Helldivers 2 is littered with a variety of fearsome foes. However, none are arguably as terrifyingly powerful as the Factory Strider (or the AT-AT, depending on which universe you're in). These four-legged metal hubs of mass destruction not only carry weapons that will obliterate your squad in an instant but also hold enemies within that they can drop into battle whenever they want. Luckily, like any hunk of space junk, Factory Striders are not invincible.
In this guide, we'll take a look at where you can find these laser-firing behemoths and how you can beat them. This way, you can continue the never-ending fight for Managed Democracy with several Factory Strider kills to your name.
Where to Find Factory Striders in Helldivers 2?
You can find Factory Striders on any planet occupied by Automatons starting at difficulty 4 (Challenging) as part of the "Eliminate Automaton Factory Striders" mission. It's worth noting, though, that these behemoths will start appearing more frequently as you go higher in difficulty. At difficulty 5 (Hard) and difficulty 6 (Extreme), they'll still have a specific mission dedicated to finding and eliminating them.
But once you reach difficulty 7 (Suicide Mission), 8 (Impossible), and 9 (Helldive), Factory Striders will become part of the Automaton swarms you'll see throughout the map. At these levels, the Automatons will typically bring them into the fray as part of a Bot Drop. However, they can also be stationed outside Outposts, guarding these areas from any would-be attackers, like me and my squad, who unwittingly ran into one and immediately suffered several casualties.
Naturally, the higher your difficulty, the more hellish it'll also be to bring them down. So, as soon as you see one, we recommend focusing all your efforts on taking them out. Otherwise, you'll burn through your Reinforce stratagem the longer these steel titans stay on the battlefield.
How to Defeat Factory Striders in Helldivers 2?
You can quickly defeat Factory Striders using either the Orbital Laser or Eagle 500KG Bomb stratagems. We suggest opting for the former since it's much easier to use and guarantees Strider destruction as long as it gets the full duration. If you don't have these yet, you can also utilize the Orbital Railcannon Strike or Eagle Airstrike, although you will have to bombard them with several of these before bringing them down.
Now, if you or your teammates don't have any of these stratagems equipped (which we do not recommend doing), there is still a way to render them nearly useless. Each Factory Strider comes equipped with two high-powered weapons: a back-mounted turret and several smaller minigun turrets on its undercarriage. You can destroy both using Helldiver support weapons, like the Recoilless Rifle, Quasar Cannon, or the Expendable Anti-Tank. The Spear, in particular, is useful for locking onto and demolishing its annoying, high-damage-dealing back turret.
If you've managed to remove its weapons, you're one step closer to being rid of these four-legged doomsday machines. But it still does have one deadly trick up its sleeve — or rather, its belly. Factory Striders can deploy Devastators every now and then from its underside vent to help the Automaton cause. So, to remove them of their Devastator-spawning capabilities, you can shoot at the piston-like batteries on its back using the support weapon of your choice. Once that's done and its weapons are gone, the Factory Strider will essentially become a slow-walking non-threat. Just make sure to stay out of the way of its gigantic metal legs.
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