| “ | These spindly machines stalk the battlefield, reaping patriotic innocents with their cycloptic death beam. They see with only one eye, emblematic of the limited, closed-minded perspective of the entire Illuminate species. | „ |
| ~ Helldivers 2 PlayStation Store Page |
Harvesters are 
Illuminate heavy units, used to wreck cities and enforce their masters' dominance. They have one "eye" that can shoot a devastating ray of heat, disseminating death anywhere it goes, and also have the ability to fire Tesla bolts that torture 
Helldivers and other 
Super Earth citizens, often killing them. When attacked, they will activate a shield that can block an Orbital Railcannon Strike and Eagle 500kg Bombs.
Harvesters are surprisingly hard to spot, as they are often found in wrecked cities supported by Overseers and Voteless, and you will most likely be distracted by a swarm of Voteless and won't notice them until they start firing at you. It helps to look out for the Harvesters' theme, which plays whenever they enter combat; this can be recognized by a loud sound similar to a horn.
They are relatively tall so when out in the landscape they are a lot easier to spot; they will also participate in patrols on higher difficulty missions. On medium(3) difficulty missions, they are classified as high value targets, earning themselves their own elimination missions. During these, they will often be flanked by swarms of Voteless and several Overseers. When you're in a Helldiver squad, Harvesters pose much less of a threat as one teammate can support another who has been attacked by a Harvester. Once their shield has been depleted, Harvesters are relatively hard to kill as they can soak up an immense amount of damage before being destroyed. If one of the "prongs" above or below their "eye" is destroyed, they will lose their ability to generate their shield; keep this in mind when attacking them solo.
Harvesters have relatively heavy armor all around. However, their "eye" only has medium armor making it more vulnerable, and their leg joints also have thinner armor: these are a prime weak spot when attacking them. It is important to keep this in mind if you are facing one alone, as you want to take them out as quickly as possible. Although they are relatively slow, they can suddenly turn reasonably fast, making it hard to avoid their path of fire. It is heavily advised not to try to run between their legs as they can easily crush you by accident, and this puts you in range of their Tesla attack.
Tactics[]
- The Harvester's core and legs are all heavily-armored, and it possesses a shield that blocks a high amount of damage before being depleted. However, it does have weaker parts.
- The exposed sinew-like joints and thighs where the legs connect to the core are only medium-armored, and are much weaker than the core. This makes them the most ideal location to deal damage to, as a single shot from most anti-tank launchers are capable of destroying it.
- The two prongs above and below its eye function as shield generators and are only medium armored, if one of these is destroyed it will prevent it from raising its shield.
- Its "eye" where its beam cannon shoots from, is only lightly-armored. It is however, difficult to shoot as its a very small target. It also transfers little damage to the core, and is not a fatal body part, but does deal significant damage to them if destroyed.
- Its "eye" can still be shot at, even after it's destroyed, this also appear to transfer large amounts of damage to its main. It is unclear whether you're hitting its internal hitbox or not.
- Its shield has no armor level, and any weapon will do damage to it. However, it has a high degree of health that can withstand several high-powered attacks, shrugging off a direct hit from a 500kg bomb or orbital railcannon shot. This makes beam and high-RoF weapons more effective at dropping their shields, as a sustained but fast barrage of light attacks will overwhelm their shields more efficiently.
- Similarly to the
Terminid Bile Titans, enough hits from heavy-penetration weapons will shatter their core's armor, leaving them vulnerable to all forms of damage.
- Harvesters have two weapons: A beam cannon and close-range Tesla guns. All their weapons are fired from their "eye", hence they can only attack targets infront of them and have no quick defense for side or rear attacks.
- The Beam cannon is capable of high damage, quickly turning buildings into ruins. Simply being grazed by it is enough to halve a Helldiver's health from full, and a direct hit from it is usually instant death. They will typically focus the beam at a single point, but are capable of moving it around if the Helldiver evades. These have an impressively long max range of 200m, but minimum range of 20m.
- The Tesla guns shoot an arc of electricity at targets that get within 20m. These stun and deal a sizable amount of damage. Having armor that has the "Electrical Conduit" trait will withstand the stun and negate the damage to a negligible amount.
- A recommended tactic is to focus on the exposed "thighs" of the harvester. They have less HP, and destroying one destroys the harvester completely.
- Support weapons like the MG-43 Machine Gun and LAS-98 Laser Cannon are very adept at taking down harvesters on their own, as their large ammo capacity and armor penetration are capable of dealing with both the shield and their legs destroying them with a few seconds of concentrated fire.
- Tossing a powerful anti-armor stratagem on their path, then using an M-105 Stalwart or MG-43 Machine Gun set at their highest RoF to quickly deplete their shields, is one way to take them down whilst still remaining viable against other Illuminate infantry.
- It is possible to Hellpod on top of one, instantly killing it.
- Alternatively, using energy primary weapons like the LAS-5 Scythe or LAS-16 Sickle to deplete their shields, then switching to an anti-tank launcher to land a direct hit on their legs, is also a viable strategy.
- Using multi-hit, anti-infantry stratagems like the Eagle Strafing Run or Orbital Gatling Barrage to deplete their shields, then firing an anti-tank missile at their legs, is another proven strategy.
- An HMG or anti-tank emplacement deployed from long range is capable of quickly dispatching several harvesters. It is recommended they are not facing you within 200m.
- If one has a partner, an efficient strategy is to have one person with a high-RoF weapon to disable their shields, then another with an anti-tank weapon fires on one of the harvester's legs immediately while they are vulnerable.
- Rushing one from the sides or rear, getting within their shield bubble, and throwing a thermite grenade right at their core is one unorthodox, but effective tactic to take one down, though sticking it to the Harvester is inconsistent. Using armor with the "Servo-Assisted" trait helps in throwing thermites high enough to stick to the core.
- Weapons with heavy staggering effect like the AC-8 Autocannon can prevent the Harvester from using its own weapons. However, it is briefly a harder target to hit while it recovers its posture.
- Harvesters power down their shields when not engaged. This makes unaware harvesters vulnerable to ambushes from enterprising Helldivers.
- A risky tactic to deal with Harvesters is to rush inside of the Harvester's bubble shield and shoot at its exposed joints with a Recoiless Rifle or an EAT-17 Expendable Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher. If the player can avoid the Harvester's death beam and acts quickly enough, they'll be able to destroy the Harvester before it can engage its close-range Tesla weapon. However, players with slower reflexes can instead opt to wear an armor with the "Electrical Conduit" passive in order to heavily mitigate the arc damage.
- Harvesters are usually accompanied by Overseers, who themselves may be herding a block of Voteless.
- Harvesters are not very fast or nimble enemies, despite their appearance. They are very vulnerable to ambushes in the confines of urban terrain and are slow to react to attacks from the sides or rear. But they do excel in the open badlands in the outskirts of the city, where cover is much less abundant and their slow speed is less of a hindrance.
- Unlike Bile Titans, Harvesters generally do not attempt to crush Helldivers under their legs. That said, being crushed by them while they are moving is still very much lethal.
- Like Bile Titans, Harvesters cannot respond to Helldivers riding on top of them. Their slow movement also makes random impacts against riders unlikely.
Trivia[]
- Despite the Harvester's beam attack technically being a heat attack, (as it sets you on fire if it touches you), heat resistant armor will not help you due to its blistering damage per second.
- Harvesters are most likely designed after the Martian Tripods from The War of the Worlds.
- Their overall silhouette and whale-like death cries may be inspired by the Combine Striders from Half-Life 2, which were, in turn, inspired by The War of the Worlds.
- They appear to be an evolution of the Tripod from the First Galactic War. However, in addition to their old Tesla guns, the Illuminate added the beam cannon to augment their power.
- With the Bile Titan, it is one of the currently few enemies to have its own battle theme. Also, parts of its soundtrack exhibit loud noises similar to the 2005 War of the Worlds Martian Tripods' iconic horn sounds.
- Harvesters appear to be biomechanical in nature rather than just being fully machine, as players can look at what appears to be a Harvester's destroyed brain once it dies.
