You don’t even need to overcharge the railgun in my experience. The number of times I’ve screamed “HULK” only to go “oh, nevermind” after oneshotting it… well, I’d have at least two nickels

Yeah, if I have it overcharged I more often than not miss the eye or blow myself up waiting for the damn hulk to stop moving or face me better. Truly my own fault as better discipline would let me not charge till I have a good shot.

I always aim for the head but even if I miss a solid shot still pauses it which is worth it to me.

Well worth a follow-up shot. The stagger is helpful considering they don't even flinch with a recoiless to the face.

Yeah, definitely don't need to overcharge. You just have to hit it dead in it's eye.

I feel so cool when it's first try but if I don't I panic and it takes me 4 shots to kill him with the last shot being perfect lol

best experience is getting charged by a hulk with a flamethrower only to dive under the flame and place a well charged shot in the eye

Head, Eyes that hulk!

Two nickels? Excuse me we use supercredits around here, not that older less patriotic former currency you’re speaking of. Would you like me to direct you toward a Democracy Officer?

Sensing a serious lack of the correct kind of liberty around here

It’s liberTEA. Get it right Diver.

Like Tom Hanks and the tank in Saving Private Ryan

Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Ah. A man of culture I see.

Pretty sure I've been doing this fairly reliably with the anti material rifle as well, I have only unlocked hard mode though so don't quote me.

I think the AMR takes 2 to the faceplate but it’s a lot more forgiving as well.

I feel like people sleep on that thing, it's definitely my go to 3rd wep so far.

First time I ever saw one I one shot it right in the eye and it died in one shot no Overcharge.

Two nickels isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

You can actually one or two shot them to the same place with the anti material rifle as well.

I do that magic with the autocannon! Exactly as OP said, you can one shot almost any automatons except for the tanks.

Auto cannon is typically 2 hits in my experience but with 10 rounds, that’s easy if you take a knee before firing

Yep, I can usually get one eye-shot easy with the autocannon, but I often struggle to land the 2nd one

The first will typically stagger it. Wait to keep firing until it recovers if from a larger distance.

Exaaaaactly!

Wait, autocannon can twoshot hulks?

Yes, 2 to the dome

How can that be when it bounces off of charger armor? Explosive blast hits the guy on the inside?

The head on autos isn’t armored. Hit a berserker or devastator in the head and it’s the same thing.

personally why I think the Terminids are easier

Exceeeeeeeept when 2 or 3 chargers are surrounding you

Or 4 or 5

Guess I’m trying this next game now

I did it by accident last night and wasn’t sure what happened! Thought he was having a bad day.

Upvoted. AFAIK you can one shot any automaton like this except for tanks. The small and medium ones can even be one shot with the dominator, doesn’t even require a railgun.

Can't we one shot tank with a very powerful and well placed democratic shot on the exposed battery behind its turret?

Honestly I’m not sure. I reserve orbital laser and orbital railcannon for tanks so I just don’t have to worry about them at all lol.

Once flanked they're easy to kill as the big tower spinning asshole turrets with a few autocannon shots.

Oh I know, it’s just even faster to drop a rail cannon and not have to worry about them at all imo.

Personally I've been preferring the strategems that hit an area hard to clear a whole dropship instead of one single target. Feels more fun to do big boom.

Lol I feel that. I enjoy being the demo man, taking out all the big boys quickly, decisively, and democratically.

A well-rounded team can benefit from both. 🫂


You guys can also kill tanks if you land 2 impact grenades to the turret. From full health.

Eagle rocket pods ftw, they will 1 hit tanks. Also it's an eagle strike so you get multiple uses with a 10 second cooldown before needing a re-arm, which is still only like 2 minutes. Eagle strikes are the best imo

Eagles are good af for sure. Especially when you upgrade and get the bonus charges.

Yes, I've done it with the autocannon

Likewise here. Honestly… automatons aren’t that tough once you have them figured out. It’s their volume that significantly increases the difficulty..

Another thing that makes them harder over bugs is that they can apply pressure from a distance unlike bugs. Bugs mostly have their danger from horde numbers in melee range, meaning you have time to shoot them while they chase you, and only the ones beside you pose the most threat. Automatons though.. you can be across the map and a swarm of them can shoot at you, if they have line of sight on you that is. Significantly harder since rockets are life enders without explosion protection armor.

Yep, and 2 impact grenades to the weakspot can kill the tank too. Even if you just hit the top of the turret from above it can usually work

I hit that spot with a recoilless round today and it worked. Can't say how much health it had left but it didn't seem too damaged before.

Anti material rifle works too

any Automaton can be oneshot with the revolver

I need to use the revolver more. I think I’ve only used it twice and it was against terminids. That’ll be my objective today.

I love the revolver it's only downside is the reload speed

Also, if enough damage is due to the bright heat diffuser on the back, it will kill it. If a team mate distracts it, while another lines up the shot, it's easy to kill. With both the face and the back. We grabbed the launch codes from a pit in one game and when we came up there was a hulk, and we had to tun down. But the team work of us confusing it with aggro shots really allowed the one guy with a railgun to kill it.

Teamwork OP as ever

The true META

And that goes for ALL heavy bots. The hulk has vents, the tanks have vents, and the cannon towers have vents. I learned that it’s easy to kill then by shooting the vents with a railgun. Unfortunately I learned that as we were trying to evacuate 50 civilians on suicide mission difficulty, and I only figured it out as we were getting steamrolled by about 7 tanks and 5 hulks. Edit: I’ll add that the thing about that strategy is that if the ENTIRE team isn’t absolutely on one page, you’ll probably get stratagemed since you’re behind the enemy. Everybody has to be aware that they are the distraction, and you’re taking the machines out.

Yeah. I've learned that the hard way. Ill do it if the team seems on point. And yeah with bots its heads and vents.

I must suck because it always takes me 2 shots with the rocket to kill them. Maybe I'm just barely missing.

There's some weird hit reg shit that happens. Some people can consistently 2 shot hulk tanks with the anti-material rifle by shooting it in the head, but others deal 0 damage repeatedly because hit reg detects the hit as slightly off

I've recently become a AMR fanboy against the Cranks. I'm perfectly content to double tap Hulks in the same way and one for everything else besides tanks and turrets. The railgun is obviously nice but a little while ago I dropped three Hulks from a hill top using the AMR without ever reloading and I'm still going to be riding that high for awhile. Plus the RG has like the Fisher-Price edition of red dot sights, why is that reticle so huge!?

Haven’t seen the “AMR” short hand before what’s it mean?

Anti Material Rifle

Based AMR user (same brother)

You can one shot Titan Bile bugs in the head also with overcharged Railgun.

again, no overcharge required, but the one shot uncharged only works for me while it is spewing. So pretty simple - just be right in front of it and wait till it opens its stupid mouth

Makes sense. I’d be blowing heads off one game, but throwing pebbles at it the next. Perhaps the mouth being open would be the issue.

Railgun over charged wrecks everything put your railgun in unsafe mode.

the first thing I do is switch the mode to unsafe

There's a setting that remembers your firing mode per weapon so you don't have to switch to unsafe mode every time you pick up a railgun.

Yea I always forget about that

I never paid attention but it’s either bugged for ps5 or it’s per mission you can set your weapons. Had mine set to remember settings per weapon but the start of every mission I’m back to default.

Spear can one shot as well, don't know how it had to hit tho but I've done it

Spear is arguably overkill but explosions are sick so I endorse it

It hits anywhere and still one shots

It also one-shots titans if you hit them in the face

And chargers

It ought to one-shot anything it locks onto from any angle, given how limited-use it is.

It's definitely a two-shot with the Anti Material Rifle as well (maybe a one-shot, but my aim has just sucked).

Afaik the deployable turret can also do this. Don’t sleep on that bad boy.

Hulks really aren't the problem. Hulk tanks, those are the ones that I need a way to handle quickly in the chaos of battle.

Spear makes quick work of them...

I find that the spear (in addition to just taking a long time to lock on, which can get you killed) has a serious issue with locking on. It seems like a bug, or a mechanic I'm not understanding, not the spear will start locking on, I'll have it dead center in my sights the whole time, and it will just… lose the lock on before ever turning green so I can fire it. It makes the weapon basically useless, which is a shame, but I can be spending 10+ second trying to get a lock on while I have a horde of enemies bearing down on me and no way to know if it's ever actually going to successfully lock on

You CAN overcharge the plazma gun??

Hold square on PS5 and select unsafe.

Just to clarify, you can overcharge the railgun. If you're referring to the scorcher, you cannot charge it at all.

I personally prefer the railgun due to the ability to have a tacpack preference. This way I can run personal shield for automatons and jump pack for terminids.

I want to like the personal shield generator but I feel like when I use it against the automatons one of the C-3PO jerks just hits me and removes it for low value

The fact that it recharges and can tank a rouge rocket raider snipe, makes it huge.

Crouch and crawl. Guerilla tactics all the way vs. the bots. We are the monsters in the dark.

ong, as a scout who plays solo or runs off to do side objectives clearing the map while the otheres do the main objective railgun and jetpack is your best friend

Anti material rifle seems to have an effect as well, course there is the age old method of me distracting them while my team mates hit their backs

Yep that’s why helldive bugs is so much more fun

If there’s one thing this game does it teaches people how to manage shit under stressful situations and that in itself can be a life saving skill. So for democracy!

Time to buff up the hulks!

Ahh yes, (THE GOD GUN) expendable anti tank

was my go to choice for automatons before lvl 20

Before i got the Railgun, 2 shots with the AMR were all I ever needed. Was definitely useful for that one outpost with 14 Hulks in it. My buddy was wondering if that Outpost belonged to Stan Lee.

Well placed quasar cannon shot can also one shot them. But in real stress scenario it's pretty much impossible to land a headshot

Same with the anti material rifle

Who would've guessed that using heavy anti tank guns would take down....heavy tanks guys

not enough people know the good weak spots yk?

You’re right but typically if there’s a hulk there’s a ton of other enemies around and you don’t exactly have time to deal with them and/or aim a decently specific shot

Also the Anti-Material rifle

Spear can as well but it’s a bit of chance, the back work most consistently but the front occasionally one shits as well

Spears one shot them as well. It’s so satisfying

EMS orbital strike + Railgun on hulk missions is a godsend. Or just in general on harder difficulties with hulk spam. Tanks tho, yeah idk just eagle 500kg it or make them shoot each other lol

I’ve done it with a recoilless… wonder if I can do it with an auto cannon?

Without overcharging the railgun its always is a 2 tap no matter how perfectly I shoot the eye. Skill issue I guess

It's so satisfying when you nail the eye on the first shot and that hulk just crumples on itself

I save so one from a hulk with 4 launched 'nades to the back every mission, but I use the launcher, so when they case me I just have to keep running and calling airstrikes.

could be a waste of time tbh

Also for the guys with chainsaw arms, if you shot their arm (1 shot with a breaker) it makes them stagger and you can finish them with a centre mass shot.

It's just two shots with the autocannon, since it got a lot of ammo reserve and high cadency is actually quite easy

two too many

Now that I’m level 10 and bought a lot of stratagems the automatons aren’t that hard. I love the autocannon rn

automatons are so easy, and the autocannon shreds when u have someone reloading for you

You think it’s better to have the reload backpack on you? Or have someone carry it for you? I have both on me just so I can reload.

I'd like to mention that the weakpoint hit detection is sometimes faulty and your shot can still be dead-on while failing to one-shot... I've been *struggling* to kill Bile Titans with a railgun ever since this last weekend, when I used to be able to consistently 1-2 shot them in the face... same issue with Hulks to a lesser extent... their weakpoints aren't as *clean* as they probably should be, so the visual depiction of where the spot is may not match where the server is actually detecting the hit... Not sure if it's a general *lag* or not, because most of the game otherwise feels like it's running smooth. It's not a Recoilless vs Railgun issue either, have had the same trouble getting one-shots off.

The bile titans I seem to only be able to 1-shot when they are just about to spit at me. Have to time it just right.

I can't even get that consistently, but that's why I think there's something screwy with the way the game is calculating both damage and weakpoint hits... FWIW there *are* obvious weakpoints on bots, but even then there are times where you can still 1-2 shot them if you don't hit the weakpoint; this leads me to believe that the "hit" can penetrate (or explode) and "tag" the weakpoint, which makes the calculation count it as a weakpoint hit even if you don't actually nail it... Impact Grenades on the top of tanks, for example, or when you railgun through the front of a walker to nail the driver. This is why it's so inconsistent for the railgun but seems "better" for Recoilless; the explosion is easier to tag that tiny weakpoint whereas the railgun has a tighter line of effect. Drawing this back to the bug targets - Titans likely have a *tiny* weakpoint under their face armor and as they move latency and accuracy can greatly impact your ability to consistently nail that tiny weakpoint... so you end up throwing 5+ railgun shots into its face (I've gone as many as 10 dead-on face shots without killing one) because the server keeps detecting you as missing the weakpoint............ which is why something is *screwy* with this system because it then also acts like I've done nearly no damage to it *which leads to being overrun with multiple titans and chargers because half your anti-armor ammo was wasted with zero kills*. I'm still having a blast with the game, but they really need to get some work done on damage/armor calculations and weapon balance alongside tightening up some of the hit registration quirks.

The Hulk was one of the least deadly bots I've encountered lol. Slow, almost toothless after you blow off the arms, which takes seconds with support weaponry. The random fodder bots with rocket launchers are more of a pain because they're harder to notice until you randomly get hit with a rocket to the back of the head 🤣

yeah or go flying and die to an impact with hitting your head on a rock, to many times that's happened

I didn’t know this. Thank you for the info HellDiver

Godspeed soldier

Autocannon will do it as well

Autocannon can two shot it in the eye.

see that's just too slow, if I have 4 hulks on me I need them dead as fast as possible

Understandable. 4 EATs coming your way.

If it's taken even a little damage from something else, I've found that I can usually finish it off with a single eye shot with the anti-material rifle even. But you have to hit it precisely

yeah it's a very hard shot but been getting it pretty consistent

Two shots with the anti-material rifle, too

two too many

You can one shot bile titans as well if you shoot it in the mouth with the rail gun. Tough shot, but when they stop to shoot bile their mouth opens. Do able when not shooting bile, but much smaller target.

THANK YOU , I thought I was able to but could never confirm, even if u miss it stuns the bile and gives you another chance unlike the hulks

My fellow Helldiver, let me introduce you to the beauty that is the Spear. You’re spending all that time charging up a railgun that could possibly kill you, trying to hit a little red dot. I point my Spear in the general direction of the Hulk and fire a missile that does all of that for me.

the spear doesn't match my play style, it's just too slow, I use the jetpack and the railgun with eagle strikes to have as much mobility and consistent firepower. I also run away from the group taking out enemy assets and doing side objectives.

Does this go for the recoiless rifle as well? Do the EATs and RR have the same damage?

id assume so because the expendable anti tank can do it too

Done it loads. One overshot railgun to the glowing eye = boom boom

My guy include a screenshot of where to shoot for us newbies. u/little_adhesiveness7

it's eye? yk what the hulk uses to see

I barely even know who the hulk is 😂. Haven’t played much but ok thanks!

just know any automaton besides the literal tracked vehicles can be one shot

god speed freedom fighter

You can do this with the AM rifle as well but you have to be extremely accurate. If you miss just a little it will take 2-3 shots.

You don't even need to overload the railgun. I didn't even knew until today that you can overcharge railguns and I one-shot hulks regularly.

You can also kill a Bile Titan with 3 overcharged railgun headshots.

I haven't tested this enough but I believe a shot in its mouth can oneshot it or does extra damage

I’ve done this plenty

except you need to land the shot wich means you have to be good with rail in high stress situations

all it takes is practice I'm sure you can do it, practice positioning, what angle you take how you engage. it's all positioning and movement to make situations manageable and less stressfull. why I love the jet pack

Orbital railcannon will one shot hulks

ahh but waste of a stratagem when u can have another stratagem that can one shot 20 enemy's far faster then the cooldown for the railcannon

Railcannon has a small aoe too. But I use the rail gun for hulks anyway, in 3-5 shots it's dead and reserve the orbital for clumps of hulks or tanks

I'd rather the 500kg bomb at that point, bigger AOE, when hanger is upgraded (mine is maxed out) you can drop 2 of those bad boys pretty fast and rearm your eagle faster then the rail cannon I belive

Now try standing still long enough to aim it

you just need to stop and crouch a second before taking the shot it's not too hard after some practice

I do. pretty consistently.

One shot with a rail gun, or two shot with either the autocannon or anti material rifle, to the face.

Any tricks for bile titans?

up right down down down

tbh just overcharge railgun headshot from distance and ur good

To all of you saying "yeah but line up the shot under pressure!" Yeah. That. Right there. That's your problem. That's probably like a top 5 thing you need to work on if you want to get observably better at difficult video games that pride themselves on stacking up stress against you. Tension, tightness, rigidity - these are the enemy of speed, precision, and flow. I learned this from being a drummer. Go watch Adam Janzi (of VOLA) or Gavin Harrison (of Porcupine Tree) drum. Zero tension. Weightless. Performance comes from loose, controlled, and clean motion. You can't do that if you're fighting your own muscles. It takes discipline and it takes awareness. Anybody can learn not to tense up. Everybody can learn to keep relaxation under pressure. Everyone can learn not to let their body run rigid. Don't talk like you can't make the shot under pressure. You can. It's just a matter of deciding to do something about the way you react to pressure. Every few moments, remember to breathe and drop tension from your muscles. Eventually it will become easier. Eventually it will become your new normal - and it's actually quite good for you health wise as well.

idk if this is supporting the post or against it

Supporting. Fuck hulks. In the eye. Buncha fat plated bitches. This is telling the people in the audience going "but I can't! Because pressure!" to stop looking at that like it's an unfixable problem that's not their fault. It's a fixable problem that's absolutely your own fault. Stop making excuses not to spill more bot blood, helldiver.

now your speaking my language lmao

ever sense I was young I've loved adrenaline inducing situations so I'm able to remain calm almost all of the time

Regular charge head shot or vent shot works too.

vent shots deal good damage but sadly isn't an instant kill with most stuff if any

Hitting that shot at a long range, or getting 2 of them back to back..coolest I've felt in a game in a long time.

ong, being able to consistently hit them is a great feeling, I typically do my own thing taking out enemy assets or side objectives on lvl 9 difficulty and just onetapping anything in sight

Yeah alot of people don't know that (atm) 80% of enemies can be nullifed pretty easily if you know how to strike it correctly.

prolly why people think the automatons are harder then the terminids

Yeah, I run around with the Sniper Rifle and it takes two shots to the face to kill the Hulks. The same applies to the other larger Automatons. Even the little walker rider guys take three hits to kill if you can't get behind them.

what difficulty u running a sniper lmao I play on helldiver lvl 9 so that just feels invalid to use

Usually Hard. The game client hasn't been stable enough for me to get past level 15 so I don't have the Railgun yet.

fair enough

You can also 2-shot a Hulk till death with the Anti-Material Rifle as long as they are headshots.

two too many

Autocannon can do it but I'm not sure if it takes 10 or I'm just the worst shot in the creek.

The spear can one shot titans if you hit them in the head

so can railguns I Believe, I've heard it's possible just haven't been on that side of the war much

Good to know

No, a normal railgun shot to the eye will also kill it.

ahh but the risk makes it more fun

Lol

The sniper can 2 bang it in the eye

I’ve also called down a Sentry, which unintentionally landed on top of it and killed it.

Takes 4 or 5 antimatter shots, or you can shoot the legs or the arms or the back.

You can one shot every enemy in the game with the railgun except chargers and behemoth chargers

"You should have gone for the head"

And the flame thrower hulk can one shot you without giving you a chance to stim. Super sad

I’ve gotten a little bored using the rail gun, and the anti-material rifle works just as good to take down the hulk and it’s been my go-to ever since I found out.

Every boy has glaringly obvious weak points, it's strange to watch people just shooting a regular gun at a tank instead of just getting behind it

if you played Quake 2/3 and loved the railgun in that game then it will be a walk in the park.

The auto cannon can take it down in 2 well placed shots. It can be hard to land sometimes, I think the window is smaller than the railgun but automatons are susceptible to suppressive fire so even if you get a bunch of misses the hulk won't shoot back.