In this weapons guide for Helldivers 2 we aim to provide the reader with a no-nonsense, quick and dirty overview of the assault rifles category in the game. Even at the start of the game, before everyone got properly accustomed to the Helldive difficulty, it was quite obvious that not all weapons were created equal. Basically, if the question is “Can this gun carry me through Helldive”, here we try to provide the answer. This article is up-to-date as of the Viper Commandos war bond, and will slowly be updated as the game evolves.
AR-23 Liberator
The AR-23 Liberator is the gun you start the game with. The Liberator features good accuracy, average damage output and fire rate, as well as 7 spare mags each holding 45 rounds. This is a solid weapon that will get the job done on the low-mid difficulties while you learn the ins and outs of the game. The liberator teaches new players the basics of the game, such as proper aiming and the impact of stances on weapon accuracy.
Its damage output is good enough to keep you safe from the low tier bugs, and it’s accurate enough to shoot at the weakpoints of low/mid-sized automaton units. All in all, it’s a solid and simple low-tier all-rounder for new players to wield until they graduate to something better. Until you do, make sure to aim for enemy weakpoints, don’t just spray and pray.
Verdict: A decent gun for lower difficulties against both bots and bugs, but as it’s outclassed by so many other weapons in the game, players will eventually switch it out for something better.
Unlocked: Unlocked by default.
AR-23P Liberator Penetrator
The AR-23P Liberator Penetrator compared to the regular version deals less damage per bullet and has much lower magazine capacity. In exchange, it gains medium armor penetration and three more mags. This loss in damage output is quite noticeable and as a result the gun doesn’t deal with crowds as well as the regular version. Thanks to its medium pen, it deals with mid-sized enemies faster (such as bile spitters for instance) especially in those circumstances where shooting at weakpoints is not an option.
That being said, because of its low damage output and smaller magazine, in some circumstances it’s not that much better at medium target removal over the base version of the gun. Devastators taking three headshots to kill from both versions comes to mind.
Verdict: This version of the liberator trades some of its ability to deal with crowds of low tier enemies for increased potency against medium tier units. While this is mostly true, it’s not that great of an improvement over the base weapon’s performance. Because of this, much like with the base version, it finds itself in competition with many far better guns out there. The penetrator is ultimately a low tier weapon in the helldiver’s arsenal, and one which we can’t recommend for higher difficulties (or even medium ones).
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
Yet another addition to the liberator assault rifles family in Helldivers 2. This variant of the liberator trades a considerable amount of fire rate and mag size in exchange for the ability to stagger small/medium targets. The AR-23C Liberator Concussive doesn’t deal much more damage per bullet compared to the regular version, which leaves it with some of the lowest damage numbers for a weapon in the Helldivers arsenal. The stagger effect is reasonably potent, and it does a good job at suppressing both bugs and bots that find themselves in its line of fire. However, its low fire rate makes the weapon quite anemic at actually killing those enemies.
To the point where it’s better to just bring a more powerful weapon and eliminate the target instead. While its scope is clean, there are no magnification options, which is another black mark against the gun. Against bots, this stagger can sometimes be counterproductive since it will make hitting weakpoints more difficult. Honestly, its use case is an anti swarm weapon against small bugs or a niche team support tool. Areas where it’s either outclassed by other guns or just not in line with how people play the game.
Verdict: A weak gun with extremely potent stagger. We can’t recommend this one for high difficulty missions.
Unlocked: page 1 of the Steeled Veterans premium war bond.
Total cost: 20 medals.
AR-23A Liberator Carbine
Someone on the Helldivers 2 dev team really likes the liberator assault rifles, apparently. The AR-23A Liberator Carbine’s stats are almost identical to that of the base version. The difference is that it has much higher fire rate and recoil. This makes it slightly worse against the bots. It has the same damage characteristics as the base liberator, so that’s an unimpressive 3 shots to the head to kill devastators and no medium armor penetration.
To put it simply, this is an anti-bug weapon through and through. The point of the carbine is that in close quarters combat you can dish out a lot more pain, and in this regard the weapon is mostly a success. (920 DPS compared to the base gun’s 640) Be warned that you still carry the same amount of spare mags as the base version so that boost to DPS comes at the expense of your ammo reserves. You still have the same amount of total damage, but now you can dump it quicker.
Verdict: A liberator variant that can pull a lot more weight when the bugs get close by burning ammo. Not recommended for high difficulty missions, still. The Tenderizer or the Adjudicator would be better options for that.
Unlocked: Page 1 of the Viper Commandos premium war bond.
Total Cost: 20 medals.
AR-61 Tenderizer
The AR-61 Tenderizer is an assault rifle that came with the Polar Patriots premium war bond. It deals significantly more damage than the starting liberator, but has a lower rate of fire and a smaller mag size. It looks good, sounds great, and somehow has even less recoil than the liberator. When combined with its lower fire rate and 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.
Despite the massive increase in damage per bullet, it still carries a similar amount of total damage to the standard liberator(7 spare mags, just like the liberator). This is by design, as the devs want this gun to reward accuracy. To help it in this regard, the tenderizer has a clear scope with several zoom magnifications. The biggest flaw with this weapon is the lack of medium armor penetration. Against bots, it’s solid as it can easily 2-tap devastator heads, but the lack of armor penetration holds it back against certain enemies. It’s better against bugs, who are an enemy faction that feature a lot more lightly armored units. However, there it runs into ammo problems, as the bugs throw a lot of bodies at the player.
Verdict: An accurate all-rounder, direct upgrade to the liberators in almost all regards, and at the time of writing one of the most powerful assault rifles for those who can aim well. It’s a serviceable weapon in high difficulty missions against both factions, but it’s nothing fancy as there are issues holding it back from achieving greatness. Can be quite punishing when not hitting soft bits reliably. Prepare to hear “Reloading!” over and over again.
Unlocked: Page 1 of the Polar Patriots premium war bond.
Total cost: 20 medals.
BR-14 Adjudicator
This is an interesting one because it was introduced to the game as a marksman rifle. Today, the BR-14 Adjudicator is an assault rifle and one that is actually usable on the higher difficulties, compared to most of the previous entries at least. It deals significantly more damage than the liberator family per shot and comes with medium armor pen. As a result, in full auto mode, the gun can dish out a good amount of damage before having to reload. On the topic of which, with a mag size of just 30, that’s going to be pretty quick. So although it comes with 8 spare mags, it is possible to run dry pretty fast. However, the main black mark against the Adjudicator is its awful recoil when firing full auto.
It’s got a good scope and set of magnification options, but the recoil will make you feel like you’re firing the weapon during an earthquake. Stick to semi-auto if you need accuracy. This all combines into an assault rifle that simply feels lackluster to actually use. While it can 2-tap devastators to the head, and it has medium armor pen which is always a great boon when fighting bots, the strong recoil usually redelagates this gun to an anti-bug role. The Adjudicator is best used firing in short bursts against small bugs and in full auto for larger targets (or those who get too close). Learn to crouch before firing.
Verdict: A versatile anti-bug assault rifle that doesn’t sacrifice its ability to deal with crowds to be effective against mid-tier targets like the penetrator. In short, it’s what the liberator penetrator should have been. While a definitive step up over the liberator family, 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.
In closing…
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 dropoff and high initial velocity, which contributes to them feeling great to use. Damage and ammo reserves were always an issue, however. Prior to the introduction and subsequent buffs to the Adjudicator and Tenderizer, assault rifles were not recommended for higher difficulty missions. (with the Sickle energy assault rifle as a notable exception to that).
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 now, after all the updates, they could still use a buff to help them out. We hope this assault rifles guide for 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.
