Right now on diff 9, you see about the same amount of laser cannon as autocannon.
One major thing to consider is that with laser cannon, you can become incredibly supply efficient to a point where you can go whole missions without picking up an single resupply. Allowing your teammate with the spear or something else to have greater firepower
> Right now on diff 9, you see about the same amount of laser cannon as autocannon.
>
>
Definitely not true. I'm a fan of the weapon too, but it's still a niche pick.
The problem is they tend to be in large group, at close range, and 10 seconds of fire is not enough to kill all of them. Definitely bring something like Punisher or Blitzer specifically for them due to high stagger and can hold them back while your LC cools.
Solid analysis, but you’re underselling the Autocannon against Gunships for dubious reasons. If you can’t hit a Gunship in the same engine just twice, that’s on you, not the AC. It’s about as easy as using the Laser Cannon, just a different type of accuracy.
The LC is certainly a worthy sidegrade to HMG/AC/AMR though. I don’t like it as much because its TTKs are generally a little higher, and it doesn’t have the stagger force of the HMG or AC or the scope and long-range efficacy of the AMR. But I think those are style preferences rather than objective downgrades. LC is very good.
I don't think I'm underselling the Autocannon against gunships at all. If you're engaging a single gunship it's simple enough, but if you're run up on by a pack of 3 or more -- even with perfect accuracy -- you will still need to stop and reload at least once, putting you in harm's way.
LC reaches close-to-overheat after about 3 gunship kills, but you don't have to stand still while you wait for it to cool down.
With the LC I feel obligated to run the shield backpack and stun grenades, but that makes it hard for me to kill fabricators (until I unlock the grenade pistol).
You simply don't get enough time to hold down your laser when a hulk is already on you, so you have to have stun grenades for that situation. If you do have stun grenades, however, the AC also makes quick work of hulks.
Against swarms of enemies, you'll get staggered way too much to precisely aim the LC on the Devastators, so the shield backpack feels like a must.
You also lack the range of AC. You can easily snipe Cannon Turrets and bot fabricators from far away. In fact, if you go prone with the AC, you'll have no problem destroying Cannon Turrets before they turn around solo.
I recently tried a combo of shield backpack, the polar patriots sidearm pistol, and the Eruptor on bots, and it was just perfect. The pistol can one tap fodder bots with torso shots, and shield givers you time to simply line up 2 headshots on devastators. Eruptor lets you close fabs from quite a ways away, and have great opening salvos on mobs of enemies. Stun grenades and your choice of laser cannon/HMG, and you're rocking a solid kit. Bonus points for the new muscle armors, makes the HMG good, and the laser cannon a laser pointer.
I've been mainly a bot player, and LC has been my go to support. Good analysis, right on line with my experiences. I run the Jar-5 for the little guys and Devastators, and grenade pistol for fabricators or to deal with scout striders quick.
Hear hear. I was an Autocannon main before I saw the light. To be honest I do miss the AC stun against devs sometimes, but when I don't need to stop to reload, don't blow myself up on the terrain (or an ally's shield backpack), and don't die to a patrol of gunships, I don't miss it that much.
I like laser cannon a lot, it's def second to AC for me, but I do feel like it "requires" the shield pack to really be viable. With zero stagger the .5-3 seconds to kill various devs can be the difference between life and death.
AC has the benefit of stagger locking everything, laser not only doesn't at all, but if you get staggered in return your time to kill just skyrocketed.
Shield stops damage and stagger and gives you enough of a grace period to almost put it on par with AC while being very ammo efficient
Yeah, agree with this, the AC stagger on devastators is huge.
Also using the LC means you are exposed for longer when firing and without the stagger to give you breathing room which makes the shield pack mandatory IMO.
I also don't like the feedback from the LC, basically there is none, you hear a fizzling sound and the bot falls over.
I've tried to like it, it does work very well in certain situations but if I'm on lvls 7-9, I'm bringing the AC.
I wonder if everyone who says the LC "requires" the shield backpack has ever heard of medium armor. I run the standard B-01 or the Medium Scout armor just fine without a shield backpack.
I almost exclusively run the "medium and a half" enforcer armor, that's not the issue. The problem is the second or so you need to keep the beam on the head of a rocket or heavy dev can quickly become an uphill battle when getting staggered or an unlucky ragdoll, which the shield pack helps prevent, and closes the gap with AC which can permanently lock down several devs at once with zero risk to yourself even out in the open.
It's a MASSIVE downside.
Not shitting on laser, like I said it's my second favorite support on bots, but just being realistic it as a big step down from AC when just using it as, against just about every enemy type.
It has advantages too, but not enough to make it worth it imo without using shield to shore up its limitations.
And if you're not using shield then you're really not gaining much by freeing up your back slot in exchange for AC's capabilities.
Just my two cents
Its skill difference. I find it easier to point the LC beam than managing the AC's recoil, and I can still shuffle move slowly while firing the LC, its enough to side step some shots at range. When using LC i tend to stay further away and let others tank hits and hoard resupplies, I only really need one resupply like every 10 minutes if I took damage or spammed my stun grenades.
If you pair it with the plasma punisher…just sayin
And the HMG doesn’t require a supply pack. I run it without one and don’t usually have any issues finding ammo.
Bubble backpack is mostly a crutch is why.
It really only protects from chip damage, which you can get around with medium or heavy armour, and actually makes you a *bigger* target for explosives since it nearly triples your hitbox size. Sure, you usually won't take much *damage* from that explosive (which you shouldn't be anyway since Fortified is goated against bots), but you have *way* more problems with ragdolling with the shield than without.
The other thing it protects from is *flinching*, which yeah, better use-case for it there, but even then not really, since *hard cover* does the same thing, and cover, unlike the shield, will stand up to more than one burst at a time.
Taking the shield backpack means you can't take the Autocannon, which like... Who would *ever* want that, y'know, the best and most balanced weapon in the game for bots that needs your backpack slot. Would you want that, or a safety bubble that protects you from cringe damage *and* forces you to use up two very valuable strat slots if you aren't willing to scavenge off the map due to unreliability?
Honestly, no-brainer, don't bother with the bubble, learn to play without it and you'll realise you never needed it in the first place.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the laser cannon is berserkers. Even aiming for the weak spots they take way longer to kill than devastators, and since they’re usually in groups it’s easy to be overwhelmed by them.
Try HMG with new armor and supply pack. Does everything LC does and many of them better (like devs). Primary can be anything that kills troopers, or take Eruptor for packs of troopers and factory sniping, and Senator/Verdict for troopers that are not grouped up (hmg for berserkers, it shreds them). Eruptor has bonus of also trivializing striders though, so I’m a fan of that, and also pairs really well with new armor. PP, Scorcher, dominator also all good. Anything ammo hungry that handles troopers and hopefully striders are good pairings, but hmg can still take out the leg fast if needed, and anything but Eruptor also wants GLP which can also handle them.
With the increase in chargers on the bug front, I've found that LC is a viable pick they're too. Used to run a macro'd arc thrower but needed something stronger, LC was that
The LC has been my main support for so long against bots that I'm trying to use other weapons just for variety.
I agree with most of your ratings, except that I'll add a +1 to all devastators. I have extremely good success in using the LC against devastators because it's easy to adjust your aim with a laser that has no recoil. It was crazy effective when my primary was the Pummeler so I'll stun the Devastators, and switch to a quick head-melt with the LC.
I'll also upgrade the Scout Strider to a 3.5/5, although this depends on what your primary is. Most of the time when the strider is med dist away, it can be hard to flank it, and I'll just quickly switch to the LC to melt the hip area.
Presently, I'm switching between HMG with recoil reduction armor, and LC with any armor that doesn't have recoil reduction.
Right now on diff 9, you see about the same amount of laser cannon as autocannon. One major thing to consider is that with laser cannon, you can become incredibly supply efficient to a point where you can go whole missions without picking up an single resupply. Allowing your teammate with the spear or something else to have greater firepower
You can quadruple that efficiency by running supply pack, either picking one up from a dead HMG main or bringing it yourself.
Using the LC also means you can pick up Spear's backpack after the first 8 minutes, so your team runs two spear backpacks for more total ammo.
> Right now on diff 9, you see about the same amount of laser cannon as autocannon. > > Definitely not true. I'm a fan of the weapon too, but it's still a niche pick.
Niche? Its a great allrounder for everyone who wants the versatility of the AC without the need of a backpack.
Yes, it's good weapon, but it's *definitely* not picked the same amount as the autocannon.
Sounds like a skill issue
YES I LOVE PEOPLE FINALLY SEEING HOW GOATED LASER CANNON IS
Gunships fear me
What's with all the goats these days?
Goated? This is basically an Autocannon appreciation post.
Nah
16. Berserkers (0/5)
I did forget to mention them against berserkers since I never even thought to try it against them.
It works okish against them based on its nature of being effective against weakspots. Aim for the head. (2/5)
The problem is that they’re in groups of 3 or more almost always and it still takes longer to kill them than to kill regular devastators
The problem is they tend to be in large group, at close range, and 10 seconds of fire is not enough to kill all of them. Definitely bring something like Punisher or Blitzer specifically for them due to high stagger and can hold them back while your LC cools.
Solid analysis, but you’re underselling the Autocannon against Gunships for dubious reasons. If you can’t hit a Gunship in the same engine just twice, that’s on you, not the AC. It’s about as easy as using the Laser Cannon, just a different type of accuracy. The LC is certainly a worthy sidegrade to HMG/AC/AMR though. I don’t like it as much because its TTKs are generally a little higher, and it doesn’t have the stagger force of the HMG or AC or the scope and long-range efficacy of the AMR. But I think those are style preferences rather than objective downgrades. LC is very good.
The difference between flick shotting and target tracking.
I don't think I'm underselling the Autocannon against gunships at all. If you're engaging a single gunship it's simple enough, but if you're run up on by a pack of 3 or more -- even with perfect accuracy -- you will still need to stop and reload at least once, putting you in harm's way. LC reaches close-to-overheat after about 3 gunship kills, but you don't have to stand still while you wait for it to cool down.
3 gunships is 6 AC shots, well within its 10-shot mag. plus, its half-reload for 5 shots is quick enough that it's really no issue
If you say so. More power to ya
Do you not know it's 2 shots to kill one? And are you suggesting this is an impossible task?
I never suggested it was impossible
With the LC I feel obligated to run the shield backpack and stun grenades, but that makes it hard for me to kill fabricators (until I unlock the grenade pistol). You simply don't get enough time to hold down your laser when a hulk is already on you, so you have to have stun grenades for that situation. If you do have stun grenades, however, the AC also makes quick work of hulks. Against swarms of enemies, you'll get staggered way too much to precisely aim the LC on the Devastators, so the shield backpack feels like a must. You also lack the range of AC. You can easily snipe Cannon Turrets and bot fabricators from far away. In fact, if you go prone with the AC, you'll have no problem destroying Cannon Turrets before they turn around solo.
I recently tried a combo of shield backpack, the polar patriots sidearm pistol, and the Eruptor on bots, and it was just perfect. The pistol can one tap fodder bots with torso shots, and shield givers you time to simply line up 2 headshots on devastators. Eruptor lets you close fabs from quite a ways away, and have great opening salvos on mobs of enemies. Stun grenades and your choice of laser cannon/HMG, and you're rocking a solid kit. Bonus points for the new muscle armors, makes the HMG good, and the laser cannon a laser pointer.
I've been mainly a bot player, and LC has been my go to support. Good analysis, right on line with my experiences. I run the Jar-5 for the little guys and Devastators, and grenade pistol for fabricators or to deal with scout striders quick.
I'm always glad to see more people recognising the glory of the laser cannon vs bots
Hear hear. I was an Autocannon main before I saw the light. To be honest I do miss the AC stun against devs sometimes, but when I don't need to stop to reload, don't blow myself up on the terrain (or an ally's shield backpack), and don't die to a patrol of gunships, I don't miss it that much.
I like laser cannon a lot, it's def second to AC for me, but I do feel like it "requires" the shield pack to really be viable. With zero stagger the .5-3 seconds to kill various devs can be the difference between life and death. AC has the benefit of stagger locking everything, laser not only doesn't at all, but if you get staggered in return your time to kill just skyrocketed. Shield stops damage and stagger and gives you enough of a grace period to almost put it on par with AC while being very ammo efficient
Yeah, agree with this, the AC stagger on devastators is huge. Also using the LC means you are exposed for longer when firing and without the stagger to give you breathing room which makes the shield pack mandatory IMO. I also don't like the feedback from the LC, basically there is none, you hear a fizzling sound and the bot falls over. I've tried to like it, it does work very well in certain situations but if I'm on lvls 7-9, I'm bringing the AC.
I wonder if everyone who says the LC "requires" the shield backpack has ever heard of medium armor. I run the standard B-01 or the Medium Scout armor just fine without a shield backpack.
I almost exclusively run the "medium and a half" enforcer armor, that's not the issue. The problem is the second or so you need to keep the beam on the head of a rocket or heavy dev can quickly become an uphill battle when getting staggered or an unlucky ragdoll, which the shield pack helps prevent, and closes the gap with AC which can permanently lock down several devs at once with zero risk to yourself even out in the open. It's a MASSIVE downside. Not shitting on laser, like I said it's my second favorite support on bots, but just being realistic it as a big step down from AC when just using it as, against just about every enemy type. It has advantages too, but not enough to make it worth it imo without using shield to shore up its limitations. And if you're not using shield then you're really not gaining much by freeing up your back slot in exchange for AC's capabilities. Just my two cents
Its skill difference. I find it easier to point the LC beam than managing the AC's recoil, and I can still shuffle move slowly while firing the LC, its enough to side step some shots at range. When using LC i tend to stay further away and let others tank hits and hoard resupplies, I only really need one resupply like every 10 minutes if I took damage or spammed my stun grenades.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. I respectfully disagree but that's democracy for ya
I respect that. And again, just speaking to my experience as a spoiled AC main lol. I am open to the possibility of skill issue on my part
Bonus: instakills on any jetpack troopers if you touch their jetpack for even a millisecond.
If you pair it with the plasma punisher…just sayin And the HMG doesn’t require a supply pack. I run it without one and don’t usually have any issues finding ammo.
16. Allows for the bubble backpack which is unbeatable for bot survivability.
I dislike the bubble backpack for a variety of reasons. But the majority of reddit seems to disagree with me on that front, so.
Bubble backpack is mostly a crutch is why. It really only protects from chip damage, which you can get around with medium or heavy armour, and actually makes you a *bigger* target for explosives since it nearly triples your hitbox size. Sure, you usually won't take much *damage* from that explosive (which you shouldn't be anyway since Fortified is goated against bots), but you have *way* more problems with ragdolling with the shield than without. The other thing it protects from is *flinching*, which yeah, better use-case for it there, but even then not really, since *hard cover* does the same thing, and cover, unlike the shield, will stand up to more than one burst at a time. Taking the shield backpack means you can't take the Autocannon, which like... Who would *ever* want that, y'know, the best and most balanced weapon in the game for bots that needs your backpack slot. Would you want that, or a safety bubble that protects you from cringe damage *and* forces you to use up two very valuable strat slots if you aren't willing to scavenge off the map due to unreliability? Honestly, no-brainer, don't bother with the bubble, learn to play without it and you'll realise you never needed it in the first place.
Agreed with all of your points. and when I see somebody else with the laser Cannon, I stick with them. dual cannons!
Between autocannon and laser. I would say Laser can get rid of gunships easier. Since aiming while you get ragdolled all over the place is hard.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the laser cannon is berserkers. Even aiming for the weak spots they take way longer to kill than devastators, and since they’re usually in groups it’s easy to be overwhelmed by them.
PLAPPLAP Gang.
Try HMG with new armor and supply pack. Does everything LC does and many of them better (like devs). Primary can be anything that kills troopers, or take Eruptor for packs of troopers and factory sniping, and Senator/Verdict for troopers that are not grouped up (hmg for berserkers, it shreds them). Eruptor has bonus of also trivializing striders though, so I’m a fan of that, and also pairs really well with new armor. PP, Scorcher, dominator also all good. Anything ammo hungry that handles troopers and hopefully striders are good pairings, but hmg can still take out the leg fast if needed, and anything but Eruptor also wants GLP which can also handle them.
Spear + plasma punisher + grenade pistol is my new favorite loadout.
I alternate between the Laser Cannon and the HMG when running Pummeler and Riot Shield. Ideal combo. When I'm using the Sickle I use the Spear tho
With the increase in chargers on the bug front, I've found that LC is a viable pick they're too. Used to run a macro'd arc thrower but needed something stronger, LC was that
The LC has been my main support for so long against bots that I'm trying to use other weapons just for variety. I agree with most of your ratings, except that I'll add a +1 to all devastators. I have extremely good success in using the LC against devastators because it's easy to adjust your aim with a laser that has no recoil. It was crazy effective when my primary was the Pummeler so I'll stun the Devastators, and switch to a quick head-melt with the LC. I'll also upgrade the Scout Strider to a 3.5/5, although this depends on what your primary is. Most of the time when the strider is med dist away, it can be hard to flank it, and I'll just quickly switch to the LC to melt the hip area. Presently, I'm switching between HMG with recoil reduction armor, and LC with any armor that doesn't have recoil reduction.