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It has been a tough month in Helldivers 2, with multiple Major Order failures, as well as some of the sweetest victories we have had so far in the game. The most recent Major Order saw the community come together to defend 10 planets, a task that was only completed with moments to spare. The next Major Order gave players the choice between which planet they wanted to liberate, with our choice determining what weapon we would receive as a reward. The community chose the Airburst Rocket Launcher, here is how to use it during the event and whether we made the right choice.
How To Get The Airburst Rocket Launcher During The Current Major Order Event
Currently, the Airburst Rocket Launcher cannot be purchased from your ship, so how do you use it during the Major Order event? For all missions that you do while on the Penta planet, the Airburst Rocket Launcher will be automatically included in your Stratagem list upon starting the mission. The good news is it doesn’t take up one of your slots which allows you to still carry four Stratagemens in addition to the Airburst Rocket Launcher. So far, I haven’t found it on the ground in any of the missions I have played, but since you can spawn it any time there isn’t a need for it to be ground loot.
It is worth noting that it won’t be accessible on any other planet until after the Major Order when it will become purchaseable from your ship, its pricing is currently unknown but it should be under 9,000 Requisitions based on previous unlockable Stratagems. If I had to guess I would say it will likely be around 6,000-7,500 Requisitions but we will get confirmation after the event, or when the next update is released.
Is The Airburst Rocket Launcher Worth Using?
Based on my experience using the new Airburst Rocket Launcher so far, no, it isn’t worth using. When directly impacting enemies, it does very little damage to anything other than the grunt-type enemies. The first heavy enemy I attacked with it was a Devastator and it shrugged it off like it wasn’t, it took two rockets to take it down, whereas most other explosive Stratagem weapons would take out a Devastator in the majority of cases. The best use case that I have found so far is it can destroy a Fabricator with ease, but a Grenade can also complete the same task.
The main perk of the Airburst Rocket Launcher is that it creates a large radius of explosive damage in a burst-like manner, hence the name. Unfortunately, this seems to deal very little damage to nearby enemies but it can take you out immediately. This is also a large area that is far greater than the blast radius of other explosive weapons, so it is easy to find yourself in the crossfire. I eliminated myself in three of the first four rockets I used while most of my enemies were still standing.
Currently, there are four similar weapons in Helldivers 2, the Expandable Anti-Tank, Recoilless Rifle, Grenade Launcher, and Quasar Cannon, and I would choose every one of them over the Airburst Rocket Launcher. I do think the community made a mistake by choosing this weapon over the MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines. But, with it being in the in-game files, we will likely see it added to the game in the future too.
With so many weapons to choose from, it can be difficult to figure out the ideal loadout for you and the mission you’re about to embark on. To ensure victory, we highly recommend checking out our Helldivers 2 best weapons guide, best armor guide, and best Stratagems list. If you want to keep up to date with everything coming to the game in the future, check out our Helldivers 2 leaks and rumors page.
