The tentacled Impaler is not the only new Terminid enemy to arrive inHelldivers 2. The dreadedChargerhas undergone a strange mutation to produce a Spore Charger with the same heavily armored body, but which is covered with spores.
Released as part of themassive Escalation of Freedom patch, Spore Chargers are a new Terminid breed that sneaks up on you while shrouded in a thick cloud of spores. To win the galactic war for Super Earth, you need to know how to beat them inHelldivers 2.
How to Beat the Spore Charger in Helldivers 2
Spore Chargers can be found duringlevel 6 or higher missionson Terminid-controlled (yellow-colored) planets inHelldivers 2. They are a new variant of the standardChargerswith the same attacks and weaknesses. The only difference is thatSpore Chargers are covered with living sporesacross their entire armored body.
Similar to the largeSpore Spewer mushroom-like stalks inHelldivers 2, Spore Chargers continuously produce a dense fog in a large area to hide themselves and other nearby enemies. Hence, you cannot spot them until they are at close range. Since you must head into the spore cloud to see and beat Spore Chargers, playing missions withvisibility-reducing weather effectscan make the fight challenging. They are, however, generally easy kills most of the time as long as you have the right weapons and stratagems inHelldivers 2.
Spore Chargers will always be in the middle of the fog. If a spore cloud starts rolling in from one side of an area, retreat before repositioning to point your weapons at its center.
The Spore Charger’s weakness is its rear inHelldivers 2. Get behind the hulking bug and shoot either the unarmored back of its legs or the underside of its armored tail. Using anti-tank and explosive weapons like theAC-8 Autocannonwill do the most damage. TheMG-43 Machine Gunis also an excellent option here.
The best way to deal with a Spore Charger, though, is to use anEAT-17 Expendable Anti-Tank. It takes only one anti-tank rocket to the head to put down a Spore Charger. This is not only efficient in terms of ammunition but also lets you deal with multipleChargers. TheGR-8 Recoilless RifleandLAS-99 Quasar Cannontake one shot to the head as well.
TheFLAM-40 Flamethroweris no longer viable followingpatch 1.001.002. Fire no longer goes through armor and enemies. It instead “bounces off” them.
The following gameplay footage shows an encounter with a Spore Charger inHelldivers 2. Notice how the forest gets covered with green spore fog and the roar that comes from within. Luckily, we had anA/AC-8 Autocannon Sentryalready deployed that helped crush the charging Spore Charger. Something else to note is that a Spore Charger explodes upon death. If you are caught in the explosion radius, you will get a temporary corrosive debuff that reduces mobility, armor stats, and a bit of health.
