Introduction to Tier Lists in Helldivers 2

In Helldivers 2, optimizing your loadout is crucial for success against the encroaching threats of the Terminids, Automatons, and Illuminate. A tier list serves as a valuable guide, ranking weapons, stratagems, and armor passives based on their effectiveness in various missions and against different enemy types. While personal preference and playstyle always factor in, understanding the meta can significantly enhance your contribution to Super Earth's cause. This guide compiles recent tier rankings to help you make informed choices for your Helldiver.

Weapons Tier List

The weapon sandbox in Helldivers 2 is diverse, with nearly every gun being viable with the right build, but some armaments undeniably outperform others. Rankings often depend on the enemy faction, difficulty, and your preferred playstyle.

Primary Weapons

Primary weapons are your main source of consistent damage. Tier lists for these often consider their performance against specific factions.

S-Tier Primary Weapons

CB-9 Explosive Crossbow: Noted for its high burst damage on single targets and effectiveness against Automatons. It has a slow fire rate and low capacity but a surprising explosive punch. Also S+ tier against Terminids.

R-36 Eruptor: This bolt-action rifle fires exploding shrapnel shells, capable of clearing weak enemy clusters and damaging heavy armor. It is ranked S+ tier against Automatons and Terminids, and works well on shielded enemies. However, it can be cumbersome, and careless use may result in friendly fire.

PLAS-101 Purifier: Offers high stagger and splash damage, making it great against Illuminate rushes and effective against Terminids. It also performs well against shielded targets.

DBS-2 Double Freedom: Features a tight spread, solid reload, and fire ammo, making it a strong choice against Terminids.

PLAS-1 Scorcher: Excels against Automatons by penetrating shields with its plasma splash and punishing grouped enemies. It is one of the few primaries that remains useful under pressure.

ARC-12 Blitzer: Despite wild recoil, it offers huge Area of Effect (AoE) damage if you can aim the arcs, making it strong against Terminids.

SG-8P Punisher Plasma: A solid fallback against Automatons when anti-tank stratagems are down, providing stagger and splash damage. It's also strong against Terminids.

A-Tier Primary Weapons

AR-2 Coyote: A flexible weapon with good stagger, effective against both Terminids and elites, and reliable at mid-range against Illuminate.

SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary: A specialized variant of the Breaker that deals extra fire damage, making it highly effective against organic enemies like Terminids by burning everything and blocking paths.

LAS-17 Double-Edge Sickle: A variant from the Servants of Freedom Warbond, it deals more damage per shot and gains better armor penetration as it heats up. It's also effective against Terminids and Automatons.

R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper: Built for distance, reliable against sniper units and commanders, especially effective against Automatons.

JAR-5 Dominator: A slow but powerful weapon that fires jet-propelled rounds, trading fire rate and control for stopping power and medium armor penetration. It is effective against Automatons.

B-Tier Primary Weapons

MA5C Assault Rifle: A solid primary weapon due to its accuracy and medium armor penetration, best suited for short-range fights.

Punisher: A slow-firing but punchy shotgun that reloads per shot, removing ammo waste but slowing reloads. It is good against Terminids.

StA-52: A Killzone crossover assault rifle with a faster fire rate and larger magazine than the Liberator, balanced by unwieldy recoil.

StA-11 SMG: A manageable, high-capacity, high fire rate SMG from Killzone.

Secondary Weapons

Secondary weapons often provide utility or serve as a reliable backup when your primary or support weapon runs low on ammo.

Grenade Pistol: Highly effective at destroying Fabricators and Bug Holes, offering significant utility beyond just killing power.

Talon: Performs exceptionally well against most enemies, sometimes even surpassing some primary weapons in capability.

Senator: Similar to the Talon, it performs exceptionally well against most enemies.

Support Weapons

Support weapons are called in via Stratagems and provide significant firepower, often specializing in anti-armor or crowd control roles.

S-Tier Support Weapons

Quasar Cannon: A powerful support weapon that can be a must-pick against certain factions.

Expendable Anti-Tank (EAT): Highly effective for quickly dealing with armored targets.

Railgun: A strong choice for penetrating heavy armor.

Autocannon: A versatile and decent weapon with anti-air and anti-tank modes, consistently good across all three factions. It can be found in S-tier for stratagems.

Flamethrower: Excellent for keeping bugs at bay, even heavily-armored Terminids like Chargers, though it can set the ground on fire. It is also effective in fire builds.

Speargun: Effective against Terminids, with gas effects dissolving smaller bugs and confusing larger ones. It can also close bug holes with a well-placed spear.

Commando: Listed as an S-tier Stratagem.

A-Tier Support Weapons

Recoilless Rifle: A great support weapon that is excellent in the right situations.

Anti-Materiel Rifle: A good early-game stratagem.

Grenade Launcher: A valuable tool for clearing groups of enemies and objectives.

Machine Gun / Stalwart: Rapid-fire machine guns are good for holding back hordes of insects, especially the Machine Gun on higher difficulties for armored bugs. The Stalwart is also a B-tier stratagem.

Arc Thrower: A strong late-game stratagem.

Stratagems Tier List

Stratagems are call-in abilities that provide crucial support, from offensive barrages to defensive emplacements and supply drops. Their effectiveness can vary by mission and enemy type.

Orbital Strikes

S-Tier Orbital Strikes

Orbital Laser: Introduced in early 2025, it has become a fan-favorite due to its reliability and usefulness in almost any mission.

Orbital Railcannon Strike: Remains a king of precision bombardment, useful for dealing with big enemies.

Orbital 380mm HE Barrage: Excellent for taking out bases, especially against Automatons, due to its widespread area of destruction. It's best used when you can observe from a distance.

Orbital Gas Strike: Useful in pretty much any mission or as a must-pick against a certain Helldivers 2 faction.

Orbital Precision Strike: A starting stratagem with low recharge time and big damage, great for various scenarios.

Orbital Gatling Barrage: An elite stratagem for taking out bug breaches or large groups of bugs, also excelling against Automaton hordes. It has a short 60-second cooldown.

A-Tier Orbital Strikes

Orbital Napalm Barrage: Good for creating walls of fire to clear bug nests and hold back enemies.

Orbital 120mm HE Barrage: A quicker and smaller version of the 380mm, useful in a pinch and less likely to hit teammates.

Orbital Walking Barrage: An odd but effective stratagem for obliterating a line of enemies over 30 seconds.

C-Tier Orbital Strikes

Orbital EMS Strike: An average stratagem that is usable but limited in effectiveness, often having superior alternatives. It can be good for mid-game control.

D-Tier Orbital Strikes

Orbital Smoke Strike: Generally not recommended as it can block vision and doesn't provide enough benefit for a stratagem slot.

Eagle Strikes

S-Tier Eagle Strikes

Eagle 500kg Bomb: Highly impactful, useful in almost any mission, and a must-pick against certain factions. It has great availability and utility.

Eagle Airstrike: A quick option with solid armor penetration, great for taking out large enemies like Chargers and Hulks, and effective against objectives like bug holes and factories.

Eagle Cluster Bomb: Effective for clearing enemy patrols.

A-Tier Eagle Strikes

Eagle Napalm Strike: A fire version of the Eagle Airstrike, leaving a trail of fire that is very good against Terminids and for fire builds, though less effective against Automatons.

Eagle Strafing Run: A good stratagem with short cooldown and deploy time, effective for clearing smaller enemies.

C-Tier Eagle Strikes

Eagle 110mm Rocket Pods: Its effectiveness has reportedly decreased after updates, making it a less optimal choice compared to similar stratagems.

D-Tier Eagle Strikes

Eagle Smoke Strike: Similar to its orbital counterpart, it is generally considered ineffective.

Sentry and Emplacement Stratagems

S-Tier Sentries

EMS Mortar Sentry: An S-tier stratagem, highly effective.

Autocannon Sentry: A very good sentry that aims for larger enemies first, recommended against both bots and bugs.

Machine Gun Sentry: One of the best early-game stratagems, effective for dealing with crowds.

Tesla Tower: A B-tier stratagem, but can be highly effective with proper placement.

B-Tier Sentries

Gatling Sentry: Good for mid-game.

Rocket Sentry: A late-game stratagem.

Mortar Sentry: Effective against all enemy types if placed well, but can cause friendly fire.

Backpack Stratagems

S-Tier Backpacks

Shield Generator Pack: A must-pick against certain factions and useful in almost any mission.

Warp Pack / Jump Pack: Offers enhanced mobility.

Guard Dog Rover: A strong mid-game stratagem.

Supply Pack: Essential for replenishing ammo and stims.

B-Tier Backpacks

Ballistic Shield Backpack: Usable but limited in effectiveness.

Guard Dog: A B-tier stratagem.

Armor Passives Tier List

Armor in Helldivers 2 offers different perks and levels of protection, balancing speed with survivability. Each armor has a unique passive buff.

S-Tier Armor Passives

Med-Kit: Provides 50% more Stims and increases stim effect duration by 2.0s, making it always useful regardless of build or situation.

Engineering Kit: Increases initial inventory and holding capacity of throwables by +2, always useful for more grenades.

Reduced Signature: Makes the wearer 50% less noisy when moving and reduces enemy detection range by 40%, perfect for stealthy approaches.

Extra Padding: Effectively grants a higher armor rating, making light armor behave like medium, medium like heavy, and heavy like extra heavy, significantly increasing durability.

A-Tier Armor Passives

Rock Solid: Helps prevent Helldivers from ragdolling when hit and increases melee damage by 40%. It's very good for weapons with low handling or melee builds.

Democracy Protects: Provides 25% resistance to explosive damage and a 50% chance to avoid grievous limb injury. It also prevents all damage from bleeding if the chest hemorrhages, invaluable for survivability.

Servo-Assisted: Increases throwing range by 30% and provides +50% limb health. It's always useful, though it may require adjustment to muscle memory.

Gunslinger: Increases reload speed of primary weapons by 30%, sidearms reload speed by 40%, and reduces sidearm recoil by 70%. It also increases sidearm draw/holster speed by 50%.

Reinforced Epaulettes: Provides 50% resistance to explosive damage.

Siege Ready: Increases ammo capacity of all weapons by 20% and primary weapon reload speed by 30%.

B-Tier Armor Passives

Unflinching: Helps prevent Helldivers from flinching when hit.

Acclimated: Provides 50% resistance to fire, gas, acid, and electrical damage.

Inflammable: Provides 75% damage resistance to fire, useful against Terminids and if using fire weapons.

Fortified: Further reduces recoil when crouching or prone by 30% and provides 50% resistance to explosive damage.

Scout: Makes the wearer 50% less noisy and increases point-of-interest identification range by 30%, also generating radar scans every 2 seconds when a marker is placed.

C-Tier Armor Passives

Electrical Conduit: Provides 95% resistance to arc damage. It may become very useful with new arc weapons.

Advanced Filtration: Provides 80% resistance to gas damage and effects. Gas damage is currently considered less impactful than other elemental damage types.

D-Tier Armor Passives

Desert Stormer: Provides 40% resistance to fire, gas, acid, and electrical damage, and increases throwing range by 20%. It is considered a worse version of Acclimated due to less damage reduction.

Understanding Armor Types: Light, Medium, and Heavy

Armor choice often comes down to personal preference and playstyle.

Light Armor: Offers 550 speed and 125 stamina regeneration with an armor rating of 50. It is often considered the most useful due to noticeable speed and stamina boosts, especially for objective-focused missions. However, it results in 25% additional damage taken compared to medium armor.

Medium Armor: Serves as the baseline, balancing mobility (500 speed, 100 stamina regen) and survivability (100 armor rating). It's a reliable all-around choice for varied missions.

Heavy Armor: Provides the most protection (200 armor rating) but makes you 10% slower (450 speed) and reduces stamina regeneration to 75. It offers 25% damage reduction compared to medium armor. Heavy armor is often recommended against Automatons due to their heavy firepower.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How often do Helldivers 2 tier lists change?

A: Tier lists can change with game updates and balancing efforts by developer Arrowhead. For example, fire nerfs were accounted for in a February 2026 primary weapons tier list, and weapon tier lists are updated with new Warbond weapons.

Q: Are all weapons viable in Helldivers 2?

A: While nearly every gun is viable with the right build, some weapons are significantly better than others. Arrowhead's balancing efforts aim to keep most options viable.

Q: Does armor type (Light, Medium, Heavy) affect passive perks?

A: Each armor in Helldivers 2 has a unique passive buff, and these passives can be found on Light, Medium, or Heavy armor, influencing the overall effectiveness based on the armor's base stats. For instance, the 'Extra Padding' passive can make light armor perform like medium armor in terms of durability.

Q: How are weapons ranked in Helldivers 2 tier lists?

A: Weapons are often ranked based on their performance at higher difficulties (e.g., T7+) and against specific enemy factions, considering factors like damage, armor penetration, crowd control, and overall utility. Some tier lists also consider solo vs. group play.

Q: What are Warbonds and how do they relate to tier lists?

A: Warbonds are a way to unlock more armor and weapons in Helldivers 2 using Medals or Supercredits. New Warbonds often introduce new weapons and armor passives, which can then be integrated into updated tier lists after testing.

Helldivers 2 Tier List: Comprehensive Guide to Weapons, Stratagems, and Armor

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