Helldivers 2’s new mech is a hotly contested topic

Following a short but effective delivery of targeted democracy where it counts the most, Helldivers 2 players have successfully unlocked the Emancipator mech. With a quad-autocannon weapons platform in tow, you’d expect the Emancipator to be the most popular Helldivers 2 item ever, but there are some issues with that.

Certainly, Helldivers 2‘s exciting new mech (it’s yellow!) is the talk of the town, but not in the way anyone expected it to be. Notably, the community appears to be unsure what to make of the Emancipator, generally speaking, as the mech has inherited all the issues its oft-forgotten predecessor has had since day one. The biggest concern, generally, is that Helldivers 2‘s mechs are made of plywood and glue, but the vehicle’s autocannons aren’t all they’re made out to be, either, which has resulted in some players being fairly disappointed with the whole ordeal.

The Helldivers 2 Emancipator mech has a troubled road ahead

Even though the Emancipator comes with four full-sized autocannons by default, it would seem that this variant of the weapon is a fair bit weaker than the one Helldivers can lug around on their backs. Specifically, its munitions deal a great deal less durability damage (60, as opposed to the support autocannon’s 260), which leads to situations where it takes 25 perfect Bile Titan headshots to take it down using the Emancipator. The mech autocannons are, in other words, far less useful when dealing with large targets.

It’s not all grim, mind. The Emancipator is, from the looks of it, purpose-built to deal with medium-sized enemies. When properly supported by a full squad of Helldivers (don’t be like me, folks) that will deal with the more exotic threats, such as the aforementioned Bile Titan bugs, the Emancipator will make very short work of Chargers and the like. It’s particularly useful on the bot front, in fact, where engaging the clankers from afar with quad-explosive rounds will inevitably lead to efficient territory gains. As suggested before, though, as soon as the bots can engage your Emancipator without interference, it folds like a stack of cards, which is a problem with Helldivers 2‘s mechs at large.

As long as you can stay on top of all of the bot reinforcements before they get to shoot at your mech, then, you do have the opportunity to do some serious damage with the Emancipator. Sadly, its 10-minute cooldown with a two-unit cap per mission mean that it’s hardly the type of force multiplier that it could be, if it was either more accessible or slightly more tanky.

It’s not hard to see why the community might be confused as to what to make of this new mech, then. Some are having lots of fun with the Emancipator in its current configuration, whereas others see the sheer potential of the mech vehicles in Helldivers 2 and wish that Arrowhead would choose to deliver upon this fantasy.

For what it’s worth, the former Arrowhead Games CEO does agree that Helldivers 2‘s time-to-kill is a fair bit too high, which suggests some big changes are ahead for the game’s meta. Making some enemies less tanky would certainly help elevate the Emancipator’s usefulness in the long run, but at least it’s being used a lot now that it serves as a free fifth Stratagem, right?