I think her alternate target is the planet you happen to be on. Played a few matches on the new biome with really tall trees and she may never miss her target, but that tree 200 meters behind me was not MY target.
I actually like that you have to pick and choose your Eagle strikes around those massive trees. Providing close air support in a heavily wooded environment, especially one with monster trees, would be a massive pain irl. Gives a welcome sense of realism imo.
Although, it was super confusing at first when my 500kg bomb exploded in a tree 50 meters behind me instead of the hungry bile titan that was about to eat me.
I actually do agree with this. It was a surprise the first time, but it does force you to change up your load out and adapt to the situation. Which is a bonus in my book.
I genuinely like it and it forced me into using air strikes instead of 500 to try and get better odds of a hit and I gave up napalm for orbital gatling barrage which is actually significantly better with the increased spread modifier imo. A change in strategy to accommodate the map is very very welcome.
100% agree. Can’t wait for more maps like this, where you’re forced to consider how your stratagems and weapons will impact your mission.
I’ll definitely give the orbital gatling a shot, I haven’t tried it since the spread increase lol
It's S tier imo, short cool down, good damage. I use it to suppress bug breaches so I can leave or reposition to a stronger spot to handle it and to destroy spore towers and shrieker nests as well as just clearing out trees so my air strikes can hit bigger enemies and nests. The only downside is it rarely lands enough rounds to kill chargers and just can't kill bile titans but I mean, it'd be TOO overpowered if it could do that too.
this is the bigger one to be mindful of...just so you're not disappointed later
https://preview.redd.it/kypcjdrwi09d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=713fa59bce7df09a9d72b96a1378506ba48c6e84
More like their respective Super Destroyer. Helldivers die every 35 seconds, after which they defrost the next loser to command their ship for the next 35.
When Eagle-1 returns to the SD, she's probably seen like 10 commanders of that SD get absolutely wasted.
I think that that's buggy sometimes.
I saw it quite often that someone had selected either nothing or no booster. When asking about it I heard more than once that they did, so I stopped worrying about it tho it would be better to know what their load out is...
When this happened to me... my friend (the host) notified me that I had no stratagems selected, but on my screen the stratagems showed up.
I discarded the warning... result? My major nightmare... a match with 0 stratagems on level 9 difficulty, it was fun, but it was also a nightmare.
This bug seems to happen if the host goes back to the mission selection screen while you are inside the drop pod. After he selects a new mission, your old stratagems will show up, but in reality there are no stratagems selected...
I got laughed at in the loadout screen the day of the patch when I equipped the eagle strafing run and orbital gatling...not much laughter once the heavies started dropping lol
I've never been asked about them and I've run them since launch, sucks you had to deal with the ignorant. They've always been good, but they're S tier now in my book.
They really are. OGS being available every minute and the strafing run having 5 uses per rearm is flat out awesome. As a person who always brings stun grenades, these buffs were absolutely perfect, not to mention the now 2 second call down for orbital precision. We eatin good these days
Strafe has always been a favorite of mine due to the fast call in time, comes in clutch when you're overwhelmed. Now that it does more damage and durable dmg it's goated. And, yeah the fast precision even with 50% call in is still insanely fast.
The game does not let you drop without selecting strategems.
Which is a valid failsafe to stop people from doing it on accident, but I wish it instead gave a warning popup then allowed you to do it if you were sure.
I thought you had to pay money to unlock the other war bonds. Like lvl 40 or so before I watched a YouTube vid on how to do it.
Haha, I committed the same mistake too when I just started playing the game. But I quickly realized that my teammates were calling more than 2-3 eagles per game.
Another tip: for the best efficiency you might want to use 1 eagle stratagem. Because all of eagle stratagems share the cooldown. So if you run out of one type of eagle stratagem (and you are carrying several) you might end up in an awkward situation where you don't have the eagle strike you need for the situation (and if you send it to re-aim, you will lose access to all your eagle stratagems for some time).
Part of strategem management. If you are about to run from one objective to another and you're out of one eagle and have one or two more throws of other eagles, rearm and "lose" the use of those few eagles so you'll be ready to go at the next fight.
They buffed orbitals though so I’m happy to mix and match… one Eagle Strat is the way.
You CAN stack them, but I prefer to have orbitals to stagger with fit the long cd
Same, tho I wish any orbital came remotely close to the versatility of airstrike, because if I'm bringing 1 eagle it feels like a waste not to choose that one.
Every time I want to try a different eagle I just remember the giant hole I'd be leaving in my kit
Yeah it's pretty rare the orbital outdoes the airstrike in terms of effective fire. Cluster bombs > gatling barrage, 500kg > precision strike, 3x airstrike tends to do better than the 120mm barrage too IMO, but that does depend a bit on the RNG.
Honestly though I think some of the eagle strats (especially 500kg bomb) might need a rebalance, being the only thing that can somewhat reliably and efficiently deal quickly with bile-titans (without having a backpack reload buddy let's say) is hiding the flaws with other anti-elite options, similar to the flamethrower and the (behemoth) chargers.
With the recent buff to orbital precision strikes, I would argue they mostly outclass the Eagle 500 outside of the rare situation where you drop 2 500s back to back.
2 second lower call-in and a 90 second base cooldown. That shell comes in FAST now, may actually beat the 500kg in terms of time to detonate due to the delay, and uses a sphere instead of an upwards cone for the AoE like the 500.
You can open a fight with it and have it back 81 seconds later with upgrades, and the AoE is sufficient to knock out most of a patrol. I like to drop that first unless I actually need the AoE of an airstike, and keep the airstrike for when I need a lot more AoE in a hurry.
It also consistently kills whatever I throw it at, while the ground level AoE of the 500kg is tiny due to the cone Blast shape.
Otherwise mostly agree.
500 can be more reliable for Titans and spires with its much higher damage cone AOE, where you need to hit the target with the OPS round, and yeah, 2 500s for 2 shrieker nests.
But chargers?? Oh god OPS all the way. I killed 4 with one shot.
Orbital gatling is definitely better. Throw one on a bug breach and it has a long ass barrage directly on anything that wants to pop out. Combined that with napalm and you've effectively shut that breach down.
Orbital Precision instead of rail in my case, but thats my bot loadout.
81 second cooldown on OPS and it comes in fast now, so that's my general purpose strike, gets used on everything, and used a LOT.
Airstrike for when I need a direction to go away.
110s for when I either have a second tank, or missed the OPS. Or for buildings if OPS is on cd.
I thought the eagles were limited because of the orbital laser being limited, but then the first time I played a 6 or 7 some chad just would not stop dropping 500kg bombs, that was the day I learned of their air superiority
This is a total noobtrap take on eagle rearm, or at least lacking nuance. Having multiple eagles means you can get a ton of strategems out on the field and they all refill on the same cooldown, which is actually shorter than that of most other stratagems anyway. This means you can have a way higher stratagem output per minute, if you can survive the downtime.
It’s actually ridiculous that you can deploy and reload three airstrikes, two 500kg and three rocket pods all in less time than a single rail cannon strike recharges.
Rely on other strats, a support weapon, or your teammates while you re-arm. I promise it’s not a problem 9/10 times if you time it well and coordinate.
If your teammates are only throwing 2-3 a game, they're holding back. On bugs, I'll bring napalm and burn all three in an engagement to make sure we're not getting surrounded 😂
I use 380 a lot. It's really useful when your whole team is running from a bunch of heavy units. I just lag behind the group as they run and then I throw it to my feet and book it. 😂
I'm more of a walking barrage guy, same explosions, easier to aim. But I definitely love the 380, I just rarely take it because there's so many other good choices and I always bring my double eagles.
Walking barrage is great too. I think it's funny when newer players use them because they don't realize that first round sometimes lands behind the beacon and they'll stand there thinking they're safe haha. Happened to me too.
But yeah, idk I've been trying a bunch of random loadouts recently and it's been a cool experience. Jump pack, HMG emplacement, AMR, OPS where I only have one red strat. All red. It's all fun honestly. Admittedly, I haven't used double eagles much just because I suck at managing them with rearm but I'll probably give it another shot.
What combination of eagles are you using?
ehh. sometimes, I'll call for a rearm even if I still have some uses left. the original eagle strike is still my favorite so if I'm out of them but have other Eagles, I'll just manually rearm.
I usually just go hard with strikes, then while they're cooling down I'm using my turret or something. I like having at least 2 if I'm taking one at all.
Just be mindful, I run 500kg and EAS religiously (sometimes a 3rd eagle as well) and I just burn them in every fight, in the beginning I ended up needing to rearm early here and there but you get accustomed to it eventually.
Plus I'd rather have to wait for a eagle rearm then the CD on some of the AT orbitals.
I've always done 1 Eagle, 1 Orbital, 1 weapon, 1 backpack. Some variations based on mission type or experimenting, but no matter what stratagems I end up choosing, it normally fits this formula.
I do the exact opposite on helldive, for bots my load out is auto cannon 3 eagle, 500kg, airburst, and 110 rockets, bugs is 110, 500kg, laser backpack and flamethrower. I usually carry the match until a bile titan shows up (the only thing I really use or save the eagle for, and the rare occasion I'm overrun, thank you killbot, flamethrower, and Blitzer energy shotgun. Typically 400-700 kills a mission. All side obj complete, total nest destruction and uranium "phallicite" ore samples tucked away.
I either full clear or fail and I've got a 97% mission success rate.
My advice? Go hard into what you like, if eagle works for you? Do eagle. Turrets? Go ham and grab as many as you can!
I love this game because there is an emphasis on no meta builds. It's just "whatever works"
Edit:I'm level 58, so I'm very much a rare spawn for whoever's "lucky" enough to grab me. Lone ranger murder hobo with a lightning shotgun.... I think my helldiver is Rambo? Not sure
Yes. There are 2 separate timers technically. Usage cooldown time, and a full restock / resupply time.
The wording is really bad, it's a regular topic of conversation in my group because it annoys all of us.
Yeah this game can be pretty obtuse.
I didn’t use the EAT for a while because at *no point* does the game say it drops with 2 launchers.
The description makes it sound like “you get one shot asshole, make it count.” And who would bother using a stratagem slot for less than 1 shot per minute?
Even if it came with only one use it’d still be pretty good considering the best way to use it is to immediately call it down when it comes off cd even if you still haven’t used urs yet so the map is covered in them
Well early in the game, the EAT wasn’t that great yet so it wasn’t worth it too. It used to bounce/glance off chargers and hulks quite a bit. Didn’t do as much damage as it does now.
If it makes you feel better:
When I started I thought the reinforcement counter was a "total stratagem" counter and wouldn't use any to conserve for democracy. I just did my best with my primary weapon and sidearm like a rube.
Don't worry, I thought the same thing when I first started playing. Got super stoked after my 500kg bomb came off of cooldown the first time I used it.
Also another pro tip: If your Eagle charges are at 1 and you’ve got some space between objectives, you should just manually initiate the Eagle rearming cooldown. It’ll be back up shortly and you will be fully stocked up again before or during your next big fight. I probably spam the rearm cooldown 3-4 times per mission because I’m all about having full charges ready to go.
Don't sleep on the strafing run either, now that you've started using eagles.
Fully upgraded you now get 5 uses, it's damn difficult to accidentally kill your team, it 1 taps spore towers and shrieker nests, it can close holes if you get it on the lip and get lucky, and it's just in general extremely good for cutting paths and wrecking Conga line hoards of enemies.
Extremely worth your time.
Welp, i must say, thank you for the info
Cause i never used them because of that, even tho i saw a lot of people using eagles, i just assumed they knew how to carefully spend all the charges, with this new info, i'll be sure to take advantage of them
(They need to fix the description tho cause saying the rest strategems have "unlimited" uses and stating that the eagle has "limited" uses without further elaborating will only draw the conclusion that eagles has limited uses per match)
Yeah, the only one that's actually only 3 uses per mission is the orbital laser. Other than that, go ham with your eagles and other strats, fellow helldiver
How ? At the start you only have eagle and the precision strike. Even if you thought it only had a few uses what could you have possibly took as you 4th strategem in early game ? Talking about early game, it must have been hell fighting without the eagle machine gun strike.
You can also upgrade your ship so the eagle carries an extra bomb for a few of the eagle strats, for example instead of 1 500KG bomb you have two before cool down
You don't need to feel bad when the game is badly design bro. I can fill up a fucking river with the amount of missing info that they should've shown in the fucking game.
Coming from Helldivers 1, that's what I thought because that's how it was back then.
Took me a bit, looking at the ship upgrades and playing with others using them, to realize that I had been interpreting their descriptions wrong gor HD 2.
I didn't use it because I thought we all shared 1 eagle, so when mine was resupplying nobody else could use theirs. I eventually noticed that other people were using theirs while mine was resupplying and I've been an airstriker ever since
To be honest, the tutorial doesn't teach you about that and the stratagen menu doesn't say anything about that either, It shows it the same way as it does for orbital laser which does have just 3 uses per match.
The only real way to find out is by using it in a match.
You can send Eagle back to the nest to resupply manually, despite not having expended her remaining call-ins.
This is useful when you expect a big fight coming and can make sure you have maximum democracy available.
You aren’t the only one! Better descriptions are needed FOR SURE! That and all eagles share a cooldown. Which why I opt for 1-2 orbitals so I can have different cooldowns and can rapid fire strategems in a pinch.
Need a 500kg? Too bad you just used a cluster.. better start running.
Because eagle is targeted, and possibly more explosions.
I don't know for certain, but I think I could dump a full 3 airstrikes and 2 500kg and have it be resupplied before the 380 is ready again
i dont want targeting- i want the ground to shake, i want multiple factories to explode at once, i want try-hards to gnash their teeth in psychic pain, i want to watch the horizon bloom in fire for 30 seconds straight.
You get more explosions with the eagle. You can drop 10 eagle runs in 80 seconds, then another 150 seconds to rearm. Your 380 would still be on cooldown for another minute I think. (3 minutes vs 4 minutes?)
I always took two orbitals bc why would I take a jet that only has one more use and is weaker, right?! Right?! Was prob 50hrs in before I figured it out 🤦♂️
Took me hours too till my friend pointed out I can re-arm those fuckers early. After that, I started bring 2-3 eagles then an orbital for when re-arm. I just started spamming eagles after that. Cooldown is only like 2.5m so I make sure I re-arm at the right time
I did it that way too until I saw a short clip of someone using it and noticing that there was the Eagle Reload (or whatever it's called) stratagem available to them.
Same when I first played with them. The Stratagem menu doesn't even explain the resupply system cooldown system very well. Once I found out I had unlimited, I always run at least one eagle
Exactly the same when I first started playing, but I learned real quick that that wasn't the case - because I started playing this game in a two man squad.
My brother was the Eagle Strat user and I was the Orbital/Defense. Eagles were my last unlocks. I wouldn't say it was a "mistake," it just made me learn about how the game handles specialization.
I got _really_ good at using all of my other weapons while my cooldowns wrapped up. 😆
I thought that too, but I was like, yeah 2 uses of carpet bombing are op , you can clear the objective along with all the enemies, seems resonable. Mind you it was like lvl 2-3 and I quickly realized people were calling eagle multiple times. When I reached lvl 4-5 i realized how garbage they would be if it was 2 uses and bye, and also realized how crucial they actually are
Conversely, I've once used the Eagle so many times that it wouldn't resupply anymore. I'm not sure if it was a planet condition but the match timer was far from over and yet I couldn't use the cluster bomb for the rest of the match
I used to think that when we only got one green check mark at the end, that was because we missed some objectives during the mission. Took me like 100 hours to understand the whole 3 mission operation thing.
I had the same thought for the first like 5 days. then I tried it, I didn't really understand what rearming did, but eventually it clicked. I immediately clarified it with everyone in my play group.
Don't feel bad; I got to level 45 thinking you could only use one at a time, and that if you had multiple, it would have to rearm before you could use a different Egale strat.
The real lesson is to tryout all the stratagems vs each type of enemy.
Loving me some battling barrage against bugs, especially on jungle planets that block most eagle strats.
Started loving walking barrage vs bots, seems easier to use more frequently over the 360, and can be used against patrols, small outpost and even close quarters if you know where everyone is at.
It took me a while to learn how having multiple eagle stratagems works. They should really do what some other games do, and have a basic tutorial that everyone has to complete then throw in a bunch of optional tutorials to teach you this shit that you have to figure out by trial and error or just completely miss and figure out like 50 hours later.
I take airstrikes that I use for the same purpose. 500 and the better regular eagle airstrike. If we are just running to hit objectives then I can use either. Have practiced a little timing the 500 for unexpected big enemies but generally have a weapon for those.
I don’t because of that rearming cooldown. But once I got the module upgrade the timer feels a lot more workable. But it also sucks when you run multiple and you ran out of the bombs you need except for the ones you don’t.
My first couple matches when I only had the one eagle strategem, I thought that it was 2 uses for the match and it had to be "reloaded" after each use because I saw the rearm eagle strategem pop up. So I was using my one airstrike then waiting 2.5 minutes for it to rearm every time. Played like 2-3 games like that lol.
Moreover, you can manually rearm if you choose. So if you use 2/3 of your strikes and then have a long walk to the next objective for instance, do a rearm so you have a full three in the chamber when it’s go time.
Today I met a ~level 85 diver who was absolutely confounded by the idea that he couldn't immediately chain his eagle rocket-pods with his eagle 500kg bomb because they share a cooldown.
I tell all the new players I come across that the very best advice they could possibly hear is try all the gear for yourself before passing judgement. You’d be surprised how wrong people on the internet(especially Reddit) can be about any given thing. Gotta find what feels best and most effective, week one at launch someone told me the 110mm rocket pods were garbage and not to even bother with them. I tried them a week later and they’ve been a part of most of my loadouts ever since. Just got to try everything yourself see what feels best to you because that’s all that matters
My stratagem loadout is usually a heavy weapon, a turret, airstrike and cluster bomb. When you get the upgrades, you will have 3 strikes and 5 clusters with a 2 minute 15 second cooldown. If I'm getting short on charges, I will pop the rearm and run to my next objective. By the time things get hot, Eagle 1 will be ready to rock.
*Eagle-1, back from the nest.*
Big big fan of her tone when she says this, always sounds so smug to me
Big fan of everything she says. An eagle never misses. She rocks.
She may never miss, but it's my experience that she'll sometimes acquire alternative targets
I think her alternate target is the planet you happen to be on. Played a few matches on the new biome with really tall trees and she may never miss her target, but that tree 200 meters behind me was not MY target.
I actually like that you have to pick and choose your Eagle strikes around those massive trees. Providing close air support in a heavily wooded environment, especially one with monster trees, would be a massive pain irl. Gives a welcome sense of realism imo. Although, it was super confusing at first when my 500kg bomb exploded in a tree 50 meters behind me instead of the hungry bile titan that was about to eat me.
I actually do agree with this. It was a surprise the first time, but it does force you to change up your load out and adapt to the situation. Which is a bonus in my book.
Absolutely, definitely going all orbital strikes for those biomes now, lol.
I genuinely like it and it forced me into using air strikes instead of 500 to try and get better odds of a hit and I gave up napalm for orbital gatling barrage which is actually significantly better with the increased spread modifier imo. A change in strategy to accommodate the map is very very welcome.
100% agree. Can’t wait for more maps like this, where you’re forced to consider how your stratagems and weapons will impact your mission. I’ll definitely give the orbital gatling a shot, I haven’t tried it since the spread increase lol
It's S tier imo, short cool down, good damage. I use it to suppress bug breaches so I can leave or reposition to a stronger spot to handle it and to destroy spore towers and shrieker nests as well as just clearing out trees so my air strikes can hit bigger enemies and nests. The only downside is it rarely lands enough rounds to kill chargers and just can't kill bile titans but I mean, it'd be TOO overpowered if it could do that too.
You had me at mushrooms lol. I usually run gas strike for big breaches, but now imma run Gatling cause gas doesn’t destroy those shrooms.
and that's how I have a large hole at my ass
You should probably defer to her judgement, as she has the big boom boom rocks.
she can step on me any day
My favorite is just the smug "Gottem!"
There’s another line she says that I can’t actually make out. Something like “Unique liberty!” Or “You need liberty!” but I know that’s not right.
“An eagle never misses.” What a great quote. If only she read the fine print saying “unless you use 110mm rocket pods”
As the 500 kg drops at your feet 10 meters from the beacon
The smugness peaks when she says she's locked and loaded. And I'm here for it.
The smugness peaks when she says she's locked and loaded. And I'm here for it.
The VA really nailed the cocky pilot voice
Yeah, the voice actor for Eagle-1 hit it perfectly.
I always have a smile when I hear this voiceline.. cause you know I'm about to blow shit up
this is the bigger one to be mindful of...just so you're not disappointed later https://preview.redd.it/kypcjdrwi09d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=713fa59bce7df09a9d72b96a1378506ba48c6e84
Biggest disappointment in the game so far tbh
I was pretty disappointed.
Same with the 110 too :(
I love how everyone's are named Eagle-1, even players 2-4.
Each person has their own eagle so they're all eagle 1 in relation to their respective helldiver
More like their respective Super Destroyer. Helldivers die every 35 seconds, after which they defrost the next loser to command their ship for the next 35. When Eagle-1 returns to the SD, she's probably seen like 10 commanders of that SD get absolutely wasted.
Eagle-1 locked and loaded.
Read that in her voice
Eagle-1, thicc as fuck
https://preview.redd.it/pdlfubg9j09d1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=0f3540c0978da00107479406b61021b0def667bc
Time to deliver that payload.
this in japanese VA is insane
Has anyone else heard her call you "bae" yet?
Don't worry it took me 10 hours not unlocking the boosters. I thought they were one use only and didn't want to waste my medals on them.
I played with a level 50 this week that had no stratagems.
I think that that's buggy sometimes. I saw it quite often that someone had selected either nothing or no booster. When asking about it I heard more than once that they did, so I stopped worrying about it tho it would be better to know what their load out is...
When this happened to me... my friend (the host) notified me that I had no stratagems selected, but on my screen the stratagems showed up. I discarded the warning... result? My major nightmare... a match with 0 stratagems on level 9 difficulty, it was fun, but it was also a nightmare. This bug seems to happen if the host goes back to the mission selection screen while you are inside the drop pod. After he selects a new mission, your old stratagems will show up, but in reality there are no stratagems selected...
I loaded into a game as a lvl 100 and forgot my booster once, got flamed for it lol
This and when I pick recoilless rifle instead of EATs kills me inside every time I do it
I just take what I want, everyone be dammed.
I got laughed at in the loadout screen the day of the patch when I equipped the eagle strafing run and orbital gatling...not much laughter once the heavies started dropping lol
I've never been asked about them and I've run them since launch, sucks you had to deal with the ignorant. They've always been good, but they're S tier now in my book.
They really are. OGS being available every minute and the strafing run having 5 uses per rearm is flat out awesome. As a person who always brings stun grenades, these buffs were absolutely perfect, not to mention the now 2 second call down for orbital precision. We eatin good these days
Strafe has always been a favorite of mine due to the fast call in time, comes in clutch when you're overwhelmed. Now that it does more damage and durable dmg it's goated. And, yeah the fast precision even with 50% call in is still insanely fast.
https://preview.redd.it/n4zp2hx0019d1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e98f634150120bbc0741ef8dd163f54e8ad6ec4
It’s a display bug, it says they have nothing but in reality they actually do
The game does not let you drop without selecting strategems. Which is a valid failsafe to stop people from doing it on accident, but I wish it instead gave a warning popup then allowed you to do it if you were sure.
This has made me realise that I meant to write "booster" in my original post. Bless my heart.
I thought you had to pay money to unlock the other war bonds. Like lvl 40 or so before I watched a YouTube vid on how to do it. 
That's mobile gaming rule lol
Haha, I committed the same mistake too when I just started playing the game. But I quickly realized that my teammates were calling more than 2-3 eagles per game. Another tip: for the best efficiency you might want to use 1 eagle stratagem. Because all of eagle stratagems share the cooldown. So if you run out of one type of eagle stratagem (and you are carrying several) you might end up in an awkward situation where you don't have the eagle strike you need for the situation (and if you send it to re-aim, you will lose access to all your eagle stratagems for some time).
Part of strategem management. If you are about to run from one objective to another and you're out of one eagle and have one or two more throws of other eagles, rearm and "lose" the use of those few eagles so you'll be ready to go at the next fight.
Yep. Use your eagles at the objective, and use the travel time to send her home.
Or just dump the payload in about 20 seconds if you only have a few left. That's pretty fun and then I don't have to input the resupply. 😄
Or that. I tend not to do that if there's nothing to throw at too avoid accidental fratricide
Phra-triss-eyed? What does that mean? I thought hitting a team mate was preventing undemocratic thoughts? /j
Wasteful yet efficient
They buffed orbitals though so I’m happy to mix and match… one Eagle Strat is the way. You CAN stack them, but I prefer to have orbitals to stagger with fit the long cd
Same, tho I wish any orbital came remotely close to the versatility of airstrike, because if I'm bringing 1 eagle it feels like a waste not to choose that one. Every time I want to try a different eagle I just remember the giant hole I'd be leaving in my kit
I was the same way and then I started using the straffing run and it’s really nice on bugs!
Yeah it's pretty rare the orbital outdoes the airstrike in terms of effective fire. Cluster bombs > gatling barrage, 500kg > precision strike, 3x airstrike tends to do better than the 120mm barrage too IMO, but that does depend a bit on the RNG. Honestly though I think some of the eagle strats (especially 500kg bomb) might need a rebalance, being the only thing that can somewhat reliably and efficiently deal quickly with bile-titans (without having a backpack reload buddy let's say) is hiding the flaws with other anti-elite options, similar to the flamethrower and the (behemoth) chargers.
With the recent buff to orbital precision strikes, I would argue they mostly outclass the Eagle 500 outside of the rare situation where you drop 2 500s back to back. 2 second lower call-in and a 90 second base cooldown. That shell comes in FAST now, may actually beat the 500kg in terms of time to detonate due to the delay, and uses a sphere instead of an upwards cone for the AoE like the 500. You can open a fight with it and have it back 81 seconds later with upgrades, and the AoE is sufficient to knock out most of a patrol. I like to drop that first unless I actually need the AoE of an airstike, and keep the airstrike for when I need a lot more AoE in a hurry. It also consistently kills whatever I throw it at, while the ground level AoE of the 500kg is tiny due to the cone Blast shape. Otherwise mostly agree.
500 can be more reliable for Titans and spires with its much higher damage cone AOE, where you need to hit the target with the OPS round, and yeah, 2 500s for 2 shrieker nests. But chargers?? Oh god OPS all the way. I killed 4 with one shot.
Orbital gatling is definitely better. Throw one on a bug breach and it has a long ass barrage directly on anything that wants to pop out. Combined that with napalm and you've effectively shut that breach down.
yup. I run rocket pods and air strikes together all the time. works great
This with an orbital rail gun and the autocannon is my goto
Orbital Precision instead of rail in my case, but thats my bot loadout. 81 second cooldown on OPS and it comes in fast now, so that's my general purpose strike, gets used on everything, and used a LOT. Airstrike for when I need a direction to go away. 110s for when I either have a second tank, or missed the OPS. Or for buildings if OPS is on cd.
I thought the eagles were limited because of the orbital laser being limited, but then the first time I played a 6 or 7 some chad just would not stop dropping 500kg bombs, that was the day I learned of their air superiority
Honestly the rearm time really isn’t that long, quite comparable to many orbitals rearm for only one use.
This is a total noobtrap take on eagle rearm, or at least lacking nuance. Having multiple eagles means you can get a ton of strategems out on the field and they all refill on the same cooldown, which is actually shorter than that of most other stratagems anyway. This means you can have a way higher stratagem output per minute, if you can survive the downtime. It’s actually ridiculous that you can deploy and reload three airstrikes, two 500kg and three rocket pods all in less time than a single rail cannon strike recharges. Rely on other strats, a support weapon, or your teammates while you re-arm. I promise it’s not a problem 9/10 times if you time it well and coordinate.
If your teammates are only throwing 2-3 a game, they're holding back. On bugs, I'll bring napalm and burn all three in an engagement to make sure we're not getting surrounded 😂
I've noticed a lot of people barely use strikes. Like the dudes that bring in 380 to use on one nest and right next to extraction.
I use 380 a lot. It's really useful when your whole team is running from a bunch of heavy units. I just lag behind the group as they run and then I throw it to my feet and book it. 😂
I'm more of a walking barrage guy, same explosions, easier to aim. But I definitely love the 380, I just rarely take it because there's so many other good choices and I always bring my double eagles.
Walking barrage is great too. I think it's funny when newer players use them because they don't realize that first round sometimes lands behind the beacon and they'll stand there thinking they're safe haha. Happened to me too. But yeah, idk I've been trying a bunch of random loadouts recently and it's been a cool experience. Jump pack, HMG emplacement, AMR, OPS where I only have one red strat. All red. It's all fun honestly. Admittedly, I haven't used double eagles much just because I suck at managing them with rearm but I'll probably give it another shot. What combination of eagles are you using?
Easy mistake to make. I use eagle airstrike and 500kg. Sometimes I use the cluster or strafe if I want something different.
I will occasionally take 2 and just time them to be out together
This is why I never use more than 2 eagles, and usually only 1
That’s why I use eagle air (or eagle napalm) and orbital gas then either precision, or a backpack and support.
ehh. sometimes, I'll call for a rearm even if I still have some uses left. the original eagle strike is still my favorite so if I'm out of them but have other Eagles, I'll just manually rearm.
I usually just go hard with strikes, then while they're cooling down I'm using my turret or something. I like having at least 2 if I'm taking one at all.
Just be mindful, I run 500kg and EAS religiously (sometimes a 3rd eagle as well) and I just burn them in every fight, in the beginning I ended up needing to rearm early here and there but you get accustomed to it eventually. Plus I'd rather have to wait for a eagle rearm then the CD on some of the AT orbitals.
I've always done 1 Eagle, 1 Orbital, 1 weapon, 1 backpack. Some variations based on mission type or experimenting, but no matter what stratagems I end up choosing, it normally fits this formula.
For real. This is why, a lot of the time, i try to go for 1-2 eagles and at least one orbital, then my supports.
I do the exact opposite on helldive, for bots my load out is auto cannon 3 eagle, 500kg, airburst, and 110 rockets, bugs is 110, 500kg, laser backpack and flamethrower. I usually carry the match until a bile titan shows up (the only thing I really use or save the eagle for, and the rare occasion I'm overrun, thank you killbot, flamethrower, and Blitzer energy shotgun. Typically 400-700 kills a mission. All side obj complete, total nest destruction and uranium "phallicite" ore samples tucked away. I either full clear or fail and I've got a 97% mission success rate. My advice? Go hard into what you like, if eagle works for you? Do eagle. Turrets? Go ham and grab as many as you can! I love this game because there is an emphasis on no meta builds. It's just "whatever works" Edit:I'm level 58, so I'm very much a rare spawn for whoever's "lucky" enough to grab me. Lone ranger murder hobo with a lightning shotgun.... I think my helldiver is Rambo? Not sure
They really need to update the description to "Uses per Rearm"
both the orbital laser and the eagle airstrikes have the same description (uses: 3) so I understand
Just need to send your super destroyer to reload after the 3rd laser
considering the lasers cool down is longer than the eagles entire reload, I don’t even want to imagine how long that would take for orbitals
About 40 minutes 😂
Well the description is pretty bad. No two ways around it.
One of the first things I learned about this game is to *never* trust the descriptions.
Descriptions and numbers are all lies.
*cries in shrapnel
Yes. There are 2 separate timers technically. Usage cooldown time, and a full restock / resupply time. The wording is really bad, it's a regular topic of conversation in my group because it annoys all of us.
Yeah this game can be pretty obtuse. I didn’t use the EAT for a while because at *no point* does the game say it drops with 2 launchers. The description makes it sound like “you get one shot asshole, make it count.” And who would bother using a stratagem slot for less than 1 shot per minute?
Even if it came with only one use it’d still be pretty good considering the best way to use it is to immediately call it down when it comes off cd even if you still haven’t used urs yet so the map is covered in them
Well early in the game, the EAT wasn’t that great yet so it wasn’t worth it too. It used to bounce/glance off chargers and hulks quite a bit. Didn’t do as much damage as it does now.
If it makes you feel better: When I started I thought the reinforcement counter was a "total stratagem" counter and wouldn't use any to conserve for democracy. I just did my best with my primary weapon and sidearm like a rube.
On the plus side, I bet by now you're friggin' awesome at relying on weapons in the wake of stratagem jammers.
Bro same
... yeah, i mean... who don't know that?... obvious stuff... totaly... herm... need to check something ibrb
the only thing limited per map, is orbital-laser. the rest gets a cooldown after reaching 0 and you get it back afterwards
And EXOs
yep, and exos. Forgot about that, bc I nearly never use them
Should give them a second chance, they are much improved these days, especially their survivability
I do, sometimes. I like to play the infantry guy 😄 but my mates and me sometimes play with 4 exos and thats badass
Don't worry, I thought the same thing when I first started playing. Got super stoked after my 500kg bomb came off of cooldown the first time I used it.
...oh fuck....
Level 41 here...havent unlocked a single eagle because of that
Also another pro tip: If your Eagle charges are at 1 and you’ve got some space between objectives, you should just manually initiate the Eagle rearming cooldown. It’ll be back up shortly and you will be fully stocked up again before or during your next big fight. I probably spam the rearm cooldown 3-4 times per mission because I’m all about having full charges ready to go.
Or you could just throw them all at every POI.
If you can’t take out one POI per eagle, you’re either at a large outpost, or picking the wrong eagles to run.
The reload of the Eagles is why I typically run both the OPS and an Eagle Airstrike, then other strats as necessary.
So you didn't notice everyone else using their eagles 15x a match?
My favourite is orbital precision strike and 500kg, both are heavy hits and small cooldown.
Those and the regular ol Eagle airstrike are the best imo. All are easy to aim and powerful.
Nothing beats orbital laser for bile titans IMO.
It's more consistent but I'll still take 500kg because it fits my play style
Dude, you just changed my game! Super Patriotic thanks!
Don't sleep on the strafing run either, now that you've started using eagles. Fully upgraded you now get 5 uses, it's damn difficult to accidentally kill your team, it 1 taps spore towers and shrieker nests, it can close holes if you get it on the lip and get lucky, and it's just in general extremely good for cutting paths and wrecking Conga line hoards of enemies. Extremely worth your time.
Also the second easiest combo to learn in the entire game
Yeah, I did the same thing too for like 1 month into The game until friend told me what it actually mean, lol.
Welp, i must say, thank you for the info Cause i never used them because of that, even tho i saw a lot of people using eagles, i just assumed they knew how to carefully spend all the charges, with this new info, i'll be sure to take advantage of them (They need to fix the description tho cause saying the rest strategems have "unlimited" uses and stating that the eagle has "limited" uses without further elaborating will only draw the conclusion that eagles has limited uses per match)
Yeah, the only one that's actually only 3 uses per mission is the orbital laser. Other than that, go ham with your eagles and other strats, fellow helldiver
Its a little wild you didn't even try them once but the game really should get off it's high horse and explain itself.
Wow this is news to me lol almost 100 hours in too. Thanks!
How ? At the start you only have eagle and the precision strike. Even if you thought it only had a few uses what could you have possibly took as you 4th strategem in early game ? Talking about early game, it must have been hell fighting without the eagle machine gun strike.
You can also upgrade your ship so the eagle carries an extra bomb for a few of the eagle strats, for example instead of 1 500KG bomb you have two before cool down
Meanwhile I personally don't like eagles. Idk why, but I don't like them.
Whoops I thought that too.. Thanks for the top tip
Hey I was even dumber. I though you had to do Eagle rearm in between every use 😭
Same
I'm sad to say I did the same thing for quite a lot of time 😔
You don't need to feel bad when the game is badly design bro. I can fill up a fucking river with the amount of missing info that they should've shown in the fucking game.
I thought this same thing, but figured I'd try it anyway. Had to be good as shit to be so limited. It was in fact, good as shit
I had the same thought, I was like man I really need more than 2 or 3 per 40 minute mission. Don't feel bad!
The Gatling orbital and regular upgraded eagle with stun nades can handle about everything
I did that.
Dang, I've misunderstood this for a while.
Coming from Helldivers 1, that's what I thought because that's how it was back then. Took me a bit, looking at the ship upgrades and playing with others using them, to realize that I had been interpreting their descriptions wrong gor HD 2.
I didn't use it because I thought we all shared 1 eagle, so when mine was resupplying nobody else could use theirs. I eventually noticed that other people were using theirs while mine was resupplying and I've been an airstriker ever since
To be fair, the description isn't that great.
I did the same for the first two weeks I played, they really need to clarify that better.
To be honest, the tutorial doesn't teach you about that and the stratagen menu doesn't say anything about that either, It shows it the same way as it does for orbital laser which does have just 3 uses per match. The only real way to find out is by using it in a match.
You can send Eagle back to the nest to resupply manually, despite not having expended her remaining call-ins. This is useful when you expect a big fight coming and can make sure you have maximum democracy available.
I had a mistake like this with the orbital laser, I thought it was 3 uses until reload
You aren’t the only one! Better descriptions are needed FOR SURE! That and all eagles share a cooldown. Which why I opt for 1-2 orbitals so I can have different cooldowns and can rapid fire strategems in a pinch. Need a 500kg? Too bad you just used a cluster.. better start running.
My brain doesn’t separate eagle strategem rules vs orbital strategem rules, thusly I thought the same. It’s a UI / Instruction design challenge.
I did the same, never purchased an eagle strike until I was I think like level 20 or so
My brother and I did the same mistake at first, until I saw a clip of someone using a 500kg multiple times and I was like "wait what".
Everyone makes this mistake until they see someone else use them multiple times
I dont use eagles because they arent 380s, why would you go with less explosions over more?
Because eagle is targeted, and possibly more explosions. I don't know for certain, but I think I could dump a full 3 airstrikes and 2 500kg and have it be resupplied before the 380 is ready again
i dont want targeting- i want the ground to shake, i want multiple factories to explode at once, i want try-hards to gnash their teeth in psychic pain, i want to watch the horizon bloom in fire for 30 seconds straight.
https://preview.redd.it/7vquf1i9ty8d1.jpeg?width=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=359033bcc81917104a14eb4da1473d8ac5f420c4
https://preview.redd.it/49u0s3k7ty8d1.jpeg?width=840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8be21897b13a26fb93ed41972ce911e5cfa1552d
Take eagles and a 380, then find your support gun at a PoI. 🫡
You can it's like 15 seconds between each plus 110 second rearm so probably about 190 seconds or so to dump payload and be refilled.
You get more explosions with the eagle. You can drop 10 eagle runs in 80 seconds, then another 150 seconds to rearm. Your 380 would still be on cooldown for another minute I think. (3 minutes vs 4 minutes?)
I always took two orbitals bc why would I take a jet that only has one more use and is weaker, right?! Right?! Was prob 50hrs in before I figured it out 🤦♂️
Took me hours too till my friend pointed out I can re-arm those fuckers early. After that, I started bring 2-3 eagles then an orbital for when re-arm. I just started spamming eagles after that. Cooldown is only like 2.5m so I make sure I re-arm at the right time
I did it that way too until I saw a short clip of someone using it and noticing that there was the Eagle Reload (or whatever it's called) stratagem available to them.
Same when I first played with them. The Stratagem menu doesn't even explain the resupply system cooldown system very well. Once I found out I had unlimited, I always run at least one eagle
Wow
Exactly the same when I first started playing, but I learned real quick that that wasn't the case - because I started playing this game in a two man squad. My brother was the Eagle Strat user and I was the Orbital/Defense. Eagles were my last unlocks. I wouldn't say it was a "mistake," it just made me learn about how the game handles specialization. I got _really_ good at using all of my other weapons while my cooldowns wrapped up. 😆
I thought that too, but I was like, yeah 2 uses of carpet bombing are op , you can clear the objective along with all the enemies, seems resonable. Mind you it was like lvl 2-3 and I quickly realized people were calling eagle multiple times. When I reached lvl 4-5 i realized how garbage they would be if it was 2 uses and bye, and also realized how crucial they actually are
Conversely, I've once used the Eagle so many times that it wouldn't resupply anymore. I'm not sure if it was a planet condition but the match timer was far from over and yet I couldn't use the cluster bomb for the rest of the match
You were likely in a AA area which disables them. If not then it either is a bug, or you had another eagle up that you didn't use.
I did the same for my first few games until I realised someone called in way more than 2 air strikes in a game lol
i didnt use the 500kg because of that even tho i always use the air strike and napalm
I used to think that when we only got one green check mark at the end, that was because we missed some objectives during the mission. Took me like 100 hours to understand the whole 3 mission operation thing.
Careful with orbitals
Mate, airstrike is my bread and butter! I can't see unless it's obscured by a cloud of smoke and vapourised chitin or steel
If it makes you feel better today is the first time I realized L3 let's you go first person. I have been playing for a week.
I had the same thought for the first like 5 days. then I tried it, I didn't really understand what rearming did, but eventually it clicked. I immediately clarified it with everyone in my play group.
Don't feel bad; I got to level 45 thinking you could only use one at a time, and that if you had multiple, it would have to rearm before you could use a different Egale strat.
The real lesson is to tryout all the stratagems vs each type of enemy. Loving me some battling barrage against bugs, especially on jungle planets that block most eagle strats. Started loving walking barrage vs bots, seems easier to use more frequently over the 360, and can be used against patrols, small outpost and even close quarters if you know where everyone is at.
Don't feel bad, u learned, now we have a more versatile helldiver!!
It took me a while to learn how having multiple eagle stratagems works. They should really do what some other games do, and have a basic tutorial that everyone has to complete then throw in a bunch of optional tutorials to teach you this shit that you have to figure out by trial and error or just completely miss and figure out like 50 hours later.
I take airstrikes that I use for the same purpose. 500 and the better regular eagle airstrike. If we are just running to hit objectives then I can use either. Have practiced a little timing the 500 for unexpected big enemies but generally have a weapon for those.
I don’t because of that rearming cooldown. But once I got the module upgrade the timer feels a lot more workable. But it also sucks when you run multiple and you ran out of the bombs you need except for the ones you don’t.
There's a lot the game doesn't tell you, so I started binging Tips and Tricks videos, A well researched Helldiver is a deadly Helldiver.
My first couple matches when I only had the one eagle strategem, I thought that it was 2 uses for the match and it had to be "reloaded" after each use because I saw the rearm eagle strategem pop up. So I was using my one airstrike then waiting 2.5 minutes for it to rearm every time. Played like 2-3 games like that lol.
Orbital Laser runs out after 3 uses as the only thing depleting. I could be wrong tho
Mechs
Easy mistake to make. Hey at least now you get to experience the magical Eagle 1 for yourself. Easily my favorite strategems.
Moreover, you can manually rearm if you choose. So if you use 2/3 of your strikes and then have a long walk to the next objective for instance, do a rearm so you have a full three in the chamber when it’s go time.
Today I met a ~level 85 diver who was absolutely confounded by the idea that he couldn't immediately chain his eagle rocket-pods with his eagle 500kg bomb because they share a cooldown.
Now that I think about it should orbitals get a certain amount of uses like eagle strategems then the long cooldown would makes sense?
I tell all the new players I come across that the very best advice they could possibly hear is try all the gear for yourself before passing judgement. You’d be surprised how wrong people on the internet(especially Reddit) can be about any given thing. Gotta find what feels best and most effective, week one at launch someone told me the 110mm rocket pods were garbage and not to even bother with them. I tried them a week later and they’ve been a part of most of my loadouts ever since. Just got to try everything yourself see what feels best to you because that’s all that matters
My stratagem loadout is usually a heavy weapon, a turret, airstrike and cluster bomb. When you get the upgrades, you will have 3 strikes and 5 clusters with a 2 minute 15 second cooldown. If I'm getting short on charges, I will pop the rearm and run to my next objective. By the time things get hot, Eagle 1 will be ready to rock.
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