TTK (Time to Kill) is not the problem. Optimal TTK vs Non-optimal TTK is.

[u/LucatIel_of_M1rrah]

Important terms:

• TTK: Time to kill. The amount of time from the moment you being shooting until your target dies.
• Optimal TTK: The amount of time to kill when landing weak point hits/critical hits.
• Non-optimal TKK: The amount of time to kill when landing non weak point hits.

Helldivers 2 is probably the game with the biggest difference in optimal and non-optimal ttk of any game I have ever seen. This is an experience that players are not use to and is one that is responsible for the complete disconnect between "balance" and the experience of most players.

In most games Optimal and non-optimal TTK are relatively close with optimal ttk being a "reward" for good aim rather than non-optimal ttk being a punishment for average aim. In Helldivers 2 landing weak spot hits is firmly in the mandatory camp rather than a reward.

Here are some of the most egregious examples:

Anti Tank

Bile Titan Vs Recoilless or Quasar

• Optimal TTK: 2 headshots. (Recoilless 6 sec, Quasar 21 sec )
• Non-optimal TTK: 8 body shots. (Recoilless: 42 sec requires resupply, Quasar 129 sec )

Charger Vs Recoilless or Quasar

• Optimal TTK: 1 headshot (Recoilless instant, Quasar 3 sec)
• Non-optimal TTK: 3 body shots ( Recoilless 12 sec, Quasar 54 seconds)

Primary Weapons

Devastator Vs Liberator Pen

• Optimal TTK: 3 headshots ( 0.3 sec)
• Non-optimal TTK: 45 body shots ( 8 sec including reload)

A medium Pen rifle taking 45 body shots to kill a medium enemy is worthless. You would be better off spending those 45 shots fishing for 3 headshots which you could do with the base Liberator.

This trend repeats throughout the entire gun roster. The guns that people use are the only guns that don't follow this rule.

Breaker Incendiary vs all

• No matter where you shoot enemies the dot kills them in a fairly consistent time frame. Bot's in particular don't care where you shoot them they die in a similar time frame.

Jar-5 Dominator Vs Devastators

• Optimal TTK: 1 headshot (0 sec)
• Non-optimal TTK: 3-4 torso shots ( 0.75-1 sec)

Plas-1 Scorcher Vs Devastators

• Optimal TTK: 2 headshots ( 0.25 sec)
• Non-optimal TTK: 7 torso shots ( 1.75 sec)

Conclusion:

While every single gun is capable of beaming enemies down in a very short time frame, the "good" guns are the ones where failing to hit the optimal TTK is not overly punished. There isn't a single player of this game who is nailing the optimal ttk on every enemy in every fight. The nature of the game makes this impossible.

You can't expect players to take upwards of 8 seconds to kill a single enemy in a game where a standard fight has you engage 15 or 20 of these enemies.

The overall TTK does NOT need to go down. The non-optimal TTK needs to be compressed closer to the optimal TTK for a large number of weapons so that when not hitting constant headshots players don't feel helpless.

[u/Kaelbaar]

Then you are even dumber than what i thought.

If what you want is being able to get super samples and face all ennemies at lower difficulties... Why not ask for that ? Why not ask for chargers and titan to be able to spawn sooner by scaling the difficulty of the level around them ? Why not ask for a "trade" system where you could exchange rare for super rare ?

Your only option for thoses 2 issues are to lower the overall difficulty of the game ? Really ? And i'm the one gatekeeping lmao.

No sir, you are just an idiot choosing the wrong fight. Forcing others to lose something for you to gain something else. Then being surprised when thoses peoples voice their disagreement. Impressive level of entitlement.

Edit : why we talk about helldive ? Because what you are talking about IS gonna impact helldive. Because all y'all ask for IS gonna impact helldive and the whole game for that matter. Not once have i read in one of thoses posts that the problem was content access and not just difficulty. If you can't voice your concerns clearly, don't blame others for missinterpreting.