The SEAF Artillery side objective in Helldivers 2 turns the tide of brutal bug and automaton skirmishes when handled correctly. When you spot a crumpled artillery installation on your map, ignoring it means leaving massive orbital firepower on the table. Activating, loading, and sequencing these autoloaders correctly requires teamwork, coordination, and a clear understanding of shell types.
Primary search intent for this topic centers around how to find, load, and prioritize shells for the Sub-Earth Armed Forces (SEAF) artillery site. The competitor page is a broken, autogenerated mess of gibberish and hallucinated details about ocean maps. This guide delivers precise mechanics, shell tier lists, tactical loading strategies, and common pitfalls to help your squad maximize extraction odds on higher difficulties.
Finding and Powering Up the SEAF Artillery Site
Every planetary operation on medium difficulty and above features a chance for a SEAF artillery side objective to spawn. It appears on your minimap as a small gun icon surrounded by unmined ground or ruined concrete.
Approach the site and clear out any local automaton patrols or bug nests guarding the perimeter. Once the area is secure, look for the main terminal console near the landing pad. Interact with it to restore power. If the terminal lacks power, a secondary power generator box will be nearby—look for the glowing yellow cable running from the console across the ground, follow it to the generator, and interact with it to boot the system up.
Restoring power does not automatically make the artillery fire. Each of the five loading tubes must be physically fed shells scattered around the immediate vicinity of the compound.
Locating and Carrying Shells
Shells spawn in small pods, bunkers, or open ground within 30 to 50 meters of the artillery cannon. You'll need to manually pick up each shell and carry it to the loading mechanism.
Carrying a shell forces you into a slow walk and prevents you from sprinting or using your primary weapon. If you take damage from a Stalker or a stray automaton laser, you will drop the shell. Clear a safe path back to the artillery pad before hauling heavy ordnance across open fields. If you drop a shell in deep water or a bug hole, don't panic—another set of random shells will spawn nearby, or you can retrieve it if it sits on shallow ground.
SEAF Artillery Shell Types and Priority Order
The real tactical depth of the SEAF artillery lies in the order you load the shells into the central crane. The artillery fires sequentially, meaning the first shell you load is the first shell fired when you call in the stratagem.
Load order dictates whether you survive a Bile Titan wave or wipe your own squad with a stray mini-nuke. Here is how every shell ranks and how you should organize them:
High-Yield Mini-Nuke
- Effect: Creates a massive atomic blast that vaporizes everything in a wide radius—Bile Titans, Factory Striders, and careless teammates alike.
- Priority: Load this last (as the 5th shell) or second-to-last so it sits at the bottom of the loader, ready for desperate extraction moments. Never fire it when teammates are within 40 meters.
Static Field / EMP
- Effect: Emits a lingering electrical field that freezes enemies in place, stripping mobility from Chargers and hordes of Hunter bugs.
- Priority: Extremely high utility on higher difficulties (Suicide Mission through Helldiver). Load these early to trap charging enemies in a choke point.
High Explosive (HE)
- Effect: Standard armor-piercing blast that deals solid damage to medium-heavy targets and bug holes.
- Priority: Reliable middle-of-the-pack filler. Great for general crowd clearing if specialized shells aren't available.
Incendiary
- Effect: Coats a large area in white-hot flames, melting chaff units and damaging armor over time.
- Priority: Excellent for Terminid bug breaches, as the fire chokes off bug pathing corridors entirely. Less effective against automatons.
Smoke
- Effect: Deploys a thick smoke screen that breaks line of sight with automaton gunners and devastators.
- Priority: Low utility for bugs, but crucial for Helldivers attempting stealth extractions or breaking contact during heavy bot drops.
Napalm vs. High Explosive
If you have a mix of standard HE and Incendiary, alternate them to create staggered explosive and burning zones across incoming enemy hordes.
Calling in and Firing the Artillery
Once your squad loads all five tubes, the artillery is ready for action. Open your stratagem menu and select the SEAF Artillery beacon. Throw it into the middle of an enemy swarm, a heavy bug breach, or a fabricator base just like an orbital strike.
The cannon will fire rounds in the exact sequence you loaded them. A HUD notification will display which shell is currently chambered. Pay close attention to this indicator so you don't call down a High-Yield Mini-Nuke on a single scavenger bug.
To practice safe stratagem management, check out official updates on weapon balancing via Arrowhead Game Studios. For broader gaming news and community guides, visit IGN.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Rushing the load order: Throwing shells into the tubes randomly results in smoking a lone warrior bug with a mini-nuke. Always communicate with your squad on chat or voice to coordinate shell selection.
- Ignoring enemy patrols: Hauling shells while a Hulk tracks your position is a recipe for instant failure. Clear the area completely before starting the logistics phase.
- Throwing the beacon too close: The artillery shells have a slight arc and spread. Throwing the beacon at your own feet guarantees a friendly fire incident. Toss it at least 25 meters away.
- Forgetting the side objective: Leaving an active SEAF site uncompleted means losing free heavy ordnance that could save your mission during extraction timeouts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you reload the SEAF artillery after firing?
No. Once all five loaded shells are fired, the installation becomes spent and cannot be reloaded or used again during that mission.
Do shells despawn if left on the ground?
Shells persist through the entire mission once discovered. You can clear the map of bug nests first, then circle back to load the artillery safely.
How many shells spawn at each site?
Usually, between 5 and 7 shells spawn within the immediate vicinity of the terminal, giving you slight room to pick and choose your preferred payload.
Does the artillery target players?
The artillery targets the exact location of the red stratagem beacon you throw. If you throw it too close to your position, the blast radius will catch you.
