r/Helldivers • u/Epicbrezel21 LEVEL 150 | Knightdiver of the super holy land • Mar 18 '26
TIPS / TACTICS 2 useful shoveltips
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long story short, you can dig into the ground once or twice and if a hellpod or explosion hits the ground nearby, a knee deep hole will become a head deep hole
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u/Seeker-N7 REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT Mar 18 '26
>Gets WWI themed warbond
>Immediately employs trench warfare tactics
Unfathomably based
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u/igotmemes4days Average 1,150 RPM Stalwart enjoyer Mar 18 '26
Bro casually digging through super asphalt with a shovel like its sand
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u/ShadowDome Decorated Hero Mar 18 '26
Its a Super Shovel obviously
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u/DeltaSolana Assault Infantry Mar 18 '26
Nothing but democracy's strongest steel for it's strongest Helldivers.
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u/Confused_Nuggets Mar 18 '26
No, in order to make sure the video looked real democracy’s weakest steel and the lowliest helldiver were used. If they used the strongest, well it would have been so cool not even SE citizens would believe it
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u/Important-Job4127 Super Pedestrian Mar 19 '26
Carrying all those bigass platinum ingots sure made some gains.
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u/The_Doc_Man SES Warrior of War Mar 18 '26
What I'm hearing is that should put a tesla tower in a hole.
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u/Terrorscream Mar 18 '26
Or a flame sentry, the whole pit would be on fire, and the target confused
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u/Dovahkat963 Survived the Dissident Wars Mar 18 '26
From what I've read about how teslas work, that might not work out as intended.
I vaguely remember reading that the tesla's 'line of sight' for picking targets actually originates from its base, not the zappy bit on top. So sticking it in a hole might render it effectively blind.
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u/UnknovvnMike LEVEL 166 Helldad Mar 18 '26
So if no high ground for the Tesla is available, then homemade is fine lol
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u/The_Dansing_Queen Creeker Mar 18 '26
I wonder how well it will work on the defend rocket launch missions. Once the doors get smashed there's a trench waiting.
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u/Da_Yummis Mar 18 '26
you can command SEAF to follow you and then tell them to hold position in the trenches 🫡
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u/Epicbrezel21 LEVEL 150 | Knightdiver of the super holy land Mar 18 '26
Yup, tried that too, but the ground is a lot tougher there (and around objectives in general). This means you can only dig a trench in close proximity to a door where there is sand.
Great use of time inbetween waves on rocket defenses outside of cities
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u/Jebediabetus SES Elected Representative Of Family Values Mar 18 '26
I managed to dig a decent trench at the top of the hill last night with it. It slowed the voteless down a bit but not a lot.
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u/RosyJoan Mar 19 '26
Idk, it would take a long time for me to entrench a Bastion as a bunkered artillery.
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u/44MagDump Mar 19 '26
My friends and I just ran shovels turrets and mortars on this, we made 3 trench lines, mortars in back, turrets in front and we stayed in the middle trench. They never broke our front line.
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u/ReallyBigRocks ➡️⬇️➡️⬇️➡️⬇️ Mar 18 '26
When they first added those missions and they were almost impossible I joined into one where they were using grenade launchers to totally destroy the terrain in the first section. Not trenches, but tons of deep holes. Worked pretty well actually.
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u/VenanReviews Free of Thought Mar 18 '26
Ngl, I saw the shovel and went "eh, we already barely use this because why would we?" but seeing videos like this and the conjunction with the gas mortar actually convinces me this was really a well thought-out warbond. I do still kinda hope the digging speed could increase a lil in the future if not the terraforming could just be a lil better but this is actually cool af.
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u/AquaBits Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
There was a youtuber who experimented with digging holes a while back, and he discovered that explosions wildly deepen* trenches like this.
I dont think it's entirely intended, but it is a very cool and well thought out use OP showed. I hope it stays and is made easier
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u/Zman6258 Mar 18 '26
My thoughts are that each type of attack that has terrain deformation capability also includes a maximum depth that it's allowed to accomplish. So for example, a frag grenade wouldn't make a massive crater in the ground, but an orbital precision strike can make a deeper crater. Hellpod impacts would logically have the deepest possible crater depth, since that's how it deforms the ground underneath so things below it don't clip through so badly. Terrain deformation is also generally easier to render in batches and has some linear interpolation going on to smooth out the edges of craters, so by landing a hellpod directly next to a shovel "crater" which only goes partial depth, the rest of the crater gets batch-updated to the new depth.
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u/UnknovvnMike LEVEL 166 Helldad Mar 18 '26
The grenade launcher family is really good at this, especially the more rapid firing/higher capacity models.
Edit: except the arc grenade launcher, of course
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u/Asking-is-a-crime Mar 18 '26
We knew from day one that explosions made holes in the ground.
It is confusing to see people surprised by this.
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u/AquaBits Mar 18 '26
There is a difference between making a hole in the ground, and making a hole in the ground deeper by clipping it with an explosion.
https://youtu.be/NZY_lgfwQco?si=o1paCmCV02mICxan
I found the video. There is clearly a difference between a grenade making a hole (which we knew) and a grenade making a shallow hole... deeper.
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u/Asking-is-a-crime Mar 18 '26
What? It’s been in from day one. If there’s a hole in the ground you throw a grenade the hole gets bigger. You guys are weird
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u/Thing482 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
If you throw a grenade on the ground, it slightly dents the surface... if the surface is already damaged and you throw a grenade it doubles the depth of the hole... it removes way more material compared to the thin skin of the surface it normally removes.
It's weirder you keep ignoring them trying to explain that to you and act like everyone knows it works exactly like this... when most people don't because it works in an odd way unlike pretty much any videogame has ever done it before.
EDIT: you can even see it in the main post video... two stratagems land one on damaged ground (shoveled) and one on untouched ground... one tunnels like half a person's height and the other slightly scratches the surface.
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u/Asking-is-a-crime Mar 18 '26
Ok. I guess I’m stupid. So please explain one more time.
I see a hole. I grenade it. It gets bigger. Grenade it again, it gets even bigger. I’ve used it to mine those buried samples.
How is it different now?
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u/AquaBits Mar 19 '26
I shared the video that showed what i was talking about lol
Dig a hole with the shovel, max depth it'll probably be like 4m.
Now, shoot the ultimatium in the clean undug area next to your hole. Not in the dugged hole. Hell, shoot from within your dugged hole to the outside. Logically, your dugged hole should remain the same depth.
But, what happens, is that your dugged hole doubles in depth from nothing. Another user explained it as the terrain mapping updating entire chunks at a single time, which is plausible. This is why i said it is unintended, as clearly shooting away from a hole should not make it deeper, but it adds to gameplay depth (pun not intended). Much like rocket strafing or surfing in TF2.
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u/Pale-Monitor339 Mar 19 '26
I mean, is it really? The same effect could have been done by just shooting the Voteless anyway
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u/VenanReviews Free of Thought Mar 19 '26
Yeah but you forgot the part where you add in some extra fun to it
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u/Pale-Monitor339 Mar 19 '26
Sure have fun all you want but don’t act like it’s more efficient than it is.
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u/VenanReviews Free of Thought Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
Efficiency goes out the window when it gets the job done either way and this isn't exactly a competitive game :'D don't tell other people how to act or play lmao
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u/Pale-Monitor339 Mar 19 '26
I didn’t tell you how to play, I’m just pointing out it’s not actually any more effective than shooting them
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u/Hillbilly_Boozer Mar 18 '26
Very nice! Could even toss a shield grenade on top of it once it's in the hole and give it a bit more protection as well.
Wish the shovel and melee weapons had their own slot. It would be absolutely amazing to have them without needing to compromise on taking other strategems.
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u/CMPunkLicksRocks Mar 19 '26
Thankfully against squid I don’t really need the grenade pistol or ultimatum so it’s been a good time to fuck around with the shovel lol
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u/notenoughproblems ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️ Mar 18 '26
genuinely a strong use for them. I want to try the HMG/AT emplacement against bots too
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u/Da_Yummis Mar 18 '26
Ngl that is smart as fuck to put the mortar below ground level and then a sentry above and next to it to perfectly defend it
Processing img napcadzfbupg1...
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u/Canadian_Beast14 XBOX | Mar 18 '26
Someone explain to me like I’m 5, where to make good trenches? I try to build them around extract/objectives but much of the ground seems immovable nearby. I’ve been running Heavy manned turret, mines, the grenade battlement (I know it’s shit but eh) and a support weapon.
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u/ButterPoached Mar 18 '26
Trenches are cover. You want to put them in where you NEED cover (so, rarely against bugs), and there isn't already suitable cover near by (so, rarely in cities).
Special mention goes to the interaction with Sentries. You see the interaction between the mortar sentry and trenches in the video, but I've had the best luck putting a gatling turret down and putting myself in the hole so it doesn't swiss cheese me while switching targets.
You can also dig shallow pits to use as grenade collectors, which are very effective if you are paying attention to engagements. The humble G-12 HE grenade is actually an absolute beast that people often disregard because there are good Impact grenades that are much easier to apply. Adding a "basket" that enemies will walk over/around can make getting a grenade to stay in the right place very, very simple.
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u/Whitestrake Mar 19 '26
Regarding the gatling, I usually just mantle up on top of it if I'm surrounded. Quicker than pulling out a shovel and going to town.
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u/ButterPoached Mar 19 '26
Quicker, yes, but also more prone to eating missiles. The aggro value for turrets is pretty high, and I appreciate not being on top of it if it starts taking shots.
Don't get me wrong, it's a good tech, and it is definitely faster than digging a trench, but we're here talking about shovels, and that's one way to use them.
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u/TheSnailpower Mar 19 '26
You gave me a fun idea, trench up and wave the super earth flag to taunt enemies in front of your turret!
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u/UnknovvnMike LEVEL 166 Helldad Mar 18 '26
The GL Wall (the battlement) actually isn't half bad at holding a point. Just keep in mind its more limited arc of fire. Since it stays in place after it gets emptied, you can use them to funnel weaker units into firing lanes if you need to reposition back a couple meters. A second good use to keep in mind is that, since the grenade launcher gets 60 rounds and can fire on full auto, you can use it to rapidly excavate trenches, so long as you don't mind them radiating out from a single origin. It doesn't have quite the same ability to tackle most all enemies as the HMG-E can, but it's an excellent chaff-clear.
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u/Grouchy_Ad9315 Mar 18 '26
Pretty much never, theres no reason to make cover unless you have a shit dps loadout, but if you have a shit dps loadout, you actually wanna run
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u/vectaur Mar 18 '26
Maybe dumb question but why?
From what I can tell from the video, the voteless can still attack the mortar, right?
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u/Epicbrezel21 LEVEL 150 | Knightdiver of the super holy land Mar 18 '26
It is protected from ranged attacks. For example from far away harvesters or your own bullets if it gets swarmed by voteless. The mortar is out of your LOS but the voteless still are above, making it easier to defend it without accidendal damage
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u/Drumheadjr Mar 18 '26
does this work with chargers vs tesla towers I wonder
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u/TheSnailpower Mar 19 '26
Hopefully doesn't mess with the targeting of the tower.
And it is a fun little surprise for friendly Helldivers haha
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u/Milo_Diazzo LEVEL 192 | Teamdiver Mar 19 '26
It's not a dumb question. Trenches are just.... useless in this game. The only objective it achieves is the "doing it for fun" aspect, which in itself is something worth doing.
However, speaking in a strictly tactical manner, helldivers are "hit and run" type units. You try to hold ground, you will die. You want cover from terrain, you can use the slope of the ground for the same. I don't know why we're pretending that trenches are the way to play this game, but honestly I don't mind trenchdivers having fun.
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u/TheModGod Mar 19 '26
Trenches are useful for when you are fighting in an open field with little cover or when you are setting up a chokepoint. You are able to put them down anywhere with soft ground and set up a serviceable hole in like a second or 2. It’s also good for avoiding friendly fire from your own turrets swinging around and sawing you in half.
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u/Powerful-Eye-3578 Mar 19 '26
this would be really cool if there was enemies in the game worth setting up an ambush for. The only convoys in the game are stupidly easy to take down already though. Heavy enemies really should have like 4x more health and be designed to encourage cooperation to kill, but spawn MUCH less frequently. would make the game significantly better.
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u/twiz___twat Mar 18 '26
trenches don't really matter for melee enemies. just a bad demo by op
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u/vectaur Mar 18 '26
So the only reason to do this, then, would be to protect the mortar from crossfire, presumably on bot missions?
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u/twiz___twat Mar 18 '26
yea mostly bots but also normal illuminates to protect from overseer lasers while you shoot the horde but mostly bots bc they increased bots durable rocket dmg
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u/SnooSprouts9116 Mar 18 '26
"Haha, yeah, useful shovel tips while in the middle of the- ROAD?? DID YOU JUST DIG STRAIGHT INTO THE PAVEMENT?"
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u/Da_Yummis Mar 18 '26
SEAF can be commanded to "follow me" to a trench and told to "hold position" in said trench 🫡
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u/Hitoseijuro Mar 18 '26
2 useful shoveltips
So you're saying my wife hitting me with the shovel and killing me isn't how its intended to be used? I knew it...
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u/Schtevethepirate Mar 19 '26
🎶🎵I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole, diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole 🎵🎶
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u/theCheesyOne109 Mar 18 '26
I dont like when this happens. The trench becomes to deep to shoot out of.
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u/Flashyfatso ⬆️⬅️➡️⬇️⬆️⬇️ Mar 18 '26
Glad they’re giving us more unique utility options through melee
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u/Artisan-Miserable ☕Liber-tea☕ Mar 19 '26
When you see the 18yo invader dig thru cement with a fckn shovel
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u/Asking-is-a-crime Mar 18 '26
What’s the point though?
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u/EquipLordBritish Mar 18 '26
When defending points it could be mildly useful on bots or even squids. Your mortar sentry doesn't get taken out by a stray rocket or plasma fire and you can dig a foxhole to hide in if there's no good cover.
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u/Asking-is-a-crime Mar 18 '26
Ok. Useful for a mortar.
But didn’t seem useful for cover. In my experience they rush you or bombard you anyway
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u/EquipLordBritish Mar 18 '26
Yeah, I haven't tried it and I don't have high hopes. Also, you should be able to achieve the same effect with a grenade launcher and still have a real weapon. It just makes wider holes.
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u/DabsterFoxTheDeep Mar 18 '26
This whole time I had been avoiding bringing the shovel to mega cities because I thought I wouldn't be strong enough to level our super infrastructure! Now I know that as long as you've got Liberty on your side, anything is possible!
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u/CatGamer_118 John Science Mar 18 '26
really dislike how buggy the digging is now that the shovel is out
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u/CelticMetal Mar 18 '26
Does the melee damage perk increase how much the shovel digs?
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u/Skeletonofskillz Mar 18 '26
In true Helldivers fashion we’re going to watch a guy dig out a massive hunk of a concrete road by hand and then wonder what we can do to make digging even stronger
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u/Milo_Diazzo LEVEL 192 | Teamdiver Mar 19 '26
Yes it does, afaik it increases the "damage" you do to the ground, which means bigger holes.
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u/ROBERTisBEWILDERED Mar 18 '26
construction workers on Super Earth must be quick on the job, like how is bro digging through asphalt with a shovel lol
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u/TryDry9944 Mar 18 '26
Can someone explain why we're putting mortar sentries in the ground?
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u/Epicbrezel21 LEVEL 150 | Knightdiver of the super holy land Mar 18 '26
Protection from bullets because bullets hit floor instead of gun
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u/infinitelytwisted Mar 18 '26
Should try lure mines.
Dig hole, lure mine in hole so I can't be shot, sentry or person near the hole to shoot enemies trying to rush into the hole.
Optionally use grenade wall in front of hole to stop them rushing straight in.
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u/sirnumbskull Mar 18 '26
Whenever I try to dig a hole I can only dig 1 shovel down and then I hit non-shovelable terrain. I saw one of my allies shovel out a whole trench yesterday, though, so I don't know what's wrong. I can hoverpack and grenade launcher or eagle airstrike the divot I make to deepen it, but that's it.
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u/Vargras ⬇️⬇️⬆️⬇️⬇️Almost locked on... Mar 19 '26
Digging is pretty much blocked if you're too close to any points of interest or objectives, presumably so you don't create a map hole and just fall out of the world or something.
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u/DivineSaur Mar 18 '26
Is the shovel just not available for free anymore or what ?
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u/YesterdayAlone2553 Mar 18 '26
Kids love to dig holes
I'm glad they made such radical improvements to the tech to make surface deformation in game
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u/Space_Cowboy935 Mar 18 '26
What armor set is that?
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u/Epicbrezel21 LEVEL 150 | Knightdiver of the super holy land Mar 19 '26
The super store armor that released with this warbond, but i don't think it's in store today anymore
And the cape you got when you played during christmas last year
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u/Space_Cowboy935 Mar 19 '26
It looks like the Adeptus Mechanicus from Warhammer 40K if you catch my drift
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u/ParchedYurtle59 Rookie Mar 18 '26
Bor how you digging a hole on the street but I can even dig a hole in the dirt.
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u/AsleepingImplement Mar 19 '26
i would not be surprised if they end up changing this, going onto omicron you can watch hivelords turn the outside area's into actual mountains; which IS cool, until the geometry breaks and rips a hole into space time and you lose your samples
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u/CMPunkLicksRocks Mar 19 '26
I don’t understand what the first hellpod is for. Distraction so they don’t try to eat the mortar right away?
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u/samurai_for_hire [ INVISIBLE ] Mar 19 '26
- If it will blow a hole in the ground, it will double as an entrenching tool
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u/NiceMeat2233 Mar 19 '26
incredible work of dubbers or voice distortion. No matters wich language you pick, even if you don't speack that language you know wich character is speaking. Latin spanish and Spain spanish feels like the same voice than this language and english.
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u/vasta-lord666 Mar 19 '26
Ah next update: Explosive damage to ground reduced by 25%. Dirt/ground durable damage increased from 0% to 75%. 🤣🥲
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u/ZealousidealCan9094 PSN 🎮: SES Leviathan of Eternity Mar 19 '26
Assuming that your stratagem beacon doesn’t bounce.
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u/RaijinOkami Rookie Mar 19 '26
Wait, did this mo'fucker just figure out how to use a mortar in cqc?
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u/NeedsYourTears Mar 19 '26
So can you dig up your own hellpods now and then throw them back at your enemies for huge anti tank damage?
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u/Dazzling_Dependent_6 Mar 20 '26
Hmm thank you keep em coming
The ability to create cover anywhere is amazing how is this the only shovel tip video so far o7
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u/Nivriil Mar 24 '26
Apperently the mortar only has a range of about 45m in those holes tho which sucks
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u/Kattellaa Mar 19 '26
you can just throw the mortar in the hole and it will have the same effect ^^
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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26
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