The Best Weapons In Helldivers 2
Your Helldivers 2 weapon is your most important ally, alongside your fellow Helldivers, of course. Know yourself, know your enemy, choose the right weapon, and no enemy of freedom will defeat you. From marksman rifles to automatic shotguns, machine pistols to grenades, these are the best weapons in Helldivers 2.
Breaker – Shotgun
- Traits: Light Armor Penetrating
- How To Unlock: Page 4 of Standard Warbond
The Breaker is my favorite weapon in the game, and there are many reasons for that. It has very high damage, letting you chunk down enemies of all sizes. It has very low damage drop-off, meaning you’ll be able to hit enemies from far away and ensure most enemies don’t get close. But even if they do, that’s fine too.
The damage spread means you can even shoot armored bugs that hunker down under fire, and their legs will still take damage, so they’ll perish even though the Breaker isn’t armor-piercing. It’s a truly glorious weapon, suitable for all occasions, and I very rarely leave the SES Sovereign Of Audacity without it.
P-19 Redeemer – Pistol
- Traits: Light Armor Penetrating, One Handed
- How To Unlock: Page 2 of Standard Warbond
It is remarkable how powerful the Redeemer is, considering how early you can unlock it, but you also need to understand what you are trading away when you use it. It has incredible stopping power for basically any enemy that is close or mid-range and doesn’t have armor.
The trade-off is that you burn through ammo at an incredible rate and you only have four magazines before you need to find an ammo crate or call for resupply.
SG-8 Punisher – Shotgun
- Traits: Light Armor Penetrating, Rounds Reload
- How To Unlock: Page 1 of Standard Warbond
One of the biggest benefits to using this Shotgun (even over the Breaker) is that because it loads via shell and not by magazine, there is no penalty to reloading every time you have breathing room. It also deals higher damage than the other weapons, making it ideal for close-range combat, particularly with how many shells it holds without needing a reload at all.
While it may not be a jack-of-all-trades–or the master-of-all-trades the Breaker is–this shotgun is still a fantastic weapon, and top-tier when used in medium- and close-ranges.
G-16 Impact – Grenade
- How To Unlock: Page 5 of Standard Warbond
There isn’t a lot of difference between the first two grenades you get. The G-6 gives you better area coverage and the HE gives you better damage against bigger targets, but they both have a problem; the ability to deal damage quickly (without cooking).
The Impact blows up the second it touches anything, so no more worrying about throwing a grenade into a bug hole, only to have a bug emerge after the grenade leaves your hand, bouncing it back towards you–stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Exploding on impact also makes it much easier to use in pin-point fashion against more heavily armored enemies.
AR-23P Liberator Penetrator
- Traits: Medium Armor Penetrating
- How To Unlock: Page 6 of Standard Warbond
The Liberator Penetrator is a fantastic weapon with basically only one downside: It’s locked to burst-fire and semi-automatic fire modes. The lack of a fully automatic mode keeps it from true top-tier status, but it’s still an excellent choice for armored enemies like the bugs who huddle up when under fire, as you can simply fire through their thick chitin.
If you want a main weapon with armor-piercing functionality, look no further, although it won’t puncture the thickest hides, so pair it with a Recoilless Rifle support weapon for maximum penetration, no matter the foe, and a Redeemer machine pistol to have a response to enemies who get close.
R-63 Diligence – Marksman Rifle
- Traits: Light Armor Penetrating
- Unlock: Page 2 of Standard Warbond
If you like Scout-style rifles, the Diligence is a great option for you. It does great against Automatons but it can be tougher to use against the Terminid hordes due to how quickly and erratically they move. If you are accurate, it is one of the highest-damage single-shot primary weapons in the game, so you’ll be able to put your marksmanship to the test.
It’s a great choice if someone else on your team is running the Punisher or Liberator and sticking to close-range, giving you breathing room to line up your shots. It’s best paired with the Redeemer machine pistol sidearm in case things get hairy or someone sneaks up behind you.
SMG-37 Defender
- Traits: Light Armor Penetrating, One Handed
- Unlock: Page 3 of Standard Warbond
The Defender is roughly as good as the standard Liberator, but it can be used one-handed, which is great if you have things to carry. It also deals slightly higher per-bullet damage than the Liberator with less recoil, although at the cost of a lower fire rate (a trade-off I’m virtually always willing to make). It makes for a solid all-around option if you bring support weapons to handle armored enemies.
AR-23 Liberator
- Traits: Light Armor Penetrating
- Unlock: Unlocked by default
While this is standard-issue for Helldivers, it’s no weapon to sneeze at. As far as all-around weapons go, it’s an excellent choice. While it burns through ammo relatively quickly, it still has great stopping power, is fantastic for crowds of weaker enemies and should probably be your ‘when in doubt, use X’ option until you get the Breaker.