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Helldivers 2issued new Major Orders on February 15, resulting in Helldivers needing to successfully win 8 Defend Campaigns against the scourge that is the Automaton menace. After some hard-won victories against the Terminids, Automatons stepped up their aggressions on the western galactic front. The current Major Order will last for basically the rest of February, with each planet’s Campaign ending at different times over the course of the next~13 days, and with the overallMajor Order ending on February 29 at 7:00am ET.
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This campaign consists of multiple fronts across several planets, each of which will be its own battleground. Helldivers must face a variety of missions, including Rescuing Science Teams, which can get extremely dicey with just how aggressively the Bot reinforcements continue to flow. This guide will cover what makes a Campaign different from Missions and Operations, and we’ll be covering some tips for how to approach specific scenarios, like the above-mentioned Science Team rescue objective. Buckle up, Helldivers — it’s time!
Helldivers 2
What Are Defend Campaigns
And What Makes Them Different From Missions Or Operations?
The current Defend Campaign has pulled attention away from the recent Terminid push, but what is a Defend Campaign to begin with?
To break down the difference between Missions, Operations, and Campaigns:
Defend Campaign Objectives & Rewards
The Current Defend Campaign requires Helldivers to successfullyDefend 8 planets against Automaton incursionsover the course of the ~13 days of the Campaign to earn the12,500 Requisition Slips Reward.
TheXzar Sectorcontains 5 planets:
Each active planet (Draupnir and Mantes at the time of writing) shows atimer ticking down, which details when each planet’s Defend Campaign will finish. Below the planet name, you’ll see a blue bar and a red bar.
Thegoalof a Defend Campaign is for theHelldiver Blue Bar to be further along than the Automaton Red Bar by the time the Defend Campaign timer ends for the given planet.
At the time of writing, things aren’t looking too good for Draupnir and Mantes, but fear not, valiant defenders of freedom! Democracy will Prevail.
Since we are required to complete 8 Defend Campaigns, it iscurrently unclearif we will need to defend the same planets multiple times or if the Defend Campaign will spill over into neighboring sectors.
As far asMission typesyou’ll encounter, expect the usual fair, likeRetrieve Essential Personnel, Eradicate Automaton Forces, Retrieve Valuable Data, Emergency Evacuation, and Launch ICBM. The complexity of mission types will typically change with an increase in your Difficulty Setting.
The stand-out Mission that’s giving Helldivers the most trouble, however, isRescue Science Teams.
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How To Rescue Science Teams
One of themost difficulty Mission Objectivesyou’ll be tasked to complete during this Defend Campaign will be when you are required to rescue science teams. This objective can feel next to impossible, since Automaton Dropships continue to swoop down to your location seemingly non-stop basically right when you land on the map, depositing more and more dangerousAutomaton enemy typesin greater and greater numbers throughout the entirety of the mission.
Ignoring the specifics of the Automaton threat for right now (I know that is difficult to do with one so dedicated to the cause of Democracy), your objective is fairly simple:
Helldivers 2: Complete Enemy List
Helldivers 2 delivers blood-pumping action as you face off against two vicious factions: the bug-like Terminids and the Automaton Collective.
Strategies For Rescuing Science Teams
Now, on to what makes this objective difficult: theendless streamof murderous, baby-stealing Automatons that starts as soon as you land on the map.
This specific mission objective is flat-out BRUTAL. Some players have speculated that there’s a bug or glitch affecting the number of reinforcements that continue to spawn non-stop once the mission begins. When selecting the mission from the War Table, the mission timer shows 40 minutes, but when you land, you’ll see the mission is actually 15 minutes. Some players have put forth that the incredible rate of Automaton Dropships is due to basically 40 minutes of reinforcements being crammed into 15 minutes, but there’s not much to back that up right now aside from it feelingextremely overtuned.
Regardless of whether the enemies acting more intense than intended, there are some methods to try to make this process a bit simpler.
Drop As Close To The Mission Site As Possible
Rather than dropping near the outskirts and working your way toward the Settlement, you want todrop practically right on top of the mission site. Since the Automatons will be swooping down on you immediately, you might as well start the objectives as soon as you land. This can help you get ~9 scientists to safety before things get really bad.
Bring Your Strongest Stratagems
There’s zero breathing room on this mission, so you’ll want to bring all the firepower you can muster. Expect Dropship after Dropship to swarm the mission site in short order. This is where yourbest Stratagemscome into play.
To help keep your scientists alive and well, deploy any Turrets you have access to at the Settlement’s entry points. Mortars in more central locations can be useful as well. They won’t stop the Automatons outright, but they will help slow them down.
Todestroy Dropships before they’re able to deploy troops, have your Recoilless Rifle or Expendable Anti-Tank at the ready — these powerful Stratagems can thin the reinforcements you’ll be dealing with, making your struggle on the ground a little more tolerable.
Eagle Smoke Strike, Orbital Smoke Strike, Orbital EMS Strike, andEMS Mortar Sentryare all extremely effective at delaying the enemy.
Dedicated Roles (2 Defenders, 2 Rescuers)
One strategic approach to this mission is to have each Helldiversdeploy Turretsat key entry points (that’s4 Turrets total), then dedicate two Helldivers to drawing the fire of the swarming Automatons while the other two focus almost exclusively on rescuing the scientists. This can still be extremely overwhelming, and you might need to rotate one rescuer to help with the defense, but with the proper coordination, this strategy can be effective.
If the Mission site gets too hot: retreat, drawing the Automatons away tolet the Settlement cool off, and return to continue rescuing more scientists.
Divide & Conquer (Risky, But The Prize…)
Another riskier play, but one that I’ve seen work out very well first-hand, is tosplit up your party. On its face, that sounds insane. But it seems that the Automaton Dropship reinforcements are specifically drawn to the greatest number of Helldivers, rather than specifically the Settlement/Mission site.
So, you want to have 3 Helldivers find a defendable position somewhere away from the Settlement, while one brave Helldiver makes a B-line straight for the Settlement to begin rescuing scientists. The Automaton reinforcements willconverge on the location of the 3 Helldivers, while the lone Helldiver at the Settlement will have a much morerelaxed time rescuingall of the Scientists. I can’t guarantee you’ll face ZERO resistance, but it will dramatically reduce the enemies you’ll face while escorting the civilians.
If you’re interested in learning more about the types of enemies you’ll encounter in Helldivers 2 — and effective methods to counter them — check out our guides onhow to defeat each Automaton enemy unitandevery Terminid enemy type.
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