Helldivers II

This guide provides compressed information for your first few games in Helldivers II. You'll need to complete a brief tutorial that explains the controls before playing. Here's what to do once you're on the bridge of your ship.

Use stratagems to complete objectives

Your most powerful weapon is your radio. Get used to holding L1 and entering stratagem codes. While blasting aliens is fun, Helldivers II is designed to often pose problems that require stratagems to solve. This is how you'll call down ammunition, equipment, vehicles, and defenses, order airstrikes, and even call in respawns for dead teammates. Don't just run at the enemy blasting your personal weapon!

Complete objectives and extract to achieve mission success

You don't win missions by killing enemies. When you hit select, check the objective checklist in the upper right. Extraction is the last item and is grayed out. Once you complete every other item (or render it unwinnable!), your ship will drop a Hellpod with the extraction beacon. Go to the beacon and call your shuttle. If you survive the next 90 seconds and get on the shuttle, the mission is a success (regardless of failed objectives). This grants the planet reward, often a new weapon. You don't need to battle endless enemies. If you see enemies, usually break contact. Remember to hit L3 to run. You may need to kill a few fast enemies, but don't feel obligated to battle groups that keep calling reinforcements. You don't lose experience points by leaving enemies alive.

Succeed in missions to unlock things

Perks, primary weapons, and armor come naturally as you level up, but you earn new stratagems by conquering planets. Normal planets have two or three missions, marked with checkboxes. Complete every box on a planet to get its reward. Go to the galactic map (the glowing yellow table on your ship's bridge) and look for low-difficulty planets showing stratagem icons as rewards. The more stratagems you unlock, the quicker you can find your style and take on bigger jobs and rewards.

After unlocking things you like, upgrade them

The first levels come fast in Helldivers II, and you'll receive research points for leveling up. Many early items are excellent to upgrade, so don't feel you must wait for hard-to-obtain future hardware. The first thing to upgrade is the UAV; when fully upgraded, it makes samples visible on the radar. Next, upgrade reinforce and resupply; you'll use them often, they help your team, and missions go smoother and faster. Next priority: a primary weapon, your pistol, and the Hellbomb. The upgraded Hellbomb drops faster and withstands more hits before disabling. You use a primary weapon constantly and can't lose it, so upgrade one of the first ones to start benefiting. The Liberator, Breaker, Defender, Sickle, and Scythe all benefit greatly from upgrades. Your pistol is always available; start getting its full benefit. The UAV, reinforce, resupply, Hellbomb, primary weapons, and pistols are key early upgrades.

Controls and movement in Helldivers II are straightforward. Your speed is affected by terrain: you move slowly on snow and even slower in water. On dry ground, your normal running pace can outrun many enemies. Be aware that some enemies will try to cut you off if you attempt to run past them while they are focused on you. If you need to pass through weak enemies without engaging, using melee attacks is more efficient, as small bugs and weaker Cyborgs die in one hit, especially with a bayonet. When facing large enemies you wish to avoid, it's best to move away at an angle rather than trying to loop around them.

Pushing the right stick while moving allows you to walk slowly in the direction of the left stick while aiming or firing in the direction of the right stick, which slightly nudges the screen. Some heavy weapons will immobilize you while firing until upgraded. Submachine guns allow for faster movement. Avoid the common beginner mistake of walking slowly towards enemies while attacking; instead, use the right stick to aim.

To sprint, press L3 while moving. Sprinting stops or is broken by shooting, and you will eventually return to normal speed as your Helldiver tires. Taking cover is done by pressing Square, which initiates a forward dive into a prone state. While prone, you crawl slowly, cannot attack or call stratagems, are less visible to patrols, and gain protection from direct fire (allowing teammates to shoot over you) and reduced damage from explosions. Melee attacks still inflict damage. DLC backpack drones continue to function, and a jump pack can replace the dive with a rocket jump.

If critically wounded, you will be knocked down and begin to bleed out. You can crawl slowly and mash X to get back up, though the MD-99 autoinjector perk significantly speeds this up. Direct fire will pass over you while downed. A teammate can revive you much faster than you can recover independently. It's crucial to note that while voluntarily prone, you cannot attack. However, if downed (indicated by blood spurting and a groaning sound with an X prompt), you can still fire and reload a one-handed weapon or throw grenades. Most importantly, you can call in stratagems while downed. If you are the last survivor and bleeding out, you can still call in the Reinforce stratagem to bring back your team as a final act, which is even tied to an achievement.

This guide covers the weapon and ammunition mechanics in Helldivers II. You will always start a mission with your pistol, your chosen primary weapon, half of your maximum ammo for both, and your full complement of 2 grenades. Heavy weapons can be called down via ship radio, and most also start with a half-load of ammunition.

When your weapon is running low on ammo, the game will provide warnings, such as a change in firing sound, red tracers in the magazine, or a flashing red ammo gauge. Laser weapons have their own overheat warnings. Reloading is initiated by pressing R1. Reloading before a magazine is completely empty is faster but sacrifices the remaining rounds. Unlike many FPS games, it is not always advisable to reload after every brief engagement. As your reserve ammo depletes, your Helldiver will verbally indicate low ammo or an empty weapon.

The dive (Square) and melee attack (Circle) can interrupt your reload animation. If you need to reload quickly, you can perform a dive or melee attack and then immediately press R1 again to resume reloading. If you cannot find an opportune moment to finish reloading, switching to your pistol may be necessary to defend yourself. When upgraded, the pistol gains armor-piercing rounds and fires in 3-round bursts, effectively becoming a Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) with surprisingly high damage.

To replenish ammunition, you can pick up ammo boxes, which are highlighted in yellow. These can be found during missions or called in using the resupply stratagem (blue icon with three cartridges). The resupply stratagem drops two ammo boxes that any Helldiver can use. Upgrading this stratagem reduces its cooldown. Most weapons receive a half-load of ammo per pickup. For example, the Liberator assault rifle starts with 6 spare magazines, gains 6 per pickup, and has a maximum capacity of 12. While specific numbers vary, this pattern of ammo replenishment is consistent across most weapons.

An ammo box replenishes pistol, primary, and heavy weapon ammo, and also adds a grenade. It can refill any backpack item that uses consumables, which is particularly crucial for the missile rack. You cannot pick up an ammo box unless it will provide a benefit. Ammo boxes do not affect vehicle-mounted weapons. Heavy weapon ammunition is tied to the weapon itself; if you die and drop a flamethrower with half a tank and two spare containers, that is the exact amount your teammate will have if they pick it up.

It is generally advisable to avoid switching away from an empty weapon, as this can be detrimental in critical moments when you need your secondary weapon immediately. To make your mission easier, it is recommended to top off your ammo at the start of a mission. Upon exiting your Hellpod, immediately call in your resupply and any heavy weapon you intend to use. After acquiring your weapon, pick up an ammo box, and if a second is offered via an X prompt, collect that as well. Upgrading your resupply stratagem fully will expedite this process. Topping off is beneficial in all situations, but especially important when using the Breaker shotgun. Many new Helldivers equip the Breaker, assume they have maximum ammunition, and run dry during intense combat. Avoid this common pitfall.