AX/AR-23 "Guard Dog"
| Helldivers 2 | Helldivers 1 |
“An autonomous drone equipped with a Liberator assault rifle, providing 360° cover. Returns to backpack to rearm.
— Ship Management Terminal
The AX/AR-23 "Guard Dog" is a Stratagem that calls down a defense drone that is equipped in the backpack slot. The drone is equipped with an AR-23 Liberator and hovers around the user, shooting at nearby targets.
Stats
| General | ||
|---|---|---|
| Call-in Time | 5 seconds | |
| Uses | Unlimited | |
| Cooldown | Standard | 480 seconds |
| With Morale Augmentation | 456 seconds | |
| With Hand Carts | 432 seconds | |
| With All Upgrades | 410.4 seconds | |
Functionality
The Liberator wielded by the Guard Dog has the same statistics as that wielded by the player, with the exception that it carries 30-round magazines as opposed to the player's 45-round magazine. It will independently target and attack any nearby enemies, regardless of whether or not it can penetrate their armor. When its magazine is depleted, the Guard Dog will return to its backpack to rearm; it carries up to eight reserve magazines, which can be refilled with the Resupply stratagem or by picking up Ammo Boxes during a mission. The amount of reserve magazines remaining can be seen visually on the backpack, the dark rectangle "arms" that open and close whenever the drone returns to the backpack to reload; the status of the magazine that is currently loaded in the drone is tracked in the HUD.
Tactical Information
- 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.
- 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.
- Beware that as it is equipped with a standard Liberator, the Guard Dog is incapable of handling armored enemies such as Hive Guards and Scout Striders, but will still shoot at them if they are nearby. As such, it is very helpful to carry a primary or support weapon that can penetrate medium armor, and deal with these enemies yourself, in order to reduce ammo waste by the Guard Dog (e.g. make sure that any targets that it shoots at are targets that it can damage and kill).
- Compared to the AX/LAS-5 "Guard Dog" Rover, the standard Guard Dog has better damage output in exchange for relying on a backpack-stored ammo supply to replace depleted magazines.
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
1.001.100
2024-09-17
Undocumented Changes
- Damage increased from 60 to 70.
- Durable damage increased from 14 to 15.
- Stagger Force increased from 10 to 15.
1.001.002
2024-08-06
Changes
- Increased number of magazines from 6 to 8.
Fixes
- Can now be refilled from ammo boxes found on the map.
- “Kill x amount of enemies by guard dogs" personal orders can now be completed.
1.000.400
2024-06-13
Changes
- Increased projectile damage against durable body parts from 10% to 23%.
1.000.300
2024-04-29
Changes
- Slight increase in damage.
1.000.200
2024-04-02
- Now restores full ammo from supply boxes.
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