User:Iridar/Best Automaton Loadouts

Best Automaton Loadouts

This article covers what I as an experienced helldiver consider to be the best equipment for getting through Automaton missions at highest difficulty quickly, easily, effectively and efficiently. It assumes the goal of full completion of primary and secondary objectives in a conventional, non-stealthy manner.

I intend to keep this article updated for the foreseeable future.

General notes on fighting Automatons

Compared to Terminids, Automaton enemies are relatively few in number, slow, and favor ranged attacks.

• Bot low-tier units - Infantry bots - are easy to kill with any weapon, and on their own do not present much of a threat, but they can call for dropship reinforcements, which can turn the tide of a fight very quickly, so generally you should dispose of them as quickly as possible. Once they do call reinforcements, they won't be able to do so again for a few minutes, so at that point their kill priority drops.
• Bot mid-tier units are well armored and have a lot of health, so just shooting at their center mass with most primary weapons is extremely inefficient. However, they have clearly defined weakpoints, and if those weakpoints are hit, they die very quickly.
• Bot heavy units are heavily armored, and even their weakpoints have medium armor, so weapons with only light armor penetration cannot hurt them at all.

As the conclusion, the best weapons for fighting bots will have good effective range, accuracy, high damage per shot and high penetration. Having high DPS isn't really necessary.

If you are caught by multiple automaton enemies with nowhere to hide, you are likely to be killed quickly, so it's important to take cover, and peek out from cover just enough to engage enemies one at a time. Sitting behind cover with a short-ranged weapon and waiting for bots to come to you is usually a bad idea. At best, this will waste a lot of time, and at worst will get you flanked by patrols, killed or ragdolled out of cover by explosive attacks.

Loadout Checklist

When putting together a loadout, make sure that you can:

• Engage Infantry bots and Devastators at long range.
• Deal with Gunships.
• Deal with Hulks without using stratagems, as they are too numerous to rely solely on stratagems or teammates.
• Deal with Factory Striders.
• Destroy Fabricators without using stratagems. Bots will sometimes deny you the use of stratagems by AA batteries or Jammers, and often a Jammer can be blown up by destroying an adjacent Fabricator.
• Deal with Tanks.
• Deal with groups of Berserkers. They will rush you in melee and hack you to pieces, so you need a weapon for killing them quickly at close range, or a way to keep them at range.

Most of these individual threats can be handled in different ways by different weapons or stratagems with varying effectiveness, which will be covered below.

Support Weapons

Support weapon choice is extremely important for bot missions, and it will dictate the rest of your loadout.

There are two main archetypes: anti-mid loadout and anti-heavy loadout.

Anti-Mid Support Weapons

With this loadout your main focus is using the support weapon for killing mid-tier enemies and chipping in against heavy enemies, and using your primary weapon only against low-tier enemies and when your support weapon is unavailable or cannot engage enemies effectively in a given situation - e.g. using a Grenade Launcher at point blank range against a Berserker is a bad idea.

With this loadout the choice of the primary weapon is not as important, and it's not uncommon to go through an entire mission barely having used it.

I've omitted some of the least effective support weapons for the sake of brevity.

Image	Item	Description	Grade	Comment
	Autocannon (AC)	A fast-firing semi-automatic heavy weapon that fires explosive rounds that deal heavy armor penetrating damage on direct impact, and produce a small explosion with medium armor penetration. Can be switched into a Flak mode, which makes the shells detonate automatically in proximity to enemies and produce shrapnel. This firemode is effective against Shriekers, and pretty much nothing else. Has an internal magazine of ten rounds, reloaded by clips of five rounds. Reload takes longer if fully empty. The reload mechanic may feel clunky and annoying, but it makes wasting ammo impossible, and the AC comes with a backpack with a lot of spare ammo. Mostly fired in third person, as the first person optic is pretty bad. Can destroy bot Fabricators by shooting into a vent at the right angle.	S	AC is a highly versatile support weapon with good enough effective range, capable of killing every single bot enemy, though heavy enemies will require hitting specific weakpoints in order to kill them faster or to deal damage to them at all. Most of the time you want to be crouched and stationary while firing to reduce recoil, as most targets require more than one shot to kill. Avoid hitting the long reload if possible. Peak Physique or Fortified armor passive is recommended to improve handling or reduce recoil respectively.
	Anti-Materiel Rifle (AMR)	A fast-firing heavy sniper rifle heavy armor penetration and surprisingly light handling. Deals less damage and carries less ammo than AC, but doesn't require a backpack, can be reloaded on the move and has great optics. Cannot destroy Fabricators.	A	A solid option. It's less effective against heavy enemies due to lower damage and ammo capacity, but still capable of doing all the things the AC can, except for destroying Fabricators, and overall has a much easier time hitting weakpoints on mid-tier units. Has pretty good handling by default, but still benefits a lot from Peak Physique, though Fortified can be helpful too. If you're close enough, you can deal a ton of damage to weakpoints by just magdumping by clicking quickly.
	Laser Cannon (LC)	An energy weapon that fires a beam that deals direct damage with heavy armor penetration and sets enemies on fire. Uses the heat mechanic, and unless overheated, can fire indefinitely. Carries one spare heat sink to "reload" if overheated. Deals noticeably less damage than AC and AMR, has the same bad optics as AC. Has a hard cap of 200m on its maximum range.	C	LC is a weapon that pays a heavy price for not requiring a backpack and having high penetration and "infinite" ammo. The price is in killing and stopping power. Generally it requires too long to kill most things and requires the user to keep themselves exposed while firing. It performs well against Gunships since you don't need to lead any projectiles to damage them, and can use the laser beam itself to aim. But hitting smaller weakpoints on Devastators and Hulks with a big bright beam can be difficult, especially at range. It also doesn't help the LC has no stagger or flinch of any kind. It's not a terrible support weapon, but it doesn't fit the current gameplay priorities, where killing enemies quickly is more important than being able to keep killing for a long time. Doesn't benefit much from any particular armor passive.
	Heavy Machine Gun (HMG)	A machinegun with heavy handling and high recoil with heavy armor penetration and stationary reload. Can switch between different fire rates. On paper, has the highest DPS of all support weapons with heavy armor penetration, but has the most trouble applying it effectively due to heavy handling, recoil and poor accuracy in general.	D	When fighting bots, precision and damage per shot are more valuable than raw DPS. Why waste time unloading a volley at one Devastator when one precise headshot will kill them outright? HMG also suffers from both high recoil and heavy handling. You can compensate for one of these with Peak Physique or Fortified, but not both. Fighting Heavy Devastators with their shield is especially annoying. There's just no reason to use it over AMR if you want a backpack-less support weapon with heavy armor penetration.
	Railgun	A light single-shot weapon that requires charging before each shot and reloading after each shot. Fires projectiles with anti-tank armor penetration. Damage scales with charge time. Can be switched into Unsafe modу to allow overcharging to deal even more damage, but if overcharged for too long, it will explode, usually killing the user. Has relatively poor optics with no zoom.	S	A versatile weapon that can damage any bot enemy, and is particularly effective against Hulks - oneshot to the eye, as well as Reinforced Scout Striders, Devastators and Berserkers - oneshot almost anywhere on the body. Gunships can be shot down by two safe shots or one overcharged shot to an engine. These enemies make the bulk of the bot fighting forces, and Railgun can still chip in against any other target. Needing to hold the charge for several seconds is a notable downside, as it can be difficult and dangerous to do under fire. Another downside is a relatively small amount of spare ammo, so the Railgun can't be used as a replacement to the primary weapon the same way the Autocannon can. Doesn't require any armor passive.
	Grenade Launcher (GL)	A semi-automatic grenade launcher with relatively light handling. Fires grenades that explode and deal medium armor penetrating area damage. Can destroy bot Fabricators by shooting into a vent at the right angle. At certain angle grenades will ricochet, and in general getting the grenades to explode where you want them can be pretty annoying.	D	A highly specialized support weapon that's mostly effective only against enemies smaller than Hulks. It can still kill Hulks from the front by shooting the grenades behind them, so the explosion hits their rear vents, though it's not gonna be quick nor easy. The best use of the grenade launcher is firing it into a crowd of enemies right after they drop from a Dropship. Then a few grenades can wipe all mid-tier and low-tier enemies in the group. The effectiveness drops significantly against individual and spread out enemies. Off-meta pick overall, but can be fun. Doesn't require any armor passive, but highly benefits from being on higher elevation than enemies.
	Arc Thrower	A lightning arc weapon with infinite ammo. Requires charging up before each shot. Fires a chaining arc lighting with anti-tank III (Class 7) armor penetration that also stuns Hulks and smaller enemies. Due to high penetration, it can deal damage to any unit from any angle, but it deals relatively little damage per shot, so it can't consistently kill anything bigger than a Devastator in a reasonable amount of time. Has relatively short range.	D	An off-meta pick, more of a support tool than a weapon, with the main purpose of stunning enemies to keep them from getting too close. But, like, why waste time stunning a Hulk with multiple charged shots when a Railgun would've killed it already in less time?

Anti-Heavy Support Weapons

This loadout relies on the primary weapon to engage low-tier and mid-tier enemies, and uses the support weapon only to kill enemies with tank-level armor and maybe Hulks. Here the primary weapon choice is extremely important, as it will be your main way of killing mid-tier enemies, which arguably present the highest immediate threat out of all automaton units.

Image	Item	Description	Grade	Comment
	Recoilless Rifle (RR)	A single shot "rocket launcher" - technically more of a portable artillery piece. Oneshots Fabricators, Cannon Towers, Tanks, Hulks and Gunships anywhere. Factory Striders require two headshots or one eye shot or one shot to cargo bay doors. Oneshots Dropships anywhere. If the shot hits the main body and not an engine, the dropship will explode, killing all occupants. Can be switched into HE mode, where the projectile will deal less damage on impact, but produce a powerful explosion. Useful if you get an opportunity to fire into a tight pack of enemies. Has relatively poor optics, so mostly fired from third person. Requires carrying a backpack with spare ammo.	S	Highly effective support weapon that can potentially oneshot every single bot enemy, including biggest and heaviest. Being able to shoot down dropships puts an interesting spin on the Recoilless: normally it's not a weapon you use to engage mid-tier units, but shooting down a dropship allows you to kill a whole group of them with one shot before they ever get the chance to enter combat. Just be careful not to bury your squad under the debris.
	Spear	A single shot guided missile launcher. Requires locking on to the target before it can fire. Deals more damage than RR, and is able to oneshot Tanks and Cannon Towers from any angle. The Spear has a minimum range of ~20m due to guided rockets needing to follow a specific trajectory, which can be a serious downside if you get caught by a Hulk at close range. The Spear also has trouble hitting specific enemy body parts, which is a notable downside against Factory Striders. Can lock on to Fabricators and destroy them from any angle. Carries fewer rockets.	A	Overall the Spear is an alternative to the Recoilless Rifle. It requires less skill to use and can potentially kill certain things faster, but it's also more limited in its application, and tends to run out of ammo quickly.

Primary Weapons

The importance of your primary weapon will depend on your support weapon, but it helps to have a versatile weapon with medium armor penetration so that you're not immediately helpless without support weapon. Assault Rifles aren't great against bots. They don't do enough damage to power through mid-tier enemies without landing weakpoint hits, and if you're gonna be aiming for weakpoints, you may as well use a precision weapon like Diligence Counter Sniper. Same deal with shotguns, except you can't even hit weakpoints with them.

Image	Item	Description	Grade	Comment
	Diligence Marksman Rifle	Semi-auto precision weapon with light armor penetration. Oneshots Devastators on a headshot.	C	Decent weapon. Requires hitting weakpoints to deal damage to Devastators, but kills them quickly if you do. Cannot penetrate medium armor, which is rather annoying against enemies like Reinforced Scout Striders, so it's not well-suited for highest difficulty, but it does okay as an entry-level anti-bot weapon.
	Diligence Counter Sniper (DCS)	Sniper variant of Diligence Marksman Rifle with stronger zoom, more damage with medium armor penetration and slightly heavier handling.	S	The platonic ideal of a conventional anti-bot weapon. With good enough aim, it can delete whole groups of infantry bots and Devastators with a few clicks in a few seconds, and when you can't aim for weakpoints, it can spam shots and power through armor just as well. Good hip fire accuracy, low recoil and high rate of fire make it a very versatile weapon. Benefits from Peak Physique armor passive.
	Dominator	A heavy semi-auto weapon that fires jet-propelled projectiles with medium armor penetration. Deals high damage per shot and applies heavy stagger on hits. Essentially a Warhammer bolter. Oneshots Devastators on headshots, but can power through them with body shots too, keeping them staggered the entire time. Has short-range optics.	A-	Essentially an alternative to Diligence Counter Sniper with shorter range, more recoil, heavier handling, but with heavy stagger on shots. Overall a worse pick than DCS, since DCS can potentially kill quicker and at longer range. Due to heavy handling, highly benefits from Peak Physique armor passive.
	Slugger	A Punisher variant that fires slugs with medium armor penetration that apply heavy stagger on hit. Uses rounds reload. Oneshots Devastators on headshots.	B	An alternative to Dominator. Has the same heavy stagger and deals roughly the same damage per shot, and doesn't suffer from heavy handling, but has worse accuracy, much lower rate of fire and less spare ammo.
	Exploding Crossbow	A crossbow that fires bolts that deal medium armor penetrating damage on impact and then explode, dealing medium armor penetrating area damage. Can be used one-handed. Kills Devastators in two shots anywhere on the body, and usually deals some collateral damage to other nearby enemies. Can destroy Fabricators by shooting into a vent at the right angle.	A	Can be annoying to hit with due to slow projectiles affected by drop, low rate of fire and small magazine, but deals good damage to Devastators.
	Eruptor	A heavy bolt action rifle that fires high caliber rounds with medium armor penetration that explode and produce an explosion that deals medium armor penetrating damage and produce shrapnel that also has medium armor penetration. Has very heavy handling. Devastators usually require three shots to kill. an destroy Fabricators by shooting into a vent at the right angle.	B	Less effective against Devastators than the Crossbow, which makes the Eruptor generally not worth using against bots at all. Peak Physique is more or less mandatory to offset the heavy handling, but it doesn't compensate for it fully.
	Scorcher		A
	Purifier		S
	Punisher Plasma		B

Secondary Weapons

Secondary weapons are mostly used as a backup weapon in a situation where you can't engage the enemy with your primary. Typical reasons for that are: running out of ammo in the magazine while being unable to temporarily disengage to reload, or the enemy being outside the weapon's effective range, e.g. too close for an Eruptor shot, or completely running out of ammo with the primary weapon, or the primary being ineffective against that particular enemy type. All of these situations happen not as often against bots as against bugs, so the secondary weapon choice is not as important.

Image	Item	Description	Grade	Comment
	Senator	A powerful revolver with heavy armor penetration. Oneshots most Infantry bots to the body and Devastators on a headshot, kills Reinforced Scout Striders in two shots to the crotch. Reload faster if fully empty. Can potentially kill even Hulks in a few headshots.	S	Can be difficult to aim, but objectively it's the most powerful sidearm you can use for killing enemies quickly.
	Verdict	A fast firing semi-auto pistol with medium armor penetration. Oneshots Devastators on headshots.	S	Versatile, simple and easy to use backup weapon.
	Redeemer	An autopistol with light armor penetration and crazy high rate of fire. Quickly chews through Infantry bots and Berserkers, but needs three headshots to kill Devastators, which is pretty bad.	B	Fine for self defense in close quarters against low-tier enemies and Berserkers, but leaves you mostly helpless against anything bigger.
	Bushwhacker	A triple-barreled shotgun with light armor penetration and high stagger and pushback on each shot. Uses rounds reload. Can fire all three barrels at once. On a good hit, can oneshot a Devastator or a Berserker, and usually oneshots Infantry bots out to a surprisingly long range. The tripleshot fire mode is particularly effective for oneshotting Berserkers, and can be used to headshot Devastators more reliably.	B	Essentially an alternative to Redeemer that trades raw DPS for pushback and stagger.
	Dagger	A laser beam energy weapon, used by General Brasch as a laser pointer during High Command staff meetings. Has light armor penetration and sets enemies on fire. Needs over a second of continuous fire to the head to kill a Devastator. Uses a heat mechanic instead of ammo.	D	Okay against infantry bots and mines. The laser beam can be used to aim while firing on the move.
	Grenade Pistol	Fires grenades that produce an explosion with medium armor penetration. Can destroy Fabricators by shooting into a vent at the right angle. Must be reloaded after each shot.	D	Doesn't deal a whole lot of damage for a single shot sidearm, so mostly used to destroy Fabricators, if your loadout has no other ways to do that.
	Stim Pistol	A support pistol that fires darts that apply a brief Stim effect to allies, restoring their health and stamina. Works with Experimental Infusion booster. Cannot be used to stim yourself. Blocked by Energy Shields.	D	Stim Pistol doesn't really work as a tool for healing allies during combat, but since the sidearm slot is not as important when fighting bots, organized squads with voice comms might benefit from one Stim Pistol user to keep the squad healed up between encounters without wasting stims. Can also be used to move around the map quicker by restoring allies' stamina, especially if they wear heavy armor or on Intense Heat planets.

Grenades

Armor