As Helldivers 2 Automatons tear through the galaxy, players get new Warbond and big Ship Module upgrades to even the odds
At least Liberty is keeping her brave Helldivers well-equipped.
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Earlier this week, Helldivers 2’s Automaton menace —thought to have been destroyed for good over the weekendduring a successful offensive — returned to the Galactic War en masse,invading Cyberstan and many other planets with a colossal invasion fleet. We’ve got a Major Order to slow its advance as much as we can by winning five planetary Defense campaigns, but it’s not exactly going well; as I write this, there’s about 20 hours before the operation expires, but we’ve only held the line on two worlds despite around-the-clock efforts from the community.
Indeed, this seems like a Major Order we might besupposedto lose, and I expect failure here will lead to whatever the next phase of the Automatons' “The Reclamation” counteroffensive is. There’s a big silver lining, though, and that’s that Super Earth has requisitioned some brand new Ship Module upgrades to go with the explosive Democratic Detonation Warbond that released on schedule earlier this morning.
I covered everything in the Democratic Detonation Warbond battle passin this articlelast week, but the TL;DR is that it adds three armor sets and a number of different explosive and armor-piercing weapons that should, in theory, be quite useful against the bots. Personally, though, I’m most excited to grind for the new Level 4 Ship Modules that shipped alongside it.
Like the Level 3 Ship Module upgrades that’ve been available since the launch ofHelldivers 2in February, these new ones require Super Samples, so you’ll need to jump into missions on Difficulty 7-9 — AKA, Suicide Mission, Impossible, and Helldive — and hunt those down before you can unlock them. However, the upgrades are absolutely worth the effort, as I’m sure you’ll agree once you read what each one does:
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The effect of Circuit Expansion is pretty underwhelming, but every other new Ship Module enhancement has a huge impact. Superior Packing Methodology makes keeping machine gun and backpack-fed support weapons like the Autocannon topped up on ammo much easier, while Atmospheric Monitoring turns the 120mm and 380mm HE Barrage stratagems into even better base-killers than they already were. XXL Weapons Bay, meanwhile, improves the effectiveness of all your close air support call-ins, while Enhanced Combustion is about to single-handedly make the Flamethrower a meta pick against the bugs.
Blast Absorption is also notable for being an improvement that’s exclusively meant to counter the Automatons, as the Terminids don’t use explosives of any kind. Sentries getting blown up by rocket launcher-wielding bots like Devastators is one of the big reasons players typically don’t bring them to Automaton missions unless it’s one they can throw behind cover like the Mortar and EMS Mortar Sentry, so it’s nice to see this upgrade address that weakness.
Together with everything from Democratic Detonation, these Ship Modulesshouldhelp to even the odds against the resurgent Automatons. I think it’s too late for the tide of the current Major Order to turn, unfortunately, but future ones are sure to be a little easier to complete with the new ordnance and these enhancements.
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Don’t get cocky, though. The fight against the bot legions isnevergoing to be an easy one, and don’t forget that they recently deployed new toys of their own:Factory Strider “AT-AT” walkers and gunship swarms. The former seems to be very rare — I haven’t even encountered one since they were added — but the gunships are far more common, and just as deadly. Keep those Quasar Cannons trained on the sky, space marines.
Helldivers 2 is available now for $39.99 on both PS5 and PC, and so far, it’s one of thebest PC gamesof the year. Notably, the game also supports cross-platform play between PS5 and PC.
Helldivers 2 —$39.99 at GMG (Steam)Battle aliens, robots, and other beasts in humanity’s quest to spread democracy through an unforgiving galaxy. It’s 4-player co-op at its absolute best, and its most refined.
Also at:Amazon (PS5, Physical)|Walmart (PS5, Physical)
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Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
