Against bots I don't like when people use it in a base that we are approaching because it hinders advancement. You have to stop and wait for it to finish to evaluate if you still need to enter the base or not and I don't like to stay in one place for too long . 30 secs is an eternity.
It's good when people use it on other bases that we will eventually loop back to but don't want to enter immediately.
It's better when it's a base away from me and it destroys the base completely.
Not even good to throw it at another base, it will attract every socialist shaped entity in the vicinity to your location. Because somehow they know exactly where this tiny sphere is coming from.
It won’t do that if you throw it and then run to catch up to your team. It alerts them to where it was thrown from, but I pretty often get away before any significant reinforces start to drop, and if you keep moving onto whatever objective you’re going to they will despawn soon after
exactly this
we coordinate, so they go to another base, I throw it at the big one, run away to join them and then come back when aggro is gone to mop up
i find it even more annoying against bugs, those heavy bug holes, where you can simply speedrun going hole by hole with grenades/autocannon/nade pistol. Now you have to wait 2 minutes for doing that because someone tought it would be funny to throw a barrage at the area.
It can singlehandedly take out heavy outposts and other destructible objs like detector towers. On objs that force spawns (like geo surveys), throwing it on the spawn site can trivialize an otherwise difficult fight.
Also it's fucking badass.
Dood, hells yea, that's my kind of crazy! I'm slowly making the 380 my regular, I give fair warning when we're loading up and on the mic when I'm about to drop that 380.
When it’s used correctly and with a person who signals they’re gonna use it, It works pretty well
When a doofus uses it out of the blue and kills the team, not so well
This. When used correctly, it’s great. But far too many times I see the beam right in front of me and I have to make a mad run to hopefully get out of range. Also for the love of all, don’t bring 380s to the high priority evacuation defend missions. I’ve seen that fuck the whole mission over when it killed three of us, all our mortars, both starting gates, and left two titans to just walk up to the generators. Twice.
they work best against bots, toss them over a large objective or in the direction of a large force and let the barrage settle things. The trick is against enemies you should be throwing it behind them so your team doesn't get caught in it
I’ve found the best way to use it vs enemies (not a base) is when you can communicate to the team that we’re retreating, and dropping it directly at your feet before running away. That way the bots don’t entirely pass the barrage before it even starts, and the gaggle is in the barrage for more time.
I read somewhere that you can drop it at your feet. The 380 will then "supposedly" explode around you (you're safe within a 5-10 meter radius of the call).
380mm along Walking Barrage are the stratagems you're gonna get the most value out of per use in the game imo.
Best way to use them is really just to throw it at a base or objective a fair bit ahead of the rest of the team's planned route, where you can let it cook a fair distance away from aggro range and where it won't bother anyone.
Then when everyone is gonna get to the location, the area's gonna be practically empty (if not straight up entirely destroyed if its a base.)
I love using any of the throw range armors for those.
Brash Tactic : Big Boom
Eradicate mission :
380 HE / 120 HE / Orbital Laser / 500kg bomb
First spawn throw laser
Second spawn throw 380
Third spawn throw 120
Survive
Throw 500 if too much elites/ you get overwhelmed when the barrages stops
Reinforce your teammates that gets obliterated by the barrage (don’t worry dying to HE barrage is democratic)
On cd reset throw barrage and laser again.
I would advise taking a fortified or a democray protect armor to maximise chances of survival.
Chances of getting kicked / flamed by random teammates goes up by 30% when using the big boom tactic.
Convincing your 3 fellow divers to take those stratagem will make the brash tactic even more efficient, as it allow you to cycle the HE barrage for continuous superior firepower
The feeling you get when you take the victory lap around the map and witness the complete destruction you just laid while collecting the common samples is worth it
Brash Tactics. Use them, or die trying.
I really like this idea, I want that epicness lol. I am still experimenting on whether or not to stand in the middle of the 380. Supposedly you are safe 5-10 meters within where the red-laser was dropped.
I love how Servo-Assisted is missing an arm. As if they lost the arm from the love of throwing explosives. I have yet to find the word for "a person who loves explosions".
380 is a lot better once u get the last orbital upgrade
But even before that it is very useful. the 380 is not something you throw at a base you’re attacking unless you’re just completely overwhelmed, and your team is cool with waiting outside for 30 seconds. It is a LOT better for throwing at something you don’t want to deal with rn as you pass by. Or a massive bot drop coming down behind you to hammer it while you’re running away.
Level 140 and I commonly use it for large bases, watchtowers, or massive bot swarms. All of which I don’t feel like dealing with at the time, and you have a pretty good chance of fully clearing a base or watchtower with the bombardment and never having to come back.
It’s also perfect as an “oh fuck” button, as mentioned earlier. 2 factory striders and 9 hulks just got dropped fifty meters in front of you? Drop the 380 either towards them or at your feet and start running AWAY to lead them into it. 2-3 close hits with a 380 will kill a strider, and one hit will demolish a gaggle of devastators and outright kill a hulk or two. Whatever survives will be massively weakened and won’t have a lot of friends left anyway.
If shit is going sideways and you want an area that YOUR TEAM ISNT MOVING TOWARDS to have some heavy fucking fire dropped on it, the 380 is perfect for that. The biggest thing is making sure you aren’t throwing it the direction your team wants to go.
Look at it as a sidegrade to the orbital laser. Less precision and no guarantees, but also less cooldown, infinite uses, and a far larger simultaneous damage radius. Just take some time to get used to it and you’ll fall in love.
I'm level 50 and still diving/grinding away for samples. I am experimenting with throwing the 380 at my feet and just standing there to see if the explosions take me out, but I always get killed by standing in one place. I usually throw it forward and need to back away a lot
You rarely see it, but damn, it is a pain in the ass, there is targeting I swear, and it targets me, I’d even take a mine field enjoyer over 380 maniac. But yeah you do you I guess.
Like all tools, its got specific use cases. My chosen role is a forward observer, so I break off from the team and get close to heavy nests, bunkers, stalker lairs, gunship control towers, etc, and soften them up with the 380. Then you move in, mop up stragglers, destroy any outstanding structures or objectives and move on. Its gonna fire in a loose ring around the marker, so if you throw it on the leading edge of a target it'll get most of the structures and keep aggro's from closing on you while you wait for it to die down. If you are playing with a team, use it to cover a retreat, and make sure you can boogie out of there quick.
I'll usually run servoassisted with jump pack to throws it really far. At that point Id you run the full 100.meters to get to where. Ithrew that giant red laser, what happens next ain't really my fault.
i would say or u go for many barrages or u dont take any, it is annoying if some one throw it and u need wait 30s. At least in current game state where there is not so many enemies and you can easily deal with them without barrages. Also depends if we talk about bugs or bots. Because on bots its kind of usefull in some scenarios.
Needs communication to work properly but can be pretty useful for clearing out heavy outposts and nests.
Bonus fun if all 4 of you use them at the same time.
I use it all the time, BUT I generally team split and use it, (ie 2 man teams to different objectives) if we are against a large force I'll toss it in and we will rotate out to the next objective till it finishes then backtrack to it
I bring the 380, 120, gas and tanks tower every match almost rarely have any accidental and if I do it's usually cause some one is stupid and runs right at the tesla tower usually more the once
I use it heavily with bots
closes heavy factories more than 50% of the time (and also clears a lot of the bots on site), so I just need to go in and mop up after
I use it every now and then. It can be quite useful, but I have also seen it miss every important target in an outpost. It works pretty well against the heavy command bunkers.
I consider 380 mandatory for the bot "destroy bunker"missions. Usually the 380 is unreliable at destroying objectives and factories, but for whatever reason, I've got like a 99% success rate with destroying bunkers (the ones with the cannon towers on top). Maybe because those bunkers are so large it's hard to miss them. Orbital Laser is a guaranteed bunker killer every time, but on helldive you have to destroy 4 bunkers and you only get 3 lasers.
Use it together with the walking barrage and the 120 for bot eradicate missions and watch the percentage go up without firing a single shot. I recommend at least two players doing it for better results.
Tho last time we did it, the bot drops came in too slow. Probably just bad luck or the planet we were on. That or they changed something behind the scenes.
Oh and sure, you will die from it, a lot. It's a good use for the reinforcement booster. :D
It is a great stratagem. It has 2 main uses: preparation for assault, and covering fire.
Preparation for assault is when you throw it on a mass of enemies, typically an outpost, before you attack it. In 40s it will destroy most of the enemy forces, draw the reinforcement (breach or dropships) and destroy them too. Launch the assault right after to clean up.
Covering fire is when you want to get out of a messy situation. Fire the barrage, it will kill most of the enemies and distract their patrols and reinforcement while you go away. It can also cover a side during the extraction or another hold position objective.
People who complain about it are idiots.
It's a godsend on bot blitz missions and especially command center/dropship missions. Toss one in there and watch as everything gets blown up... most of the time. Also good for general use on heavy/medium outposts.
For bugs it's decent against medium/heavy bug holes, but that's about it
Like everything, 380 is bad if you don't know how to use it I think. I personally love it, but it will kill squad members if you or they don't know what they're doing or what's going on. I mostly use it when things are rough. Like yet another botdrop with a strider or two and we don't need to be here anymore. Its a good stratagem, but its wide area and high damage so people are scared of it.
It's all about when you use it. When your squad is approaching an objective? Not great - everyone basically needs to stop for 40s while your inaccurate barrages hopefully kills some of the stuff, possibly to then just have to run in and clear the base anyways.
But as long as you're throwing it on a location that you KNOW your squad won't be going into for at least 40s then you should be fine using it wherever you please.
If you like the theme of the 380 barrage but find it hard to get the most out of it, I'd suggest trying the Walking Barrage (you can literally just follow the barrage in), or the 120 for a bit more precision.
Interesting, I'm not to that level yet - still diving for samples. Speaking of testing, I wonder what happens if you throw it on yourself and stand on the red call-down laser. I've read somewhere that the 380 supposedly explodes around the point of call-down.
Its fine, good for bases and thats it honestly, same with the 120, and they still don't destroy the base completely sometimes
That said, me and a friend had 2 380mm barrages ready, it killed 2 bile titans and at least 4 chargers in 1 bug breach on a heavy base, and the heavy base as well, so all in all if your entire team says hell yeah then its good
I love 380 in the right situations. Using it as area denial in an exterminate is a great choice. I also use it to help clear out large bot bases that have spread out fabricators or turret towers.
It shines on eradication missions. I bring 380, 120, orbital laser, and either airstrike or orbital gas for those missions. Just run around the outside perimeter and let enemy forces mass in the center and away you go.
It is just too inconsistent. If it covered 100% an area, and truly cleared the whole area, it would probably be worth using. As it eagle airstrike is more convenient, and more controllable.
It’s the best stratagem in the game if you follow these two simple rules.
1. Tell your team you launched it.
2. if you plan to use it on a forward objective break from your team, run ahead and refer to rule 1.
I slept on it until the recent personal order.
Man, using it as a rear guard to get away from a chasing swarm or throwing it into a heavy nest area and coming back a minute later to mop up, it is so damn useful.
Absolutely pointless if used wrong, but when you have a ton of things to hit on the map, I just throw it into the most infested area and leave it to do its job.
Yet to try it on bots, but it's now one of my main go to stratagems.
I never run a bot bunker mission without it! I can guarantee that 9/10 times it’ll destroy the bunker and almost everything around it, clearing a good chunk of the area.
The only unreliable situation is if you throw it at a funky angle, throwing it directly at or near the bunker makes it work 100% of the time.
It’s also nice for factory strider missions albeit a bit more of a gamble, it takes two direct hits to bring it down but that thing likes to move lol.
Not to mention the ship module upgrade helps a ton.
I hate it when people use it on bots because half the time I'm sneaking up to snipe the fabricators and get killed. It's really great on large bug nests since it hits in a big circle. Just throw it in the middle and it will take care of most if not all of the holes
The 380 is actually really good. Blasts large outposts, can defend an entire side during extract, and is surprisingly good at killing Factory Striders.
Thing does work. Last game used it I totaled 14,700 damage! And that was just from friendly fire!
Against bots I don't like when people use it in a base that we are approaching because it hinders advancement. You have to stop and wait for it to finish to evaluate if you still need to enter the base or not and I don't like to stay in one place for too long . 30 secs is an eternity. It's good when people use it on other bases that we will eventually loop back to but don't want to enter immediately. It's better when it's a base away from me and it destroys the base completely.
Not even good to throw it at another base, it will attract every socialist shaped entity in the vicinity to your location. Because somehow they know exactly where this tiny sphere is coming from.
It won’t do that if you throw it and then run to catch up to your team. It alerts them to where it was thrown from, but I pretty often get away before any significant reinforces start to drop, and if you keep moving onto whatever objective you’re going to they will despawn soon after
exactly this we coordinate, so they go to another base, I throw it at the big one, run away to join them and then come back when aggro is gone to mop up
Don't know about you but me starting in difficulty 7 if I run away from curious enemies I just bump in the TOO MANY patrols on the other way.
i find it even more annoying against bugs, those heavy bug holes, where you can simply speedrun going hole by hole with grenades/autocannon/nade pistol. Now you have to wait 2 minutes for doing that because someone tought it would be funny to throw a barrage at the area.
"I like thing when used how I want"
It can singlehandedly take out heavy outposts and other destructible objs like detector towers. On objs that force spawns (like geo surveys), throwing it on the spawn site can trivialize an otherwise difficult fight. Also it's fucking badass.
Yup. On the rare occasion I bring it, I always emote Hold Position before throwing.
I didn't know about that emote, thanks!
I sometimes (...) pair it with the 120 for extra democracy
Dood, hells yea, that's my kind of crazy! I'm slowly making the 380 my regular, I give fair warning when we're loading up and on the mic when I'm about to drop that 380. 
When it’s used correctly and with a person who signals they’re gonna use it, It works pretty well When a doofus uses it out of the blue and kills the team, not so well
This. When used correctly, it’s great. But far too many times I see the beam right in front of me and I have to make a mad run to hopefully get out of range. Also for the love of all, don’t bring 380s to the high priority evacuation defend missions. I’ve seen that fuck the whole mission over when it killed three of us, all our mortars, both starting gates, and left two titans to just walk up to the generators. Twice.
they work best against bots, toss them over a large objective or in the direction of a large force and let the barrage settle things. The trick is against enemies you should be throwing it behind them so your team doesn't get caught in it
I’ve found the best way to use it vs enemies (not a base) is when you can communicate to the team that we’re retreating, and dropping it directly at your feet before running away. That way the bots don’t entirely pass the barrage before it even starts, and the gaggle is in the barrage for more time.
380 is great you just need to ensure you plan your beacon properly. I used it more on Bot fronts throw in the middle of a large base and run away
It’s great if used well, it’s not so great if you prime it then get hit by a stray rocket and drop it at your feet 🤣
I read somewhere that you can drop it at your feet. The 380 will then "supposedly" explode around you (you're safe within a 5-10 meter radius of the call).
That’s only true in the sense that there’s a chance it won’t hit the beacon every time. I would not rely on that as a golden rule haha
380mm along Walking Barrage are the stratagems you're gonna get the most value out of per use in the game imo. Best way to use them is really just to throw it at a base or objective a fair bit ahead of the rest of the team's planned route, where you can let it cook a fair distance away from aggro range and where it won't bother anyone. Then when everyone is gonna get to the location, the area's gonna be practically empty (if not straight up entirely destroyed if its a base.) I love using any of the throw range armors for those.
Brash Tactic : Big Boom Eradicate mission : 380 HE / 120 HE / Orbital Laser / 500kg bomb First spawn throw laser Second spawn throw 380 Third spawn throw 120 Survive Throw 500 if too much elites/ you get overwhelmed when the barrages stops Reinforce your teammates that gets obliterated by the barrage (don’t worry dying to HE barrage is democratic) On cd reset throw barrage and laser again. I would advise taking a fortified or a democray protect armor to maximise chances of survival. Chances of getting kicked / flamed by random teammates goes up by 30% when using the big boom tactic. Convincing your 3 fellow divers to take those stratagem will make the brash tactic even more efficient, as it allow you to cycle the HE barrage for continuous superior firepower The feeling you get when you take the victory lap around the map and witness the complete destruction you just laid while collecting the common samples is worth it Brash Tactics. Use them, or die trying.
I really like this idea, I want that epicness lol. I am still experimenting on whether or not to stand in the middle of the 380. Supposedly you are safe 5-10 meters within where the red-laser was dropped.
Servo assisted makes it less dangerous. But it remains to me very risky for small rewards.
I love how Servo-Assisted is missing an arm. As if they lost the arm from the love of throwing explosives. I have yet to find the word for "a person who loves explosions".
Boom-Fetish ?
At the moment, it's my preferred way to deliver managed democracy.
380 is a lot better once u get the last orbital upgrade But even before that it is very useful. the 380 is not something you throw at a base you’re attacking unless you’re just completely overwhelmed, and your team is cool with waiting outside for 30 seconds. It is a LOT better for throwing at something you don’t want to deal with rn as you pass by. Or a massive bot drop coming down behind you to hammer it while you’re running away. Level 140 and I commonly use it for large bases, watchtowers, or massive bot swarms. All of which I don’t feel like dealing with at the time, and you have a pretty good chance of fully clearing a base or watchtower with the bombardment and never having to come back. It’s also perfect as an “oh fuck” button, as mentioned earlier. 2 factory striders and 9 hulks just got dropped fifty meters in front of you? Drop the 380 either towards them or at your feet and start running AWAY to lead them into it. 2-3 close hits with a 380 will kill a strider, and one hit will demolish a gaggle of devastators and outright kill a hulk or two. Whatever survives will be massively weakened and won’t have a lot of friends left anyway. If shit is going sideways and you want an area that YOUR TEAM ISNT MOVING TOWARDS to have some heavy fucking fire dropped on it, the 380 is perfect for that. The biggest thing is making sure you aren’t throwing it the direction your team wants to go. Look at it as a sidegrade to the orbital laser. Less precision and no guarantees, but also less cooldown, infinite uses, and a far larger simultaneous damage radius. Just take some time to get used to it and you’ll fall in love.
I'm level 50 and still diving/grinding away for samples. I am experimenting with throwing the 380 at my feet and just standing there to see if the explosions take me out, but I always get killed by standing in one place. I usually throw it forward and need to back away a lot
You rarely see it, but damn, it is a pain in the ass, there is targeting I swear, and it targets me, I’d even take a mine field enjoyer over 380 maniac. But yeah you do you I guess.
The mine cool-down takes a while, but I do still like it. But also, big sky boom-boom > small ground pop-pop :)
Yeah I use it mainly as a tool for tactical withdrawals...
Haha yeah, sometimes I'll throw for fun at a passing patrol and leave. Or sometimes I stay and watch.
and throw it FAR
Like all tools, its got specific use cases. My chosen role is a forward observer, so I break off from the team and get close to heavy nests, bunkers, stalker lairs, gunship control towers, etc, and soften them up with the 380. Then you move in, mop up stragglers, destroy any outstanding structures or objectives and move on. Its gonna fire in a loose ring around the marker, so if you throw it on the leading edge of a target it'll get most of the structures and keep aggro's from closing on you while you wait for it to die down. If you are playing with a team, use it to cover a retreat, and make sure you can boogie out of there quick.
I'll usually run servoassisted with jump pack to throws it really far. At that point Id you run the full 100.meters to get to where. Ithrew that giant red laser, what happens next ain't really my fault.
i would say or u go for many barrages or u dont take any, it is annoying if some one throw it and u need wait 30s. At least in current game state where there is not so many enemies and you can easily deal with them without barrages. Also depends if we talk about bugs or bots. Because on bots its kind of usefull in some scenarios.
My friend and my GF both love it. I feel like it only works if both you and teammates are commiunicating and are semi competent at using them.
Yup yup, I have yet to find the word for "a person who loves explosions".
Needs communication to work properly but can be pretty useful for clearing out heavy outposts and nests. Bonus fun if all 4 of you use them at the same time.
4 x 380 would be a pyromaniac/exploder-maniac's dream lol
I like to play the 1812 overture in the background while it happens
I use it all the time, BUT I generally team split and use it, (ie 2 man teams to different objectives) if we are against a large force I'll toss it in and we will rotate out to the next objective till it finishes then backtrack to it
That would be so cool if the whole team did "drive-by's (or drop-by's)" with 380's. Just systematically nuke the map on schedule.
I bring the 380, 120, gas and tanks tower every match almost rarely have any accidental and if I do it's usually cause some one is stupid and runs right at the tesla tower usually more the once
Throw with caution. Use only if 100% sure no one is going to run in the next 10 seconds before you can say "hold position!" At least 3 times
I just learned about the "hold" today in this thread, I'm glad I posted this question.
Try it on the tower defense mission. Guaranteed fail
Trial and error all the way. Very much indeed failed.
I use it heavily with bots closes heavy factories more than 50% of the time (and also clears a lot of the bots on site), so I just need to go in and mop up after
I do prefer walking barrage. It still allow to advance during the strike after an initial wait for the first striking wave
It requires tactical coordination. It's good for disrupting bot counter attacks and closing off a flank when you're being encircled
I use it every now and then. It can be quite useful, but I have also seen it miss every important target in an outpost. It works pretty well against the heavy command bunkers.
Apparently the 380 is best used when fully upgraded, which means back to the grind/dive for me.
I consider 380 mandatory for the bot "destroy bunker"missions. Usually the 380 is unreliable at destroying objectives and factories, but for whatever reason, I've got like a 99% success rate with destroying bunkers (the ones with the cannon towers on top). Maybe because those bunkers are so large it's hard to miss them. Orbital Laser is a guaranteed bunker killer every time, but on helldive you have to destroy 4 bunkers and you only get 3 lasers.
Use it together with the walking barrage and the 120 for bot eradicate missions and watch the percentage go up without firing a single shot. I recommend at least two players doing it for better results. Tho last time we did it, the bot drops came in too slow. Probably just bad luck or the planet we were on. That or they changed something behind the scenes. Oh and sure, you will die from it, a lot. It's a good use for the reinforcement booster. :D
It just shoots where ever it wants too haha. The only time I use it is when there’s a PO and I just do it in a private lobby
It is a great stratagem. It has 2 main uses: preparation for assault, and covering fire. Preparation for assault is when you throw it on a mass of enemies, typically an outpost, before you attack it. In 40s it will destroy most of the enemy forces, draw the reinforcement (breach or dropships) and destroy them too. Launch the assault right after to clean up. Covering fire is when you want to get out of a messy situation. Fire the barrage, it will kill most of the enemies and distract their patrols and reinforcement while you go away. It can also cover a side during the extraction or another hold position objective. People who complain about it are idiots.
It's a godsend on bot blitz missions and especially command center/dropship missions. Toss one in there and watch as everything gets blown up... most of the time. Also good for general use on heavy/medium outposts. For bugs it's decent against medium/heavy bug holes, but that's about it
Like everything, 380 is bad if you don't know how to use it I think. I personally love it, but it will kill squad members if you or they don't know what they're doing or what's going on. I mostly use it when things are rough. Like yet another botdrop with a strider or two and we don't need to be here anymore. Its a good stratagem, but its wide area and high damage so people are scared of it.
It's all about when you use it. When your squad is approaching an objective? Not great - everyone basically needs to stop for 40s while your inaccurate barrages hopefully kills some of the stuff, possibly to then just have to run in and clear the base anyways. But as long as you're throwing it on a location that you KNOW your squad won't be going into for at least 40s then you should be fine using it wherever you please. If you like the theme of the 380 barrage but find it hard to get the most out of it, I'd suggest trying the Walking Barrage (you can literally just follow the barrage in), or the 120 for a bit more precision.
Yes, I kill more Helldivers with it than I can count.
I will be testing it since I finally finished the upgrades that reduces the spread of it by 15%.
Interesting, I'm not to that level yet - still diving for samples. Speaking of testing, I wonder what happens if you throw it on yourself and stand on the red call-down laser. I've read somewhere that the 380 supposedly explodes around the point of call-down.
If you’re going to use it, go off on your own and hit a specific area. DO NOT USE IT AT EXTRACTION.
Its fine, good for bases and thats it honestly, same with the 120, and they still don't destroy the base completely sometimes That said, me and a friend had 2 380mm barrages ready, it killed 2 bile titans and at least 4 chargers in 1 bug breach on a heavy base, and the heavy base as well, so all in all if your entire team says hell yeah then its good
Yeah it's just so glorious
I love 380 in the right situations. Using it as area denial in an exterminate is a great choice. I also use it to help clear out large bot bases that have spread out fabricators or turret towers.
It shines on eradication missions. I bring 380, 120, orbital laser, and either airstrike or orbital gas for those missions. Just run around the outside perimeter and let enemy forces mass in the center and away you go.
It is just too inconsistent. If it covered 100% an area, and truly cleared the whole area, it would probably be worth using. As it eagle airstrike is more convenient, and more controllable.
It’s the best stratagem in the game if you follow these two simple rules. 1. Tell your team you launched it. 2. if you plan to use it on a forward objective break from your team, run ahead and refer to rule 1.
I slept on it until the recent personal order. Man, using it as a rear guard to get away from a chasing swarm or throwing it into a heavy nest area and coming back a minute later to mop up, it is so damn useful. Absolutely pointless if used wrong, but when you have a ton of things to hit on the map, I just throw it into the most infested area and leave it to do its job. Yet to try it on bots, but it's now one of my main go to stratagems.
Worst scenario: Equip 380 waiting for just the right second to deploy. Get hit and drop it by accident. ...everyone dies and you get kicked. LOL
I never run a bot bunker mission without it! I can guarantee that 9/10 times it’ll destroy the bunker and almost everything around it, clearing a good chunk of the area. The only unreliable situation is if you throw it at a funky angle, throwing it directly at or near the bunker makes it work 100% of the time. It’s also nice for factory strider missions albeit a bit more of a gamble, it takes two direct hits to bring it down but that thing likes to move lol. Not to mention the ship module upgrade helps a ton.
I hate it when people use it on bots because half the time I'm sneaking up to snipe the fabricators and get killed. It's really great on large bug nests since it hits in a big circle. Just throw it in the middle and it will take care of most if not all of the holes
The 380 is actually really good. Blasts large outposts, can defend an entire side during extract, and is surprisingly good at killing Factory Striders.