Noob question: How do you reliably kill chargers?

[Glunn]

I'm on difficulty 5 and nothing is working. My entire team of level 15-18 people got completely wiped by two chargers. We were all constantly shooting the vulnerable spot on their rears, I even shot one twice with the recoilless rifle, and it was still going. I don't want to waste an orbital laser on one charger because of the recharge and limited uses, but this is the only way I've found to dispatch chargers without a team wipe... Any tips?

[Tactical Drongo]

This is not a noob question, chargers are considered too tanky by many

and while many say railguns here are some easier option:
-EAT is an early solution that gives you 2 rockets every 70 seconds which can break off the heavy armor from one of the front legs
-500kg bomb is hard to place but a direct hit kills a charger (or a bile titan)
-flamerthrower and arc rifle supposedly deal decent damage
-impact grenades do also good damage, but dont rely on them alone
-havent managed to land a drop pod on them but those things can take down bile titans, if you manage to affix a support drop on a charger it might kill them
-Autocannon and the turret can destroy the armor and the cahrgers themselves
-rocket launcher turret is also a good choice as it will also auto target larger enemies

and note that while the butt is not armored, it is *not* a weak spot
It is basically a bullet trap, barely worth wasting ammunition on

[TheSuit]

Escrito originalmente por IGF Savagee:

The head surprisingly is the best place to shoot them, Rail cannon on unsafe is good as well. If you use a Rail cannon orbital strike it is normally a one hit kill on them :)
EMS sentry is also good at slowing them down.

You don't need unsafe mode.
2 normal shots on safe mode on leg is same.

[Iskar2]

my go to is the recoilless rifle to one of the front legs, they take massive damage to unprotected legs.
actually, all bug take a lot of damage to the legs

[Breakdowns]

Escrito originalmente por ZimzamTimtam:

Shoot leg twice with railgun. Then shoot leg with primary or follow up railgun shots.

If you don't have access to railgun. EAT or Recoilless. Shoot leg, then shoot leg with primary.

This is the true answer. The leg is, for some reason, the part of the body that requires the least ammunition to kill it.

I hope in future updates they make the head the true weak spot. But for now, so long as you can crack the armor, the leg is the way to go.

[Mizonel]

Wouldn't be surprised if they are bugged slightly, Don't think they should be able to pivot so well when you sidestep them. While they keep charging forward when you flop. Not entirely sure but think sidestepping them in 1 caused them to stop charging to turn around.

[Artimise Flare]

Escrito originalmente por Glunn:

I'm on difficulty 5 and nothing is working. My entire team of level 15-18 people got completely wiped by two chargers. We were all constantly shooting the vulnerable spot on their rears, I even shot one twice with the recoilless rifle, and it was still going. I don't want to waste an orbital laser on one charger because of the recharge and limited uses, but this is the only way I've found to dispatch chargers without a team wipe... Any tips?

Several options in order of unlocks
1. Expendable Anti Tank rocket
2. Recoilless Rifle
3. Railgun
4. SPEAR

The chargers critical spot is only able to be hit once the player has blown off the left or right front legs armor. Once this armor is destroyed, about a magazine of any primary or even the machine pistol will kill it.

Expendable Anti Tank rocket
For low level players, as soon as a charger is spotted call in an EAT support weapon drop and coordinate with your squad to focus fire on one of it's two legs until you break the armor.

You'll know when you're successful when. You see bright orange flesh instead of the usual brown colored chitin plates.

Recoilless rifle
Once you reach level 15 I believe, you'll unlock the Recoilless rifle, this can 1 shot the leg armor, but will require additional team work due to the long reload time in the event you miss and do not have another squad mate wearing the ammunition backpack to help you reload swiftly.

Rail Gun
You unlock this at level 20 and it is by far the easiest and most efficient way of dealing with a charger while solo, at least at the time of writing this. The rail gun is a two shot to the leg, regardless I'd you use it on Safe mode or overcharge it in unsafe mode. Single shot support weapon, but does not require a back pack, rapid reload and comes with 20 rounds.

SPEAR
Another weapon unlocked at level 20, and, apparently, one of the most potent anti armor weapons in the game. However, due to extremely janky lock on mechanics, it is extremely unreliable and is best to be avoided until the developers have ironed out it's aiming problem.

Like the Recoilless rifle, it requires the user to wear a back pack of ammo to reload it or another squad mate to wear the back pack and assist with rapir reloading of the weapon. It requires a lock in order to fire, so more of a liability at this time, but when it does work, it works really really well.

As for stratagems, eagle airstrikea, 110mm rocket strikes, these two so long as they all hit the majority of their munitions can cripple if not outright kill a charger.

For late levels, the orbital laser will slowly kill a charger and chase it around the map, and the orbital rail cannon shot will damn near OHKO a charger.

If all of the above fails the only other vulnerable are is to shoot the yellow sack on it's ass. An auto cannon can do quite a bit of damage here so coordinate with the person using that and just dump regular primary fire into it's butt. It won't die quickly this way, but it is an option.

[ExavierMacbeth]

An answer I haven't seen given yet are the Eagle Rockets... At lower levels those work very well against the chargers.

When its chasing you, sidestep it and then run past its side, stick the beacon for the strike to its side as it passes. Pretty much guarantees the full rocket barrage will land on it. If it doesn't kill it outright it will have most of its armor ripped off so you can deal with it with normal weaponry.

Thats how I dealt with them before getting access to more specific weaponry or learning how to leg it reliably.

[vishuspuss]

Escrito originalmente por Kalenath:

Level 15-18 do not have railgun yet, guys since it unlocks at level 20.

But that is a fact and facts are worthless here on Steam forums.

hi!

a lot of people pass up on the EAT, but its good with skill.

got a charger pestering you? stick the EAT gem to it. youll kill the charger (its like a free orbital rail strike) AND have 2 EAT rockets leftover.

this works with all skill gems... be careful with that airstrike lol. its a skill thatll help in the future for sure

also eagle airstrike is straight OP. im level 44 and still use it. have a horde of chargers chasing you? just be careful not to blow yourself up DANGER CLOSE lol

[Polar Test 53]

the legs my boi aim for the legs. its about where you aim.
alot of guns that bounce off the front will break its leg armour from behind as well. AC can kill a charger in 2 hits. or 20 depending on where you shoot.
glowing flesh just shows you where you can hurt with small arms fire.

[RuneMooshu]

Auto cannon turret works

[protoka]

Railgun, 2 shots to a specific leg, then you can blast the weak spot revealed. Railcannon orbital/Laser orbital. They could add NODs so you could see them when it is dark.

[Yu Ryujin]

Escrito originalmente por Glunn:

I'm on difficulty 5 and nothing is working. My entire team of level 15-18 people got completely wiped by two chargers. We were all constantly shooting the vulnerable spot on their rears, I even shot one twice with the recoilless rifle, and it was still going. I don't want to waste an orbital laser on one charger because of the recharge and limited uses, but this is the only way I've found to dispatch chargers without a team wipe... Any tips?

legs.

Open their armor, beat them up.

Only 1 of them, you gotta focus on the same part, because every limb has its own hp.

They become easy once you use AT, you just have to know how to force charge and dodge.

[Captain Vredesbooty]

Escrito originalmente por Artimise Flare:

However, due to extremely janky lock on mechanics, it is extremely unreliable and is best to be avoided until the developers have ironed out it's aiming problem

Came here to find out if its just me and I'm using it wrong or if its just buggy as ♥♥♥♥.

When it works it is absolutely insane but I just don't get what it is that makes the lock drift around and not engage the way it does. I've tried crouching, getting up high, firing from much further away, firing from level on, firing from medium distance - there doesn't seem to be a reliable way to always get a lock.


The range also seems a bit iffy since I can lock a Bile Titan from half way across the map most of the time but can't even get a yellow 'locking' animation on a Charger 30 feet away sometimes.


Oh and the first person view appears to be completely broken since I don't get any lock what so ever.


The thing that annoys me the most is that is such a powerful weapon on 4+ bug missions I don't want to take a less effective alternative and don't want to rely on orbitals/eagles for the heavies.

[Earthlyfaune]

Railcannon is the best way apparently but unlocks at level 20. Another way to kill chargers is dropping on them via reinforce or calling down weapons. Just make sure the beam is somewhere on the soft spot of the charger.

[Sovery_Simple]

If you take a flamethrower and target one leg then it'll roast it to death in just a few seconds.

Haven't figured out where to safely aim at bile titans yet though. Guessing the legs, but, yeah...