The Helldivers 2 mechs can seemingly be found and operated in-game right now, despite the fact that their construction planet hasn't been liberated.
Yesterday, March 7, Helldivers 2 devs announced the mechs would be "halting operations," as the planet on which they're put together had come under attack by the vicious Automaton forces. Players were quickly despatched to Tien Kwan in a Major Order, effectively being given just under three days to vanquish the robots and get the huge mechs back on track.
Despite Helldiver 2's Tien Kwan not being fully liberated, the mechs are apparently available right now. In the clip below, one Helldiver runs into a gorge on Tien Kwan, before just happening on a Patriot Exosuit. They can even climb into the Exosuit and operate it fully, seemingly without any restrictions whatsoever, blasting away with rockets and a minigun.
The Mech Suits are findable in game now from r/Helldivers
According to a comment from the player, the left arm of the mech is loaded with 14 rockets, while the right arm has a gatling gun with a "couple hundred rounds." Apparently this is more rockets than the mechs in the order Helldivers were loaded with, which means these Patriot Exosuits could arguably be more powerful than their predecessors.
Additionally, it seems like small laser-based weapons from the Automaton forces don't really hurt the mechs, but rockets will deal some heavy damage. Again, that's according to the player who stumbled upon the mech itself in the clip, so keep that in mind if you happen to find one of the big metal behemoths over the next few days.
Oddly enough, the player claims to have found dead Automatons and Terminids on the ground surrounding the mech on Tien Kwan. The two enemies have never been found on the same planet so far in Helldivers 2, and I'm really hoping this isn't a warning sign of things to come in the shooter. I really don't want to deal with both bugs and bots at once, thanks.
Aside from all this, it seems like Helldivers 2 was hinting about the mechs being in-game from earlier this week. The Twitter user below points out that an in-game lobby message advises players to review training manuals before they get into a Patriot Exosuit (not that there are any actual training manuals, mind you).
even the game gives you a hint pic.twitter.com/g8Y0vpxBYCMarch 8, 2024
To help in the Tien Kwan liberation efforts, gear up with some of the best Helldivers 2 builds to bring down those bots quickly.
