With the Battle for Cyberstan now raging on in Helldivers 2, one thing pretty much every Helldiver is thinking about right now is how to kill Vox Engines quickly and efficiently. These towering super tanks are the deadliest and most-durable units ever fielded by the Automatons and their Cyborg commanders, and have a frighteningly high spawn rate in and around Cyberstan’s Megafactories.
Their lethal combination of high-damage laser cannons, side-mounted miniguns, and rocket barrages makes them a priority target — and after both reading up on community discoveries and experimenting with different weapons and stratagems with my friends, I’ve figured out the best tactics and ordnance to use to send these hulking behemoths back to the scrap heap.
What’s the Vox Engine’s weakness in Helldivers 2?
Like most heavily-armored Automaton vehicles, the Vox Engine has a glaring weakness: its orange, glowing heat vents. There are six of these on the tank, including three on the back of its “head,” two on the back of its “torso,” and one directly beneath the chassis, which is thankfully raised high enough for you to be able to run under the vehicle.
All six are uniquely even more vulnerable than other vehicle heatsinks, as they’re completely unarmored (others need medium armor penetration). Destroying either the top three vents on the head or the lower three on the chassis will open up a hatch on the back of the tank, and throwing a grenade of any kind inside will blow up the Vox Engine instantly.
This is harder to do with Thermite Grenades — which are ironically one of if not the best grenade types for bot missions in general — because it’s very easy to accidentally stick them to the hatch instead of throwing them inside of it, but it’s still possible to perform this tactic with one.
Notably, the laser miniguns the Vox Engine uses to cover its flanks can be blown off with medium armor-penetrating ordnance, so consider doing so if you plan to use this tactic so your approach is safer.
Another important thing to note is that if you decide to try and take the Vox Engine down conventionally with heavy weaponry instead, you should always aim for the vehicle’s lower chassis, and not at its head. This is because the head has 21,000 health — nearly double the torso’s 11,000 HP. Aim lower, and you’ll take the tank down much faster.
Best stratagems for Vox Engines in Helldivers 2
While the above grenade-in-the-hatch strategy is a fast and guaranteed way to kill one Vox Engine, it quickly loses viability when several of them are engaging you at once, as the tanks and all their supporting infantry units cover one another and make approaching the vehicles nigh-impossible.
In those situations, it’s far more advisable to use stratagems and specialized support weapons to target the Vox Engine, and its torso in particular. Here’s a list of some of the best options I’ve found after some extensive testing with my squad:
- TD-220 Bastion MK XVI: Wouldn’t you know it, Helldivers 2’s new Bastion tank destroyer is good at destroying tanks! Its 120mm cannon can take one down in 2-3 shots to the torso, and it’s got enough durability to stand up to a lot of return fire.
- EAT-411 Leveler: This new nuke launcher from the Siege Breakers Warbond is basically a long-range Ultimatum on steroids, and I’ve been able to one-shot Vox Engines with it with direct hits to the lower chassis. The projectile has steep drop, though, so trying to hit the torso from afar is tricky (but doable).
- MS-11 Solo Silo: This devastating anti-tank guided missile from the Dust Devils Warbond will either one-shot the Vox Engine if it hits its chassis or put it at critical health if it strikes its head. I’ve been running it alongside the Leveler, as the two make for an excellent anti-Vox combo. Be sure to keep lazing the vehicle if it’s moving, though, or you won’t get a direct hit.
- B/MD C4 Pack: Another strong option is the C4 pack from the recent Redacted Regiment Warbond. Planting and detonating three C4 on the torso of a Vox Engine will deliver enough firepower to blast it to bits; you get six per pack (and more with resupply).
- Orbital Laser: The overwhelming firepower of the Orbital Laser is enough to cut down a Vox Engine or two as well as some of the supporting units around it, though you have to be selective about when you use it, as you only get three uses per mission.
- Orbital Railcannon Strike: Though the Orbital Railcannon Strike doesn’t one-shot Vox Engines, it does at least put them at critical health, making them easy to finish off with a single anti-tank rocket, Thermite Grenade, or Ultimatum shot.
- Any anti-tank launcher: The Recoilless Rifle, EAT rockets, Quasar, fully-charged Epoch blasts — all of these can take Vox Engines down in three shots to the lower chassis. By focus firing with your squad, you can use these launchers to kill the tanks quickly.
Though not stratagems, I’ll give the GP-20 Ultimatum pocket nuke secondary from the Servants of Freedom Warbond and the G-123 Thermite Grenade from the Democratic Detonation Warbond an honorable mention; the former can kill Vox Engines in two shots to the chassis, and sticking 2-3 of the latter there will destroy it as well.
I don’t recommend using Eagle stratagems or orbital bombardments because Cyberstan’s Megafactories have anti-aircraft guns everywhere that have to be destroyed before the former can be called in, and the latter are too imprecise and unreliable for killing specific units. A squadmate did have decent success with the Orbital Gatling Barrage, though, so you could try that.
Are you participating in the Battle for Cyberstan in Helldivers 2? Do you have any tips of your own for dealing with Vox Engines to share? If so, post them in the comments for your fellow Helldivers.
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