In this weapons guide for Helldivers 2 we aim to provide the reader with a no-nonsense, quick and dirty overview of the energy weapons class in Helldivers 2. 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 Super Helldive?”, here we try to provide the answer. This article is up-to-date as of the Freedom’s Flame premium war bond, and will slowly be updated as the game evolves. For more info about these guns, as well as links to other weapon categories check out our Helldivers 2: Weapons Meta article.
SG-8P Punisher Plasma
The SG-8P Punisher Plasma is a modified version of the Punisher shotgun. Instead of pellets, it lobs blobs of plasma in an arcing trajectory, which explode on impact or when in close proximity to an enemy. The explosion has a 3-meter damage radius with no falloff, and it imparts a significant amount of stagger and push force. The weapon has an 8 round magazine and comes with 8 spare magazines (Batteries, to be precise).
The Punishers projectiles are nearly pinpoint accurate, but their slow speed and massive drop off require some getting used to and limit its range to slightly over 100 meters. In short, this is basically a plasma mortar. While the explosion radius is only moderately sized, it consistently deals damage over its area of influence, making this gun decent at taking on crowds of small enemies. The combo of push and stagger it inflicts on enemies means that focused fire can stun lock any low and mid-tier enemy. Mid-tier enemies are this weapon’s Achilles heel, however. It can kill them, but due to its sluggish fire rate, this is going to take some time. It often takes 4–6 shots to kill medium-sized opponents, for instance.
Since the magazine only holds 8 shots, this means that you’ll often have to either reload mid-combat, or sacrifice a leftover shot or two by reloading. The Punisher Plasma is a surprisingly versatile weapon and can find use on both bug and bot missions. On bug missions, the gun can do a decent enough job at clearing groups of low tier Terminids, especially during a bug breach. It can also deal with chargers in a somewhat more reasonable timeframe compared to most primary weapons (although you’re better off using a support weapon/stratagem as usual), and it can do decent work against bile spitters for some reason.
Where the weapon really comes into its own is Automaton missions. Since it functions similar to a mortar, you can fire it from behind cover, and in doing so keep yourself safe from enemy fire. While the projectile only has light armor penetration, the explosion it creates can damage the heat sinks on heavier units. Since the explosion is 3 meters wide, this means the Punisher can perform some pretty fun things. Such as, killing scout striders from the front or stun locking an entire bot drop. With practice, it’s possible to arc the projectile in such a way that it hits the weakpoints on the back of Tanks/cannon turrets, removing the need to run around to flank them. Unfortunately, it will take a lot of time to do said “tricks” thanks to its low fire rate. Devastators in particular take a lot of effort to put down.
Verdict: A versatile energy-based weapon that brings a mix of low-tier enemy crowd-clear and utility through stagger. It is strong enough to find its place on high difficulty missions(especially Automaton), but it’s really missing just a small buff to either damage or fire rate for it to truly achieve greatness. The explosions can damage you and your teammates, so be careful in close quarters combat.
Unlocked: Page 2 of the Cutting Edge premium war bond.
Total Cost: 120 medals. (60 medals to page 2 and 60 medals for the gun)
ARC-12 Blitzer
The ARC-12 Blitzer is probably one of the coolest energy weapons currently in Helldivers 2. It’s a shotgun that fires lightning instead of pellets. The Blitzer deals 250 damage per shot, split equally between 5 energy bolts. The cool feature is that it has infinite ammo. However, this is balanced out by its slow fire rate of just 45 shots per minute, and its low range which caps out at ~30m. The lightning bolts impart a massive amount of stagger to enemies, which helps keep you alive in close quarters combat.
Performance-wise, this gun is…interesting. For starters, the bolts will automatically lock onto enemies in a narrow cone in front of you. Because of this, stats like recoil or handling are basically irrelevant. The automatic lock-on is important for the Blitzers damage output, so it bears mentioning. Bolts go for an enemies center of mass, and will only hit weakpoints if one finds itself in their way. Since the gun deals 250 damage, you really want to hit weakpoints if you want to be able to deal with medium-sized enemies in any reasonable fashion. Basically, you need to stand in front of the weakpoint (usually a bug’s head) so that the energy hits it when the gun discharges. If you do so, the gun can do wonders, such as instakilling a brood commander or even killing bile spitters in two or three shots.
There’s more, however. The auto-lock feature can be wonky at times. The gun will often lock onto enemy corpses, which is really quite annoying when trying to clean a swarm of hunters off you. As a result, when dealing with enemies, it’s best to be constantly on the move. Because of the slow fire rate, there’s a split second where you can actually start to sprint before the next shot. For this reason, the gun is not that good at holding a point. Differences in elevation can also cause the gun to hit the ground in some circumstances. You’d think that an electricity-based weapon would be excellent against the automatons, but in reality it has difficulty hitting their weakpoints, leading to an absurdly long time to kill on some units.
It’s also a shotgun with about 30m range, going up against a faction that likes to shoot from afar. In short, spare yourself the trouble and use this as an anti-bug weapon only. Being able to output constant DPS without having to worry about your ammo economy is this weapon’s best feature. That being said, the slow fire rate is what’s still holding it back, and you can really feel it start to struggle as the difficulty increases. It’s most effective at difficulty 7. Above that, it becomes much easier to get overwhelmed, especially since the devs bumped up the spawn rate of small enemies.
Verdict: A decent short ranged anti-bug weapon. It’s usable on higher difficulties, but its many quirks and low fire rate keep it from being truly great. Then again, it has infinite ammo and can do wonders with some good positioning when the lock works properly, so It’s still better than half the primaries in game. The discharges can chain to your teammates, be careful.
Unlocked: Page 3 of the Cutting Edge premium war bond.
Total cost: 310 medals. (230 to page 3 and 80 for the gun)
LAS-5 Scythe
The LAS-5 Scythe is the only primary in the energy weapons class in Helldivers 2 that fires a continuous laser beam. It has basically no recoil and the beam goes where you point it, although the beam can sway from side to side depending on what you’re doing. Since it’s a laser weapon, the Scythe has infinite ammo. This is balanced through the use of a heat mechanic. Firing the weapon for prolonged periods of time heats it up, and the user will have to wait for the gun to cool down, or risk overheating it. If the gun overheats, the old heat sink has to be replaced with a new one by using the reload key. You get 3 spare heat sinks. In short, don’t overheat the gun in normal conditions, but also swap heat sinks in those situations where you absolutely can’t afford to stop firing the weapon.
The beam does 350 damage per second as advertised, and this is honestly a pretty low number. This low damage output means that body shots only work for low tier units. For medium-sized opponents, it’s imperative to go for their weakponts. That’s the point of the weapon. It’s a laser-scalpel that allows you to remove enemies with surgical precision. At least, in theory, because for reasons that elude us, Arrowhead didn’t give this weapon’s scope any zoom magnification. A rather strange choice considering the Scythes good accuracy stats, and one that makes long range combat difficult.
Honestly, the Scythes main problem is that it’s a low damage single target weapon in a horde shooter. It has difficulties holding its own in high difficulty Terminid missions, simply due to how many bodies the bugs throws at the player. Their fast and sometimes erratic movements also make hitting weakpoints slightly more difficult. It’s better against the Automatons, where its accurate fire lets it easily burn through devastator heads. But it’s also a light armor penetrating weapon, so in those situations where you can’t hit weakpoints it will feel like pointing a flashlight at the enemy.
Verdict: A somewhat weak primary weapon which we can’t recommend for higher difficulties. Chaining several quick headshot kills on devastators are the few moments of brilliance that show what this weapon could be. As it stands, it could use a better scope and a buff.
Unlocked: Page 5 of the Helldivers Mobilize war bond.
Total cost: 180 medals. (150 to page 5 and 30 for the gun)
LAS-16 Sickle
The LAS-16 Sickle is a laser assault rifle. Unlike the Scythe, it shoots laser projectiles that have travel time. Not that it maters for aiming, though, as its projectiles have an initial velocity of 1,300 m/s and aren’t affected by gravity. It’s a laser weapon so, much like with the Scythe, there’s basically no recoil. It’s nowhere near as accurate as the Scythe, though, since its spread is basically random. This is noticeable when shooting over longer distances. Thankfully, the spread is tight enough that it’s still possible to hit weakpoints at low and mid-ranges by spamming shots. The Sickle is a light armor penetrating weapon that deals less damage per shot than even the starting liberator, but it has a faster fire rate to compensate.
Even then, the damage output isn’t anything special. This weapon’s cling to fame is its absurdly high ammo economy. It’s a laser weapon that uses a heat mechanic, which means infinite ammo when managed properly. More importantly, it can fire over 80+ shots before overheating. So while the damage output is average, it can sustain it for a decent amount of time. By switching to your secondary while the Sickle cools down, it’s possible to keep sending a near constant stream of ammo at your enemies. It’s worth noting that this gun has an approx 0.5 second spool up duration before it can begin to fire. While annoying at first, it becomes a negligible downside once the player adjusts to the gun.
As a weapon, the Sickle is best used against the bugs. Its ammo economy means it can mop up the lower tier units in a swarm, or kill a mid-tier unit through sheer volume of fire. You get three spare heat sinks, so much like with the Scythe, use them accordingly. Against the automatons it’s a bit less useful, though some people still bring it there for its ammo economy alone. It can kill automatons by hitting their weakpoints, but as mentioned previously this is achieved by spamming shots till RNG decides enough of them will connect.
Verdict: One of the best, if not the best, assault rifles in the game. Probably best to stick to an anti-bug role with this one. Keep in mind that its performance is nothing fancy, it’s the ammo economy that pulls it ahead of the competition (in the assault rifle category). It’s not the strongest gun in the game, but its good enough for high difficulty missions, and a good choice for those who are fond of assault rifles.
Unlocked: Page 1 of the Cutting Edge premium war bond.
Total cost: 20 medals.
PLAS-1 Scorcher
The PLAS-1 Scorcher is not only the most expensive gun in the energy weapons category, but its also the most expensive gun in Helldivers 2. The PLAS-1 Scorcher is a semi-auto rifle that fires bolts of superheated gas that explode on impact. The size of this explosion is rather small, and its purpose is mostly to help the gun hit weakpoints rather than crowd clear. Projectiles are pinpoint accurate and unaffected by gravity, making this weapon incredibly accurate. Add to this the combo of reasonable fire rate, good handling characteristics, snappy firing animation, and you get an easy-to-use weapon that feels great to operate.
The explosions it creates are medium armor penetrating, increasing its performance against mid-sized targets, even if the projectile itself can only go through light armor. The main drawback of this gun is the scope, which comes with no zoom magnification options. Additionally, it only holds 15 shots in its mag and comes with 6 reserve mags (Batteries, again), so it can run dry pretty fast. To stop beating around the bush, this weapon is a great anti-automaton option in the Helldivers arsenal. This should come as no surprise, seeing as how its accuracy makes it easy to hit bot weakpoints.
Thanks to its explosion, it can damage scout striders from the front or take out tanks and turrets by shooting their vents. Unlike the Punisher Plasma earlier on this list, the Scorcher can do this faster due to its higher fire rate. It’s not too bad against the bugs either for those very same reasons. However, against the bugs, it tends to run out of ammo fairly quick. To put it simply, the Scorcher is a pretty good gun, and therefore a decent reward for the sheer effort it takes to unlock. It could still probably use a small buff to ammo reserves, though.
Verdict: A versatile and accurate energy rifle that can easily take out a wide variety of foes from both factions. Probably better used against Automatons rather than the Terminids though. Much like with the Punisher Plasma, exercise caution when firing the weapon close to you or your teammates.
Unlocked: Page 10 of the Helldivers Mobilize war bond.
Total cost: 1275 medals. (1200 medals to page 10 and 75 medals for the gun)
PLAS-101 Purifier
The PLAS-101 Purifier is an energy-based rifle with a charge-up mechanic. This gun needs to be charged up fully before it can fire each shot. Despite this, the Purifier feels like a Scorcher variant that trades fire rate for a larger and stronger explosion, as well as medium penetration on the projectile itself. Much like the Scorcher, its also pinpoint accurate but comes with no zoom magnification options. It also holds 15 shots in its mag (also a battery) and comes with 6 spare mags. The increase in explosion size means it can now affect more enemies than the Scorcher. This is just about the only thing the Purifier does better than it, because the massive loss in fire rate makes it worse than the Scorcher in every other regard.
Not only that, but having to charge the gun before it can fire also means you have to keep yourself exposed to enemy fire much longer, and are slower to react in general. In short, the increase in damage done, and the improved armor penetration aren’t enough to compensate for the massive loss of fire rate. As a result, the gun feels like a downgrade to the Scorcher. Mind you, even without the comparison to the Scorcher, it’s still an anemic primary weaponry which struggles in both bot and bug missions. At the time of writing, the Purifier is in need of a big buff to make it usable.
Verdict: By design, The Purifier is supposed to be a very slow firing but extremely hard hitting weapon…the devs just forgot to put in the “hard hitting” part. The end result is an anemic weapon that has a high time to kill on medium-sized enemies, despite the ability to penetrate medium armor and cause explosions. Save yourself the trouble and grab any other plasma weapon on this list instead.
Unlocked: Page 3 of the Polar Patriots premium war bond.
Total cost: 310 medals. (230 to page 3 and 80 for the gun)
Final Thoughts on energy weapons in Helldivers 2
The energy weapons category in Helldivers 2 holds some of the more unusual guns in the game. This isn’t really a surprise because the sci-fi nature of the class really lets the devs experiment and bring in some more exotic mechanics to the game. Mechanics that would be difficult to stomach if they were introduced to the more conventional classes of guns. This also means that the energy weapons class in Helldivers 2 is impossible to criticize as a whole, since the only unifying characteristic for its weapons is that they shoot energy rather than conventional ammo. The heterogeneous nature of the category really shows, with some guns being really weak, while others are fantastic weapons worth having in almost all scenarios. There’s othing left to do but wonder what strange new energy weapons the devs will introduce to Helldivers 2 in the future.
Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios.
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