AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath

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Last updated: 1.002.003
Current patch: 1.003.103


Stratagems
Supply
Backpack
AX/TX-13 "Guard Dog" Dog Breath
“

A drone that defends its user by firing caustic gas at nearby enemies, blinding them and slowing them temporarily. Returns to backpack to refill.

— Ship Management Terminal

The AX/TX-13 "Guard Dog" Dog Breath is a backpack Stratagem that provides defensive support to the player. It slows and blinds nearby enemies by spraying them with caustic gas, helping the owner avoid being overwhelmed by swarms.

Stratagem Statistics

General
Call-in Time 9.75 seconds
Uses Unlimited
Cooldown Standard 480 seconds
With Morale Augmentation 456 seconds
With Hand Carts 432 seconds
With All Upgrades 410.4 seconds


Detailed Stratagem Statistics

AX/TX-13 "Guard Dog" Dog Breath
Main Health 100
Main Armor Armor AV1 Icon.png Unarmored II
Ergonomics 65
Cooldown 480 sec
Call-in Time 5 s
Attacks
Projectile_Sterilizer
Drone Chem Gun
Damage
Element Gas
Standard 48 DPS
vs. Durable 48 DPS
Penetration
Direct Armor AP5 Icon.png Anti-Tank I
Slight Angle Armor AP5 Icon.png Anti-Tank I
Large Angle Armor AP5 Icon.png Anti-Tank I
Extreme Angle Armor AP0 Icon.png Unarmored I
Special Effects
Status Gas
Status Strength 0.5
Second Status Gas Confusion
Status Strength 0.5
Demolition Force 5
Stagger Force 10
Push Force 5
DPS Gas
Damage
Element Gas
Standard 25
vs. Durable 25
Penetration
Direct Armor AP6 Icon.png Anti-Tank II
Slight Angle Armor AP6 Icon.png Anti-Tank II
Large Angle Armor AP6 Icon.png Anti-Tank II
Extreme Angle Armor AP0 Icon.png Unarmored I
Special Effects
Demolition Force 0
Stagger Force 0
Push Force 0

Tactical Information

Dog Breath Specific

  • The Dog Breath is optimized for Closed-Quarters-Combat (CQC) with the engagement distance of 20-meters. Dog Breath practically is a brawler-drone closing within one (1-) meter into each targetable non-SEAF unit which currently is not affected by the confusion inducing caustic / poisonous-gas-effect.
    • Dog breath will begin spraying gas when within 5-metres of the target unit.
    • While Dog Breath only has two-thirds of the engagement initiation range compared to other Guard Dogs (20-meters vs. 30-meters), Dog Breath also has no problems locking onto enemies which are within 5-meters of the Helldiver-operator where rest of Guard Dogs must attain exact precision before engaging.
      • There is also a significantly lower chance of the operator ending up in the crossfire due to Dog Breath physically moving next to engagement-target-units.
  • While Dog Breath itself won't inflict instantaneous damage, the caustic effect / Gas-damage has high enough armor penetration to affect and damage all units in the game, an advantage other Guard Dogs lack (aside for the occasional fire / burn-damage "Rover" can inflict).
  • Unlike other Guard Dog Stratagems, rather than generally hovering stationary above right shoulder of the Helldiver-operator Dog Breath attempts to move right next hostile targets.
    • With Dog Breath essentially being a close-quarters-combat stratagem with significantly lower damage than the AX/LAS-5 "Guard Dog" Rover, the Dog Breath is an ideal support backpack for any Helldiver that wishes to not accidentally harm their teammates.
  • Unlike the regular Guard Dog, Dog Breath won't change its current canister when manually recalled; each of the active canister needs to be completely depleted in order to reload with a full tank.

General Guard Dog

  • The main benefit that the Guard Dog provides is that because it fires at targets automatically regardless of the player's actions, it can dispatch enemies even while the player is sprinting. This makes it very useful in scenarios where the player has to run to escape an area but cannot afford to slow down to shoot at enemies.
    • Guard Dog also can be used to clear targets behind covers, especially ones behind elevated walls.
      • Guard Dog stratagems are incapable taking down targets situated in extreme elevation differences such as right above or below them. This is due to them being armed with a fixed non-gimbled gun and utilizing downward quad-propellant rocket engines to hover. This leads the maximum operational vertical angle being approximately 45-degrees.
  • Once a Guard Dog has locked on the first target, it won't disengage or switch targets until there is several seconds of line-of-sight lost or Guard Dog has completed its objective be it destruction or other main function.
    • This can lead a Guard Dog keep aiming at but not suppressing their initial target beyond their engagement distance. The disengagement on out-of-reach and blocked line-of-sight of targets require ~5-seconds time to reset and acquire a new next closest target.
  • Because it effectively functions as a backpack-mounted sentry, the Guard Dog is very helpful in engagements where there are numerous enemies that need to be quickly dispatched.
  • Unlike the stationary defensive-stratagems such as A/MG-43 Machine Gun Sentry, Guard Dog (stratagems) will only initiate engagement with alerted hostile targets.
    • Guard Dog is considered as a separate entity from their Helldiver-operator which won't gain the Scout Armor Passive while being active out of the backpack. In other words, hostile will spot and get alerted by Guard Dog itself before the Scout-Helldiver carrying the backpack.
    • Although hostiles won't generally target specifically the Guard Dog itself, it can be still rendered temporarily inoperable by stray bullets or explosions. This is observable by Guard Dog docking back to backpack "spitting" sparks until the repair process has been completed (approx. 10-seconds).

Applicable Ship Modules

Department Ship Module Effect
Patriotic
Administration
Center 		Hand Carts Decreases cooldown for all Backpack stratagems by 10%.
Bridge Morale Augmentation Reduces cooldown time for all Stratagems by 5%.

Media

Change History

Patch
Description

1.003.002
2025-05-20

Fix

  • Fix drones not returning to backpack correctly

1.002.101
2025-02-04

AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath

  • Has been reworked to increase its effectiveness and to ensure it remains distinct, focusing on its unique gas-based mechanics
  • It will now preserve ammo by only prioritizing enemies unaffected by the gas status effect. Once an enemy is affected by gas the drone will move on and target another unaffected enemy
  • The targeting logic has been reworked to prevent the drone from roaming too far. The origin of the targeting will be from the Helldivers position rather than the drone itself
  • The targeting range has been increased from 10 to 20m
  • The duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons has been increased from 6 to 10 sec

1.001.104
2024-10-15

Changes

  • Drone Backpacks now has a new toggle drone function
    • Activate: The drone leaves the backpack and starts to perform its tasks
    • Deactivate: The drone returns to the backpack into a passive standby state

1.001.101
2024-09-19
(Mid-Patch)

Added to the game.


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