Need a bit of loadout advice.

[Riggex]

Alright gents, just struggling a bit with loadouts. I'm still newer to the game (Lv 35 i think), so not got a ton of options to work with, But i've been running a build with the light siege armour i find really enjoyable which is Jump/hoverpack, Deadeye, Talon, Stalwart, EAT's (I'll eventually swap these for AT emplacement) and big shield : Mostly on Squid/Bot front.

I'm going through that whole process of feeling like i'm not using some things nearly as much as others - which makes me question even having them, which naturally leads me to wonder what could replace them.

I'm hardly using Deadeye - Stalwart is my, well, stalwart lol. Makes a great 'primary'. Which not only makes me wonder what i should drop deadeye for to gain a bit more utility (Eruptor? Crossbow?), but also should i be dropping Siege armour too (for engineer?)

I do enjoy Talon, but interested to hear if you think it'd be worth spending that precious SC going for Senator / Verdict (Taking into account nothing else in those WB's interests me) ? Something about kinetic weapons just feels nicer to me than lazer ones.

Cheers

[Angarvin]

Originally posted by Riggex:

I'm hardly using Deadeye - Stalwart is my, well, stalwart lol. Makes a great 'primary'.

i'd suggest scorcher for fish, dominator/scythe for bots and halt/eruptor for bugs.

Originally posted by Riggex:

Verdict (Taking into account nothing else in those WB's interests me)

verdict is great. imo not worth a whole warbond tho.
grenade pistol provides great value on bug front.

[Kinzis]

Go for crossbow and senator. You'll find good versatility with crossbow and senator allows to headshot some bots if you suddenly find yourself out of everything else

[Roy]

You should just be trying new loadouts instead of overthinking it, that's pretty much the fun in Helldivers.
It's not an RPG in which you are stuck with your decisions.

You already gave yourself some good tips; stalwart is indeed more of a primary, you should use a "support-like" primary weapon alongside it like eruptor or crossbow.
Vs bots and illuminate the regular MG is a better pick since you can kill armored enemies better.
The stalwart is mostly good vs bugs.

Since you seem to enjoy jump packs, i'll give you the forbidden knowledge of jump pack + quasar + eagle strafing run.
I actually stopped using that because it made the game too easy, you fly across the map quickly and can snipe fabricators from across the map with the quasar as long as you see a few pixels of them.
Eagle strafing run also destroys fabricators, you have 5 of those each time so you can easily wipe bot bases (and bots). In that case the deadeye is still a great primary.

Tesla tower vs illuminTe is god tier btw, locks down entire armies, just place it away from where friendlies need to go and ping it to be sure.

EAT also isn't great vs bots/squids imo, you can mostly use other weapons and aim for weakspots (AP sniper, railgun, laser cannon, autocannon, HMG etc).

Just try stuff out

[Albinosaurus]

The medium or heavy MG are goated vs squidbillies. The HMG can actually kill any enemy in that faction with ease. Just have to watch your ammo usage.

The dual autocannon mech is great against bugs and squids as well--and it can close spawners.

If you favor the Stalwart heavily (as I do), the Eruptor is a great primary. As other have said, the Crossbow is a fantastic choice as well. You just want something to offer some utility or cover bases the Stalwart can't.

I'm a big fan of the Engi armors, but don't overlook Scout and Padded medium either (heavy-like protection without sacrificing movement).

Quasar is incredibly strong/reliable AT with infinite ammo--just has a long delay between shots.

Orbital Precision Strike has 90s cooldown and 50 demo force--it's great for clearing objectives as it can destroy anything that doesn't require a Hellbomb.

Orbital Gas is amazing vs bugs (and good in general). Drop it on a breach and watch that problem mostly take care of itself. By extension, Gas Mines can be extremely effective too if your timing and placement is on point.

Shield Generator Pack is incredible. It givers you a Halo-like energy shield that regenerates after a delay and functions as an extra health bar that also protects you from many CCs. You can survive a shot from a Tesla Tower with it, for example. It even blocks melee attacks so those invisible bug bastards don't sneak up and one-shot you.

Most strategems have some use. Very few legitimately suck to the point I would say not to use them at all.

Senator is a great pistol, but Talon is pretty equivalent--even if there are some differences between them. You're not missing out on too much by just sticking with the Talon for now.

Gas and Smoke in general are very powerful mechanics that you should learn and exploit often.

There's also a stealth playstyle commonly referred to as "Ghostdiving." It's really useful to learn some of that and understand how enemy aggro works. This is the best video I've seen on the topic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDU6-rnHFSo

[NinKirin]

Depending on your playstyle, some weapons may be better for you then others.

I play more of a sharpshooter build where I aim for headshots and abuse cover as much as possible where I'd only peak with a bit of my head/upper torso from behind cover. What I end up using the most on the bot front is the scythe, ultimatum, laser cannon/railgun and thermites, with engineering kit. (I personally use CE-07 Demolition specialist since it's light armour kinda, and the red and black colour scheme appeals to me.

This is more of an all round build in a sense that I can do mostly everything by myself. Kill chaff/medium enemies with scythe/laser cannon, ultimatum as utility for detector/jammer towers or killing big enemies like hulks/tanks that are close when you absolutely need to as an "oh ♥♥♥♥ button". Laser cannon/railgun can help kill hulks/heavies from afar (Tanks are kinda situational if you can shoot them from behind, and factory striders can be done, but I just use anti tank emplacement for those as it's usually safer). At the same time they are useful for killing other enemies. Railgun is very good at killing devastators really inefficient for chaff, whereas laser cannon is good for chaff, and somewhat good for heavies if you aim for the head.

If you like builds where you mow things down with a machine gun, may be best to try to go for heavy MG + engineering kit to reduce the recoil further (Can reduce it even more by going prone/crouching). Pair this with the halt shotgun (on bot front) and you can use the utility of the stun shells to stun hulks leaving there back wide open for you to lay into with the heavy MG, or kill/stun things that are close to you, like the shredder devastators/normal automatons. Add supply pack, and you'd be able to mow thing down for days before running out of ammo.

If you want to go all in with laying down fire on the enemy, you can get fire armour/medic armour + double edged sickle as a primary, so when you need to reload your heavy MG, you can use the double edged sickle temporarily, til you find a safe place to reload. Just like my sharpshooter build, I'd just have a utility sidearm like grenade pistol/ultimatum. If you want to use others, then you may wanna swap primaries to something that can help take down fabricators like crossbow/eruptor

[CloversDrop]

Bugs:
Cookout Shotgun, Grenade Pistol, Stun Grenade.
Machine Gun Sentry, Guard Dog - Breath, Quasar Cannon, Eagle 500kg Bomb.

Warbonds needed.
Freedom's Flame (cookout), Democratic Detonation (pistol), Cutting Edge (Stun).
Chemical Agents. (Breath)