How to Find and Kill Troopers in Helldivers 2

Troopers are at the bottom of the Automaton army, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly. Keep reading to see how to find and kill Troopers in Helldivers 2.

In Helldivers 2, you and a squad of your mates (or randoms, or no one, if you are going solo) fight various alien races to protect Liberty and Democracy. For now, we can only fight the Automaton Collective, a race of sentient robots, or space bugs known as Terminids. The Automatons are arguably the tougher of the two, and even their lowliest Trooper is dangerous. Let’s see how to find and kill those Troopers in Helldivers 2.

How to Find Troopers in Helldivers 2

Troopers are the first Automaton type that you’ll encounter, so naturally you have to go to an Automaton-controlled planet. Those are on the left-hand (western) side of the galaxy map. Being the weakest Automaton unit, you will encounter Troopers on any difficulty level. On higher difficulty levels, they tend to be replaced with tougher units, like Devastators and Scout Striders, so for the maximum number of Troopers, aim for the easy-to-medium missions.

What Are Troopers

Troopers are the weakest Automaton units, usually the first ones you’ll encounter. They look just like you’d expect, with a vaguely skeletal frame, glowing red eyes, and a laser rifle (or sometimes a laser blade) The official description of Troopers is: “Troopers are little more than guns with legs, base caricatures of consciousness fused to machine guns and rocket launchers. Unlike Super Earth, the bots seem to believe that strapping heavy weaponry to expendable cannon fodder is the solution to every problem..”

There are several types of Troopers, each equipped with different weapons, from the usual rifle or dual blades to Mauraders with Machine Guns and Rocker Raiders with rocket launchers.

Where to Find Troopers

You can find Troopers anywhere, mostly inside Automaton Outposts, guarding the base or manning weapon emplacements. They come out of bot Fabricators, can be on patrols, and Dropships can deliver whole squads of Troopers. If you are on any bot planet, you’ll find some Troopers without much trouble.

How to Kill Troopers in Helldivers 2

Troopers are the most numerous Automaton units, so they should be easy to deal with. However, they are tougher and more dangerous than Scavengers, their Terminid counterpart. Troopers have several key features. They are a ranged threat (usually) and their fire does more damage than you’d expect. Two or three hits are enough to force a Helldiver to use a Stim. And they are rarely found alone, so a whole squad of troopers can be deadly if you don’t deal with them quickly enough.

All weapons are effective against Troopers, as they only have Light armor. Weapons that deal AoE damage are a good choice for dealing with multiple Troopers at once. You can also remove their arms and legs with accurate shots, to reduce their combat effectiveness. But, the best advice we can give you is to aim for the head. It is their weak spot and is quite exposed, so a single headshot from any weapon is usually enough to eliminate a trooper.

But, the Troopers have an ace up their sleeve. Usually, when you encounter a group of them, one of the Trooper will raise its hand and shoot a flare into the sky. This will call in Automaton reinforcements and Dropship (or Dropships, depending on the difficulty) will soon follow. Dealing with squads of Troopers as fast as you can is recommended, as they can shoot that flare pretty fast. If you manage to take out the Trooper trying to call in reinforcements, another may try to do the same thing, so speed and coordination are key here.

Best Weapons and Stratagems Against Troopers

Being at the bottom rung of the Automaton troop types, Troopers can be eliminated with any weapon. Accurate weapons are slightly better here, as Troopers have slight frames that you can easily miss. And they are great for placing those headshots. Grenades are a perfect choice for dealing with squads of Troppers, and almost every Stratagem, be it a Support Weapon or an Orbital, can deal with them. We found that Laser Cannons are a great choice, as they can easily “decapitate” multiple Troopers pretty fast.

Arc Thrower is another favorite choice for dealing with Automatons, and it can blast several Troopers with one shot.

The Shield Generator Backpack is a great defensive choice against Automatons in general, as it protects you from those lucky shots, giving you time to find some proper cover.