Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has triggered the resurgence of the Factory Striders — and on harder difficulties they’re dropping in packs.
For the uninitiated, the Factory Strider is an AT-AT-style Automaton walker that drops onto the battlefield, stomps around shooting up Helldivers, and sometimes even spawns other enemies. They were stealth-dropped into the PlayStation 5 and PC co-op shooter earlier in April, but it seems this was something of a test. Now, according to Arrowhead, Factory Striders are back and in a big way.
Factory Striders have made a resurgence on the Automaton front. These imposing, massive support dreadnoughts now threaten freedom and democracy throughout the galactic rim. pic.twitter.com/XRTPU7k71s
— HELLDIVERS™ 2 (@helldivers2) April 16, 2024
Since this announcement, Helldivers 2 players have discovered that on the game’s harder difficulties, the Factory Striders can multi-drop. That is, they can drop in groups, which is a terrifying prospect. Redditor Dolt1372 published a clip, below, that shows just how out of control this can get, with Factory Strider after Factory Strider dropping in front of the unfortunate Helldiver.
Factory Strider multi drop
— Helldivers Alerts (@HelldiversAlert) April 17, 2024
?Dolt1372 pic.twitter.com/XE8HYfPlL7
While Factory Striders are imposing and difficult to take down, the fightback has begun, with players sharing their tips for destroying the support dreadnoughts (check out IGN's guide to defeating Factory Striders if you're having trouble). In short, the answer is to bring big, powerful bombs, and as many as your group can carry. Drop everything you’ve got, basically, especially if more than one Factory Strider turns up. If you're all out of bombs, try blowing its guns off with your hardest-hitting support weapon. If all else fails, run!
Some players are reporting that even in public groups Helldivers understand the assignment, and as soon as a Factory Striders turns up, everyone lets it have it. “I joined four, difficulty eight pubs, in all four we had multi-drop Factory Striders at some point that lasted all of 10 seconds,” reported CorsariousAbonai. “Literally soon as we saw one, anywhere from six to eight stratagems would follow. I am talking 380, laser, 500kg, rail cannon, walking barrage, clusters eagle airstrike. The works. These were all pubs but everyone was on the same wavelength, drop big boomboom on big robot.
“Imagine the perspective of the striders, giant mechanical menace, peak bot engineering. Gets dropped, with two of the same. Within five seconds of landing six orbs with red beams aimed at the sky fall at your feet.”
The Helldivers community is currently fighting off the Automaton invasion, which Arrowhead triggered last week with a new set of Major Orders focused on pushing the bots back. It remains to be seen where Game Master Joel will take the Galactic War next.
If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others.
Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it's still growing. Check out IGN's Helldivers 2 review to find out why it's going down so well.
Image credit: Dolt1372 / Reddit
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
