Helldivers 2: How To Destroy Illuminate Ships

The Illuminate faction in Helldivers 2 uses Warp Ships to spawn their forces, so it’s important to know how to destroy them.

You can find the Illuminate Warp Ships in pretty much every mission with an Illuminate presence. They’re even the sole focus of the “Destroy the Illuminate Ships” objective, too! However, you can quickly waste your resources if you don’t know how to properly destroy them.

In this short guide, we’ll tell you how to destroy the Illuminate faction ships easily.

How To Destroy Illuminate Ships | Helldivers 2

You’ll most often find the Illuminate ships you need to destroy parked on the ground during missions in Helldivers 2. However, they can also appear flying in the sky, usually after a Watcher summons them. These ships will spawn other Illuminate enemy types to attack you.

When it comes to the grounded variants, they’re fairly easy to take out. Some Stratagems can take them out in a single hit. These include the Orbital Laser, Orbital Gas Strike, and Eagle 500kg Bomb. These will even go through the ships’ shield for the instakill!

Alternatively, your second-best bet is to first strip the shield protecting the ship. You can do so easily with Stratagems such as the Eagle Airstrike and Eagle Strafing Run. Then position yourself in front of the ship’s open entryway and shoot explosives at it. It can be a Frag Grenade, Gas Grenade, Explosive Crossbow shots, or a Grenade Pistol shot. This almost always destroys the Illuminate ship in one hit!

For the flying Illuminate ships, your best bet is the Orbital Gatling Barrage Stratagem. It can quickly overwhelm the ships and take them down within seconds. Alternatively, use Anti-Tank weapons and Stratagems to shoot them down. The new Anti-Tank Emplacement works pretty well, for example.

Thankfully, though, the flying Illuminate ships don’t have any shields. They also generally fly away after dropping more Illuminate forces, so they aren’t too much of a threat themselves. However, taking them out before they spawn more enemies is always a good idea.

That’s all you need to know to destroy Illuminate ships in Helldivers 2! Note that this is just one of the Illuminate faction’s threats, though. Check out our guide on how to beat every Illuminate enemy type to know more.