Helldivers 2 players say this mission is too hard even on level 5 difficulty

The latest Helldivers 2 Major Order is in full swing, which has combined both liberating planets and defending them in the name of democracy. The defense missions are ones that most players are inexperienced in as many of the Major Orders have been focused on liberation, but with more planets being taken over by the Helldivers we will likely have to start defending them more to keep them in our control. The problem, these defense missions can be incredibly difficult to complete even at lower difficulties as one Helldiver has discovered.

U/ZiggyPanda has taken to Reddit to discuss the difficulty of the defense missions in Helldivers 2, specifically the civilian extract missions, although they do also mention the eradication and priority evacuation missions. Currently, in addition to needing to liberate planets as part of the Major Order, multiple are also under attack which opens a new set of missions, primarily focused on exterminating anything that stands in your way.

The user noted that they usually play on difficulty 7 for the liberation missions, but find the sheer volume of enemies to deal with too much for the defense missions saying “In 5 minutes despite our best efforts as a four-man squad with turrets, EMS mortars, 2 autocannon guys, rail cannon strikes, orbital lasers… it made no dent in their numbers and by the time of about maybe 20 of the 40 civilians we hit a point of cascading failure where nothing but mobs of devastators, berserkers, hulks and striders and even a tank before we wiped.”

U/No_Experience_3443 expressed what many in the Helldivers 2 community are feeling right now saying “I did one today, but never again. It’s just not fun, constant spawning, an absurd amount of enemies, my weapons just don’t have enough ammo for that and my stratagem isn’t available often enough. It was literally impossible.” With the community backlash towards the difficulty of these missions, it wouldn’t be surprising if Arrowhead Game Studios nerfs the difficulty of the enemies to make them more manageable.

These missions are similar to horde missions where you need to fight an endless horde and spawn enemies that get increasingly more difficult as time goes on, and you can only extract once the timer is complete. Recently, the defending planets were the cause of a Major Order ending before it was complete, and it still seems like they are a problem now. With just over one day to go to defend three planets and liberate two, it will be interesting to see whether the Helldivers can pull it off because it’ll be a close one.

If you’re struggling with these defense missions too, we highly recommend checking out our Helldivers 2 best weapons guide and best armor guide to help you create the perfect loadout. Sometimes it can be as simple as optimizing your loadout to give you the right weapons, stratagems, and stats to survive and eradicate the Automatons and Terminids.