Chargers...

[Dimwit Donald (very high IQ)]

They kinda spoil the game the way they are now. Every party is ruined once they show up. It's cool to have an enemy that is virtually invulnerable from the front and almost invulnerable from almost everywhere else, but it shouldn't also have more health than all other types of enemy combined and spawn as frequently as it does.

They require so much time and attention to kill that they dominate the entire gameplay given their spawn frequency.

Especially when playing solo or just being seperated, they turn the game into a constant run-and-dodge travesty. You can't deal with the swarm properly, because you are constantly running and dodging, trying to at least get the objective done, and don't even get to reload your heavy weapon anymore. Then the smaller ones keep piling up to the point where you can't avoid getting overwhelmed anymore and, before you know it, there are 2, 3 and 6 chargers at once.

In Helldivers 1 one or two hits from the AT weapons was enough to kill them iirc. Now you don't just need their weakspot exposed, you have to fire half the ammo you are carrying on it as well. They were the kind of enemies for which you had to bring AT weapons to the mission in the first place - now you might as well not, because they aren't really that much more effective than other weapons against them.

What you should do is to make the charger, as it is now, even somewhat bigger and tougher and turn it into one of those rare titan-like enemies. Then make a smaller variant with much less health and maybe a bit faster and more agile, which spawns more commonly.

UPDATE:

Originally posted by Electronic Old Man:

Yes, thank you very much for reviving this topic with more brilliant ideas how to deal with ONE SINGLE CHARGER. I'm doing fine on suicide mission and above. Chargers are still dominating the gameplay too much, although I do believe they received a health nerf at some point in the meantime. And I don't need more noob advice.

[Commander Hitman2b]

nah charger are okay once you've learn you can 2 shot them with 2 disposable at with well place shot , you have yet to see the bigger threat i've only seen the bile titan and i even wonder if there even more BIGGER

[Nihil]

Have to agree with OP.
The enemy concept is great. But the issue is their spawn rate and how they spawn. They are not single spawns. But they bring always their specific trashmob enemy swarms with them. And even on difficulty 4 they usually spawn in groups. And you simply don't have the firepower to deal with 4 of them and also the other enemies. Well you can kite them around till your anti-tank weapon stratagems recharge. But then you end up in a single worthless fight for 10 min.

Chargers or heavies or what is the official name should be a type of miniboss which is hard to take out but spawns alone. Or max with some trash mobs.

And i think the hitreg is also kinda broken. I often shoot their exposed body parts and get the hit reg visual like i would shoot an armor and not doing damage.
And i frequently have these chargers eating up 4 expendable rockets and not dying even after shooting the same spot. Sometimes i have the feeling it is easier to take out a brood mother than a charger.

[The Real GOW]

Originally posted by Albatross:

They kinda spoil the game the way they are now. Every party is ruined once they show up. It's cool to have an enemy that is virtually invulnerable from the front and almost invulnerable from almost everywhere else, but it shouldn't also have more health than all other types of enemy combined and spawn as frequently as it does.

Especially when playing solo or just being seperated, they turn the game into a constant run-and-dodge travesty. You can't deal with the swarm properly, because you are constantly running and dodging, trying to at least get the objective done, and don't even get to reload your heavy weapon anymore. Then the smaller ones keep piling up to the point where you can't avoid getting overwhelmed anymore and, before you know it, there are 2, 3 and 6 chargers at once.

In Helldivers 1 one or two hits from the AT weapons was enough to kill them iirc. Now you don't just need their weakspot exposed, you have to fire half the ammo you are carrying on it as well. They were the kind of enemies for which you had to bring AT weapons to the mission in the first place - now you might as well not, because they aren't really that much more effective than other weapons against them.

What you should do is to make the charger, as it is now, even somewhat bigger and tougher and turn it into one of those rare titan-like enemies. Then make a smaller variant with much less health and maybe a bit faster and more agile, which spawns more commonly.

Not gonna read all this but if you're talking about what i think you are, dive out the way then gun down his backside then when he rotates get up and repeat since you can nail him down after diving and still shooting while on the floor or railgun his face 4 times

[Commander Hitman2b]

Originally posted by Nihil:

Have to agree with OP.
The enemy concept is great. But the issue is their spawn rate and how they spawn. They are not single spawns. But they bring always their specific trashmob enemy swarms with them. And even on difficulty 4 they usually spawn in groups. And you simply don't have the firepower to deal with 4 of them and also the other enemies. Well you can kite them around till your anti-tank weapon stratagems recharge. But then you end up in a single worthless fight for 10 min.

Chargers or heavies or what is the official name should be a type of miniboss which is hard to take out but spawns alone. Or max with some trash mobs.

And i think the hitreg is also kinda broken. I often shoot their exposed body parts and get the hit reg visual like i would shoot an armor and not doing damage.
And i frequently have these chargers eating up 4 expendable rockets and not dying even after shooting the same spot. Sometimes i have the feeling it is easier to take out a brood mother than a charger.

i've played diff 5 and well sure having 4 of them comming at spawn is not good but it's still duable without using alot of ammo , also there the stratagems such as autocanon and rocket turret who can easely dispach them in mere 30 second

[Waldherz]

1 charger is fine.
Getting hunted by 20 is not. Tone down the spawn rate by A LOT.
Ive even had 5 or 6 follow me at a level 4 mission right at the start.

[Nihil]

Originally posted by Commander Hitman2b:

Originally posted by Nihil:

Have to agree with OP.
The enemy concept is great. But the issue is their spawn rate and how they spawn. They are not single spawns. But they bring always their specific trashmob enemy swarms with them. And even on difficulty 4 they usually spawn in groups. And you simply don't have the firepower to deal with 4 of them and also the other enemies. Well you can kite them around till your anti-tank weapon stratagems recharge. But then you end up in a single worthless fight for 10 min.

Chargers or heavies or what is the official name should be a type of miniboss which is hard to take out but spawns alone. Or max with some trash mobs.

And i think the hitreg is also kinda broken. I often shoot their exposed body parts and get the hit reg visual like i would shoot an armor and not doing damage.
And i frequently have these chargers eating up 4 expendable rockets and not dying even after shooting the same spot. Sometimes i have the feeling it is easier to take out a brood mother than a charger.

i've played diff 5 and well sure having 4 of them comming at spawn is not good but it's still duable without using alot of ammo , also there the stratagems such as autocanon and rocket turret who can easely dispach them in mere 30 second

Yes there are but to be fair, Autocannon turret and rocket turret are kinda late progress unlocks. Which difficulty 4 or 5 are not. And that's what I'm saying that the scaling is kinda messed up.

[Nihil]

Originally posted by Waldherz彡:

1 charger is fine.
Getting hunted by 20 is not. Tone down the spawn rate by A LOT.
Ive even had 5 or 6 follow me at a level 4 mission right at the start.

THIS!
And not to mention if they are being accompanied by the huge fat spitter bugs. Which run as fast as Hussein Bolt. Why are the big fat bugs so fast?

[speedingdeath]

Chargers definitely feel a little poorly designed right now. With a well-coordinated 4-player party, they aren't an issue at all, but if you jump into a game solo or with just 1 friend, the Chargers completely disrupt the mission. Even choosing a loadout specifically focused on Chargers, as many people suggest, is not helpful when there are more Chargers than players, and the gear is on cooldown. The answer to a commonly spawning enemy can't be 'only these 2 support weapons are actually viable'.

Having a vulnerability in the face would go a long way towards giving individual players an actual action plan against one that doesn't involve running in circles for 5 minutes, hunting for the occasional exposed rear, while more waves spawn.

I've seen a player break off leg armor with the HMG, but even that took multiple mags and distractions from other players.

There needs to be more options to kill them.

[Dimwit Donald (very high IQ)]

Originally posted by British Scrub:

Not gonna read all this but if you're talking about what i think you are, dive out the way then gun down his backside then when he rotates get up and repeat since you can nail him down after diving and still shooting while on the floor or railgun his face 4 times

I know how to fight them. That's not the point. It takes way too long to kill them.

[The Dess 2023 GOTY Edition]

Originally posted by Albatross:

Originally posted by British Scrub:

Not gonna read all this but if you're talking about what i think you are, dive out the way then gun down his backside then when he rotates get up and repeat since you can nail him down after diving and still shooting while on the floor or railgun his face 4 times

I know how to fight them. That's not the point. It takes way too long to kill them.

If the game were too easy, you'd complain about that also.

[Commander Hitman2b]

Originally posted by Nihil:

Originally posted by Commander Hitman2b:

i've played diff 5 and well sure having 4 of them comming at spawn is not good but it's still duable without using alot of ammo , also there the stratagems such as autocanon and rocket turret who can easely dispach them in mere 30 second

Yes there are but to be fair, Autocannon turret and rocket turret are kinda late progress unlocks. Which difficulty 4 or 5 are not. And that's what I'm saying that the scaling is kinda messed up.

even if you don't have them you can get the recoiless or disposable AT which are as effectif

[Formous]

I find shield and arc rifle make these guys simple to deal with. Yeah it takes a few rounds, but the arc just pens through their hide, eventually killing them if you use full charge shots.

[XGUNNARX]

they suck at first.. then later on when you kill 4 of them that spawn on the same time.. just need anti tank.. stop wasting you main gun rounds on them.. recoil less rifle with the backpack is pretty money....

[Xarko]

I think most people don't understand how Chargers health work. He has multiple health bars. Depleting one to 0 will kill him. Depleting all them to 50% and he's still struting around happily. One of the easiest ways to deal with them solo is destroying one of his front legs.

TLDR don't fire blindly, focus on a single body part.

[Dimwit Donald (very high IQ)]

Originally posted by The Dess 2023 GOTY Edition:

Originally posted by Albatross:

I know how to fight them. That's not the point. It takes way too long to kill them.

If the game were too easy, you'd complain about that also.

I'm not complaining about the general difficulty, but about this one particular enemy being poorly balanced and a pain that ruins the fun. If you learn to differentiate (or read?), you don't need to generalize.