Taking on Helldivers 2's missions solo is like playing the world's scariest tower defence game

GamesActionHelldivers 2Taking on Helldivers 2’s missions solo is like playing the world’s scariest tower defence gameWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Aiming down sights at a minefield in Helldivers 2.

Thanks to Helldivers 2’songoing server issuesand broken matchmaking, I’m yet to see even a single online stranger drop onto my planet. Most of the time I just play with friends anyway, but recently I’ve had the itch to play when none of them are around, and what I’ve discovered is that diving solo is… a real experience.

More Helldivers 2(Image credit: Arrowhead)Helldivers 2 weapons: Best guns of Super EarthHelldivers 2 stratagems: Understand the ordinanceHelldivers 2 loadouts: Finest kits for bug-killingHelldivers 2 armor: Which suits to wearHelldivers 2 medals: Where to claim more currency

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(Image credit: Arrowhead)Helldivers 2 weapons: Best guns of Super EarthHelldivers 2 stratagems: Understand the ordinanceHelldivers 2 loadouts: Finest kits for bug-killingHelldivers 2 armor: Which suits to wearHelldivers 2 medals: Where to claim more currency

(Image credit: Arrowhead)

Helldivers 2 key art, with Helldivers posing and firing weapons against a propagandistic backdrop.

Helldivers 2 weapons: Best guns of Super EarthHelldivers 2 stratagems: Understand the ordinanceHelldivers 2 loadouts: Finest kits for bug-killingHelldivers 2 armor: Which suits to wearHelldivers 2 medals: Where to claim more currency

The default state ofHelldivers 2is getting overwhelmed. With a squad, it’s key to figure out how to work together and combine your stratagems to keep the hordes at bay. Playing solo… well, all you’ve got is yourself, and though enemy numbers do scale down appropriately, the game definitely doesn’t go easy on you.

Cooldowns have to be carefully managed, deploying only what you absolutely need in any situation—if a bug breach hits while I’ve got no stratagems available to back me up, crowd control is almost impossible. That means ditching anything with too long a cooldown, too, particularly some of the support weapons that are dropped when you die and may be difficult to retrieve. Believe me, when you’re the only target, you diea lot.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

The player watching an explosion while surrounded by dead bugs in Helldivers 2.

The flip side of that is, I get to be a very greedy boy. All the supplies are for me and me alone, and you still get just as many as a four man squad would. That means dumping clips and chucking grenades with wild abandon, if that’s what it takes to get me out of my latest pickle.

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Beyond that important personal growth, experimenting on my own has also led to all sorts of weird discoveries. For example, you may already know that if you go off the edges of the mission area for too long, you’re killed via orbital strike—not super likely on the big maps, but possible to do accidentally in the smaller maps used for missions like Eradicate. In one such outing, I was trying to make some space from an encroaching horde when I accidentally triggered that out-of-bounds punishment—in a panic, I thought I’d just sprint back into the middle of the map, and hope I was eventually forgiven. Turns out no, once they’ve started bombarding you they never stop. But you can avoid your fate for quite a while if you’re quick, and the funny thing is, those orbital strikes hit enemies too, if you dodge and weave among them.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

The player killed by one of their own stratagems in Helldivers 2.

The artillery got me eventually, but that one flailing sprint around the map ended up getting me a quarter of the kills I needed for the Eradicate mission. Not a particularly elegant strategy, I’ll admit, but given I was still flush with respawns and low on stratagems, it was a surprisingly effective last resort for dealing with a tricky wave and earning myself some breathing room.

It’s probably a reflection on the psychological toll solo missions have been taking on me that my triumphant new strategy is elaborate suicide runs, but it’s a tough galaxy out there and you do what you have to. Would I prefer it if some friendly strangers answered my SOS beacon once in a while and lent me a hand? Absolutely. But until then, you’ll find me out on the front lines, building little bases of death and weeping with fear when a Charger immediately trashes them.

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