How to kill Helldivers 2 Veracitors and Gatekeepers, the new Illuminate enemies

Helldivers 2 Illuminate Veracitor chasing Helldiver with harvester nearby — (Image credit: Sony)

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Best way to kill Veracitors and Gatekeepers
Veracitor weaknesses
Gatekeeper weaknesses

The Helldivers 2 Veracitors and Gatekeepers are some of the latest additions to the Illuminate's forces, bringing heavy firepower and crushing melee attacks to the field. These massive squid mechs are found exclusively in the new Appropriators sub-faction, a gnarly mix of Overseers, the Illuminate's largest war machines, and swarms of drones that can wreck any Helldivers 2 team. Thankfully, they're actually quite easy to bring down because the pilots don't get the best protection, so here's a rundown of everything you need to know to kill Veracitors and Gatekeepers quickly and easily in Helldivers 2.

Best way to kill Veracitors and Gatekeepers in Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 Illuminate Veracitor on fire — (Image credit: Sony)

Veracitors and Gatekeepers are different in a few aspects, but they can both be easily taken down in exactly the same way. Start by destroying the blue shield protecting the pilot who hangs from the mech's undercarriage, then shoot the exposed pilot. Once the pilot is dead, the entire mech will crumble to the ground in a heap – easy!

Specifically, fire weapons, such as the Flamethrower, Torcher, Stoker SMG underbarrel flamethrower, and the Cremator (the latter two being in the Helldivers 2 Entrenched Division Warbond) are excellent as they seem to be able to bypass the shield and cook the pilot, resulting in a rapid kill for minimal effort. Although, you can of course use pretty much any gun in the game to shoot both the shield and pilot, whether it's one of the best Helldivers 2 primary weapons or the best Helldivers 2 support weapons. However, there's a lot more to bear in mind when fighting these massive Illuminate foes.

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All Helldivers 2 Veracitor weaknesses and best weapons to use

Helldivers 2 Illuminate Veracitor weak spot above pilot — (Image credit: Sony)

The Veracitor is the melee variant of the Helldivers 2 Illuminate mech enemy, packing comically long arms with huge, clawed hands. They're nowhere near as strong as they look but can insta-kill Helldivers, so here's what you need to look out for:

Veracitor's have relatively weak armor in general: Medium-armor-penetration weapons can be used to shoot and damage any part of a Veracitor due to their weaker armor for their size. Killing the pilot is likely the easiest and fastest way of killing one, but there's a huge range of weapons capable of killing a Veracitor from raw damage.
Shoot the glowing eyes above the pilot: This head-like structure powers the Veracitor's shield, so if you destroy it, the shield will be permanently disabled, making it much easier to kill the pilot.
Shoot the arm joints to break off the arms: Blowing off the arms of a Veracitor is far from essential when it comes to killing one, but it might be a useful way of helping your teammates who are fighting one head on.
Use terrain to stop them charging you: When you're further away from a Veracitor and they have a clear path, they will begin charging, ready to crush any Helldivers in their path. Putting rocks, buildings, and other solid terrain objects between you and a Veracitor will disrupt its ability to run you down.
Sometimes running between their legs is the best way to escape: If you find a Veracitor bearing down on you, try running between its legs to get out of the way of its arms. You can of course get stepped on, which would also be fatal, but it's arguably the best option to avoid getting pulverized if you have no other means of escape.

All Helldivers 2 Gatekeeper weaknesses and best weapons to use

Helldivers 2 Illuminate Gatekeeper mech charging up plasma guns — (Image credit: Sony)

The Gatekeeper is the ranged variant of this new Illuminate enemy in Helldivers 2, using brutal ranged weapons. From my experience, they appear less frequently compared to Veracitors and are appropriately more robust and harder to take down:

You can permanently disable the pilot's shield, but only if you have weapons with heavy armor penetration or anti-tank capabilities: Gatekeepers are much more heavily armored that Veracitors, and while you can disable the pilot's shield by shooting the glowing horn-like structure on top of the Gatekeeper, you'll need something punchy like the Eruptor, Railgun, Quasar Cannon, or Expendeable-Anti-Tank to do it. Heavy armor also means trying to shoot off the Gatekeeper's limbs is not really worth it, so just focus on the shooting the pilot for a quick kill.
Getting close can help you avoid getting shot: It's a risky strategy but when a Gatekeeper is charging up a volley from their rapid-fire plasma cannons, getting close and running around them is a great way to avoid getting hit as they won't be able to keep up with you.

Obviously, there's nothing that an Orbital Laser can't stop, and plenty of the best Helldivers 2 stratagems can be used to blow up Illuminate Veracitors and Gatekeepers quickly too, but it's important to bear in mind that they are lots of loadout weapons that can do the job too. I also think the Warp Pack from the Helldivers 2 Control Group Warbond is a backpack item to bring with you, letting you teleport out the way of devastating attacks or flank.