While the metroidvania inclined celebrate the release of a long-awaited bug game, Helldivers 2’s stalwart protectors of freedom are hard at work ensuring no bugs will know another day of peace. This week, the Into the Unjust update kicked off a new offensive into Terminid strongholds, a directive that’s proving tougher than expected.
A new “Rupture” class of Terminid, recognizable by its red armor plating and burrowing technique, is wreaking havoc on reinforcements. While players have identified effective weapons to counter the novel threat, it’s no coincidence that the latest premium warbond, Dust Devils, is packing what might be the ultimate anti-Terminid primary: the AR-2 Coyote.
The most active corner of the Helldivers 2 community has already anointed the Coyote to gun royalty, singing its praises against bugs and preemptively begging Arrowhead not to nerf it.
It’s really a thing of beauty: With a rounded profile, long barrel, and curved magazine, the Coyote is undoubtedly meant to evoke an AK-47. Its baseline stats aren’t extraordinary for its weapon class, but its numbers don’t really communicate why it kicks carapace.
The Coyote’s main draw is its incendiary ammunition, a first for non-laser assault rifles. As fire is comfortably the best status effect in terms of raw damage (and especially good for bugs), the Coyote flashes its teeth by unleashing a 45-round magazine into a wave of advancing bugs, killing most on contact and setting the rest on fire to die seconds later. I didn’t even mention that it has medium penetration, making it one of just four assault rifles that can punch through the Rupture strain’s armor.
When you look at the AR-2 Coyote in detail, it’s as if Arrowhead was trying to design the last Terminid gun you’ll ever need:
- High damage: Base damage is weaker than other medium-pen ARs, but the fire damage adds big
- Medium penetration: so it rips through anything smaller than a Charger
- Fire ammo: You can literally fire one bullet at a bug, then watch it die from fire in seconds
- Large magazine: A 45-round magazine (without any upgrades) means you can shoot everything chasing you before a reload is necessary
- Easy recoil control: The Coyote kicks harder than a Liberator, mind you, but its recoil pattern is a steady vertical climb that’s easy to compensate for. Also, it has unlockable grips.
It’s the sort of gun that just feels comfortable and fun as soon as you use it, which is what you want when spending $10 on a warbond. Nerfs wouldn’t surprise me, but a post from redditor RandomGreenArcherMan offers sharp points that toss cold water on the Coyote’s dominance: its lower base damage means it kills some enemies slower than a Liberator, burning doesn’t tend to matter against smaller enemies that die in one bullet anyway, and it doesn’t have access to 60 or 80-round magazine upgrades.
Plus, ArcherMan reckons it’s not great against Automatons, who aren’t as easy to burn and reward precision headshots. That’s not to suggest the Coyote isn’t a sterling product of Super Earth engineering, just that it’s currently being deployed in its ideal warzone: bugs with medium armor.
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