Crits and Headshots aren't fun.

[Laho]

Specifically when one hits you as the first attack, from out of your field of view, and you just instantly fall over dead.

Sure if you're going toe-to-toe with a heavy devastator and one of his shots hit you in the face, you're kind of asking for it. But that isn't the majority of Crit / Headshot frustration. It's really just the random, out of left field spikes that insta gib you.

I'm almost certain the random crits and headshot are why people tend to run lighter armor and the force shield too. They make heavier armor feel "pointless" since you'll still randomly get insta'd.

So how about adding effects to helmets? Certain could give Headshot resistance, others Crit reduction. And balance those with some visibility boosts or somesuch on other helmets.

[Baelog]

You are correct. Heavy armor is only good for body and limb shots because your helmet has no armor rating so you can get 1-2 tapped in the head quite easily even if you're wearing the 200 Armor Value set, which is why it's better to Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive, and DODGE in light armor rather than trying to rely on heavy to tank through it.

Until the devs split the helmets into armor categories and properly armor them like the body pieces, light armor will always be the way to go.

[MagikarpMagi]

If I had to choose irl, instantly falling over dead sounds okay.

It's less okay in Helldivers 2

[Explodium]

I sure do love it when a scavenger swipes at my chest at it somehow registers as a headshot. The hitbox assumes you have an ultra chad jaw or something...

[Laho]

I used to think that your armor got "stripped" after blocking a few hits which was why you'd get 1 tapped at full HP sometimes, but now I'm almost certain it's just random crits / headshots doing this.

And I really wish it was the first option instead. Giving us an armor strip / repair mechanic on top of HP would actually be fun. RNG insta death on the other hand.... Well I'm sure someone will come in this thread talking about how it's a skill issue and that they've never been crit or headshot in 5000 hours of play.

[Echo2Omega]

You are going to die.

You are going to die a lot.

You get 5 reinforcements per player.

Accept or move on.

[Vinyltavia]

Just make heavy armor nullify crits.

[Laho]

Originally posted by Echo2Omega:

Accept or move on.

No.

[Sanglaine]

My favorite part about armor design in this game is that frequently I'll be in cover to the point only my head and some of my torso is visible and I'll still get hit, but of course it's always in the head so armor is pointless.

I just use padded hyper light. It's genuinely the best thing to get the job done.

[Zeddy]

Crits aren't a thing, but I agree headshots are anti-fun and anti-heavy armour. What you think is a crit is what the server decided was a headshot even though it didn't look that way on your end.

Did the first game's heavy armour get picked too muck and that's why they felt the need to invalidate it?

[Laho]

Originally posted by Zeddy:

Crits aren't a thing, but I agree headshots are anti-fun and anti-heavy armour. What you think is a crit is what the server decided was a headshot even though it didn't look that way on your end.

I'm not sure. Yesterday I purposefully stood in a lil gun bot's fire and I swear to god multiple times, body shots hit for more than the normal damage, but not one shot like head shot would be.

[Straybound]

I'm kind of on the "heads are fragile, and things just suck sometimes" train.

Knowing the game wants to be hard, and seeing your head fall off is just great comedy and a "haha" from the devs and I enjoy it as a cinematic experience.

[Laho]

Originally posted by Straybound:

Knowing the game wants to be hard, and seeing your head fall off is just great comedy and a "haha" from the devs and I enjoy it as a cinematic experience.

It's not like without the crits / headshots, the game won't still be hard and won't kill Helldivers all the time. But it might mean a random instead death less now and again.
And if it's put up against other interesting Helm passive options, then it becomes a part of gameplay mechanics, where players will choose greater protection, or other advantages.

There's only benefits to be had.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Laho:

Crits and Headshots aren't fun.
Specifically when one hits you as the first attack, from out of your field of view, and you just instantly fall over dead.

Sure if you're going toe-to-toe with a heavy devastator and one of his shots hit you in the face, you're kind of asking for it. But that isn't the majority of Crit / Headshot frustration. It's really just the random, out of left field spikes that insta gib you.

I'm almost certain the random crits and headshot are why people tend to run lighter armor and the force shield too. They make heavier armor feel "pointless" since you'll still randomly get insta'd.

So how about adding effects to helmets? Certain could give Headshot resistance, others Crit reduction. And balance those with some visibility boosts or somesuch on other helmets.

I get where you are coming from, but I think it benefits the overall game's atmosphere.

Reminds me of that D-Day scene in one movie, where one got hit in the head but it got blocked by their helmet. Just for them to check and getting hit again without his helmet.

Or the famous Starship Trooper scene which branded Rico.

It is like the friendly fire - something which I think should not be changed. But it could be less in lower difficulty. Though I never felt one-shotted in lower difficulties.

[Laho]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

I get where you are coming from, but I think it benefits the overall game's atmosphere.

There's still plenty of stuff that kills you really fast even without the random insta-gib with no reaction or knowledge though.

[Armos]

The thing about the personal shield versus rockets is... well, it works the same with the Cannon Turrets too.

The first direct hit takes out the personal shield, and then the explosion, which happens at roughly the exact same time but really just an unnoticeable millisecond later, is what kills you. And yeah, it is usually a headshot.

That's been my experience with it at least.