Helldivers 2 has a massive player base, and with this blessing comes a curse: a huge number of players with strong opinions. One opinion that has reached the ears of the developers but continues to be a sore spot that also affects my personal enjoyment of the game is that armored enemies are way, way too oppressive. Let’s break down why by looking at enemy spawns, the tools we’re given, and what the future might bring to address the issue.
What’s the Big Deal With Chargers in Helldivers 2?
To be clear, this balancing quirk doesn’t only apply to Chargers (those big, rhinoceros-like bugs that, uh, charge), but they’re a useful scapegoat when discussing the core problem: a lack of options when dealing with big, heavily armored foes.
These huge bugs are a symptom more than a problem, but things become untenable as they rush you down in numbers of four, five, or as many as eight at once alongside Bile Titans and Hunters on their flank. No other enemy is as in-your-face as Chargers, and it’s almost as if they’re begging you to build your entire team composition around dealing with them (something high-level players have been doing from the outset).
So, dealing with more than one or two Chargers is currently a miserable experience, but why? Unlike Automatons, their weak spot is half-armored and doesn’t take nearly as much precision damage as something like Hulks, which die in a measly two shots to the head with an Autocannon. Because of the tools we’ve been given, alongside the recent (deserved) nerf to the overpowered Railgun, we just don’t have many fun options for dealing with them efficiently. Let’s take a quick look at the limited options at your disposal when your team’s back is against the wall:
Current Options For Dealing With Armored Bugs, From Best to Worst
The Patriot Exosuit
If you can deploy an Exosuit far enough away from active threats, the Exosuit is amazing at dealing with Chargers. Just pop a rocket into one of their front legs, then unload your machine gun. You have 13 rockets total, which means you’re going to be able to kill up to 13 total chargers if you’re lucky (and skilled) enough. This is the closest we’ve gotten to a solution to the Charger Problem.
The Expendable Recoilless Rifle or Recoilless Rifle + Backpack
This is the most powerful way of stripping a Charger or Bile Titan’s impenetrable armor away, but it requires either a backpack slot for yourself or another teammate, or the calling down of limited, two-shot EAT-17’s on a 70-second cooldown. If you’re facing more than two Chargers, this isn’t going to be enough to deal with them.
The Autocannon Sentry
Unlike the normal Autocannon, the Sentry version staggers and kills Chargers in about 6 shots. It has enough ammo to deal with two or three of them, but their AI prioritizes it, rushing it down and destroying it in seconds. Also not a great option.
The Railgun
Despite the nerfs, the Railgun can kill Chargers with a few shots to the front leg in “Unsafe” mode. You’ve got to bring the heat gauge up to the very top of the bar before firing, risking a self-destruct and death with every shot. This requires teammate cover while you line up shots, and still takes about five rounds to dispatch a single Charger. Better than some options, but risky and slow.
The Flamethrower
The Flamethrower can kill a Charger in about eight seconds of sustained fire. That’s a little over half a canister of ammunition, with the added bonus of spraying flames onto something that’s always trying to crawl down your windpipe. It’s very risky, but it can be a good option with the added bonus of dealing with riff-raff.
The Railcannon Orbital Strike
This one-shot machine is on a whopping 210-second cooldown, which means you can kill one (1) Charger every three and a half minutes. Amazing.
The Spear
No.
So, the options aren’t technically that limited, but practically you’re looking at about two options: using a Recoilless or missile of some kind to strip the front leg armor and then firing into the meaty flesh underneath or risking it all by using a Railgun or Flamethrower. But things might not be so dire for long.
Upcoming Helldivers 2 Armored Enemies Fixes
In the official Discord, a developer acknowledged the community’s concerns regarding armored enemies and their density:
“We’re currently looking at changes to the spawn rates and health pools of heavy enemies, and will be attempting to spread them out more to prevent large spikes of tougher mobs appearing at the same time, as well as making them a bit easier to bring down.”
This sounds very promising, and might just make this whole article irrelevant in a matter of days. This author can only hope: I need those Samples.
