Helldivers 2 players report sentry turrets deliberately target them

TheGamer reported on October 21, 2026, that Helldivers 2 players say sentry turrets deliberately target them, citing viral X footage from Helldivers_NOW and a June 4, 2026 Steam Community post in which turrets tracked player movement and fired with no enemies present.

On June 4, 2026, a Steam Community user wrote that a gun sentry turret deliberately targeted the player about 1% of the time, swiveling to aim at the player specifically rather than at nearby enemies. The user distinguished the issue from player-killing mortars and said machinegun sentries normally only rarely hit players with a single bullet and almost never kill them, while deliberate targeting always results in death via a lethal burst. “Definitely not shooting at an enemy near you, or past you, but swivel to target you, specifically,” the user wrote.

The deliberate targeting happened twice in two days with machinegun sentry turrets, and each instance caused death because the turret fired a burst meant to kill. In that player’s experience, autocannon, rocket, laser, and flamer sentry turrets never targeted players, only gatling and machinegun variants did.

TheGamer reported on October 21, 2026, that viral videos posted by Helldivers_NOW on X show turrets tracking the exact direction a Helldiver moves and shooting even when no enemies are in sight. Players have also shared videos of the Las Sentry actively tracking players, expanding the range of sentry types implicated beyond gatling and machinegun variants. The outlet said most turret incidents were previously considered coincidence, but the viral footage makes the pattern difficult to defend.

TheGamer reported on October 21, 2026, that many Helldivers 2 players are encountering the turret problem without the mod support they previously relied on to avoid it. The outlet explains that players previously used mods to avoid the problem, so the loss of mod support exposed more players to it, causing a skyrocketing number of players to encounter the turret problem without mods. PC players face a difficult stretch playing unmodded, though the outlet hopes the visibility of issues players previously fixed with mods will lead to official patches.

Some players believe the game uses an internal timer that tracks the time since a player’s last death and then forces that player to be targeted by random events, enemies, or their own Stratagems. TheGamer said this has not actually been confirmed, though players have described dying to environmental damage or being suddenly hit by an attack out of nowhere after enough time has passed, making it difficult to tell whether bad luck or intentional design is responsible.

Arrowhead Game Studios and Nixxes developed Helldivers 2, while Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation Publishing publish it. The game runs on the bitsquid engine and carries an ESRB Mature 17+ rating for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, and Users Interact.

Helldivers 2 launched on February 8, 2024. TheGamer describes it as a roller-coaster live-service title that earned praise as a unique co-op shooter but drew complaints over technical and developmental problems since its debut. The outlet says the game recently built up some goodwill through a massive player cap increase, only to lose it when a new anti-cheat update drew fan anger. TheGamer notes that Helldivers 2 has faced player pressure and review bombing before, and that the latest turret issue has prompted concerns about additional frustrating gameplay mechanics.

IGN reported that patch 7.1.0 arrived on September 22, 2026, bringing community feedback changes, balance updates, and bug fixes. The patch fixed a problem in which landing an A/G-16 Gatling Sentry on the GATER sometimes caused the sentry to spin out of control.

TheGamer describes the turret targeting mechanic as having evolved from a fan theory into an outright conspiracy as more players share evidence. “it’s clear that the legions of aliens aren’t the only thing on their radar,” TheGamer wrote.