Helldivers 2: Major Orders – How To Win Defend Campaign Against Automatons

Helldivers 2 issued new Major Orders on February 15, resulting in Helldivers needing to successfully win 8 Defend Campaigns against the scourge that is the Automaton menace. After some hard-won victories against the Terminids, Automatons stepped up their aggressions on the western galactic front. The current Major Order will last for basically the rest of February, with each planet’s Campaign ending at different times over the course of the next ~13 days, and with the overall Major Order ending on February 29 at 7:00am ET.

This campaign consists of multiple fronts across several planets, each of which will be its own battleground. Helldivers must face a variety of missions, including Rescuing Science Teams, which can get extremely dicey with just how aggressively the Bot reinforcements continue to flow. This guide will cover what makes a Campaign different from Missions and Operations, and we’ll be covering some tips for how to approach specific scenarios, like the above-mentioned Science Team rescue objective. Buckle up, Helldivers — it’s time!

What Are Defend Campaigns

And What Makes Them Different From Missions Or Operations?

The current Defend Campaign has pulled attention away from the recent Terminid push, but what is a Defend Campaign to begin with?

To break down the difference between Missions, Operations, and Campaigns:

• Missions
  • Missions are what you sign up for when you drop on a hostile battlefield. Consisting of one or several primary objectives and one or several secondary objectives, you typically have 40 minutes to complete said objectives before your Destroyer in orbit must depart, thus depriving you of your Stratagems during the remainder of your stay on said Mission.
• Operations
  • Operations consist of 2-3 Missions, which you will need to complete in order to obtain any given Operation Bonuses. When gearing up for a Mission, you first select an Operation on a planet, then you must select a specific Mission within said Operation before dropping down to the planet’s surface.
  • Note: Completing Operations on a given Difficulty Setting will unlock the next higher Difficulty Setting.
• Campaigns
  • Campaigns are multi-day objectives that require coordination across the entire Helldivers force, utilizing Major Orders to direct Helldivers across the galaxy.

Defend Campaign Objectives & Rewards

The Current Defend Campaign requires Helldivers to successfully Defend 8 planets against Automaton incursions over the course of the ~13 days of the Campaign in order to earn the 12,500 Requisition Slips Reward.

The Xzar Sector contains 5 planets:

1. Draupnir
2. Mantes
3. Ingmar
4. Mort
5. Popli IX

Each active planet (Draupnir and Mantes at the time of writing) shows a timer ticking down, which details when each planet’s Defend Campaign will finish. Below the planet name, you’ll see a blue bar and a red bar.

• The Blue Bar signifies Helldiver progress in defending the planet.
• The Red Bar signifies Automaton progress in attacking the planet.

The goal of a Defend Campaign is for the Helldiver Blue Bar to be further along than the Automaton Red Bar by the time the Defend Campaign timer ends for the given planet.

At the time of writing, things aren’t looking too good for Draupnir and Mantes, but fear not, valiant defenders of freedom! Democracy will Prevail.

Since we are required to complete 8 Defend Campaigns, it is currently unclear if we will need to defend the same planets multiple times or if the Defend Campaign will spill over into neighboring sectors.

As far as Mission types you’ll encounter, expect the usual fair, like Retrieve Essential Personnel, Eradicate Automaton Forces, Retrieve Valuable Data, Emergency Evacuation, and Launch ICBM. The complexity of mission types will typically change with an increase in your Difficulty Setting.

The stand-out Mission that’s giving Helldivers the most trouble, however, is Rescue Science Teams.

How To Rescue Science Teams

One of the most difficulty Mission Objectives you’ll be tasked to complete during this Defend Campaign will be when you are required to rescue science teams. These objectives can feel next to impossible, since Automaton Dropships continue to swoop down to your location seemingly non-stop, depositing more and more dangerous Automaton enemy types in greater and greater numbers.

Ignoring the Automaton menaces for right now (I know that is difficult to do with one so dedicated to the cause of Democracy), your objective is fairly simple:

• Once you arrive at the Settlement (objective site), you’ll find small buildings with green lights above them and an interactable door panel.
• Interact with the door panel, and several scientists will run out of the structure, heading straight for a larger, armored building (read: safety).
• After they reach the safety of the larger metal structure, repeat as needed until you’ve successfully rescued the required number of civilians.

Strategies For Rescuing Science Teams

Now, on to what makes this objective difficult: the endless stream of murderous, baby-stealing Automatons.

This specific mission objective is flat-out BRUTAL. Some players have speculated that there’s a bug or glitch affecting the number of reinforcements that continue to spawn non-stop once the mission begins. Regardless of whether the enemies are overtuned or not, there are some methods to try to make this process a bit simpler.

Bring Your Strongest Stratagems

Once you interact with the first door that will start the scientists running for safety, the Automatons will arrive in force, and they will not stop coming. Expect Dropship after Dropship to swarm the mission site in short order. This is where your best Stratagems come into play.

To help keep your Scientists alive and well, deploy any Turrets you have access to at the Settlement’s entry points. This won’t stop the Automatons, but it will help slow them down.

To destroy Dropships before they’re able to deploy troops, have your Recoilless Rifle or Expendable Anti-Tank at the ready — these powerful Stratagems can thin the reinforcements you’ll be dealing with.

Eagle Smoke Strike, Orbital Smoke Strike, Orbital EMS Strike, and EMS Mortar Sentry are all extremely effective at delaying the enemy.

Dedicated Roles (2 Defenders, 2 Rescuers)

One strategic approach to this mission is to have each Helldivers deploy Turrets at key entry points (that’s 4 Turrets total), then dedicate two Helldivers to drawing the fire of the swarming Automatons while the other two focus almost exclusively on rescuing the scientists. This can still be extremely overwhelming, and you might need to rotate one rescuer to help with the defense, but with the proper coordination, this strategy can be effective.

If the Mission site gets too hot: retreat, drawing the Automatons away to let the Settlement cool off, and return to continue rescuing more scientists.

Divide & Conquer (Risky, But The Prize…)

Another riskier play, but one that I’ve seen work out very well first-hand, is to split up your party. On its face, that sounds insane. But it seems that the Automaton Dropship reinforcements are specifically drawn to the greatest number of Helldivers, rather than specifically the Settlement/Mission site.

So, after clearing out the Settlement of hostiles but before initiating the rescue operation, send off 3 Helldivers away from the Mission site. Then, have a single Helldiver begin rescuing scientists. The Automaton reinforcements will converge on the location of the 3 Helldivers, while the lone Helldiver at the Settlement will have a much more relaxed time rescuing all of the Scientists. I can’t guarantee you’ll face ZERO resistance, but it will dramatically reduce the enemies you’ll face while escorting the civilians.

If you’re interested in learning more about the types of enemies you’ll encounter in Helldivers 2 — and effective methods to counter them — check out our guides on how to defeat each Automaton enemy unit and every Terminid enemy type.