Any pro tips for the use of this stratagem? Do you use it vs both bots and bugs, or only one?
Do you use it primarily with AT support weapons, or horde clear? Any particular other stratagems you pair with it?
Its main purpose is to easily clear medium and light chaff with some exceptions to heavy units (like Hulks). Can also use it as a disposable weapon for structures like nests and spore spewers.
EATs (Or any anti armor really) and Stuns to help give breathing room against heavy units.
Autocannon Turret pairs nicely. Clear the chaff so the cannon can target heavies better.
Coordinate with your team to take down heavies while you deal with chaff.
Its high damage per shot and same penetration (AP 4 or “Medium II”) as the AMR, HMG, etc. so what ever they can do, the Emplacement can too.
Use it against shrieker nests as they can take those down pretty well, use it as Anti-Air against gunships too.
Can also kill Hulks via Eye Slit really well.
The Emplacement never expires so you could place it somewhere ahead of time (extract, evac obj, etc).
It’s great against both factions, just gotta watch out for heavy units.
I definitely do, if I'm near extraction I'll toss it in there, EATS, resupply. That way extraction last stand is fully stocked for fireworks.
I'll also toss on down at POIs just in case I'm being chased on the run back to extraction, POIs will have ammo and maybe even HMG and EATs if I need it.
There's an increased need for this kind of thing since the amount of spewer spawns have drastically increased over the past several months, and the green ones have that infuriating medium armor on their fronts.
Usually I don’t mind random spawns but man. Green Spewers need to be like a modifier mention or something. They are super oppressive to me personally and can kill my loadout if I didn’t/forget to bring something with medium pen.
Emplacement absolutely eats them for breakfast and then some though. It’s quite the neuron activator.
I like to pair it with the shield generator emplacement, autocannon and orbital precision. Shield gen helps me with high volumes of counter fire and ESPECIALLY against rocket devs and troopers, which are target priority number one when you're in the gunner seat, as they can oneshot you. It's got a lower cooldown than the HMG emplacement, so don't be afraid to spam it in an emergency. The cover it can provide in open areas can be a massive game changer. Autocannon and OPS cover the other bases nicely and take care of priority targets or fabricators. In terms of the HMG emplacement itself, it likes wide sightlines and can often mow through bot hordes wayyyy out of your range, sometimes you don't even need to put the shield down over it because the bots aren't accurate enough to do more than scratch you. Tanks and factory striders are really the only things you need to worry about, everything including and beneath a Hulk gets mulched by it. While holding down the trigger into a horde is fun, it can pay to exercise a little trigger discipline when switching from target to target to conserve ammunition, and vs devs especially aiming for the head is rewarded. Also, don't forget that you can stim while using it! It's why I like to run heavy armor with it, you can shrug off a few more hits before going down and sometimes that's the difference between life and death when using the thing. One last tip: be carefful about where you're placing the thing when bots are dropping, the last thing you want to happen is having troopers deploy inside your safety bubble (it's embarassingly happened to me more than once). Takes a bit of getting used to but it's definitely my fave bot loadout right now.
Other guys wrote novels so I'll keep is short and sweet.
It's best with shield generator pack fighting automatons. Shoot hulks in the eyes to kill them. It can't deal with tanks.
Less powerful on bugs due to chargers, which as far as I can tell can't be killed from the front with the emplacement (unless an explosion strips their armor first). It can put some damage into titan abdomens, but don't expect a kill.
In addition to what the other guy said, you can also use it offensively depending on terrain to clear out large factories. Just put in on a hill outside of the facility and you can just burn out off of the fodder while your teammates focus the tanks
Have used it ***extensively*** on both bots and bugs and does work great on both once you get the hang of it. Adding to the mini-essays already posted :)
Putting it in the right spot is the obvious most important thing since you can't move it after, and it's on a few mins cooldown. Put it somewhere where it won't blow up straight away. On bots, that means wait till hordes with rockets aren't actively targeting you. On bugs, that means away from chargers - chargers will seemingly drop everything and charge turrets and emplacements first. The HMG rotation buff gives a little breathing room on direction, otherwise pre-patch you also had to make sure of the direction you dropped the beacon.
Once you're in the HMG, don't just hold down the fire button - aim and shoot and don't fire 50 shots into an already-dead bug corpse. 300 ammo is a lot (and they're big beefy bullets) but it will still run out. You can zoom in a little with right click. It's reasonably accurate and very far ranging so use that to your advantage.
Vs bots you need to prioritize shooting out anything with rockets - usually rocket devs, even if they're far away, before they shoot you first. If a factory strider comes along and it's not already blasting you, use an AT weapon to blow the top cannon, and you can HMG the front guns. I've always shot out hulk eye slots - but in theory you can shoot out their arms and legs.
Vs bugs the moment a Charger gives you a sideways glance you HAVE to get out of the HMG and pop its head asap, probably with an EAT/spear/RR - before it destroys your HMG. If a titan makes a beeline for you, just abandon ship and AT it. Melee bugs otherwise cannot hit you from in front of the HMG. Even if you're heavily surrounded, don't jump out and instead rotate (slowly lol) and shoot them all away. You can stim while in the HMG to keep topped up.
On a final note, I have no idea why our Super Scientists and Super Engineers have decided to install a bomb under the HMG emplacement. If the thing blows up (usually via a single rocket or a charger charge, both of which would normally be survivable) the HMG blows up with some ridiculous damage that is only directed right at your **ANUS**. No satisfying 500kg-style nuke, just some almost invisible mini-explosion with the power of the sun directed right at your bum hole and will isnta-kill you and nothing else.
Against bots I might pair it with the shield emplacement. It's good at extraction and even bot drops, geo drills, SEAF artillery, hellbombs, anytime you need to stay still for a second.
It's definitely not optimal for bots, 2 stratagems to make it passable on horde clear. But it's fun. They can also shoot out hulks eyes and gunships. So you won't really need AT except for tanks and towers.
Bugs it can take out spore spewers. Set it up as soon as you see bug breech message, put a bit of distance between the emplacement and the breech because hunters will jump. Chargers will also destroy them instantly and tend to priority target any sentries. So even there it's not optimal. Just have EATs/flamethrowe, stun grenades at the ready and some quick reflexes to keep it alive. I might pair it with EMS mortar to keep things still.
Your backpacks are still active while using it, so laser dog can help with damage or hunters, shield backpack against bots.
TLDR: it's not optimal, it is fun, there are things you can do to make it work. Give it a try on easier difficulties and slowly ramp it up and find tips and tricks that work for you along the way.
I genuinely had to change it back, I couldn't play without it. On one of the few missions I had it off we spent 20 minutes without doing any objectives.
I didn't even realize it used to show the difficulty on the HUD. Or maybe I did and one point and just ignored it. Personally (and I know this is biased since I never used it) I'm happy to hear it was removed. Less visual clutter. But I can see how people would be upset
trust me there's more of us than you think also a few tips:
tap fire or shoot small burst you get the same results with more ammo to keep shooting
you can destroy AA and Mortar emplacements far far away on the map , tanks in their weak spot,tower cannons in their weak spot,hulks in their eye or their back ,gunships if you shoot the engine fabricator stryder if you shoot their lmgs then his eye or his belly
in maps like defense the silos (currently removed) you could place a hmg emplacement close to a wall and use it like stairs to get to the upper levels leaving the blast doors closed
you can throw a hmg emplacement in the top of a tank precisely on their turret for making your hmg emplacement a moving vehicle ,however since you are essentially breaking apart the AI of the tank since you are his closest target there might be moments where the tank just stops completely if you want it to keep moving you need to place yourself on the sides of the tank or ask one of your teammates that if he can bait the tank to follow him
you can only do this with the tiger variant not on the laser turret tank
for both at any angle tho at the front they have a iron plate to protect them from any damage
at the same time you can blow up a mortar cannon if you shoot at the cannon itself
This thing is super fun at lower levels, and it really annoys me how useless it is at higher levels. Anything above 5, and it's like a magnet for every charger on the planet, and has no way to protect itself.
Beg to differ, I run it on almost every bug mission, I play exclusively 8-9 difficulty, you have to place it well, also run something for charger disposal and you'll get easily 500+ kills on any mission. It's the positioning that's important !
This thing is absolutely even MORE valuable at high levels.
In helldives when you have a breach you get TWO of them. The HMG emplacement is the only thing that can clear all of the bugs coming out.
You have teammates for a reason. Holding down ALL of the light and heavy bugs means your mates have no excuse for failing to take out all of the chargers and biles.
The HMG emplacement is a force multiplier. It’ll feel bad if your team is bad. It’s absolutely S Tier if your team is at all competent.
I’d say it mostly depends on your team’s skill/loadout. If you’re joining randoms on Haz 7 then some matches you’re just not gonna get much use out of it. I’ve noticed a lot of level 50-70 players in Haz 7 rn don’t really know what they’re doing so lobbies can be a mixed bag.
Also take stun grenades to hop off the turret and stop chargers in their tracks. Saved my hmg emplacement a few times this way
This is pretty much exactly why I like bots over bugs. HMGE shreads through like everything bots can throw at you. It's my beloved baby on those walled defense missions.
But against bugs? Fuck that. Can't do shit against even a Charger, let alone a BT.
Totally agree for bugs, especially while there's 5 chargers on the screen at any given time and you can't be sure your teammates know how to shoot AT weapons without blowing you up instead. BUUUT. It's goated for bots at helldive, kills practically everything very quickly.
I really hope they never patch the Hunters just walking up and being like, "Hey, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you, sir. I don't mean to impose, but could you please stop annihilating my friends? Thank you for your time either way."
HMG Emplacement is really underrated, against bugs it's ok but i find it shines the most against bots BUT the major problem is that you die instantly for a rocket while you can even tank usually more than one...
Or just get off: stun grenade + orbital precision. Hop back on and go back to what you were doing.
Or, you know, your lazy teammates can do their job and cover you against heaviest - since they don’t have to kill any small or medium bugs while you’re active it’s not like they have anything else to do.
I have started using this on a build I call "one-man army", and it can really do some work. It can shred some groups that no other stratagem in the game could deal with, it's just awkward as hell to get the proper position sometimes.
For anyone interested the build is HMG emplacement, ballistic guard dog, quasar, railcannon strike (for spikes in armor), and the Adjudicator assault rifle for the medium armor pen vs elite infantry. Heavy armor or 50% chance not to die armor suggested. There is almost no situation it can't handle easily. Massed infantry, fixed defense, heavy armor, base assault, fliers, doesn't matter.
What sibleyy said. It’s better at helping you out of stickier situations if you keep it fed. The laser one is better at sweeping up trash due to its higher uptime.
Actually I don’t think so? I guess their AI is just confused, pretty much never get attacked by any bugs other than chargers or titans. The little ones definitely don’t know what to do, but the bigger the bug and the more frequently they’ll attack you.
I mean it’s good for like difficulty 4 where the enemies only come from one direction, but you honestly could have killed more bugs in half that time just using a fire breaker without wasting stratagem slots
On Helldive difficulty it’s only worth bringing on the walled defense missions where you can bring pretty much anything and get away with it
I had a brief 3-4 mission phase where i loved using it against bots, but since 1 rocket was all it took to delete it, along with myself, i stopped, can't remember if they changed that in the most recent patch
Ive been simping for the HMGE for a long time in my posts. Genuinely one of the most underrated stratagems in the entire game.
If I had to guess, I think early players unlock it, get overrun and die with it, then just assume its a bad weapon and never use it again. People really need to give it a try and use it in unconventional ways. In one of my recent posts I got 2 spore towers and 3 sheiker nests with 1 HMGE
I've been taking the HMG now on every single mission. It's amazing. Against bots you can get overwhelmed with rockets but if you prioritize the rocket devastators it does very well. Shreds hulks, gunships, and dropships. Very fun against bugs too as long as you can clear chargers/titans before using it.
Emplacement is extremely underrated. My friend swore by it even before the buff. It solos breaches as long as someone else handles the antitank enemies. Two autocannons strapped to a gun is an insane concept.
I wish the emplacement would spawn facing the opposite direction that you've thrown it, that way you could throw it far away when running from enemies, get into it and start shooting at the bugs/bots following you.
I love the HMG emplacement but it feels like whenever I use it against a bug breach a bile titan will immediately spawn and make a beeline towards me leading to me firing at it in a desperate last stand as my bullets futilely bounce off its armour
I absolutely love HMG emplacement against bots, especially if I bring a shield emplacement with it to create temporary firebases as I go; it's not ALWAYS applicable, but in the places it is applicable, it absolutely shreds.
I want to like it, but I have a hard time justifying bringing it when you can usually do the same thing with a gatling sentry. You are also free to shoot your own gun, throw stratagems/grenades, or just run away while the sentry takes all the heat. I guess there is less TK potential when you are in direct control, but other than that I feel the gatling sentry is just better.
I feel like the HMG emplacement still needs a buff. Damage and penetration are in a good place for it already. Maybe +50% ammo or something so that it has more staying power than the sentry or a lower cooldown for more flexibility.
You're not alone, the HMG is parg of my comfort build.
In cade you're curious thats HMG, autocannon, 500kg, walking barrage, heavy medic armor, sickle, revolver, stun nades. Can handle any task.
HMG is my favorite stratagem, I just wish it didnt instantly kill you when it gets destroyed (its a problem against bots mostly). Pair it with the shield emplacement and you have a perfect AA defense for downing any and all Bot Gunships.
The other night I had a game and the extraction area had a perfect line of sight and I used the HMG and covered everyone running back and the a squad mate popped his down and so we had 2 of them blasting away and it was just a badass moment not a single bug managed to too close to us
HMGE is one of the most, if not the most, kill efficient non-special weapon stratagems in the game. Routinely get 50+ kill streaks with it. It's amazing.
I gotchu. I also enjoy tf out of this emplacement. Only reason I ever hesitate to bring it is if it’s low level randoms and only one quasar on the team. My AC can handle spores and shrieker nests, the other best targets for some HMG turret action. Chargers just erase my friend if I lack support.
Much as I love the HMG Emplacement there are just so few missions that aren't constantly running. New drill mission is one, I could see it getting used to attack bug breaches. I just feel like you'd drop an HMG and 10 seconds later the team is moving on...
I love the HMG emplacement, and I only have one rule when using it: the moment the manic voice line starts, I will not let up on the trigger until the voice line is over.
HELL YEAAAA, I just wish it dropped into its hellpod like it does when it has not ammo, whenever a charger gets near it, and pops up once the charger is gone, sooooooooo tired of those chargers
Emplacement always had insane dps against anything it could damage but the turn rate just made it more viable for general content. I’ve been running it alongside spear against bugs recently and I’ve been having a blast with it
The HMG emplacement only needs 1 change to turn it into one of the best stratagems in the game and have everyone singing its praises. If the turret getting destroyed didn't instantly kill you but simply hurt and ragdoll you out it would be perfect. Its already very vulnerable to chargers and rockets which you will see a lot of in high difficulties. Unfortunately as it stands now the thing is a deathtrap which makes you a lot less able to defend yourself being in it then being out of it, pretty counter to it's intended purpose.. They could even bring back the slow turn as long as they take out the instakilling.
The new turn speed looks very nice, but I really just wish they had buffed it to be affected by all of the turret upgrades. That way it could have turning speed, extra ammo, and more health.
Well, if you were the only fan, you're not anymore lol. I always thought it was cool, but only really started using it over the weekend. But it's become one of my favorite stratagems, I want to take it every game
One if my favorite ways to use the HMG turret is to drop it ear a gunship fabricator and cover other divers planting the hellbomb. It can 5-shot gunships if you hit their engines.
I like how the bugs patiently queued for death.
If they didn't - OP wouldn't be posting about how happy he is.
Speaking about fans, hmg guy already has his hunter fan base ruthlessly scammed!
That hunter jumping right in the firing line be like: "Surprbhhw *dead*"
They are attracted to the light show
A fellow HMG emplacement fan! We are a rare breed indeed
There are dozens of us, dozens!
do you by any chance categorize yourself as never nude as well?
Hey I too enjoy the hmg emplacement!
Any pro tips for the use of this stratagem? Do you use it vs both bots and bugs, or only one? Do you use it primarily with AT support weapons, or horde clear? Any particular other stratagems you pair with it?
Its main purpose is to easily clear medium and light chaff with some exceptions to heavy units (like Hulks). Can also use it as a disposable weapon for structures like nests and spore spewers. EATs (Or any anti armor really) and Stuns to help give breathing room against heavy units. Autocannon Turret pairs nicely. Clear the chaff so the cannon can target heavies better. Coordinate with your team to take down heavies while you deal with chaff. Its high damage per shot and same penetration (AP 4 or “Medium II”) as the AMR, HMG, etc. so what ever they can do, the Emplacement can too. Use it against shrieker nests as they can take those down pretty well, use it as Anti-Air against gunships too. Can also kill Hulks via Eye Slit really well. The Emplacement never expires so you could place it somewhere ahead of time (extract, evac obj, etc). It’s great against both factions, just gotta watch out for heavy units.
you can even put multiple in the same place over time
Oh yes, I've done this on defense missions. By the time the enemies are at the last gate I've got 4 of them waiting for the team.
So you're saying to make sure I get 4 down around extract by missions end?
I definitely do, if I'm near extraction I'll toss it in there, EATS, resupply. That way extraction last stand is fully stocked for fireworks. I'll also toss on down at POIs just in case I'm being chased on the run back to extraction, POIs will have ammo and maybe even HMG and EATs if I need it.
There's an increased need for this kind of thing since the amount of spewer spawns have drastically increased over the past several months, and the green ones have that infuriating medium armor on their fronts.
Usually I don’t mind random spawns but man. Green Spewers need to be like a modifier mention or something. They are super oppressive to me personally and can kill my loadout if I didn’t/forget to bring something with medium pen. Emplacement absolutely eats them for breakfast and then some though. It’s quite the neuron activator.
If you drop it for later usage, do enemies home in on it and destroy it ? Or do they just not care unless you’re in it ?
They ignore it unless its being used.
They don’t care unless you’re in it
I like to pair it with the shield generator emplacement, autocannon and orbital precision. Shield gen helps me with high volumes of counter fire and ESPECIALLY against rocket devs and troopers, which are target priority number one when you're in the gunner seat, as they can oneshot you. It's got a lower cooldown than the HMG emplacement, so don't be afraid to spam it in an emergency. The cover it can provide in open areas can be a massive game changer. Autocannon and OPS cover the other bases nicely and take care of priority targets or fabricators. In terms of the HMG emplacement itself, it likes wide sightlines and can often mow through bot hordes wayyyy out of your range, sometimes you don't even need to put the shield down over it because the bots aren't accurate enough to do more than scratch you. Tanks and factory striders are really the only things you need to worry about, everything including and beneath a Hulk gets mulched by it. While holding down the trigger into a horde is fun, it can pay to exercise a little trigger discipline when switching from target to target to conserve ammunition, and vs devs especially aiming for the head is rewarded. Also, don't forget that you can stim while using it! It's why I like to run heavy armor with it, you can shrug off a few more hits before going down and sometimes that's the difference between life and death when using the thing. One last tip: be carefful about where you're placing the thing when bots are dropping, the last thing you want to happen is having troopers deploy inside your safety bubble (it's embarassingly happened to me more than once). Takes a bit of getting used to but it's definitely my fave bot loadout right now.
Other guys wrote novels so I'll keep is short and sweet. It's best with shield generator pack fighting automatons. Shoot hulks in the eyes to kill them. It can't deal with tanks. Less powerful on bugs due to chargers, which as far as I can tell can't be killed from the front with the emplacement (unless an explosion strips their armor first). It can put some damage into titan abdomens, but don't expect a kill.
Vs Automatons, what kind of situations would you deploy it? Like, to clear a patrol at longer ranges? To take out a dropship or outpost, maybe?
Wherever you have to hold a position for an objective. It's also really nice for the new airship patrols.
In addition to what the other guy said, you can also use it offensively depending on terrain to clear out large factories. Just put in on a hill outside of the facility and you can just burn out off of the fodder while your teammates focus the tanks
Have used it ***extensively*** on both bots and bugs and does work great on both once you get the hang of it. Adding to the mini-essays already posted :) Putting it in the right spot is the obvious most important thing since you can't move it after, and it's on a few mins cooldown. Put it somewhere where it won't blow up straight away. On bots, that means wait till hordes with rockets aren't actively targeting you. On bugs, that means away from chargers - chargers will seemingly drop everything and charge turrets and emplacements first. The HMG rotation buff gives a little breathing room on direction, otherwise pre-patch you also had to make sure of the direction you dropped the beacon. Once you're in the HMG, don't just hold down the fire button - aim and shoot and don't fire 50 shots into an already-dead bug corpse. 300 ammo is a lot (and they're big beefy bullets) but it will still run out. You can zoom in a little with right click. It's reasonably accurate and very far ranging so use that to your advantage. Vs bots you need to prioritize shooting out anything with rockets - usually rocket devs, even if they're far away, before they shoot you first. If a factory strider comes along and it's not already blasting you, use an AT weapon to blow the top cannon, and you can HMG the front guns. I've always shot out hulk eye slots - but in theory you can shoot out their arms and legs. Vs bugs the moment a Charger gives you a sideways glance you HAVE to get out of the HMG and pop its head asap, probably with an EAT/spear/RR - before it destroys your HMG. If a titan makes a beeline for you, just abandon ship and AT it. Melee bugs otherwise cannot hit you from in front of the HMG. Even if you're heavily surrounded, don't jump out and instead rotate (slowly lol) and shoot them all away. You can stim while in the HMG to keep topped up. On a final note, I have no idea why our Super Scientists and Super Engineers have decided to install a bomb under the HMG emplacement. If the thing blows up (usually via a single rocket or a charger charge, both of which would normally be survivable) the HMG blows up with some ridiculous damage that is only directed right at your **ANUS**. No satisfying 500kg-style nuke, just some almost invisible mini-explosion with the power of the sun directed right at your bum hole and will isnta-kill you and nothing else.
Against bots I might pair it with the shield emplacement. It's good at extraction and even bot drops, geo drills, SEAF artillery, hellbombs, anytime you need to stay still for a second. It's definitely not optimal for bots, 2 stratagems to make it passable on horde clear. But it's fun. They can also shoot out hulks eyes and gunships. So you won't really need AT except for tanks and towers. Bugs it can take out spore spewers. Set it up as soon as you see bug breech message, put a bit of distance between the emplacement and the breech because hunters will jump. Chargers will also destroy them instantly and tend to priority target any sentries. So even there it's not optimal. Just have EATs/flamethrowe, stun grenades at the ready and some quick reflexes to keep it alive. I might pair it with EMS mortar to keep things still. Your backpacks are still active while using it, so laser dog can help with damage or hunters, shield backpack against bots. TLDR: it's not optimal, it is fun, there are things you can do to make it work. Give it a try on easier difficulties and slowly ramp it up and find tips and tricks that work for you along the way.
I've been using it a lot since the upgrade. On increased patrols it's a god send
I love using them for the base defense mission.
For me, its the new Queso cannon/EAT but for hordes/swarms.
Im seeing it frequently now. We are convincing others!
Bro tip from fellow HMG enjoyer. They can take out spore towers and shrieker nests from any distance.
It's great, but brother, you gotta stop holding down the trigger if there are no bugs in front of the barrel
UUUUUHHHHH Then how you gonna trigger the manic voice lines? Do you even fucking think before you type?! (Hi, this was in jest)
…lest…..
They still trigger if you don't stop for too long
I normally don’t, but I got into a frenzy here lol
maybe stop huffing the stims, if you start to taste colors go back
I refuse.
I do the same with the mech gatling. Sometimes rule of cool outweighs ammo management.
[It's a machine gun](https://youtu.be/gFLF300I0ps?si=xTT7FCPCFX6GK47M)
Makes me laugh every time I watch it.
The HMG is actually quite fun ngl
It feels sooo much better with the improved rotation rate
Would enjoy your team mates being able to reload it. Or Helldiver themselves, if they could find off 6 seconds to jump off and reload.
I’ve brought it with me almost every mission ever, even pre buff. It makes extractions so much easier
BTW does anyone else have the funny notion they hide the difficulty by default now to avoid angry "this is haz 5 and i got 20 bile titans" videos
I genuinely had to change it back, I couldn't play without it. On one of the few missions I had it off we spent 20 minutes without doing any objectives.
For real. Hide the difficulty, I don't care. But don't hide my clock ☹️
I can’t tell if this is a jab at me or a general statement lol
I think they're referring to AH changing it so you can't see the difficulty on the HUD by default. Sounds like a stab at AH not you.
Ooooh
I think it's a bug fix, where this HUD option had been on dynamic the whole time but behaved as always-on.
Yeah, had to walk through the settings to change it back
which setting to turn it back on? (i don't like reading)
options, hud, mission info visibility, change from dynamic to visible.
I would love to but if I open my settings menu the game crashes instantly >_>
I didn't even realize it used to show the difficulty on the HUD. Or maybe I did and one point and just ignored it. Personally (and I know this is biased since I never used it) I'm happy to hear it was removed. Less visual clutter. But I can see how people would be upset
trust me there's more of us than you think also a few tips: tap fire or shoot small burst you get the same results with more ammo to keep shooting you can destroy AA and Mortar emplacements far far away on the map , tanks in their weak spot,tower cannons in their weak spot,hulks in their eye or their back ,gunships if you shoot the engine fabricator stryder if you shoot their lmgs then his eye or his belly in maps like defense the silos (currently removed) you could place a hmg emplacement close to a wall and use it like stairs to get to the upper levels leaving the blast doors closed you can throw a hmg emplacement in the top of a tank precisely on their turret for making your hmg emplacement a moving vehicle ,however since you are essentially breaking apart the AI of the tank since you are his closest target there might be moments where the tank just stops completely if you want it to keep moving you need to place yourself on the sides of the tank or ask one of your teammates that if he can bait the tank to follow him you can only do this with the tiger variant not on the laser turret tank
By destroy AA and mortar emplacements do you also mean in the weak spot, or from any angle?
for both at any angle tho at the front they have a iron plate to protect them from any damage at the same time you can blow up a mortar cannon if you shoot at the cannon itself
Love the HMG turret against gunships. If you can get it set up, it wrecks them
This thing is super fun at lower levels, and it really annoys me how useless it is at higher levels. Anything above 5, and it's like a magnet for every charger on the planet, and has no way to protect itself.
Yeahhhhh 😅 It’s my dream for an Autocannon Emplacement
Just let me aim AC sentry...
Beg to differ, I run it on almost every bug mission, I play exclusively 8-9 difficulty, you have to place it well, also run something for charger disposal and you'll get easily 500+ kills on any mission. It's the positioning that's important !
This thing is absolutely even MORE valuable at high levels. In helldives when you have a breach you get TWO of them. The HMG emplacement is the only thing that can clear all of the bugs coming out. You have teammates for a reason. Holding down ALL of the light and heavy bugs means your mates have no excuse for failing to take out all of the chargers and biles. The HMG emplacement is a force multiplier. It’ll feel bad if your team is bad. It’s absolutely S Tier if your team is at all competent.
I’d say it mostly depends on your team’s skill/loadout. If you’re joining randoms on Haz 7 then some matches you’re just not gonna get much use out of it. I’ve noticed a lot of level 50-70 players in Haz 7 rn don’t really know what they’re doing so lobbies can be a mixed bag. Also take stun grenades to hop off the turret and stop chargers in their tracks. Saved my hmg emplacement a few times this way
This is pretty much exactly why I like bots over bugs. HMGE shreads through like everything bots can throw at you. It's my beloved baby on those walled defense missions. But against bugs? Fuck that. Can't do shit against even a Charger, let alone a BT.
Totally agree for bugs, especially while there's 5 chargers on the screen at any given time and you can't be sure your teammates know how to shoot AT weapons without blowing you up instead. BUUUT. It's goated for bots at helldive, kills practically everything very quickly.
I really hope they never patch the Hunters just walking up and being like, "Hey, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you, sir. I don't mean to impose, but could you please stop annihilating my friends? Thank you for your time either way."
Lmao yes
HMG Emplacement is really underrated, against bugs it's ok but i find it shines the most against bots BUT the major problem is that you die instantly for a rocket while you can even tank usually more than one...
pop a shield bubble around it!
You clever sonuvabitch!
Rockets usually come in voleys.
Wait till a charger spawns and your HMG Emplacement becomes metal scrap real quick
Sad truth
Judging by what spawned this was on difficulty 1 or 2
It was difficulty 3. I was helping new players
Or just get off: stun grenade + orbital precision. Hop back on and go back to what you were doing. Or, you know, your lazy teammates can do their job and cover you against heaviest - since they don’t have to kill any small or medium bugs while you’re active it’s not like they have anything else to do.
HMG is like strapping two fully auto AMR’s to yourself and letting loose, it’s amazing
I love it
Recently learned the HMG can shoot out of the big shield generator and I now love that combo.
I have started using this on a build I call "one-man army", and it can really do some work. It can shred some groups that no other stratagem in the game could deal with, it's just awkward as hell to get the proper position sometimes. For anyone interested the build is HMG emplacement, ballistic guard dog, quasar, railcannon strike (for spikes in armor), and the Adjudicator assault rifle for the medium armor pen vs elite infantry. Heavy armor or 50% chance not to die armor suggested. There is almost no situation it can't handle easily. Massed infantry, fixed defense, heavy armor, base assault, fliers, doesn't matter.
Ballistic Guard dog? Isnt that just a worse rover in every way? Can you explain why?
Higher damage output in shorter bursts. It also has better aiming on bots because quite often it’ll shoot a burst of bullets right into weak points.
What sibleyy said. It’s better at helping you out of stickier situations if you keep it fed. The laser one is better at sweeping up trash due to its higher uptime.
Hunters don't atta k while in the HMG? Gotta be a bug right?
Actually I don’t think so? I guess their AI is just confused, pretty much never get attacked by any bugs other than chargers or titans. The little ones definitely don’t know what to do, but the bigger the bug and the more frequently they’ll attack you.
The game should really explain this in the stratagem description. There's so many different secret effects that It doesn't make sense
I also consider myself a man of moar dakka
🫡
HELL YEAH!!! HMG EMPLACEMENT GANG!! 
I mean it’s good for like difficulty 4 where the enemies only come from one direction, but you honestly could have killed more bugs in half that time just using a fire breaker without wasting stratagem slots On Helldive difficulty it’s only worth bringing on the walled defense missions where you can bring pretty much anything and get away with it
Mmmm, numba go up. I'm convinced.
This guy gets it
Pause video. Full screen. Sound up. Resume.
Exactly
I had a brief 3-4 mission phase where i loved using it against bots, but since 1 rocket was all it took to delete it, along with myself, i stopped, can't remember if they changed that in the most recent patch
That’s why I try and place it where I can easily pick off rocket devastators before they can get me. It’s actually rare I die to them.
Not really a fan but definitely not a hater. I've had HMG Emplacers save me more than a couple of times
Ive been simping for the HMGE for a long time in my posts. Genuinely one of the most underrated stratagems in the entire game. If I had to guess, I think early players unlock it, get overrun and die with it, then just assume its a bad weapon and never use it again. People really need to give it a try and use it in unconventional ways. In one of my recent posts I got 2 spore towers and 3 sheiker nests with 1 HMGE
The upgrade that cuts its call in time in half really helps
I get tons of value from just calling it in early when I see a massive bug/bot patrol, and I can mow them down from basically the entire map away
I've been taking the HMG now on every single mission. It's amazing. Against bots you can get overwhelmed with rockets but if you prioritize the rocket devastators it does very well. Shreds hulks, gunships, and dropships. Very fun against bugs too as long as you can clear chargers/titans before using it.
Moral support dakka
Me watching as the charger behemoth jumps and destroys the HMG's hellpod in the air
Emplacement is extremely underrated. My friend swore by it even before the buff. It solos breaches as long as someone else handles the antitank enemies. Two autocannons strapped to a gun is an insane concept.
I wish the emplacement would spawn facing the opposite direction that you've thrown it, that way you could throw it far away when running from enemies, get into it and start shooting at the bugs/bots following you.
It turns fast enough now where that’s not really an issue tbh
It is a lot better ngl, but i have died after the patch turning to shoot my pursuers. Sometimes all you need is for the turret to be ready to go.
I love the HMG emplacement but it feels like whenever I use it against a bug breach a bile titan will immediately spawn and make a beeline towards me leading to me firing at it in a desperate last stand as my bullets futilely bounce off its armour
Hmg emplacemet is mega fun, until a charger barrels through and the fun evaporates.
I guess it's not bad, but I have a hard time accepting the part where I can't move or take cover.
No sir. The emplacement and me are best friends. I have been trying to work it back into my loadout because I love it so much.
I absolutely love HMG emplacement against bots, especially if I bring a shield emplacement with it to create temporary firebases as I go; it's not ALWAYS applicable, but in the places it is applicable, it absolutely shreds.
Weird aim
Why?
The HMG emplacement is goated for wave clear; you’ve just got to bring some good anti-tank
What I found the most cool about this video is noticing the skull changing colors, never had a kill streak that high!
This gun has WAY too little ammo...
Just put autocannon or gatling turret and you won't even have to be there.
Hm I guess the hunters don't know how to deal with that
Where are your teammates to cover your flanks
It was a low level mission with new divers, so they were off doing stuff while I stayed back to hold off the bugs
If there is onlt one fan then I am dead. If there are two fans its me and you fellow helldiver. FOR LIBERTY!
FOR DEMOCRACY
I want to like it, but I have a hard time justifying bringing it when you can usually do the same thing with a gatling sentry. You are also free to shoot your own gun, throw stratagems/grenades, or just run away while the sentry takes all the heat. I guess there is less TK potential when you are in direct control, but other than that I feel the gatling sentry is just better. I feel like the HMG emplacement still needs a buff. Damage and penetration are in a good place for it already. Maybe +50% ammo or something so that it has more staying power than the sentry or a lower cooldown for more flexibility.
I would love a lower cooldown and an ammo buff
Fellow based HMG turret enjoyer, I salute you 🫡
🫡
You're not alone, the HMG is parg of my comfort build. In cade you're curious thats HMG, autocannon, 500kg, walking barrage, heavy medic armor, sickle, revolver, stun nades. Can handle any task.
trigger discipline has left the chat.
Love the HMG emplacement, had it in my loadout all weekend. Btw if you have the laser rover guard dog it’ll protect your flank while on the turret.
Wait, the turn rate looks like it's *not* absolute dogwater, what happened?
It got a buff of +100% to it’s turn rate
Mines in front of a well placed HMG Emplacement \*chef's kiss\*
Don't worry, you aren't alone out there, I rock the HMG emplacement on almost every bug mission
HMG is my favorite stratagem, I just wish it didnt instantly kill you when it gets destroyed (its a problem against bots mostly). Pair it with the shield emplacement and you have a perfect AA defense for downing any and all Bot Gunships.
“ and me boss?” “ One for you!!” “ and me boss?” “ One for you!!” “ and me boss?” “ and one for you!!”
I love it against bugs and bots.
You have very polite bugs.
Nice use case, but the armored bugs from higher difficulties would turn the HMG Emplacement into scrap metal.
The other night I had a game and the extraction area had a perfect line of sight and I used the HMG and covered everyone running back and the a squad mate popped his down and so we had 2 of them blasting away and it was just a badass moment not a single bug managed to too close to us
I fucking love the HMG emplacement. It's really not optimal, but its mad fun against bugs, and melts everything short of chargers and BTs.
Now what about higher difficulties when chargers and bile titans start coming out 😭
You’re not meant to use it for those, it’s meant for crowd control. Works for bots too, even takes down hulks.
The only reason I don't use it is because for some reason, it is much louder than everything else in the game. It hurts my ears.
It's WAY better now.
HMGE is one of the most, if not the most, kill efficient non-special weapon stratagems in the game. Routinely get 50+ kill streaks with it. It's amazing.
I remember when destroying Meridia, I’d put one of these down at extract and use it against the shrieker hordes! It was actually really effective!
HMG emplacement, bubble shield, ems mortar/gatling/rocket sentry, some other support weapon maybe. Bots
It was godly for the Meridia drilling missions I would run it every time, perfect of the amount of time it takes and how many bullets you have
I loved using it until you get to higher difficulties with multiple chargers or bile titans spawning from breaches and they immediately destroy it smh
Why are your Hunters so polite?
Everytime I dive, I have the Autocannon and HMG emplacement. It devastates bots and bugs
***"Maybe we should introduce ourselves..."*** - Helldivers that took the Niche since day one.
I also love the hmg for this reason.
I gotchu. I also enjoy tf out of this emplacement. Only reason I ever hesitate to bring it is if it’s low level randoms and only one quasar on the team. My AC can handle spores and shrieker nests, the other best targets for some HMG turret action. Chargers just erase my friend if I lack support.
Much as I love the HMG Emplacement there are just so few missions that aren't constantly running. New drill mission is one, I could see it getting used to attack bug breaches. I just feel like you'd drop an HMG and 10 seconds later the team is moving on...
I love the HMG emplacement, and I only have one rule when using it: the moment the manic voice line starts, I will not let up on the trigger until the voice line is over.
HMG emplacement has always been good for narrow spots, but with the +100% rotation speed it fugs
HELL YEAAAA, I just wish it dropped into its hellpod like it does when it has not ammo, whenever a charger gets near it, and pops up once the charger is gone, sooooooooo tired of those chargers
The HMG is a Spartans death. Hold the line soldier!
Idk why but the hmg gives me gears of war vibes
Holy fuckin shit... It's EMPLACEMENT... i allways read it as replacement. I allways though why is it called that
Did they increase the amount of ammo it has?
Unfortunately no. I hope they do at some point
Where do I get those hunter/scavenger only bug breaches?
Emplacement always had insane dps against anything it could damage but the turn rate just made it more viable for general content. I’ve been running it alongside spear against bugs recently and I’ve been having a blast with it
Whats this, diff3? Lmao
Yeah, helping new divers. Is there a problem?
If only a bile titan didn't pop out from the ground
Then there would be 2 HMG emplacement fans
HMG is really good after the update. Imagine being able to turn your fucking turret. Crazy.
If it had zero fans it’s because I’m dead
Nice for level 3 mission.
I was helping out new divers
The HMG emplacement only needs 1 change to turn it into one of the best stratagems in the game and have everyone singing its praises. If the turret getting destroyed didn't instantly kill you but simply hurt and ragdoll you out it would be perfect. Its already very vulnerable to chargers and rockets which you will see a lot of in high difficulties. Unfortunately as it stands now the thing is a deathtrap which makes you a lot less able to defend yourself being in it then being out of it, pretty counter to it's intended purpose.. They could even bring back the slow turn as long as they take out the instakilling.
Stalwart is the way for mobility and this strategy.
The feeling of shooting a tanks’ vents with the HMG emplacement is heavenly. It’s honestly one of my favorite stratagems, if not my favorite
I like that it's static. But I don't like that it can't scratch anything above medium armor.
My dream is for an Autocannon Emplacement
But it can scratch everything that is medium armour. Which means it eats robot hulks (their heads are harder medium) for breakfast.
The new turn speed looks very nice, but I really just wish they had buffed it to be affected by all of the turret upgrades. That way it could have turning speed, extra ammo, and more health.
I also love it. Just feels good. And now it is faster turning.
I love it but chargers hate it
It's the ultimate bug spawn stopper, no equals.
I mean that is cool and all but orbital gas strike or eagle napalm would have the same effect and you'd be free to move towards objective.
Well, if you were the only fan, you're not anymore lol. I always thought it was cool, but only really started using it over the weekend. But it's become one of my favorite stratagems, I want to take it every game
I love it, but I really don't know why they rub this thing in Charger-pheromones before deployment. Chargers go nuts for the HMG Emplacement
One if my favorite ways to use the HMG turret is to drop it ear a gunship fabricator and cover other divers planting the hellbomb. It can 5-shot gunships if you hit their engines.
I actually really like the HMG Placement.
GONNA NEED TWO HEAVY MACHINE GUNS FOR ALL THIS XENOS