Helldivers 2 is treating democracy’s bravest soldiers to a ton of arresting content lately, between its Xbox launch, a Halo: ODST crossover Warbond, a brand-new Terminid-centric update, and tomorrow’s Dust Devils Warbond. The update itself, Into the Unjust, is phenomenal as it introduces claustrophobic subterranean levels—where stratagems can’t be called in without open airspace—oranged-hued wastelands, and horrendous Dragonroaches, though one omnipotent threat returning from the original Helldivers game towers high above all else in Helldivers 2.
Indeed, there hasn’t quite been an enemy as daunting to come across as a Hive Lord. These sandworm-esque foes are more gigantic than anything players have been able to kill before in Helldivers 2, and their spawning from a Hive World’s surface is as petrifying as when confronted with Dune: Awakening’s Shai-Hulud. Hive Lords can be killed, as many players have discovered thus far, but due to how much health they possess and the risk players weigh by attempting to kill them rather than simply proceeding with their mission objectives, Hive Lords are essentially set-piece terrors and not what might be considered a standard enemy unit.
Hive Lords Can Be Killed, But Doing So is More Trouble Than It’s Worth
Players can go whole missions on Oshaune without so much as seeing one Hive Lord, but there are plenty of dreadful enemy units to be concerned about regardless. For example, Helldivers 2’s bug Rupture strain sub-faction that can burrow and emerge from the ground is a perfect nuisance on its own, let alone when mixed into a horde cocktail swarm composed of nearly every other bug unit imaginable.
Hive Lords, then, appear far less like actual enemy units intended for players to seek out and obliterate, such as a Bile Titan, and more like unscripted hazards in the environment that can swiftly turn the tide of a mission if they want to. Hive Lords have staggering amounts of health and, even though it’s possible, it’s hardly reliable or efficient to kill them when they can be circumvented instead.
The mission type that Hive Lords are the biggest nuisances on is Conduct Mobile Substance Extraction because they can fail players’ main objective by striking or flinging the GATER (Ground All-Terrain Extraction Rig) vehicle into the sky.
Still, Helldivers 2’s Hive Lords are the least of their problems when any number of circumstances can result in the GATER being vanquished in an instant, such as a lone, errant Hellpod landing atop it or literally any Orbital offensive stratagem permit activated in the vicinity, and whatever span of time is exhausted battling a Hive Lord is folly compared to players simply trying to evade it, whether that proves successful or not.
Hive Lords are essentially set-piece terrors and not what might be considered a standard enemy unit.
A Hive Lord Nerf Would Be Counterproductive—Let Them Be OP
Talk of players hoping a Hive Lord nerf is incoming already is misguided, to be frank. A nerf would imply that Hive Lords are too brutally challenging when assessed next to any ordinary enemy unit, which Hive Lords certainly are not.
Are they absurdly difficult? Sure, yet they’re not anywhere comparable to the units players face on a moment-to-moment basis, and treating them like they are is likely to take precious time away from mission completion at the cost of reinforcements. Either way, there are a few new stratagems featured in Helldivers 2’s Dust Devils Warbond that may be instrumental in combating Terminids on Hive Worlds:
- S-11 Speargun
- EAT-700 Expendable Napalm
- M5-11 Solo Silo
Nonetheless, it’s unlikely that any of the above will make that much of a greater dent in slaying Hive Lords quicker when more than a handful of Helldivers 2’s Hellbombs already have a tough time cutting them down. As soon as players quit perceiving Hive Lords as any usual, ubiquitous enemy, they should see how a nerf would do them no justice.
Helldivers 2
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- February 8, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- bitsquid
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players (online)
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
