Helldivers 2 offers a wide selection of weapons of various types. They range from assault rifles to submachine guns, from shotguns to sniper rifles, and much more. The game provides extensive customization and upgrade options, allowing gamers to create their own playstyles and overcome various challenges on the battlefield. In this guide, we'll discuss the types of weapons available, how to obtain them, and look at the best representatives of each type.
Helldivers 2 confidently maintains its leadership among new releases, continuing to captivate hundreds of players. However, the project is constantly changing. The developers warned about this, but in the context of additional content. In reality, many already familiar aspects are also regularly adjusted, forcing players to abandon proven strategies. Today, we will talk about the most convenient and effective weapons after all the recent patches.
You can read more about the guns, how to get them, and how primary weapons differ from those available in stratagems in our first guide. We won't dwell on that here.
Let's start with the primary weapons, which can be unlocked with medals. As before, your main choice remains the shotgun SG-225 Crusher. It unlocks almost at the beginning and is excellent at destroying both robots and bugs. Its penetrating power has been slightly reduced, but not critically.
If you have saved up for a paid pass, which can be obtained for free with super credits, you can unlock an improved version of the shotgun — SG-225IE Incendiary Crusher, which is distinguished by its fiery ammunition effect. For now, this is the most convenient primary weapon, which also frees you from the need to use any stratagems related to fire.
A bit less effective but still efficient is the marksman rifle R-63CS Anti-Sniper Zeal. It has a modest magazine but an excellent scope, which, if necessary, can be equally effectively used for shooting from both third-person and first-person perspectives. This advantageously distinguishes the gun from the Heavy Caliber Rifle, which, although it penetrates armor, is useless from a third-person view. Anti-Sniper Zeal may not suit everyone and can be unlocked at later stages of the game, but the rifle is definitely worth trying.
The rest of the guns are either too slow, take too long to reload, or don't penetrate enemy armor. On higher difficulty levels, you're unlikely to use your primary weapon often, but it's important that it's powerful, fast, and can save you in a critical moment.
The choice of secondary weapons is significantly smaller. The starting pistol P-2 Peacemaker is only useful on easy levels. Replace it with P-19 Savior as soon as possible. It has higher rate of fire and a larger magazine. You'll use it for the rest of the game. However, if you've bought or unlocked a premium package, you can get a pistol that closely resembles a revolver — P-4 Senator. It's slow but quite powerful, with damage much higher than the Savior. Just remember that it takes a long time and often to reload.
We've covered the standard guns. Now it's time to discuss the weapons you'll get from stratagems, as it's these that developers often rebalance. Let's start with the simple — the Grenade Launcher from the Engineering Section remains as excellent as ever. It's cheap equipment that's incredibly effective both on easy levels and the hardest. But remember, the projectiles often ricochet off enemy armor, so aim for the legs.
The second weapon was the main meta of the game for a long time, but now its effectiveness has decreased. We're talking about the Railgun. If before, this thing could blow up a huge bug-titan in two shots, now you'll need to spend much more ammo, and you need to be able to aim at areas not protected by armor. Nevertheless, for a more solitary playstyle, the Railgun is still indispensable.
If you're running missions with a well-coordinated team of friends, you can choose from several options designed for constant ammo supply by a second player. There are several options, but the Autocannon and Spear are the best. The latter is also self-guided, allowing you to quickly destroy nests and robot factories.
A highly effective tool for total annihilation is the Machine: Watchdog. Be sure to choose the one equipped with a laser rifle, as the second option with a regular one constantly requires ammo, reducing your mobility. And this is the only laser weapon worth using. All other similar guns are too slow and take too long to kill enemies, but as support — that's another story.
After the recent update, a mech called Exosuit Patriot was added to the game. The machine is equipped with a machine gun and a mobile rocket launcher, and costs a whopping 20,000 currency. Before you start saving up for it, you need to know a few nuances. First, the exoskeleton moves quite slowly, cannot jump, and you cannot call in stratagems from it. Second, the machine's armor is very weak and can withstand only one or two hits, after which it catches fire and almost immediately explodes. Rockets and bullets are also not infinite. All this makes the new feature useful only in certain situations. In heavy combat, the Patriot is more likely to hinder, but in defense or while waiting for evacuation — it can be very useful. In any case, we recommend unlocking everything described above first, and then spending your hard-earned credits on the new toy.
As you progress through campaigns and develop your character, you will continuously improve your equipment and unlock new weapons. The entire arsenal offered can be divided into 4 categories:
Stratagems are special skills that can be selected in advance and activated during a mission. When activated, players receive support from the main ship, which is in orbit around the planet. This can be anything from orbital strikes to calling in auxiliary weapons.
Primary and secondary weapons can be chosen from a wide assortment, which includes:
The entire arsenal in the game is quite balanced, upgraded versions of standard guns have reduced base characteristics compared to their original counterparts. Additionally, the game features a variety of different grenades.
All available weaponry is unlocked as players progress. There are several ways to unlock something new:
Once you've acquired something new, you can select it on the equipment screen before starting campaigns.
Using primary weapons, you will need to eliminate a huge number of advancing enemies. And your choice should be based on the goal set before you and specific opponents you may encounter in the future. Let's consider the best representatives of this category.
Most players agree that the best primary shotgun in the game is the SG-225 Breaker. With its high rate of fire, excellent damage, and capability for automatic fire, the shotgun is perfectly suited for combat with both the Terminds and the Automatons.
You can obtain the Breaker by using medals to unlock it on the 4th page of personal merits. Despite its short range and rapid ammo consumption, this automatic shotgun is an excellent choice for quickly destroying groups of enemies.
This starter rifle with good characteristics is a reliable and versatile weapon for any mission. Experience with it will help to use its modified versions more effectively in the future. The standard assault rifle, which players rate highly in their personal tops, serves well in any situation and at different levels of difficulty.
It fires quickly, has low recoil, allows switching between automatic and semi-automatic firing modes, and deals good damage with each shot. Thanks to the sight, it can also be used at a distance, although its accuracy will be lower than that of sniper rifles.
This rifle comes in two variants. The semi-automatic version has high damage and low recoil but suffers from significant camera shake. It is best suited for defensive battles where one can maintain a stationary position and keep the aim steady. It unlocks during the course of completing tasks for 8 medals. Particularly effective against automatons, a couple of shots at weak spots are enough to kill living armored targets.
This gun also has a sniper variant (Counter Sniper). It features increased damage and is extremely effective against armored enemies. However, its small magazine size requires good teamwork, as it cannot handle large groups of enemies. Its use can be challenging if the player lacks cover. Overall, both rifles have their advantages and disadvantages and are suited for different situations in the game.
The Scorcher plasma rifle deals the highest area damage. It's effective against any type of enemy but dangerous in inexperienced hands. Consider this as an alternative to a rocket launcher in situations where you need to deal with large groups of smaller enemies. The game does not feature PVP mode, however, friendly fire is always active in every mission, and improper use of the rifle can greatly complicate the game for your teammates.
The game offers a very limited selection of secondary weapons. Let's discuss most of them so you can get a full understanding of how they function differently and ultimately determine your choice depending on what you aim to use them for.
This pistol has high power and is well-suited for use as a secondary weapon. It features a semi-automatic firing mode and a magazine of 15 rounds, making it convenient for backup use. Reloading is quite fast, which can be useful in critical situations.
This variant is more suited for Termind locations, where battles take place at close and medium distances. For such missions, a sight is not as important, and the Defender is convenient because it can be used one-handed. It's an excellent choice for data retrieval missions.
Despite some drawbacks, such as low damage and slow rate of fire, the SMG-37 remains one of the best guns due to its balanced characteristics and ability to penetrate light armor. It is recommended for use when it's not convenient to wield a primary two-handed weapon.
This revolver has high power, deals more damage compared to other pistols, and allows for reloading one bullet at a time. This means that the player does not waste ammunition unnecessarily and can reload the pistol at any time without fear of losing remaining bullets.
It is well suited for eliminating single targets at medium distance. However, players note the reload time is too long and believe the pistol should be stronger. The creative director agrees, and it is likely that the revolver may be strengthened in the future.
As with other types of weapons, you can only take a pre-selected grenade for each mission. They differ in their area of application, and the choice depends on your play style. We recommend taking the one that suits you the most.
One of the main fragmentation grenades. It is automatically unlocked on the first page of the merit system. It has a good blast radius and scatters into fragments after a second, allowing for significant damage to dense clusters of enemies.
An impact grenade, which has a noticeable advantage over the previous one. It has the same penetrating damage as the G-12, but the activation time is zero, causing it to explode upon contact with the ground or an enemy. However, this model carries higher risks of use, as it increases the chance of accidentally being caught in the blast wave.
As mentioned earlier, stratagems allow not only for calling in orbital strikes but also for summoning support weapons, which can play a decisive role in completing missions. Let's take a closer look at some of them.
The MG-43 machine gun is a reliable weapon for destroying a huge number of enemies. A large ammo supply along with a high damage rate allows for quickly completing clearing missions. Stalwart, on the other hand, has less destructive power but offers higher stability when shooting on the move.
Available for purchase at 5000 credits at level 2 of the character. It is excellent for eliminating enemies with light armor, and its high power allows for successful precision fire on the most important targets from a safe distance. However, it has one significant drawback — its effectiveness at close range is extremely low, and it can only be used with a scope.
Unlocks for free at level 20 of the character. It is the best weapon against heavy armored vehicles. To destroy tanks, only 3-4 charged shots are needed, however, after each shot, a long reload is required, making it not very effective against clusters of regular enemies.