Helldivers 2 Agitator and Shredder Tank: Weak Points and How to Kill Them

The Agitator is a Cyborg that commands nearby Automatons, and the Shredder Tank is an Annihilator Tank variant built around a four-barrel fusion turret. Arrowhead Game Studios introduced the Agitator with the Cyborg subfaction on 10 February 2026, and patch 6.2.2 (28 April 2026) changed how every Automaton tank takes damage. This Helldivers 2 guide gives the official facts first, then the weak points and counters listed on helldivers.wiki.gg, labelled as wiki data.

Both are Automaton-front enemies, and they are very different fights. Arrowhead’s Machinery of Oppression announcement says Agitators command the Automaton legion in the field, are heavily armored and can take control of enemy squads. The same post lists the Agitator as one of three new enemy types in the Cyborg subfaction. The Shredder Tank is, per helldivers.wiki.gg, a very large Automaton vehicle and a variant of the Annihilator Tank whose main armament is a Quad-linked Heavy Fusion Cycler turret.

Everything in this section is wiki data from helldivers.wiki.gg unless marked official, and none of it was tested by us.

What the Agitator does to nearby Automatons

The wiki says Agitators can take charge of nearby light humanoid Automatons such as Troopers, along with Berserkers and any type of Devastator. Affected units get a movement speed increase, shown by glowing yellow eyes, and the command continues as long as the Agitator is alive. The wiki’s Tactical Information adds that when an Agitator is killed, every Automaton under its command is stunned for a few seconds, a window for killing blows or a retreat. Exactly when the speed boost wears off is not stated.

Weak points by part

The wiki also says the Agitator’s Light armour must be stripped away before the flesh underneath can take damage, similar to how Overseer body armour works.

Laser weapons: the 6.1.0 fix

Arrowhead’s 6.1.0 patch (17 March 2026) fixed an issue where the Agitator’s and Radicals’ armour did not break properly under laser weaponry. Official 6.1.0 announcement. Advice written before that date that lasers struggle against Agitator armour may be out of date.

Per the wiki, the Quad Heavy Fusion Cycler turret hits ground targets hard and can pour a heavy volume of bolts onto infantry. Once it spots a Helldiver, it switches between two firing patterns: a short, roughly one-second focused burst, or a longer, roughly two-second burst that sweeps across an area.

The wiki says Shredder Tanks first appear on Medium with a low spawn chance, in specific medium-to-large Automaton Outposts. From Challenging they can spawn from Bot Drops, in patrols and guarding Outposts, Fortresses and Minor Places of Interest. They share a spawn chance with Annihilator Tanks, and both are occasionally replaced by Barrager Tanks from Suicide Mission upward.

Official changes first, then the counters the wiki lists.

Official 6.2.2 changes (28 April 2026)

Arrowhead’s Machinery of Oppression 6.2.2 announcement raised all tanks’ main health pool from 3000 to 4000. It raised back vent health from 750 to 1500 and back vent armour from Medium to Heavy (3 to 4). It also reduced the Shredder Tank turret’s turn speed. The amount of the turn-speed reduction is not stated in that line.

The same announcement changed the tracks: their damage zone is removed once it is dead, the damage cap that carried through to main health was removed, and durable resistance on tracks went from 1.0 to 0.8.

Hull back vents versus the turret vent

Do not swap these two rows. The 6.2.2 vent change is on the hull’s back vents, and the 750 and Medium figures belong to the turret’s own vent.

Counters the wiki lists

• EAT-17 Expendable Anti-Tank and LAS-99 Quasar Cannon — the wiki says two hits on the turret bring it down, or a single hit lands the kill if it strikes near the rear-facing vent from the side.
• FAF-14 Spear and G-123 Thermite — one Spear shot to the hull, or two Thermites, can destroy the Tank.
• APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle, AC-8 Autocannon, R-36 Eruptor — the rear chassis is vulnerable to these, and tracks can be destroyed with Medium armor-piercing weapons to immobilise a tank.

Specific Eagle and orbital counters are not stated in the cited patch notes.

Press guides add more advice. GamesRadar’s tank guide points players at the orange heat sinks on the back of the turret. The guide is not dated against 6.2.2, so treat it as general advice. GamesRadar tank guide. Weapon picks change with patches, so check the Helldivers 2 weapon tier list for patch 7.1.1 for the current state of the support weapons above.

The wiki reports the following routes, but their shot counts and part vulnerabilities have not been verified here for 6.2.2 or later builds. It says the tank fires either a 1-second precision burst or a 2-second sweeping burst once it notices you, that destroying the tracks makes it immobile (Medium armor-piercing weapons can do that), and that destroying the back engine or turret disables it, followed by an explosion. Listed kill routes include EAT-17 or Quasar hits at the turret, Thermite or Spear hits at the hull, or rear-chassis weapons.

The wiki lists these routes for a tank: 2 EAT-17 or Quasar shots at the turret (1 if it lands near the turret heatsink from the side), 2 G-123 Thermites, or 1 FAF-14 Spear shot to the hull. They are wiki figures that we have not re-tested since 6.2.2, so treat them as a starting point, not a guaranteed count. Patch 6.2.2 did double hull back-vent health from 750 to 1500, so a back-vent shot count written before 28 April 2026 is out of date. We have no measured time-to-kill for either enemy, so this article gives shots and not minutes.

The hull back vents are Heavy armour (4) after 6.2.2, and the wiki lists the turret vent as Medium. A weapon that penetrates Heavy armour also covers Medium, so only Heavy-penetrating weapons handle both vents by armour class alone. A Medium-penetration weapon does not automatically cover the hull vent. Heavy-armour penetration is the relevant requirement for penetrating those hull vents under the 6.2.2 values. A current-build list of qualifying weapons is not stated in the cited patch notes.

“Heavily armored” does not mean Heavy armour

Arrowhead’s announcement says heavily armored, while the wiki puts the Agitator’s armour class at Light. Those are different things, so bring something that breaks Light armour cleanly and aim for the helmet and head.

Turret vent numbers are not hull vent numbers

The 750 HP, Medium figure applies to the turret vent, while the 6.2.2 hull vents are 1500 HP, Heavy. Armour that helps you survive the Shredder’s bursts is a separate question, covered in the Helldivers 2 armor passives guide.

Official: the Agitator description (10 February 2026), the 6.1.0 laser armour fix and the 6.2.2 tank changes, linked above. Wiki data: everything from the Agitator page and the Shredder Tank page, community-reported and not verified against a primary source. We did not test any of it in-game.

Sources and Confidence

This table separates what the studio has confirmed and what is not confirmed yet. Each claim below is tied to the post and the game version it describes.