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For many months the Breaker Incendiary Shotgun has been the go-to weapon for many Helldivers 2 players when it comes to fighting the Terminids. Its high-powered spray and pray style, coupled with its fire damage made it the perfect weapon and very few weapons have been able to compete with it. Recently, the Breaker Incendiary Shotgun was nerfed in the Escalation of Freedom update, with the Arrowhead CEO admitting it was because people used it too much.
This has led to players scrambling to find a new weapon to take its place, with the newly released Cookout Shotgun seeming like a logical choice. Despite the nerf, I still think the Breaker Incendiary Shotgun is the better weapon and players shouldn’t be dismissing the changes because of reactionary feelings.
The recent Escalation of Freedom update saw changes to how fire works in Helldivers 2, fixing a long-standing issue that unintentionally became one of the reasons it was so powerful, leading to the rise in popularity of weapons such as the Breaker Incendiary Shotgun. In addition to changes in how fire worked, the update also saw the Breaker Incendiary’s recoil increase from 28 to 41, and carriable magazines reduced from 6 to 4.
This came just days before the release of the new Freedom’s Flame Warbond which features the Cookout Shotgun, offering a great alternative to the Breaker Incendiary. When comparing the two, the Cookout has a higher damage output, at 320 compared to 240. But, this comes as a severely reduced fire rate of just 80 compared to the 300 that the Breaker Incendiary has, which is why it is great for a spray and pray playstyle. The Cookout Shotgun can also hold a total of 60 shells compared to 100 that players can carry when using the Breaker Incendiary, and it has a much higher recoil level at 100, making it difficult to use if your aim isn’t steady.
When its stats are laid out side by side, there is very little benefit to using the Cookout Shotgun over the Breaker Incendiary. Its main benefit is the higher damage output, but this is only effective if you’re picking off enemies one at a time. If you’re being surrounded by a horde of Terminids, the faster fire rate from the Breaker Incendiary can get you out of a sticky situation much easier.
Even with the fire changes, very few weapons come close to the effectiveness of either of these two Shotguns in the current meta and whichever one you prefer will depend on your playstyle. But, if you are frustrated by the changes made to the Breaker Incendiary Shotgun, don’t write it off just yet. It does have few magazines which is annoying, but ammo is plentiful across the map so it shouldn’t pose too much of an issue if you’re using it to take out smaller enemies while using Stratagems to take down the larger foes.
Following the backlash from the Helldivers 2 community, Arrowhead Game Studios has laid out a 60-day roadmap to revert many of the changes made in the Escalation of Freedom update, as well as fix various issues that have plagued the game. With players rapidly losing hope in the developers, it does feel like a do-or-die situation, but I am hopeful that they will pull it out of the bag and get the game back to a great state once again. If you’re a player who has had their favorite weapon nerfed in the recent update, now could be a great time to reoptimize your loadout. To do this, I highly recommend checking out our Helldivers 2 best weapons guide and best armor guide to find out what you should be carrying on your next mission against the Automatons and Terminids.
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