I noticed the shovels at PoIs, but haven't figured out what to do with them. You can dig? For hidden treasure? Or like digging trenches? Because holding off an advancing Automaton fleet from foxholes sounds sick as hell.

happy gas mask noises!

New warbond, has the shovel as a secondary. Also, they might have buffed how well it digs? Haven't tested it.

Also worth mentioning, they added shovels to poi at some point, kinda like the break action shotgun. That was a while ago though

I loved that song even learned to shuffle. Man 14 yrs ago eh 😔

Diggy diggy trench!

Democratic det, no contest. The grenade is good, the armor is good, the Eruptor might be one of the best primaries in the game.

It's basically a light autocannon that can close bug holes, inhumanly kill and maim most enemies, and it does heavy damage. As a primary. That means it can kill automoton heatsinks on things like mortars too. It can also blow over shields on harvesters. It can kill heavies and flying aircraft.

The only downside are the ergonomics aren't great at first (the reticle is slow to move). This can be upgraded by using it and then buying the weapon upgrades that prioritize the "ergonomic" modifier. It becomes pretty dang fast at level 23 ish.

Do not use it at close range, or around allies. Back at release, it was even more lethal, lol. And in fast enemies, it can be a danger to you. Keep a good, fast secondary to get enemies off you.

The desert dlc is also really good, the Solo Silo is absolutely, certifiably cracked. It's a laser-guided (if you hold it down) 500kg, or a dumbfire (if you click) missile. It's way more lethal than a 500, because it pretty much never misses its target.

If you order one, the cooldown will start again. So you can have two back-to within seconds if you want as soon as two minutes into a mission. It takes your third gun slot, but you can equip a backpack stratagem or you want more protection, or an EAT or flame EAT if you need constant AT potential while the solo silo is on cooldown.

As a bonus, it looks cool as shit if you are looking towards the launch site from a couple hundred meters out when you call it down on a target between you and it's launch site. Pocket ICBM.

Oh I forgot. Dust devils has the solo silo which might be one of the best third slot weapons. It's like a mini nuke with a laser designator. You paint a target with the lase and it's gone, no matter the distance (with some few exceptions). I haven't unlocked it yet, but a buddy of mine takes it against every faction no matter the difficulty.

How it feels

I recently picked the game back up after taking some time off. What's with the shovels?

Talon sounds RIGHT up my alley, thanks for the write up.

Amazing how the same game can have so many different strats, despite all the tumult I am really excited about what the devs cook up for us.

I have some recs. Keep in mind, I play on Helldive and Superhelldive, and my playstyle avoids gung-ho stuff. On lower diffs you will find more use out of unoptimized loadouts.

• Redacted regiment is pretty good. The Censor is good up to superhelldive on bots (though you will need either a Commando or AMR for the heavier armor bots), okay to mediocre against squids and nearly useless against bugs. Medium stealth armor is a godsend. C4 pack and alarm trip mines have usability but I wouldn't plan around them. The other weapons are lackluster.
• Democratic detonation is pretty goated. Thermites are good against all factions, crossbow is usable against all factions (when paired with a decent secondary like the Warrant or Talon), grenade pistol has some uses but is lackluster.
• Dust devils is okay. The Coyote is probably the single most usable AR in the game. Medium pen and chance to set on fire is good against everything. The rest of the pack has some useful things but nothing amazing.
• Frontier (I forget the name, the cowboy pack) is overall kinda shit. The only two good things in there are the Talon (which is great, medium pen laser which can have infinite ammo if you pace yourself) and the hoverpack (if the jump pack isn't enough).

The latest warbond, as much as I dig the aesthetic, doesn't fit my playstyle. The shotgun on the Super Store (Sweeper, like a trenchgun) is amazing however. It replaced the coyote against squids for me.

interesting, I might have to do some SC farming then, I play pretty much 5 and up exclusively, never really put much thought into it besides how many robots I get to shoot lol.

I would probably have more time to search on a lower difficulty! Will start putting some 3's into my rotation!

Difficulty 3 has a good amount of points of interest with SC. That's how I usually farm them.

nah, I find em when I find them, I typically play solo and play for about 40 mins a day.

I have 1x unlocked, 134 hours playtime, about to collect enough for my second!

Playing since launch and you don't have enough super credits to buy a warbond? I've purchased five warbonds without paying any money. Do you just not farm super credits? Even without farming, if you've been playing for a year, picking up random points of interest loot should have gotten you the 1000 SC?

How have you not purchased a single warbond? I guess YMMV...

Anyway, I bought steeled veterans for my first warbond for the grenade, the senator pistol, and of course the shotgun.

Can't play any other armor since putting on the dust devils extra throw range armor.

Throwing stratagems further is just too good.

Also missile silo!

Siege breakers has alot of fun stuff. The leveler's alright, I don't use it but I've seen an uptick in it getting used because of the vox engines on bot side (it'll almost oneshot them). It's also nice for clearing bases, like a 500kg. The trident's also an amazing primary.

For backpack items, alot of the good ones are free, just gotta level up. Dog breath's pretty good, as well as hot dog. Your teammates will hate you if you run the Arc one, get used to putting it away whenever you're near them. Portable hellbomb is goated, but does have somewhat of a long cooldown.

The dagger's (laser pistol) alright, it's not very high damage but it can set stuff on fire I think.

If you want unlimited sidearm, the talon's amazing for that, in the borderline justice warbond. You can almost use it as a primary weapon.

For higher difficulties, I usually roll with ultimatum. It's nice having a pocket orbital strike for when big stuff gets in your way.

yoo thank you for this list, i feel like I might have to buy more than 2.... I really need the fire resistant armour cause incineration core is so hard, especially the devastators!

For me the must-have are:

• Democratic Detonation (everything)
• Freedom's Flame (fire resist armors and cookout)
• Servants of Freedom (ultimatum and hellbomb)

Then optionally:

• Dust Devils (elemental resist armors, coyote and harpoon)
• Control Group (warp pack, epoch)
• Urban Legend (siege-ready armors, AT emplacement)

Yup I've been running the grenade pistol since that one dropped, its such a great side arm.

I saw someone with a laser pistol as a side arm the other day (I think?) which seems kind of cool, I run the Scythe cause I hate managing my ammo, but if I had an unlimited side arm I think it might open up new options.

Oooooooh thank you for Control group suggestion, I see people zipping around with the Warp Pack and it looks pretty sick, I might have to grab that.

Thinking about siege breakers for the leveler cause it looks pretty OP and would be good for high difficulty solo.

Do you have any thoughts on either of the warbond back pack support items? IE Dog Breath or the ARC dog? I run Rover (laser dog) and the machine gun dog fairly often, but rarely see the chemical/electric dogs.

Democratic detonation's definitely the top dawg. In addition to it though, it really depends on what you want to do, every warbond kinda has its own theme. All I can say is stay away from the crossovers, because they really don't add much to the game. I personally love viper commando for the armor and booster, but I like to be in the thick of it with enemies.

For solo play, urban legends has the antitank enplacement, which is really fun on bot missions. Control group has the warp pack which lets you access bunkers on your own. Chemical agents has the gas grenades, which is good for crowd control. Struggling to think of more solo play warbonds, maybe the stealth one that came out recently?

Shockingly that is the only one I already unlocked with collected warbonds from the drop ships and caves!

I am thinking Siege Breakers currently since I have seen tons of people using the Leveler at higher levels of difficulty.

Still stuck on the second one though, wouldn't mind another fun primary weapon as I usually run the Scythe, Slugger, or Punisher.

I like playing against Illuminate and Bots, don't really find bugs that enjoyable yet.

Yep, it's been king ever since they buffed the hell out of the crossbow and eruptor. Thermites are amazing. Grenade pistol lets you have alot of loadout variety. Adjudicator's still a solid rifle, just mind the recoil.

All the newer warbonds are kinda niche, or just for fun/style, and they have less content which is annoying