
D: 

Starting Weapons (BUGS):
S: Breaker, Scorcher, Breaker Incendiary, Sickle
A: Slugger, Liberator P, 
B: Liberator, Punisher, Defender, Dominator, Eruptor
C: Punisher Plasma, Diligence CS, Adjudicator
D: Diligence, Blitzer

Secondary Weapons (BUGS):
S: Redeemer
A:
B:
C: Senator
D: Peacemaker

Grenades: (BUGS):
S: Impact, Incendiary
A: 
B: Frag, High Explosive
C: Thermite
D:

———————————————————-

Stratagems (BOTS):
S: Eagle 500kg, Shield
A: Jetpack, Eagle AS, Autocanon Sentry
B: Orbital Railgun,
C: Exosuit, Tesla Coil, Ballistic Shield, Mortar Sentry, Gatling Sentry, Missile Sentry
D: Both Mines, 110 Rocketpods, Eagle Carpet Bomb.

Support Weapon Stratagems (BOTS):
S: Quasar, AMR
A: Railgun, Autocanon, Recoilless Rifle
B: Laser Canon, Grenade Launcher, EAT, Arc Thrower
C: Stalwart, Machine Gun
D: Flamethrower, HMG

Starting Weapons (BOTS):
S: Scorcher, Slugger (pre nerf)
A: Breaker, Liberator P, Breaker Incendiary, Sickle
B: Liberator, Punisher, Defender, Diligence CS, Dominator, Eruptor
C: Adjudicator 
D: Diligence, Punisher Plasma, Blitzer

Secondary Weapons (BOTS):
S: Redeemer
A:
B:
C: Senator
D: Peacemaker

Grenades (BOTS):
S: Impact
A:
B: Frag, High Explosive
C: Incendiary
D: Thermite
                                                          _________________________________

Fun Combos (BUGS):
- Breaker, Railgun, Jetpack, Eagle AR, Eagle 500kg
- Breaker/Sickle, EAT, Jetpack, Eagle AR, Eagle 500kg
- Scorcher/Slugger, Machine Gun, Jetpack, Orbital Railgun, Eagle 500kg
- Breaker, Arc Thrower, Jetpack/Shield, Orbital Railgun, Eagle 500kg
- Exosuit, Tesla Coil, Gatling Sentry/Missile Sentry (Defense Missions)
- Breaker, Autocanon, Eagle AR, Eagle 500kg, Missile Sentry
- Liberator P, Quasar, Jetpack, Eagle AR/ Orbital Railgun, Eagle 500kg
- Breaker Incendiary, AMR, Jetpack, Orbital Railgun, Eagle 500kg
- Sickle, Recoilless Rifle, Gatling Sentry, Autocanon Sentry, Eagle 500kg
- Breaker Incendiary/Sickle, Incendiary Grenades, Quasar, Jetpack, Gatling Sentry, Eagle 500kg
- Breaker Incendiary, Incendiary Grenades, Flamethrower/Quasar, Tesla Tower, Incendiary Mines, Gatling Sentry (Defence Missions) 
____________________________________

Fun Combos (BOTS):
- Breaker, Railgun, Shield, Eagle AR, Eagle 500kg
- Scorcher/Slugger, Machine Gun, Shield, Orbital Railgun, Eagle 500kg
- Breaker/Defender, Autocanon, Eagle AR, Eagle 500kg, Missile Sentry
- Scorcher/Slugger/Sickle/Liberator P/ Diligence CS, Quasar, Shield, Autocanon Sentry, Eagle 500kg
- Breaker Incendiary/Defender, AMR, Shield, Autocanon Sentry, Eagle 500kg
- Breaker Incendiary, Recoilless Rifle, Gatling Sentry, Autocanon Sentry, Eagle 500kg

_______________________________________

BONUS WRITE UPS:

Starting Weapons:
- Adjudicator - if you switch the Full Auto and treat it like a high powered assault rifle with a small clip…it’s still pretty bad against both bugs and bots but it is manageable. It needs a buff though. I think increase the clip size by 25% and give us 2 or 3 more clips and then it might be alright.

- Eruptor - Reddit made me believe this gun was going to be A or S but idk I found it alright but the slow rate of fire, slow bullet speed and the handling made it overall just feel so-so for me. I might not have the rhythm yet though.

Secondary Weapons:
- Redeemer - The GOAT sidearm 
- Senator - The sidearm I want to bring because it’s cool but can’t because it’s so bad. The reload time is so long it’s really hard to justify bringing it.

Weapon Stratagems:
- EAT - IMO the most democratic weapon. It’s got that feel. 
- AMR - Pang Pang Motherfucker
- Quasar - Old Reliable
- Flamethrower - More fun than effective in my experience. Good to bring on bug exterminator missions though.

Grenades:
- Incendiary Grenades - Awesome against bugs for cinematic reasons but also effective against bug breaches and at pinch points. Pairs well with Breaker Incendiary for full fire.
- Impact Grenades - The oh shit I’m about to get swarmed escape plan.

Stratagems:
- Eagle 500kg - The GOAT. There’s no problem the 500kg can’t solve. I bring it nearly every mission.
- Jetpack - Once you try the Jetpack vs bugs it’s really hard to go back to just using your feet.
- Autocanon Sentry - One of my personal favourites for Bots. It takes some practise learning when and where to place it but a well placed ACS turns a battle around.
- Personal Shield - Similar to the Jetpack with the bugs, I rarely go to a bot planet without my trusted Shield.
- Gatling Sentry - After realizing how good the ACS is for bots I messed around more with sentries for bugs and the Gatling Sentry rips apart those little bastards. Again, it takes some strategy when placing the sentry to get the best results but a well placed sentry can get shred in armoured bugs. You gotta watch out for those chargers though.
- Tesla Tower - It can be great on Defense missions depending on where you throw it but it’s challenging to find that perfect spot. It’s gotta be between you and the enemy, but not too close to Helldivers, and you have to still semi guard it against heavy units, or ranged bot attacks. There’s just a lot that needs to line up for it to be an effective drop but when it does kine up its incredible.

Current Score: A+
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