'Squadleader' Soldier



This soldier type is often the commander of patrol squads, using their grenade launcher arm to fire alarm flares and to rain high explosive death on their foes.

Tactics
On low to medium difficulty planets these patrols typically consist of one 'Squadleader' and three Initiates or two 'Squadleaders' and two Initiates, whereas on high difficulty planets the patrols are made up of four 'Squadleaders'.
 * Found on difficulty 1 to 12 planets, 'Squadleader' Soldiers patrol the battlefield, following semi-random patterns while searching for Helldivers. They patrol more often around mission objectives and are also attracted to Stratagem beacons.


 * Soon after spotting Helldiver troops, 'Squadleader' Soldiers will launch an alarm flare to call for help from more powerful Cyborg units before engaging the player in combat from mid to long range. Their grenade launcher has a slow rate of fire and the grenades only have a small area-of-effect but just one or two are enough to down a Helldiver. Going prone allows Helldivers to survive fragmentation grenade explosions at relatively close distance.
 * The 'Squadleader' Soldier's melee attack is slow and not very powerful, and it will not use its grenade launcher at point blank range. Use this to your advantage and dispose of these Cyborgs either from a respectable distance or up close and personal.


 * 'Squadleader' Soldiers are more heavily armored than almost all other enemy scouts, meaning it can often be very difficult to kill them before an alarm has been raised. Unaided, few weapons are able to reliably take down full patrols quickly enough, making concentrated fire from entire Helldiver teams very important.


 * Primary weapons with penetrating shots and a high rate of fire are especially effective at dealing with 'Squadleader' Soldiers. The SG-255 Breaker shotgun can easily dispatch a patrol; the AR-20L Justice assault rifle requires more precise aiming/positioning to wipe out an entire patrol by itself reliably.


 * Direct-fire weapons that deal explosive damage (such as the CR-9 Suppressor, PLAS-1 Scorcher and PLAS-3 Singe) are extremely deadly to 'Squadleader' Soldiers, often wiping out entire groups in just a few shots. This is offset by their limited range and relatively long reload time of 2.5 seconds, which cannot be sped up by leaving a round in the chamber ("tactical reloads"). Keep an eye on how many shots are left in the clip when you hear the chattering of nearby patrols and make sure to reload in advance.


 * When it comes to precision weapons, the SG-8 Punisher and LHO-63 Camper can one-shot a 'Squadleader'; unfortunately, killing a full patrol with these weapons requires picking them off one at a time with little room for error. It only takes a single surviving 'Squadleader' to raise the alarm, and they will often be shielded by either each other or their Initiate meat-shields.
 * The P-6 Gunslinger can fire accurately and very quickly, and it comes with an integrated Laser Aim Module. This makes it a superior option to the Punisher or Camper for quickly eliminating patrols from a distance. Its drawbacks are the 2.5 second reload time and clip size of only 6 shots. Make them count.