How to kill the Helldivers 2 Chargers

Feb. 13, 2024

Chargers in Helldivers 2 are huge armored bugs with vulnerable backsides

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Helldivers 2 Chargers are one of the Terminids' most resolute forces, huge lumbering bugs with armor plating that trample over any suspecting soldiers while bullets bounce off them.Helldivers 2has the Chargers enter the game as solid mid-tier foes that can still be pretty dangerous if you’re not prepared for them. Not only that, but we’ve seen the new Spore Charger enter the game as an alternate variant, with potentially further evolutions down the road. If you’re struggling to kill Chargers in Helldivers 2, or have a daily challenge to wipe them out, here’s what you need to know.

How to kill Chargers in Helldivers 2

There are obviously many ways to kill a Helldivers 2 Charger, regardless of which variant it is, but their heavy armor means you need specific Stratagems and weapons to take them down quickly.The best way to kill a Charger is with powerful explosives to its head - things like Recoilless Rifle, Expendable Anti-Tank, or Commando rockets and the Quasar Cannon.

Aim at its mouth, which is usually quite visible between its front legs and all the armor plating, and you should blow its head off, killing it instantly. Sometimes missing by a fraction can fail to kill it, so you may need a follow-up shot. The extra armor that Charger Behemoths have means they are a bit trickier to bring down, usually requiring a few extra shots.

Alternatively, you canfire three or four charged and unsafe Railgun shots at its headto bring it down reasonably fast.Continuously torching one of its legs for several seconds with the Flamethrowercan also bring a Charger down quite quickly. It’s good against allHelldivers 2 Terminidsand is surprisingly effective against Chargers since it can get past their armor, fitting nicely in one of thebest Helldivers 2 buildsfor killing bugs.

As for Offensive Stratagems,the Orbital Railcannon Strike can kill a Charger in one shot, and well-placed Eagle 500kg Bombs or Orbital Precision Strikes can also obliterate them. If the bomb or similar Stratagems aren’t quite enough to kill a Helldivers 2 Charger, it will almost certainly gouge a chunk out of their back carapace or front legs, exposing a weak point of orange flesh that you can focus on with just primary weapons.

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If all of the specialist gear mentioned above is on cooldown or not even in your loadout, focus all your firepower on the Charger’s unarmored abdomen section at the back. To do this, get the Charger to charge at you anddive to the side at the very last secondso it runs past you, then shoot theexposed sectionat the back.

These big bugs still have a lot of health even when shooting that area, so you might need to get up and repeat this process a few times, depending on whether you have thebest Helldivers 2 weaponsequipped. Of course, it goes without saying that teams of Helldivers don’t have to do the whole matador routine, as one character can lure the Charger while somebody else shoots it.

Here are some extra tips for dealing with Chargers in Helldivers 2:

As well as the regular Chargers you’re probably very familiar with, there are also two variants you need to be aware of in Helldivers 2:

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.

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