Helldivers 2’s first major update, Escalation of Freedom, has dropped and it’s packing quite a lot of changes. Among them is the addition of some new enemy types, and the Impaler is probably the most fearsome of them all. OG Helldivers players may remember them from the first game, and now they’re back and even more frightening than before. Here’s how you find and deal with this pesky new bug problem we’ve got on our hands.
Where to find Impalers
Impalers seem to fall under the same classification as most other big boss-like enemies, meaning you won’t see them until you start hitting missions with a difficulty of 5 or higher. Additionally, and it kind of goes without saying, but you’ll only encounter Impalers on Terminid turf, as that’s the enemy faction they belong to.
In appearance, they look quite a bit like Chargers, which might prove to be a little tricky the first time you encounter one. You might be expecting the fight to go one way and then suddenly, an Impaler will unfurl some tentacles, stick them into the ground and then try to stab you repeatedly with them. Pretty rude if you ask me, but hey, who am I to judge the bug I’m locked into a never-ending war against?
How to deal with Impalers
Considering their similarities to Chargers, you may already know of a way (or two) to kill an Impaler! Most anything that you might use to kill one of the former can be deployed against the latter for similar results. Think of Impalers as more of a variant on the Charger than a new class of enemy altogether. Still a pain in the ass, but manageable, especially if this isn’t your first rodeo in Helldivers 2’s thunderdome.
That all means that if you have big armor-piercing weapons or stratagems like an Orbital Laser just hanging around, let loose on that bad boy. They should do the trick much like anything else of that nature would. These guys just look scary, but they all fall the same way.
If you don’t have anything that can break through their armor just yet, Impalers do offer another, riskier way of taking them out, and it’s sort of got to do with their tentacles. When they burrow them into the ground in order to resurface and spike you, Impalers actually lower their protective masks, exposing their face as a weak spot. While it’ll take some precision and soak up plenty of normal bullets, unloading on this spot will eventually topple Impalers.
In the interests of time, of which Helldivers 2 offers so little, have someone pack something like a Recoilless Rifle if you think you’re going to run into an Impaler. Weapons like this will help you be precise while using precious little ammo, which you’re going to need if you’re taking on higher difficulty missions with more intimidating waves of bugs swarming from every possible direction.
With that in mind, I think you’re all set to take on your first Impaler in Helldivers 2. Just, y’know, be wary of the giant tentacles and everything should go swimmingly. I believe in you, but more importantly I believe in your big lasers and guns to get the job done.