whats the meta at the moment?

[Graf Vigah]

?

[✘States]

Anything that you find fun :)

But honestly, I don't really know.

[Exploding Lobster]

Don't rely on that crap. Use what you want and have fun. Meta is for try hards.

[ryan_s_davy]

The Sickle doesn't over heat after you change the coil. Therefore unlimited ammo.

[Graf Vigah]

Originally posted by Exploding Lobster:

Don't rely on that crap. Use what you want and have fun. Meta is for try hards.

but i dont want to be useless and get killed all the time because my loadout deals no damage

[✘States]

Originally posted by Graf Vigah:

Originally posted by Exploding Lobster:

Don't rely on that crap. Use what you want and have fun. Meta is for try hards.

but i dont want to be useless and get killed all the time because my loadout deals no damage

You can run with a pistol and a shield and be a part of the team, it really does not matter what you use.

[Helldivers™ 2]

IMO

Crossbow
Senator
Stun/Gas
Recoilless
500kg
Airstrike
AT emplacement

enjoy winning diff10 with 1 hand

[[TBM]TheJackal]

Fun is the meta.

If you want some good builds to start out with, for bugs I use:

Engineering kit armour, usually light
Cookout SG
Ultimatum
Impact fire x6 (reason for the engy kit)

Airburst rocket
Sentry of choice, usually Gatling or MG
Orbital Napalm
Orbital Laser

Illuminate:

Engy kit
Tenderizer, Adjudicator, or Sta-11 SMG
Ultimatum
Impact Fire x 6

MG43
Guard dog
Orbital Laser
500kg

Bots (I generally play a stealth/saboteur/sniper role, but this is more of a tank hunter kinda deal)

Scout armour, usually trailblazer
Dilligence CS
Ultimatum
Seeker nades (thermite may be okay since they fixed them, haven't really tried them since then

Spear
Autocanon sentry
Orbital laser
500kg

But really, experiment and find what you like. That's how I came to these loadouts.

[dat_potatoe]

I'm not sure anything really stands far above anything else at the moment to be noticeably meta. Also it's going to differ on different fronts. But to go over some strong options.

*Primaries*

Explosive Crossbow - Still borderline OP, being able to deal with most threats in the game and destroy objectives.

Punisher Slugger - Really good on bots and decent on the other fronts, being capable of one shotting devastators and pushing enemies back.

Scorcher and Purifier - Once again really strong overall, boosting high DPS and burst damage.

Arc 12 Blitzer - A godsend for bugs, being able to stunlock even Stalkers and just keep firing without stop. Though its not as effective on bots or illuminate.

Double Sickle - With heavy armor piercing at max heat it can theoretically deal with hulks and the like, though you'll want heat resistant armor and plenty of stims.

*Secondaries*

Ultimatum - It's not great at killing things, and has major ammo drawbacks, but it can destroy objectives like radar jammers and detector towers on its own.

Senator - Having something that can potentially deal with heavy enemies is always nice to have.

Grenade Pistol - For when you need to deal with objectives like bug holes and you don't have any other grenades in your loadout.

*Stratagems*

Anti Tank Emplacement - Okay on bugs, a godsend on bots, being able to cut through hordes of heavily armored enemies with ease and snipe objectives. Not really worth taking on illuminate due to the lack of heavies and how evasive enemies are.

Heavy Machinegun - Okay on bugs, great on bots and illuminate, being able to deal with every threat on its own (even factory striders technically).

Orbital Gas Strike - Completely shuts down bug breaches with rapid cooldown, and is reasonably effective against illuminate too. Not great against bots.

Eagle Strafing Run - Got a buff awhile back, might take a couple call ins but can deal with pretty much anything.

Supply Pack - The constant resupply of ammo and stims and support weapon ammo is invaluable on higher difficulties.

Grenade Launcher - Deletes all but the heaviest enemies and paired with a Supply Pack is just amazing at clearing through endless fodder.

Directional Shield - Limited to one handed weapons, but has extreme durability (more than the shield backpack) and pairs nice with the Crossbow.

Recoilless Rifle - Deletes heavies on bugs and bots, though suffers a bit on illuminate.

[Inardesco]

Originally posted by Graf Vigah:

Originally posted by Exploding Lobster:

Don't rely on that crap. Use what you want and have fun. Meta is for try hards.

but i dont want to be useless and get killed all the time because my loadout deals no damage

Just git gud.

Meta is for noobs and tryhards.

[AnemoneMeer]

It would be more efficient to ask what weapons are actively bad. Most weapons currently work well in specific loadouts or vs specific factions.

There is also the question of what weapons you're actually good with too OP.

If you're using a low ammo capacity primary, you want a secondary that has plenty of ammo and chaff killing power. If you're using a high ammo capacity primary, you want something with high burst damage as your secondary. If you're using a utility grenade, you want an explosive primary or secondary. Etc etc etc.

A good loadout has at least one source of AoE damage, a primary, secondary or grenade that has heavy pen or greater unless your support weapon can be used freely (Arc Thrower/HMG), a plan for dealing with anti-tank requiring threats, an anti-chaff tool, and enough ammo to not hog resupplies unless you are planning on using the supply pack. As long as you hit all of these goals, you're fine.

Personally, I like using Crossbow/Talon/Thermite/Quasar Cannon/Ballistic Shield, but I am a shield enjoyer.

[Cheez3™]

for me is the scorcher + quasar canon + hellbomb backpack.
theres nothing u cant beat with that build

[Doc]

Just play the game and experiment. Dying isn't the worst thing in this game. find the stratagems/weapons that you like and use that or try to fill in weak points for your team. if everyone is running the same thing it get boring, bring some flavor, try different stuff out and damn anyone who complains.

There are no bad weapons. Yes, some weapons perform better in certain ways but none of them are really "bad". Forget balancing when choosing, if you can't decide look at what your team is bringing and pick off of that. if everyone has power house guns for armored units bring something that can take out all the little less armored enemies.

also if everyone brings long cool down strategems then everyone will be on the same long cooldowns when ♥♥♥♥ hits the fan(which it will).

[Jagdtiger]

Bot has a hard meta of Lib pen + Recoilless as the core, with stuns, thermites and gas as viable grenades, ultimatum or talon as a secondary, and then some combination of 120mm barrage, napalm barrage, missile sentry, autocannon sentry, AT emplacement and eagle strafing as the other strats.

Bugs has a softer meta, generally the blitzer, cookout or breaker S&P have the best self defense while the crossbow and eruptor have better long range killing potential. Talon, verdict, ultimatum and grenade pistol are all viable, and the same grenades are viable as well as incendiary impact and dynamite. Support weapon is either Recoilless again (for bile titans) or airburst (works on chargers and impalers now) if you want a backpack support weapon, and either EAT or quasar paired with the liberator dog or supply pack if you don't want a backpack support. Stratagems can be chosen from MG sentry, gatling sentry, tesla tower, gas mines, any eagle except rocket pods (especially strafing and 500Kg), napalm barrage, orbaital airburst and orbital gas. Mechs are also viable.

Illuminate has the hardest meta of all, and it's the medium MG stratagem and supply pack, and that's it. Literally any other equipment is 100% viable and meta when paired with the infinite ammo MG since it mulches through all illuminate enemies without a problem. If you must know about primaries, the deadeye can one shot headshot overseers which is pretty good imo but utterly pointless when compared to the MG

Also heavy armour is the best now for all fronts. It's easy to survive in any armour but heavy lets you make tons of mistakes and get away with it for free. Explosive resist helps not getting one tapped on bots, siege ready helps not getting swarmed on bugs, anything goes for illuminate. Medic, grenadier and PP are all still viable if you have a specific build in mind

[Midas]

The meta is 'kill stuff and don't die'. Balance is better and weapon variety is way up. Not everything is perfect, but there's enough great stuff to fill several completely different loadouts.

[Qwertie]

the meta is the current gun bug of the week.