Introduction to Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 is a 2024 cooperative multiplayer third-person shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It serves as a direct sequel to the 2015 game, Helldivers. Set in a satirical, futuristic universe approximately a century after the first game, players embody elite soldiers known as Helldivers, dispatched by 'Super Earth' to combat various alien threats and spread 'managed democracy' across the galaxy. The game emphasizes co-op gameplay, strategy, and teamwork, shifting from its predecessor's top-down perspective to an over-the-shoulder, third-person view. Helldivers 2 launched on February 8, 2024, for PlayStation 5 and Windows.

Warbonds and Progression

Warbonds in Helldivers 2 are akin to battle passes but are permanent and do not expire, allowing players to progress through them at their own pace. They offer unlockable equipment through a tiered system, rewarding players with in-game items for completing missions and orders. Types of Warbonds:

Standard Warbonds: These are free and available to all Helldivers upon enlistment, such as 'Helldivers Mobilize'.

Premium Warbonds: These must be purchased with Super Credits, which can be found in-game or bought via the store. Examples include 'Steeled Veterans' and 'Polar Patriots'.

Legendary Warbonds: A special tier reserved for collaborations or unique items, priced differently from Premium Warbonds.

Unlocking Content: Content within Warbonds is unlocked by spending Warbond Medals, earned by playing missions or completing Major and Personal Orders. Players must spend a certain amount of Medals on previous pages to unlock new ones. Warbonds can contain a variety of items, including weapons, grenades, armor sets (armor, helmet, cape), vehicle skins, emotes, victory poses, player cards, Super Credits, Boosters, and Stratagems. The gear from Warbonds aims to provide different gameplay experiences rather than unfair advantages.

Weapons Guide

Every Helldiver enters a mission with a primary weapon, a secondary weapon, and a grenade type. Weapons are categorized by their damage output, armor penetration, and special properties, making loadout choices crucial for different enemy factions and mission types. Primary Weapons (Examples of highly rated options):

PLAS-101 Purifier: Known for top-tier stagger and splash damage, effective against all three enemy factions with a charging mechanic for great damage and medium armor penetration.

R-36 Eruptor: Excels in area-of-effect (AoE) with exploding shrapnel shells, capable of clearing weak enemy clusters and damaging heavy armor. It has heavy armor penetration but is not ideal for very close quarters.

CB-9 Explosive Crossbow: Offers high burst damage and great utility.

LAS-16 Sickle / LAS-17 Double-Edge Sickle: The Double-Edge Sickle, from the 'Servants of Freedom' Warbond, gains increased damage and armor penetration as it heats up and can fire indefinitely, though it can burn the user if overheated. The Trident is also highlighted for its unlimited ammo, fast fire rate, high damage, and lack of damage fall-off.

AR-2 Coyote: A reliable mid-range incendiary assault rifle, balanced and flexible.

SG-97 Sweeper: A full-auto shotgun with medium-armor-penetrating flechette shots, good for close-quarters engagements.

PLAS-1 Scorcher: A versatile and powerful primary with AoE splash and good medium damage, though it can harm the user with its AoE.

Secondary Weapons & Grenades: Secondary weapons often serve as utility for weaker enemies. Grenades are vital for destroying objectives like bug holes and fabricators. The Frag Grenade is a solid early-game choice.

Armor Types and Passive Abilities

Armor in Helldivers 2 comes in three main types: Light, Medium, and Heavy, each affecting your Armor Rating, Speed, and Stamina Regen. Armor Stats:

Armor Rating: Determines damage resistance and susceptibility to injuries. Armor Rating over 100 reduces damage from headshots. Higher armor values mean smaller caliber rounds are less effective.

Speed: Affects how fast your Helldiver moves.

Stamina Regen: Governs how quickly stamina regenerates.

Armor Types & Trade-offs:

Light Armor: Offers the best speed and stamina regeneration at the cost of lower armor rating, making you more fragile. It can increase damage received by about 25% compared to medium armor. Often recommended with a Shield Generator Pack.

Medium Armor: Provides a balance between speed, stamina, and resilience. It has a baseline Armor Rating of 100.

Heavy Armor: Offers the highest protection but sacrifices speed and stamina regeneration. It provides about 25% reduced damage taken compared to medium armor. Heavy armor is particularly useful against Automatons due to their ranged attacks, which reduces the need for constant movement.

Armor Passive Abilities: Body armor also comes with passive abilities that enhance your Helldiver's capabilities. These are not restricted to specific armor types, but medium armor often has a good selection. Examples include:

Democracy Protects: Grants a 50% chance to not die instantly from lethal damage and prevents bleeding from chest hemorrhages.

Engineering Kit: Reduces recoil while crouching or laying down by 30% and increases grenade capacity by 2.

Extra Padding: Increases Armor Rating (though not reflected in the stat display).

Fortified: Reduces recoil while crouching or laying down by 30% and grants 50% resistance to explosions.

Med Kit: Increases Stim capacity by 2 and extends their duration by two seconds.

Stratagems: Tactical Support

Stratagems are crucial tactical abilities that every Helldiver can bring into a mission, with up to four available per player. They are activated by inputting a directional code and throwing a beacon to the target location. Each stratagem has a cooldown, a call-in delay, and sometimes a limited operational time. Ship module upgrades can improve these numbers. Stratagem Categories:

Support Weapons: Powerful weapons called down to assist. Examples include the AWP-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle, M-105 Stalwart, Recoilless Rifle, Autocannon, Grenade Launcher, and Quasar Cannon.

Orbital Strikes: Delivered from your Super Destroyer, these range from precise single hits to area denial. They all start with a right-directional input.

* Orbital Precision Strike: A free, early-game option with a short cooldown and tight impact radius, good for bug holes and finishing damaged heavy enemies. * Orbital Gas Strike: Effective for crowd control. * Orbital Railcannon Strike: Automatically targets the highest-priority enemy and punches through heavy armor. * Orbital Laser: Highly impactful for killing heavy enemies. * Orbital 380mm HE Barrage & Orbital Walking Barrage: Have wide dispersion patterns, requiring careful deployment away from teammates or objectives.

Eagle Strikes: Fast cooldowns and multiple charges per rearm cycle (reset with Eagle Rearm stratagem). They start with an upward input.

* Eagle 500kg Bomb: Highly impactful for killing heavy enemies, with a large blast radius that can take down a Bile Titan. * Eagle Airstrike: Multiple charges and low cost, useful for clearing areas. * Eagle Napalm Airstrike: Good for area denial against swarms.

Sentries & Emplacements: Deployable turrets or defensive structures.

* A/MG-43 Machine Gun Sentry & Gatling Sentry: Effective for suppressing enemies and dealing with hordes. * Mortar Sentry & Autocannon Sentry: Provide area suppression and anti-armor capabilities. * E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement: A powerful anti-tank cannon, highly recommended against armored enemies like Factory Striders, Bile Titans, or Leviathans.

Backpacks & Vehicles: Provide utility or defense, such as the B-1 Supply Pack, Guard Dog Rover, Shield Generator Pack, and Jump Pack.

General Stratagem Tips:

Bring a mix of stratagems with long and short cooldowns.

Place turrets at an angle different from your position, ideally on high ground, to avoid friendly fire.

Never call a Hellpod reinforce inside an active FX-12 Shield Generator Relay dome.

Sentry stratagems (except A/ARC-3 Tesla Tower) have a 150-second operational time limit.

Enemy Factions and Weaknesses

Helldivers 2 features two primary enemy factions: the Terminids (insectoids) and the Automatons (robots). A third faction, the Illuminate, has been mentioned as a future threat. Terminids (Bugs): Generally weak to fire and less armored than Automatons, favoring melee attacks. Aiming for the legs of medium-sized enemies can slow them down.

Scavengers/Pouncers/Hunters: Small, fast bugs. Scavengers are easy to kill but can attract more Terminids. Pouncers and Hunters leap great distances for melee attacks. Hunters can be shot down with light penetration. High-stagger weapons are effective against Hunters.

Bile Spewers/Nursing Spewers: Tougher bugs that spit bile. Their faces are weak spots, and their green/orange sacks can be popped to damage surrounding enemies. On higher difficulties, they can fire bile bombs from range. Explosives under the belly/abdomen are effective.

Chargers: Can break formations with their charge. Dedicated anti-tank weaponry like the Recoilless Rifle or Quasar Cannon can one-shot them with a headshot. Aim for their limbs first to eliminate them more effectively.

Bile Titans: One of the most formidable Terminids, capable of crushing Helldivers and spitting deadly bile. Use powerful Stratagems and anti-tank weapons. A well-placed Eagle 500kg Bomb or a headshot with a Quasar Cannon, Recoilless Rifle, or EAT-17 can eliminate them. Popping their bile sac removes their bile attack but makes them more aggressive.

Shriekers: Flying Terminids with low health, usually found near Shrieker Nests. They can be killed with 1-2 shots but are dangerous in numbers due to their hit-and-run tactics.

Automatons (Bots): Feature plenty of medium and heavy armor, with a greater focus on ranged combat. Generally weaker to energy weapons and armor-piercing attacks. If a Bot sends up a Flare, it's calling in Dropships.

Troopers/Berserkers/Devastators: Berserkers are melee-only with chainsaws for arms; aim for the head and glowing midriff sections. Devastators wear medium armor but have exposed weak points like their head, torso, joints, or backpack.

Scout Striders: Armored units with pilots. Aim for the exposed pilot.

Hulks: Heavily armored, often with devastating weaponry. Target their weak points, such as the glowing eye or exhaust vents.

Tanks (Shredder, Annihilator): Incredibly tough with powerful cannons. Weak points include the rear vent, tracks, and rear chassis. Use strong explosive stratagems like Orbital Precision Strike or the Eagle 500kg Bomb, or medium-penetration weapons on weak points. Destroying tracks immobilizes them.

Factory Striders: Massive walking factories. Weak spots are often found on their underside or vulnerable parts. The E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement is effective against them.

Mission Types and Objectives

An 'Operation' consists of a sequence of missions on a single planet. Completing all missions in an operation grants bonus rewards. Failing one mission causes the entire operation to collapse. Objectives:

Primary Objectives (Main Objectives): Must be completed for mission success. Rewards 500 Requisition Slips and 100 XP before difficulty multipliers. Extraction is not required to collect rewards if the primary objective is done.

Secondary Objectives (Optional Objectives): Add 200 Requisition Slips and 50 XP each, with some exceptions like 'Destroy High-Value Target' which awards 222 XP but no Requisition Slips. Completing more side objectives increases endgame rewards. The 'Retrieve Mutant Larva' objective uniquely requires successful extraction for its reward.

Enemy Outposts: Large red blotches on the map representing enemy base camps. Destroying them improves end-of-mission rewards.

Locating Objectives: Objectives appear as blinking question marks on your map when in close proximity. The UAV Recon Booster increases this range. Large clumps of stationary red dots on the map often indicate an enemy-guarded objective. Common Mission Types:

Universal Objectives (any planet): Retrieve Essential Personnel, Spread Democracy, Emergency Evacuation, Launch ICBM, Retrieve Valuable Data, Conduct Geological Survey, Evacuate High-Value Assets. Launch ICBMs often involves multiple steps like finding launch codes and activating generators.

Terminid-Specific Objectives: Focus on infestation control. Examples include Purge Hatcheries, Nuke Nursery, Cleanse Infested District, Eliminate Impaler, and Eliminate Bile Titans. Destroying Terminid eggs is a common objective, but bugs constantly spawn to protect the hive.

Automaton-Specific Objectives: Involve sabotage and destruction of infrastructure. Examples include Sabotage Supply Bases, Destroy Transmission Network, Sabotage Air Base, Destroy Command Bunkers, and Halt Cyborg Production. Sabotage Air Base requires destroying stationary Automatons and control towers, often involving Hellbombs or offensive stratagems for dropships and fabricators.

Extraction: Extraction becomes available once the primary objective is completed. While not strictly necessary for mission rewards, samples found during a mission must be carried by a living Helldiver onto the dropship to be claimed by the entire team.

Essential Tips and Strategies

Friendly Fire is On: Be aware that all weapons, stratagems, turrets, and even the dropship can cause friendly fire. Place turrets in front of you, facing the enemy, not behind.

Aiming and Movement: Avoid moving while aiming for better precision. Crouching or going prone significantly steadies your aim.

Diving: Use the dive (prone) to quickly evade airstrikes, get behind cover, or lay down accurate heavy machine gun fire. Diving also reduces explosive damage and can put out fire. A quick tap for a knee slide followed by a double-tap can give an extra jump.

Stratagem Usage: Don't waste stratagems when nothing is nearby; bailing is often a better option. Try to have a balance of long and short cooldown stratagems. Coordinate equipment with your team for powerful combinations.

Enemy Engagement: Enemies will call in reinforcements, so engage with purpose and quickly destroy groups. Don't aggro all enemies; sometimes it's better to avoid patrols.

Objectives Over Kills: Focus on completing objectives rather than maximizing kills, especially when overwhelmed. The more side objectives and enemy base camps you clear, the better your end-of-mission rewards will be.