Arrowhead adds melee weapons to Helldivers 2 with Illuminate DLC

Helldivers 2 players are already on the front line of the fight against the new, third enemy faction in the game. Omens of Tyrannysurprise update that came out on Thursday evening. The Illuminati have arrived – or at least the advance fleet representing the faction – and they are a pathetic bunch of space squids. Developer Arrowhead Game Studios continued its surprise update last night with the release of a new Warbond that includes another much-requested feature from the community: melee weapons.

Players can pick up two melee weapons: the CQC-19 Stun Spear, the Urban Legends Warbond long-range weapon, which costs 1,000 Super Credits, or the CQC-30 Stun Baton, which can be purchased from the Premium Store for 200 Super Credits. Melee weapons are in their own category in the secondary weapon slot and can be used in combination with stratagems such as the ballistic shield.

Between the addition of a new melee category, the introduction of the Illuminati, a vehicle you can drive with your Helldiver friends, and an urban environment, the collective cup Helldivers 2 players run across. Arrowhead has answered some of the community’s loudest demands, and players seem very excited to test out their new weapons against the Illuminati and their zombie hordes.

Speaking of the Enlightened, they are a lot of fun to fight, but I feel like we haven’t seen everything the faction has to offer yet. They’re slow and elaborate compared to bugs and bots, but they have powerful psychics, terrifying walkers, and old-school style UFOs that summon new enemies onto the battlefield. Their largest unit is the Voiceless One, a zombified man who strongly resembles the Husks from the Mass Effect games.

An interesting fact is that Walkers, a Radiance heavy unit, appear even on lower difficulties. The Bile Titan, Charger, and Factory Walker are units from the other two factions that will not appear until Helldiver selects a specific difficulty. With this in mind, it’s likely that we’ll see more squids in future patches. The nasty new ride and melee weapons are nice, but I wouldn’t feel too comfortable just yet.