The Helldivers 2 enemies are all listed here, taking you through the biggest threats that the Bugs and Bots have to offer. The Terminids and Automatons - the two Helldivers 2 factions - have a range of forces at their disposal, with unique variants and special solutions to deal with each one. Going in without knowing how to fight them can be risky, or you can always use our guide to identify targets if there's a Personal Order to kill something specifically. Regardless, we've listed all the enemies in Helldivers 2 below, and not only that, each one has an explanation on how to beat it!
All Terminid bug enemies in Helldivers 2
The Terminids are a faction of big bugs that, at the time of writing, are swarming in from the eastern side of the Galaxy. As a rule, the Helldivers 2 Terminids are weak to fire and generally less armoured than the Automatons are, while largely favouring melee attacks over ranged. Most players tend to find the bugs a little easier overall, but that doesn't mean that they're actually easy - especially when the bigger ones come thundering out of a Bug Breach, or when a Bile Titan suddenly blocks out the sun above you…
Basic Bug enemies: Scavengers, Warriors and Hunters
The basic rank-and-file bugs all focus on melee combat, attempting to swam or overwhelm the players, sometimes suddenly leaping at you and crossing long distances. They're individually pretty weak, but the danger is more about their sheer numbers. The Hunters especially can deal high damage with a slightly longer range.
Tips and weaknesses: Shotguns, machine guns, SMGs, any of the Helldivers 2 best weapons that are suited to hordes will help cut through the basic bugs, whereas single-shot weapons will struggle to keep up. If you see any of them start spewing orange gas, they're trying to summon a bug breach - kill them immediately!
Hive Guards
Slightly higher up the ladder than warriors, Hive Guards are darker-coloured bugs with armor-covered heads and front legs.
Tips and weaknesses: When attacked from the front, they tend to hunker down and use their armor protectively. Armor-piercing weapons can punch through the front, but if you've not got any of those, you need to hurt them from behind to kill them.
Shriekers
The Helldivers 2 Shriekers are flying bugs that bombard players and attack from above. Though rather fragile, their mix of speed, caution and sheer numbers mean you need to be careful about them.
Tips and weaknesses: Shriekers spawn from specific nests that look like glowing mushroom trees - find and destroy them ASAP to cut them off at the source. Until then, shoot them down before the swoop in if you have a long-range weapon, and blast them mid-swoop if you're stuck using short-range.
Stalkers
Stalkers are nasty pieces of work, white, mantis-like insects that can turn semi-invisible and jump long distances, prioritising ambush tactics. They do massive damage up close.
Tips and weaknesses: If you see a Stalker, mark it for your teammates to help keep track of it, and set it on fire if possible to make it clear. You can also chase them back to their nests, the one place they can come from, as demonstrated in our Helldivers 2 Stalkers guide.
Bile Spewer
Helldivers 2 Bile Spewers are big, heavy bugs that move slowly, but can spit lethal jets of acid, explode when killed, and even fire acid artillery in higher difficulties. There are two variants - green and orange - and as far as we can tell, the green ones are slightly tougher and do more damage.
Tips and weaknesses: Do not get caught in the spit - dive to the side the moment you see it coming. You can do more damage to spewers by shooting their abdomen behind them, but that will explode and deal splash damage as a result. Later difficulties will armor their front-sections, forcing you to shoot them from behind, and green ones are capable of firing long-range artillery in high arcs.
Chargers
Helldivers 2 Chargers only show up on medium and higher difficulties, and are so feared by players that we actually wrote a whole guide on how to beat them. They look like big, armored beetle rhinos, and - surprise, surprise - charge at you.
Tips and weaknesses: Use our guide for more info, but a quick bit of advice - dive to the side when they charge and shoot the unarmored section at the back. Explosives and heavy-duty weaponry can crack the armor plating on it to expose vulnerable sections.
Brood Commanders
High-damage enemies with brown, spiky carapaces that tend to hang around hives and points of interest, leading other bugs. They can also summon several warriors at once and can trigger Bug Breaches.
Tips and weaknesses: Stay out of melee range and get rid of it before it can bring in allies. You should also be aware that destroying the head doesn't kill them instantly - they can still try to kill you for a few seconds afterwards.
Bile Titans
The most powerful of the Terminids, these towering kaiju spit lethal acid while also trying to stomp on Helldivers. They're the focus of some mission objectives from Challenging Difficulty onwards, but will also just wander around the map or rise up from Bug Breaches on the highest difficulties.
Tips and weaknesses: Where to begin? Keep a long distance and try to break a section of its armor to create a weak point, using either powerful weapons or Stratagems. When it kills one of you, make sure that revived player lands on it to do extra damage, and dive to the side when it spits poison. For a more detailed summary, check out our Helldivers 2 Bile Titans guide.
All Automaton bot enemies in Helldivers 2
The other big enemy faction in Helldivers 2 are the Automatons, referred to generally as the bots, a smaller and arguably more lethal faction from the western side of the Galaxy. Bots often use armor to project themselves, have a greater focus on ranged combat, and are generally weaker to energy weapons and armor-piercing attacks.
If you see a Bot sending up a Flare, it's about to call in a Dropship, which deposits a random assortment of bots nearby. These can be destroyed with well-placed explosives focusing on the thrusters, but it's quite tricky to pull off as these Dropships don't hang around. It's probably better to use those explosives to wipe the deployed platoon of bots the moment they land.
Basic bot enemies: Troopers, Raiders, Marauders, Commissars
The basic bots are produced en masse by their factories and all have some sort of ranged weapons, though the Commissars will also have melee attacks ready to go. The individual lethality of these basic bots varies depending on what they've been given - those with rocket launchers can actually one-shot some players, while some use jetpacks for massive jumps that will close the gap between you and them fast. We told you Bots are deadly…
Tips and weaknesses: The versatility of bots means you want to stay on your toes and keep them at a distance. They won't swarm in the same way that bugs do and don't have much health, but they throw grenades, fire rockets and can make use of planted cannon turrets and mortars. They're slow enough that you should try to stay ahead of them and fight them in smaller groups, using cover and corners to your advantage.
Berserkers
Berserkers are spiky robots with chainsaws for arms - yeah, you wanna be wary of them. They're melee-only and have a bit of armor to protect them, but all they tend to do is charge the player, making them easy to shoot at least.
Tips and weaknesses: Aim for the head and glowing sections in the midriff while also running away as fast you can - those are the weak points, and Berserkers die pretty fast once they're destroyed. You can also take pieces off them by doing that.
Scout Striders
The Helldivers 2 Scout Striders are another enemy we wrote a specific guide for, but to clarify here, these are two-legged vehicles piloted by smaller robots that use armor plating to protect themselves from the front, firing shots at those ahead of it.
Tips and weaknesses: Scout Striders being protected from the front means you have to get around the back - where you'll see the very weak and vulnerable pilot who can be killed with even the smallest weapons the game has to offer. If you're pinned down or can't get the angle, just roll a grenade between the Strider's legs to take it out.
Devastators
These big, armored robots cut an intimidating figure, and can be equipped with everything from shields to shoulder-mounted rocket launchers - the latter of which are deadly. Expect to see them showing up from medium difficulty onwards.
Tips and weaknesses: Strategies will have to vary depending on what the Devastator is equipped with, but aim for that little head, it's the only part that really takes damage in a big way. If it has rockets on its shoulders, you can blow them off by shooting the part where they're connected to the main body. Otherwise, high-damage explosives and Stratagems might be the way to go, as explained in this page on the stalwart Helldivers 2 Devastators.
Hulks
The Helldivers 2 Hulks, literal absolute units, start coming into play around the Challenging Difficulty, and are as varied as any other robot - you'll find some with flamethrowers, some with rockets, and some "Bruisers", melee builds who charge at you. They're solid as rocks, and not easily dispatched.
Tips and weaknesses: The big vulnerability of Hulks are the exposed glowing vents on their backs. If you can pour enough damage into those, they explode, doing high damage to it and causing constant bleed over time that will eventually finish it off. Otherwise, use powerful bombs or armor-piercing attacks.
Tanks
Perhaps the deadliest of the robot forces, the Helldivers 2 Tanks come into play more frequently around the Hard difficulty and up, and are exactly what they sound like - huge rolling tanks made of dark metal that are surprisingly good at blending into the night. They're slow, but lethal, some of which are armed with rapid-fire machine guns, others with huge cannons.
Tips and weaknesses: Like the Hulks, Tanks have an exposed vent at the back that needs to have damage poured into it, and even then you have to hit that vent with some powerful armor-piercing weapons - perhaps an Anti-Material Rifle. Failing that, grab some rocket launchers or just bomb it from space. While setting this up, your best bet is actually to stay too close to shoot and circle around it - or even climb onto its roof, if you're feeling bold.
Cannon Turrets
Should we count these as an enemy? I guess it's no less deadly or any less sentient than anything else the Automatons have to offer, so if you see a tall, square tower with a rotating turret at the top, be careful! These are basically just static Tanks, slowly swivelling to fire at players in the mid-to-long range.
Tips and weaknesses: Use cover and speed to close the distance - it won't be able to shoot at you if you're standing near it. Once you're close, like the Tank, there's an exposed vent at the back that requires armor-penetrating shots to damage - though frankly, we just recommend calling in airstrikes to deal with these; they're pretty hard to hurt without heavy artillery, even if you have the shot on the vent.
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