The New Illuminate Lore is INSANE!!!

[@DrilleDeLesee]

I think the Illuminate look much “darker” because they’ve pivoted their technology into warfare. In the first game they were very polished and sleek because they were peaceful and tried to settle conflicts with diplomacy. Now, after their decimation in the first galactic war I think they’re done trying to be diplomatic.

[@clanjebb2017]

I also believe that maybe wherever they retreated to had fewer resources than what they are used to working with. Explains the decayed look of the harvester.

[@bthsr7113]

Yeah, this is them knuckling down and getting serious.

[@SwayzeConnor-n4m]

Ohhh

[@Z5-XB]

In the first one they probably didn’t have any military experience for years so they just brought out old surplus stuff they had for security explaining why it looked clean and calming. Now ever since Super Earth denied their peace they’re finished with it.

[@jakerooke174]

At least with humanity

[@thesaucyprophesy2939]

i feel like it’s more that the Illuminate were a peaceful species during the first war. after super earth devastated them, their entire society changed as a result and they started gearing their technology more towards warfare. the illuminate are the way they are now, because this is a fucking grudge match haha. we made them into monsters, and now we have to face the consequences of that. the illuminate now may be even more of a war-obsessed society than super earth is. it’s poetic in a way. that’s just my theory

[@blacktemplar7063]

A game theory

[@giran4914]

Seems to be a running theme that super earths actions in hd1 turned the peaceful factions into monsters by the time of hd2, genetic tampering with automatons, cyborgs creation of the automatons out of desperation, and now the illuminate gearing up for war after their loss

[@emetanti]

3/3 on Super Earth somehow ending up making their enemies more unhinged. You got the Automatons as a result of the Cyborgs being pissed, you got Terminids because they experimented excessively on the bugs and now the Illuminates spend 100 years turning what they got left to war and weaponizing SEs own citizens.

[@spiraale5278]

You actually got it right. That is the case with this current conflict. It's pure revenge. It's also more fueled because we made bugs into terminids, which the squ'ith were allies with. The bugs are somewhere however our consistent attempt at mutating them made em who they are now, as for the illuminates, their illusionists may be ones that we will see in a more devastating fight

[@acrane3496]

@@blacktemplar7063thanks for watching

[@Chad42963]

Being in the city and fighting them makes me remember fighting the flood in halo 3 odst firefight. We are so back

[@Chickensea10]

Blast halo 3odst deference for darkness in the cities Halo 3 warthog run and halo 2s blow me away whenever we get into the vehicles

[@Deadshot-zr5ob]

Halo 3 ODST mods and the VISR reshade mod is just “MUAH!” Cheff’s kiss

[@Yowhatyouyoudoin]

It reminds me of fighting the covenant in Halo and left for dead

[@scouttrooper2871]

Gives me Halo 3 ODST Kizingo Boulevard vibes

[@DontThinkso-kb9tc]

Most of us never left

[@DazzletheBun]

I demand that our new toy be called the Super Hog.

[@trentonfox]

Superhog or Freedomhog

[@nateschale189]

​@@trentonfoxThe illuminate is cooked first. We got the 501st joining us. Second, we have Master Chief joining us. Third, we have the t60 power armor we also have venitors Don't forget an a-10 warthog And also The 02 eagle pilot

[@AnonTDegenerate]

No.. the Super Puma

[@trentonfox]

@AnonTDegenerate Super Jaguar as the heavy version?

[@AnonTDegenerate]

@@trentonfox super chupa? Like a chupa-thingy. That eats goats

[@Varewulf]

The bubble shields are actually surprisingly easy to deal with. Any form of automatic fire, even a sickle or machine gun, can pretty quickly take them down. They have no armour rating, they're just there to absorb attacks. So they're basically trap/bait for your stratagems and AT weapons. Take out the shields with some light weaponry, and then throw the heavy stuff at what's underneath. The eye on the Harvester is also bait. Aim for the leg joints, especially the ones connecting to the main body. Losing a leg is instant death.

[@roboticintelligenceunit1a652]

Boooooo. Eye should be funny weakspot

[@faucheur6546]

wow , thats the first good piece of advice i read since the start of the invasion , the attack is so recent , its hard to find detailled pieces of information, thanks a lot i have to try that for my next dive.

[@brysonkuervers2570]

They’re just like they were in HD1. They shields are resilient to slow repetitive hits, slow hard hitting objects but weak against rapid fire hits. So always a tactic to use a high ROF weapon to take out the shields and then eliminate them with something else or stronger. And also the eye on the Tripod is weak to just 1 RR shot, instantly goes down

[@MNewton]

The crescent above and below the eye generates the shield, if you break it they can't regenerate the shield

[@mattshriner4897]

Shields are highly resistant to explosive damage, but vulnerable to impact. Shooting the joints out of the tripod is ideal, very fast with AMR or HMG.

[@sansoo9497]

It's ironic; all the actions super earth did during the first galactic war has come to bite them in the ass during the current war. The terminids were neutral but after decades of warfare, experimentation, and (if theories are to be believed) weaponization against dissidents, the problem has blown out of control. The cyborgs wanted to Separate from super-earth, but after brutal reprisal, a band of them split off and turned fully into robots. And the illuminate? They were once a technologically advanced but peaceful alien race, unfortunately with the power of lying the illuminate were kicked to hell. In response, massive militarization and the use of more deadly weapons, something that the illuminate of the past wouldn't do. Super Earth's chickens are coming home to roost, and the only question is when.

[@ordinaryfellow9093]

Super earth did nothing wrong. Please report to your nearest democracy officer

[@Hicoco202]

yeah, long live managed democracy 🤟

[@NeverAsked1996]

Get out of here Squidlover

[@Puppy_Puppington]

Kinda as if it were a take on super duper Democratic countries huh? Kinda reminds me of a certain eagle topped red white n blue county that created the taliban

[@ChristopherWhiteRock]

@@Puppy_Puppington Maybe or maybe not true, but please don't bring real world politics into our game.

[@Shade______dumbnamerestriction]

"We face a threat greater than both of them combined" ... the innocent drunk driver without license that is driving our car in the middle of the squid horde

[@pyrosauria7444]

I seem to recall somewhere that the Illuminate were a multi-galaxy species in actuality and we were just fighting colonists in the first war with this being their proper military force now having arrived in the galaxy.

[@spiraale5278]

In the first war aka hd1 it's unconfirmed that we fought against colonists but we did fight against actual illuminates, their planet exists in our galaxy it's called Squ'abi Prime though it's off the map. Their tech comes from the galaxy explorations, but the keyword about them is they have a "neural space network," which means they're all in the same mind yet different bodies like subnautica's architects Before they were pacifists however now they turned into darker methods, they don't have military tactics as their fight relies on the arts of manipulation because for the average helldiver now they think the fight is simply against few and a horde not knowing they're going to be tough

[@baum2921]

They are pretty strong but spread out, sadly for us each unit they have punches harder than the average bot or bug.

[@rwquote]

​@@spiraale5278voteless have psychic link, pay attention when you aggro them

[@zmangkrd5312]

Keep an eye on that Meridia black hole brother, I’m pretty darn sure we’re going to see the illuminate main force come out of it, with all the Major Orders that have mentioned it’s a recent changes to the black holes horizon and fluctuations, I assume this will be forcing us to fight on the closer planets to Super Earth, with the Terminid’s being forced to relocate to another corner of the map.

[@updfdrakkell143]

I dont think theres a dark god involved but they didnt care about perfection as much and went twords the evil mad doc cabnet. They probly started doing things that were forbidden before.

[@Amonginator]

I want to point out that it's very clear that these are not the same Squ'ith from the first game. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to refer to the peaceful Scientocratic Squ'ith from HD1 as simply "The Squ'ith" and the ones that are attacking us now as "The Illuminate" to tell the difference. The original Squ'ith were a peaceful, highly scientific, and religious Scientocracy civilization. They offered a peace treaty with humanity before the first war even began, and yet Super Earth foregone that and declared war on the Squ'ith without provocation over alleged WMD's. The Squ'ith we're a society originally not prepared for war, and almost all of their technology was built for the purposes of observation, research, and exploration, but they had to make due with what they had. The Squ'ith from HD1 would have never allowed for whatever inhumane or in-squ'ithane experiments that resulted in the creation of the "Voteless." My personal theory is that It's honestly a lot more likely that if these Illuminate cultists survived for over a century somewhere, then it's reasonable to believe a larger majority of the Squ'ith's surviving population are somewhere out there as well, having settled down on a new world far away from Super Earth just to get away from them and live in peace, content with their scientocracy. These Illuminates that are attacking us now are likely not aligned with the rest of the surviving Squ'ith government and society. You can see this difference in their appearance and technology compared to the original Squ'ith from HD1. These Illuminates wear a lot more dark, cultish, and menacing clothes and armor, and the Tripods called 'harvesters' they have look almost like a dark and corrupted, slightly less advanced version of the Squ'ith Strider's from the first war, since the Strider's had antigravity legs instead of the apparent mechanical jointed legs these Illuminate ones have. These Illuminate cultists are likely seen as 'heretics' by the rest of surviving Squ'ith society for their in-squ'ithane experiments like whatever created the 'Voteless,' and their insistence on the need for violent vengeance against Super Earth. It's most likely that these Illuminate cultists were banished for their concerning actions and exiled from wherever the rest of the Squ'ith decided to flee to and settle down a few years after the events of the first game. These separatists had almost the entire past century of exile by the Squ'ith to plan for their revenge against Super Earth. Unfortunately, due to the Squ'ith's likely reluctance to ever intervene with Super Earth ever again under any circumstances after the events of the first game, the higher ups of the Squ'ith councils could do nothing to stop these Illuminate separatists. I know I'm probably going to get called a traitor for saying this, but I'm just stating facts and calling it how I see it. You can check archived documentation of their unit types on the wiki yourselves. There's clearly an apparent difference in technology and ideology between the original Squ'ith and these cultish, Illuminate separatists.

[@afunkymonke]

kinda like how the Banished in Halo are an offshot of the remaining Covenant forces that refused to accept the peace treaty signed at the end of the first Halo trilogy.

[@MrCdog85]

I really like your theory, but after nearly genociding all of the Illuminate in the first game, I don't think it would be unlikely that their entire race hates Super Earth and is out for blood.

[@joelfilho2625]

What an annoying, fanciful and boring headcanon. Yeah I'm sure the illuminate are all in their little "I ❤ science" utopia planet huffing their own farts and smoking weed or whatever after being betrayed and effectively exterminated off super earth space. Dude come on. These are the illuminate survivors. They look different because it's been 15 years and they lost the war. That tends to make people change their outlook in life and military equipment.

[@Brot_ist_geil]

I think they changed their society In the last 100 years into a militaristic one because super eart genocide them

[@catcadev]

​@@MrCdog85I think that is why the Voteless exist. With so few of them left, they needed soldiers. Through tyranny they got them

[@1999bm]

"They probably give these to base level troops" Dear lord

[@williuscaesar1654]

Given how bulky these guys are that made my stomach sink

[@thehiddenman-ji2sf]

i shit you not during one of the interviews the dev when talking about the illuminate themselves he unironically compared them to demi gods

[@kimcooper689]

I don’t know how I feel about the whole “dark god theory”

[@MichaelThomas-q3m]

I don’t know what worse the main force of the illuminate or the eldritch god

[@TruthKeepersOfficialHD2]

I like to think they always had dark magic, it was just looked down upon as unethical. Now that they lost everything, their only goal is revenge, and they are going to get it. They also remind me a lot about the Kaminoans from star wars, and their new tech almost look organic in origin, it's wet and slimy shells. I think they turned from nanobots that were probably very expensive to produce to genetic engineering, creating abominations to fight for them, while "improving" themselves. Perhaps even turned into a cult like society, similar to Super Earth (with the new lore its revealed that Voting is not a concious decision but a highly demanded choice culture wise, something you can go to their equivalent of hell for not participating in, similiar to not praying to a God), worshipping their political system.

[@alphaxbox3728]

I doubt its any thing revolving a god. I think its simply a Destiny 2 "Fallen" situation. They fought the last war with advanced tech...but they were a big peaceful civilization. Now? Now the dregs that lived are taking the tech and making it more militaristic. They're harvesting resources and people to take revenge and build up more.

[@lhd2689]

It's not a dark God, it's more likely just extreme doeses of those nanobots and if you look at the models some of them even have masks, my guess is they just pumped our citizens full of nanobots and that's why it also changed their blood color from red to blueish purple

[@afunkymonke]

yeah that just seems like pulling shit from your ass, and ignoring what has always been a great line from the MCU. It's not dark magic, just hella advanced technology and less resources and want to make their equipment look clean and pretty. We literally got the shield tech and ftl drives from them prior, and they've been gone from any prying eyes for what 100 years? Plenty of time to make upgrades that seem like crazy magic.

[@rabidcanine]

watching this man waste all his orbitals on a harvester gives me conniptions

[@superdupergrover9857]

TRIPODS!!!! ZOMBIES!!!!

[@TheHK_47]

SQUIDS!!!

[@super_manul1167]

Its war of the worlds again

[@corvusgaming2379]

@super_manul1167 Alternatively... Striders, headcrabs and combine.

[@SplitFinn]

*What Are The Illuminate Upto?* *TL;DR - They're using our own people as the foot soldiers for their new military. They are extracting Dark Fluid from pre-selected planets and are working their way towards the Meridian Black Hole where this Dark Fluid will be deployed to stabilise the Black Hole, turning it into a Worm Hole allowing their full force to arrive and wreak absolute havoc.* If you’re looking at the recent moves by the Illuminate and wondering what the hell they’re doing then that’s probably because you’re looking at it from the wrong angle. The Terminids simply appear wherever they can and cause as much mayhem as possible, the Automatons clearly act with prior planning factoring in; overwhelming entire sectors systematically and stripping them of their resources. We know how these two factions think, roughly. The Illuminate are an extremely intelligent species and they have had the better part of a century to pivot their culture to a war footing. They were completely unprepared for The First Galactic War but they are prepared this time. They know their limitations and more importantly, know how Super Earth conducts warfare. The Terminids act on instinct and seem to lack real tactical acumen. The Automatons know themselves well enough to wage a campaign but have proven repeatedly unable to predict our moves. It would pay to remember the immortal words of the legendary Chinese General Sun Tzu here. *“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for each victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”* How does this relate to the Illuminate? If you look at their actions since arriving seemingly out of nowhere on Calypso a week ago they seem disjointed and without a plan. They arrive on a planet and launch quick campaigns of hit-and-run attacks; abducting countless civilians, converting civilians into a controllable horde and erecting strange Monoliths to some unknown end. Defeats do not seem to bother them. Even when the Helldivers are unable to wrest a planet from them they withdraw and vanish from said planet, before appearing at a completely different planet or even a different sector a few hours later. This indicates that not only have the Illuminate been reading Sun Tzu but they have also studied the tactics of Quintus Fabius. Fabius was instrumental in saving Rome from the Carthaginian General Hannibal Barca, a seemingly insurmountable opponent of incredible tactical ability. The Illuminate are conducting a very effective campaign of Fabian Tactics practically beat-for-beat. *"Fabian Tactics are a military strategy where pitched battles and frontal assaults are avoided in favor of wearing down an opponent through a war of attrition and indirection. While avoiding decisive battles, the side employing this strategy harasses its enemy through skirmishes to cause attrition, disrupt supply and affect morale."* With that in mind, consider what the Illuminate are *ACTUALLY* doing. • It stands to reason that this Illuminate vanguard has been operating covertly in the galaxy shortly after Meridia was collapsed into a Black Hole. Our fixation on The Gloom, the Automaton Jet Brigade and the construction of the DSS have all been very convenient distractions. No, they did not make a mistake in being discovered - *THEY LET US KNOW THEY WERE HERE.* • They are conducting hit-and-run attacks on Super Earth colonies, inflicting major damage to morale and making citizens question the government. The sight of Illuminate rampaging through urbanised colonies would have stuck absolute terror into the citizens of Super Earth, which likely was partially the point. • They are making us, the Helldivers, effectively kill our own citizens. Of all the casualties the Illuminate have taken you really need to consider how many of them are Voteless. In a mission where 40~50 Overseers are killed they only account for 40~50 of potentially 4000 casualties. • These Voteless only account for a fraction of the colonists as we know they are being moved off-world. We see the Voteless being teleported in from Illuminate ships so this tracks. • Even when they win a campaign they immediately withdraw, avoiding a prolonged conflict and staying mobile. They *KNOW* they cannot win a sustained campaign against Super Earth, yet… • They have learned how we think and strategize from The First Galactic War, and can misdirect us with ease. Point in case: what they did in making us think New Stockholm was a target before instead going for Andar and Acubens Prime. • The Monoliths present in the colonies are not for show, they clearly serve a purpose otherwise the Illuminate would not bother with them. What is their purpose though? Given what has happened to the Meridian Black Hole in recent hours the purpose is clear. These Monoliths have been extracting Dark Fluid from the planets they invade. This energy is stored in their orbiting ships before being taken to the site of the Meridian Black Hole and deposited, stabilising it enough so their main force waiting on the other side can travel through and join this vanguard. • The path the Illuminate have taken through the galaxy has been an eastward trek towards Hadar and then heading north towards Meridia. As of writing, Gemma is under attack and I would wager that Achemar Secundas will be their penultimate stop before reaching Meridia. Achemar Secundas is also the site of a major weapons manufacturing hub and presents a tempting target. • This also explains why the Illuminate have not been conquering whole sectors and have been very selective in the planets they choose on their way to Meridia. They will have prospected these planets far in advance for Dark Fluid deposits. Super Earth is in serious trouble. We are too stuck in our ways to comprehend what is about to happen. We made a massive mistake in using their technology for illicit ends and now… they’ve come to make us answer for our sins.

[@Stormfarer-bf3vt]

After reading your entire comment… super earth is doomed

[@csmrookie9600]

But when Super Earth and its consequences are under attack. . . . The Helldivers will arrive to beat them back.

[@jonashardenhaug179]

To add more salt to salt to the injury, just because a society has a pop size 10 times smaller than u HDC (a partimonial megacorp (a goverment type that combines dicatorship, monarchy and normal megacorp into one awful mix) but have a superior, if not overwhelmingly better tech than u (lets us say HDC has a tech tier of 1,7 and the current illuminate zealots at 2,5 in kardeshev tiers), this will become a ugly attrition war. In other words u are facing a society that is capable of utilizing and shaping their solar systems in their image, while u HDC barely any megastructures, if any at all and seems to be on the solar system´s mercy. The reason this tech discrepancy is far more dangerous than u HDC thinks it is, is due to the fact that this means better units, logistics, resource production, governance and pops, which allows said illuminates to scale up faster than u think they will do. This also means they will recover faster and adapt faster from loses and other crisises they deals and have dealt with. Chances are they could very well have exacted their revenge as early as 50 years ago, yet they chose to bide their time to ensure their economy is sturdy and large enough to quickly recover their loses in this war. In addition this allows them to fight for long enough to send ur war exhaustion up to the stratossphere, futher revealing ur already fragmentating and increasingly divided society as well excaccerbating ur pops distrust with ur goverment, especially in easy to snatch outer sectors. Show these disgruntled pops that u, HDC, care about them (although I fully expects u to reject them), moreover giving the illuminates another hindrance to their plans, such as providing weapons regardless of societal status, as their warpships raids ur pops, rich as poor, obedient as unruly and so on. Again the illuminates seems to have taken a good look at which worlds to attack, both for the dark fluid and to rip up ur aching govermental wounds. A little tip for u squi´ths, use those dissidents to spark rebellions across HDC, forcing it to either stamp it out while ur forces plows through systems around Meridia, close to their capital «Super Earth». Yes u do hate humanity with a burning passion right now, but use this as way to create another societies that u can align with later on or during this war, to expedite HDC´s fall as an empire and goverment. This also let u sabotage this hulking war machine capabilities, with inside help, making their ships move, engage, shoot and jump slower. Combine this with a determined and more importantly, a well unified populus, this will quicky spell disastor as u will lose systems left and right, all while those evangilizing zealots, known as the illumnates, using raiding bombardement and other gear to siphon ur worlds of pops to be used as fodder without a single squi´it life lost. Futhermore this will lead u HDC to lose pops, which u are sorely dependent one, while they can use their already robo and even synth techs to print out armies that are moraleless, that is they will fight til their very death, meaning the illuminate should focus on making them tanky to eat ur bullets and shells. On the other hand u HDC clearly struggles to keep ur empire together, which The Terminid Hive (a crustecean biological hivemind, as they somewhat look like crabs), The Automoton Mechanoids (a humanoid mechanical ¿communal parity?) and the many dissidents within ur megacorp, which paints a picture of a militarist, authoriterian, zenophobic, capitalist and industrialist (likely anhropocentric) patrimonial megacorp that struggles to keep it self together, particularly in ur frontier sectors (any colonies outside ur core, commonly called heartland). With that spesific weakness reminded of in a soon painful, agonizing way, I higly recommend u HDC to focus on bettering ur pops lives, even if they are so called «traitors», «dissidents» and what not, as this will improve unity directly (likely modest), as well as moderately inderectly through higher goverment ethic attraction and happier pops that improve stability, thus improving all resource production, including unity. Given ur mindsets, decent living conditions for everyone, will at least stabilize the situation. While ur at it, HDC, spam the crap out of soldier and other military jobs that can help the said pops to defend their colony and mitigating the effects of illuminate raids. If u really want to restore trust within ur pops, fulfill ur damn promises, like being a proper democracy, meaning it is time to leave ur old friend, authoterianism, behind, and change it to egaliterianism or even liberalism (a radical idea of freedom, nearly regardless of cost (usually crime and stability)), which may serve as way to safely transist to ur new society cycle, although I bet ur future recessionist will do it for u. Secondly, use the terminid genom as base for a bio grunt species that can produce oil for u, and it´s biomass for bioalloys, machineparts and even electronics, so u now have a reason and opportunity to really finish said Terminid Hive for once and for all. This will let u sustain ur oil production, while said biogrunts lumber around as docile, livestock slaves. This way u can scale up ur industries even faster than before, while u can completely ignore minerals (that might be handy for building), meaning u, HDC, will litterally be fueled by biomass. In other words, u only need farmers and other food producing jobs to fuel ur war machine or whatever u and ur citizens desires. In short this may be the first time in history, more precisely ur current society cycle, that u HDC lose a war and finally learns an important lesson: waging war on every zeno species and society u see is a bad idea, in particular if at least one of them survives ur offensive wars and/or u have unresolved issues biting in ur ass. Even if u HDC survive this war and ends this on either humiliation or status quo (neither side wins, but both got keep whatever they captured), arrogance and greed will finish u HDC, as a goverment within 2400. Put it plainly u will have to face a civil war, regardless of the outcome of this war and the two other against terminids and automotons.

[@timothytardie756]

I really like how in Helldivers 2 it feels like super earth is fighting the results of their actions, like the ghosts of their past. The bugs which were once a peaceful species are now only consumed with the need to rip and tear us apart. The cyborgs were once somewhat happy doing their own thing but now they're fully metal and only know how to shoot and kill. The Illuminate were once highly advanced and lived in a utopia but now they're corrupted and low in numbers. We did this to them and now they want vengeance. Also whenever someone genuinely thinks super earth is the good faction solely on Helldivers 2 this is the main argument against that. We are the bad guys and now we're paying. Also go ahead and send your democracy officers I've already fled to cyberstan lmao.

[@adamb5248]

I think the argument is mostly that Super Earth itself isn't at fault, it's 100% on their government. The citizens and soldiers have been fed propaganda and grew up learning that everyone else was evil. To them it makes sense to fight the bugs, bots, and illuminates because they think they're saving the world. They genuinely don't know any better and aren't allowed to have any forms of communication that tells them any better.

[@lumbagoboi1649]

The illuminate definitely took their defeat the worst in compassion to the other factions. The bugs don't really think and would probably become peaceful again if they just had some undisturbed planets to chill on. The automatons seem to mainly direct their anger at super Earth's government. And I assume if they won they'd mainly want to see the galaxy under a communist government. But the illuminate seem to be on a half suic¡dal revenge mission to mind control every last person and turn them into slaves of their new regime. And if they won I could see them outright exterminating humanity.

[@timothytardie756]

@@adamb5248 yeah, when I say Super Earth is evil I usually mean the government. I The government is evil but not the human spirit.

[@timothytardie756]

@@lumbagoboi1649 definitely, if you look at the illuminate now vs then it's clear that they got the worst of it, probably having to live on the completely uninhabitable planets (which by super earth standards must be really bad) to try and heal what little they had left.

[@ranimdude]

The bugs evolved into their best forms to kill. The cyborgs turned to the certainty of full steel to kill. The illuminate have ditched their peaceful ways, teaching themselves the art of war to kill. In the end, Super Earth never changed. They always were built to kill.

[@daddyg.8169]

I see the overseers as shepherds with a flock of voteless, the voteless are definitely going to be interesting, could add more aliens to the illuminate or more zombies super fun faction

[@allanredhill8682]

Having snipers for the illuminate might be the reason we got the directional shield in the latest warbond. So you can cover a mate while he returns fire to the sniper with a amr or marksman rifle

[@PackingPeanut_87]

I never thought of that

[@dinocha0s]

Pretty sure why they became so dark and twisted is because he got done dirty by super earth in HD1 after trying to be friends lol

[@TPOSgeneralkos]

Funfact the citizens sometimes salute super earth they think we are the enemy because the illuminate are making them think we are the illuminate bugs or bots and the illuminate are making the citizens think the illuminate themselves are helldivers and help

[@TruthKeepersOfficialHD2]

That's a stretch. They salute when you kill them, and when idle, they seem to be somewhat confused by their own existence and appearance, probably echoes of consciousness.

[@TPOSgeneralkos]

@TruthKeepersOfficialHD2 i do not believe it is because you never could fully wipe away the democracy from someone

[@MichaelJordanTennisShoes]

The thing I love about the lore is this is only a Vanguard assault and If you think about it, the Illuminate haven't sent huge numbers like the Bugs or the Bots. Its really just the Overseer's the scout units and the Harvesters. The main bulk of their army are humans they have zombiefied. While we are in the southern regions of the galaxy dealing with this vanguard, they are going to pour through Meridia Black Hole and may even start to take bug territory and drive the bugs into the Northern part of the galaxy. I hope the rest of their units come over the coming weeks.

[@LocalCANFORpsyop]

We have seen them get rather... Uncomfortably close to automaton planets. I believe its a move to try and have a large co-ordinated assault on us.

[@chalmcal]

9:00 in hd1 the obelisk wasn’t a tank like the automaton tanks, they would teleport in and put an annoying ass wall that splits up your team and they would just sit there with the wall until they die or move to spawn another wall.

[@aegawaergaerga1794]

I played helldivers 1 and they were a MENACE - first off, missions based on kill X enemies were much more diffuclt in general in HD1 since its was one VERY small arena that enemies spawned constantly from the paremeter of the screen. Add in the line based (attacks from one side shooting a line across the whole screen) attacks the Illuminate use, you were basically playing a bulllet hell with some enmies inversing your controls constantly.

[@petergriffin3714]

Me n my friends shat our pants seeing a horde of voteless on Impossible difficulty

[@wrath4452]

Considering we’ve had the Illuminate sniping us even BEFORE they revealed themselves, they for sure have a Sniper unit of some sort. Maybe some kind of tank equivalent too. Who knows, maybe even a gunship analog?

[@bobb1000]

The votless make me think of husks from Mass Effect 😂

[@4VWill]

The way you pronounce Illuminate like we're lighting a room and not like the race of aliens killed this video for me.

[@GoneFishinCO]

Tip: Remember to ping enemies to get their Actual Names, and also call them out for your fellow helldivers.

[@internetuser320]

They are done being kind…….

[@gasalpha879]

I mean makes sense, in the first game they had been at peace for millennia, and were pretty peaceful, now They are not, and they had a century to prepare for this war,

[@internetuser320]

@gasalpha879 feel like they have enough of our shit

[@Zen-jiro]

The illuminates are now beaten and retreating. Considering this was their Vanguard, the rest of their forces will come soon. The most annoying ones to me from the first game were the Outcasts. They were squids with cloaking tech: something that never failed even when they died. On diff-15, 10 or more would we warped to your closest position and swarm you. Most units have their functions- limited as they were in their capability, but fearsome even more. It will be interesting to see their evolution

[@Malakai-f8t]

I KNEW YOU WOULD BE BACK

[@Rampager64826]

If the harvester is like the charger/ hulk of the illuminate I don’t even wanna fathom what there bill titan/ factory strider gonna be like

[@PackingPeanut_87]

😳 maybe a bigger tripod cuz I think there is 2 types

[@sentient_trash]

SES Song of Wrath reporting from Calypso, reminds me of the good ‘ol days in the Creek! First oil, now ink. It spills all the same

[@Six-gamez]

ses Elected Official of wrath Reporting in also from Calypso, Agreed, though admittedly these squids are far more formidable than any robot.

[@The_Array117]

Dude it released last night… did you not get any sleep?

[@chrisrizzchris]

lol fr

[@natesgamebox]

Sleep, I did actually get some of. However, I did call up my boss and told him I'm taking a day off because I have urgent things to take care of lol

[@zee-we5bx]

​@@natesgamebox lmao

[@IHL2005]

While there surelly be a call back to old units, i think they Will not be the same, because the illusionist sat in a chair a didn't fought(in a regular sense) because the illuminates where pacifist, but this Illuminates are just like us (murder hobos) so they will probably have more of a militaristic vibe and skills

[@gurulaghima6518]

I was eagerly waiting for a video from you

[@SomeKindaSpy]

Different theory: the Illuminate we're fighting now are not the main force and are instead a splinter faction that was trapped in hiding within Super Earth's domain. The creation of the super wormhole has caused them to begin hit and run tactics before the main army show up.

[@zmangkrd5312]

Funny enough that the illuminate seeked out peace with the SEAF, but they declined due to their tech. Also, my prediction is that we haven’t seen the main forces of the new illuminate, which is why we’re seeing the “fluctuations” from the Meridia black hole in the new recent major orders. We could see their main force eventually with added units come out of that black hole from the edge of the galaxy that you mentioned in the video.

[@LouiseBelcher69]

Why don't we study the Illuminate Kill one bring one on the Super Destroy study its armor, the weapons, and the helmet reverse engineer it, and make our armor, weapons, power armor, etc?

[@gsausse8_019]

Are you questioning our infallible managed democratic processes? Face the wall

[@Bwdoby]

We kinda already did that atleast for the hd1 illuminate

[@LouiseBelcher69]

@ let's do it again

[@nimblemesh]

​@@LouiseBelcher69we might have already done it due to the urban legends warbond

[@glasses2926]

I mean... our Jump Pack is their Elevated Overseer's pack, our Arc Thrower is mounted is from the top of their Harverster, our Tesla Towers are from the towers that guard some bases, our plasma weapons are similar to theirs, our shields are similar to theirs, etc. We 100% copied from them. They haven't exactly got anything *new* for us to copy which we haven't already.

[@kristianschiolten2148]

Yay new video (im antisipated to try to play against the illuminate then i get Home)

[@natesgamebox]

It's such a fun update. So many cool things they added

[@dr.calibrations7984]

On a raise the flag mission this weekend I was sitting next to a machine gun shooting at the husks during the night. The light from my own and the machine gun muzzle flash was just, well enough for me to post talking about it. This new update was such a win. My favorite faction to fight. Like a blend of bots and bugs, but in a good way.

[@terryjackson-chubick2506]

Seeing a lore channel for Helldivers? Subbed. I love the background and clarity.

[@ArkhamKnight-z9q]

I think I know who made the zombies who controls them the council KEY WORD I THINK

[@CJBuggs]

The Illuminate's dropship is very interesting as it is designed with a vertical Strake or basically stabilizer.

[@zerohour9861]

Was hoping you would upload

[@Pearg0ld]

I love its a "space god" or "space magic" when their tech is just more advanced than ours and are more war orientated

[@D4sBun]

The onlty thing im so grateful about the Illuminate right now is that only the Watchers that can call for reinforcements. The smallest Terminid can call a fucking titan in a go, and the most common Automaton foot soldier can call in an entire army all the way from Cyberstan in a second, the Illuminate on the other hand doesn't call reinforcements every minute or so (unless numerous watchers are nearby) since the Voteless can't call reinforcements nor the Overseers are willingly to call in themselves. Even achieved my first solo run because these guys are more nuanced than I thought, 4 stars even (I missed an Artillery somewhere in the map)

[@Lazydazed1]

Sitting in my car, parked, re-watching this vid when I say out loud to myself “Why am I not subbed to this guy?” I fixed my mistake

[@Alexander-ot5uo]

Boys, we're having calamari tonight!

[@allenaju1856]

This force is definitely a scouting/recon/gorilla force. They don’t stay if they win a fight they simply go to the next planet. I assumed we were just fighting them off from getting a foothold for the full invasion but they haven’t. The Overseer is exactly how they sound they do seem like POW guards as the jet packs seem like skirmish units that actually did the official fighting on a planet killing the SEAF while the overseers were simply used to capturing people. The harvesters act as a light tank type of unit it destroys any building and nothing can really stop its advance and unlike everything else it actually has a full shield as it shows it has more important priority. They are definitely planning something with how their current army is set up, either trying to lower population to make the fight more even or waiting when we are at our most vulnerable

[@tryorse8340]

They love to swarm with jetpacks. They're the rwal jet brigade

[@allanredhill8682]

If you crack open one of their dropships you can see it has organic insides where the shell is busted

[@adamallen7070]

FINALLY a lore video that acknowledges the first games existence, god imagine if a new marios game came out and people did a lore video ignoring all of the other mario games. thats 99 percent of the helldivers lore videos since the games release.

[@lindicible.7015]

I already started compiling as much evidence I could on all those questions you asked at the end. I came to many different hypotheses and the more I delved in it the darker it got. It's a grim future that awaits us.

[@WisdomThumbs]

I expect we'll get shielded Watchers, more powerful Harvesters, cloaked melee units, scouts with sniper lasers and a directional shield, and the Obelisk tanks. Plus the various types of mages, *and* more heavily armored, shielded Elite Warriors. But they completely lack an offensive air force. So we might get something like that, too. Btw, the patch notes confirmed that the Illuminate seem to have come through the Meridia hole.

[@bigboybeni3798]

It's so scary that the tripods are supposedly the illuminate equivalent of a charger

[@RatSkaven]

X-Com 3 is finally here! Look at that! Oh wait, that's helldivers. Damn it!

[@HolaSkinks]

The Harvesters bleed when you break parts off of them.

[@roberthisbass2513]

We fought bravely, and pushed back the Illuminate menace for good

[@SOULLESS_Duh]

Harvester tip- Its shield doesnt go up until it agros. A single EAT Rocket eats their health. You can kill one with a single shot to the connective tissue between the body and the legs. Easily able to destroy them without ever getting into closer range. Overseers can also be staggered by shooting the legs, and will put away their sheild temporarily.

[@zacharyhowell3962]

Overseer? That's an Elite. Flying Overseer? Elite Ranger. Illusionist? That's a prophet. Hunter? That's a jackel sniper. The large guy we have in the game files? That's a hunter or a brute depending on in game size and behavior.

[@Liam-f7i1q]

What I found was that a hmg or plasma charge rife ( the emplacement hmg) work really well to take out the shield and recoils can one hit tripods if hit well

[@Scarcheeze]

The squids are pissed off,now they dont peace anymore

[@notyouraveragegamer5.036]

A note that I have found is is if you have a quasar cannon aim for the legs of the harvester it should 1 shot

[@Sgt.RenegadeBaconB]

The hunter would shoot me when he wasn't even in the screen

[@keithsvenson568]

8:03 well considering we've got a leaked model of a thing in a chair that resembles these guys....

[@chiefexxor5069]

Maybe the wormhole is a connection to an alternative reality where the illuminates won vs super earth and employ the same tactics

[@Puppy_Puppington]

This literally just feels like halo bunched up into one faction. Shields. Alien tech in general and shoving “the flood” in with the covenant lol. Now the ODST have a warthog.

[@Adde-jp7eb]

I need a chainsaw sword to deal with this heresy.

[@anonymousman34]

i like how they are easier than bots but harder than bugs

[@boah1899]

A really cool mechanic would be for a illusionist to resurrect a dead Helldiver to fight for the illuminate. If any limbs are severed then they would be put back together with magic

[@loganb7059]

Not gonna lie I really like the idea that the illuminate made a deal with some lovecraftian entity. It feels far more sinister than just a formerly peaceful society now geared for war.

[@mizuchi6209]

Obelisks deploys energy barrier that cannot be destroyed unless you destroy the obelisks themselves, targetting to separate helldivers from each other, illuminates plays strategy meanwhile cyborgs plays at range firepower and terminids are playing absolute numbers and melee damage

[@shagakhan9442]

Imagine fighting in the cities of SuperEarth if it ever comes to that.

[@Zivin]

My only gripe with them really is that the jetpack guys are too fast, clip through everything, fly over the walls in defense missions, can also fly supper high in the sky, too tanky, and do way too much damage since they are able to fly forever and be fast. The only saving grace with them is their aim isnt the best unless youre standing still.

[@corvusgaming2379]

Unironically, that sounds like a skill issue.

[@Omba820]

The illuminate turned me into a spartan diver lol (I wish for nothing but stabbies)

[@AnArtInEveryLabor]

The HD1 Illuminate were very reminiscent of the Covenant from Halo. Now they're 100% influenced by Warframe. Considering the Helldiver games draw heavily from other sci-fi series that's awesome, but I still much prefer the aesthetic in the first game.

[@keztannis6848]

They remind me more of Destiny thb, they look like The Hive.

[@player55redcrafter8]

Bro fighting the illuminates alone. Bro must be John Helldiver?

[@AxolGamer2453]

All of the mutated things remind me of 40k tyranids:)

[@lordmaronex5356]

If you look at the Voteless you could say that they were biologically altered rather than mind controlled. In Helldivers 2 you can get a dialogue on the super destroy where it says that the Illuminate were 100% destroyed in the first Galatian war. (according to information from Superearth Archives) At the same time you can get a dialogue where it is said that the Illuminate supposedly received memories from the brains of the deceased. My theory is that the Illuminate were wiped out in the first Galatian War. And when the planet where Millarden was left to rot, the ecosystem there absorbed the Illuminate's DNA and mutated into the Illuminate again. In order to prevent traitors from making a pilgrimage to the said planet, the name and position of the planet were erased by Super Earth.

[@tryorse8340]

I have noticed something. The illuminate have an idle audio phrase that sounds alot like an audio line of the bots at a point. The bots have a line that sounds like "to a new dawn". I've heard some illuminates say something that sounds very similar as well. Could be my imagination though. But if it is true, the new dawn the bots refer to could include the illuminate. This would tie into the fact that illegal broadcasts in bits and illuminate have the same images

[@MrXxsoulessniperxx]

Meaning those walking cuddlefish and toasters are in cahoots?!? Those bastards!

[@williambond2267]

The powers of Chaos have come to Helldivers!

[@Im_a_rock764]

Guys I may be stupid but I have a theory, what if the New Jersey drone sightings were just the illuminate watching and documenting our species and we’re in the same timeline as helldivers 2, but hey that’s just a theory

[@ryanater69xd]

Nate please do a Recognisable Thumbnail for every video I never realise it's you. (Also a video on your predictions for the story would go hard)

[@tentons10]

Remember helldivers, we are facing an avant-garde fleet, not a vanguard fleet. That is all. (the main force is called the vanguard)

[@kayobee604]

the elevated overseer should have been called the "hoverseer"

[@talliyb]

When the Obelisks come out, they'll release a Helldivers Tank I bet.

[@tempest8882]

Personally, I think that the reason they look darker is because the harvester could be older technology that they've resorted to in desperation, byt thats a stretch.

[@Brielfidder]

Hell

[@player0ne16]

divers 2

[@StupitVoltMain]

I think they got dark and twisted because they were preparing to fight off super earth, and adapting their technology for warfare

[@Froncost]

i hope they add some kind of hovertank with a bubble shield when their main force arrives, would be so cool

[@AmelpsXett]

the whole lore is that we radicalized every faction. Cyborgs started using human brains to create Automatons and Illuminates do war crimes

[@chrissanders9777]

If anyone remembers the movie "war of the worlds" the tripods remind me of the aliens from that movie

[@balgrithfennir3581]

I wonder if this "invasion" is a test for the illuminate to see our current abilities and when we beat them(96% liberated at 12 hours to go) they will come back even harder with the big cavalry. Like the hunter and a tank of sorts

[@lordscorch3167]

I'll throw my hat into the speculation, i just started playing after Christmas but i think i can help as someone who is a diehard fan of the XCOM franchise and i get the same kinda vibe for the Helldivers world building as i do for Classic XCOM's. so heres my two cents: "why are the Illuminate darker/more brutal?": easy, we screwed them hard. the old Illuminate are confirmed to have been a peaceful, diplomatic spacefaring race. Super Earth even previously had a peace treaty with them, but we snuck attack them in the first war because they had "planet destroying weapons" under their arsenal. you can just look at real life history to see how the claim alone could be enough to justify war for a populous, and thats all Super Earth needs. they need a reason for war that the people will buy into, even if it's not true. the REAL reason for war is because the Illuminate clearly had tech that was vastly divergent then our own, and Super Earth leadership wanted that. not just because it could bolster our own tech (i don't know if Helldivers 1 had personal energy shields, but it would make sense of we got that in 2 *because* of Illuminate tech), but so that we could better counter theirs. complete extermination is very hard to do for a species that has already colonized other planets, so Super Earth knew we would likely fight them again. the reason Super Earth *said* they have planet destroying weapons is likely because after a brief analysis of the Illuminate tech, Super Earth found that some of it *could* be converted into planet destroying weapons. they didn't just attack the Illuminate because they thought that the Illuminate could destroy planets (because frankly, the Illuminate would have likely considered it after more and more exposure and realizing that the federation is kinda insane), they attacked the Illuminate because *THEY* wanted to have the ability to destroy planets. (See: bug planet that got turned into a black hole.) we snuck attacked them under false pretense, forced them into a non-negotiable peace deal in our favor, and stole their core world if not their home, and all for the reason that we wanted to be *more* destructive. yeah, no shit they have gone full rip & tear mode. (and it honestly fits with the theme of enemies from Helldivers 1 returning and becoming more extreme *because* of Super Earth. the Bugs becoming bigger and more mutated because they were likely the product of a SE mass food production engineering project gone wrong, the cyborgs fully rejecting their humanity and becoming almost completely robotic, est.) because of the loss of their core world, their population has suffered, leading to a massive cultural shift that pulled them away from their diplomatic and peaceful roots and have now become more violent, unforgiving and extreme. but they also don't have the numbers they had before, so this leads into the 2nd point. "why the Voteless? that seems kinda unlike the Illuminate": for the old Illuminate, yes. but for an Illuminate that has suffered extreme losses in population and are potentially on the slow road to extinction if they don't get back their old corner stones? the ends justify the means. the reason the voteless look so mutated and honestly in constant pain is likely because the process is rushed, the nanobots that the Illuminate use for their mind control have never been used to such an extent, so the method works but is not pretty at all. the other reason is that this Illuminate just *HATES* humanity now, and the added suffering of their mind-slaves is a deliberate cherry on top. this "vanguard" fleet's job is to invade as many colonies as possible, abduct as many humans as possible, so that the voteless can serve as the bulk of the attack force and take majority losses instead of their limited population. a dead voteless still counts, by technicality, as a dead human. but a dead Illuminate is a tragedy for an already stressed and exhausted population. (keep in mind, one of the missions we get is "Warp Ship Blitz". we have to destroy landed warp ships *BEFORE* they leave. they are shipping voteless *out* and linking them with the main fleets.) i look forward to this illegal broadcast being atomized by a soon to be dropped Hellbomb on my location.

[@syguygaming8977]

I think the hunter is already here. I keep getting sniped from nowhere

[@Leon-oc4em]

I hope they let us use a version of those jetpacks they fly on

[@Sampson_YT]

Pretty sure they’re pronounced illumin-it that’s how everyone says it. Illuminate just means like lighting stuff up and is already a word 😂

[@BucketSentry]

Dude you just walk into the harvester's shield and shoot its belly.

[@Joseph-yj7yg]

I left for a week and this happened