Summary
- A daring Helldivers 2 player "surfed" on an Illuminate Leviathan, showcasing the new enemy's weaknesses.
- Bravery of the player was praised by the community, drawing parallels to other iconic games like Dune and Shadow of the Colossus.
- Leviathan's vulnerability to attacks on the back was revealed, emphasizing the importance of strategic placement of stratagems.
An intrepid Helldivers 2 player made a bold move during the battle for Super Earth by managing to "surf" on an Illuminate Leviathan, one of the game's new and deadly enemy types. The Leviathan was added during the Helldivers 2 Heart of Democracy update, which bulked up the roster of enemies available to fight from the alien Illuminate faction.
The players of Helldivers 2 are currently undergoing their toughest challenge yet. The latest update, Heart of Democracy, brought a full-scale invasion to Super Earth itself, with Helldivers teaming up with NPC soldiers to defeat the alien menace in the streets of Super Earth's urban centers. The urban combat emphasized by the invasion has also brought new challenges to the game, as Super Earth's skyscraper-covered terrain and its masses of civilians needing protection can limit players' ability to use their most powerful stratagems.
Helldivers 2: Best Weapons to Use Against The Illuminate
Here are the best weapons per category for dealing with all the units of the Illuminate faction in Helldivers 2.
However, the same skyscrapers also allow for some creative stunt work, such as when Reddit user Beautiful-Injury7738 somehow managed to intercept and mount an Illuminate Leviathan, "surfing" on its back. In a clip shared on the game's subreddit, they managed to leap from the top of one of Super Earth's skyscrapers and use the hover pack from the Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice War Bond to land on the back of the flying alien war machine. They managed to keep their position on the Leviathan as it flew through the air for more than two full minutes, and could've stayed longer, had it not left the combat zone and triggered the automated punishment for "desertion."
Helldivers 2 Player Mounts and Rides an Illuminate Leviathan
Though Beautiful-Injury7738's long ride was more of a stunt than anything else, it did expose some notable weaknesses on the otherwise nightmareish Illluminate Leviathan. For example, the Leviathan is completely vulnerable to attacks that hit its exposed back. Though it typically flies too high for all but the most daring players to get above it, proper placement of stratagems like the Eagle Strafing Run or Orbital Gatling Barrage can ensure that the projectiles hit it on the top side as it flies overhead, killing it faster than concentrated fire from the ground.
Players also heavily praised Beautiful-Injury7738 for their bravery, responding with references to Fremen worm riders from the Dune series. One player even recalled the iconic 13th Colossus boss from Shadow of the Colossus, which hovers over the landscape much like the Leviathan does in Helldivers 2. Some pointed out that it's unusual for the Leviathan to be interactable. In most games, they said, enemies that are placed "out of bounds" for most players are typically impossible to stand on or mount, but that the Leviathan being an interactable object speaks to developer Arrowhead's attention to detail.
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
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
