In Helldivers 2, the BR-14 Adjudicator Marksman Rifle is the first weapon you pick up from the Democratic Demolition Premium Warbond. My impression of the gun is that it has less in common with marksman rifles and more with assault rifles. This feeling has been further reinforced since taking the weapon on several missions on both the Automaton and Terminid fronts.
This guide will tell you what you need to know about the Adjudicator, or what I call the black sheep of the marksman line. For starters, you’ll need 20 medals to unlock this weapon but only after you’ve bought the Premium Warbond for 1,000 Super Credits in Helldivers 2.
Adjudicator Marksman Rifle Stats in Helldivers 2
The Adjudicator has the lowest damage among the marksman rifles. It does 80 damage per bullet. This is far less than both versions of the Diligence Rifle. To make up for the difference, it has a higher capacity of 25 bullets per magazine and a higher fire rate of 550 RPM.
Looking at these stats, you can immediately tell something is up. If it weren’t for the recoil, you’d swear this was an assault rifle miscategorized as a marksman rifle. I’m not really sure what the intent here was. It’s like the weapon has an identity crisis and we’re supposed to sort it out for its sake.
The Adjudicator comes with two fire modes: semi and automatic. The adjustable scope can be set for targets within 25 meters, 50 meters, and 100 meters. This is strange for me. Usually, a marksman should be able to hit targets much further away than 100 meters. Looking back, this should have been the first sign that the weapon wasn’t meant to be used at long ranges.
The first thing you’ll notice about this weapon is its ridiculous recoil. Quite frankly, it’s all over the place. It jumps from left to right and if you don’t fight back the kick up, the shots go way higher than you would like. I also have an issue with this weapon’s scope. It just refuses to hit dead center. I’ve missed so many shots trying to compensate for something I have no control over. Because of this, enemies that should be easy to take down, like Heavy Devastors, are far more difficult to deal with.
Limited Effectiveness on the Automaton Front
I do not recommend using this on the Automaton front. The only reason marksman rifles are so effective against the bots is that one headshot can take out most enemy types. This simply isn’t the case for the Adjudicator. It struggles with the Automatons. It doesn’t take down Berserkers fast enough from range and its damage output isn’t effective enough to cleanly kill a group at close range with full auto active. Worse still, it doesn’t stagger Rocket Devastators quickly enough to knock them out of siege mode.
Scores Better Against the Terminids
In contrast, this gun absolutely kicks ass in the Terminid front. The entire time I was in the Automaton front, I treated this gun as a marksman rifle. Little did I know that the gun has a few things going for it that the Liberator Penetrator does not do.
The Adjudicator has nearly twice the damage of the Liberator Penetrator. This is actually huge when dealing with smaller Terminids. If I can kill a Scavenger or a Hunter in one to two bullets then it’s all good. Granted, you still have to fight recoil at every pull but at least you’re dealing lots of damage. The only time I go full auto is when I go up against a Hiveguard or a Brood Commander. It’s satisfying ripping through their armor like tissue paper. It’s something you don’t feel when using the Liberator Penetrator on the bug front.
At that point, I used the Adjudicator more as a heavy assault rifle. You don’t get many chances at long-range engagements with bugs clawing at your face. I would take the occasional snipe here and there but mostly used it to keep the bugs away. It felt oddly good as a limited street sweeper.
When going into a mission with this gun, I recommend pairing it up with the recoilless rifle. It is there mostly to deal with heavy hitters like Chargers and Hulks. If you haven’t already guessed, the Adjudicator is mostly good at shooting through small groups of armored enemies. It’s not meant to kill small groups of ads. This is why explosive heavy weapons help so much in that regard. If one explosion can take out multiple ads, that will allow you to focus on bigger threats like the Hiveguards and Bile Spewers.
If you are forced into a situation where you need to fight your way out, it is best to tap the trigger on approaching enemies and quickly swap to your secondary in close quarters. Remember, the gun only has 6 magazines in reserve and if you spray and pray a bunch of ads, you’ll be burning through your reserves in no time.
It’s too early to say whether or not the Adjudicator requires any buffs. I think it best to move it over to the Assault Rifle category due to what it actually brings to the table. This may have been a throwaway weapon sacrificed to make the other guns look good. But I’ve also tested the others and they didn’t need any help looking good. They are as impactful as we had hoped. Look forward to my reviews of them soon.
The Adjudicator isn’t what I thought it was going to be. It is not as powerful or accurate as the Diligence Counter Sniper but it certainly kicks like a mule. I like it in the Terminid front serving as a heavy assault rifle. I don’t want to call this a waste of 20 medals. I had fun using the Adjudicator against the bugs. Regardless of how I feel about the weapon, it still ranks the lowest among the other primaries. But that has more to do with how unique the others are and the added utility brought to the team.