Tips and Tricks Against the Illuminate in Helldivers 2

The Illuminate is an alien faction that uses both technology and large swarms of cannon fodder to overwhelm players in Helldivers 2. They were notorious for being the most difficult faction to fight in the first game, and they’re set to keep that reputation alive in the sequel by forcing players to adapt to a completely different playstyle from the Automatons and Terminids.

When facing the squids, players will need to bring the right loadout and approach each mission with the appropriate tactics. The very basics of Helldivers 2 will keep you alive, but if you want to knock every mission out of the park, here are some Illuminate-specific tips to keep in mind.

Less Penetration, More Power

• Use weapons that can deal high sustained damage.

One trait that all Illuminate units share is the fact that they have high health pools, but little to no armor. Some of their units compensate for the former by instead using high-health energy shields. Due to their shields stacking one tough health bar over another, it’s best to use weapons that deal high damage and/or can lay down large volumes of fire.

Basically, the Illuminate are meant to be hosed down with bullets. Even their heaviest unit, the Harvester, can be shredded by weapons with medium armor penetration. If you’re not sure what to bring, take something that shoots hard or fast (preferably both).

Strip The Shields

• Shoot down shields with rapid-fire guns before hitting enemies with AT weapons.

To build on top of the tip above, Illuminate energy shields can absorb ridiculous amounts of burst damage. A shielded Harvester or Warp Ship will survive a blast from a 500KG Bomb or a Recoilless Rifle shot. However, the shields themselves cannot take sustained damage for long.

It’s best to always have a rapid-fire weapon specifically for taking out shields. The P-15 Redeemer once again shines in this front because of its ability to shred all sorts of Illuminate shielding.

The shields of Illuminate Warp Ships in Outposts can be shot down with small arms, and the ships themselves can then be blown up with anything that would destroy a Fabricator or Bug Hole. Aim for the open doors.

Know Their Weakspots

• Avoid Overseer heads and Harvester eyes. Aim for the chest and leg joints respectively.

The Illuminate enemies in the game so far go against conventional weakspot logic. While the Voteless can be taken down easily, the Overseers and Harvesters are much tougher, and even more so if your bullets aren’t hitting the right places.

For Overseers, aim for the chest. Sustained fire from something like the Tenderizer from the Polar Patriots Warbond in Helldivers 2 is enough to break their chest armor, leaving their soft flesh vulnerable. For flying Overseers, the jetpacks can be blown up for easier takedowns. Overseer helmets are at least one armor class tougher than the rest of their armor pieces — they will deflect light pen weapons and absorb some damage from medium pen primaries.

As for the Harvesters, aim for the leg joints. Their eyes do count as weakspots, but since they’re hard to hit, it’s better to just aim for the knees and leg sockets instead.

Harvesters are easily staggered by explosive primary weapons like the Purifier and Exploding Crossbow. The Laser Cannon is very strong against them if you aim for the leg joints.

Best Stratagems Against The Illuminate

• Bring at least one stratagem that can deal with shields.

Not all of the best stratagems in Helldivers 2 can work well against the Illuminate, or at least, not without taking a few extra steps. As with the first tip, it’s best to use stratagems with high volumes of fire, as energy shields can tank large bursts of damage. Area denial weapons are also great for dealing with large hordes of Voteless. The strongest stratagems against the Illuminate are:

• Eagle Strafing Run : Mows down hordes, strips shields, and significantly damages Harvesters.
• Orbital Gas Strike: Damages and confuses hordes of small enemies. Can destroy shielded ships with direct hits.
• Guard Dog Rovers: Covers your back against sneaky zombies. Any of the drones will do.
• Machine Gun/Gatling Sentry: Locks down entire areas against infantry.
• Tesla Tower: Same as above.
• Eagle 500KG Bomb/Orbital Precision Strike: Great for destroying single objectives.
• 120mm Orbital Barrage: Outshines the 500KG Bomb and Orbital Precision Strike when destroying Outposts.

How to Deal With Monoliths and Cognitive Disruptors

• Your stratagems will be scrambled, but not disabled. Don’t be afraid to charge into the fray.

Illuminate Monoliths and Cognitive Disruptors will scramble your stratagem codes. However, unlike Automaton Stratagem Jammers, you can still call-in stratagems even while under the effects of these buildings. The one thing you need to keep in mind that your codes will get scrambled every three seconds. With that said, it’s best to input codes after they get scrambled. This should give you enough time to put the right code in.

Both Monoliths and Disruptors can be taken out by two 500KG Bombs or a Hellbomb. If you can’t use either for some reason, then look for capsule-shaped power supplies in their vicinity. Shoot them all down, and the buildings will deactivate.

Don’t Bother With Incoming Warp Ships

• Warp Ships aren’t worth shooting down. It’s easier to bomb the reinforcements instead.

While seeing a bunch of UFOs explode and crash to the ground is satisfying, it’s usually not worth doing. The SPEAR and Recoilless Rifle aren’t very good against the Illuminate, and while they can be used to kill Warp Ships before they can drop their payloads, it’s better to just throw a grenade at the reinforcements themselves.

Additionally, Warp Ships are huge, which means their wreckages can completely block advantageous lines of sight and potentially cut off escape routes for players. You can also get killed if a Warp Ship drops on top of you.