What am I missing about energy weapons?

[Jackson Lamb]

I'm beginning to wonder if the players advocating for the energy weapons are trolling - they just aren't nearly as effective as their projectile counterparts.

* Blitzer - Poor range, poor fire rate, the damage it does is really inconsistent, and whats with it looking like an LMG but behaving like a shotgun?
* Scythe and Sickle - Low damage and the damage seems to drop off dramatically beyond about 20m, poor accuracy, the initial charge feels too long, they overheat too quickly for what they do
* Punisher Plasma - I cannot see a reason to use this over one of the normal shotguns or other explosive weapons


At first I thought maybe they just weren't good for bugs, but now I've started playing a bit more on the bot front I'm finding that I would much rather take a projectile or explosive weapon than an energy weapon even with the bots.


The infinite ammo thing is good in theory, but the weapons feel like they're about as effective as the BB Gun from Fallout so I don't get why I would take any of them over literally any other non-energy weapon.


What am I missing?

[Dynamiez]

As you said, infinite ammo. For scythe beside that: precision of a scalpel, no recoil, sets enemys on fire so it has an additional fire dot.

Blitzer: poor range, but it is mostly for bugs and those walk right in front of you so you dont really need range. Additionaly it has a rather strong stun so the enemys that walk right at you cant attack you. Really good to stop hunters and escascially stalker to jump at you. It often one hits brood commanders but i agree, the damage is a bit inconsistent. It spreads its arc if you want to hit a single enemy and focus on a single enemy if you want it to spread 😅

For sickle... yeah i dont use that often. Just an assault rifle with infinite ammo i would say

[Fatal Flaw]

Plasma Punisher is great for staggering bots and clearing them out, suicidal against bugs though.

[Zhou Yu]

Blitzer can absolutely carry due to it's massive stun on anything under charger size on bug front. Punisher on other hand only really has the fact that you don't immediately die should it go off point blank on a enemy or environment.

I throw sickle in the trash clearing backup on bug front along with scythe. Though the scythe can at least pop heads easily on bots.

[XXX_SniperSlayer42069_XXX]

Originally posted by Brother Barry:

I'm beginning to wonder if the players advocating for the energy weapons are trolling - they just aren't nearly as effective as their projectile counterparts.

* Blitzer - Poor range, poor fire rate, the damage it does is really inconsistent, and whats with it looking like an LMG but behaving like a shotgun?
* Scythe and Sickle - Low damage and the damage seems to drop off dramatically beyond about 20m, poor accuracy, the initial charge feels too long, they overheat too quickly for what they do
* Punisher Plasma - I cannot see a reason to use this over one of the normal shotguns or other explosive weapons


At first I thought maybe they just weren't good for bugs, but now I've started playing a bit more on the bot front I'm finding that I would much rather take a projectile or explosive weapon than an energy weapon even with the bots.


The infinite ammo thing is good in theory, but the weapons feel like they're about as effective as the BB Gun from Fallout so I don't get why I would take any of them over literally any other non-energy weapon.


What am I missing?

Punisher plasma is just an objectively inferior purifier unfortunately.

Blitzer is neat on bugs

Sickle is idk, the traditional ARs are so much stronger now if you ask me.

Scythe is a very strong contender for bots on cold climates, pinpoint accurate zero recoil and sets things on fire.

[Mega]

Blitzer is decent against bugs by itself but easy to get overwhelmed if not really careful.

Pair it with a Laser Guard Dog and it's a lot of fun and less likely to get overwhelmed.

It does take a little time to get use to the arc behavior but well worth the effort.

[Koala 4peace]

Sickle does need a buff to durable damage.

[Ricky'Rooster'Thunderpants]

On cold planets, they're pretty good.

[LoveTruffle]

It is kind of wild how much a difference it makes being on a cold planet for heat based energy weapons. Cold weather feels like enough of an excuse to take at least one on a mission.

[Subsonic]

Energy weapons are strong and get the job done, just like ballistic weapons. It's a preference, unless you're so hard core that you have to min/max to the Nth decimal place.

[[Asgard] Thor]

Scythe kills devastators by head shots in under a second, but you need to have good aim. Even if you miss the weak points, enemies burn with concentrated fire. With the rocket brigade, I've been able to kill whole groups of jetpackers just by sweeping the crowd with the laser, .01 second of laser and those guys explode.

No idea were you got damage drop off after 20m, the Scythe is practically a sniper rifle now. I've been able to provide cover to allies at huge ranges.

[Chadstream Onion]

sickle was pretty much in meta when helldivers 2 got released , really strong but now we have enemies with thiccer armor, im not sure but i think it got nerfed now most helldivers use traditional assalut rifles

[Flavalicious]

Yea I don't get it either.

Its like people take them because they can't be bothered to remember to call in supplies as soon as it comes off cooldown. Between the loose ammo scattered all over the ground, the 4 supply packs every 2.5 minutes and the semi-reliable meta of running supply packs on player backs, I never run out of primary ammo unless im off all alone doing half the map solo and even then, only dry for about 30 seconds until I actually look for ammo pickups. lol

Its that or people are taking AR's and just holding down the mouse button instead of burst shooting for weak points and thats why they complain about shortages of ammo. *shrug

[Enforcer]

Imo energy weapons should have a limited range but way more power in exchange at close range but losing damage over distance ( more than a projectile weapon ).

[Hand's Hermit Permit]

I've been maining scythe for the jet brigade. It instantly kills all the jet troopers, and it's very efficient at killing devastators in the eye. Good scope on it, infinite ammo, extremely good gun. Only thing it's missing is AP pen, but that's what the good ol' Senator is for.

[Midas]

Blitzer: High stagger and medium penetration on a shotgun. Really self-explanatory.

Sickle: 100 round magazine with 3 extra magazines. It's basically an LMG as a primary.

Scythe: Laser-precise head remover with no recoil that also sets things on fire.