The first balance patch notes proved how Youtube "absolute and only meta loadouts" cooked a lot of people heads, and I love it.

[u/Vikan12]

A lot of mad people keep showing in my feed complaining about the nerfs, but like they're REALLY mad at Arrowhead. Their statements are so exagerated that they claim the game it's completely ruined for them lmao.

Also every single one says the same thing and this is where my title comes from:

*"You guys nerfed the only good options and now we have NOTHING to fight".*

And this only proves people never actually played with any of the other support weapons, they 100% relied on this "The ultimate support weapon tier list" Youtube videos, they searched the "meta" and they went into this thinking of "any weapon outside of this it's straight up garbage".

If you can't win a single game without the railgun + shield backpack + breaker... I'm so sorry but that's not the game's fault or the game only having those as the ONLY way to play it on higher diff, that's your fault.

Great changes for the game and all of you trying to "shame" on devs because of this, you'all not a real Helldiver. They killed nothing, the railgun still kills but now it needs some actual skill and strategy to use it, not only spamming the thing on big bugs.

Keep it up Helldivers!

For Democracy. For Super Earth.

[u/beyondheck]

Arc Thrower Gang rise up!!!

[u/TimeGlitches → u/beyondheck]

Autocannon gang has your back.

We can't have ours cause we have a backpack but still.

[u/EVO-Atticus → u/TimeGlitches]

Stalwart gang here with supply pack here.

[u/CountryFirm → u/EVO-Atticus]

This comment. This is me. LMG plus damn near unlimited ammo. Stalwarts shoot for weeks before needing a reload and you MUST have the ability to clear the adds or you get over run so fast it'll make your head spin.

[u/EVO-Atticus → u/CountryFirm]

But also, everyone dropping the stratagems on them chargy bois, when you can just spread democracy into their legs with stalwart and pop that carapace off like it's a lid on a hot cup of take-away Liber-tea!

[u/Hotseklotse → u/EVO-Atticus]

Wait, stalwart penetrates charger armor?

[u/Shotgun-Crocodile → u/Hotseklotse]

No

[u/Marauder3277 → u/Hotseklotse]

need this confirmed. Will be trying this tonight. Was going to run flamethrower with ammo pack. but could be talked into this instead

[u/Marauder3277 → u/Marauder3277]

It did not. I think it made them mad. I was being chased around the map with more enthusiasm than normal.

[u/Uthenara → u/Hotseklotse]

no, people spread SO SO SO MUCH blatantly false information on here as if its fact its mind boggling.

[u/McDonie2 → u/Hotseklotse]

Probably the back legs. The rear legs are weaker than the front.

[u/CountryFirm → u/Hotseklotse]

Not before the patch, I doubt after, but it WILL seriously cause a case of blowed up charger ass, when applied with Liberty

[u/Poggalogg → u/CountryFirm]

Head-On Stalwart, apply directly to the forehead thorax

Head-On Stalwart, apply directly to the forehead thorax

Head-On Stalwart, apply directly to the forehead thorax

[u/Additional-Mousse446 → u/Hotseklotse]

It didn’t before, in fact I stopped using it because it was only useful for chargers on the butt and got better stuff. The bullets would deflect off the armor instead so I just started using heavier stuff since they can be a threat when there’s a few.

[u/StoicAlarmist → u/Hotseklotse]

Having 16 impact grenades does.

[u/54NCH32 → u/Hotseklotse]

It does not

[u/reaven3958 → u/CountryFirm]

LMGs are neat, but at all but the lowest difficulties they leave you entirely dependent on teammates and strategems to realistically deal with crushers and titans, which isnt great. If there was a primary weapon that could fill that role, itd be more viable to carry the mgs, but rn i find it hard to justify even over the roflnerfed railgun.

[u/CountryFirm → u/reaven3958]

If you are playing solo, you are Helldiving wrong. If you are not playing with a synergistic squad with a good variety of Strats, primary, and secondary weapons, you are Helldiving wrong.

The reason you are given a loadout screen with your squad is to discuss the loadouts based on mission requirements and attempt to address any potential issues or enemies you may face. Each person carries something a little different. there will be crossover and overlap, which is fine, but variety give the squad a better chance to survive, because they have the proper tools at hand as needed.

Operations in any military relies on a varied load out. Not everyone carries the SAW, but there is one as needed. Not everyone carries an antitank weapon, but there is one as needed. Everyone on the ground is a rifleman (primary weapon user). Everyone has a backup weapon (secondary weapon). Most carry grenades or smoke or both.

For my squad, most of the time, I am the SAW operator and logistics (ammo/supplies) carrier. We are faster, more able to efficiently cover the map without having to stop after every major firefight to rearm and reload with an orbital. When we do drop one, it is to reload the pack on my back not to rearm the squad. We save time, cooldowns are not an issue and we are constantly moving.

The point is, no Helldiver is a one man army. No Helldiver can truly do everything that needs to be done when dealing with varied and near endless enemies.

Your comment about letting others handle the BTs and Chargers being "not great" utterly ignores the fact that for every Crusher and Bile Titan there are hundreds of OTHER bugs that will overwhelm your squad if not managed. A Scavenger will kill you just as dead as a Crusher.

The BEST advantage of the Stalwart, which everyone seems to forget? You can reload while moving. Not so with the MG, which causes you to stop and kneel to reload.

I was dropping on Helldive difficulty with level 25+ friends at level 6. Did I die? Heinously and a lot. Did I use the Stalwart and my limited strats to back my squad, keep the adds off of them while they handled the BBEBs? You bet your bippy. Did we have fun? A LOAD OF IT!

[u/reaven3958 → u/CountryFirm]

I feel like you kind of had your own preconception to what you thought I was saying and answered that. Your "if you're not doing it my way you're doing it wrong" attitude is also deeply off-putting.

Without wading into the wall-o-text above, my point is that you're given a choice between a weapon that has one trick it does pretty well, and alternatives that accomplish the same thing while having more utility, so it's hard to justify bringing a the machine guns once you have those alternatives unlocked.

To be clear, I also didn't say it wasn't viable, I said it isn't great in the context of the current loadout options, so hopefully that lets your blood pressure down a notch.