It feels like only yesterday that I complained that Helldivers 2 doesn't have enough guns that rule against Automatons. Clearly Arrowhead heard my pleas, because in a surprise update this morning, two new support weapons arrived in the Super Earth arsenal: the MG-101 Heavy Machine Gun, and the true talk of the town, LAS-99 Quasar Cannon.
The Quasar Cannon makes a stunning impression. Its boxy, imposing body rests on the shoulder, similar to its distant cousin the Laser Cannon. But unlike laser beam weapons, the Quasar Cannon charges up one huge blast at a time. Mid-charge, the cannon's reticle spins as its internal mechanism whirs with anticipation. A concentrated ball of energy gathers at the end of the barrel, then releases with an understated zap followed immediately by a bassy impact. It's a mean machine, and I'm glad it's on our side.
Unlocked at level 18 for 7,500 Reqs, the Quasar doesn't have to reload, but has a sizable cooldown between shots. Not that whatever you just hit will still be standing—early testing suggests a single quasar blast is about as powerful as an anti-tank rocket, but with a few key advantages:
- Unlimited ammo: The Quasar Cannon can't overheat, so it doesn't need heat sinks
- Cooldown on the move: You can consider its long cooldown a "reload," but unlike the Recoilless Rifle, you don't have to stand still to do it
- Velocity: Rockets travel fast, but lasers are even quicker. A well-aimed quasar blast is essentially hitscan
- No backpack required: This goes hand-in-hand with unlimited ammo, but it's worth celebrating a support weapon that leaves your back slot free for an ammo pack or personal shield
The Helldivers 2 community is welcoming the Quasar Cannon with open arms and clenched fists. Far and wide, players are sharing their early impressions of the support weapon, pointing out its one-shot-kill potential against Hulks, Chargers, fabricators, and even Automaton dropships. One top-upvoted post on the Helldivers subreddit by user The_Bored_Goat doesn't hold back the Quasar love:
"Best Weapon in the game. It's an EAT with infinite ammo, it performs just as well as the EAT damage-wise, doesn't have a reload animation, and has infinite range," they wrote. "Such a democratic weapon it makes me cry."
While superlatives are premature, the Quasar Cannon does slot nicely into a small club of weapons that can challenge Helldivers 2's strongest threats. Its raw damage and armor-piercing potential remind me of the pre-nerf Railgun that could bore out the center of Chargers and Hulks in a flash. What makes the Quasar so good against bots, specifically, is its precision—as demonstrated by user Carbo-Hydrates-0417, the cannon can accurately snipe fabricators, bug holes, and other destructible structures from any distance.
First time trying the quasar cannon against a fabricator, this thing can snipe from r/Helldivers
But, the Quasar has its share of downsides. Its long three-to-four second charge up time means you really have to know what you want to shoot ahead of time. It's not a "fire and forget" affair like the Expendable Anti-Tank, and if you're accustomed to blowing the head off a Charger seconds before it clobbers you, the Quasar might let you down. Unlimited ammo is nice, but the cooldown between shots is around the same, if not longer, than a Recoiless Rifle reload. You could also choose to see the Quasar's lack of a backpack as a weakness—a Recoiless Rifle or Autocannon with a tag-team reload can fire way faster than the Quasar.
Quasar blasts don't have much splash damage either—despite sharing a form factor with rocket launchers, it's more accurate to think of this as a precision rifle.
I love the Laser-99 Quasar Cannon! from r/Helldivers
I'll leave with some helpful Quasar Cannon testing data gathered by user Emptynesz to give you an idea of how it can be useful not just for killing stuff, but clearing objectives:
- Requirement: 7.5k req and Lv18
- Unlimited Ammo and Infinite Range
- Charge time to shoot is 3s, unaffected by Hot/Cold Environment
- Cooldown is affected by Hot/Cold Environment (Cold ~6s / Hot&No Modifier ~10s) - need more testing
- It can takedown Bot Dropship at the thruster like recoilless rifle
- Railgun Playstation oneshot bug is also applied to Quasar Cannon
- 2 shots Bile Titan in the head
- 1 shot Charger in the head
- 1 shot Hulk at visor
- 2 shots Cannon Tower
- 2 shots Annihilator Tank at the vent
- 1 shot Shredder Tank at the vent and 2 at the front or sides (untested but should be)
- 1 shots Mortar Emplacement
- 2 shots Shriekers Nest
- Seems to one shot all small and medium enemy with well-placed shot
- Cannot Destroy Stratagem Jammer and Detector Tower
- Can Destroy Bugholes, Fabricators, Spore Spewer, Illegal Broadcast
