Officially named the LAS-99 Quasar Cannon, the Quasar Cannon has gained near-universal acceptance among Helldivers fighting on both Automaton and Terminid fronts. This is mostly due to the weapon’s ease of use and tremendous stopping.
In this guide, I’ll tell you how to acquire the Quasar Cannon and how to use it best on the battlefield, particularly when and where it can impact the mission most.
Where to get the Quasar Cannon in Helldivers 2?
The Quasar Cannon is acquired from the Engineering Bay on the Ship Management console next to the ship’s hangar bay. The license can be bought with 7,500 Requisition Slips after you’ve reached a high enough to unlock it, somewhere in the region close to Level 20.
How do you use the Quasar Cannon?
The Quasar is unique because it is the first energy bazooka of its kind in the game. It charges up first before shooting a ball of highly damaging energy. You can tell how close you are to firing when you see the reticle rapidly spinning in 3rd person view. The weapon takes a second or two to fire a shot and a five to eight second cooldown before you can attempt another shot.
You only need to concern yourself with tracking your target so the projectile hits its mark. And even this, you don’t need to worry too much. The projectile is practically hit scan so you don’t need to factor in travel distance or projectile drop.
I suppose if anything is going to mess up your aim, it’s enemy small arms fire or melee hits. Even the slightest hit from an Automaton laser pistol can cause your aim to move off target wildly. In other words, be careful when firing from an exposed position.
It should be noted that the Quasar Cannon does little to no splash damage. It is intended to be a precision anti-armor weapon. It will not be useful against swarms of enemies unless the shot hits an explosive barrel.
What makes the Quasar Cannon so good?
I mentioned earlier that the Quasar Cannon has become a favorite among the Helldivers. That is no exaggeration. The Quasar Cannon has replaced the Recoilless Rifle and the Disposable Anti-Tank Rocket in most cases. The Quasar hits as hard or maybe even harder compared to the two weapons dedicated to tank busting. And because it is an energy weapon with unlimited ammunition, you can even shoot Scouts without a second thought about ammo conservation.
In many ways, it’s an upgraded version of the pre-nerfed Railgun. And if Arrowhead Game Studios doesn’t decide to reign it in with a few post-release nerfs, then we’re looking at a staple in Helldiver team load-outs for the foreseeable future.
A neat little trick you can do is to call one Quasar Cannon as soon as the mission starts. And whenever you need to hold a position, call in another Quasar Cannon and you can essentially cycle through both cannons. That way, when one cannon is cooling down, you’re already charging up a shot.
Quasar Cannon Notable Interactions
A single Quasar Cannon shot can outright kill a Charger and a Bile Titan when struck on the head. Otherwise, the cannon will require no less than three body shots for both targets. The same goes for Hulks on the Automaton side. Unfortunately, it will not penetrate the shield of a heavy devastator. However, it will cause it to recoil slightly, allowing you to destroy its head with small-arms fire.
It requires two shots to destroy an annihilator tank turret on its armored side. A direct hit to the glowing cooling vents will likely destroy the tank in one shot.
A single shot to any dropship thruster will instantly disable the dropship and cause it to drop like a rock. However, the bots underneath have a high chance of surviving albeit stuck under the ship’s wreckage.
The Quasar Cannon can destroy illegal broadcast towers at a range of more than 300 meters away. The same also applies to the spore spewers. This strategy works best on shrieker nests as you destroy them well out of range before any shriekers can spawn on the map.
It will destroy a bot factory in one hit if targeting one of the front exhausts. A shot direct hit into the entrance of a bug nest will close it up. A small amount of precision is required but doable with enough practice.
[Patch 01.000.201 – Update]
As of Patch 01.000.201, the Quasar Cannon received a slight change to its visuals. The cannon now sports a meter on the backside of the cannon and one underneath the targeting reticle. This indicates the cannon’s charge up to the moment it is fired. Additionally, once the cannon has been fired, the “Overheated” message will appear on the meter, telling you how long you still have to wait before firing another shot.
Using a Quasar Cannon against the newly added Gunship is somewhat hard, especially if you are the primary target. Gunships, while stationary during attacks, will launch missiles while you are charging up. A good idea is to have someone on the team draw aggro while you clean up the skies. As a solo, you might want to have cover first before considering taking a shot. Otherwise, consider using a disposable anti-tank rocket for a quick takedown.
Is the Quasar Cannon going to replace the other anti-tank weapons? I don’t think so. There are instances when a disposable anti-tank launcher could have been more advantageous. But right now, the Quasar is the hot new toy and everyone wants to try it out. Hopefully, the hype dies down and it won’t end up like the railgun. But we’ll just have to see.