There are a lot of weapons currently in the game, and with new updates bringing in more of them, it should come as no surprise that not all guns were created equal.
This article is up-to-date as of the release of the Chemical Agents premium war bond. We’ll keep it relevant as updates to the game shift the Helldivers 2 weapons meta.
In this article, we’ll briefly go over all the weapons currently in the game and explain which of them are the most popular in the current Helldivers 2 weapons meta on high-difficulty missions. Without further ado, check out the best weapons in Helldivers 2.
Assault Rifles
The AR-61 Tenderizer in action.
Full Guide on: Assault Rifles in Helldivers 2
The AR-23 Liberator – A simple starting assault rifle that teaches new players the ins and outs of the game. Because of modest total damage reserves and moderate DPS, players will quickly graduate to greater or more specialized weapons.
The AR-23P Liberator Penetrator– Is a Liberator version that trades damage output for Medium armor penetration. Less total damage reserves as the regular version. Buffed, yet still unremarkable.
The AR-23C Liberator Concussive – This Liberator variant trades a large chunk of its fire rate for the ability to stagger targets. A powerful crowd control tool with some of the lowest DPS numbers in the game, best bring an actual weapon instead.
The AR-23A Liberator Carbine – The carbine version of the Liberator has a much faster fire rate and increased recoil, but otherwise near identical stats. This increase in DPS can keep Helldivers safe in close quarters combat, but comes at the expense of burning ammo reserves. An anti-bug tool through and through.
The BR-14 Adjudicator – A medium armor penetrating assault rifle that deals good damage per bullet and has solid damage output. This makes it decent against both factions, however because of its awful recoil it usually ends up in an anti-bug role.
The AR-61 Tenderizer – An accurate and easy to manage all-rounder that deals the most damage per bullet of any assault rifle (as well as DPS). Its downsides are, once again, its damage reserves and lack of medium armor penetration. Hitting weak points reliably is a necessity to make this weapon work.
Conclusion: Assault rifles struggle to find their foothold in Helldivers 2 weapons meta on high difficulty missions. A divisive category for sure, stuck between those who like their simple all-round nature vs those who prefer a stronger identity instead. (More ammo would help too) The Tenderizer is one of the best in this category thanks to a nice combo of accuracy and high damage output. On the other hand, the Adjudicator is kept relevant due to its medium armor penetration and reasonable damage output.
Shotguns
SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary spraying into the bugs.
Full Guide on: Shotguns in Helldivers 2
The SG-8 Punisher – A pump action shotgun which reloads one shell at a time and whose shells deal an impressive amount of damage per shot and can stun lock enemies through stagger. Solid 30k damage reserves, but modest DPS due to its slow fire rate. Decent, but its power starts to drop off the more targets there are on the screen.
The SG-8S Slugger – A modified version of the Punisher that fires medium-armor penetrating slugs. This makes it the only shotgun that can realistically deal with bots. One of the patches gave it its ability to stagger back, but also reduced its accuracy. A mid-tier, low-mid range anti-automaton weapon.
The SG-451 Cookout – Is a Punisher variant that sacrifices damage output and total damage carried in reserves for incendiary pellets that can set enemies on fire. A very good weapon for clearing out swarms of low tier bugs. The combo of lowest durable damage among shotguns and lackluster DPS makes it anemic against larger bugs. If it weren’t for its potent mix of stagger and knock back, the Cookout would have been made entirely obsolete by the SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary.
The SG-225 Breaker – An autoshotgun that has the highest damage output of any primary weapon. This insane DPS means it can take on even mid-tier bugs through sheer brute force despite only being light medium armor penetrating. It burns through ammo quickly and has to reload often. While a strong gun, these two things keep it from being a more common pick in high level missions.
The SG-225SP Breaker Spray & Pray – Is a Breaker variant that fires birdshot in a strange horizontal pattern. It has basically no accuracy past point-blank range, but with a large mag size and impressive 56k total damage reserves, it can spam like no other weapon. A high DPS output of 1320 gives you a fighting chance even when the bigger bugs get too close for comfort. One of the better guns for clearing swarms of low tier Terminids.
The SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary – This Breaker variant fires incendiary ammo that sets enemies on fire. The nerf left it with 30k damage reserves, making it easy to run out of ammo, but the gun still deals a reasonable 1200 DPS to keep you safe in close-quarters combat. Spray the swarm from one side to the other and watch the bugs burn. Still the strongest anti-Terminid gun in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta.
Conclusion: This will come as no surprise to anyone who has played the game recently (or at all), but when it comes to clearing large swarms of bugs, very few things come close to the Breaker Incendiary even after its frankly unnecessary nerf. This has cemented its place in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta since the fire DoT fix. The Breaker Spray & Pray is a good weapon that fulfills the same role and is worth using if you lack access to the incendiary version, but has been stuck playing second fiddle to the Incendiary for a long time.
Shrieker patrols further increase the value of these guns, as both do a good job at quickly mopping them up. The Cookout is probably the second best low tier bug removal tool in the game but its pitiful DPS and low durable damage means only its stagger will be keeping you safe against bigger bugs.
SMGs in Helldivers 2
The SMG-72 Pummeler and Ballistic Shield combo going up against a Devastator.
Full Guide on: SMGs in Helldivers 2
The MP-98 Knight – Is a bullet hose with the fastest fire rate of any weapon in the game. This means impressive DPS numbers that keep the player safe in close range combat, but with an average 26k in its reserves, it can’t sustain such a performance for long. High recoil when in full auto mode, but can be used with some accuracy in burst mode. A decent weapon on its own, but it’s rarely seen in the field, as it’s outcompeted in its niche by other options.
The SMG-37 Defender – A simple and somewhat inaccurate SMG with average 27k damage reserves. It deals a bit more damage per bullet than the basic Liberator but the lower fire rate results in lower DPS numbers. Low recoil means the gun can be fired in full auto without losing control. An unimpressive weapon rarely seen outside the Ballistic shield niche on Helldive difficulty.
The SMG-72 Pummeler – A Defender variant that trades DPS for the ability to stun targets. The stun is a unique effect similar to the stun grenades, though obviously far shorter. It fulfills the role of a support weapon in a player’s loadout. Its unique ability makes it the most commonly used SMG.
Conclusion: A category of low-range, lightweight, and somewhat inaccurate guns that can be wielded in one hand. Their one-handed trait means they can be used in conjunction with the Ballistic Shield stratagem, which gives them a niche to occupy. Honestly, a group of weapons that could really use some tweaks to give them an identity of their own. In the Helldivers 2 weapons meta, the Pummeler is the most commonly seen SMG on higher difficulties.
Explosive Weapons
CB-9 Exploding Crossbow vs Berserker.
Full Guide on: Explosive Weapons in Helldivers 2
The CB-9 Exploding Crossbow – Is a one-handed medium armor-penetrating explosive weapon whose damage is a mix of explosive AoE and projectile damage. This lets it have solid crowd clear, good medium-sized target removal as well as the utility of being an explosive weapon.(Destroying bug holes/fabricators/crates) It has a faster firing rate than the Eruptor which can result in faster kill times on some mid-sized targets, as well as faster swarm-clear sometimes, but it’s heavily limited by its low 5-round magazine, long full reload of almost 3.5 seconds and sluggish projectile velocity. Multiple buffs have now seen this weapon skyrocket to the top of the Helldivers 2 weapons meta.
The R-36 Eruptor – Similar story for the Eruptor, but its projectile creates a hail of shrapnel at the point of impact. Well placed shots can deal catastrophic amounts of damage to the enemy resulting in instakills on most small and medium units. This is balanced by the lowest RoF of any primary at just 25. Its projectile is much easier to aim, but it automatically explodes after traveling 125 meters. The Eruptor has seen more ups and downs than a rollercoaster, but now its finally back to respectable levels of power. Very Good.
Conclusion: Interestingly enough, the guns on this list are all relevant in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta. The Crossbow and the Eruptor both bring a mix of crowd clear, medium-sized target removal and utility that ensure the player has an answer to most things on the battlefield. Though, at the time of writing, the Crossbow has taken the lead as the more popular option.
Marksman Rifles
The R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper headshots a Heavy Devastator.
Full Guide on: Marksman Rifles in Helldivers 2
The R-63 Diligence – A light armor penetrating rifle with 25m/75m/150m zoom magnification options that deals 165 damage per shot. Finally buffed to the point where it can one-shot devastators on headshots, but lacks medium armor penetration. It has a higher damage reserve compared to the Counter Sniper, so it’s better when spammed against the bugs, but that is a scenario where a single target weapon is going up against a horde faction. An unimpressive weapon, mostly because it has a hard time carving out a niche for itself to occupy.
The R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper – A medium armor penetrating rifle with 50m/100m/200m zoom magnification options that deals 200 damage per shot. The higher damage per shot lets it hit many breakpoints on small and medium-sized targets. A reasonable anti-automaton option for long-range sniping. It can cut through scout strider knee joints, but it’s not strong enough to deal with vents on tanks and canons. In this role, it often finds itself in competition with the Anti-Materiel Rifle support weapon. It’s further limited by its pitiful ammo reserves. Good but flawed.
The R-2124 Constitution Is an ancient bolt-action rifle replica that players get for free on “Liberty Day” (October 26th). In Helldivers 2 lore, it’s given to the citizens of Super Earth once they turn 16, as a way of “encouraging service”. It’s a meme-weapon, and a wonderful way of putting a piece of Helldivers lore into the hands of players. Don’t expect it to go toe to toe with lasers and plasma guns of the future…instead, use it for a low-difficulty joyrides. (Nothing’s stopping you from taking it to lvl 10 automaton missions, either, if you got the balls for it.)
Conclusion: A class of weapons that has struggled to carve out their place in the game. Made better by numerous buffs, but something’s still missing. The Counter Sniper is the one that finds itself relevant in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta, and can be seen reasonably often in high-difficulty automaton missions.
Energy Weapons
PLAS-1 Scorcher going up against a Rocket Devastator.
Full Guide on: Energy Weapons in Helldivers 2
The LAS-5 Scythe – A very accurate but low-damage weapon that shoots a continuous laser beam at the enemy. The idea is that the Scythe is a laser scalpel that removes enemies with surgical precision. Despite the occasional flash of brilliance when chaining multiple headshots, in reality, its low-damage output and light armor pen keep it being a mid weapon. Infinite ammo if managing heat properly, so it might be worth it.
The ARC-12 Blitzer – A short-range energy shotgun with infinite ammo that fires bolts of electricity. A good anti-bug weapon, its performance is limited by its low fire rate. The main issue is the automatic targeting on the energy bolts, which require some finesse as well as proper movement to either make it work well or hit enemy weakpoints.
The LAS-16 Sickle – An energy assault rifle with an extremely large magazine capacity and infinite ammo if its heat is managed properly. Modest damage output and low damage per bullet, but it can keep firing for a long period of time. The spread is tight enough for low-mid ranged combat but as it’s decided by RNG, accuracy is achieved through volume of fire rather than skill. Considered to be the best assault rifle in the game by many a helldiver. Decent.
The PLAS-1 Scorcher – An accurate and easy-to-use rifle that fires bolts of superheated plasma which explode on contact. While it has no medium armor penetration, the explosion lets it deal damage to tank and cannon vents as well scout striders from the front (knee shots). Solid damage per shot and damage output but somewhat modest ammo reserves. It can kill just about anything, but will mostly likely burn ammo to do so. Used to be the no 1 anti-automaton weapon before the JAR-5 Dominator and subsequent buffs to other weapons knocked it down in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta.
The SG-8P Punisher Plasma – A Punisher shotgun variant turned into a plasma mortar. It can do the same things as the Scorcher, but as a mortar, it can fire from behind cover and hit targets from angles that would be impossible for other weapons. Its explosion is larger and can stun-lock enemies. The downside is its low fire rate, which makes killing mid-sized enemies a slower process. The change to how plasma projectiles work, as well as the removal of its absurdly large projectile hitbox now makes hitting distant targets somewhat inconsistent. As a result it feels unremarkable at the time of writing.
The PLAS-101 Purifier – Once the worst gun in Helldivers 2, it has since been buffed to a reasonable level of power. It can fire as fast as the player can pull the trigger, a good choice when some burst damage is needed on a single enemy. Otherwise, charging the plasma shots can see it deal up to an impressive 500 damage per shot to the target. Fully charged shots also make it, so its explosions have no falloff in their 3m radius, giving it some crowd clear potential as well.
Conclusion: Honestly, an interesting bunch. Most of them manage to find their place in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta. The Blitzer and the Scythe have issues, but as weapons with infinite ammo they manage to find their place on high difficulty bug missions from time to time. The Sickle’s possibly infinite damage reserves have kept it loved by players and relevant in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta since its introduction. It’s better as an anti-bug gun, but some people bring it to automaton missions as well.
The Scorcher is a simple weapon for use against both factions, though its modest reserves and the ability to kill scout striders from the front see it used in an anti-automaton role more commonly. The Purifier also remains relevant as a general-purpose weapon, functioning almost as a Scorcher spinoff that brings a larger explosion and better ammo economy, provided the player takes the time to charge their shots. The Punisher Plasma has seen a reduction in usage ever since the change to how plasma projectiles work unintentionally nerfed it.
Special Weapons
The FLAM-66 Torcher, a primary flamethrower.
The FLAM-66 Torcher – A primary flamethrower that deals a low 375 DPS. However, it penetrates medium armor, projects that damage in a relatively large area, and can set multiple targets on fire. Add to this a generous fuel allotment and the ability to set the ground on fire, and it can actually kill an impressive amount of bugs per resupply. Its main issue is that burning targets can still attack and set you on fire, so you’ll have to build around it. (Supply pack stim popping/fire res armor) Good but flawed.
The JAR-5 Dominator – A heavy gun that handles like a brick when firing and can be annoying to use before the player adjusts to its sluggish projectiles. But also, a single-target powerhouse whose medium armor penetrating bullets hit like a truck and deal enough stagger to keep enemies stun locked. Near 30k damage reserves and reasonably high DPS output.
Conclusion: The release of the flame-themed war bond was preceded by a change to flamethrower mechanics, resulting in a massive nerf to the Torcher. As a result, and despite the hype around its launch, this weapon failed to make a splash in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta. After the buff that made it the decent weapon it should have been from the start, it’s still somewhat rarely seen on the battlefield. The far less fancy Dominator is a single-target powerhouse that can quickly annihilate any mid-tier enemy. Through all the buffs and nerfs, the Dominator has managed to stay relevant in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta, and it would seem that this trend will continue for quite a while.
Secondary Weapons
The GP-31 Grenade Pistol taking out a bot fabricator.
Full Guide on: Secondary Weapons in Helldivers 2
Pistol
The P-2 Peacemaker – The starting pistol. Like the Liberator, it’s a simple and reliable weapon that the player will eventually outgrow and move on to better or more specialized weapons.
The P-113 Verdict – A simple, reliable and reasonably accurate sidearm. It deals a good amount of damage per bullet, has good DPS, penetrates medium armor and it carries a high amount of total damage in its reserves for a secondary weapon. There’s nothing fancy about it, however, it’s just a big gun you carry around when you need a good general-use secondary. Very good.
The P-4 Senator – An accurate revolver whose rounds penetrate heavy armor and deal a high amount of damage. Low DPS and pitiful ammo reserves. As a result, it’s imperative to go for weakpoints when wielding the Senator. Can bring down larger targets like Hulks and Gunships(to name a few), thus giving you a fighting chance when no support weapons/stratagems are available. The 60 day buffs saw it skyrocket to the top of the Helldivers 2 weapons meta.
The P-19 Redeemer – A somewhat inaccurate close-range bullet hose that acts as a panic button or brings some burst damage to a loadout. It deals 1100 DPS before running dry and comes with an average 9,3k total damage reserve. Another popular gun in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta.
Special
The P-11 Stim Pistol is a somewhat inaccurate healing syringe delivery system that lets you heal your fellow Helldivers from a distance. The healing provided by this “weapon” is lackluster, and it takes it quite a bit of time to restore an HP bar to full. In a game where two to three hits even in heavy armor is enough to reduce a Helldiver into a leaky pile of meat, this is rather lackluster. The healing effect can stack, and it will trigger the effect from the Experimental Infusion booster as well as medic armor, so it can be used a tool to buff your allies. Still, because of all the drawbacks, it failed to make a splash in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta.
The GP-31 Grenade Pistol – A miniature grenade launcher that’s a decent weapon on its own, but its cling to fame in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta is the utility it brings to a loadout as an explosive weapon. The downside is its low ammo reserve of just 7 grenades. Ammo boxes return 2 grenades, while resupplies will give 4.
The LAS-7 Dagger – An anemic pistol that’s basically the miniature version of the Scythe, and therefore comes with all the problems its big brothers has. As a laser weapon, it can potentially have an infinite amount of ammo with proper heat management. This is its best feature. Players use this gun to save primary or support weapon ammo.
The SG-22 Bushwhacker – A triple-barreled shotgun whose shells have very similar performance to those on the Punisher. It deals high damage per shot and comes with a mode that lets it unload all three barrels at once for a catastrophic burst of damage. Occupies the same role in a loadout as the Redeemer. It suffers from a long reload that leaves the player defenseless.
The P-72 Crisper – Its stats are identical to those of its big brother, the FLAM-66 Torcher, with the only real difference being its miniscule fuel supply. It’s best used to ignite large swaths of terrain and then bait the bugs to pass through the flames. This way, it can clear more low tier bugs than any other secondary before running out of ammo.
Conclusion: Unlike primaries, which are workhorse weapons that often have to carry a lot of weight on their own, secondaries mostly exist to either round out a loadout or bring additional functionality to it. Because of this, what’s meta is less relevant in this category, as most players chose a secondary based on what they need to get the job done. In other words, so far most secondaries have managed to find their place, though this could be because there is far less competition in the secondary weapon slots compared to those in the primary. Still, when it comes to popularity, very few things beat the GP-31 Grenade Pistol and the P-4 Senator at the time of writing.
Closing Thoughts on Helldivers 2 Weapons Meta
The buffs, as well as changes to enemies and armor mechanics that came with the Chemical Agents premium war bond (well, technically as AHs 60 day buff plan) are a big step in the right direction. Not engaging with the enemy can still be the most efficient way to get through a mission, but now that feels like a choice and not something you get roped in because your arsenal can’t go toe to toe with the opponent. This is to say, now you can actually dig your heels in and make a proper stand.
A large part in due to anti-tank weapons being buffed so they can one-shot just about any large armored target. Additionally, the rather unimpressive thermite grenades have now become an anti-tank powerhouse. The thermites can free up your support weapon slot for something that was previously rarely seen used on the battlefield. The P-4 Senators ability to penetrate heavy armor now means a bit less reliance on support weapons and stratagems when dealing with some large targets. In short, the number of “viable” or just fun builds has greatly increased, and this is something we’re personally glad to see, as variety really is the spice of life in a game as repetitive and mechanically simple as Helldivers.
For the record, it’s not all perfect, there’s still a lot to be done, and the devs are promising more changes in the future, so there’s nothing left to do and see where this rollercoaster ride takes us. For now, it’s just nice to see a shake-up in the Helldivers 2 weapons meta, so it’s not all just Dominators and Breaker Incendiaries for once.
Image Credit: Arrowhead Game Studios.
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