Quick Start Guide

Learn the essential Helldivers II mechanics for your first few games. Master stratagems, objectives, extraction, and upgrades to succeed and unlock new gear.

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.