The Helldivers 2 Illuminate faction and how to beat them

The Helldivers 2 llluminate have finally arrived as part of the Omens of Tyranny update, the mythical third faction that players have been waiting to beat since HD2 first launched. Returning from the first game, the Illuminate are a faction of psychic aliens who use advanced technology and mind control to possess and arm hordes of humans, who the heroes of Helldivers 2 will have to fight off.

After spending some time in-game fighting the Illuminate in Helldivers 2, we'll cover everything you need to know about them, including all the different enemies types and best strategies for beating them, so you're ready for whatever these extradimensional horrors have to throw at you.

The Illuminate in Helldivers 2 explained

The HD2 Illuminate faction, also known as the Squids, are a group of aliens who comprise the third major antagonists of Helldivers 2. To beat them, players need to think more tactically and work through the diverse enemies accordingly: whereas the Terminids use rampaging horde tactics, and the Automatons focus on ranged combat, the Illuminate use a combination of the two approaches by throwing hordes of enemies at you, while also keeping you on your toes with powerful ranged enemies.

Their encampments are also urban cities, meaning that free navigation is harder than when you're in a bug hive. However, these buildings also give you additional cover and breathing room to resupply and reload your weapons without worrying about being swarmed.

All Illuminate enemies listed

Right now there are four kinds of Illuminate enemies in Helldivers 2, with some variations on each one. Shown above and listed below, they are:

• Voteless: Humans who have been controlled and mutated by the Illuminate. These are zombie-like horde enemies - they run at you dead on and try to claw you. We didn’t find these to be too much of a challenge as they are individually weak, but keeping their numbers thinned out is crucial to ensuring they don’t overwhelm you.
• Overseers: Larger, humanoid aliens with several variations. We've seen some with spears and shields, others with blaster rifles and jetpacks that harass you from the air. The Overseers are mid-tier foes - more of a threat than the Voteless, but will often appear in groups and can quickly swamp you if not dealt with quickly. A couple of seconds of sustained fire from most weapons should bring them down.
• Watchers: These floating drones seem to act as scouts - they're common in the wild outside of Illuminate bases, call in dropships when they spot players, and use a spotlight to blind you before attempting to hit you with electrical shocks. They're not especially dangerous on their own, but like a Terminid spewing orange smoke or an Automaton sending up a flare, they're signs of something very bad to come. Again, a few shots to their central eye should take care of them.
• Harvesters: These giant armored tripods are the Illuminate's answer to the Helldivers 2 Bile Titans, stomping about the battlefield as heavy-tier enemies and currently the deadliest threat in the faction. They have regenerating bubble shields that have to be worn down to hurt them, as well as a powerful laser that fires from their eye - which also acts as a vulnerable point. On the plus side, as long as you’re not facing them in an open area, they’re quite slow and can be evaded easily by using buildings for cover. We’d recommend using one of the Helldivers 2 Best Stratagems such as an Orbital Precision Strike to quickly dispatch of these.

How to beat the Illuminate in Helldivers 2

Here's all the best tips and tricks we have for those fighting the Illuminate in HD2, as well as what you need to know going in.

• Mix up your weapons. The Illuminate's diverse foes mean you should have half your players ready to shoot fire and set up for organic damage, while the others should have any of the Helldivers 2 armor piercing weapons and heavy duty firepower (for the Harvesters). You’ll want to bring something for crowd control too, as Voteless hordes can quickly overwhelm you - so make sure you're picking a healthy variation from all the Helldivers 2 best weapons.
• Throw grenades into spaceships. The spawning points for Illuminate soldiers are landed "warp ships", flying saucers that have enemies emerge through the doors. Throwing a grenade or explosive into the door will blow the warp ship up and stop the enemies coming. These also act as Secondary Objectives, so you’ll earn XP for destroying them. However, they also have regenerating shields, like the harvesters, that need to be worn down first.
• When in the field, stealth around or focus on the Watchers. Outside of encampments, the Watcher drones will bring hell on you if they spot you. Either stay out of their sight, or actively try to destroy them before they can raise the alarm. We found that their line of sight isn’t massive, so you should be able to move between locations relatively harm-free if you can keep aware of their position.

• The Drop Ships can be killed. Other flying saucers will appear above you to deploy llluminate forces, but like the Automaton dropships, these can be blown up if you're fast enough. Use the Helldivers 2 best Stratagems to target the circle on their underside, and if you're fast you can bring them down before they beam in new enemies.
• Harvester armor breaks away with focused fire. If you shoot the giant harvesters in a single spot with sufficiently high-power weaponry, you can break away the armor plating in that segment to create a weak spot that anybody can exploit. Otherwise, do your best to stay behind them - that deadly eye is on the front, after all.
• Use the car, but don’t rely on it. The Fast Recon Vehicle will get you around the map quickly. It’s best suited for those flat urban streets, but be very careful taking it off-road. We definitely wouldn’t recommend using it for hills. We speak from experience when we say it will flip, it will explode, and it will wipe your entire team.
• Use cover, but don't trust it. The Illuminate encampments are repurposed human cities, so all those streets and buildings make for good cover. Problem is it's all destructible - use it, but don't think it'll protect you indefinitely, and get ready to run before it cracks.

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