The Helldivers 2 llluminate are the game’s third faction, a race of Aliens referred to sometimes in-game as the Squids. Illuminate were introduced as HD2’s third faction, and their diversity of enemies has rapidly increased since they debuted, with horde zombies, armored aliens, spaceships and more besides. Fighting them in Helldivers 2 is a matter of adaptation to these various threats and perils, constantly working out various strategies and systems to handle all these extradimensional perils.
To help you master warfare against the Illuminate, we’ve got tips, guides and a full run down of every squid enemy in the game, explaining what each one is capable of and what you need to know to kill them. Good luck, Helldiver.
Recent updates
UPDATED August 26, 2025 – This Illuminate guide has been refreshed with new tactical information and details on the different enemy types to ensure that new players are brought up to speed.
The Illuminate in Helldivers 2 explained
Other HD2 factions
Helldivers 2 factions
Helldivers 2 Terminids
Helldivers 2 Automatons
The Illuminate faction, also known as the Squids, are the third major antagonistic force of Helldivers 2, bringing powerful alien technology and diverse units to bear.
Where the Terminids use rampaging horde tactics, and the Automatons focus on ranged combat, the Illuminate use a combination of the two approaches by throwing hordes of enemies at you, while also keeping you on your toes with powerful plasma fire. Outside of the Voteless swarms, most of the Illuminate forces are quite durable, employing regenerating energy shields for added protection.
Their encampments are also urban cities, meaning that free navigation is harder than when you’re in a bug hive. However, these buildings also give you additional cover and breathing room to resupply and reload your weapons without worrying about being swarmed.
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All Illuminate enemies listed
Right now, the Illuminate in Helldivers 2 field six unique unit types, though you’ll come across the largest and most dangerous on higher difficulties.
Here’s the essential information you need to know about each of the Illuminate units:
- Voteless: Humans who have been controlled and mutated by the Illuminate. These are zombie-like horde enemies – they run at you dead on to claw you. Individually, they’re very weak but keeping their numbers thinned out is crucial to ensuring they don’t overwhelm you.
- Watchers: These floating drones act as scouts and are quite common and easy to destroy but can be a pain if not dealt with quickly. If they spot you, they can call in reinforcements, use a purple spotlight to blind you, and attempt to hit you with electric shocks. Again, a few shots to their central eye should take care of them.
- Overseers: The Overseers are mid-tier foes that are much more threatening and resilient than the Voteless and often appear in groups. The basic Overseer carries a staff that can fire powerful plasma blasts or be used as a brutal melee weapon, but there are other variants to be aware of too:
- Elevated Overseers: These Overseers hover using jetpacks, firing upon Helldivers with plasma guns and lobbing grenades.
- Crescent Overseers: This variant is similar to the basic Overseer but packs a mortar-like weapon that fires plasma bolts into the air that then fall on top of Helldivers.
- Fleshmobs: These Voteless monstrosities are failed experiments unleashed on the battlefield. They’re surprisingly robust, despite not having any armor, and will charge around trying to trample any nearby Helldivers or slap them with their arms – they’re sort of the Illuminate equivalent of Helldivers 2 Chargers.
- Interlopers: The Interloper (or Stingray) is the Illuminate’s main aerial unit, similar to the Helldivers 2 Automaton Gunships. These flying units soar at great speed around the battlefield before swooping in and slowing down to line up a powerful strafing run of plasma fire. They’re not very strong but the window you have to shoot them down is quite narrow and you better make sure you’re out of its way before it starts firing.
- Harvesters: These giant armored tripods are the Illuminate’s answer to the Helldivers 2 Bile Titans, stomping about the battlefield as heavy-tier enemies and are arguably the deadliest threat of the faction. They have regenerating bubble shields that have to be worn down to hurt them, as well as a powerful laser that fires from their eye – which also acts as a weak point. On the plus side, as long as you’re not facing them in an open area, they’re quite slow and can be evaded easily by using buildings for cover. We recommend using one of the Helldivers 2 Best Stratagems such as an Orbital Precision Strike to quickly dispatch of these.
- Leviathans: These are huge airborne spaceships shaped slightly like trilobites. They never land, but simply fly around in the air, firing cannons down at players and spawning in new Illuminate ground forces beneath them. Their engines and connective sections are weak points, but you’ll need heavy firepower and explosives to have a hope of bringing them down.
How to beat the Illuminate in Helldivers 2
The Illuminate’s advanced weaponry and shielding mean they’re a tricky faction to deal with, so we’ve laid out some tips and tricks for fighting the Squids in HD2 below:
- Mix up your weapons: The Illuminate’s diverse foes (some organic, some armored, some robotic) mean you should have half your players ready to shoot fire and set up for organic damage, while the others should have any of the Helldivers 2 armor piercing weapons and heavy duty firepower. Essentially, pack a variety of the Helldivers 2 best weapons.
- High fire rate weapons are very effective: While variety is important, a good rule of thumb for fighting the Illuminate is that a hail of bullets can shred through energy shields and mow down Voteless hordes. It’s worth bringing some kind of high-capacity, fully automatic weapon with you as it’s a great addition to any Helldivers 2 loadout for battling Illuminate forces. Coordinated bullet-spewing is also necessary for bringing down the much larger Fleshmobs too.
- Shoot the shields on spaceships: The “nest” spawning points for Illuminate soldiers are grounded warp ships and you’ll find them scattered around urban environments with enemies pouring out. They are usually shielded, so shoot them with any weapon until their shield breaks, then throw a grenade at the door or use any punchy weapon to blow up the warp ship. These also act as Secondary Objectives, so you’ll earn XP for destroying them.
- Kill Watchers as quickly as possible: Outside of encampments, the Watcher drones will bring hell on you if they spot you. Either stay out of their sight or actively try to destroy them before they can raise the alarm. We found that their line of sight isn’t massive, so you should be able to move between locations relatively harm-free if you can keep aware of their position.
- Destroy the dropships: As well as the grounded warp ships, you’ll see flying ones zoom in and beam down Illuminate squads, but if you’re quick, you can destroy these like the Automaton dropships. Use the Helldivers 2 best Stratagems to target the circle on their underside, and if you’re fast you can bring them down before they deploy reinforcements.
- Harvester armor breaks away with focused fire: If you shoot the giant harvesters in a single spot with sufficiently high-power weaponry, you can break away the armor plating in that segment to create a weak spot that anybody can exploit. Otherwise, do your best to stay behind them – that deadly eye is on the front, after all.
- Watch out for Lightning Spires near objectives: The Illuminate like to protect their structures with Lightning Spires, which behave a lot like the Tesla Tower Stratagem, zapping Helldivers that get too close. They are extremely lethal, so be very careful when in an objective area and use explosive weaponry or grenades to destroy these spires
- Use cover, but don’t rely on it forever: The Illuminate encampments are repurposed human cities, so all those streets and buildings make for good cover. Problem is it’s all destructible – use it, but don’t think it’ll protect you indefinitely, and get ready to run before it cracks, especially when Crescent Overseers and Interlopers are around.
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