This weapon guide for the game will provide an overview of the explosive weapons in Helldivers 2. Not all weapons are equal in the game – and this guide will aim to show you the differences. Furthermore, we will try to answer the question “Can this gun carry me through Helldive?”. This article is up-to-date as of the Chemical Agents premium war bond, and we will update it accordingly as new patches arrive to the game. For more info on weapons in the game, as well as links to guides for other weapon categories, check out our previous Helldivers 2: Weapons Meta article.
CB-9 Exploding Crossbow
When it comes to explosive weapons in Helldivers 2 the CB-9 Exploding Crossbow is a rather interesting one. The crossbow fires bolts that create a 6-meter explosion at the point of impact. The explosion deals its full 350 damage in the first 3 meters of its radius and then falls off. On the other hand, the projectile itself deals 270 damage to enemies. Both the projectile and the explosion are medium armor penetrating, thus making them decent at dealing with mid-sized enemies. In short, the crossbow provides an interesting mix of AoE and single target capabilities.
The bolt is pinpoint accurate, but it’s heavily affected by gravity and has an incredibly slow initial velocity of just 100m/s. As a result, even in relatively close combat, you’ll have to account for gravity or lead the target if it’s moving. So although the bolt can travel quite far, it’s best to stick to close/mid-range with this one. The crossbow holds 5 bolts in its mag and comes with 8 spare mags. In terms of performance, the crossbow is a very powerful weapon that can do both crowd clear and single-target damage. The combo of explosion and direct damage means you can take out a big target while its AoE cleans up everything smaller next to it. Not only that, but it takes only three well-placed shots to pop a Charger’s butt.
Aside from the sluggish projectiles, another downside is its small mag size. You’ll find yourself reloading often, and with a lengthy full reload time of approximately 3.5s, you’ll really feel that downtime. When it comes to combating factions, this is definitively best used against the bugs. Not only do they send more weaker enemies, but their heads are much easier to hit compared to automaton weakpoints. It’s good against the automatons too, but as they engage from longer distance, a lot more skill is required to make the weapon work efficiently.
As yet another bonus, the crossbow has the ability to close bug holes, destroy automaton fabricators and open up containers. Since its inclusion, the crossbow has been labeled as a silent-type weapon. What this actually means in game has been somewhat difficult to test, especially where the wonky enemy AI is concerned, but there does seem to be some truth to it. If the player is concealed behind cover, the explosions can lure enemies away. Firing the crossbow will still see nearby enemies converge on your location, but they usually don’t take any aggressive action until they have seen the player. It’s also a one-handed weapon, meaning it can be used in conjunction with the Ballistic Shield stratagem.
Verdict: A powerful weapon that gives the player impressive utility as well as an answer to a large amount of threats on the battlefield.
Unlocked: Page 3 of the Democratic Detonation premium war bond.
Total Cost: 310 medals. (230 medals to page 3 and 80 medals for the weapon)
JAR-5 Dominator
While the JAR-5 Dominator belongs in the category of explosive weapons in Helldivers 2, it doesn’t actually cause explosions. The Dominator is a semi-auto gun that fires jet-propelled ammunition, and probably the closest thing the game has to a Bolter from WH40k. Its rounds deal an impressive 275 damage, have medium armor penetration, and deal a massive amount of stagger that can be used to stun lock enemies. The gun has a magazine size of 15 and comes with 6 spare mags. Not only does this mean it holds a good amount of total damage in its reserves, but with a fire rate of 250 it can output a respectable DPS numbers. To put the Dominators power into perspective, it can kill a factory strider from full HP in two mags by shooting at its belly, a feat usually reserved for support weapons.
It does come with some caveats, however. While the projectile is pinpoint accurate, it’s also heavily affected by gravity, and it has a sluggish initial velocity of just 180m/s. The weapon also comes with no zoom magnification options, further limiting it to low-mid ranges. It kicks like a mule, handles like a brick when firing, and it has a 3.5 second long full reload animation. The recoil is strangely more manageable in first person, so learn to switch modes depending on what you want to shoot. Much like with the Crossbow before it on this list, you’ll have to learn to compensate for the projectiles in-flight behavior. However, it’s worth taking the time to get good, as the reward is one of the best single-target weapons in the game.
It’s high DPS and potent stagger also means you can brute force your way through engagements if there’s no time to aim properly. When it comes to fighting factions, the Dominators high damage output and accuracy, as well as medium armor penetration, make it good at taking on just about anything the game can throw at it. It’s unsurprisingly considered the king of anti-automaton weaponry by many Helldivers. It can do good work against the bugs as well, but only bring it if you need a single-target option to round out your loadout. While it kills bugs great, be warned that its unwieldy nature can make fighting off swarms of small bugs a chore (especially hunters). It’s also one of the few primaries that can actually give you a fighting chance when going up against chargers, on account of it dealing above average damage to durable body parts.
Verdict: One of the best single-target weapons out there once you get accustomed to its sluggish projectiles. Definitely worth bringing on high difficulties. Before the buffs it used to be the star of the show in the category of explosive weapons in Helldivers 2, it’s still a single-target powerhouse that shouldn’t be underestimated.
Unlocked: Page 3 of the Steeled Veterans premium war bond.
Total Cost: 280 medals. (200 medals to page 3 and 80 medals for the gun)
R-36 Eruptor
The R-36 Eruptor fires jet assisted shells that explode in a large area on impact. Like with the crossbow, its damage is a mix of direct (projectile) and AoE damage, and both have medium armor penetration. The explosion deals 225 damage in an impressive 7-meter radius. Similar to the crossbow, the explosion’s damage begins to drop off after 4 meters. The projectile itself deals 230 damage. The standout feature of this weapon is that upon impact, the shell explodes into a shower of 30x shrapnel, each of which deals 110 (35 durable) damage.
The Eruptor is a Bolt-Action operated weapon, which results in it having the lowest fire rate of any primary at just 25 RPM. Its projectile is pinpoint accurate with some moderate drop off at range and a slow initial velocity of 180m/s. However, this doesn’t mean much as the projectile self-destructs after flying approx 125 meters. The Eruptor kicks like a mule and handles like a brick. This is once again made irrelevant due to its extremely slow fire rate. It carries 5 shells in its magazine and comes with 6 spare mags. Put simply, the Eruptor is an accurate, slow, but hard-hitting weapon.
Mastering this weapon means mastering the shrapnel mechanic. Well-placed shots can let it focus the shrapnel on a single target, resulting in catastrophic amounts of damage that can instakill just about any enemy (with Alpha Commanders being an exception). To the point where two shots in the right place can pop a Charger’s butt. The explosion, while it starts losing damage after 4 meters, is still powerful enough to clean small enemies in a significant radius when comboed with the shrapnel.
This can also be used to kill targets during a bug breach, or to instakill low tier and damage medium automatons while they’re still attached to a dropship. Some other uses would be to shoot vents on cannons and tanks from odd angles, although this can be quite a slow process. The Eruptors explosion deals a massive amount of stagger to enemies inside its radius, further increasing its utility. Speaking of utility, it can close bug holes, destroy fabricators and open containers much like the crossbow.
Verdict: A powerful all-round weapon whose interesting mix of utility, crowd clear and medium-sized target removal ensures the player has an answer to most things on the battlefield…even if it is a sluggish answer.
Unlocked: Page 2 of the Democratic Detonation premium war bond.
Total cost: 120 medals (60 medals to page 2 and 60 medals for the gun)
Final thoughts on explosive weapons in Helldivers 2
Much like with the energy-based category after this one, explosive weapons in Helldivers 2 are a pretty heterogeneous category. So far, explosive weapons in Helldivers 2 have been characterized by very low initial velocities on their projectiles, which make hitting weakpoints on distant targets an impressive feat, despite them being near pinpoint accurate. Not only that, but the due to the explosive component present on some of them, it’s important for players to know which body parts to shoot for maximum effectiveness. In short, most are versatile and powerful weapons that demand a certain amount of skill from the user to be wielded effectively. Hopefully this guide on explosive weapons in Helldivers 2 was worth the read.
Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios.
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