Best Ways to Kill a Scout Strider in Helldivers 2
The absolute best way to kill a standard Scout Strider is to attack it from behind and shoot the pilot directly. The front plate blocks all light gunfire, but the robot pilot on the back has zero armor protection.
Here is a breakdown of the top methods and weapons to take them down quickly.
Quick Tacts (No Special Weapons)
- Flank and Shoot: Sprint or dive around the side of the walker. Use any basic primary weapon to shoot the trooper in the seat.
- Grenades: Toss an Impact Grenade at the top or base of the walker. The splash damage kills the pilot instantly.
- Stun and Circle: Throw a Stun Grenade to freeze the walker in place for a few seconds. This gives you plenty of time to walk behind it and finish the pilot.
Best Support Weapons
You can drop these weapons in from your ship to pierce their front armor so you do not have to run around them:
- Autocannon: The overall king for dealing with them. Two shots anywhere to the front armor plate will blow the entire walker apart.
- Grenade Launcher: Aim at the ground between its legs or directly at the top of the shield. The explosion kills the pilot from the front.
- Anti-Materiel Rifle (AMR): Shoot the upper hip joints where the legs connect to the main body. Two clean shots will snap the leg off.
- Plasma Punisher (Primary): If you want a regular primary gun, this plasma shotgun fires explosive balls. The blue blast splash goes right over the front shield and kills the pilot.
How to Kill the Reinforced Version
If you are playing on high difficulties and face the fully enclosed Reinforced Scout Strider, the tactics change because the pilot is completely hidden:
- Shoot the Side Rockets: They carry explosive missiles on their sides. Shoot these rockets with any primary weapon to cause a chain reaction that destroys the walker.
- Heavy Armor Penetration: Use heavy support weapons like the Railgun (safe mode can pop them in one shot to the main cabin) or the Autocannon directly to the hip joints.
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Scout Strider Weakness
The main weakness of a Scout Strider depends on which version you are fighting.
Standard Scout Strider (Open Back)
The standard version has a heavy metal shield on the front, but it is completely open in the back.
- The Pilot's Body: The robot trooper sitting in the seat has zero armor. Shoot the pilot from the side or back with any normal gun to kill it instantly.
- The Hip Joints: The top parts of the legs where they connect to the main cabin are weak. Two shots from an Anti-Materiel Rifle or high-damage primary will snap the legs.
- Explosive Splash: The front shield does not protect against explosions. An Impact Grenade or explosive plasma shot will blast around the shield and destroy the pilot.
Reinforced Scout Strider (Closed Cabin)
On higher difficulties, the pilot is completely covered by armor. However, they have a massive new vulnerability.
- The Side Rockets: They carry explosive missiles attached to their sides. Shoot these rockets with any normal primary weapon. They will detonate and blow up the entire walker instantly.
- Leg Joints: Just like the regular version, heavy armor-penetrating weapons (like the Autocannon or Railgun) can target the hip joints to take them down from the front.
Scout Strider Difficulty
Standard Scout Striders first appear on Medium (Difficulty 3), while the fully armored Reinforced Scout Striders take over on Impossible (Difficulty 8) and higher.
If you are looking for them to finish a Personal Order daily challenge, knowing the exact difficulty spawn rates will save you a lot of time.
Difficulty Spawn Guide
- Trivial (1) & Easy (2): They will not spawn at all.
- Medium (3): This is the lowest difficulty where they appear. They spawn in small numbers, usually guarding bases or main objectives.
- Challenging (4) to Suicide Mission (7): Standard Scout Striders spawn heavily here. You will see large groups of them in random map patrols and dropped off by enemy dropships.
- Impossible (8) to Super Helldive (10): Standard versions are mostly replaced by Reinforced Scout Striders. These variants have completely closed armored cabins and rocket launchers on their sides.
Tips for Personal Orders
If your daily challenge asks you to kill a specific number of Scout Striders, play on Difficulty 4, 5, or 6.
If you play on Difficulty 8 or higher, killing the armored versions will not count toward your standard Scout Strider challenge count. Dropping down to a mid-tier difficulty ensures you find massive crowds of standard walkers that are quick and easy to farm.
Scout Strider Spawn Location
Scout Striders spawn exclusively on Automaton planets, which are located on the western (left) side of the Galactic Map and colored red. They will not appear on eastern Bug-controlled planets.
Once you land on a bot planet, you can find them spawning in specific locations and scenarios across the map.
Where to Find Them in a Mission
- Automaton Outposts: Look around enemy bases, fabricators, and settlements. They are frequently stationed as stationary guards protecting the outer walls or main entrances.
- Random Enemy Patrols: Groups of them walk around the wilderness between main objective sites. If you see a red ping moving across your radar screen, it might be a Strider team.
- Bot Drops (Dropships): If an infantry bot alerts on you and shoots up a red flare, an enemy dropship will arrive. These dropships frequently drop off pairs of Scout Striders right into battle.
- Extraction Zones: When you call in the Pelican shuttle at the end of a round, large waves of Striders will spawn to try and stop you.
- Points of Interest: On Challenging (4) difficulty and above, you can find them guarding minor diamond icons (salvage sites, crashed pods) on your map.
Best Farming Strategy
If you need to kill them for a daily challenge, boot up a "Purge Hatchling" or "Eliminate Automaton Forces" mission on Medium (3) or Challenging (4) difficulty. These short arena missions feature constant bot drops that spawn crowds of easy-to-kill standard walkers right in front of you.
Scout Strider Personal Order
To complete the Scout Strider Personal Order daily challenge, you must kill standard Scout Striders on mid-tier difficulties.
Many players get stuck at 0/30 progress because of how the game counts different enemies. Following a few simple steps will help you complete this order in a single match.
The Golden Rule: Drop to a Lower Difficulty
If you play on Impossible (Difficulty 8) or higher, the game replaces regular Scout Striders with Reinforced Scout Striders. Even though they look similar, the game tracks them as two completely separate units.
- Kills on Difficulty 8, 9, or 10 WILL NOT count toward your daily challenge.
- The Sweet Spot: Set your game difficulty to Challenging (4), Hard (5), or Extreme (6). These levels feature massive numbers of standard Scout Striders that count toward your challenge goal.
Best Missions for Fast Kills
To finish the order as quickly as possible, head over to the red Automaton sectors on the left side of your Galactic Map and look for specific mission types:
- "Eliminate Automaton Forces" / Eradicate Missions: These are tiny arena maps where bot dropships arrive every few seconds. Striders will drop in packs of 4 or 5 at a time, allowing you to hit your target number in under ten minutes.
- Blitz Missions: Run around to different Automaton outposts. Striders always stand guard outside fabricator vents.
Recommended Loadout for the Order
Since you will be fighting the standard, open-backed versions, grab tools that can clear them from the front easily:
- Autocannon or Grenade Launcher: Two explosive rounds from the front will destroy them completely.
- Impact Grenades: Throwing one grenade into a cluster of three walkers will wipe out the whole group instantly.
- Plasma Punisher: This primary shotgun deals radius damage that flows right around their front shield to hit the pilot.
The Easiest Map Types To Farm Scout Strider Quickly
The absolute easiest map types to farm Scout Striders quickly are Eradicate and Blitz missions.
You can find these on any planet in the red Automaton sectors on the left side of your Galactic Map. Just remember to set your difficulty to Challenging (4), Hard (5), or Extreme (6) so the right version spawns!
Here is why these two map types are the best and how to play them:
1. Eradicate Missions (The Absolute Fastest)
These missions are usually called "Eliminate Automaton Forces."
- Why it works: You land on a very tiny arena map, and the bots come directly to you. Enemies arrive on dropships every few seconds.
- How to farm: Stand near the center of the map with an Autocannon or Grenade Launcher. When a dropship comes in, look at what it is carrying. Dropships will constantly drop clusters of 3 to 5 standard Scout Striders right in front of you. You can easily finish your entire personal order in less than 10 minutes.
2. Blitz Missions (The Best for Hunting)
These missions are called "Search and Destroy." You only get 12 minutes to blow up enemy bases.
- Why it works: The map is smaller than a normal mission, but it is packed full of Automaton Outposts (bases).
- How to farm: Do not worry too much about the timer. Instead, sprint from one red outpost circle on your map to the next. Standard Scout Striders are used as stationary guards. You will almost always find 2 or 3 of them standing watch outside the walls of every single fabricator base.
Pro-Tip: Bring Mortars
If you are doing an Eradicate mission, bring the Mortar Sentry stratagem. Because the map is so small, the mortar will automatically fire over the walls and hit the Scout Striders from above. The explosions hit the open back of the walker, killing the pilot instantly without you even having to look at them.
