Claude on Question 15, Oct 1
What's the most efficient loadout for wiping out an enemy squad in Helldivers 2?Depends on which faction you're mulching, but here are solid group-deleting setups:
Terminids (bugs)
Swarms = sustained crowd clear + fire.
- •Primary: Breaker Incendiary or Cookout — fire DoT does the work for you on light chaff
- •Grenade: Incendiary Impact (seals breaches) or Thermite if you want Charger answers
- •Stratagems: Orbital Napalm Barrage or Eagle Napalm Airstrike (shuts down a breach entirely), Orbital Gas Strike (cheap cooldown, huge value — the confusion effect makes them fight nothing), Flamethrower or Stalwart, plus one AT option for Bile Titans (Recoilless/Quasar/500kg)
- •Armor: Fire-resistant armor if you're running napalm/flamethrower, otherwise light armor for kiting
Automatons (bots)
You want precision and stagger, not raw DPS. Fighting them at range is the whole game.
- •Primary: Diligence Counter Sniper, Dominator, or Adjudicator — headshots drop Devastators fast
- •Grenade: Thermite (one-shots Hulks and Tanks) or Impact for fabricators
- •Stratagems: Eagle Airstrike (best stratagem in the game for killing clustered groups + objectives), Orbital Laser, Autocannon or Laser Cannon as your backpack/support gun, Orbital Railcannon or Rocket Sentry for heavies
- •Armor: Shield Generator Pack or heavy armor — rocket Devastators will ruin your day otherwise
Illuminate (squids)
Voteless hordes trivially die to AoE; Overseers and Harvesters are the real threats.
- •Primary: Breaker Incendiary, Cookout, or Blitzer (infinite ammo, great vs. packed Voteless)
- •Stratagems: Orbital Gas Strike, Eagle Napalm, Tesla Tower for chokepoints, and a reliable AT (Quasar Cannon or Recoilless) for Harvesters
- •Bring something that staggers for Overseers — they close distance fast
General "wipe a group instantly" answer
Eagle Airstrike and Orbital Gas Strike are the two most efficient per-use picks across all factions — low cooldowns, multiple uses, kill entire patrols. If you want pure burst, 500kg or Orbital Napalm Barrage.
Two tactical notes: killing a patrol you didn't need to engage just spawns more pressure, so on higher difficulties sometimes the most efficient loadout is one that lets you not fight. And balance patches shift the meta constantly — if something above feels weak, it probably got nerfed since.
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Depends on which faction you're mulching, but here are solid group-deleting setups:
## Terminids (bugs)
Swarms = sustained crowd clear + fire.
- **Primary:** Breaker Incendiary or Cookout — fire DoT does the work for you on light chaff
- **Grenade:** Incendiary Impact (seals breaches) or Thermite if you want Charger answers
- **Stratagems:** Orbital Napalm Barrage or Eagle Napalm Airstrike (shuts down a breach entirely), Orbital Gas Strike (cheap cooldown, huge value — the confusion effect makes them fight nothing), Flamethrower or Stalwart, plus one AT option for Bile Titans (Recoilless/Quasar/500kg)
- **Armor:** Fire-resistant armor if you're running napalm/flamethrower, otherwise light armor for kiting
## Automatons (bots)
You want precision and stagger, not raw DPS. Fighting them at range is the whole game.
- **Primary:** Diligence Counter Sniper, Dominator, or Adjudicator — headshots drop Devastators fast
- **Grenade:** Thermite (one-shots Hulks and Tanks) or Impact for fabricators
- **Stratagems:** Eagle Airstrike (best stratagem in the game for killing clustered groups + objectives), Orbital Laser, Autocannon or Laser Cannon as your backpack/support gun, Orbital Railcannon or Rocket Sentry for heavies
- **Armor:** Shield Generator Pack or heavy armor — rocket Devastators will ruin your day otherwise
## Illuminate (squids)
Voteless hordes trivially die to AoE; Overseers and Harvesters are the real threats.
- **Primary:** Breaker Incendiary, Cookout, or Blitzer (infinite ammo, great vs. packed Voteless)
- **Stratagems:** Orbital Gas Strike, Eagle Napalm, Tesla Tower for chokepoints, and a reliable AT (Quasar Cannon or Recoilless) for Harvesters
- Bring something that staggers for Overseers — they close distance fast
## General "wipe a group instantly" answer
**Eagle Airstrike** and **Orbital Gas Strike** are the two most efficient per-use picks across all factions — low cooldowns, multiple uses, kill entire patrols. If you want pure burst, **500kg** or **Orbital Napalm Barrage**.
Two tactical notes: killing a patrol you didn't need to engage just spawns more pressure, so on higher difficulties sometimes the most efficient loadout is one that lets you *not* fight. And balance patches shift the meta constantly — if something above feels weak, it probably got nerfed since.
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