How to beat the Helldivers 2 Factory Striders

Helldivers 2 Factory Striders are one of the Automaton's toughest forces, the Bot's answer to behemoths like the Bile Titan. Unlike the Titan though, the Factory Striders don't just move around and defend themselves, they also spawn in new Bots and Automatons for the Helldivers to fight, forcing players to deal with fresh platoons of robots even as they try and cut them off at the source.

Fortunately the Factory Striders aren't unbeatable, and smart, well-prepared players will be able to bring down this mobile buildings without getting killed along the way. It's all about predicting certain weaknesses, vulnerabilities and exploitative behaviours - which is where we come in to help. Here's how to beat the Factory Striders in Helldivers 2.

Where to find Factory Striders in Helldivers 2

Factory Striders are huge, walking factories on the side of the Helldivers 2 Automatons. They've got a cannon turret on their back similar to an Annihilator Tank and two laser gatling guns mounted on the head. The cannon turret is so high up that it can be quite easy to get out of its targeting view, but the laser gatling guns will tear Helldivers to ribbons in an instant. Factory Striders also periodically drop off small squads of Helldivers 2 Devastators, which means things can get very chaotic when trying to bring a Strider down.

Obviously, you can find Factory Striders on any Automaton-occupied planet on the galaxy map. At Challenging difficulty, you can play a new mission called "Eliminate Automaton Factory Strider", which tasks you with exploring the map to find and destroy one or two Striders. From Hard difficulty and above, they can also spawn randomly, usually at objectives, secondary objectives, or outposts. From the missions I've completed where they've appeared, they seem to guard large structures such as detector towers, air bases, and heavy outposts. At the highest Helldivers 2 difficulties, you can expect to come across multiple Factory Striders per mission.

Helldivers 2 Factory Strider weaknesses

Like Helldivers 2 Bile Titans, the massive size, heavy armor, and scary weapons of the Factory Striders means they're quite difficult to take down unless you've got the right gear – preferably from the best Helldivers 2 loadouts. Essentially, just pummelling them with Eagle 500kg Bombs, Eagle Airstrikes, Orbital Railcannon Strikes, and Orbital Lasers is one of the simplest and best ways to bring them down fast. Make sure you coordinate with your team to avoid blowing each other up and wasting Stratagems.

You can also disable all of a Strider's weapons by shooting them enough with powerful explosive weaponry, such as the Quasar Cannon, Recoilless Rifle, and Spear. The lethal laser gatling guns should be priority, particularly if you find yourself quite close to the Strider, and one shot from a Quasar Cannon is enough to destroy each one. The top-mounted cannon turret is a bit more resilient, but the Spear can specifically lock onto it to easily take it down. Finally, the Devastator factory can be destroyed by shooting the large piston-like mechanisms that appear on the back of the Factory Strider above its rear legs.

Otherwise, Helldivers 2 Factory Striders don't have many obvious weak points. Unlike Hulks and Tanks, they don't have clear heat sinks to target, but we'll be sure to update this guide if we learn anything new about bringing down these behemoths.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.