Why do Helldivers 2 players like bugs more than robots?

GamesThird Person ShooterHelldivers 2Why do Helldivers 2 players like bugs more than robots?When 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 Games)

A giant bile titan, a towering insect from Helldivers 2, lets out a vicious scream as it stomps over the landscape.

Helldivers 2 creates memories without even trying, but I bet many of us can agree that most of those memories were made fighting bugs.

There’s no question about it: most players prefer Terminids over Automatons. Log in on any random day and you’re likely to find double or more players in Terminid space. That’s naturally the case when amajor order calls for bug annihilation, but that majority persists even once those major orders are over. The community’s yearn for cracked carapaces and yellow blood is insatiable.

Even right now, as anew offensive has begunagainst the Automatons, nearly half of the active player base is choosing bugs. Why is this preference so prevalent, and is it a problem? I don’t think so, at least for now, but it’s worth talking about why we’re playing favorites, because it’s more complicated than “bugs good, robots bad.”

Helldivers 2 teaches us to hate bugs first

Part of the popularity of bugs might come down to the fact that they’re introduced as the starter enemy. There are no robots in Helldivers 2’s tutorial, and the first campaign you’re directed to complete is always on a Terminid planet. We’re eased into how bug spawners work, how bullets deflect off Hunter armor, and shown how auto turrets tear through bug breaches.

Super Earth says go kill bots, but most players say “nah, bugs please."(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

helldivers 2 galaxy map

Robots are harder, so it makes sense they’re unpopular

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A lot of guns suck against robots

Arrowhead didn’t have to convince me to join a war against giant, six-legged freaks of nature.

There are some support and primary weapons that excel against bots, but they also require more finesse than a rocket launcher: the Anti-Material Rifle can shut down even the biggest bots in a headshot or two, the Diligence DMR can rapidly snipe the heads off an entire platoon, and the post-patch Railgun will hollow out the brain of charging Hulk if overclocked to dangerous levels. EMS and smoke strikes also do wonders, but with only four slots per diver, most players don’t take stratagems that can’t kill on their own. It takes coordination that most randomly-made squads don’t have to fully counter Automatons.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

helldivers 2

Bugs are the perfect object of hatred

Killing a bug is simply more satisfying than scrapping a robot—Starship Troopers chose them for a reason. Our bullets are drawn to their glowing sacs like moths to a flame. Their high numbers and low individual threat are ideal target practice conditions. When I land a rocket between the eyes of an advancing Charger, I’m not just clearing the battlefield for my buddies, I’m exacting revenge on the colony of cockroaches that made my last apartment its home. I’m getting even with the crickets who keep sneaking into my cabinets and strumming their song for hours. I’m exterminating the pincher bugs who seek warmth at my front door on a daily basis.

Arrowhead didn’t have to convince me to join a war against giant, six-legged freaks of nature. I just don’t have the same venom for killer robots.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

helldivers 2 shriekers

Helldivers 2 is better this way

Laying it all out like this, I’m realizing it’s not that Automatons are bad, just that bugs arethat good,and Arrowhead knows it. Terminids are the stars of Helldivers 2—they’re all over the game’s trailers, cover art, and marketing. Bug missions are the perfect on-ramp to a night of helldiving. They’re a crowd pleaser!

In fact, the latest warbond added a powerful tool against the nastiest bots in the game—an EMS grenade that stuns anything from grunts to Hulks for a few seconds.

It’s natural to look at Helldivers 2’s lopsided galactic map and believe there’s something wrong with the picture, but I’d wager things are playing out just like Arrowhead predicted. We’re not supposed to like Automatons as much as Terminids. We’re supposed to hate them, fear them, and walk away feeling like we only narrowly defeated them. For the role they were born to play, Automatons are perfect.

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Helldivers 2 teaches us to hate bugs first#

Robots are harder, so it makes sense they’re unpopular#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

A lot of guns suck against robots#

Bugs are the perfect object of hatred#

Helldivers 2 is better this way#