HELLDIVERS – All Bosses Guide (Solo)

Covers the essentials for soloing every boss on every map in Helldivers.

Cyborg: Siege Mech

Note: Credit goes to Orlandu

The easiest boss in the game. The popular pub strategy of using anti-tank mines is effective for soloing this boss.

Loadout

• Perk: Stratagem Priority, or All Terrain Boots on the snow map.
• Primary: Trident
• Stratagems: SH-20 Shield and 3 Anti-tank Mines

Key Points

• Wear SH-20 Shield to not die to hounds. If you took damage and lost your shield, play defensively until it regens back up.
• Avoid all of its attacks by running directly away from it. Moving perpendicular across will get you hit.

Illuminate: Great Eye

There are two main strategies for soloing this boss, both involving Thunderer Barrage.

One Cycle Strategy

This is a map and luck dependent strategy. Stand in a corner, drop 4 barrages, and hope that the boss would stand in it long enough and die.

Loadout

• Perk: Doesn’t matter, or All Terrain Boots on the snow map.
• Primary: Trident.
• Stratagems: 4 Thunderer Barrages.

Key Points

• This strategy is best done on the desert map where the corners are narrow chokepoints.
• Dying intentionally stops the boss from moving for a few seconds. This increases the viability for this strategy in other maps.
• Good luck!

Two Cycle Strategy

Unlike the above, this is a more reliable strategy and can be done on any map. Can also be used to solo carry pub games.

This strategy consists of 3 phases:

• Phase 1: Drop barrages in a corner to damage the boss halfway.
• Phase 2: Run around the map to survive until barrages come off cooldown.
• Phase 3: Drop barrages again to kill the boss.

Loadout

• Perk: Stratagem Priority, or All Terrain Boots on the snow map
• Primary: Trident
• Stratagems: SH-20 Shield and 3 Thunderer Barrages

Key Points

• For phase 1, aim to damage the boss over 60% of the way to better guarantee killing it in phase 3. If you get less than that, consider starting the fight over again.
• For phase 2, hug the wall when running around the map, aim to have your character model directly touching the wall. That way the orbs would hit the wall and explode away from you, instead of curling towards you.
• The transition between phase 2 and 3 is the most dangerous part of the fight. Try saving your extra life until then.
• If you did too much damage during phase 1 for Illusionists to spawn, the strategy remains the same. Run past any Illusionists that are in front of you to make them all chase you from the same direction, and shoot down their orbs if necessary.

Other Strategies

The popular pub strategy of firewall and barrage can also be used to solo the boss, but is slow and map dependent. It is not effective enough compared to the above and will not be covered in this guide.

Bug: Hive Lord

The most difficult boss in the game to solo. Unlike the other two bosses, this is a straight up fight based on skill. The standard strategy is to fight the boss with the Rumbler and this guide will cover the fight with it in complete depth.

If you don’t have the DLC for the Rumbler, or just want to try something else, this guide will also cover alternatives to the Rumbler with the Dum-Dum, the Rec-6 Demolisher, and for those without DLCs, the LAS-98 Laser Cannon. Note that these are sub-optimal compared to the Rumbler, they have a lower damage output and will make an already long fight even longer, but are still strong enough to kill the boss in a reasonable time.

Rumbler

The standard strategy is to use the Rumbler as it has the highest damage output against the boss.

Loadout

• Perk: Displacement Field, or All Terrain Boots on the snow map
• Primary: Doesn’t matter
• Stratagems: Rumbler, Ammo, Jump Pack and Static Field

Basic Mechanics

For those new to using the Rumbler, you should practice using melee cancel to quickly aim it at any direction, be able to fire it as quickly as possible, fire and then move or jump pack right away without fanning, and get used to its minimum range without blowing yourself up.

For the bosses moveset and how to avoid them, it’s best to watch the videos and practice.

The most important time to deal damage is when the boss unburrows for the poison circle attack. Ideally without interference from mobs, you should be able to unload all 4 shots on the boss and do a complete reload. Note the distinctive roar the boss makes when it does this attack.

The other important time to deal damage is when the boss unburrows for the poison spit attack, where you can land 1-2 shots and maybe a reload depending on how you dodged the attack.

For the other attacks, while it’s also possible to land shots on them, these are risky to go for as they have a decent chance of blowing yourself up. If you are still learning the fight, I would recommend skipping them entirely, and at least have displacement field up when attempting them whether you are learning or not.

How to Reload

The Rumbler takes 4.5 seconds to reload. With 5 mobs chasing you the entire fight, there are 3 ways to create an opening away from them long enough to reload:

1. Create distance, if the nearest mob is about one screen length away, it’s safe to reload before it can reach you.
2. Use static field to trap them or block their pathing with it.
3. The poison spit attack from the boss leaves behind 3 pools creating a temporary barrier that blocks their pathing and slows them down. Run directly away from the attack and reload as soon as you are safe from it.

Just because it’s safe to start a reload doesn’t mean it’s safe to complete it. The boss could still follow up with a fast attack and interrupt you, watch for its smoke and be ready to jump pack away if needed.

Another tip is to use your health as a resource, it’s okay to take a hit from a mob every now and then to complete a reload. Just don’t overdo it.

Mob Control Strategy

When mobs initially spawn as you start fighting the boss, kite them until you reach one side of the map, keeping them about one screen length away as you fight the boss. Once you are at one end of the map, use static field to control the mobs. Run and jump around it to trap all 5 mobs in it, that allows you to fight the boss in peace for a short while.

When static field runs out, kite your way to the opposite side of the map. By the time the mobs reach you at the other end of the map, static field should be off cooldown and you can trap them again. Rinse and repeat.

Avoid dropping static field directly next to a wall, you want to have enough room in every direction around it to fight the boss in.

Keep in mind that Impalers can spawn in this fight. As long as you avoid killing mobs, they are usually a rare occurrence. One of them shouldn’t be too hard to avoid, if there is more than one than you should start killing them and hope they get replaced by brood commanders.

Snow Map and Death Recovery

On the snow map, unless you want to fight the boss with no boots, you’d have to do the fight without displacement field. This makes the fight significantly harder, displacement field grants you a safety net every 35 seconds, without it you have to play the entire fight perfectly. This is a long fight and mistakes are bound to happen. If you die, the first and foremost priority to recover is to pick up your jump pack.

If you died and there are mobs around, do not immediately walk up to your gear trying to pick it up. Run away to pull the boss and mobs away from where you died, then go back for it when the coast is clear.

Keep in mind that the jump pack stratagem has two charges, there’s another jump pack sitting at where you initially called it down. This is your second option to recover.

Videos

Basic demonstration of the fight on a non-snow map.

This video demonstrates the fight on the snow map, where it is significantly harder due to lack of displacement field, and without death.

This video demonstrates the fight on the snow map with death recovery, only died for demonstration purposes of course.

Dum-Dum

The general strategy of the fight with the Dum-Dum is basically the same as with the Rumbler above.

Loadout

• Perk: Displacement Field, or All Terrain Boots on the snow map
• Primary: Doesn’t matter
• Stratagems: Dum-Dum, Ammo, Jump Pack and Static Field

Key Points

• Compared to the Rumbler, the Dum-Dum reloads faster, but deals less damage.
• Unlike the Rumbler, you can’t kill yourself with the Dum-Dum, play aggressively and land more shots to help make up for the lower damage.
• The Dum-Dum is ineffective against Impalers, do your best to avoid killing mobs to reduce their chance to spawn.

Videos

Basic demonstration of the fight with the Dum-Dum, also with Impaler spawn.

This video demonstrates the fight with the Dum-Dum on the snow map with death recovery.

Rec-6 Demolisher

This is a different fight than with the Rumbler and Dum-Dum. Not recommended on the snow map because stratagem priority is needed to kill the boss in a reasonable time.

Loadout

Perk: Stratagem Priority, or All Terrain Boots on the snow map
Primary: Doesn’t matter
Stratagems: Jump Pack and 3 Rec-6 Demolishers

Key Points

• Kite the mobs and the boss by constantly circling around the map.
• Demolishers despawn after a limited time if not picked up, don’t call down too many on the map at once.

Videos

Basic demonstration of the fight with Rec-6 Demolisher.

This video demonstrates the fight with Rec-6 Demolisher and Impaler spawn.

LAS-98 Laser Cannon

This is the last resort for those who don’t have DLCs for any of the above weapons, or don’t have any DLCs at all. It’s not the hardest hitting non-DLC weapon, but it is a laser that does not need to be reloaded. This allows you to bring an extra static field to the fight to put the mobs in total lockdown, and have a near 100% up time on dealing damage to the boss.

Loadout

Perk: Displacement Field, or All Terrain Boots on the snow map
Primary: Doesn’t matter
Stratagems: LAS-98 Laser Cannon, Jump Pack and 2 Static Fields

Key Points

• Stagger the static fields to keep the mobs in total lockdown.
• Play even more aggressively than with the Dum-Dum to maximize damage on the boss.
• Without interference from mobs, this is actually an easy fight, just a really long one.

Video

Basic demonstration of the fight with the LAS-98 Laser Cannon.