Stratagems are pretty easy to avoid in Helldivers 2, provided you steer clear of their beacons as they land or deploy. That’s almost impossible when they stick to your shield, though.
Over the past day or so, a couple of Helldivers 2 players have shared what are, quite frankly, hilarious videos of them being crushed by what should be helpful Stratagem utility. As the Stratagems blast down from orbit, they wind up landing on their Helldiver because the beacon wound up stuck on the players’ shields. The thing is, despite this being somewhat of an inconvenience, there’s a really simple way to avoid being crushed.
Take that Shield Generator off, soldier
It’s not that anyone is too close to the landing zone, it’s that they are the landing zone. Just like they would an enemy, the beacons for these Stratagems stick to player shields and cause a ton of damage. What these players didn’t know — myself included — until now is that you can unequip backpacks, such as the Shield Generator Pack, which would’ve helped these Helldviers avoid a humiliating death.
As user Darksilences put it on Reddit, “You can save yourself by dropping your shield, but that’s not fun :>”
For those who don’t know, Stratagems are weapons, utilities, and firepower you can call down from your ship in Helldivers 2. After inputting a series of commands, you throw out a beacon and await the arrival of your Stratagem. These slam into the ground or are firepower from incredibly powerful weapons, so it’s best to avoid them as their time to deployment counts down. If you’re too close, even if it’s a Hellpod containing ammo, you could have one crushed and very dead Helldiver.
To drop items in Helldivers 2, you need to hold the down button on the D-pad and then select the item you wish to drop. Given the expendable nature of each Helldiver in the game, I didn’t think this was something you could do and that the intended design was to pick up new gear once your old Helldiver dies.
The thing is, beacons sticking to shields isn’t even a new issue, if you can call it that, in Helldivers 2. There are reports of this happening as far back as the end of February, a few weeks after the game’s release. I’ve not seen it mentioned in any patch notes, including today’s, so it must be an intended feature.
Combined with the fact that you can drop items, it seems like we’ve all just been really inept this entire time. However, I must say that this fits really well with the satirical humor we see in-game. Learning your Helldiver life partner was crushed by the very weapon they thought they’d be using to kill Automatons moments after calling it down and shedding a single tear for democracy is exactly the kind of scene I imagine happening on Super Earth.
