Weapons against the Illuminate

[★Jaw★]

I've used just about everything in the arsenal. Out of all the weapons, for me personally, this is by no means a rallying cry for everyone to use this. This is just my personal preference.

Initially, I found success running Jump Pack and either the Laser Cannon or HMG, using Sickle or Reprimand. I did ok, got my kills. Reprimand was fun in particular when used with the new armor set bonus, as the reload isn't so bad and actually tolerable.

However I have decided to change my loadout.

Instead of the jump pack(which I still love and will return to) I've gone with the Guard Dog. Both the laser and liberator variants do very well. The Liberator variant I've found hits a lot harder and will kill Overseers with relative ease. I myself went with the standard issue liberator and whew. I have fallen in love with it all over again. No weapon can compare with the standard issue AR-23 Liberator Assault Rifle. It is as perfect as the Democracy that forged it.

I always go grenade pistol to handle the warp ships.

I also took it upon myself to use the rail gun. Rail gun is as sweet as can be, reserved for taking down Harvesters, aim for the joint connecting to the hull and blast away.

I'm also usually bringing on 2 turrets, the flame and machinegun. Sometimes I'll alternate for the anti-tank emplacement depending on my mood. Or a walker.

Anyway. Standard Issue liberator is my beloved. Might take the penetrator for a spin but, mmmm.

[Noctus]

I go either Adjudicator and grenade pistol with Stalwart, Shield, 500kg and percision strike or Tenderizer and HMG, with the other strategems being the same. Though I play with others so my roll is pretty specific. If you were to try and solo them I'm not sure.

[★Jaw★]

Originally posted by Noctus:

I go either Adjudicator and grenade pistol with Stalwart, Shield, 500kg and percision strike or Tenderizer and HMG, with the other strategems being the same. Though I play with others so my roll is pretty specific. If you were to try and solo them I'm not sure.

I too am an Adjudicator fan. Love the rifle, just wish it had a flashlight or laser sight.

[Akameka]

scorcher works well against voteless and overseers. It drops down shields very fast too.

And as expected, the recoilless instantly get rid of flying ships and unshielded tripods. One shoot is also enough to disable shield on landed ships, then a nade inside and boom.

Railcanon stratagem punch right through the landed ships shield to vaporize them on the spot. precision strike probably does the same (did not test it yet)

[McFuzz]

My favorite loadout is:
Adjudicator (or tenderizer)
Grenade pistol (because its seemingly not bugged on the factory ships like nade tossing is lol)
HMG (or machine gun) both work great for killing all current units
supply pack
gatling bombardment and orbital laser

The gun dog and halt are also great.

I'm just happy the adjudicator finally feels useful on these guys with a good time to kill on the overseers, and the extra ammo from the new warbond perk are nice for it too.

[Joe da Immortal]

My go-to Illuminate build that's completed Helldive with ease:

Medium armor, Democracy Protects.
Eruptor, Vindicator, Smoke Grenades.
Strafing Run
Guard Dog (liberator)
Machine Gun Sentry (basic)
[wildcard/any 4th slot]

I recommend everyone keep experimenting with what works best for them. There's a lot of different playstyles I've seen that works here. The #1 strategem that works well against them, which carries over from HD1, is the Strafing Run.

[MKUltra]

A really really really really good gun is the Arc Thrower, though...you have to not be an idiot with it. I used it for the first time ever just now and only got 1 team kill (mostly because I couldn't see the teammate below the ledge) and got nearly 600 kills, pretty much every time you fire it's 4 kills lol

A team of arc throwers (and lightning armor) would just absolutely decimate those commie squids.

[★Jaw★]

Originally posted by MKUltra:

A really really really really good gun is the Arc Thrower, though...you have to not be an idiot with it. I used it for the first time ever just now and only got 1 team kill (mostly because I couldn't see the teammate below the ledge) and got nearly 600 kills, pretty much every time you fire it's 4 kills lol

A team of arc throwers (and lightning armor) would just absolutely decimate those commie squids.

I hate you. Scram! Go on! Git! Already hate the Illuminate arc towers, but I hate you arc throwing douchebags that seem to only want to use it firing over your buddies head. Git! Go on now!

[Malidictus]

MG-43 is probably the best all-rounder weapon against the Illiminatem as it counters most of their strengths. It's good at mowing down the Voteless due to abundant ammo. It's good at killing Overseers, as it can strip their armour fairly quickly. It's good at taking out the scanner drones, as the high rate of fire makes it easier to hit them at range. It's good at taking out Harvesters, as its AP3 allows it to damage their shoulder joints, plus it's good at taking down their shields.

The Stalwart is good, but it can't deal with Harvesters. The HMG is good, but high recoil and more limited ammo make it less useful overall. The Laser Cannon is a close second, but that has overall less DPS and so isn't as effective against the Voteless. I'd argue that usability starts decreasing from there.

The Illuminate have a lot of "ablative armour" mechanics to them, making less granular weapons like the Autocannon or Railgun less useful against them. Explosives do work, but the Illuminate are also pretty "skinny" and quite fast, making them hard to hit.

[Booba]

I like to play on lower difficulties just so I can enjoy using the Liberator, without feeling coerced into a meta build.

On higher difficulties, I have a hard time using anything other than a Scorcher as a primary; it's hands down the best anti-Overseer weapon I've tried. None of the other medium armor penetrating weapons come close, excepting the MG.

I would want to take a Stalwart for clearing out Voteless, but as usual when playing on higher difficulties, I find that an anti-tank weapon is a mandatory pick, and that I have to rely on strategems for horde clearing (so I end up sprinting around like an idiot an awful lot). The recoilless has become such a strong choice that I have a hard time giving it up to bring any other backpack, even though the shield backpack is a real life saver against the Illuminate, and the Las-5 Guard Dog gets great mileage in general (especially when it comes to singeing its operator and his fellow Helldivers -haha, still so funny, right guys?). Harvesters? No problem. Dropships? Knock 'em down with one shot. If anybody ever bothered to reload for me, we could probably finish off an entire battalion of reinforcements before they ever landed. (what a sadly under-utilized feature)

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by Booba:

On higher difficulties, I have a hard time using anything other than a Scorcher as a primary; it's hands down the best anti-Overseer weapon I've tried. None of the other medium armor penetrating weapons come close, excepting the MG.

You don't need Medium Armour penetration for Overseers. They're AC2 all around, except for the head, which is AC3. They do have ablative armour, however, meaning you'll need to strip their armour before you can do damage to their main health pool. That makes them feel unreasonably tanky when attacked with heavy weapons like the AMR or the Autocannon, but any rapid-fire weapon will shred them, centre-mass. Just pick something that you can hit them with easily.

The Blitzer and the Purifier work exceptionally well because they're explosive damage, which does damage directly to their main health pool. The problem with both weapons is their projectiles are a little slow, which makes it hard to land shots.

Originally posted by Booba:

I would want to take a Stalwart for clearing out Voteless, but as usual when playing on higher difficulties, I find that an anti-tank weapon is a mandatory pick

You don't need dedicated anti-tank weapons against the Illuminate. Harvesters are AC4 at best, meaning they can be penetrated pretty much anywhere by AP4 weapons like the AMR and the HMG. You don't even need to go that high, though. The shoulder joints where the legs connect to the thorax are AC3, meaning they can be penetrated by Medium Armour primary weapons, as well as pretty much all Support weapons besides the Stalwart. This is why the MG is such a good choice.

If anything, dedicated anti-tank weapons are a poor fit against Harvesters. They're fairly small, which makes them a lot harder to hit, they have a LOT of health so they can sometimes soak up direct shots from anti-tank guns, and they have a shield which will fully absorb anti-tank fire unless taken down first. I see no compelling reason to bring specialist weapons when general-purpose weapons can work just fine.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by John Ursus:

Weapons against the Illuminate
I've used just about everything in the arsenal. Out of all the weapons, for me personally, this is by no means a rallying cry for everyone to use this. This is just my personal preference.

Initially, I found success running Jump Pack and either the Laser Cannon or HMG, using Sickle or Reprimand. I did ok, got my kills. Reprimand was fun in particular when used with the new armor set bonus, as the reload isn't so bad and actually tolerable.

However I have decided to change my loadout.

Instead of the jump pack(which I still love and will return to) I've gone with the Guard Dog. Both the laser and liberator variants do very well. The Liberator variant I've found hits a lot harder and will kill Overseers with relative ease. I myself went with the standard issue liberator and whew. I have fallen in love with it all over again. No weapon can compare with the standard issue AR-23 Liberator Assault Rifle. It is as perfect as the Democracy that forged it.

I always go grenade pistol to handle the warp ships.

I also took it upon myself to use the rail gun. Rail gun is as sweet as can be, reserved for taking down Harvesters, aim for the joint connecting to the hull and blast away.

I'm also usually bringing on 2 turrets, the flame and machinegun. Sometimes I'll alternate for the anti-tank emplacement depending on my mood. Or a walker.

Anyway. Standard Issue liberator is my beloved. Might take the penetrator for a spin but, mmmm.

Scorcher and Recoiless Rifle is all you need. Anything else is extra.

Gatling Turret to fight / distract the hordes, 500kg/Orbital Strike to blow up ships, napalm barrage if you feel funny

The armed turret booster is quite the fun extra

[Other]

I think the blitzer works great as a primary here since it handles voteless and stunlocks overseers. I have yet to find reliable methods for taking down tripods though since I run shield backpack as well.

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by flashboy284:

I think the blitzer works great as a primary here since it handles voteless and stunlocks overseers. I have yet to find reliable methods for taking down tripods though since I run shield backpack as well.

Any AP3+ weapon into the shoulder joints. MG-43, HMG, AMR, etc. Pretty sure the Senator can pull it off.

[Shy]

Full Shock build works pretty nicely. Blitzer, Stun baton, Arc thrower, Tesla tower, OPS for ships and tripods, and gas nades for that one 2 Gas+Shock punch.


otherwise, Blitzer, Revolver (can one shot overseers), Fire nades, MG, And 2 turrets works very nicely.

[Inardesco]

Originally posted by Akameka:

scorcher works well against voteless and overseers. It drops down shields very fast too.

Scorcher runs out of ammo so insanely quick though, even though it feels the best weapon to use at the moment. Jar-5 would be too slow to reliably hit the flyers imo.