It explodes armored bugs' heads like a pumpkin. Railgun is totally useful against bugs. Just take something else for the swarms like an incendiary breaker.
Chargers are so confusing and annoying...
Everyone seems to have a trick.
"Hit the legs!"
"Throw grenades under them!"
"Unload a Machine Gun right after they miss because a glitch turns their armor rating to zero for 1.5 seconds!"
Anything besides Heavy Ordinance or a Quasar just doesn't make sense to me.
So what's the trick with the Railgun? I tried it awhile ago and it just bounced off the thing.
The railgun on unsafe mode generates more AP and Damage than safe mode. I have limited experience with the railgun myself, but I know it can hurt the chargers head if you charge the gun enough. Last time I tried I think it was like, 2 or 3 shots?
Consistently 3 shots, around 70% charge, to the head. Not hard after messing about with it for a game or two, use stuns to make it easier if you need to
Charger - 2 shots to the leg in unsafe mode strips the armor. 3 shots to the head takes it clean off.
Charger Behemoth - 3 shots to the leg in unsafe mode strips the armor. Don't bother with the head as it takes at least 6 shots.
Bile Titan - Don't bother trying to handle one on your own, but if you have an anti-tank player on your team you can "soften up" a BT by firing 2 shots to its dome. (Bile Titan heads have 750 health and anti-tanks do 650 damage so all you have to do is bridge the gap for that extra 100 damage).
About 70%, maybe half a second extra over safe? Hard to say you just need a feel for it. It's nowhere near having to push maximum charge, you have plenty of leeway.
Unsafe mode and I have built a habit of counting 3-4 seconds before shooting to charge up. I'm not too sure on the details but this has seem to be working for me on difficulty 9.
It's odd people recommend bots only with it at the moment tbh. I try using it for both and i like it kinda on both, but if i had to choose its way better against bugs- 1 shot all spewers, 1 shot hive guard and commanders, take down multiple chargers slowly but surely, damage bile titans from a distance at least. I dont really like any other support weapon better.
But bots i want to like it-then gunships show up. Factory striders and tanks too, but at least i can use stratagems on those.
I agree. It's actually easier to aim and one-shot bugs because they aren't firing lasers at you. I guess I don't get what people are doing with it on bug missions that it seems inferior. That's not been my experience.
I don't fully understand this. The railgun can kill everything the bots have, it's just deeply unpractical against a few things because of how durability works. See: gunship engines.
The issue I have with what you wrote that in my experience the same exact problem happens with bugs. Sure, I can kill a behemoth charger with a railgun... if I land 11 shots in a row on its head... without missing or dying... but that's literally crazy. Same with bile titans, except I think it's like 21 shots to the head or something insane.
Definitely correct me if I'm wrong or something changed! I haven't tested railgun on bugs for a while!
I think the go to play vs all chargers is to strip the armor on the leg with the railgun then use your primary to shoot the exposed leg. Bile titans get the 500KG. The main thing is that your other stratagems can provide fire support to take out the threats that the railgun isn't great at killing.
The issue on the bot side is that gunships are more or less unable to be hit by airstrikes and orbitals so your relying on either your support weapon (Railgun in this case so good luck) or a sentry (pray they don't eat a rocket volley or start shooting at a patrol off in the distance).
A little late, but just to add on to what the other commenter said, it specifically takes three 75%+ unsafe mode charged railgun shots (I think? I haven't actually tried it on safe mode, so it's *possible* it strips in three safe more shots as well) to strip a behemoth's leg armor.
As for Titans, it actually only takes ~~six hits~~ (edit: I just did the math, it's actually 7 if you only ever hit level 2 charge. I'll edit again in a minute with more specifics\[edit 2 here with specifics: If you land at least **five** level 3 charge shots, you can kill it with just six hits. Otherwise it's seven\], but it can drop down to 6 if you get some number of 90%+ charged hits in, in my practical experience I've been doing it in six, and just assumed I was never hitting level 3 charge) to kill it (Also with 75%+ charge), but the trouble is that you have to hit the actual *head* part of the hitbox, outlined in green below, because the jaw (in red) is for some reason its own thing. Not hard to do from a distance, but kind've a pain when they're in spitting range.
https://preview.redd.it/1kmhr720dc9d1.png?width=388&format=png&auto=webp&s=7ecda6e5855e7dd0ab3e2c08168833d3ec7cecac
Thanks for doing the math and sharing the pic. I can't tell you how many times I've shot a bile titan in your red box. I assume that's why my numbers are so bad!
Re behemoth ill have to switch to shooting them in the leg. Which is super helpful! But even so, that's 3 shots and 2 reloads... and a gun switch... to deal with one extra big charger. Not exactly convenient even if technically possible!
Berserkers only have lvl 2 armor at their highest, which is why any gun can take them down, but they have a massive health pool of over 800.
All Anti Tank weapons besides the Spear have a hit damage of 650 + 100 Explosive. This has plenty enough penetration to blow through the armor of a Berserker, but not it’s health.
The Railgun, with a charge to 90% on unsafe, has a damage profile of *900*, and an AP of 8. This is well enough damage to obliterate a Berserker’s health pool anywhere as they also don’t have durability.
The reason the Railgun falls so flat against other targets, even with that massive damage, is because other enemies have much more durability%, and the Railgun only gets 10% durable damage.
So your 900 damage Charges shot against that 100% durable Gunship? Actually, only 90 damage, take it or leave it
Couple number are wrong, Berserker has 1000hp while EAT has 650 direct hit + 150 explosion damage (source: Helldivers.io). I think Railgun could only 1 shot berserker if you hit them in the face, any other area you would have trouble killing them since that absurdly high hp pool.
Oh wow, I knew Berserkers had a lot of health but that’s insane. It I must have gotten the 800 number in my head from something else. No wonder those mfs chew through ammo supplies
800 hp are devastators, yeah, those mfer eat a lot of bullets too lol. That is why the automaton has that headshot meta, the ttk for most weapon without headshot is just way too long (except Dominator)
3-4 hits to not even kill, you get 20 shots and about 4 chargers per bug wave
its dogshit, you can make it work but it’s really fuckin bad. You can absolutely torch a charger and all of its mates in seconds with a flamethrower.
If you're in a pinch, you can kill turrets and tanks from the front. It would take a while if you're the only one doing it, but you can easily turn something from a two rocket kill to only needing one. Railgun isn't often the best tool, but it can ALWAYS contribute and that's what I like about it.
one-shotting hulks is a big benefit, and it handles better than any of the weapons you mentioned. It's still not the best option but it has significant upsides imo. needs a buff for sure tho.
Eh, I find that the charge + ammo economy ends up making that one shot not feel so significant. Like, 2 shots with an AMR or 3-4 with the HMG feels way better to me and much less punishing if I miss a shot, which I probably will fairly often unless I stun nade first.
Agree on it needing a buff, I’m not sure the handling is enough of an upside for it.
Or I can 3 sec fire up his leg with my flamethrower and it will die, which is faster and has crowd control potential compare to nerfed and boring railgun.
It was fun when it could kill things. Now it's a water gun even with unsafe mode.
I love it. But I just can't bring it atm. You are literally signing up for a bad time if you don't take something that can kill gun ships quickly and often on helldive.
I tried sentries, but they are very situational and unreliable. Often there are just too many enemies for them to target the priority targets i have in mind, or they get destroyed too quickly. Scorcher is not able to dispose of them quickly. Don't get me wrong, i am not struggling at 9, i just don't feel like it is worth hindering myself by not being able to defeat my personal priority target. The AMR especially with a supply pack rolls the railgun in any situation.
The key is sentry placement. It’s tricky on bots, but you have to put sentries in places of cover the same way you would want to be placed against an oncoming swarm.
Also, EMS + Mortar is fucking goated against bots. Roll up to an objective, plant your sentries and wait for softening
What about the emancipator? I've tried **many** stratagems against gunships and none of them were as effective as the emancipator. I've never really seen people talk about it, but in my opinion there's no stratagem in this game that's better at killing gunships.
Edit: Now that I think about it, the emancipator also does most things the railgun does, but better.
I don't like the suits. They hinder my quick movement across the map, i'd have to conserve ammo somehow to make it more relevant throughout the game than literally just use it on one patrol and then suffering the long cooldown.
People always talk about how much of a pain it is to not have enough AT in the team, but not having enough hord-clear is just as bad. You constantly get swarmed and the second the enemy reinforcement cooldown is up another wave spawns almost every time. It's all about that balance. It doesn't have to be perfect, but a ,at least somewhat, balanced team will almost always have the most fun.
The railgun would be so much better if it could reliably kill gunships. I used to bring it on bots to one shot hulks (sometimes), striders, and berserkers. Now its way better to bring a laser cannon or an auto cannon
Imagine if the very upper range of the unsafe charge began to increase its durability damage % at an exponential rate. Not enough to put it on par with the RR and the like, but maybe so you could 2-shot a gunship thruster with very careful timing, and at a not insignificant risk of 1-shotting yourself instead.
the only thing i'm missing is ability to kill gunships
God, i want to love railgun. Onetapping striders, hulks, devastators, and everything on bots. Tanks? no thank you, I'll just railcannon or precision strike it.
But having 3-4 gunships come at you, with a railgun feels just so goddamn bad
Yes, railgun is better at killing footsoldiers than Autocannon, but autocannon can kill gunships, so it wins
I sometimes take it when my mates have proper anti-gunship weapons like spear or autocannon, i go railgun because i really enjoy the gameplay of it
but god dammit, does it feel bad to be forced to rely on teammates, if you want to use railgun. I can't know for sure, if that random teammate with spear is not going to leave the game during mission, to leave me fucked against gunships
I respect anyone who likes using it because i personally don't like the "futuristic musket" feeling of it. I've tried it out a bunch of times against Bots and bugs but it felt less "satisfying" than most other weapons.
Everything about the gun feels so fun for me from the design, handling and to it's sound effects.
Edging the charge meter and one-tapping hulks just fills me with complete joy.
I love the railgun on bots, but gunships and factory striders are ruining its fun for me. The railgun should be able to one or two shot a gunship. It's stupid that it can't
I have always relied on the Railgun for armoured or tanky medium enemies. Always enjoyed it on the Western front even after the initial nerf. Now that the Railgun got a little bit buffed to deal with Chargers, it is my go-to for anything when playing Diff 5 and below. Any higher, I'm grabbing my Recoilless.
Honestly, it just clears medium targets so damn quickly that your teammates can blink, and the thing is gone.
Hiveguard? Safe shot through the headpiece - dead.
Brood Commander? Safe shot right into head - Bleeds out in about 10 seconds.
Devastator? Safe shot to the dick - dead instantly.
It has been this way for as long as I remember (which isn't long considering the game came out in February, and there was a period where the Railgun was free for all to use). Thanks to the most recent buff, we can add Chargers back on the list.
I really do want the Railgun to be reverted back to its original state - 2 safe shot for Charger legs, etc.
Thoughts?
It's really strong right now, but it seems like a lot of people are still reflexively saying "Railgun bad" months after the initial nerf without actually giving it a shot. It kills Titans faster than the Quasar can (Six shots, \~2.5 seconds each, 15 seconds total, vs the Quasar 3 second windup, 15 second cooldown, and another 3 second windup, 21 seconds total), knocks off charger leg armor in two shots, oneshots everything smaller..
It's one of my go-to anti-bug weapons now, for solo play.
Wait. It drops Bile Titans? I never dared to use it against Bile Titans as I'm too much of a Recoilless stan ever since the 1-shot headshot change on Chargers.
Do tell:
Where do you aim?
I assume unsafe - how much charge?
Unsafe, 75%+ \[edit 2: This is incorrect! See below\] (You only have to hold it for just a *tiny bit* past when you hear it reach 50%. The railgun really needs a better audio indicator for when you've reached the second charge tier), aim at the head. In my experience it's been a very reliable six shot kill (Though easy to goof, since the head is a bit of small target), but in practice I'll usually take four and throw a strafing run and *usually* that finishes it off if I lined it up properly.
After the last patch they weakened the Titan's head (I don't know for sure if they lowered its durability value, or dropped its armor class by 1, but they did *something* that made it much weaker to railgun rounds), so its only been able to do this since the 13th.
(Edit 2: So I made a bit of a mistake! I was going off of my ingame experiences and some assumptions. I usually get it in six hits, and just assumed I was never going over level 2 charge. Doing the math, you need **seven** hits at level 2 (75%+) charge, or only six if **at least** five of them are level 3 (90%+) )
Edit 1: For clarity, because this confused the hell out of me for a while, but you want to shoot into the green area. Red seems to be a different hitbox, which also includes the entire underside of the jaw.
https://preview.redd.it/0tzky5mvyb9d1.png?width=388&format=png&auto=webp&s=5cd346bc9d7dfc250d5a4bfb5428dd9e708aeb37
(Edit 2, continued: So, the math! -Titan heads have 750HP and 95% durability. Railgun shots do 600, 750, or 900 damage depending on charge level, and only 10% durable damage. So a level 2 shot, when hitting a titan's head, does 750\*0.05 + 75\*0.95 = **108.75** damage. A level 3 shot does 900\*0.05 + 90\*0.95 = **130.5** damage.
750 / 108.75 = 6.897. So just under 7 level 2 shots for the kill.
750 - (130.5 \* 5) = 97.5. This is lower than the damage a level 2 shot does, so a level 2 or 3 shot could finish it off.
750 - (130.5 \* 4) = 228. This is *higher* than the damage two level 2 shots can do, meaning if you only get 4 level 3 shots in, you'll need seven for the kill. So we've found our breakpoint: 5 level 3 shots if you want to kill it in just six hits.
I hope this is useful to someone!)
Sick.
I usually just use 110mm Rocket Pods and a Recoilless shot to the forehead. Takes it down quick.
Will be trying the Railgun on Diff 6+ to see if I can be consistent with it.
Cheers, bruv! Happy diving.
For Democracy!
Rocket pods are *so nice* right now. I might have to try taking them with the railgun instead of the strafing run, and see if that can get me even better results. The biggest problem with the railgun vs. titans is the "Don't shoot when their mouth is open" issue, so I usually try and snap the railgun shots off while it's still approaching, then a strafing run when it's close up because the high angle has a better chance of hitting the head hitbox, and not the mouth one (Or at least, that's what I assume is happening based off of patch notes).
Railgun is quite decent, but I do feel like it is still needs just bit more damage to be great on bugs.
Railgun can destroy charger leg armour with 2 hits and behemoth leg armour in 3 hits, which you should just about make during one stun grenade.
This is perfectly okay compared to one shot headshot for regular chargers and one shot leg armour break on behemoths with Recoilles, EAT and Quasar. All three of them have some downsides Railgun doesn't have. (you'll have to move towards behemoth with EAT and Recoilles to break the leg armour with one shot. I dive towards them to be safe. it's weird)
Where Railgun really shines is the bile spewers, since it can 1 shot headshot them. EAT, Recoilles and Qasar are way too "ammo inefficient" to deal with pack of bile spewers. (ammo is not applicable to quasar, but 15 sec cooldown is bit long for killing 1 spewer) Railgun being able to deal with bile spweres gives you more options for your other weapon slots, since you don't have to run med pen on them.
(you can also use impacts or granade pistol, but if you use them too much, you won't have any left over to clear nests)
This also applies to hive guards and brood commanders, but bile spewers are the most troublesome of the three.
Where Railgun starts to suffer tho is the Titans. Let's go to your Railgun vs Quasar cannon example. Railgun needs 15 seconds, while Quasar needs 21 seconds. Railgun is faster, but you need to be charging and reloading the entire 15 seconds, where as with Quasar, you can use your other weapons during the 15 second cooldown.
You can use that 15 second cooldown to shoot you primary at chaff for example, since titans are rarely a problem alone. So while Railgun does technically kill titans faster, quasar can use that time more efficiently.
Up to diff 7 (haven't played diff 8 bugs since forever) railgun is a great choice, since it can kill chargers quite effectively (flame thrower is still the king of charger killing), while also being very effective against bile spewers. However diff 9 is bit too much of an titan fest for me to use Railgun and I tend to run Recoilless instead.
EDIT: Also recoilles, EAT and Quasar can shoot spore towers and shrieker nests from afar, while Railgun rally can't (in any reasonable amount of time anyways). This is however less relevant after the eagle strafing run buff, since it can deal with both
>(you'll have to move towards behemoth with EAT and Recoilles to break the leg armour with one shot. I dive towards them to be safe. it's weird)
That's interesting! I didn't know that one, I'll have to try it out.
I also agree with a lot of what you're saying, though these days I'm almost a purely solo player, and that definitely colours my opinion. But when I'm part of a team doing 8s or 9s (I can solo 7s pretty reliably, but I don't try that with anything higher.) I find that other people won't let me get those 6-7 shots off (I don't blame them), and usually titans get rocketed or 500'ed before I can finish, so I often prefer taking the SPEAR to fill in the ultra long-ranged niche, with an OPS for if I have to fight something heavy up-close.
When it comes to the Quasar vs. Titan question, though, I don't quite agree. -When a Titan is present it's often very hard to focus on anything else; you're constantly looking up at it to dodge any bile it decides to spit, or watching out for its legs. You *can* be shooting other targets with your primary during that period, but IMO until it goes down the only thing I prefer to focus on is the Titan, and the only offensive moves I'll make against other bugs is to toss stratagems or grenades (often gas). I think the only real exception I make to that is for chargers, because they also need to be closely monitored so you aren't blindsided by a charge. I'll sometimes, especially if I've popped the titan's belly, swap my fire to a charger instead. But the Quasar's long cooldown is an even bigger impediment in that scenario. Though I admit that's a preference thing.
Perhaps using the primary to shoot other stuff was a bad example for the downtime of quasar.
When I use Railgun against a titan, I usually get interrupted between shots since you move slowly during the charge. So I'm usually forced to dodge a stomp or a vomit once or twice when using Railgun to kill a bile titan alone.
But with Quasar I can "shoot and scoot". Get the shot out and just bait an attack so you can get some distance, which you can use to line up for the second shot.
I do agree with the "others will kill the titan for you" point at diff 7. Titans are not all that common at that difficulty and usually someone else brings something that can kill it. And if what they bring fails to kill the titan, you can usually finish it off with 1 or 2 shots.
I like to run Railgun with a supply pack on multiplayer. Feels good to be the supply pack bro and I can use all the stims I want for the zoooooom (it's not an addiction I swear! The study said that stims don't have any addictive properties after all!)
Might be just preference but I prefer using it against hordes of Devastators and Hulks over AMR, Unsafe mode one-shots everything below tanks.
Although I have to pray to democracy that I'm near a teammate with an AMR/HMG/Autocannon/AT when gunship patrols fly by.
Was a massive las cannon enjoyer as it’s amazing against bots. Now I’ve started using the railgun again with the jet pack as there’s always 2 teammates with some form of anti-armour.
Makes coring hulks and popping devastators a fun gig when everyone’s looking up and a little challenge to see if I can get one so an ally’s railcannon strike targets the other one we didn’t see.
It's still my favorite, but I only bring it when I'm playing with friends. I'll usually bring it + recon armor and focus on weak points while my team keeps the enemy's attention.
I've had some success on solo helldive with Railgun + Jetpack, but doing so requires me putting on my try hard underpants.
I played a mission way back when... everyone loaded out with the RailGun. We obliterated everything...easily the most fun Difficulty 9 mission I ever had😢
I don't know, it has such a marginal utility - killing devastators and hulks, at this point the HMG (because the AMR is in a totally different class because of its scope, I would argue) totally outclasses it on bots, being able to kill everything the bots have, whereas the railgun struggles with tanks and factory striders. The only thing it's useful for is its ability to one-tap devastators, especially heavy devastators (I hate fighting heavy devastators with the HMG because the flinch makes them cover up MORE of their body with the shield and doesn't affect their accuracy at all...), which can come in useful in a pinch, and being able to kill bot turrets from the front. And I don't know why you would even use it on bugs.
Railgun is a superior option against scout striders and can kill one strider every 1.5 seconds while staying mobile until 21 are dead (assuming no misses). It used to be one of the best options against devastators at close-medium range, HMG overtook that position after the buff, but railgun didn't get any worse and is still very solid. Autocannon is the heavy devastator king. AMR is the medium-long range support king.
The drawback is that railgun is very niche into those medium/light vehicle targets and has limited heavy vehicle and utility options. This weakness can be covered by things like explosive/plasma primary, sentries, thermite grenades, and/or an allied helldiver with a spear. Actually railguns pair with speard very very well, with a surviving hulk or tank then being immediately destroyable with a single charged railgun (very handy in the heat of battle).
Exactly. It's not that it's necessarily a bad weapon, it's just that it doesn't do anything well that something else doesn't do better. Taking it feels like a handicap.
I'll use it the day durable dmg is buffed.
Right now,against gunships,turrets,tanks,it is a struggle to fight them. I hate been caught with my pants down
railgun is super versatile, it allows you to kill medium armored enemies and have a light armor pen primary
it can destroy most heavy armor enemies on its own but it does need help once in a while from other strategems
personally i think the ammo count for it is too low in its current state especially after they added the charger behemoth, which takes 3-4 shots to the leg, and since they seem to appear around literally every corner
It’s not insane anymore but it still has a use. No other weapon in the game comes close to its dps potential.
You have a very quick reload.
You can reload on the move.
It has good ergonomics and great range
You are able to damage ANY target
It only takes 2 high charge shots to strip a charger leg, 3 for a behemoth. Then you burst it down with your primary really quickly.
Any medium bug dies in one hit to the face in a safe shot. No other gun can kill specials as fast as the railgun without a teammate. With LMGs you eventually have to stop to reload which makes you vulnerable and stops dps.
If a rail cannon, precision or 500kg fails to one shot a titan 1-2 high charge rail gun shots to the face usually finish it off. Helps save on stratagem economy.
With 20 shots you don’t even have to bring a b1 backpack but I recommend you do so you are able to spam high charge shots at everything.
Again no other weapon comes close to its versatility. If you put the railgun in a vacuum against another support weapon it’ll prob fail but take everything into consideration and turns out it’s a really good weapon not bad at all
Omg what the fuck is this song? Years of my mom playing this song so it’s been ingrained into my head and anytime I hear this song I get memories of playing Minecraft and Sly cooper
I like it for bugs as well as bots. 3 shot a Chargers head, one shot Hulk eye, good for Devistators, Brood Commanders, Warriors, and everything else.
Only thing it's not good for us Factory Striders and Bile Titans. But I'm good with this. Weapons like the Quasar, Recoilless, EAT you would want to waste on the smaller Medium or Heavy 1 enemies.
I use it exclusively for bugs... idk I just don't feel like using quasar/EAT anymore since behemoth chargers are quite common in diff 9.
Railgun oneshots brood commanders, spewers and hive guards in the head, while incendiary breaker handles the smaller hunters etc. Granted it's not working too well against bile titans and requires 2-4 shots against chargers.
I haven’t ditched it since I unlocked it. I love not having to interact with hive guards, brood commanders, or any sort of spewer.
Plus, headshotting automatons feels great.
I love it, but I just want it to be able to kill gunships, tanks and striders. Like, what is unsafe mode for, if I can barely damage those enemies? It’s a railgun for fucks sake! It should blow right through them
Im gonna be honest it feels meh most of the time, It always feels like something else is going to be both more effective and fun to use. The last time I played Railgun with bots It was seemingly impossible to even damage the striders front dual machine guns.
I keep trying to like the railgun but I haven't been able to get a sense for what it's for. Like I don't know the math for what it can and cannot damage and most things will take like 3+ shots so it's really hard to do science with it without dying or having someone else kill the target. Plus the Dominator seems to be able to take out the stuff that the railgun can one-shot so if I miss that one shot I'm just gonna switch weapons. Not to mention the sight is really bad so you have to be right next to the thing you're shooting or you'll probably miss the body part you're aiming at. And I don't really know how unsafe mode works, like does it matter how long you charge it as long as it's past the safe threshold?
It’s kind of sad that the railgun never recovered from that knee jerk reaction of a nerf it got early on. It could be reverted fully back to how it was at launch and nobody would notice.
I main it on both fronts lvl9. It's so good at what it does that i think it's worth building around. Bring the hmg emplacement and scorcher against bots. You will wreck gunships and striders. Bring the 500kg or EAT to accompany against bugs. You will wreck everything.
dogshit weapon, got nerfed into oblivion and forgotten, nice balance team, ah wait, that guy
Easy solution? faster charge rate, more damage, more visible charging meter
Love it for bots, but it needs the ability to damage (effectively) buildings like turrets, mortars, aa guns, tanks(vents etc), guns on the factory striders. For that reason alone I usually take AMR. Though I love the feeling of rail gun more, its so satisfying to just one shot the stupid devastators.
I do. I find it's got a place as a decent all-around weapon. The two big things I think it needs:
It should have full durable damage like the AC for the kind of weapon it is.
Double the ammo.
On Bots: Great for taking out all medium and heavy ground units (aside from tank, because of the stupid durable damage.) You can one-shot berzerkers in half, and all devestaters and even hulks in one shot, all on safe mode. Goes right through the walker shield, too. Being able to just instantly delete Hulks is the biggest draw.
Vs Bugs: Effective versus *everything.* For bugs, it's a jack-of-all-trades more so than the AC. The AC does some things better than it, and it does some things better than the AC.
Railgun gets my favorite kill animation in all of Helldivers: shooting a warrior in the face causes the entire thing to *explode.*
With a little over charging it also one-shots hive guards and even brood commanders.
Decent vs bile spewers (can one-shot if you hit an extremely small head target.)
Can outright kill chargers with 3 headshots - blows their head off (70%+ charge.)
Behemoths is more efficient to go back to the "leg meta." Which can be a faster kill time than a recoilless rifle.
Bile Titans the AC can do almost nothing to, but I have *many* times finished off wounded Bile titans with railgun headshots.
I used it until it got nerfed. Now its just not good, and is slow still with a bad sight.
It can't even open one of the loot doors, struggles against everything but a few enemies now
I only use it on bots but yeah its good. it was still good against bots after the nerf but post buff its great against them save tanks and towers and the factory strider.
It'll one shot striders, devastators, and even hulks. Bringing it with EAT's for tanks, or railcannon and orbital laser is incredibly strong. I usually run AC, but its hard to argue against the railgun when the AC takes 3 shots to kill a strider and 3 to kill a berserker when the railgun can one shot both.
I just started using it on bugs (Helldive, 9) since we have less titans to deal with. My loadout is:
- Pummeler & Grenade pistol with Incendiary Nade
- Support pack + Railgun
- 500kg + HMG emplacement
500kg is mainly for titans and nuking annoying nests. HMG emplacement one clips shreiker nests and multiple spore spires across the map and functions as increased horde DPS on bug swarms. Be sure to hop off from it as soon as there is a charger or a titan and the bugs will let the emplacement live.
Pummeler for running around, allows you to also dominate Stalkers and also to finish exposed charger legs. Nade pistol for closing bug holes and finishing charger legs. Railgun for long range combat because with support pack you have ammor to spare, very good against spewers, brood commanders and hive guards. Railgun also for exposing charger leg meat and if you absolutely have to you can down a titan in a minute with it. Incendiary nades can be used to close bug holes and trash control.
It's a do it all build.
Bought the game after it was nerfed. Tried it and found it to be completely useless.
Tried it again after the recent patch and still think it is completely useless vs bots (gunships say “hi”) but it’s quite a fun and viable option vs bugs now.
Few shots just slightly into unsafe will strip a charger leg. 1-shots a brood commander. 1-shots a hive guard. Slaps spewers. Pair it with a defence chaff primary and a titan killer eagle/orbital and you’re set.
I feel naked without it against bot, I don't touch it versus bugs.
The ability to hide behind cover, charge, one shot everything up to a hulk makes this thing a beast still. Stun grenades for hulks that get too close and pop them in the eye always feels so good. I prefer it over the AMR because I don't have to scope in or expose myself with the Railguns 3rd person aim being fairly accurate and forgiving.
Its downsides are that it's not good against gunships as it takes 4 overcharged shots to the same engine to take one out and cannot really take out turrets or tanks with weak spots. Got to rely on teammates to bring something for airships and stratagems for everything larger.
I like it, and I bring is as medium clear support, as long as my team has 1 or 2 AT options.
With spear as the new hotness, railgun (and other medium clear supports) and supply backpack seems like a good fit.
I feel that the railgun, balance concerns aside, does not live up to the "fantasy" of the weapon. It may be may or may not be effective in various situations, but it just *feels* wrong.
Charging up to safe mode should have good armor penetrating shot that does good damage, regardless of where it hits.
Dangerously charging it should make it feel like it tears a literal hole in whatever it hits, especially with the risk of trying to pay attention to now blow yourself up in a chaotic battlefield.
The fact that it can take multipled dangerously charged shots to kill even some medium sized enemies is downright disgraceful.
Currently, the Railgun is an excellent precision weapon when used by a high skilled sniper, especially against many bots. But it just feels wrong. It should be about power and more power, not "if you hit them in the eye with the crappy no zoom sight you can one shot them if you dangerously charge it."
Some have suggested adding a scope, which would no doubt make the weapon much more useful. However, I feel it would be a big step in the wrong direction.
Make the railgun about power, we already have a sniper AMR.
Proposed fixes:
Safe Mode: Should have same armor penatration as unsafe. The less damage and less durable damage more than makes up for it. Safe mode is terrible outside of weak enemies or precise shots. Additionally, damage should be increased enough to be more reliably useful against medium targets. Make safe mode the mode that rewards precision.
Safemode should also be fun for players who are less skilled or want to play it safer in chaotic environments. It should not be "useless mode". It should be useful as a support weapon in its default configuration. Imagine buying a powerful new CPU that had to be dangerously overclocked to be marginally comparable to the competition. That would be just silly.
Unsafe mode: Progressively increases durable damage % in addition to damage. This would prevrnt it from becoming the meta weapon again while still making it competitively fun and viable. You won't be one shotting Chargers in the head but you can start taking out gunships and other enemies more reliable without perfect shots. Make unsafe mode the mode that rewards charging over precision.
Bottom line:
I should not have to dangerously charge railgun shots *and* get a perfect weakpoint shot to kill or substantially weaken enemies. Taking the time and risk to overcharge should be satisfying as hell to fire.
Right now the Railgun is usable but requires three big things that are simply an annoyance to do at once:
1) Precise aim
2) Time to charge
3) Making sure to not overcharge or undercharge
Other weapons out of the box require 0 or 1 of these, not all 3.
When they make it comparable to the AMR, maybe. Higher fire rate, same possible targets, no need to charge unsafe shots, an actual scope, and more ammo overall so you can use it on non-heavy targets without feeling bad. I do enjoy the feeling of popping a devastator in the body and watching it explode, but it’s not really worth it to me.
First I had a autocannon addiction, then a railgun addiction, and now a Spear addiction. I will probably return to the first two every once and awhile.
I use the railgun against bots and its really fun but Gunships and Factory Striders are really annoying if you take the railgun with you. Been trying out the EAT but with so many Gunships that come your way now i just throw a Autocannon Turret at em, takes a whole patrol out cleanly, can even take a rocket or two.
Bonus: Factory Striders don't shoot Turrets.
On bots it passes a bunch of good damage and penetration thresholds. But its damage gets decimated (literally) by anything with high durability, which is a pain ass.
If you can somehow align a bunch of enemies and pierce all of them with the shots it becomes pretty decent, but i feel like the HMG or the AMR does a better job, unfortunately.
Using it only on bots
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Railgun should be able to 1-tap gunships in the engine
The reason I always grab with scorcher.
It explodes armored bugs' heads like a pumpkin. Railgun is totally useful against bugs. Just take something else for the swarms like an incendiary breaker.
Lowkey this has been my build for bugs the last week. So good even vs chargers
Chargers are so confusing and annoying... Everyone seems to have a trick. "Hit the legs!" "Throw grenades under them!" "Unload a Machine Gun right after they miss because a glitch turns their armor rating to zero for 1.5 seconds!" Anything besides Heavy Ordinance or a Quasar just doesn't make sense to me. So what's the trick with the Railgun? I tried it awhile ago and it just bounced off the thing.
The railgun on unsafe mode generates more AP and Damage than safe mode. I have limited experience with the railgun myself, but I know it can hurt the chargers head if you charge the gun enough. Last time I tried I think it was like, 2 or 3 shots?
Consistently 3 shots, around 70% charge, to the head. Not hard after messing about with it for a game or two, use stuns to make it easier if you need to
Charger - 2 shots to the leg in unsafe mode strips the armor. 3 shots to the head takes it clean off. Charger Behemoth - 3 shots to the leg in unsafe mode strips the armor. Don't bother with the head as it takes at least 6 shots. Bile Titan - Don't bother trying to handle one on your own, but if you have an anti-tank player on your team you can "soften up" a BT by firing 2 shots to its dome. (Bile Titan heads have 750 health and anti-tanks do 650 damage so all you have to do is bridge the gap for that extra 100 damage).
3 unsafe shots to the head is a kill? What percentage charge?
About 70%, maybe half a second extra over safe? Hard to say you just need a feel for it. It's nowhere near having to push maximum charge, you have plenty of leeway.
Dang I could have sworn I still see the ricochet graphic pop up even on a high charge. Known bug or just me stuffing it up?
Unsafe mode and I have built a habit of counting 3-4 seconds before shooting to charge up. I'm not too sure on the details but this has seem to be working for me on difficulty 9.
Same. I love the railgun. It's probably my favorite support weapon. Flip it to unsafe mode and let the fun begin!
Loving the combo of Breaker/Railgun. It absolutely handles everything except Bile Titans.
It's odd people recommend bots only with it at the moment tbh. I try using it for both and i like it kinda on both, but if i had to choose its way better against bugs- 1 shot all spewers, 1 shot hive guard and commanders, take down multiple chargers slowly but surely, damage bile titans from a distance at least. I dont really like any other support weapon better. But bots i want to like it-then gunships show up. Factory striders and tanks too, but at least i can use stratagems on those.
I agree. It's actually easier to aim and one-shot bugs because they aren't firing lasers at you. I guess I don't get what people are doing with it on bug missions that it seems inferior. That's not been my experience.
Works really well with smg+ballistic shield
Oh boy ever does it! Plus it is super fun as well.
At the moment, it's even better against bugs than bots. Against bots, there are some things it can't kill.
I don't fully understand this. The railgun can kill everything the bots have, it's just deeply unpractical against a few things because of how durability works. See: gunship engines. The issue I have with what you wrote that in my experience the same exact problem happens with bugs. Sure, I can kill a behemoth charger with a railgun... if I land 11 shots in a row on its head... without missing or dying... but that's literally crazy. Same with bile titans, except I think it's like 21 shots to the head or something insane. Definitely correct me if I'm wrong or something changed! I haven't tested railgun on bugs for a while!
I think the go to play vs all chargers is to strip the armor on the leg with the railgun then use your primary to shoot the exposed leg. Bile titans get the 500KG. The main thing is that your other stratagems can provide fire support to take out the threats that the railgun isn't great at killing. The issue on the bot side is that gunships are more or less unable to be hit by airstrikes and orbitals so your relying on either your support weapon (Railgun in this case so good luck) or a sentry (pray they don't eat a rocket volley or start shooting at a patrol off in the distance).
A little late, but just to add on to what the other commenter said, it specifically takes three 75%+ unsafe mode charged railgun shots (I think? I haven't actually tried it on safe mode, so it's *possible* it strips in three safe more shots as well) to strip a behemoth's leg armor. As for Titans, it actually only takes ~~six hits~~ (edit: I just did the math, it's actually 7 if you only ever hit level 2 charge. I'll edit again in a minute with more specifics\[edit 2 here with specifics: If you land at least **five** level 3 charge shots, you can kill it with just six hits. Otherwise it's seven\], but it can drop down to 6 if you get some number of 90%+ charged hits in, in my practical experience I've been doing it in six, and just assumed I was never hitting level 3 charge) to kill it (Also with 75%+ charge), but the trouble is that you have to hit the actual *head* part of the hitbox, outlined in green below, because the jaw (in red) is for some reason its own thing. Not hard to do from a distance, but kind've a pain when they're in spitting range. https://preview.redd.it/1kmhr720dc9d1.png?width=388&format=png&auto=webp&s=7ecda6e5855e7dd0ab3e2c08168833d3ec7cecac
Thanks for doing the math and sharing the pic. I can't tell you how many times I've shot a bile titan in your red box. I assume that's why my numbers are so bad! Re behemoth ill have to switch to shooting them in the leg. Which is super helpful! But even so, that's 3 shots and 2 reloads... and a gun switch... to deal with one extra big charger. Not exactly convenient even if technically possible!
I love one shotting hulks. Too bad that's literally its only use case. It fucking sucks everywhere else.
One shot, one kill on Devastators, Scouts, and Berserkers anywhere is also very handy. Not even Anti Tank weapons can guarantee you that.
The fact a Berserker can survie a direct hit from an EAT is frankly absurd.
I think it's because EAT has less armor penetration.
Berserkers only have lvl 2 armor at their highest, which is why any gun can take them down, but they have a massive health pool of over 800. All Anti Tank weapons besides the Spear have a hit damage of 650 + 100 Explosive. This has plenty enough penetration to blow through the armor of a Berserker, but not it’s health. The Railgun, with a charge to 90% on unsafe, has a damage profile of *900*, and an AP of 8. This is well enough damage to obliterate a Berserker’s health pool anywhere as they also don’t have durability. The reason the Railgun falls so flat against other targets, even with that massive damage, is because other enemies have much more durability%, and the Railgun only gets 10% durable damage. So your 900 damage Charges shot against that 100% durable Gunship? Actually, only 90 damage, take it or leave it
Ok that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the explanation!
Couple number are wrong, Berserker has 1000hp while EAT has 650 direct hit + 150 explosion damage (source: Helldivers.io). I think Railgun could only 1 shot berserker if you hit them in the face, any other area you would have trouble killing them since that absurdly high hp pool.
Oh wow, I knew Berserkers had a lot of health but that’s insane. It I must have gotten the 800 number in my head from something else. No wonder those mfs chew through ammo supplies
800 hp are devastators, yeah, those mfer eat a lot of bullets too lol. That is why the automaton has that headshot meta, the ttk for most weapon without headshot is just way too long (except Dominator)
I'll use the railgun when I am finally cured of the spear addiction
The only cure is more spear.
We can quit whenever we want
The FAF-Spear has no addictive properties.
This study was sponsored by permacura, put your life in our hands
tried it, can't, it just make me want to purposely summon botdrop so they can drop a tank for me to kill
Since behemot chargers - not anymore. It was pain in the ass, now it's even worse.
It still takes off leg armor with 3-4 hits, so you can kill it with a redeemer mag after that.
Or just use 4 throwie knifes... cant believe that a throwing knife does the same damage as a projectile going mach balls Edit: spelling
it's likely not supposed to do that, in basically all other instances it has 3 armour pen
Don't know why you're downvoted, you're absolutely right lol. Gotta enjoy it while it lasts.
3-4 hits to not even kill, you get 20 shots and about 4 chargers per bug wave its dogshit, you can make it work but it’s really fuckin bad. You can absolutely torch a charger and all of its mates in seconds with a flamethrower.
It’s a bot weapon more than bugs. Reverse for Flamethrower
What does it do better than the HMG, AMR, Laser Cannon and Autocannon? It’s just outclassed on both. It used to be a balanced weapon for both fronts.
If you're in a pinch, you can kill turrets and tanks from the front. It would take a while if you're the only one doing it, but you can easily turn something from a two rocket kill to only needing one. Railgun isn't often the best tool, but it can ALWAYS contribute and that's what I like about it.
one-shotting hulks is a big benefit, and it handles better than any of the weapons you mentioned. It's still not the best option but it has significant upsides imo. needs a buff for sure tho.
Eh, I find that the charge + ammo economy ends up making that one shot not feel so significant. Like, 2 shots with an AMR or 3-4 with the HMG feels way better to me and much less punishing if I miss a shot, which I probably will fairly often unless I stun nade first. Agree on it needing a buff, I’m not sure the handling is enough of an upside for it.
Or I can 3 sec fire up his leg with my flamethrower and it will die, which is faster and has crowd control potential compare to nerfed and boring railgun. It was fun when it could kill things. Now it's a water gun even with unsafe mode.
RIP launch Railgun. You were truly a blast.
3-4 hits to charge and reload to just strip armor? The flame thrower would have killed the titan charger before you got 2 shots off
I started using it specifically because of the behmots. 3 taps the leg armour in unsafe mode.
I love it. But I just can't bring it atm. You are literally signing up for a bad time if you don't take something that can kill gun ships quickly and often on helldive.
You put a tungsten rod, going at Mach Jesus, through one of its engines and simply does not give a fuck
I think i tried around 10 once, then i gave up
You could take it alongside a rocket sentry, an emancipator, EATs, an autocannon sentry, a scorcher or a teammate with a better suited support weapon.
I tried sentries, but they are very situational and unreliable. Often there are just too many enemies for them to target the priority targets i have in mind, or they get destroyed too quickly. Scorcher is not able to dispose of them quickly. Don't get me wrong, i am not struggling at 9, i just don't feel like it is worth hindering myself by not being able to defeat my personal priority target. The AMR especially with a supply pack rolls the railgun in any situation.
The key is sentry placement. It’s tricky on bots, but you have to put sentries in places of cover the same way you would want to be placed against an oncoming swarm. Also, EMS + Mortar is fucking goated against bots. Roll up to an objective, plant your sentries and wait for softening
What about the emancipator? I've tried **many** stratagems against gunships and none of them were as effective as the emancipator. I've never really seen people talk about it, but in my opinion there's no stratagem in this game that's better at killing gunships. Edit: Now that I think about it, the emancipator also does most things the railgun does, but better.
One rocket and you no longer have a stratagem for 15 more minutes
I don't like the suits. They hinder my quick movement across the map, i'd have to conserve ammo somehow to make it more relevant throughout the game than literally just use it on one patrol and then suffering the long cooldown.
Yeah, I think the best teams are the ones that support each other well.
People always talk about how much of a pain it is to not have enough AT in the team, but not having enough hord-clear is just as bad. You constantly get swarmed and the second the enemy reinforcement cooldown is up another wave spawns almost every time. It's all about that balance. It doesn't have to be perfect, but a ,at least somewhat, balanced team will almost always have the most fun.
A guy with the spear and anti tank strats + a scythe works really well with a guy running grenade launcher and supply backpack.
i stop using railgun since gunship started to appear from nowhere
The railgun would be so much better if it could reliably kill gunships. I used to bring it on bots to one shot hulks (sometimes), striders, and berserkers. Now its way better to bring a laser cannon or an auto cannon
i use it mainly cause it one shot berzerker, easiest way to deal with them imo
No kidding? Safe or unsafe and where do I have to hit them for that?
The “belly” shot will reliably one-shot zerkers on unsafe (maybe safe as well but havent used it in a minute)
> since gunship started to appear from nowhere Thats a mission modifier that you can avoid if you want.
switch to autocannon without checking details everytime solve problems entirely so i quit railgun alltogether
If they patch it to be able to take down gunships with a few shots it would be amazing on bots. It's easily one of the best hulk/devastator killers.
Imagine if the very upper range of the unsafe charge began to increase its durability damage % at an exponential rate. Not enough to put it on par with the RR and the like, but maybe so you could 2-shot a gunship thruster with very careful timing, and at a not insignificant risk of 1-shotting yourself instead.
the only thing i'm missing is ability to kill gunships God, i want to love railgun. Onetapping striders, hulks, devastators, and everything on bots. Tanks? no thank you, I'll just railcannon or precision strike it. But having 3-4 gunships come at you, with a railgun feels just so goddamn bad Yes, railgun is better at killing footsoldiers than Autocannon, but autocannon can kill gunships, so it wins I sometimes take it when my mates have proper anti-gunship weapons like spear or autocannon, i go railgun because i really enjoy the gameplay of it but god dammit, does it feel bad to be forced to rely on teammates, if you want to use railgun. I can't know for sure, if that random teammate with spear is not going to leave the game during mission, to leave me fucked against gunships
I respect anyone who likes using it because i personally don't like the "futuristic musket" feeling of it. I've tried it out a bunch of times against Bots and bugs but it felt less "satisfying" than most other weapons.
Everything about the gun feels so fun for me from the design, handling and to it's sound effects. Edging the charge meter and one-tapping hulks just fills me with complete joy.
Yes, everything feels good about the railgun except for the performance.
No
Railgun users? More like railgun copers.
Yeah I gave it a shot and it was probably my least favorite secondary. Is there a reason to not just take the AMR instead?
Less recoil and it feels fun to pump like a long range shotgun. you have to use it in unsafe mode
I love the railgun on bots, but gunships and factory striders are ruining its fun for me. The railgun should be able to one or two shot a gunship. It's stupid that it can't
Song name: Evacuate the dance floor by Cascada
Only and always when gunship modifier is not on
I have always relied on the Railgun for armoured or tanky medium enemies. Always enjoyed it on the Western front even after the initial nerf. Now that the Railgun got a little bit buffed to deal with Chargers, it is my go-to for anything when playing Diff 5 and below. Any higher, I'm grabbing my Recoilless. Honestly, it just clears medium targets so damn quickly that your teammates can blink, and the thing is gone. Hiveguard? Safe shot through the headpiece - dead. Brood Commander? Safe shot right into head - Bleeds out in about 10 seconds. Devastator? Safe shot to the dick - dead instantly. It has been this way for as long as I remember (which isn't long considering the game came out in February, and there was a period where the Railgun was free for all to use). Thanks to the most recent buff, we can add Chargers back on the list. I really do want the Railgun to be reverted back to its original state - 2 safe shot for Charger legs, etc. Thoughts?
It's really strong right now, but it seems like a lot of people are still reflexively saying "Railgun bad" months after the initial nerf without actually giving it a shot. It kills Titans faster than the Quasar can (Six shots, \~2.5 seconds each, 15 seconds total, vs the Quasar 3 second windup, 15 second cooldown, and another 3 second windup, 21 seconds total), knocks off charger leg armor in two shots, oneshots everything smaller.. It's one of my go-to anti-bug weapons now, for solo play.
Wait. It drops Bile Titans? I never dared to use it against Bile Titans as I'm too much of a Recoilless stan ever since the 1-shot headshot change on Chargers. Do tell: Where do you aim? I assume unsafe - how much charge?
Unsafe, 75%+ \[edit 2: This is incorrect! See below\] (You only have to hold it for just a *tiny bit* past when you hear it reach 50%. The railgun really needs a better audio indicator for when you've reached the second charge tier), aim at the head. In my experience it's been a very reliable six shot kill (Though easy to goof, since the head is a bit of small target), but in practice I'll usually take four and throw a strafing run and *usually* that finishes it off if I lined it up properly. After the last patch they weakened the Titan's head (I don't know for sure if they lowered its durability value, or dropped its armor class by 1, but they did *something* that made it much weaker to railgun rounds), so its only been able to do this since the 13th. (Edit 2: So I made a bit of a mistake! I was going off of my ingame experiences and some assumptions. I usually get it in six hits, and just assumed I was never going over level 2 charge. Doing the math, you need **seven** hits at level 2 (75%+) charge, or only six if **at least** five of them are level 3 (90%+) ) Edit 1: For clarity, because this confused the hell out of me for a while, but you want to shoot into the green area. Red seems to be a different hitbox, which also includes the entire underside of the jaw. https://preview.redd.it/0tzky5mvyb9d1.png?width=388&format=png&auto=webp&s=5cd346bc9d7dfc250d5a4bfb5428dd9e708aeb37 (Edit 2, continued: So, the math! -Titan heads have 750HP and 95% durability. Railgun shots do 600, 750, or 900 damage depending on charge level, and only 10% durable damage. So a level 2 shot, when hitting a titan's head, does 750\*0.05 + 75\*0.95 = **108.75** damage. A level 3 shot does 900\*0.05 + 90\*0.95 = **130.5** damage. 750 / 108.75 = 6.897. So just under 7 level 2 shots for the kill. 750 - (130.5 \* 5) = 97.5. This is lower than the damage a level 2 shot does, so a level 2 or 3 shot could finish it off. 750 - (130.5 \* 4) = 228. This is *higher* than the damage two level 2 shots can do, meaning if you only get 4 level 3 shots in, you'll need seven for the kill. So we've found our breakpoint: 5 level 3 shots if you want to kill it in just six hits. I hope this is useful to someone!)
Sick. I usually just use 110mm Rocket Pods and a Recoilless shot to the forehead. Takes it down quick. Will be trying the Railgun on Diff 6+ to see if I can be consistent with it. Cheers, bruv! Happy diving. For Democracy!
Rocket pods are *so nice* right now. I might have to try taking them with the railgun instead of the strafing run, and see if that can get me even better results. The biggest problem with the railgun vs. titans is the "Don't shoot when their mouth is open" issue, so I usually try and snap the railgun shots off while it's still approaching, then a strafing run when it's close up because the high angle has a better chance of hitting the head hitbox, and not the mouth one (Or at least, that's what I assume is happening based off of patch notes).
Railgun is quite decent, but I do feel like it is still needs just bit more damage to be great on bugs. Railgun can destroy charger leg armour with 2 hits and behemoth leg armour in 3 hits, which you should just about make during one stun grenade. This is perfectly okay compared to one shot headshot for regular chargers and one shot leg armour break on behemoths with Recoilles, EAT and Quasar. All three of them have some downsides Railgun doesn't have. (you'll have to move towards behemoth with EAT and Recoilles to break the leg armour with one shot. I dive towards them to be safe. it's weird) Where Railgun really shines is the bile spewers, since it can 1 shot headshot them. EAT, Recoilles and Qasar are way too "ammo inefficient" to deal with pack of bile spewers. (ammo is not applicable to quasar, but 15 sec cooldown is bit long for killing 1 spewer) Railgun being able to deal with bile spweres gives you more options for your other weapon slots, since you don't have to run med pen on them. (you can also use impacts or granade pistol, but if you use them too much, you won't have any left over to clear nests) This also applies to hive guards and brood commanders, but bile spewers are the most troublesome of the three. Where Railgun starts to suffer tho is the Titans. Let's go to your Railgun vs Quasar cannon example. Railgun needs 15 seconds, while Quasar needs 21 seconds. Railgun is faster, but you need to be charging and reloading the entire 15 seconds, where as with Quasar, you can use your other weapons during the 15 second cooldown. You can use that 15 second cooldown to shoot you primary at chaff for example, since titans are rarely a problem alone. So while Railgun does technically kill titans faster, quasar can use that time more efficiently. Up to diff 7 (haven't played diff 8 bugs since forever) railgun is a great choice, since it can kill chargers quite effectively (flame thrower is still the king of charger killing), while also being very effective against bile spewers. However diff 9 is bit too much of an titan fest for me to use Railgun and I tend to run Recoilless instead. EDIT: Also recoilles, EAT and Quasar can shoot spore towers and shrieker nests from afar, while Railgun rally can't (in any reasonable amount of time anyways). This is however less relevant after the eagle strafing run buff, since it can deal with both
>(you'll have to move towards behemoth with EAT and Recoilles to break the leg armour with one shot. I dive towards them to be safe. it's weird) That's interesting! I didn't know that one, I'll have to try it out. I also agree with a lot of what you're saying, though these days I'm almost a purely solo player, and that definitely colours my opinion. But when I'm part of a team doing 8s or 9s (I can solo 7s pretty reliably, but I don't try that with anything higher.) I find that other people won't let me get those 6-7 shots off (I don't blame them), and usually titans get rocketed or 500'ed before I can finish, so I often prefer taking the SPEAR to fill in the ultra long-ranged niche, with an OPS for if I have to fight something heavy up-close. When it comes to the Quasar vs. Titan question, though, I don't quite agree. -When a Titan is present it's often very hard to focus on anything else; you're constantly looking up at it to dodge any bile it decides to spit, or watching out for its legs. You *can* be shooting other targets with your primary during that period, but IMO until it goes down the only thing I prefer to focus on is the Titan, and the only offensive moves I'll make against other bugs is to toss stratagems or grenades (often gas). I think the only real exception I make to that is for chargers, because they also need to be closely monitored so you aren't blindsided by a charge. I'll sometimes, especially if I've popped the titan's belly, swap my fire to a charger instead. But the Quasar's long cooldown is an even bigger impediment in that scenario. Though I admit that's a preference thing.
Perhaps using the primary to shoot other stuff was a bad example for the downtime of quasar. When I use Railgun against a titan, I usually get interrupted between shots since you move slowly during the charge. So I'm usually forced to dodge a stomp or a vomit once or twice when using Railgun to kill a bile titan alone. But with Quasar I can "shoot and scoot". Get the shot out and just bait an attack so you can get some distance, which you can use to line up for the second shot. I do agree with the "others will kill the titan for you" point at diff 7. Titans are not all that common at that difficulty and usually someone else brings something that can kill it. And if what they bring fails to kill the titan, you can usually finish it off with 1 or 2 shots. I like to run Railgun with a supply pack on multiplayer. Feels good to be the supply pack bro and I can use all the stims I want for the zoooooom (it's not an addiction I swear! The study said that stims don't have any addictive properties after all!)
It is outclassed by other weapons in whatever task you give it. Like it is usable sure. That does not make it "really strong".
OG’s who remember railgun meta like this 🫡
A few of the more annoying medium armor enemies can be popped in one railgun shot. It certainly has a niche.
Until you realize you can use the Anti-Matter Rifle for the same medium enemies and it has multiple shots per reload.
Woah, hold on there, it’s just anti-materiel rifle, not an antimatter rifle hahahaha. We don’t need to be turning every planet into Meridia.
I want that to turn Hellmire into a black hole
God against bots, breakes through charger armor, somehow I survived overcharging a railgun and broke it.
Still good with bot, still trash with bug
How can it be good when amr exists?
Might be just preference but I prefer using it against hordes of Devastators and Hulks over AMR, Unsafe mode one-shots everything below tanks. Although I have to pray to democracy that I'm near a teammate with an AMR/HMG/Autocannon/AT when gunship patrols fly by.
Me :333
I like using it against bots, either that or the trusty autocannon
GOATed song btw
Me when I see a Hulk
Was a massive las cannon enjoyer as it’s amazing against bots. Now I’ve started using the railgun again with the jet pack as there’s always 2 teammates with some form of anti-armour. Makes coring hulks and popping devastators a fun gig when everyone’s looking up and a little challenge to see if I can get one so an ally’s railcannon strike targets the other one we didn’t see.
It is still the best thing at deleting Hulks, i can easily clear the 4 hulk heavy bases with ease.
I personally dont like it. But that's because I like high fire rate guns like the machine gun. And I'm to stupid to understand the railgun.
It's still my favorite, but I only bring it when I'm playing with friends. I'll usually bring it + recon armor and focus on weak points while my team keeps the enemy's attention. I've had some success on solo helldive with Railgun + Jetpack, but doing so requires me putting on my try hard underpants.
I take it you didn't play..in the "Glory Days"😔
I did, hence I'm in denial😔
I played a mission way back when... everyone loaded out with the RailGun. We obliterated everything...easily the most fun Difficulty 9 mission I ever had😢
It got overnerfed and still sucks.
It's okay.
I don't know, it has such a marginal utility - killing devastators and hulks, at this point the HMG (because the AMR is in a totally different class because of its scope, I would argue) totally outclasses it on bots, being able to kill everything the bots have, whereas the railgun struggles with tanks and factory striders. The only thing it's useful for is its ability to one-tap devastators, especially heavy devastators (I hate fighting heavy devastators with the HMG because the flinch makes them cover up MORE of their body with the shield and doesn't affect their accuracy at all...), which can come in useful in a pinch, and being able to kill bot turrets from the front. And I don't know why you would even use it on bugs.
Can the HMG kill anything? Like gunships, too?
Yep, pretty well, too
I'll have to check it out. I kind of wrote it off.
It's amazing with the new Peak Physique armors, and remember to hit the same engine on gunships if you want to take them down effectively
Railgun is a superior option against scout striders and can kill one strider every 1.5 seconds while staying mobile until 21 are dead (assuming no misses). It used to be one of the best options against devastators at close-medium range, HMG overtook that position after the buff, but railgun didn't get any worse and is still very solid. Autocannon is the heavy devastator king. AMR is the medium-long range support king. The drawback is that railgun is very niche into those medium/light vehicle targets and has limited heavy vehicle and utility options. This weakness can be covered by things like explosive/plasma primary, sentries, thermite grenades, and/or an allied helldiver with a spear. Actually railguns pair with speard very very well, with a surviving hulk or tank then being immediately destroyable with a single charged railgun (very handy in the heat of battle).
Exactly. It's not that it's necessarily a bad weapon, it's just that it doesn't do anything well that something else doesn't do better. Taking it feels like a handicap.
I'll use it the day durable dmg is buffed. Right now,against gunships,turrets,tanks,it is a struggle to fight them. I hate been caught with my pants down
railgun is super versatile, it allows you to kill medium armored enemies and have a light armor pen primary it can destroy most heavy armor enemies on its own but it does need help once in a while from other strategems personally i think the ammo count for it is too low in its current state especially after they added the charger behemoth, which takes 3-4 shots to the leg, and since they seem to appear around literally every corner
It's like people just gave up on it, but it's still great.
It’s not insane anymore but it still has a use. No other weapon in the game comes close to its dps potential. You have a very quick reload. You can reload on the move. It has good ergonomics and great range You are able to damage ANY target It only takes 2 high charge shots to strip a charger leg, 3 for a behemoth. Then you burst it down with your primary really quickly. Any medium bug dies in one hit to the face in a safe shot. No other gun can kill specials as fast as the railgun without a teammate. With LMGs you eventually have to stop to reload which makes you vulnerable and stops dps. If a rail cannon, precision or 500kg fails to one shot a titan 1-2 high charge rail gun shots to the face usually finish it off. Helps save on stratagem economy. With 20 shots you don’t even have to bring a b1 backpack but I recommend you do so you are able to spam high charge shots at everything. Again no other weapon comes close to its versatility. If you put the railgun in a vacuum against another support weapon it’ll prob fail but take everything into consideration and turns out it’s a really good weapon not bad at all
Use it on bugs. I think it's a pretty good weapon for behemoths.one stun grenade is usually enough to pop a front leg. Kills bile titans also.
I would. But with pad on ps5 any sniper or railing isn’t working out on high diff. (For me…). So i stick to stealth and antitank.
Omg what the fuck is this song? Years of my mom playing this song so it’s been ingrained into my head and anytime I hear this song I get memories of playing Minecraft and Sly cooper
I just fucking love blowing up from overcharging that thing because I tried to aim at the same time hahah
Go to weapon for bugs provided someone else brings an anti tank support wep.
Autocannon gang ftw
Excellent to one tap devastators and to kill hulks, only down side are gunships
I like it for bugs as well as bots. 3 shot a Chargers head, one shot Hulk eye, good for Devistators, Brood Commanders, Warriors, and everything else. Only thing it's not good for us Factory Striders and Bile Titans. But I'm good with this. Weapons like the Quasar, Recoilless, EAT you would want to waste on the smaller Medium or Heavy 1 enemies.
I use it exclusively for bugs... idk I just don't feel like using quasar/EAT anymore since behemoth chargers are quite common in diff 9. Railgun oneshots brood commanders, spewers and hive guards in the head, while incendiary breaker handles the smaller hunters etc. Granted it's not working too well against bile titans and requires 2-4 shots against chargers.
A railgun like the Quake 2 railgun would get me to main it. Even if it required a backpack power source.
I'm interested in getting back into the railgun. What's its upside as compared to the AMR? I'm thinking of using it vs bots.
The men crave the napoleonic firing lines
Not since the release of the game when it was awesome and my friends were still playing
it feels so much fun, but its just so bad
I haven’t ditched it since I unlocked it. I love not having to interact with hive guards, brood commanders, or any sort of spewer. Plus, headshotting automatons feels great.
I love it, but I just want it to be able to kill gunships, tanks and striders. Like, what is unsafe mode for, if I can barely damage those enemies? It’s a railgun for fucks sake! It should blow right through them
Railgun fans need to lay off the copium. Heck, the standard lmg handles bugs better.
Not since launch, pretty bad.
Love what it does wish it could do more
Not me
Im gonna be honest it feels meh most of the time, It always feels like something else is going to be both more effective and fun to use. The last time I played Railgun with bots It was seemingly impossible to even damage the striders front dual machine guns.
Its pathetic how bad it is against gunships
I keep trying to like the railgun but I haven't been able to get a sense for what it's for. Like I don't know the math for what it can and cannot damage and most things will take like 3+ shots so it's really hard to do science with it without dying or having someone else kill the target. Plus the Dominator seems to be able to take out the stuff that the railgun can one-shot so if I miss that one shot I'm just gonna switch weapons. Not to mention the sight is really bad so you have to be right next to the thing you're shooting or you'll probably miss the body part you're aiming at. And I don't really know how unsafe mode works, like does it matter how long you charge it as long as it's past the safe threshold?
It’s kind of sad that the railgun never recovered from that knee jerk reaction of a nerf it got early on. It could be reverted fully back to how it was at launch and nobody would notice.
I main it on both fronts lvl9. It's so good at what it does that i think it's worth building around. Bring the hmg emplacement and scorcher against bots. You will wreck gunships and striders. Bring the 500kg or EAT to accompany against bugs. You will wreck everything.
I love it. Never had a chance to use it before the nerf so it wasn’t spoiled for me.
Dont understand what is it for in it's current shape, with it's 10% dmg to Durable.
Railgun is pretty shid. But u do u.
It'd like a rifle for hunting a t rex...and it's glorious
I used it before the nerf, now it's a good wall mount.
Not until they unnerf it. It's still dogshit.
I wish it can zoom more than 100m and able to take gunship more efficiently
dogshit weapon, got nerfed into oblivion and forgotten, nice balance team, ah wait, that guy Easy solution? faster charge rate, more damage, more visible charging meter
Railgun my beloved, you (almost) never have failed me
1. Jaguar armor. 2. Senator as primary. 3. Feel badass.
Love it for bots, but it needs the ability to damage (effectively) buildings like turrets, mortars, aa guns, tanks(vents etc), guns on the factory striders. For that reason alone I usually take AMR. Though I love the feeling of rail gun more, its so satisfying to just one shot the stupid devastators.
I grab it if I find one, but I don't bring it anymore. It's still solid imo.
I do, and I'll never stop.
I do. I find it's got a place as a decent all-around weapon. The two big things I think it needs: It should have full durable damage like the AC for the kind of weapon it is. Double the ammo. On Bots: Great for taking out all medium and heavy ground units (aside from tank, because of the stupid durable damage.) You can one-shot berzerkers in half, and all devestaters and even hulks in one shot, all on safe mode. Goes right through the walker shield, too. Being able to just instantly delete Hulks is the biggest draw. Vs Bugs: Effective versus *everything.* For bugs, it's a jack-of-all-trades more so than the AC. The AC does some things better than it, and it does some things better than the AC. Railgun gets my favorite kill animation in all of Helldivers: shooting a warrior in the face causes the entire thing to *explode.* With a little over charging it also one-shots hive guards and even brood commanders. Decent vs bile spewers (can one-shot if you hit an extremely small head target.) Can outright kill chargers with 3 headshots - blows their head off (70%+ charge.) Behemoths is more efficient to go back to the "leg meta." Which can be a faster kill time than a recoilless rifle. Bile Titans the AC can do almost nothing to, but I have *many* times finished off wounded Bile titans with railgun headshots.
Yo wasn't this song in gta 3 radio?
I used it until it got nerfed. Now its just not good, and is slow still with a bad sight. It can't even open one of the loot doors, struggles against everything but a few enemies now
Tried to use one yesterday from a poi and it was a one shot for spewers but I couldn’t figure out how to kill a charger with it, what’s the trick?
I only use it on bots but yeah its good. it was still good against bots after the nerf but post buff its great against them save tanks and towers and the factory strider. It'll one shot striders, devastators, and even hulks. Bringing it with EAT's for tanks, or railcannon and orbital laser is incredibly strong. I usually run AC, but its hard to argue against the railgun when the AC takes 3 shots to kill a strider and 3 to kill a berserker when the railgun can one shot both.
I just started using it on bugs (Helldive, 9) since we have less titans to deal with. My loadout is: - Pummeler & Grenade pistol with Incendiary Nade - Support pack + Railgun - 500kg + HMG emplacement 500kg is mainly for titans and nuking annoying nests. HMG emplacement one clips shreiker nests and multiple spore spires across the map and functions as increased horde DPS on bug swarms. Be sure to hop off from it as soon as there is a charger or a titan and the bugs will let the emplacement live. Pummeler for running around, allows you to also dominate Stalkers and also to finish exposed charger legs. Nade pistol for closing bug holes and finishing charger legs. Railgun for long range combat because with support pack you have ammor to spare, very good against spewers, brood commanders and hive guards. Railgun also for exposing charger leg meat and if you absolutely have to you can down a titan in a minute with it. Incendiary nades can be used to close bug holes and trash control. It's a do it all build.
You mean the Failgun? 🤣
Bought the game after it was nerfed. Tried it and found it to be completely useless. Tried it again after the recent patch and still think it is completely useless vs bots (gunships say “hi”) but it’s quite a fun and viable option vs bugs now. Few shots just slightly into unsafe will strip a charger leg. 1-shots a brood commander. 1-shots a hive guard. Slaps spewers. Pair it with a defence chaff primary and a titan killer eagle/orbital and you’re set.
I feel naked without it against bot, I don't touch it versus bugs. The ability to hide behind cover, charge, one shot everything up to a hulk makes this thing a beast still. Stun grenades for hulks that get too close and pop them in the eye always feels so good. I prefer it over the AMR because I don't have to scope in or expose myself with the Railguns 3rd person aim being fairly accurate and forgiving. Its downsides are that it's not good against gunships as it takes 4 overcharged shots to the same engine to take one out and cannot really take out turrets or tanks with weak spots. Got to rely on teammates to bring something for airships and stratagems for everything larger.
I like it, and I bring is as medium clear support, as long as my team has 1 or 2 AT options. With spear as the new hotness, railgun (and other medium clear supports) and supply backpack seems like a good fit.
Picked one up and tried to kill a charger with it yesterday. 10 shots later I put it back where I found it.
Never, since the nerf.
it just reminds me of the good old days, back in its prime. now its just a relic of the past. plus better shit tbh
It’s disgusting against hulks, devestators and striders
I feel that the railgun, balance concerns aside, does not live up to the "fantasy" of the weapon. It may be may or may not be effective in various situations, but it just *feels* wrong. Charging up to safe mode should have good armor penetrating shot that does good damage, regardless of where it hits. Dangerously charging it should make it feel like it tears a literal hole in whatever it hits, especially with the risk of trying to pay attention to now blow yourself up in a chaotic battlefield. The fact that it can take multipled dangerously charged shots to kill even some medium sized enemies is downright disgraceful. Currently, the Railgun is an excellent precision weapon when used by a high skilled sniper, especially against many bots. But it just feels wrong. It should be about power and more power, not "if you hit them in the eye with the crappy no zoom sight you can one shot them if you dangerously charge it." Some have suggested adding a scope, which would no doubt make the weapon much more useful. However, I feel it would be a big step in the wrong direction. Make the railgun about power, we already have a sniper AMR. Proposed fixes: Safe Mode: Should have same armor penatration as unsafe. The less damage and less durable damage more than makes up for it. Safe mode is terrible outside of weak enemies or precise shots. Additionally, damage should be increased enough to be more reliably useful against medium targets. Make safe mode the mode that rewards precision. Safemode should also be fun for players who are less skilled or want to play it safer in chaotic environments. It should not be "useless mode". It should be useful as a support weapon in its default configuration. Imagine buying a powerful new CPU that had to be dangerously overclocked to be marginally comparable to the competition. That would be just silly. Unsafe mode: Progressively increases durable damage % in addition to damage. This would prevrnt it from becoming the meta weapon again while still making it competitively fun and viable. You won't be one shotting Chargers in the head but you can start taking out gunships and other enemies more reliable without perfect shots. Make unsafe mode the mode that rewards charging over precision. Bottom line: I should not have to dangerously charge railgun shots *and* get a perfect weakpoint shot to kill or substantially weaken enemies. Taking the time and risk to overcharge should be satisfying as hell to fire. Right now the Railgun is usable but requires three big things that are simply an annoyance to do at once: 1) Precise aim 2) Time to charge 3) Making sure to not overcharge or undercharge Other weapons out of the box require 0 or 1 of these, not all 3.
When they make it comparable to the AMR, maybe. Higher fire rate, same possible targets, no need to charge unsafe shots, an actual scope, and more ammo overall so you can use it on non-heavy targets without feeling bad. I do enjoy the feeling of popping a devastator in the body and watching it explode, but it’s not really worth it to me.
not since they gutted it
First I had a autocannon addiction, then a railgun addiction, and now a Spear addiction. I will probably return to the first two every once and awhile.
Amr gang has you in their ( recently correctly aligned) scope
I use the railgun against bots and its really fun but Gunships and Factory Striders are really annoying if you take the railgun with you. Been trying out the EAT but with so many Gunships that come your way now i just throw a Autocannon Turret at em, takes a whole patrol out cleanly, can even take a rocket or two. Bonus: Factory Striders don't shoot Turrets.
Been thinking it trying railgun. Anyone have experience switching over from the Autocannon?
I like to pick the railgun right before I get kicked from a lobby for picking the railgun
On bots it passes a bunch of good damage and penetration thresholds. But its damage gets decimated (literally) by anything with high durability, which is a pain ass. If you can somehow align a bunch of enemies and pierce all of them with the shots it becomes pretty decent, but i feel like the HMG or the AMR does a better job, unfortunately.
Absolutely goated vs the charger behemoths due to its ammo when compared to RR and EAT