With the arrival of the new Into the Unjust update for Helldivers 2, Super Earth's finest have found themselves facing several brand new types of Terminid bugs within the miasma of Gloom-infested worlds.
Most of these are special units from the emerging Rupture Strain capable of tunneling underground as they fight, and there's also the fearsome Dragonroach that is effectively a flying Bile Titan with fiery acid breath.
By far, though, the scariest new enemies added by the patch are Hive Lords — gargantuan armored sand worms the size of skyscrapers that can appear as hidden high-value targets in missions. Compared to everything else Helldivers have faced thus far from any faction, Hive Lords stand out as the game's first true boss fights, and they are brutal.
Capable of slamming their entire body down in an effort to squish you and your squadmates, tunneling through the earth, and spraying corrosive bile in wide, sweeping arcs, Hive Lords are less of an enemy you fight directly and more of an environmental hazard that you slowly attempt to whittle down as you're engaged with the rest of the Terminid swarm.
And whittle away you will, potentially for 10-20 minutes, because Hive Lords have an astonishing 150,000 HP. To give you an idea of just how tanky that is, Hellbomb explosions do 10,000 damage and have been able to obliterate every other enemy in Helldivers 2 in one blast until now.
THEY ARE REAL AND WE KILLED ONE RAAAAHHHH! from r/Helldivers
Because of how ridiculously durable Hive Lords are and how thick their armor is, going for a kill necessitates deep investment into anti-tank stratagems and multiple resupply call-ins, along with strong coordination with your teammates so you can deal consistent and effective damage while also keeping the rest of the bugs at bay.
All the usual ordnance reserved for heavier targets works well — Recoilless Rifle, Spear, Eagle 500KG, Orbital Railcannon Strike — but the best overall way to kill Hive Lords is to have everyone on the squad bring along the Anti-Tank Emplacement stratagem from the Urban Legends Warbond (I've always been a very big fan).
With a relatively short three-minute cooldown and 30 anti-armor shells that each deal 1,300 damage, the Anti-Tank Emplacement can dish out 39,000 damage total to a Hive Lord. That's almost exactly one quarter of its health, so if everyone brings one of these cannons, you can take down the worm surprisingly quickly.
Of course, you probably won't hit every shot, or may have to abandon the emplacement as hordes of smaller bugs close in. But even if you're not able to secure the kill on the Hive Lord with them in one go, you'll burn through most of its HP, and can continue whittling it down with other options or call new emplacements in three minutes later.
Notably, contending with other Terminids while you're fighting the Hive Lord tends to be easier than you might think — and comically, one big reason why is that it often crushes and melts them as it tries to crush and melt you with its slams and bile sprays. You'll still have to deal with them, of course, but doing so is a lot less stressful when the big bad isn't afraid to inflict some friendly fire.
As far as trying to survive the Hive Lord's attacks goes, pretty much all you can do is keep a good distance away from where the worm emerges from the ground — standing near it ragdolls you and pushes you away — and perform evasive dives whenever it tries to slam you or disintegrate you with its acid.
This likely won't save you from taking damage, but in my experience, you will, at least, survive, and can stim yourself to keep in the fight. Large pieces of terrain can serve as cover, too, though many of these can be destroyed by the Hive Lord's slams.
Off the rip, I really like where the Hive Lords are at balance-wise; currently, they feel like a severe threat that's best avoided and skirted around instead of eliminated, though the process of working together with your team to take one down should you choose to do so is an extremely satisfying affair.
Fighting them reminds me of earlier this year when the CEO of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, Shams Jorjani, said, "you'll s**t your pants" when asked if he could offer a word about upcoming content. There's not an enemy in the game that gives me that feeling more than Hive Lords, so I'd say Arrowhead has done a wonderful job living up to its word.
Helldivers 2 is $39.99 across Xbox, Windows PC (Steam), and PS5, with the PC version notably on sale for $35.09 at Loaded (formerly CDKeys). With the Into the Unjust update in full swing and Xbox reinforcements flooding the servers, now is a great time to join the war effort and do your part if you haven't already. If you're one of those new recruits, check out my list of 7 must-know Helldivers 2 tips.
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