Turning up the difficulty inHelldivers 2is always a significant increase to the dangers you’ll face. Once you’re at Challenging or above, it will take practice and coordination to complete missions and live to tell the tale. Every little bit helps, and the game’s best players have already discovered ways to optimize their runs.
From total game-changers to small improvements, these tips are some of the ways that pros survive the most dangerous battlefields of the Galactic War. Use some of these tricks on your next dive, and return to Super-Earth covered in medals.
8Kill Enemies With Hellpods
Look Out Below!
Everything that you need for the unending battle against bots and bugs is dropped from orbit via Hellpods. Reinforcements, supplies, and weaponry called in by Stratagems are delivered via Hellpods, which hit the ground at terminal velocity.
As you may have discovered the hard way, anything hit by a Hellpod takes massive damage. It’s not enough to kill an armored boss at full health, but most normal enemies and worn-down bosses will go down if you manage to drop a pod on their head.
There’s even an Achievement / Trophy for killing a Charger with a Supply Pod!
7Cook Grenades Before Throwing Them
Democracy Doesn’t Wait. Why Should You?
Timing grenade throws is very important; if the fuse goes too long, your enemies have a chance to scatter out of the blast radius. The standard grenades have a fairly long fuse time, but you can run it down byholding the throw buttonfor a second or two before releasing it.
You’ll need to learn the exact timing for your preferred grenade type, but once you’ve mastered this technique, you can get them toexplode right when and where you want them.This is also a good way to shorten the delay when destroying a Bug Nest or Bot Assembler.
Don’t hold the button too long, or it’ll be you getting blown up.
6Destroy Buildings With Stratagems
Bring Down The House!
Of course, just because you’re supposed to destroy Outposts with grenades doesn’t mean that’s the only way - or even the best. A sufficiently-powerful Stratagem, like anOrbital Precision Strikeor anEagle Napalm Strike, can destroy them from afar as long as the targeting beacon lands close enough.
Destroying Outposts this way takes some practice, but it’s much safer than running in guns blazing. If the Stratagem misses the target, it should still deal enough collateral damage to make your subsequent assault much easier.
This also works for taking out the Rogue Broadcast Antenna without having to interact with the console!
5Open Containers Using Grenades
It’s A Give-And-Take Situation.
The many Areas Of Interest hidden across each mapoften have storage containersor bunkers holding useful gear. The largest of these require two Helldivers to activate their consoles, but the smaller ones can justbeblown open with grenades.
Rocket Launchers work too, but they’re best saved for the enemy.
Inside, you’ll findsupport weapons, ammo crates, stims, and more; well worth the price of a single grenade.
4Recover Lost Samples
Freedom Ain’t Cheap.
Samples fuel the Galactic War effort, and you’ll need to find lots of them over several missions toupgrade your Super-Destroyer.It’s important to get off-planet with as many as you can find, but that’s easier said than done.
When a Helldiver dies, theydrop all Samples they were carrying, along with their Primary Weapon, Support Weapon, and Backpack (if any). If at all possible, the team should try torecover the lost Samplesbefore leaving the area. You’ll be glad you did on future missions, when you have the full might of your ship aiding you from orbit.
3Evade Enemy Patrols
Especially On High Difficulty.
It’s almost impossible to avoid a fight at an Outpost, but in the field and around some objectives you may avoid combat,saving ammo and lives.Patrols wandering the map won’t engage you if they don’t notice you;stay low and behind coverand they might pass none the wiser.
Hold your fire in these situations until you’re spotted; a gunshot will give away your position.
It’s also possible to avoid a fight at an unguarded objective like the ICBM Site; or, more likely, to avoid notice until the best possible moment to call down Stratagems and ambush enemies passing through. In ambushes like this, it’s best toeliminate basic enemies as quickly as possible;the fewer foes there are at a time, the less likely they are to call for backup.
A cloud of Terminid pheromones or a red laser beacon from the Automatons means that enemy reinforcements are coming - be ready!
Wasting One Bullet Is Worth The Faster Reload.
For most weapons - notably thestandard-issue Liberatorthat serves as your main weapon - the reload animation differs based on whether the magazine is completely empty. Reloading with an empty magazineadds an extra step to the animation, slowing your reload time by about half a second.
If you can manage to fire all but one bullet in your current magazine, you canreload fasterby using the shorter animation. That half-second could save your life, or a teammate’s.
If a reload animation is interrupted, usually by an enemy attack, it willresume from the last step it completedwhen you try again.
1The Mission Is Still Complete Even After A Wipe
Make A Glorious Sacrifice For Super-Earth.
Once you complete the main objectives of your current mission, you’ll be able toextract from the airfield.At this point, getting everyone out alive is the ideal outcome, but it isn’t strictly necessary.
If your team is wiped out between completing the main objectives and boarding the extraction shuttle, and has no reinforcements left, you’llstill be credited with having accomplished the missionfor purposes of determining your XP and RP rewards and the status of the Galactic War. You’llget more rewards if everyone survives, of course, but if you’re on the final objective and things are looking grim, a heroic sacrifice to finish the job will be more beneficial overall to you and to the galaxy.
