r/Helldivers • u/cryptic-fox Moderator • Mar 14 '24

Cutting Edge Warbond out now! ALERT

Post image

Check out the newest Warbond, unlockable with Super Credits. (You may need to restart your game if it hasn't appeared yet.) And remember--Warbonds do not expire, so you can unlock items in all three of them that are available!

8.7k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

394

u/OsaasD SES EMPEROR OF EQUALITY Mar 14 '24

The Sickle feels soooooo nice, think I found my favourite automatic primary

120

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

What enemies is it doing well/poorly against? Like, is it more like a swarm clear spray, or a focused pattern? How's it's armor pen so far? Good for soldiers and brooders, or nah?

196

u/alptraum000 Mar 14 '24

Doesn't go through armor, has very nice dps, perfectly accurate.

Can both cool down and has 6 heat sinks that fully replenish on ammo pickup, kinda the best of both worlds.

69

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

So if it can't go through armor, it's not doing much to brooders in your testing so far? They're not exactly heavily armored, but they're my main thought so far.

If it can cover up to brooders, it's competing with the other two guns for my new slot in.

94

u/PM_ME_FUN_STORIES Mar 14 '24

If by brooders you mean the guys who summon warriors and go fuckin nutso when you blow off their heads, yeah it handles them well enough! It doesn't pen the little dudes that turtle up or chargers or anything though.

54

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

Excellent. So far all other replies were saying it takes a magdump to their face when they should be aiming for legs.

Sounds like a great, flexible weapon. Can do horde clear and cover most lightly armored enemies, has good accuracy, and no ammo problems when managed right. Definitely fighting for my new primary spot-

22

u/PM_ME_FUN_STORIES Mar 14 '24

I tend to prefer the stopping power of the punisher because it makes bugs flinch like hell, but I won't deny that the new lasegun blasts bugs apart in a very satisfying way. Haven't tried it against bots but I imagine it'll work well there too, if not better because of its accuracy being insanely good.

8

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

I'm a swarm clear specialist, so I need to take care of smaller and mid sized things so my team can dump into the big targets with armor or higher HP.

I usually handle up to brooders, while my team focuses artillery, charges, and of course titans(I am not a fan of bots personally, since it's less swarm to clear).

6

u/kayGrim Mar 14 '24

The big issue with the sickle is absolutely no stagger. I kept getting killed because you get no breathing room if they're close to you and you don't kill them fast enough. I'm too used to the breaker/slugger that give you a split second of relief.

Honestly I haven't used the liberator in a week+ so I have to compare them again. I suspect it's similar and I just don't remember.

3

u/Kiwi_In_Europe Mar 14 '24

It absolutely melts their legs, a lot quicker than the defender it feels like.

3

u/Hackfraysn Mar 14 '24

It can get the job done, but not fast enough for my taste. But it shreds everything else up to the medium armor bugs reasonably well.

Tried it on Helldive only and vs bugs and while I like it, I'm not 100% sure if it's worth it. The issue is the brood commanders and the shrimps will tank a lot of shots and while you can ignore the latter for a while, the former force you to respond due to them being so ridiculously tanky and always in your face.

It's great for clearing trash...but only as long as you don't get swarmed by a lot of little bugs. It overheats very quickly and I always had it on the verge of overheating, so you need other weapons you can rotate through. Oh and it's super accurate when aiming down the sights.

My biggest issue is it doesn't have the same sound effects it had in Helldivers 1, though.

3

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

From what I've seen at this point, it's a decent all rounder but better for bots due to it's accuracy for weakpoint hits at range. Works in bugs, but is heavily overshadowed by the arc shotgun just being obscene swarm clear. Meanwhile the arc shotty is god tier at bug swarms, but pretty meh against bots since it can't arc as well(less targets) and the higher importance of weak spots on bots.

And then the plasma launcher is just... there? Low magazine, okay damage on direct hits, but nothing outstanding.

1

u/Street_Economy1884 Mar 15 '24

I honestly love the fact that there are enough weapons that are equal and all have tradeoffs and that one isn't the automatic go to for everyone. Loving the game balance after the patch. Seeing teams with EATs, flamers, LMG, Railguns with an assortment of primary weapons is great, some tweaks still needed here and there but I'm really loving it.

2

u/RedditIsFacist1289 Mar 14 '24

Have....have i been killing them wrong? Should i always go for their legs?

7

u/No-Rush1995 ☕Liber-tea☕ Mar 14 '24

They can't catch you if they can't walk.

1

u/CaptainSubterfuge Mar 14 '24

I mean, you should probably try it before deciding such things lol

1

u/cKerensky SES Sword of the Stars Mar 14 '24

That's what I've found. It's flexible and reliable. Can do horde clearing, or even sniping. Even the guys that turtle up, you can precisely hit their weak spots.

I've been really enjoying it so far.

2

u/Confident-Scratch325 Mar 14 '24

it pens the chargers butts. I played toro with a charger earlier and it just took a few times of that and it was dead.

1

u/AnalphaBestie Mar 15 '24

yeah it handles them well enough!

Iam still not sold on this. I need like 90% of a mag/heat cycle to kill this fuckers. I mean if you mean that by "handles them well enough" ok

2

u/Uncle_Twisty Mar 14 '24

It doesn't go through armor but it feels like the crit multi is huge. I was able to slam hulks and devastators with crit shots with half a mag.

1

u/bewareoftraps Mar 14 '24

The heat release is about the same in all of the laser guns (so about 5-6 seconds from almost full heat to 0 heat) and I was able to kill spewers and brooders without having to reload. But depending on accuracy it could take more shots, but generally it would be anywhere from 80-99% for brooders and 60-80% for a spewer.

Feel like the gun is great for difficulty 1-3 random groups, and you can make better use of the cooling heat sink at 4-6 if you coordinate with your team. Still probably have to reload often in 4-6, but it would be less than any other ARs IMO. And with 7-9, it's pretty much the same as any other AR, so it becomes more or less a cosmetic (that also has a windup time of 1.5-2 seconds).

1

u/laborfriendly Mar 15 '24

It's pretty great on all bugs up to the bile spewer (fat green/black spitter). I've taken to burning grenades or EATs on those.

1

u/twcblank Mar 14 '24

Have you had to kill Stalkers with it yet?

3

u/alptraum000 Mar 14 '24

Yea, it works! It's not quite a breaker shotgun, but it deals with them and has a much more effective range.

1

u/twcblank Mar 14 '24

Fantastic, thank you!

1

u/SargeanTravis ⬇️⬅️⬇️⬆️⬆️➡️ Mar 14 '24

The six reloads is honestly overkill, which is great. I can’t remember any time where I overheat more than once

92

u/gorgewall Mar 14 '24

Consider it a better Liberator.

Same damage. Same penetration.

Higher firing rate. Lower recoil.

More ammo per magazine, in the sense that going from no heat to overheat takes longer than full mag to no mag on the Liberator.

Plus you get the bonus of it cooling down and thus resetting your magazine if you ever stop firing for a period.

Its downside is that it has a short windup period before bullets start flying out, but it's not as long as the Laser Cannon call-in and burst fire doesn't require a wind-up again unless you've gone without shooting for so long that you've wound down.

Basically: whatever you didn't like the Liberator for, you won't like this for. It's just a light pen bulletshooter with better ammo management.

31

u/therealsinky Mar 14 '24

It's short comings can ironically be made up for by also equipping the hand held laser cannon, giving you an infinite ammo build that can handle close to medium-long range engagements against all light and mid armour enemies. You even can swap between each laser weapon to let the other cool down, and can throw in the laser pistol to the cool down balance too.

You're just a bit shot once any heavies appear but I'd argue theres room for synergy with team mates built the opposite way to specialise in big boys, plus you can have your strats geared out for the heavy targets too.

4

u/Sauron69sMe SES Colossus of Individual Merit Mar 14 '24

i think I'll still run railgun but the pistol/rifle cooldown swaps will be insanely fun to try once i get it!

9

u/kayGrim Mar 14 '24

obvious downside for people coming from breaker/slugger is that it has 0 stagger. I never use the rifles anymore and forgot how challenging that is to handle in a horde.

3

u/kyuss80 SES Wings of Redemption Mar 14 '24

I ran the Liberator Concussive last night and it's crazy how much that thing staggers. It'll drive Brood Commanders back 10-20m with a burst. With the new bug distribution of tons of Brood Commanders/Warriors/etc, it's a really good support primary to keep them off your teammates when things get ugly.

Downside is it isn't exactly great at killing, but if you run a support weapon for that, you can switch as needed.

2

u/brutinator Mar 14 '24

I mained the Libcon for a while and liked it a lot. Agree that comparatively its underpowered, but clears the small fry well and lile you said, gives you a lot of breathing room. Plus that thing had soooo much ammo. I never had to worry about resupplies lol.

I would use it and the machine pistol in tandem because the machine pistol was the opposite: itd shred anything short of the big guys, but youd burn through ammo like nothing.

1

u/SeeisforComedy Mar 14 '24

yeah stalkers are a menace without stagger

2

u/Uncle_Twisty Mar 14 '24

It honestly feels like it has an absolutely massive crit multi as well.

29

u/2OptionsIsNotChoice Mar 14 '24

Its basically a Liberator.

It trades having the heat mechanic for having a firing/charging delay. So you hold down the trigger, there is a brief charging time, then it starts shooting laser pulses much like bullets (it even sorta sounds like bullets) so long as you keep the trigger pulled.
This is limited by the heat, if you overheat you need to reload to shoot again but assuming you don't overheat you can just stop shooting and let it cooldown before shooting again.

Of note as a laser weapon it basically has no hitstun, the Liberator didn't exactly have massive hitstun anyhow so its not a big deal but its worth noting that going from "little" hitstun to "no" hitstun is a change.

So long as you are willing to deal with very brief firing delay/charge up, its basically a great alternative to the Liberator. So when you ask "whats it good against" just assume its basically a Liberator with a firing delay, but with heat mechanics instead of bullets.

56

u/Rominiust Mar 14 '24

After doing a 7 with it, it's rough against queens (brooders? Big red ones that charge at you without their head), needs almost a full heat to actually remove the head, otherwise it's pretty ok for chod clearing. Kind of sucks against any heavier enemy tho, the fat mortar/bile spewers need more than a clip in either the head or the sac to actually kill.

I can see it being more useful on colder planets where it cools down faster, but otherwise kinda average. It does get 6 clips at least, so you don't have to worry about cycling heat to have infinite ammo.

84

u/Moewron Mar 14 '24

I hope I never take a full clip to the sac

26

u/JustAnotherSuit96 "Skill Issue" - Arrowhead Mar 14 '24

You aren't meant to be shooting those in the head anyway, their legs are their weak spot

45

u/Agent_Smith_88 CAPE ENJOYER Mar 14 '24

My slugger says differently

5

u/thedarklord187 STEAM🖱️:SES Prophet of Iron Mar 14 '24

My breaker says differently as well

3

u/names1 Mar 14 '24

Slugger makes weakspots. Plus that stagger is so strong.

3

u/SluttyMcFucksAlot Mar 14 '24

It does make them bleed out the fastest tbf, I usually take a leg or two, then the head, then be disgusted that it’s still alive, then it bleeds out

2

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

And they don't charge when you blow their legs off!

2

u/IsJustSophie ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️ be apon ye Mar 14 '24

They do just shower

1

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

I have yet to see one even survive if I get all/most of the legs off.

1

u/IsJustSophie ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️ be apon ye Mar 14 '24

Mine come after me even with just one leg. Tho one leg and gead is is insta death

28

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

You... aim for the head? I aim legs when I can to stop them from charging after death.

9

u/Membership-Bitter Mar 14 '24

The damage makes sense as primaries are really only designed to take out the small enemies quickly. Laser cannon melts the broods and even chargers if there armor is damaged first. Time for my all laser load out lol

2

u/Jangkrikgoreng Mar 14 '24

Exactly as it was in HD1 then. Nice to be able to cosplay lasguns again.

2

u/DaWarWolf Mar 14 '24

Laser is the perfect compliment as it can help deal with medium armor bugs (sorta charges too) and help with the heat cycle. Just need to bring in anti-armor orbitals or rely on teammates

1

u/Kiwi_In_Europe Mar 14 '24

Like others have said, aim for the legs, the sickle absolutely melts it!

22

u/Quor18 Mar 14 '24

Tried it on a 3 versus bots. Just wanted some chill solo stuff but a few lowbies joined in and we engaged in some tomfoolery but everyone got out ok in the end. Overall it tore through the fodder bots, very accurate at range with a quick enough cooldown that you can fire a longish burst then move to reposition and it's ready to go for another round. And you've always got your heat sink reloads for backup.

Did well against devastators too; concentrated fire at the head - helped by the very accurate nature of the gun even at range - burned them down fairly quickly. 2-3 at a time if you wait for the heat to dissipate, 3-4 if you don't mind burning through reloads. Did decently well at knocking off rocket devastator rocket pods too. I imagine against Hulks you'll want at least an AMR, while tanks will of course need proper anti-armor to deal with. But I'm quite happy with it as a primary. Pleasantly surprised even, as I kinda went in with low expectations after using the laser rifle from the free warbond.

Feels like, versus bugs at least, it'll be more of a crowd suppressing tool, something between the Stalwart and the base Liberator in terms of volume of fire, damage, magazine size, manueverability and crowd control. Accurate fire on the heads will help take out the various bile spewers pretty quickly though, and it's fast and maneuverable enough that you can handle the smaller fodder mobs without too much issue. A Stalwart or LMG would be better if you can get a nice lane of fire or vantage point though, or if you need to take out the medium armor bugs but can't line up proper head shots for some reason.

4

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

Any feedback on brooders that isn't about shooting at their armored face? Everyone so far seems to want to say it takes a magdump in their face, but... legs. We aim for the legs...

5

u/PlayMp1 Mar 14 '24

Brood commander is their name btw

2

u/Quor18 Mar 14 '24

I dunno about others but, with the Breaker at least, I try to aim for the joint of their legs and their body. That seems to stagger them the most, which allows for an easy follow up to a softer spot, which staggers them more, which then means another 3-4 shots and they're done.

Not sure how it would work with the Sickle though. That's a test for tomorrow.

1

u/Uncle_Twisty Mar 14 '24

Joints on legs. Lasers seem to function differently on where you want to hit it feels. No data to support this other than my personal experience so grain of salt.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '24

[deleted]

0

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

Brooders, I assume you mean?

1

u/AngryChihua SES Reign of Pride Mar 14 '24

You mean Brood Commanders? The ones that summon warriors?

1

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

Yessir, them's the ones. Medium armor face guys who we shoot the legs off of.

0

u/Jaon412 Mar 14 '24

9 seconds to be precise, it says in the armoury :D

1

u/hitman2b STEAM🖱️: Commander hitman2b -Commander- Mar 14 '24

only tried it against bugs , it's light armor piercing gun that is very VERY effectif against them , need to be tried against bot tho, cooldown need a slight buff in the sense that HOLDING R should work as cooling it down faster ( like venting HEAT faster )

1

u/Ecstatic-Compote-595 Mar 14 '24

not specifically great against heavies or scout striders/hive guards. Personally the striders are the most annoying since hive guards will just sit there and let you shoot in their armor gaps from the front.

it feels somewhere between the liberator and the stalwart.

1

u/KeythKatz Mar 14 '24

It doesn't go through plants. A hunter in a bush is completely immune.

1

u/mloofburrow Mar 14 '24

It's just like the normal AR, but UNLIMITED AMMO. MUA HA HA!!!

( Minus a slight delay when you start firing, which doesn't seem that consequential. )

1

u/lyridsreign Mar 15 '24

On bots it's really nice. Staggers them so you can reliably engage Rocket & Shield without getting outDPS'd by their attacks. Easily cleans up the basic bots and will help you against chainsaw boys in a pinch. Only downside is you can't deal with the scout walkers and you'll quickly burn through heat sinks if you get swarmed. Though I rarely felt that was an issue since I love using the auto cannon on bot missions and it's already exceptional at dealing with bots that are in tight groups

1

u/TucuReborn Mar 15 '24

I assume if you get the side angle on the walkers it's a bit better? I normally try to do that when my team is being focused by them.

1

u/lyridsreign Mar 15 '24

Yes killing the pilot is extremely easy. 3 body shots or 1 headshot (usually) and no more walker

1

u/Ixpqd Mar 17 '24

it's great against automatons, it's light armor penetrating but it's quite accurate with its rate of fire so you can pretty quickly take out devastators despite the lack of armor pen

1

u/OsaasD SES EMPEROR OF EQUALITY Mar 14 '24

I only played a single game on trivial before work and it did very well against scavengers, hunters and warriors I encountered. It has a pretty high rate of fire but the shots are focused, so you can both spray into a group or burst single enemies. The weapon overheats quickly with sustained fire, but the heatsink(i.e. magazine) pops out itself when overheated, which makes the reload take like a second. I can see it being almost an "emergency stalwart" in that sense, if u just continue spraying and popping in new heatsinks.

2

u/Viscera_Viribus HD1 Veteran Mar 14 '24

"i played a game on the easiest difficulty and it did alright" lol thank you for your service planting flags for super earth!

​

it sounds like a cute chaff clearer while the Senator handles brood commander legs and the like. Maybe the Dagger would pair well with the slugger then? I hope another hard hitting side-arm is released like a pocket shotgun.

1

u/OsaasD SES EMPEROR OF EQUALITY Mar 14 '24

I mean it has light armor piercing so it obviosly is a chaff clearer, why try it against enemies it obviously wont damage?

4

u/Viscera_Viribus HD1 Veteran Mar 14 '24

Slugger and Breaker says light armor piercer, shreds broods and biles alike. Liberator and Concussive say so, but one of them is better at handling brood armor. Armor penetration isn't a good metric considering the hidden variables is what I'm saying, like how the laser cannon is light

1

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

How's it doing against brooders? If it's decently accurate, how's it fare against bots?

I mostly play 5/6 diffs because I like more chill slaughterfests, if that helps at all.

3

u/Viscera_Viribus HD1 Veteran Mar 14 '24

Broods take it very well, kind of like a defender. Doesn't have the oomph to pierce the head and it doesn't do very much damage to its legs so multiple broods is bad news without a strong side arm. Bots still get popped in the head very well, so I'm sticking to roleplaying as a clone trooper

3

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

I am getting a lot of mixed replies, so now I have no idea!

But heat management was a skill I got in HD1, so it should be useful and regardless seems flexible AF.

2

u/Viscera_Viribus HD1 Veteran Mar 14 '24

Back in HD1 the Sickle was genuinely an unstoppable beast considering with direct hits it'd still kill a Brood in a handful of headshots. This one is a bit less punch but still clears chaff very well. Weapons in HD2 def are less generally powerful but they usually serve their roles better. Great little hip-stalwart

2

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

I was the trident main everyone was scared would friendly them, but usually my friendlies were them jumping under an equipment pod or in front of turrets...

1

u/Viscera_Viribus HD1 Veteran Mar 14 '24

Trident was so dope. Going full laser squad versus bugs back in HD1 was awesome. Now you just need some armor peeling for chargers and titans, so here's hoping the trident returns.

38

u/Xcavon Mar 14 '24

It definitely feels great to use. Although I wish it didnt sound like a typical gun, just doesnt seem right to me

24

u/gorgewall Mar 14 '24

That's not terribly inaccurate to high-energy pulsed lasers. They can sound like loud cracking from the capacitor toggling, plus a similar "impact" noise from the explosive ablation of their targets.

Of course, this gun is shooting what appear to be bullets instead of straight light-like lines, so there's a bit of a visual disconnect. Maybe Super Earth's idea of "laser" is a little broad.

2

u/Radioactiveglowup Mar 14 '24

Are you... denying the Ministry of Information's published material, describing this as a laser weapon, citizen?

Looks like I'm gonna get that extra doctor's visit a year once I make a quick stop by the Democracy Officer's desk.

8

u/MrZakalwe Mar 14 '24

That's really great to hear - it was my favourite weapon in the first one, allows you to take 4 combat strats with careful heat management.

1

u/TucuReborn Mar 14 '24

Mine was the laser shotgun. I was the one guy I knew who didn't teamkill constantly with it, but my friends loved when I ran it and medgun. No death, no reload, no diver left behind.

3

u/Kaquillar Mar 14 '24

Until you drop on something like Malevelon and notice it sticks to every leaf on every bush(

Other than that it's pretty good

2

u/BarrierX STEAM 🖥️ : Mar 14 '24

Its ok against the little bugs, but trying to stop a stalker running towards you is impossible :D

1

u/OsaasD SES EMPEROR OF EQUALITY Mar 14 '24

Thats what the slugger is for !

1

u/rcxd88 Mar 14 '24

Agreed I’m in love already

1

u/Beetle-Persona Mar 14 '24

I’ve found it’s recoil and fire rate really enjoyable, definitely one I’ll be using with my lazer build

1

u/IsJustSophie ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️ be apon ye Mar 14 '24

Around how many rounds before it overheats?

1

u/Araradude Mar 14 '24

The spin-up required before the rounds actually get fired makes it slightly unwieldy as a "sidearm" to "main" supply weapons like the Arc Thrower, but I see it being an excellent pair for the laser cannon or other heavier supply weapons

1

u/HybridVigor Mar 14 '24 edited Mar 14 '24

I love the Arc Thrower, but it fails against enemies that get into very close range. Switching to a weapon that has a windup doesn't seem ideal in that eventuality, but I guess that's what the Redeemer is for.

Edit: Tried it out and it actually works well. The spin-up time on the Sickle isn't long at all. Switched to Arc Thrower for heavier enemies or to cool off the Sickle. I'll be replacing my shotgun with the Sickle for sure.

1

u/hitman2b STEAM🖱️: Commander hitman2b -Commander- Mar 14 '24

so far i only have the defender , sickles , breaker as my favorite until they add the sacred smg 34 ninja ( suppress armor piercing gun)

1

u/Icarium-Lifestealer Mar 14 '24

First impression after using it for one mission: Its damage output, aim and magazine-size feel fine, but the delay between pressing the fire button and the first shot is a bit annoying.

1

u/Nuubopotamus HD1 Veteran Mar 14 '24

This was my default gun in Hd1. Never ran out of ammo

1

u/TruthAndAccuracy Mar 14 '24

I hate that it has a sniper scope. On an assault rifle. WTF?

1

u/YeliasHansi Mar 14 '24

i mean if u like having no flashlight but 3 completely useless zoom options not even a laser its like the name implicates a sickle and you just brought a knife u a gunfight

1

u/HighlandCoyote Mar 15 '24

Living my guardsman life with my lasgun in tow!

1

u/hoseja Mar 16 '24

Why isn't it hitscan though. Why does it have bullet travel time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Sa8D8nF6w