How to kill a leviathan in Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 leviathan - running away from a dead one — (Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

If you've dropped into Super Earth's harder difficulty defence maps in Helldivers 2, you'll likely have encountered the leviathan, a gigantic flying Illuminate battleship that smashes through skyscrapers and barrages you with cannons whenever you get close. It's a real nuisance when you're trying to complete objectives, but the good news is that you can kill a leviathan despite its seeming invulnerability.

There are a few different methods, but provided you've got a teammate to assist with reloading your support weapon, it won't take too long. It's worth noting that destroying leviathans isn't currently an objective, so you won't get a bonus—it's easier to duck in cover or avoid them than it is to blast them out of the sky. Still, if you want to kill a leviathan in Helldivers 2, here's how.

Helldivers 2 leviathan weakness

Helldivers 2 leviathan - Laser Cannoning a joint — Leviathans have multiple weak points including their front wings and the joints between each segment (Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

There are a few different ways to kill a leviathan in Helldivers 2, but the best are generally support weapon stratagems like the Recoilless Rifle or the Spear. You could also use the

Anti-Tank Emplacement, but this requires you to have the Urban Legends Warbond and to have unlocked it on the final page—it's also tricky to place, since leviathans move quite a bit, making it hard to aim effectively without having your line of sight blocked by skyscrapers.

When it comes to weak spots on the leviathan, you have a few choices:

The blue circle underneath the head: If you aim the Spear at the leviathan, you'll see that it locks onto a blue circular spot on the underside of the head. This will explode if you shoot at it, but it's unclear whether this does extra damage or simply disables the leviathan's ability to drop bombs
The joints between each segment: If you fire a laser cannon from underneath at the joints between each segment, you'll see that this also does damage, though it's really hard to hit these and keep up with the leviathan considering how fast it moves
Blowing off a wing: Your best bet for killing a leviathan is blowing off one of its front wings, either left or right. Doing this opens up a blue flaming area on its side which you can then damage with heavy weapons like autocannon, laser cannon, or a turret emplacement.

Sadly, stratagems like Orbital Railcannon Strike and Orbital Laser don't lock onto the leviathan, so are kind of useless against it, though you can still land certain barrage-based stratagems if you place the beacon between the leviathan and the sky, though this is tricky considering how fast they move.

Overall, your best bet is simply taking a Recoilless Rifle or a Spear, getting a team-reload, and having some supplies nearby so you can grab extra shots. Blow off a wing and damage it that way, or simply keep shooting it until it falls.

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.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.