The power of bromance might just save your life in Helldivers 2

In Helldivers 2, you can protect your teammates from an explosion that would otherwise kill them using the Hug Emote.

If you’ve been playing Helldivers 2, you probably know about emotes. For the most part, emotes are fun animations you can use to communicate with your teammates, but the Hug Emote is special. If you time it right and have the right equipment, you can save a teammate’s life.

In Helldivers 2, there’s a Strategem, the SH-20 Shield Generator, that gives you a protective barrier that absorbs damage from bullets and even makes you immune to certain damage types. Under normal circumstances, the Strategem only provides protection to the player who has it equipped, but if you time it correctly, you can actually share the shield with another player using the Hug emote.

YouTuber StandardAce explained this in a video where they protect another player from a 500 kg bomb using the Hug emote right before it exploded. 

It’s a fun way to save an ally from certain death, but the method won’t always work. The emote needs to trigger a second before the blast hits, and even then, it isn’t 100 percent reliable. Additionally, you can’t survive the blast if the 500kg bomb hits the shield directly. 

Whether this is a bug or an intended feature doesn’t really matter. It’s such a wonderful feeling to save someone’s life through the power of friendship. Here’s hoping the developers make an achievement to recognize the incredible feat.