Helldivers 2 Leviathan Guide: How to Find and Destroy Weak Spots
Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2026 6:38 am
Welcome back, Helldivers. If you’ve been deployed to the frontlines against the Illuminate recently, you have likely run into their massive Leviathan warships. These floating dreadnoughts are absolute monsters on the battlefield, boasting an intimidating estimated health pool of around 17,500 HP and wrapped tightly in heavy Class 5 outer armor. If your squad rolls up to the engagement without a plan and just starts spraying primary weapons, you are going to burn through your entire resupply without leaving so much as a scratch.
Bringing down a Leviathan requires solid team coordination, serious anti-tank firepower, and a clear understanding of its structural anatomy. While it is incredibly tanky, breaking specific external components shreds its defenses and exposes its soft, AP4-vulnerable inner tissue to devastating follow-up attacks. Here is your definitive guide to executing a successful "whale hunt."
Key Weak Spots & Break Points
The Leviathan does not have a single, massive "headshot" zone that you can exploit from the get-go. Instead, you need to strip away chunks of its armor to create your own openings. Focus your squad's fire on these three key areas:
The Back Fin / Tail (The Best Target): This is the single best and most reliable weak spot to target on the entire warship. It is the fastest component to break, requiring just two direct hits from a Recoilless Rifle or an Anti-Tank Emplacement. Once you sever it, it leaves behind a massive, smoking blue wound that drops the localized armor rating down to Class 4, making it highly vulnerable to standard support weapons.
The Side Wings / Fins: Look for the large structural wings flanking the main chassis. If your angle on the tail is blocked, focus heavy ordnance on these wings. Breaking a wing exposes a vulnerable interior zone easily identified by burning blue flames.
The Underbelly Vent / Vents: Positioned directly under the ship's head segment, you will find a large, circular, glowing blue vent. Forcing this hatch open allows your team to pour direct explosive and medium armor-piercing damage straight into the heart of the hull.
Step-by-Step Stratagem Guide to Destroying It
To drop a Leviathan without wasting your team's entire ammunition budget, you need to establish a strict two-phase execution cycle. Do not just fire randomly; communicate with your squad to execute these two steps cleanly.
Phase 1: Strip the Armor (Class 5 Armor Piercing Required)
First, you must lead the attack using heavy anti-tank ordnance capable of cracking Class 5 armor to strip the outer shell. Your top options include:
FAF-14 SPEAR: The absolute gold standard for solo targeting. The SPEAR automatically forces a hard lock onto the front head unit and consistently downs the Leviathan in 5 clean shots.
GR-8 Recoilless Rifle: Requires 5 to 6 direct hits to achieve the same result. If you are using this, have a teammate assist with a "buddy reload" so you can fire all shots in rapid succession before the ship maneuvers out of your line of sight.
E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement: This is excellent for localized defensive holdouts. While it takes roughly 13 to 16 shots to completely shred the primary health pool on its own, it provides steady, sustained heavy anti-tank fire.
Phase 2: Exploit the Exposed Wound (Class 4 Armor Piercing)
The moment a fin, wing, or tail section breaks off and starts bleeding blue smoke, your heavy rocket operators should hold their fire. Do not waste precious anti-tank rockets on a spot that is already broken. Instead, switch weapons immediately and let the rest of your squad take over.
Have your teammates focus heavy, sustained support fire directly into the open, smoking blue wound. Weapons like the Autocannon, Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), HMG Emplacement, or even the Erupter will now deal full damage to the exposed soft tissue. Tearing into these weak spots will shred the remaining health pool and dismantle the Leviathan in seconds.
Survival Tips & Tactical Intel
Knowing how to hurt the Leviathan is only half the battle; you also have to survive long enough to execute the plan. Keep these three tactical realities in mind during the engagement:
Ignore the Turrets: The Leviathan carries up to 14 defensive cannons across its frame. Do not waste heavy anti-tank rounds trying to shoot individual turrets. They act as damage sinks, absorbing your powerful shots without draining the actual main health pool of the warship.
Utilize Heavy Cover: Leviathans function like massive, airborne sniper platforms. They will track you relentlessly. Always keep substantial structures, large buildings, or heavy natural rock formations between you and its active firing arc whenever you are reloading, recovering stamina, or waiting on stratagem cooldowns.
Equip the Right Armor Passive: Before diving into missions with known Leviathan presence, look at your loadout. Equipping armor that features the B-24 engineering or any explosive resistance passive is highly recommended. The added blast defense is often the exact threshold needed to prevent the Leviathan's massive plasma cannons and heavy bomblets from completely one-shotting you, giving you a fighting chance to stim up and complete the mission.
Bringing down a Leviathan requires solid team coordination, serious anti-tank firepower, and a clear understanding of its structural anatomy. While it is incredibly tanky, breaking specific external components shreds its defenses and exposes its soft, AP4-vulnerable inner tissue to devastating follow-up attacks. Here is your definitive guide to executing a successful "whale hunt."
Key Weak Spots & Break Points
The Leviathan does not have a single, massive "headshot" zone that you can exploit from the get-go. Instead, you need to strip away chunks of its armor to create your own openings. Focus your squad's fire on these three key areas:
The Back Fin / Tail (The Best Target): This is the single best and most reliable weak spot to target on the entire warship. It is the fastest component to break, requiring just two direct hits from a Recoilless Rifle or an Anti-Tank Emplacement. Once you sever it, it leaves behind a massive, smoking blue wound that drops the localized armor rating down to Class 4, making it highly vulnerable to standard support weapons.
The Side Wings / Fins: Look for the large structural wings flanking the main chassis. If your angle on the tail is blocked, focus heavy ordnance on these wings. Breaking a wing exposes a vulnerable interior zone easily identified by burning blue flames.
The Underbelly Vent / Vents: Positioned directly under the ship's head segment, you will find a large, circular, glowing blue vent. Forcing this hatch open allows your team to pour direct explosive and medium armor-piercing damage straight into the heart of the hull.
Step-by-Step Stratagem Guide to Destroying It
To drop a Leviathan without wasting your team's entire ammunition budget, you need to establish a strict two-phase execution cycle. Do not just fire randomly; communicate with your squad to execute these two steps cleanly.
Phase 1: Strip the Armor (Class 5 Armor Piercing Required)
First, you must lead the attack using heavy anti-tank ordnance capable of cracking Class 5 armor to strip the outer shell. Your top options include:
FAF-14 SPEAR: The absolute gold standard for solo targeting. The SPEAR automatically forces a hard lock onto the front head unit and consistently downs the Leviathan in 5 clean shots.
GR-8 Recoilless Rifle: Requires 5 to 6 direct hits to achieve the same result. If you are using this, have a teammate assist with a "buddy reload" so you can fire all shots in rapid succession before the ship maneuvers out of your line of sight.
E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement: This is excellent for localized defensive holdouts. While it takes roughly 13 to 16 shots to completely shred the primary health pool on its own, it provides steady, sustained heavy anti-tank fire.
Phase 2: Exploit the Exposed Wound (Class 4 Armor Piercing)
The moment a fin, wing, or tail section breaks off and starts bleeding blue smoke, your heavy rocket operators should hold their fire. Do not waste precious anti-tank rockets on a spot that is already broken. Instead, switch weapons immediately and let the rest of your squad take over.
Have your teammates focus heavy, sustained support fire directly into the open, smoking blue wound. Weapons like the Autocannon, Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), HMG Emplacement, or even the Erupter will now deal full damage to the exposed soft tissue. Tearing into these weak spots will shred the remaining health pool and dismantle the Leviathan in seconds.
Survival Tips & Tactical Intel
Knowing how to hurt the Leviathan is only half the battle; you also have to survive long enough to execute the plan. Keep these three tactical realities in mind during the engagement:
Ignore the Turrets: The Leviathan carries up to 14 defensive cannons across its frame. Do not waste heavy anti-tank rounds trying to shoot individual turrets. They act as damage sinks, absorbing your powerful shots without draining the actual main health pool of the warship.
Utilize Heavy Cover: Leviathans function like massive, airborne sniper platforms. They will track you relentlessly. Always keep substantial structures, large buildings, or heavy natural rock formations between you and its active firing arc whenever you are reloading, recovering stamina, or waiting on stratagem cooldowns.
Equip the Right Armor Passive: Before diving into missions with known Leviathan presence, look at your loadout. Equipping armor that features the B-24 engineering or any explosive resistance passive is highly recommended. The added blast defense is often the exact threshold needed to prevent the Leviathan's massive plasma cannons and heavy bomblets from completely one-shotting you, giving you a fighting chance to stim up and complete the mission.