Earth Defense Force 5

• Fencer melee weapons are actually surprisingly effective, don't be scared off trying them as both the tankiest class and 2nd most mobile. The shields are also very effective and most are capable of "reloading" once their charges depleted which isn't super obvious.

• It's not totally necessary but highly recommend having at least one Fencer or Wing Diver in play to collect armor and weapon boxes in any given mission.

• Don't let Ranger and Air Raider early weapons throw you off, they get some absolutely insane shit later along side Fencer and Wing Diver's already cool stuff.

• If you've never played an EDF game before don't let the difficulty levels fool you, you're supposed to play through on Normal before trying Hard. If you know what you're doing you can absolutely snag some high level weapons from a harder difficulty, but this will generally bust the difficulty curve or depending on the level you might not even be able to use them on a lower difficulty.

Co-op

• Try out the co-op weapons at least once (usually a Fencer missile launcher of some kind that needs a target painter from an Air Raider to work) for some fun, inefficient hilarity.

• Weapons that cause explosions are both hilarious and also incredibly easy to friendly fire your partner with. They also cause rag-dolling generally. Use this info as you see fit.