How to kill a Dragon Roach in Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 Dragon Roach flying — (Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Encountering a Dragon Roach for the first time in Helldivers 2 is a somewhat scary experience, as a flying giant swoops down from the sky and incinerates the flesh from your bones with green fire. If you've ventured into any of the new cave missions destroying eggs or trying to nuke a spore lung, you'll have quickly realised that the Terminid hive worlds are no joke.

Still, the Dragon Roach isn't quite as fearsome as the Illuminate Leviathan from the Omens of Tyranny update. Despite it having some horrendously fiery AoEs, at least it isn't heavily armoured in the same way with only a few weak points. All that said, here are the best ways to kill a Dragon Roach if they're giving you trouble in the new update.

How to kill a Dragon Roach in Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 Dragon Roach - Exosuit — The exosuit is a great way to take down the Dragon Roach since you're somewhat protected from its fire (Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

The best way to kill a Dragon Roach is to use an exosuit such as the Patriot or the Emancipator. Unlike Illuminate leviathans, Dragon Roaches aren't heavily armoured, so you can damage them with rockets and explosives, or even energy weapons like the Quasar Cannon, Laser Cannon, or Epoch. The reason I recommend the exosuit, though, is because it can tank a Dragon Roach breath attack, letting you blast away at it without having to concentrate on living or trying to dive into cover.

These flying Terminids are actually a little similar to the Illuminate fighter jets that zoom around the map before stopping to strafe you. The Dragon Roach will circle in the air above and if you get too close it'll fly over you breathing a line of green fire. While you can certainly dodge Illuminate jets, it's very hard to avoid the Dragon Roach AoE unless you are in cover, though you can simply tank it and heal with a stim.

Helldivers 2 Dragon Roach hovering — The Dragon Roach will hover in place after breathing fire, which is the best time to hit it (Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Afterwards, the Dragon Roach will hover briefly in place above you spewing more fire, and this is the best opportunity to blast it. Theoretically, this could also be a good opportunity for an Orbital Railcannon Strike, but like the Leviathans I imagine it probably won't target a flying enemy.

A well placed missile and autocannon turret should work well also, or even an artillery emplacement, though you're more likely to get melted if it targets you and you're stationary. On the whole, I've definitely had the most success with an exosuit. In general, exosuits are extremely good for the new underground missions, since you can bring them inside the caves, giving you more survivability and a quick and easy way to deal with chargers without having access to airstrikes or orbitals. Just make sure to watch your ammo reserves.

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

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