After months of speculating, Helldivers 2 players have finally gotten a proper glimpse at the Illuminate thanks to a massive leak.
Since the game’s launch, Helldivers 2 players have been waiting for the inevitable arrival of the Illuminate faction from the first game. Helldivers have been pouring over various signs and portents from in-game tips to more obvious inclusions like a gaping purple hole in the fabric of space.
Each new breadcrumb in the tantalizing trail has players convinced that the Illuminate’s takeover is right around the corner. Thanks to this latest piece of the puzzle, it actually might be.
A major leak shared to r/HellDiversLeaks shows the first-ever screenshot of an Illuminate enemy in-game. Verified leaker IronS1ghts showed off an Illuminate “Tripod” and it’s going to be a doozy to take down.
Also called a Sentinel, the Illuminate Tripod is one of the game’s larger enemy types similar to a Terminid Bile Titan or Automaton Factory Strider. IronS1ghts also had details on its in-game behavior.
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“Its eye fires a beam that has 3 separate firing modes: Horizontal, Vertical, and Erratic,” They explained. “You can disable the beam ability by breaking the Sentinel’s eye, to which it will start arcing electricity.”
Much like earlier leaks involving the Illuminate, the Tripod is a massive departure from its counterpart in the first Helldivers game. In Helldivers 2’s predecessor, Tripods were roughly the same size as the player and served as a fairly basic enemy for the faction.
Players are already theorizing the ways that these hulking evolutions will lead to one of their many deaths. “Those look like they will definitely kill me with impact damage when their corpse falls on me,” one Helldiver speculated.
At present, the Helldivers 2 player base is locked in a struggle with the game’s devs over controversial nerfs added in the Escalation of Freedom update. At least they’ll have something to look forward to after the “Let Super Earth burn” campaign.