The Automatons have their own Bile Titans now.
Two weeks ago, the Helldivers 2 community was blindsided by a patch that sneakily added Gunships and gigantic AT-AT walkers to Automaton planets. It was a hectic 24 hours as players scrambled to react to the new threats and finally liberate Malevelon Creek. Super Earth prevailed, and while Gunships became a mainstay of Automaton missions, the walkers mysteriously vanished.
This morning, Arrowhead did it again. What was shared as a routine bug-fixing patch was actually a back door reintroduction of Factory Striders, four-legged "dreadnoughts" equipped with a top-mounted cannon, rotating front lasers, and a mobile factory that continuously spawns Devastators. Standing nearly as tall as a Bile Titan, Striders are by far the largest, most resilient enemy we've seen yet.
We have reason to believe that Striders aren't going anywhere this time. Arrowhead officially acknowledged their arrival on social channels today with a Strohmann news broadcast, clarifying that the community's first Strider encounters were mere prototypes.
After taking on a few missions in a post-Strider world, I know for sure there are two ways to encounter them. At difficulty six (and possibly four and five), Striders now have their own dedicated mission type. I had to destroy two on opposite ends of the map, similar to Bile Titan missions at lower difficulties.
While they're certainly imposing, a single Factory Strider didn't give us too much trouble. Because we knew what we were getting into, several of us brought Quasar Cannons and Recoilless Rifles. We knew exactly where it spawned, so it was easy to set up 80+ meters away and pelt it with our biggest guns. Striders can take way more punishment than a Tank or Hulk, but they will go down after enough headshots. The head is the only weak point I've noticed so far, but it's likely there's at least one other.
Factory Strider multi drop from r/Helldivers
What I'm really scared of are random Strider drops at higher difficulties. As shared by user Dolt1372 on Reddit, it's possible for three Striders to drop all at once. Dolt's clip cuts off before we see how their squad responded to the surprise attack, but I wager it didn't go well. On top of a mental scramble to coordinate with teammates about which one to shoot first, you also have to worry about all three walkers constantly spawning more enemies that pull your attention away.
I honestly don't know what could stop a triple Strider drop in its tracks other than, maybe, a hail mary of multiple 380mm missile barrages. It's worth a shot—I rarely use the 380mm because it often feels like overkill, but that's not a concern with Striders.
I couldn't get multiple Striders to drop at once across three difficulty seven missions. Maybe that means I got lucky, or maybe Arrowhead has reserved this particular type of hell for levels eight and nine. On the bright side, today's patch wasn't only a trojan horse for a horrifying new enemy—it also fixed several annoying bugs, like inconsistent damage values between hosts and joined players.
