“	A speed-loaded volley gun with three different firing modes and three different RPM options. Warning: recoil varies significantly between firing modes.	„
	~ Armory Description

The VG-70 Variable is a prototype weapon found in Helldivers 2, introduced with the "Control Group" Warbond.

Derived from Illuminate technology, the VG-70 Variable is a futuristic septuple-barreled volley gun with a variable rate of fire and firing mode, capable of delivering either good sustained or burst damage. Sometimes to the detriment of the shooter.

Role:

The VG-70 is a part machine gun and part "shotgun" weapon, able to easily slip between the roles.

Auto-mode is best used for traditional combat, while volley and "All" are used for close-range. Its light armor-pen rounds require one to aim especially for enemy weakpoints, where its powerful burst damage can do the most harm.

Gameplay Tips

The gun has 3 firing modes:

• Auto will fire one round at a time like a standard automatic rifle.
• Volley will fire a bullet from each barrel like an oversized slug gun, delivering 7 hits per trigger pull and 7 shots per full magazine.
• All will discharge ammunition still inside in one trigger pull, delivering a phenomenal 4165 points of damage in one go with a fully-loaded magazine. This is however, very detrimental to the shooter as the recoil will not only send them flying, but inflicts self-damage on firing, and typically ensures impact damage when landing, potentially maiming their arm or killing them outright.
  • Going prone on your stomach before firing will thankfully negate the damage and ragdoll done when set to "All".
  • Alternatively, the ragdoll induced by this firing mode, may be beneficial when jumping backwards then shooting while in mid-air. This will allow one to gain extra dive distance, albeit at the increased risk of injury to oneself.
  • The same logic applies with the jump pack, which extends the user's flight distance if firing opposite to the direction they're jumping towards.
  • The hover pack produces less distance due to its minimal horizontal thrust, but it does allow one to either quickly land or cross a short distance.
  • When using the VG-70 in this manner, it is very important to mind how high one's elevation is and where they will be possibly be landing, if survival is expected after the attempt.

• The gun's poor recoil will start to show when set to volley. And ergonomics leaves a lot to be desired, thanks to the lack of modifications. Below are a list of Armor Traits that may be more beneficial to have, if running the VG-70.
  • Armor with the "Engineering Kit" or "Fortified" helps with lowering recoil when crouched or prone.
  • The "Peak Physique" trait helps with compensating for the low ergonomic stats.
  • "Servo Assisted" and "Reinforced Epaulettes" can help reduce or negate injury to one's arms if one needs to shoot the gun outside of prone.

• Unlike many other weapons, the Variable is incapable of chambering extra rounds on reload.

Trivia

• The VG-70 is based on the British Nock Gun, a man-portable seven-barrelled smoothbore volley gun, although its size and scale is more comparable to the French Mitrailleuse, a volley gun meant to be fired as an artillery weapon.
• Traditionally, a volley gun's ammo capacity is entirely dependent on how many barrels it has. The lack of shell-ejection and 49-round capacity in a 7-barrel configuration suggests that the VG-70 uses a form of smart caseless ammo or superposed ammunition akin to Metal Storm weapons that can be programmed to fire in a sequence once loaded into the gun.
• It remains to be seen whether Volley mode uses all rounds in a barrel, or a round from each barrel—a closely guarded trade secret.