| “ | 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.
While being hard to spot amongst the buildings of colonies and Mega Cities, Harvesters are incredibly loud, and are often heard before being seen. A sound similar to a fog-horn can be heard from far away and should put you on high alert, even if dealing with swarms of Voteless. When engaged in combat, the overall music also changes - this could be a good indicator that either a Harvester has spotted you or your squadmates are currently trying to bring one down. However, in open areas, Harvesters tower above everything, making them extremely easy targets to engage from far away.
On Medium (3) difficulty missions, Harvesters 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 easy to kill, as their exposed leg joints can be easily destroyed by any anti-armor weaponry or a well timed Stratagem. However, if you find the shield bubble regeneration an obstacle, you can break off one of the Harvester's "horns" on the bottom or top of its shell, permanently turning off that shield ability.
Harvesters are best engaged at medium or far distances - getting too close will result in instant death delivered through a violent electrocution. While their eye laser technically has infinite range and absurd damage - even brushing against it may cause your untimely demise - it can be easily dodged, as it is quite slow moving. What shouldn't be ignored is their surprising mobility - Harvesters can easily keep up with a fleeing Helldiver, and can appear from behind buildings faster than one may expect, catching you off-guard.
Harvesters, like most Squ'ith units, excel at killing Helldivers that are not aware of their surroundings or are too focused on the Voteless hordes. Vigilance and awareness are recommended when dealing with them.
Tactics
- The Harvester's core and legs are all heavily-armored, and it possesses a shield that blocks a medium 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.
- 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 or directly underneath it. 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 its Heavy Variant) 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. (Note: This tactic is unadvised as it will result in death due to the Harvester's Tesla Gun)
- 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.
- Both the HMG Emplacement and the Anti-Tank Emplacement are extremely efficient at taking down a Harvester, with the latter one-shotting it from a safe distance. Be advised that if done in a pinch, however, the Harvester's laser may destroy your emplacement instantly.
- 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.
- 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.
- One of the many sounds a Harvester can make during combat sounds strikingly similar to portions of the Super Earth National Anthem's chorus, implying that the Illuminate engage in psychological warfare.
