As the community comes to terms with the fact that the Automatons are gearing you for a massive counter-attack, players are learning that their most powerful weaponry isn't effective against the faction's recent deployments. Developer Arrowhead has slowly been teasing out the narrative that the robotic forces of evil have quietly been working on new methods to reclaim some of their lost turf and while Helldivers expected the worst, the reality is even more brutal. Players are now sharing footage of their encounters with these massive new units and they're terrifying.
Posted to YouTube by Venatix, the Helldiver showcased their interaction with the Automaton Factory Strider which has lovingly been dubbed the «AT-AT» after The Empire's similar vehicles in.
The hulking tank manages to not only shrug off a direct hit from a fully-charged Quasar Cannon, widely agreed to be the best gun in the game right now, butalso withstands a 500KG bomb and the ongoing damage of an Orbital Laser Strike. The latter Stratagem ultimately brings the Factory Strider to its knees after seconds of prolonged impact.
As players are quickly learning, the Automatons' Factory Strider isn't just made to soak up damage as the amount of weapons on the titan can cause plenty of trouble. The machine is equipped with two laser guns on its front that can fire in quick succession as well as a heavy-duty cannon on its back that blows Helldivers away in a single shot. To make matters worse, it's also protected by heavy armor on all its sides and legs meaning weapons that aren't armor-piercing or explosive will be completely ineffective.
While this kind of enemy is scary enough, the Factory Strider also earns its name as the tank is large enough to house a fabricator in its belly that's able to constantly create more Automatons to swarm Helldiver squads. One might think a well-placed Quasar Cannon shot through its deployment hatch would be enough to topple it but the AT-AT is even able to shirk off that.
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