Helldivers 2’s Most Unconventional ‘Weapon’ Has the Potential to Break the Best Booster Meta
Having fun in Helldivers 2 isn’t predicated on how infrequently your Helldiver avatar is blown to smithereens by your own teammates or squashed by a Charger silently and incessantly barreling toward you. Fun can be derived from many factors, including those deaths, depending on how funny they are. I, myself, have enjoyed settling into enemy faction loadouts that I’ve curated over a little while, knowing I can reliably join a Helldivers 2 SOS lobby with random squadmates and do my part successfully, racing around from objective to objective.
An inseparable element of these loadouts is the booster I choose: Stamina Enhancement or Experimental Infusion, and any number of alternative boosters if both have already been equipped—namely Vitality Enhancement or Hellpod Space Optimization, assuming those haven’t been snagged. I’ve been lamenting forever about how I wish the booster selection in Helldivers 2 could be more creative, acknowledging how imperative those four are, regardless. And, in a way that I think would kill two birds with one stone, the Hellpod itself could be the key to shattering this booster meta once and for all.
Actually ‘Diving’ in Helldivers 2 is a Royal Pain
99.9% of the action in Helldivers 2 occurs after players’ Hellpods have punctured a planet’s surface and players themselves emerge from them. But that 0.1% of gameplay that players have somewhat of a hand in bears untapped potential.
I say “somewhat” because, while you can often steer the Hellpod as it careens for a second or two toward the planet, it isn’t the case every time you reinforce that you’ll be able to nudge it enough in one direction as to have an actual, conscious effect on where you’d like the Hellpod to land precisely, let alone actually orient it at all.
If you’re lucky, though, and all stars have aligned in your favor—including you having quick reaction timing and being able to begin steering the Hellpod as soon as you’re handed control of the Hellpod after a teammate has reinforced you—you’ll be careening toward a large enemy. If this happens, and you’re able to strike them with a Hellpod, the satisfaction is palpable and sumptuous, as you may insta-kill almost any heavy unit or environmental defense, including:
- Chargers
- Bile Titans
- Cannon Turrets
- Fabricators
- Command Bunkers
- Mortar Emplacements
This is even ideal with Helldivers 2’s Factory Striders, which will not be slain by a single Hellpod blow, because you can then plant a few Thermite at your feet as you ride the enormous beast’s chassis hide or throw down as many Orbital nukes as you can while its insidious turrets cannot touch you. The problem, of course, is landing the Hellpod to ensure direct hits on the meanest enemy targets with any degree of skill or intent, and that’s where a hypothetical booster could turn the tide for managed democracy.
I’ve been lamenting forever about how I wish the booster selection in Helldivers 2 could be more creative, acknowledging how imperative [Stamina Enhancement, Experimental Infusion, Vitality Enhancement, and Hellpod Space Optimization] are, regardless.
Hellpods Could Be Surgical Knives and the Best Tool for Revenge
I resent anyone who takes deaths incredibly seriously in Helldivers 2, whether being slain was due to friendly fire or not, as it’s inevitable and such a fleeting, insignificant element of gameplay, so long as there is a decent number of reinforcements still available. But, if a booster existed that allowed players’ reinforcement Hellpods to behave like Helldivers 2’s Orbital Laser, tracking and sniping the nearest and largest enemy unit, it could be a phenomenal means of retaliating against the enemy that killed you with a guaranteed kill.
Helldivers 2’s Firebomb Hellpods booster had the right idea as it weaponizes Hellpods with an explosive AoE on impact, but, with any and all Hellpods detonating on impact and no dedicated homing functionality, mass casualties are an unavoidable byproduct and a surefire way to get you kicked from a game.
If nothing else, you’d reinforce with the knowledge that you’re most likely wiping out the most menacing unit nearby, and with no need to aimlessly or begrudgingly attempt to steer yourself toward an enemy. I can say that a booster such as this would be highly conflicting for me, too, and genuinely have me scratching my scalp as I uneasily reconsider what my loadout/build would look like if I’d be substituting it for either Helldivers 2’s Stamina Enhancement or Experimental Infusion booster.
