You can have a lot of fun playing with friends inHelldivers 2, but you might want to play by yourself after a few games of friendly fire gone wrong. It’s not easy, but it can be done as long as you’re prepared with the right equipment and aware of the threats that await you.

There are dozens of pieces of equipment and ship upgrades that you can use to further bolster your abilities as a defender of Super Earth. Helldivers 2 is already a difficult game with teammates, so you’ll need to be doubly prepared for the inevitable monsters.

A screenshot from Helldivers 2 showing the Galactic War screen with a planet in the Terminid controlled system selected. There is an orange oval around the difficulty settings, highlighting them and what they include.

Be Mindful Of Difficulty

There arenine possible difficulties in Helldivers 2, with the intensity and evolution of enemies becoming more troublesome as the setting rises.

Most ofthese difficulties can pose a threat to teams of four, so it’s wise tothink about your level and equipmentbefore going into a higher difficulty alone.

A screenshot of the pre-game lobby screen in Helldivers 2 with the only player character in the lobby selecting a smoke screen, a ballistic shield, an autocannon turret, and an anti-personnel minefield as their strategems.

When you first start in the game, don’t be afraid of the lighter difficulties, asthe ‘Medium’ setting and higher will start to spawn heavily armored enemiesin any faction. This increases the difficulty exponentially asit’s easy to get overwhelmed by smaller enemieswhile focusing on the armored.

Choose Defensive Stratagems

Since you won’t have anyone to have your back against sneaky enemies,it’s wise to go in with equipment that can cover the gap.Stratagems liketurrets, shields, or Guard Dog backpackscan help you defend yourself against surprise attacks.

you may decrease the deployment time and cooldown of Stratagemsby upgrading ‘Modules’ on your ship’s menu.

A screenshot from Helldivers 2 showing the player character looking at their map, with an orange circle highlighting five red dots on the mini-map surrounding the player.

Most Stratagems can serve multiple uses; some of themcan pull enemy attacks until they are destroyed or run out of ammo,and besides helping you hold a position,you can use these to get out of a pinch when you’re overwhelmed by enemies.

Defense and distraction

A screenshot from Helldivers 2 showing the player character laying limp on the ground with a notification on the center of the screen reading “Eliminated. Killed by Explosion."

Close enemy detection and defense

Escaping the enemy line of sight

A screenshot from Helldivers 2 showing the player character running towards a Charger faced away from them. A thin orange circle is around the bug’s large orange abdomen, which is its biggest and most obvious weak spot.

Mobility and getting higher ground

Defense against ranged enemies

Defense against incoming enemies in one position

Engineering Bay

As with every mission,think about how your Stratagems might be usefulbefore you drop in.

Watch Out For Patrols

Occasionally, when not near enemy nests,you’ll notice groups of enemies walking around the landscapein a path. These are patrols that are looking for enemies, soif they see you and swarm to your location, they can summon a horde of more enemies.

Distracting a patrol or the horde it summons can be a gooduse of a turret as a distraction.

Whether you choose to run or fight,this can take up a lot of time and drive you away from your objective, so if you’re playing alone, it’s probably better to avoid patrols whenever possible.

It’s possible to take out smaller patrols of enemies quickly enough not to spawn moreif you have a Guard Dog backpack. Since patrols are seemingly more active around the objectives,you may want to keep a wide distance until you’re aware of any potential threats.

Keep Moving When You Can

The size of each map will vary, but more often than notyou’ll be crossing large tracts of landto take out the different objectives that Super Earth has set for you. When possible,it’s best to keep moving to avoid getting overwhelmedby enemies.

With so much to do on some of the more intensive missions,you may have to leave some nests or other objectives behindif you hope to extract before the timer runs out.Prioritize the highest earningsfirst, then complete the smaller stuff if you have time before extraction.

Know Your Enemies' Weaknesses

Every enemy has weak spots, but the tougher the enemy is, the harder the spot is to reach. These are usuallynoticeable due to the way they stick out against the standardcolor or material of the enemy.

For example, theTerminid Charger’s weaknesses are its mouth and the large orange abdomen, while the AutomatonHulk’s weaknesses are its head and the glowing ventson its back. In both cases,these armored enemies' weaknesses are on their backs.