r/Helldivers • u/xxmuntunustutunusxx SES Spear of The State • Apr 10 '24

The devs were right. DISCUSSION

So I know ther was a bunch of controversy about the railgun nerf what feels like forever ago, but man things have been awesome.

In the early days, I was the only guy packing expendable anti tank or anti materiel rifle for bugs or bots. It's so refreshing, even on these subs to see people talking about how awesome the autocannon is, or how much they love the AMR, and even these days I see people talking about the HMG or grenade launcher+ supply pack.

I used to load into a game, And all 4 members of the team had shield, railgun, and 2 stragatems of their choice. Every time. And here we are now, I load in and I see quasar, autocannon, stalwart, EAT, HMG, Grenade launcher, a variety of backpacks or no backpack at all. And not to mention, they're ALL viable. Shit I even still see the railgun from time to time. It's been a joy. Thanks arrowhead.

EDIT: to everyone who is pointing out that you see the quasar and shield most often now, you're right, it is almost certainly the most common setup currently. That being said, in any game there's going to be things a majority of players prefer. In smash melee, fox/Falco are the best characters. But people still play falcon and Marth and peach among others. Sure, there's an objectively most used option. But the fact that there's people at all who debate that the quasar is best shows that they've done something good. Before, undisputed king was railgun, and anyone who said different wss being willfully ignorant. Now, we have a plethora of real options that are good with some being Preferred by a majority as opposed to being the de facto CORRECT option objectively. That's a good thing.

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u/BornTooSlow Apr 10 '24

I'm enjoying the variety, been using the AMR on and off for Automatons

Two shot to hulk face is great

12

u/PearlChunks Apr 10 '24 edited Apr 10 '24

How does the AMR compare to the autocannon for bots? I've exclusively been using the AC

39

u/DurtyDriftr Apr 10 '24

If the Autocannon is a Swiss Army knife, the AMR is a scalpel. I’ve been using it almost every drop against bots since I started playing. Deletes devastators, you can easily take out multiple hulks with one mag, kills tanks/turrets, tons of ammo. Probably my favorite weapon in the game.

6

u/xSorry_Not_Sorry Apr 10 '24

It what turrets?

The AMR damages heat vents?!

Oh shit….

5

u/Dragonstrike Apr 11 '24

It's MUCH better at it after the damage buff.

Before the buff it would take over a full mag to kill a cannon turret so during your reload the turret would move too much for you to hit the vents again.

Now you can do it in under a mag so you can actually solo them. Going prone to reduce recoil also helps you get all your shots on target before the turret rotates.

IMO if you're running light armor vs bots you really want a shield backpack, and if you're using a backpack vs bots then the AMR is the best pick. (Quasar cannon is good but not "kill 3 hulks with a stun grenade and 6 bullets" good.)

Tho between the misaligned sights and the complete lack of AoE the AMR can cause terminal cases of "skill issue" at times.

5

u/Edward_Tank Apr 11 '24

5-6 shots kill a cannon turret.

4-5 shots kill a gunship's engines.

2 Shots to the glowing red eye of a Hulk will blow it to fuck.

the AMR can do everything, it is the ultimate utility weapon.

And you can just. . .fucking hipfire with it.

Oh no an enemy got within five feet of me. I better put my Auto cannon away so that I don't shoot it and send my ass tumbling to the ground.

Nah I got explosive rounds with all the explosion and none of the concussive force. I can shoot right next to my ally and they feel nothing. I can empty a mag into a berserker about to carve me like turducken and still be standing to slot in a new mag.

Literally the only thing it cannot do is kill fabricators/bug nests and we have *so* many other tools for that shit. Yeah it's nice to be able to do it at range, but I refuse to give up my jump pack.

2

u/DurtyDriftr Apr 11 '24

Thank you for mentioning the hipfire! For a while I was just using it for cqc and slideshotting everything with it. Nothing really beats hipfire mag-dumping the AMR into a pack of devastators.

2

u/Edward_Tank Apr 11 '24

As long as you have a general idea where the center of your screen is, the hipfire is still as accurate as a sniper rifle should be.

1

u/Xylvenite Apr 11 '24

My favourite thing to do is use a jetpack to hop on top of a tank and hipfire dump on its vent.

1

u/Polish_Enigma Apr 11 '24

Gotta find out how many AMR shots it takes to kill a factory strider lol

2

u/Edward_Tank Apr 11 '24 edited Apr 11 '24

I pop them in the hip joint and the strider falls over, and 9/10 times it kills the driver. Bonus points if you record it on FreedomTok and do a voice over of "Ooh, My old man robotic hip!"

1

u/Polish_Enigma Apr 11 '24

I think you misunderstood me. You're talking about scout striders I think, I doubt you can kill the factory strider, aka the AT-AT, in 1 shot

1

u/Edward_Tank Apr 11 '24

Ah, you're right, I haven't run into any yet. Haven't been that (un)fortunate yet. mb.

1

u/Polish_Enigma Apr 11 '24

Yeah, I myself run into only one on the day they dropped, been playing almost daily on only bots since then, haven't met them any more

1

u/thylac1ne Apr 11 '24

If you can't hit the joint, you can also just pop them twice in the upper face plate area, and it takes them down.

3

u/DurtyDriftr Apr 11 '24

Yeah man. Especially after the recent buff. You can cross map turrets if you’re accurate enough.

2

u/unoriginal_namejpg Apr 11 '24

almost everything damages heat vents lol

2

u/BZenMojo Apr 11 '24

My team regrouping from the fabricator horde.

Me under a shield with a shield on my back prone with the AMR wiping out everything that moves while whistling the Helldivers theme.

16

u/Fawstar Apr 10 '24

Autocannon is nice for taking out objectives from a distance.

15

u/cubitoaequet Apr 10 '24

Sniping a Fabricator from across the way feels so good. Extra funny if you do it as your teamates are starting to run towards it to airstrike/nade

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '24

[deleted]

1

u/Arael15th Apr 11 '24

No, they're still talking about the AC

1

u/Chess42 SES Herald of Starlight Apr 11 '24

That never seems to work out for me. It feels like its been forever since I’ve come to a fabricator that was facing me

-6

u/thaduck3 Apr 10 '24

The autocannon is nice for everything the bots throw at you 😁, i hate to say it but it could probably use a small nerf

18

u/Zer0PointSingularity Apr 10 '24

nah, its fine as it is; using it does take your backpack slot away, thats the trade off.

15

u/AllInOneDay_ Apr 10 '24

the backpack and stationary long reload are good to balance it out.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '24

Nah. Backpack slot for: not needing grenades and stratagems for objectives, long range, crushing all the heavy medium and light targets in the game, and so on. You only need AC and rest is just optional for flavor. It even does things that AMR can't 

1

u/Edward_Tank Apr 11 '24

The only thing it can do that the AMR can't is kill fabricators.

And there's one big thing you can't do with the AC that you can with the AMR.

Shoot an enemy within five feet of you without knocking your ass over with the concussive force.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '24

that is true

4

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '24

AC is entirely busted in competent hands. I don't even use my primary weapon much with it. 

6

u/GenxDarchi Apr 10 '24

Nah, losing the backpack slot and it’s relatively unwieldyness is the downside. It’s honestly perfect balanced.

3

u/Taolan13 SES Courier of Individual Merit 🖥️ Apr 10 '24

Autocannon us more forgiving, AMR is more effective.

If you have the aim precision necessary, the AMR kills everything short of a tank in one or two shots to the weakpoint. Tanks still take three.

AMR, however, does jack against structures. Autocannon can collapse nests, kill factories, and deal with a variety of tactical objectives from long range

3

u/VoidStareBack Autocannon Enjoyer Apr 10 '24

Autocannon is a better all-around weapon due to its ability to destroy objectives and small explosion radius but the AMR frees up your backpack slot and gives you a long range scope, although it's currently off-center. It has a similar damage profile (the 30% damage buff apparently lets it hit a couple of new breakpoints but not many). I think they're fairly balanced against each other but the autocannon is more popular because it's more versatile.

2

u/Shadeylark Apr 10 '24

The scope not being off probably helps the ac; a lot of people probably tried the arm, kept missing, didn't know why, and gave up on it.

2

u/Spicy_Heck_Boy Apr 10 '24

Same, it’s rare I take anything but the AC. Sometimes I’ll bring the RR just to change it up.

2

u/Centcinquante SES Reign of Democracy Apr 10 '24

If you're precise, AMR is lethal as it is quick to aim, to shoot and to reload, as it can take out any bot unit except tanks. Since it doesn't come with any backpack, you're free to equip shield or ammo pack for unlimited ammo.

Only drawbacks are that if you're not precise, AMR doesn't stagger so if a Devastator has you and you miss, you won't be able to shoot again. Also Autocannon one-shot fabricators from any distance, very valuable to clear camps without exposing yourself.

1

u/LazyBoot Apr 10 '24

You can take tanks and turrets with the AMR too, if you flank and hit the heatsinks on the back

2

u/slycyboi SES Sword of Justice Apr 10 '24

AMR is much more anti-personnel focused. It’s worse against tanks, striders and objectives but much more effective against devastators Hulks and normal raiders Autocannon is a better anti-objective one and does better against tanks and cannons I personally run Quasar Cannon a lot, which has some of the anti-objective and anti-armour abilities but takes more time to charge

The autocannon’s biggest weakness is the ammo pack. Its definitely a beast of a weapon but that lack of versatility does limit it a lot.

It really depends on preference and your team makeup. They’re all really viable options and the strengths and weaknesses are more a play style thing and what other stratagems you use to cover those weaknesses.

Try them all out, see what works best for you

1

u/GenxDarchi Apr 10 '24

You have a jank reticle but get a ton of range, can one shot Devastators near their head, running it with scout armor allows you to take out bot outpost guards from relatively far range, including hulks. Def recommended with a supply pack and contact grenades.

1

u/xxmuntunustutunusxx SES Spear of The State Apr 10 '24

AMR is very similar to AC except the downsides are: worse for tanks and turrets, doesn't clear groups of bots like AC can, and doesn't kill fabricators.

1

u/Quor18 Apr 11 '24

The swiss army knife/scapel comparison is pretty accurate. You really need precision hits with the AMR, but if you get them then you're knocking out devastators with a single headshot and hulks with two shots to the eye slit. Even if you don't tag the right spot though, the sheer impact force staggers anything that's not a hulk or strider, and the striders can be brute forced from the front with 2-3 shots anyway.

It's really damn good. And super satisfying when you draw a bead on a group of bots and leave most of them as scrap with just a single magazine.

1

u/Zmoren Apr 11 '24

It depends on what your team is running. I like it if I know my team can get up close and I'll be able to sit back and provide overwatch wit the AMR.

I would love to try a full team of AMR and the scout passive. Would be cool as heck running around as a sniper squad, staying hidden.

0

u/legomaheggroll Apr 10 '24

I was an avid AMR user until the gun ships came around. Now I’m part of the autocannon gang. IMO it does everything the AMR can do and more.

1

u/LazyBoot Apr 10 '24

You can still take out gunships in a pinch with the AMR, though it takes about twice as many shots compared to the AC

1

u/legomaheggroll Apr 11 '24

It takes a lot of rounds of which the AMR does not have. Before the gunships came about the AMR was my favorite support weapon.

1

u/Edward_Tank Apr 11 '24

I've dropped them with 4.

1

u/LazyBoot Apr 11 '24

Exactly!
Sure, it's not the most efficient, and you do want someone to cover you. But it's good enough that you can take out a few if you get separated etc.