Helldivers 2’s one year anniversary does see the Illuminate start gearing up for black hole bowling, but never fear: players have invented the Hellbomb trebuchet

As players had been expecting given how hard it was teased throughout last week, the first anniversary of Helldivers 2’s release has seen Arrowhead unleash a big Illuminate campaign that’s taking a lot of work to try and hold off.

It’s ok, though. There’s a new impromptu weapon of sorts the divers might be able to use to help them do just that.

“The Center of Science on Fenrir III can confirm: Meridia is in motion,” this latest squid-battling order reads, “The Dark Energy that the Illuminate muster through their many invasions appears to be key. The Helldivers [are] now called upon to limit the Illuminate accumulation of this Dark Energy.”

So, as of writing, players are midway through that task, having held off five of the 11 Illuminate attacks they need to by the time the mission concludes in just over three days’ time. The baddies are really going all out too – their presence has been cheekily disappearing from the game’s galactic map, as if to try and lull Super Earth into a false sense of security while the assault squads stealthily prep and unleash attacks.

Don’t worry though, in their efforts to repel these invasions and generally muck about, players have discovered a way to turn one of the latest warbond’s additions into something even more terrifying. As demonstrated by Reddit user Fair-Albatross8520 in the clip above, if you time things up perfectly, it’s possible to fling a portable Hellbomb catapult-style by popping it down on the ground and then calling in an anti-tank emplacement.

The emplacement lands, and in the course of unfurling itself, its barrel flicks the Hellbomb a decent distance. If there’s an enemy in the way – kaboom. It’s far from easy to pull off though – Fair-Albatross8520 writes that in about three to four hours of testing and “at least 50 to 70 tries”, they “only succeeded in actually launching forward 3 times”, with only the launch they’ve clipped having “near-perfect trajectory”.

So, maybe not the thing to whip out in every battle, but hey, if you’re your team’s only hope left in one of these Illuminate battles and are probably gonna die anyway, why not?