This mod was first inspired when I remembered CGW (Custom Galactic War) and its buff to the laser cannon. I was playing with it at the time, and I remembered that it was honestly such a good change in general.
Why? Well, the laser cannon honestly does very bad direct damage for most things, as it has basically the same damage as the Scythe except for higher durable damage. Even then, the laser cannon genuinely just feels like a heavy-pen Scythe, which is strange because the laser cannon beam is MW scale and larger but still has the same normal damage, making it feel exactly like the Scythe on chaff (even the fire DOT applying is mostly the same). On heavies it varies (good on Hulks) but is noticeably lacking on Chargers and Bile Titans thanks to the durable damage being too small to kill them within a charge in a horde shooter. Honestly, I just used it as a glorified flamethrower and only used the fire DOT to kill anything, as the direct damage is too low.
When I first created this mod, I was thinking it would make the laser cannon a monster. But after changing the damage to what I thought would be good (500 damage and 300 durable), it was... surprisingly balanced? The laser cannon felt A LOT better to use (in certain cases with others mostly unchanged).
Now the direct damage on things such as beheading Brood Commanders and killing Hive Guards/Warriors on the head feel great, but at the same time it was not a "sweep and kill everything instantly" weapon, as the direct damage matters little compared to the fire DOT in that case. When focusing on individual enemies felt A LOT better, and heavy hunting was much better but not overtuned. On Bile Titans, instead of having to dump an entire heat sink perfectly into its head to kill it, I just needed to use around 65-70% of the heat sink, which of course didn't feel exactly impressive, as most weapons can pop that head in a second or less while you need to keep good aim on the Bile Titan but can work "Okay" for it. On Chargers it felt pretty decent, as you had to spend probably 40% of the heat sink on the leg, with the other 10% killing the soft tissue underneath, but it still was not "great," as Chargers do close the distance very quickly and move wildly side to side.
On bots it is a lot better too. Hulks fell about the same, but they died quicker, though not extremely so, and it requires accuracy. War Striders were where I noticed the biggest change, likely because of the durable damage, as the hip went from an okay kill time to pretty decent, although apart from that, maybe Tanks might be better, or Factory Strider belly doors.
Illuminate would probably be the bigger change, as the laser cannon was pretty good there already and probably would take off Crusher helmets pretty well, but it is mostly untested here.
Honestly, this mod makes the laser cannon direct damage feel A LOT better, but not to an S-tier amount. I would probably still take the HMG or Autocannon, but if you can keep your aim good, it will reward you well! It is definitely to the level of those now removed dumb cheat mods that turned the laser cannon into melta gun levels, which is just straight-up cheating and boring.
I would definitely recommend giving it a try, and please avoid using mods in public lobbies, although this mod is honestly not a super noticeable change, so it is probably fine. Still, consent and permission are important.
A small thing that this also changed was the laser sentry damage, and it definitely got... "better," but it is still an incredibly mid sentry. They should probably just make its cooling extremely fast or make it never overheat, and even then it would not be remotely Rocket Sentry levels, plus it needs more range, as currently it has pathetic range.
(WARNING! this mod was made in Linux and run trough proton BUT it should be functional on windows as it uses Windows API stuff but only tested trough Wine/Proton so it should work but please report it if that's not the case as i don't have any windows system with helldivers to test it)
Why? Well, the laser cannon honestly does very bad direct damage for most things, as it has basically the same damage as the Scythe except for higher durable damage. Even then, the laser cannon genuinely just feels like a heavy-pen Scythe, which is strange because the laser cannon beam is MW scale and larger but still has the same normal damage, making it feel exactly like the Scythe on chaff (even the fire DOT applying is mostly the same). On heavies it varies (good on Hulks) but is noticeably lacking on Chargers and Bile Titans thanks to the durable damage being too small to kill them within a charge in a horde shooter. Honestly, I just used it as a glorified flamethrower and only used the fire DOT to kill anything, as the direct damage is too low.
When I first created this mod, I was thinking it would make the laser cannon a monster. But after changing the damage to what I thought would be good (500 damage and 300 durable), it was... surprisingly balanced? The laser cannon felt A LOT better to use (in certain cases with others mostly unchanged).
Now the direct damage on things such as beheading Brood Commanders and killing Hive Guards/Warriors on the head feel great, but at the same time it was not a "sweep and kill everything instantly" weapon, as the direct damage matters little compared to the fire DOT in that case. When focusing on individual enemies felt A LOT better, and heavy hunting was much better but not overtuned. On Bile Titans, instead of having to dump an entire heat sink perfectly into its head to kill it, I just needed to use around 65-70% of the heat sink, which of course didn't feel exactly impressive, as most weapons can pop that head in a second or less while you need to keep good aim on the Bile Titan but can work "Okay" for it. On Chargers it felt pretty decent, as you had to spend probably 40% of the heat sink on the leg, with the other 10% killing the soft tissue underneath, but it still was not "great," as Chargers do close the distance very quickly and move wildly side to side.
On bots it is a lot better too. Hulks fell about the same, but they died quicker, though not extremely so, and it requires accuracy. War Striders were where I noticed the biggest change, likely because of the durable damage, as the hip went from an okay kill time to pretty decent, although apart from that, maybe Tanks might be better, or Factory Strider belly doors.
Illuminate would probably be the bigger change, as the laser cannon was pretty good there already and probably would take off Crusher helmets pretty well, but it is mostly untested here.
Honestly, this mod makes the laser cannon direct damage feel A LOT better, but not to an S-tier amount. I would probably still take the HMG or Autocannon, but if you can keep your aim good, it will reward you well! It is definitely to the level of those now removed dumb cheat mods that turned the laser cannon into melta gun levels, which is just straight-up cheating and boring.
I would definitely recommend giving it a try, and please avoid using mods in public lobbies, although this mod is honestly not a super noticeable change, so it is probably fine. Still, consent and permission are important.
A small thing that this also changed was the laser sentry damage, and it definitely got... "better," but it is still an incredibly mid sentry. They should probably just make its cooling extremely fast or make it never overheat, and even then it would not be remotely Rocket Sentry levels, plus it needs more range, as currently it has pathetic range.
(WARNING! this mod was made in Linux and run trough proton BUT it should be functional on windows as it uses Windows API stuff but only tested trough Wine/Proton so it should work but please report it if that's not the case as i don't have any windows system with helldivers to test it)
