Stress Testing Helldivers 2's META Gun

The Breaker shotgun is the most popular weapon in Helldivers 2. Naturally you would assume that makes it the best gun in your primary slot. But is that actually the case? We thoroughly review it here to find out.

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[mr.u]

the flashlights on the guns seems to have a lumen rating of 1

[mbk]

I think the Incendiary needs to do more burn damage in a shorter time for it to be as effective as the standard breaker. Because it is a shotgun, with larger spread and shorter effective range, it should do more damage faster than it currently does.

[TacticalGoldfishy]

christ i wish we had faction-specific loadout presets

[notilluminati]

I think you're underselling how good the Breaker is, and really upselling the incendiary Breaker. I've fired off a burst from an incendiary Breaker on some little bugs, they caught on fire, and then the fire went out and they kept attacking. A single Breaker shot can kill multiples of those little bugs even at a bit of a distance.

[spaghettiwaffles]

i've found the most use with the incendiary as a "turn, shoot one or two shells, and keep kiting" gun. waiting between each shot until the fire burns out means you get significantly more damage per shell, and since you're not firing continually, you can spend more time moving at sprinting speed. the high spread is actually a benefit in for this strat because it means you can set multiple enemies on fire with a single shell. even with all this, though, the standard breaker is still better.

[snakeyman]

I thought that the meta shotgun was the normal breaker.

[Mr.Donkeypoo]

I went back to normal breaker after one game, the spread on this thing is insane. You need so many more rounds for critters on medium range

[GoliathcraftLP]

I tried liking the incendiary, but so many times I get into a bad stop that wouldn’t have happen if I just had the stopping power of the regular breaker.

[gungan]

How to replace your ineffective primary mid-mission: Wait for a teammate to die and take theirs.

[JayT]

The spray and prey is now connonically labelled as a traditional sporting and recreational shotgun :D

[ForTheOmnissiah]

Unfortunate timing on review, patch just made changes to Breaker.
Magazine capacity went from 16 to 13.
Recoil went from 30 to 55.
After using it, it honestly doesn't feel much different. 3 fewer shells kinda sucks but isn't a deal Breaker (lol). Still strong as hell. Standard Breaker still stronger than Incendiary vs. bots, considering Incendiary spread at medium range is awful, plus less flat damage.

[originalHiruy]

Regular breaker still feels more versatile in most situations and it’s actually useable against the bots, so I still use regular over incendiary 9/10 times

[manofplaid]

i found the breaker incendiary is also useful at longer ranges when you can capture an entire bug patrol within its spread. instead of the bullets hitting hard close up. applying the the burn status effect becomes the main damage dealer across an entire swarm at once leaving only the larger targets for your team to deal with after firing a single mag.

[CataclysmDM]

Breaker spray and pray: Because praying is all you can do, because it doesn't actually do anything.

[jesterprince]

My problem with the Incendiary is it leave the bugs alive just long enough to get hits in, or you have to pump so many hits in to finish the job the extra ammo is negligible, especially as the range is so much shorter. Manageable, but it turns every fight into a fighting retreat, rather than holding or taking ground, which can be critical when your trying to fight your way to a nest.

[veselekov]

I initially wrote off the SMG and now i main it. Huge pool of ammo, great mobility, deals with bots and bugs pretty easily. Swap to railgun it AT for chargers anyway

[RG-PO]

I loved the incendiary breaker for a long time, but as I went higher, I found myself directly assisting my team more. I started using the plain breaker so I could fire toward a teammate without the stray pellets (and fire) hitting them. When a teammate is doing a fighting retreat against a hoard, the breaker allows you to pick off the bugs near them without worrying.

[LeafMaltieze]

I recently started unlocking the premium warbond, and at first I really liked the Incediary Breaker, feeling that it was almost better in every way, except for per shot damage, which it made up for with twice the shots per magazine. Then I took it on some Automation missions, and was shocked by how underwhelming it was. The Breaker is usable against automations, even if it isn't the best, but the incendiary is actually awful against them, barely doing anything unless you unload nearly a full magazine.

[robby_or_rob_or_robert_or_]

The value I’ve found from the incendiary breaker is that if 1 person in a squad uses it, it gives great support from the team by basically halving the health of a massive horde of 50 bugs making it much more reasonable for the rest of the team to kill off the horde/breach before you get overrun

[JadeBlades]

Regular breaker actually does really good against devastators if you aim for the midsection in my experience. It saws them right in half.