How to find and kill Helldivers 2 Scout Striders

Helldivers 2 Rocket Scout Strider
(Image credit: Sony)

Destroying Helldivers 2 Scout Striders on Automaton planets can be a bit tricky as you need to outmanoeuvre them use some powerful weaponry to get through their armor. Once you figure out how to easily juke them to take out the pilot they become quite easy to deal with, and using explosives or armor-penetrating weapons to reduce the whole Strider to scrap works too. 

But when you play the hardest missions in Helldivers 2, you'll find that the Automatons have learned, giving their Scout Striders missiles and extra armor. We'll walk you through the best ways to find and kill Scout Striders in Helldivers 2 below, whether you need to destroy several for a Personal Order or are struggling with the upgraded versions on Super Helldive.

How to kill Scout Striders in Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 Scout Striders

(Image credit: Sony)

Scout Striders in Helldivers 2 are the common, two-legged bot vehicles that look a lot like an Imperial AT-ST from Star Wars. They can step on you if you get too close, but usually stick to firing their surprisingly powerful laser cannons at you, and they're nearly impossible to outrun, often pursuing relentless unless you can put some tricky terrain features in your way.

To kill a basic Scout Strider, the easiest method is to run around it and fire a short burst with your primary or secondary weapon at the exposed pilot. Scout Striders have quite strong armor at the front, so shooting it head-on won't do much, but the pilot is incredibly weak. 

Alternatively, you can try and blow up the pilot or the whole Strider with a grenade or one of the many high-powered explosive Helldivers 2 weapons and some of the best Helldivers 2 Stratagems. Regarding weapons, the Anti-Materiel Rifle and Railgun are particularly effective against these Striders.

Helldivers 2 Rocket Scout Striders about to get shot by quasar cannon

(Image credit: Sony)

However, at higher difficulties, you'll face an upgraded Scout Strider which features an enclosed, armored cockpit for the pilot and missile racks on the sides, letting the Scout Strider fire missiles too. The extra armor means the old "run-behind-and-shoot" trick doesn't work, so your best options for destroying this improved Scout Strider variant are limited to the more powerful Stratagems and support weapons, so the Railgun is a great choice. Although, small-arms fire can still destroy the missile racks bolted to the sides of these Scout Striders, making them a bit less dangerous.

Where to find Scout Striders

Helldivers 2 Scout Striders

(Image credit: Sony)

If you have a challenge to kill Scout Striders, you want to head to any planet in an Automaton sector, and to find them in decent numbers, you want to play on Medium difficulty or higher. However, upgraded Rocket Scout Striders appear to entirely replace the regular Scout Striders on the highest Helldivers 2 difficulties, mainly Super Helldive.

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Joel Franey
Guides Writer

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.