Welcome to Game8's beginner's guide for Helldivers 2. Here you'll learn the basics of the game, how to get started, and various tips and tricks to survive the intergalactic warfare!

Beginner's Guide

Beginner's Getting Started Guide

Learn the Shooting Mechanics Conserve Ammo, Avoid Reloading Unnecessarily Utilize Stratagems Upgrade Ship Modules Plan Your Loadout Use Environmental Objects in Combat Gather Loot in Points of Interest Group Up With Friends or Random Players Use a Stim on an Ally if Their Health is Low Samples and Currency are Shared with the Squad Take Note of Environmental Conditions Avoid Quitting Midgame Diving has a Lot of Uses

Learn the Shooting Mechanics

Shooting is a bit complex in Helldivers 2 as moving around while firing will result in weapon inaccuracy. Be sure to stand still, crouch, or go prone when shooting to be more accurate.

You don't want your bullets flying all over the place as you might accidentally hit and damage your teammates since friendly fire is always on in this game.

Conserve Ammo, Avoid Reloading Unnecessarily

Reloading throws the whole clip away along with the remaining bullets inside of it. In order to conserve and maximize ammunition, you'll want to reload your weapon only when you've emptied a whole magazine or when you're down to a few bullets left.

There's No Need to Kill Everything

It might be tempting to dish out democracy to everything you encounter, however, your kill count has no effect on XP or give any bonuses after you end a match. The only things that matter for XP are completing objectives and missions, so kill only those that are related to your mission objectives to save ammo!

While moving from mission to mission, try to avoid the patrols roaming around. No need to snipe and trigger them, as you'll just waste ammunition if you do so.

Stealth is a Viable Playstyle

Stealth is a playstyle that you should consider for certain objectives that don't involve killing.

There are armor that improve your stealth, and there are certain stratagems that you should avoid, like the Guard Dog Rover.

Utilize Stratagems

Stratagems are vital in combat as these can restock your ammo, call in an orbital laser airstrike that decimates all those caught within it, summon a high-powered machine gun for you to use, and even recall your dead teammates back to action.

Stratagem Pods Deal Heavy Damage

The pods that you call with stratagems deal heavy damage to the area that they drop on. You can use these pods to damage and kill enemies, even heavily armored ones like Chargers. There is an achievement to killing a Charger with a resupply pod.

Likewise, stay away from the marked areas, as the pods can also kill you if they land directly on you!

Unlock New Stratagems Via Ship Management

You can unlock new Stratagems by purchasing them using Requisition Slips via the Ship Management terminal aboard your ship. Initially, you'll only be able to unlock a few, but as you level up, more Stratagems will become available for purchase.

Best Stratagems and How to Unlock

Upgrade Ship Modules

Upgrading Ship Modules will enhance and improve the overall effectiveness of Stratagems. These can also be upgraded at the Ship Management terminal using Samples.

List of All Ship Modules

Plan Your Loadout

Before you jump straight into the heat of battle, it's important you pick the right weapons, armor, boosters, and most importantly stratagems for the mission.

For stratagems, you need careful consideration to the combination of stratagems that you'll bring.

Best Builds and Loadouts

You Can Only Carry One Support Weapon and One Backpack

Always remember that you can only carry one support weapon and one backpack at a time, so it's a terrible idea to carry more than one stratagem of each. The ideal loadout is one support weapon, one backpack, and two damaging stratagems.

Orbitals Have Limited Charges Unlike Eagle Stratagems

Orbital stratagems have limited uses, while Eagle stratagems don't. Consider Eagle stratagems over Orbital stratagems if you're planning a long mission, and use Orbitals for shorter ones.

Eagle stratagems do have to deal with the long cooldown of rearming the charges when they run out. You can manually rearm the charge using Eagle Rearm to trigger the cooldown early.
Eagle Rearm Guide

Turrets Draw Enemy Aggro

Turrets like the Gatling Sentry and Machine Sentry are a great Stratagem to bring along with you, as enemies will usually target them first. A neat strategy to do is to place these turrets on hard to reach places such as on top of hills and obstacles, so that your enemies will take a longer time reaching them.

Since Turrets draw aggro, you can plop one down and then retreat to safety to heal up if you're badly injured.

Use Environmental Objects in Combat

While on the battlefield, you will find objects like red barrels scattered around that you can shoot at to cause an explosion. Pick one of these up and throw it at a horde, then fire at it to watch them blow up in flames.

Gather Loot in Points of Interest

Various points of interest can be found throughout the map area. These areas contain loot like Samples, currency, and other resources.

You can easily identify these POIs as they are marked on your mini-map with a large diamond icon. Some are hidden behind metal gates that can be opened using an explosive.

Group Up With Friends or Random Players

Completing missions will always go smoothly with a full squad of 4 players instead of going in solo. Taking on enemies in Helldivers 2 as a lone wolf is extremely difficult and we highly recommend finding some friends to play with.

Multiplayer Guide

Some Locked Doors Require Two People to Open

You will also encounter locked doors that require at least two people to open them. Behind these sealed doors contain some useful items such as heavy weaponry like the Arc Thrower and the Flamethrower.

Use a Stim on an Ally if Their Health is Low

Stims can actually be used on an ally, with the condition that the ally should be low on health. When you approach them, you'll see a prompt to heal them; press the interact button to do so.

This is a useful tip to know if you have an ally that has low health and no more stims; you can prolong their life until your squad gets more supplies.

Samples and Currency are Shared with the Whole Squad

The combined amount of Samples, Medals, and Super Credits that your whole squad has collected is what every single member will get at the end of the mission. There's no need to fight over who takes which, if it involves samples or currency.

Samples Can Be Dropped, Including Weapons

Dropping Samples is a valid strategy. You can drop them at the extraction point and come back for them later on before leaving so you don't risk losing it elsewhere. You can also give it to a skilled teammate who rarely dies.

In addition, weapons can also be dropped, so if you're not comfortable with a weapon you're using, you can trade it in with another player.

How to Get All Samples

Take Note of Environmental Conditions

Planets will have Planetary Hazards and Environmental Conditions which will affect some gameplay elements such as disabling the use of Stratagems and increasing your stamina drain!

Before hopping into a mission, be sure to take note of what negative effects that planet has. You can see this on the bottom right corner of the screen when hovering between planets.

All Planetary Hazards Guide

Avoid Quitting Midgame

Returning to your ship and abandoning a mission will disqualify you from earning EXP and currency rewards. Refrain from quitting midgame especially if you have teammates to carry you so as not to waste earning a bit of Requisition Slips and a few experience points.

What Happens if You Abandon an Operation?

Diving Has a Lot of Uses

Diving Uses
Dodge Dangerous Enemy Attacks Avoid Ally Bullets Reduce Weapon Recoil Reduce Damage from Explosives Removes Burning Repeatedly Dive to Escape Being Surrounded

Diving and going prone in general is a skill that will often save your life. Remembering that you have this ability is key to surviving, especially in higher difficulties.

Dodge Dangerous Enemy Attacks

Many enemies have dangerous but predictable attacks. Diving to the side will allow you to dodge the Charger's charge attack, the Bile Spewer's spit attack, and more! Once you have memorized the enemy patterns, you should know the right time to dive.

Avoid Ally Bullets

Diving or going prone will allow you to avoid ally bullets (as long as they're not targeting you). When you're in front of the squad leading the charge, you might encounter the issue of allies behind you accidentally shooting you; by going prone, you can reduce the likelihood of that happening.

It can be a worse issue if there's a lot of allied turrets nearby, since they don't care if they accidentally shoot you or not. Just go prone to avoid their bullets as well (if they're the turret types that shoot straight).

Reduce Weapon Recoil

When you are in a prone position, you'll have reduced weapon recoil. This is especially useful for certain weapons such as the Machine Gun, drastically improving your accuracy.

Reduce Damage from Explosives

Being prone or not is usually the difference of dying or living from an explosive. If a situation happens where you can't avoid getting hit by an explosive, quickly dive to survive.

Removes Burning

Diving will remove the Burning status. If you find yourself on fire (for example, from an ally Flamethrower) dive to avoid any further damage.

Repeatedly Dive to Escape Being Surrounded

If you find yourself being surrounded by a lot of enemies, you can try escaping by repeatedly diving: dive, get up, dive, get up, until you can run and escape.

Simply running away from being surrounded often doesn't work, since enemies can catch up with you. This repeated dive trick will give you better chances.

All Tips and Tricks Guides

All Tips and Tricks

All Tips and Tricks Guides
How to Unlock New Weapons	List of All Boosters
Infinite Stratagems Glitch	Multiplayer Guide
Difficulty Levels Differences	How to Get All Samples
Trophy Guide and List of Achievements	How to Fix Stuck in Drop Pod Bug
Can You Change Ship Name?	How to Farm XP Fast
How to Get Armor Piercing Rounds	What Happens if You Abandon an Operation?
Are Hive Lords in Helldivers 2?	How to Get Medals
How to Emote	How to Go First Person Mode
Are There Weapon Upgrades?	How to Fix Mic Not Working
Can You Play Helldivers 2 Solo?	Eagle Rearm Guide
All Planetary Hazards	How to Enable FPS Counter
Battle Pass Guide: How to Progress Warbonds	All Title Level Unlocks
Character Creation Guide	What is the Max Level?
How to Fix Friend Request Pending Bug	How to Destroy Outposts

Helldivers 2 Related Guides

Helldivers 2 Wiki TOP

Helldivers 2 Walkthrough Wiki

Game8 Helldivers 2 Guides
Tips and Tricks	Weapons
Stratagems	Armor
Ship Modules	Loadouts
Enemies	News
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