In this weapons guide, we aim to provide the reader with a no-nonsense, quick and dirty overview of all the assault rifles in Helldivers 2. Even at the start of the game, before everyone got properly accustomed to the highest difficulties the game had to offer, it was quite obvious that not all weapons were created equal. Basically, if the question is “Can this gun carry me through Super Helldive”, here we try to provide the answer. This article is up-to-date as of the Weapon Customization System, and will slowly be updated as the game evolves. For links to other weapon categories check out our Helldivers 2: Weapons Meta article.
AR-23 Liberator
-80dmg(15 durable). -45 round mag. -8 mags. -640 RoF. -32,4k dmg total. -854 DPS. -Light Pen.
The iconic AR-23 Liberator is the gun you start the game with, and therefore the first of the assault rifles in Helldivers 2 players get to use. Half of the microplastics in a helldivers body come from the patented Super-Earth-approved environmental-friendly mass production process, ensuring that a little piece of this weapon is always close to heart. That being said, there’s surprisingly little to actually say about this weapon because it’s as vanilla as it gets for assault rifles in Helldivers 2. It’s average in all regards. It’s the default setting by which all other guns are balanced.
You’ve got enough bullets in a mag to clean small enemies off you – that’s your bug/voteless horde. The AR-23 Liberator is reliably accurate enough to ensure most bullets connect to weakpoints up to medium ranges, for when you have to shoot automaton heads. And there’s enough DPS on the table when you have to burst down some Illuminate armor/meatballs. All in all, it’s about what you’d expect. A reasonably performing primary that can be utilized on all fronts by new players. It’s the lack of medium armor penetration which is really holding it back. Light pen weapons have been struggling to find their place in a world where lasers, plasma and explosives exist.
Notes on Weapon Customization: As a tried and true weapons platform it has access to a wide variety of attachments. When fully leveled up this system will net it a reasonable boost in power. A maxed AR-23 Liberator is so accurate that any missed shots are just plainly a skill issue.
Attachment notes:
– Optics: Personal preference, here. The default 2x Tube red dot sight is adequate for the Liberators engagement distance.
– Underbarrel: The Vertical Foregrip (lvl 2 unlock) is the most common pick here. It will reduce the Liberators already low vertical recoil even further.
– Muzzle: The standard choice of vertical (Compensator) or horizontal (Muzzle brake) recoil mitigation, or a bit of both (Flash hider). Vertical recoil is a lot easier to manage than horizontal so the Muzzle brake ended up being our top pick. Tight spread pattern if recoil is properly mitigated.
– Magazine: Without a doubt, the Drum mag. is the best pick here. In a horde shooter, you want to be able to shoot for as long as possible, slow reloads be damned. A mag capacity of 60 is just what the Liberator needed. Its a lvl 24 unlock sadly, so lock in and grind those Blitz missions.
Verdict: If the Liberator had medium armor penetration and bit more ammo, this would have been a great weapon (if not the best in this class). As it stands its just OK, which is OK. Most players will swap it out for more specialized weapons pretty fast. We wouldn’t bring it to Super Helldive without some unlocks first, but if you’re good it can get the job done.
Unlocked: Unlocked by default.
AR-23P Liberator Penetrator
60dmg(15 durable). -45 round mag. -8 mags. -640 RoF. -24,3k dmg total. -640 DPS. -Medium Pen.
Remember how earlier we wrote that the AR-23 Liberator with medium penetration would be king among assault rifles in Helldivers 2? Well, the AR-23P Liberator Penetrator was an attempt at creating that mythical weapon, but it fell into the usual AH “overbalancing” trap. Either that, or it got sabotaged by automaton infiltrators at some point in the production stage. The end result is a Liberator side grade that can deal with armored targets its baseline version can’t, but it does so by sacrificing some of the ability to handle more common threats.
Basically, because it does less damage, it can’t hit the same breakpoints on low tier enemies so you have to spend more time shooting (and some medium tier units; the heads of automaton Devastators taking an extra bullet to pop comes to mind). Less DPS means it has a harder time digging through larger HP pools as well. Big things die slower, and hordes of small things are harder to deal with, all while having less total damage in reserves… Oh, and it has a bit more vertical recoil for some reason.
Before you accuse use of hatin’ on the gun, all that nonsense was obviously a trade-off for the ability to deal with the more heavily armored stuff. Like Overseer heads, Strider hips, Hive guard carapace to name a few. And in a vacuum, that’s all fine. But this is a game where we’ve got: plasma guns, jet powered projectiles that can dig into a tank, hardware that can obliterate just about anything in an AoE, so we’re just left scratching our heads as to why this lovely little rifle doesn’t get a buff to bring it up to par with the good stuff. It has gotten better over time, but since its launch, the baseline Penetrator has consistently remained a low tier weapon. Things have gotten much better with the introduction of the Weapon customization system.
Notes on Weapon Customization: As a part of the Liberator family, it has access to a wide variety of attachments. Through this system, it gains a noticeable boost in power, but more importantly, a niche to occupy. At max level, it can be turned into an extremely accurate rifle with an impressive 60 round mag.
The accuracy buff offsets the recoil malus, and the large mag helps it deal better with crowds. Players who like the Penetrator are people who enjoy having a simple-to-use: accurate, medium armor penetrating rifle that can keep firing from dusk till dawn, even if they have to sacrifice some DPS. Seriously, in 3rd person mode, missing targets is a feat of skill.
Attachment notes:
– Optics: Personal preference, as usual. The starting scope is perfectly fine for this weapon.
– Underbarrel: The Vertical Foregrip (lvl 3 unlock) is the best pick here, as it helps reign in the increased vertical recoil.
– Muzzle: The standard choice of vertical (Compensator) or horizontal (Muzzle brake) recoil mitigation, or a bit of both (Flash hider). If you’re good at handling vertical recoil, the Muzzle brake is the best choice. The tight spread makes it feel almost laser-like in both first and 3rd person view; perfect for popping those Automaton weakpoints. The Flash hider wouldn’t be bad either since it hides the Penetrators obnoxious muzzle flash, but it comes at a bit of sacrifice to said laser-like accuracy, which is why we recommend side-stepping the issue by just using it in 3rd person mode.
– Magazine: Drum mag, hands down. It’s a meme at this point, but its popular for a reason. It really helps this weapon out a ton, and gives it its identity as an accurate spammy medium pen rifle. The increased mag size helps it deal with crowds of weak targets, rounding out the weapons performance as a result. Once again, it’s unlocked at lvl 24 (sigh). We suffered the grind and found it worth it. Hopefully the penultimate sentence isn’t copium to justify an entire day of automaton blitz missions.
Verdict: Strangely enjoyable for such an underpowered rifle, and a weapon which we’ll definitely be taking on a few joyrides now and then. Somewhat competent against all factions when maxed. Still, we can’t in good faith recommend for Super Helldive; not without significant investment in it first.
Unlocked: Page 6 of the Helldivers Mobilize war bond.
Total cost: 300 medals. (260 to page 6 and 40 for the gun)
AR-23C Liberator Concussive
65dmg(30 durable). -60 round mag. -6mags. -400 RoF. 27,3k dmg total. -433DPS. -Light Pen.
Yet another addition to the Liberator family of assault rifles in Helldivers 2. This variant of the Liberator trades a considerable amount of fire rate and damage output in exchange for a 60 round mag, and more importantly, the ability to stagger small/medium targets. The stagger effect is quite potent, and it does a good job at suppressing just about any low-mid tier enemy that finds itself in its line of fire. Its projectiles also have a surprisingly high push force of 60, which is nerd speak for “anything smaller than a charger will be perma-stunlocked as long as you’re shooting it” (except Illuminate meatballs).
The issue here is its abysmally low DPS numbers, which are not only the worst among assault rifles in Helldivers 2, but the worst among primary weapons in general. To the point where it’s better to simply bring a more powerful weapon and eliminate the target instead. Against bots, this stagger can often be counterproductive, as it will make hitting weakpoints more difficult. When originally testing this gun almost a year ago, we’ve noticed it had a weird tendency to sometimes shoot to the left or right of where we were aiming.
Now that we have access to the customization screen, we know plainly it’s because it has the worst horizontal recoil of any assault rifle in the game. We understand that this is less of a weapon, and more of a niche support tool to keep your team safe. And there are situations where it can shine, such as covering teammates while they reload or stopping a bunch of stalkers from tearing you a structurally superfluous behind. But these moments are few and far between, and most of the time all you have is one of the worst guns in the game.
Notes on Weapon Customization: Slightly smaller pool of attachments than usual for a Liberator. Most notably lacking Muzzle attachments. The customization system results in a minimal boost in power when fully leveled up. It might be worth skipping this one, or saving it for last.
Attachment notes:
– Optics: Personal preference, unsurprisingly. This is a weapon designed to stunlock targets; accurate fire isn’t always a priority, we tend to find.
– Underbarrel: Without Muzzle attachments to help out with the horizontal recoil, accuracy will always be somewhat lackluster above low ranges. A Foregrip(lvl 2) can reduce vertical recoil and make the gun feel slightly better to use in both 1st and 3rd person views. Alternatively, sacrifice some of the vertical recoil stat for more ergonomics with an Angled foregrip(lvl 7). This will help you switch targets faster, which is a common occurence when you have to keep multiple enemies at bay.
– Magazine: The gun already has the best mag by default (which is the Drum mag, go figure). Smaller mags offer faster reloads, but as this gun’s main gimmick is keeping targets stunlocked, you want to have as much mag. capacity as possible.
Verdict: A weak gun with extremely potent stagger designed to be a niche support tool rather than a workhorse weapon. We can’t recommend this one for high difficulty missions. Bring it only as a part of a loadout that can compensate for a lack of firepower in your primary slot.
Unlocked: Page 1 of the Steeled Veterans premium war bond.
Total cost: 20 medals.
AR-23A Liberator Carbine
-80 damage(15 durable). -45 round mag. -8 mags. -920RoF. – 32,4k dmg total. -1226 DPS. -Light Pen.
Hope you made room for more Liberator variants, because someone on the dev team must really like them. If the word “Liberator” hasn’t lost all meaning by this point, or driven you insane, we would like to congratulate you on your impressive mental fortitude, as well as extend our deepest regrets as the ramming of this word into the dirt will promptly continue. On that note, the AR-23C Liberator sacrifices some of the accuracy of the base gun (and the good optic) for an increased rate of fire. Now, it doesn’t quite break the Knight RoF barrier where it sounds less like a gun being shot and more like a pissed off swarm of bees, but it’s enough to get the job done.
Add to this the respectable 1.5 second long tactical reload, and you get a rifle that dispenses pain by the bucketful. That’s literally it, so to make this brief, the Carbine is a short range bullet hose type weapon that’s good at dealing with low tier mobs or burning through HP bars of bigger lightly armored opponents. Naturally, this makes it a decent pick against the bugs, where its impressive 4-digit DPS does a reasonably good job at keeping you alive in close quarters combat. Against the squids, the Carbine’s performance is so-so. It can deal with the voteless just fine, and even does a decent job at munching through Fleshmob HP pools, but its high recoil means you have to get up close and personal if you want to focus your shots on a single piece of Overseer armor.
Despite near pinpoint accuracy on the first shot: the recoil, and not to mentioned light armor pen, makes it ill-suited against Automatons. In its base form, the AR-23A Liberator Carbine has always left a lukewarm impression on us. It was a cut above the rest of the Liberator family in CQC, but that was about it. Following the introduction of the weapon customization system, the Carbine finally found its place in the game. Accuracy buffs reigned in its recoil, to the point where it’s now possible to reliably hit automaton weakpoints (It still better to bring an actual medium pen. weapon), or even focus all that damage on a specific body part. Access to a shiny new drum mag didn’t hurt either.
Notes on Weapon Customization: As a part of the Liberator family, it has access to a wide variety of attachments. When fully leveled up, it gains an impressive boost in power. As well as a niche to occupy as a sort of pocket machinegun. Which is to say, relatively high sustained DPS in a surprisingly accurate package.
Attachment notes:
– Optics: The default Reflex sight is perfectly fine, since this is a weapon for low engagement distances. However, investing into this weapon’s accuracy leaves the Reflex sights unable to keep up. Investing into the 1.5x Red dot tube optic might be the play here. The 4x Combat scope also remains an option with its 25m/75m/125m settings letting you easily adapt to changing battlefield conditions, but it honestly feels a bit overkill. It also comes with a hefty -6 malus to Ergonomics.
– Underbarrel: A Foregrip is a very common pick here as it provides a noticeable reduction to vertical recoil. Even with a drum mag dragging down the Ergonomics stat by a soul crushing 15 points, the Carbines handling remains good enough not to warrant the use of an Angled Foregrip in our honest opinion.
– Muzzle: The usual suspects. And for our money, it’s the Muzzle brake. Obviously, vertical recoil is much easier to handle than horizontal. However, as we level up the guns from zero to max level, we test out all the attachments just so we don’t miss something by accident. However, to put it plainly, we got the best results with the Muzzle brake both on controller and m&k. In the sense that we could focus damage on specific bodyparts but still have enough accuracy to hit mid-range weakpoints by tap firing.
– Magazine: Aye, you guessed it, we’ve fallen victim to the cult of the Drum Mag. Hopefully, it bears no explaining why an ammo guzzling gun would want a bigger mag. The actually surprising part is that the stat screens warning of slow reloads didn’t come to pass. In fact, if there’s a difference in reload speed, it’s too small for us to notice or care about. Just grab it: this is the attachment which really gives the gun its identity.
Verdict: The best of the Light Pen assault rifles as far as we’re concerned. We wouldn’t care much for it in its base form, but when fully leveled up, it becomes a competent weapon against the bugs and squids. Keep in mind that you still carry the same amount of total damage as the starting Liberator, this gun can just chuck it at the enemy faster. Make sure not to run dry out there.
Unlocked: Page 1 of the Viper Commandos premium war bond.
Total Cost: 20 medals.
StA-52 Assault Rifle
-80dmg(15 durable). -56 round mag. -6 mags. -790RoF. -31,6k dmg total. -1050 DPS. -Light Pen.
The StA-52 Assault rifle is a part of the Helldivers 2 x Killzone colab that came to the game on Dec 2024. Aesthetically, it fits surprisingly well in the Helldivers universe, however the main issue is that among assault rifles in helldivers 2…there’s just nothing new being brought to the table. The StA-52 feels like yet another Liberator variant, to put it bluntly. This time you get a 56 round mag and a fire rate of 790. With each bullet dealing 80 damage to the target, that’s a decent 1050 DPS before running dry. Never let the mag go dry though, or you’re looking at a soul crushing 4.2s long full reload animation.
The recoil is predictable, always up and a bit to the right, so it feels decent to use despite the high fire rate and stronger recoil over the base Liberator. Its basic and somewhat ugly iron sights keep the StA-52 a low range weapon. That’s about it. This gun doesn’t do anything to move our hearts past resting state, so you’ll forgive us if we sound like ChatGPT on this one. At this point in time, light armor pen weapons find themselves losing ground to explosive/plasma/medium pen weapons, and the StA-52 doesn’t do anything to move the needle forward. In the first Killzone game, it had a shotgun attachment, and that could have done wonders to spice things up.
As it stands, it’s a generic light armor penetrating assault rifle that’s best used to clear crowds of soft low tier targets (bugs/voteless) while still having the DPS to bring down a bigger bug or an overseer in a reasonable timeframe should the need to do so arise. Best avoid the automatons with this one. The elephant in the room is its abysmally high price tag of 615 Super Credits. Not only do you have to wait for this gun to come into rotation in the super store(if it ever does at this point), but you need to pay over half a war bond in price for a Liberator side grade.
Notes on Weapon Customization: None whatsoever. A fully leveled up AR-23A Liberator Carbine is a direct upgrade to this gun.
Verdict: A Liberator side grade that doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from the rest of the assault rifles in helldivers 2. If it weren’t for this review, we would have skipped the gun entirely.
Unlocked: The StA-52 Assault Rifle can only be obtained through the super store(In theory at least; Devs said they were working on bringing it back). A practice we hope doesn’t become commonplace.
Total cost: 615 Super Credits.
AR-61 Tenderizer
-105 dmg(22 durable). -35 round mag. -7 mags. -600/850 RoF. -29,4k total dmg. -1050/1487DPS. -Light Pen.
You know: a Helldiver has to deal with some pretty insane threats out there. After months of watching Super Earths finest getting ripped apart limb from limb by house sized bugs, or torn into a million pieces in an environment that’s half ragdolls and half fusions blasts, one of the higher-ups finally thought to consider that maybe we should give our troops something that isn’t chambered in 5.5mm for once. Introducing the AR-61 Tenderizer, a high caliber rifle that deals the highest damage among all assault rifles in Helldivers 2…and still can’t penetrate medium armor.
Credit where credit is due, the Tenderizer looks good, sounds great, and somehow has even less recoil than the base AR-23 Liberator. When combined with the naturally good handling on assault rifles, it results in a weapon that can reliably hit weakpoints at impressive ranges for a weapon in this class, and that’s even without recoil compensating armor perks or attachments. The stand-out feature by far is the ability to change the Tenderizers fire rate from the default 600 up to an impressive 850.
This feature results in the Tenderizer having the highest DPS in this weapon category, as well as the ability to keep the player reasonably safe in close quarters combat…at least until it’s time to change the small 35 round mag. Despite the massive increase in damage per bullet, it carries a bit less total damage in its reserves when compared to the basic Liberator. This is by design, as the devs want this gun to reward accuracy. The biggest flaw with this weapon, aside from its lack of medium armor penetration, is the unimpressive ammo reserves and small mag size. It’s not a fast reload either, at 2.2s for a tactical reload.
We do like this weapon, and honestly find it to be in the upper tier of assault rifles in Helldivers 2. We’re trying to communicate that its flaws bring it down more than they’re supposed to; also that you’ll probably have to run armor with the siege ready perk to offset said disadvantages. (A supply pack wouldn’t hurt either if you want to go fuller auto often). With these flaws in-check, it provides reasonable performance against the bugs and the squids. It’s the most competent light pen. assault rifle when it comes to combating the automatons, but as usual, bring a medium pen weapon against them.
Notes on Weapon Customization: At max level, the power boost it gets from this system is not that much, to tell you the truth. The boost to accuracy is always welcome, but the Tenderizer was already accurate enough to get the job done. What we were really hoping for was extra magazine size, the one category of attachments this rifle doesn’t have access to.
Attachment notes:
– Optics: Personal preference meme (bet you aren’t tired of hearing that one). The default 2x Red dot tube sight is good enough, if a bit ugly. Comes with 25m/50m/100m scope options.
– Underbarrel: Foregrip, as expected – a bit less vertical recoil. The Ergonomics are good enough that an Angled Foregrip usually isn’t worth it.
– Muzzle: The usual suspects. Though, with the Tenderizer being accurate as is, these options don’t feel as impactful as usual. As expected, the Muzzle brake gives the tightest spread pattern when vertical recoil is properly managed, and it would be our pick here as well.
Verdict: An accurate all-rounder, and at the time of writing one of the most powerful assault rifles in Helldivers 2 for those who can aim well. It’s a serviceable weapon in high difficulty missions against the bugs/squids, but it has a lot of flaws keeping it from being truly good.
Unlocked: Page 1 of the Polar Patriots premium war bond.
Total cost: 20 medals.
BR-14 Adjudicator
-95 dmg(23 durable). -30 round mag. -8 mags. -550 RoF -25,6k total dmg. -870 DPS. -Medium Pen.
The BR-14 Adjudicator is an interesting one because it was introduced to the game as a marksman rifle – an underpowered marksman rifle whose unremarkable damage per bullet made it inferior to the rest in its class. It had the ability to go full auto, so after some time the devs just threw it into the assault rifle category and made that the default fire mode. However, the high recoil associated with the marksman rifle class remained. This remains true to this day, even after two buffs tried to reign it in. Go full auto and the recoil will make you feel like you’re firing the weapon during an earthquake.
You’ve got to pull out all the tricks with this one: crouch to stabilize the gun, grab some recoil compensating armor, and stick to one bullet at a time. So, basically, just like a marksman rifle. Use the full auto mode only when something gets too close for comfort. Even then, you’ve only got a 30 round mag to work with. All of this combines into a battle rifle that, despite being decent, at least by assault rifle standards, feels lackluster to actually use. When it comes to performance against enemy factions; the Br-14 Adjudicator is most competent on the Automaton front, unsurprisingly.
The DPS is enough to deal with the small threats of the other two factions, but not the mag size; and it carries less total damage than the other assault rifles in Helldivers 2, so running dry is a common issue. The bots tend to favor long range engagements, a place where this weapon is most comfortable. The medium armor penetration also helps deal with automaton foes more easily, such as digging into strider knee joints.
Notes on Weapon Customization: When fully leveled up, the Weapon Customization can alleviate the Adjudicators issues only partially. It doesn’t get access to the magazine category. It has access to muzzle and underbarrel attachments. However, even with those, the reduction in recoil is not enough to change the nature of this weapon. It does make it feel significantly better to use, so it’s worth it if you like the gun, but the bump in performance was much less than what we expected at max level.
Attachment notes:
– Optics: It comes with a serviceable 2x Tube Red Dot sight. However, our pick here would be the very next scope on the list – the 4x combat scope. It’s clean – simply put, and comes with 25m/75m/125m options which help out a bit more on the Automaton front.
– Underbarrel: Foregrip, no surprise here – You really want to get all the help you can get with its vertical recoil.
– Muzzle: It’s the Muzzle brake by far because the tight spread helps greatly when it comes to popping heads. This leaves the gun still having pronounced vertical recoil. On the other hand, the compensator can reduce said vertical recoil down to a comfortable level, making full auto a possibility, but it comes at the expense of the Adjudicators main strength, which is, again, long distance shooting. It doesn’t have the ammo to sustain such a play style for long, either.
Verdict: All that being said, on the highest difficulty “usable” is the highest mark it can get. It can get the job done somewhat, but there are better options out there.
Unlocked: Page 1 of the Democratic Detonation premium war bond.
Total cost: 20 medals.
Closing thoughts on assault rifles in Helldivers 2
Assault rifles in Helldivers 2 are an easy-to-use weapon class thanks to usually low recoil stats and good handling characteristics. Bullets have little drag and high initial velocity, which contributes to them feeling great to use. The buffs to spread values only further cemented this notion. Damage or ammo reserves were always an issue, however, and in these areas most of them could still use some tweaking.
The introduction of the Weapon Customization system in particular to Helldivers 2 was a great boon for most assault rifles in Helldivers 2. The Liberator Carbine and Penetrator in particular walked away with the biggest win here, as it gave them an actual niche to occupy while also helping negate some drawbacks. The Tenderizer and Adjudicator were the only two worth using for the longest time. This has now begun to change, and it’s a pleasant thing to see.
By the way, if you enjoy Helldivers 2, make sure to check out our list of co-op games like Deep Rock Galactic cause you may find something interesting there.
Even with all these updates, this remains an unremarakable category performance-wise, so we certainly hope the devs aren’t done making adjustments. Hopefully this guide for the assault rifles in Helldivers 2 achieved what it set out to do and provided a quick source of information to the reader. May democracy guide your step helldiver!
Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios.
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