Helldivers 2 is a third-person shooter focused on teamwork and cooperation between players as they’re dropped in their Hellpods directly onto hostile planets and matched against the forces of deadly Automatons and fierce Terminids.
To survive the encounter and emerge victorious it’s best to carefully choose your loadout before combat, which includes primary and secondary weapons, as well as armor, grenades, and stratagems.
A primary weapon is particularly important as that’s what you’ll be using most of the time. But Helldivers 2 features a wide array of weapons, so how do you decide what to choose?
To make it easier for you to pick the right gun for the job, we’ve prepared a short overview of all primary weapons and we ranked them based on their usefulness. If you’re not sure what to pick, going for the highest-ranked weapons is often a relatively safe choice.
Read on to learn more about the best weapons in Helldivers 2 and what you should choose to provide the most value to your team.
Overview of Helldivers 2 Weapons
AR-23 Liberator: a solid starter rifle that will carry rookies well into the game. Its main strength lies in how versatile it is, but falls off rather hard when compared to more specialized guns.
AR-23P Liberator Penetrator: this variant of Liberator offers higher penetration values, making it a good choice versus better-armored targets.
AR-23C Liberator Concussive: this variant of Liberator trades some of the original fire rate for an ability to stagger enemies, which can be particularly useful versus groups.
AR-23A Liberator Carbine: a close-range variant of Liberator that offers an improved rate of fire but lacks the damage.
AR-61 Tenderizer: a rifle that features an adjustable fire rate and packs a good punch but requires the user to be smart about reloading, which takes longer than usual.
BR-14 Adjudicator: a great all-rounder for short and medium distances that rewards those who can tame its high recoil.
SMG-37 Defender: jack of all trades but master of none; it’s a quite stable gun, allowing the user to go for accurate full auto relatively easily.
SMG-72 Pummeler: excels at tough single-target scenarios, as it can effectively stun-lock an enemy as long as you keep shooting at it.
MP-98 Knight: a light SMG with an insane fire rate but takes time to master the recoil to make the most use out of it; preferred versus low armored targets at close range.
SMG-32 Reprimand: a surprisingly good heavy SMG that feels more like a really versatile assault rifle.
SG-8 Punisher: a powerful shotgun that can be loaded one round at a time, giving the user an option for a quick single shot in emergency situations, and doesn’t waste ammo when reloading a partially empty gun.
SG-8S Slugger: a less powerful variant of Punisher that gets more penetration instead, making it a great short-range alternative against armored targets.
SG-451 Cookout: a Punisher shotgun variant that uses incendiary pellets instead, making it a good stagger weapon against groups of enemies that encourages hit and run approach to combat, focusing on igniting new enemies and letting the fire do the job.
SG-225 Breaker: a shotgun with a decent spread that excels at quickly disposing of groups of enemies but falls off when fighting against armored targets.
SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary: a different Breaker variant that specializes in dealing with targets that are easily affected by fire but close to useless otherwise.
SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray: a fully automatic variant of Breaker shotgun that sacrifices some of its original power, meaning it’s even better at dealing with groups and even worse at dealing with armored targets.
SG-20 Halt: a unique short-range weapon that comes with two independent magazines, each holding a different kind of ammo: potent stun rounds and medium-penetrating flechettes.
R-63 Diligence: despite being a marksman rifle, performs surprisingly well versus less armored targets at medium range.
R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper: a different Diligence variant with more penetration, making it remarkably powerful at taking down armored targets from a safe distance.
R-2124 Constitution: a marksman rifle with a bayonet that doesn’t leave the user completely defenseless at close range.
LAS-5 Scythe: fires a continuous, high-precision laser beam and has infinite ammo but may overheat; works better on cold planets, where it cools down faster.
LAS-16 Sickle: a high-precision energy rifle that sacrifices some damage for a recoilless experience, making it easy to take down less mobile targets from a safe distance.
PLAS-1 Scorcher: a highly versatile energy weapon that can easily deal with any kind of enemy but may damage the user when standing too close to the explosion, so it’s not advised to use it at close range.
PLAS-101 Purifier: a Scorcher variant that can switch between insanely high rate of fire mode and single, charged energy shots.
SG-8P Punisher Plasma: shoots powerful plasma bolts that deal areawide damage, stagger the enemies, and may damage the user when standing too close to the explosion.
ARC-12 Blitzer: a powerful energy weapon with a low rate of fire, making it better against slow-moving targets that won’t get the chance to close the gap as you shoot at them.
JAR-5 Dominator: a high-ceiling weapon for experienced players
R-36 Eruptor: a sniper rifle with added shrapnel damage, making it as good at killing groups as it is at killing single targets; the only thing that prevents it from being overpowered is a small magazine and low fire rate.
CB-9 Exploding Crossbow: a surprisingly powerful weapon that is exceptionally good at dealing with all kinds of threats at medium and long distances with the main drawback being its low rate of fire.
FLAM-66 Torcher: a solid option versus groups of enemies that aren’t resistant to fire, stands out as the only primary weapon of the heavy penetration class.
Understanding Weapon Tiers
Tier lists are always to be taken with a grain of salt, as there are too many variables that may affect a weapon’s performance.
A weapon that got a higher grade may prove to be useless in the hands of an inexperienced player. Other weapons may be ranked higher just because they excel at one particular scenario, but due to how often you’ll find yourself in that particular scenario, it’s only fair to give that weapon a better score.
There’s also personal preference at play; you may find yourself more comfortable and performing way better using a certain low-tier weapon, just because of how well it complements your own playstyle you’re used to.
What we’re trying to say is that our tier list is not the be-all and end-all of weapon usefulness in Helldivers 2.
Our tier list for Helldivers 2 weapons consists of the following grades: S-Tier, A-Tier, B-Tier, C-Tier, and D-Tier. Here’s a short explanation for each tier.
S-Tier: The absolute top-class of Helldivers 2 weapons. Weapons in this tier are generally better than their similar counterparts. These weapons may be either extremely powerful, novice-friendly, or versatile enough that they could be used in a lot of different situations, making them a smart choice to master first before moving on to other weapons.
A-Tier: Powerful weapons that are not to be underestimated, but lose slightly when compared directly to S-Tiers. The difference is not particularly huge; in fact, some A-Tiers may perform better than some S-Tiers under specific conditions. Unless you’re super focused on min-maxing your efficiency, A-Tier weapons are perfectly fine to use.
B-Tier: Okay weapons that can still find some use in certain situations. A good player could make them work and perhaps even outperform other players using higher-tier weapons, but it may take a lot of practice until one gets to that point. If you’re not willing to put some extra time into learning how to use these guns, it may be a better idea to avoid them.
C-Tier: These weapons are considerably worse than weapons from B-Tier and above and even professional players may find it difficult to make use of them. Use only if you’re absolutely sure what you’re doing or if it feels good to you to use it and you value fun more than being effective on the battlefield; just because a weapon is out of meta doesn’t mean it can’t be fun to play.
D-Tier: These weapons are either very niche and used in so few scenarios that it’s not really worth it to learn to use them, or they’re straight-up power crept to the point that other weapons outperform them even in tasks they were designed to shine in. Weapons in this tier are considered to be in dire need of a buff and it’s best to avoid using them until their shortcomings are addressed.
Helldivers 2 Weapon Tier List
Weapons in Helldivers 2 are being changed and balanced on a regular basis so expect some degree of inaccuracy. It’s always a good idea to check the latest news and see if a certain weapon received a buff or nerf recently.
The game features two main antagonist groups: Terminids and Automatons. Due to how different both of them are, a different combat approach is recommended. As such, we’ve prepared two separate tier lists: one focused on the weapon’s general performance versus Terminids and one versus Automatons.
Helldivers 2 Weapon Tier List (vs. Terminids)
S-Tier: SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary, SG-451 Cookout, PLAS-1 Scorcher, PLAS-101 Purifier, CB-9 Exploding Crossbow
A-Tier: AR-23A Liberator Carbine, AR-61 Tenderizer, BR-14 Adjudicator, MP-98 Knight, SMG-32 Reprimand, SG-8 Punisher, SG-225 Breaker, SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray, SG-8P Punisher Plasma, ARC-12 Blitzer, JAR-5 Dominator, R-36 Eruptor, FLAM-66 Torcher
B-Tier: AR-23 Liberator, AR-23P Liberator Penetrator, AR-23C Liberator Concussive, SMG-37 Defender, SMG-72 Pummeler, SG-8S Slugger, SG-20 Halt, R-63 Diligence
C-Tier: R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper, LAS-5 Scythe, LAS-16 Sickle
D-Tier: R-2124 Constitution
Helldivers 2 Weapon Tier List (vs. Automatons)
S-Tier: JAR-5 Dominator, PLAS-1 Scorcher, PLAS-101 Purifier, CB-9 Exploding Crossbow,
A-Tier: BR-14 Adjudicator, SMG-32 Reprimand, SG-8P Punisher Plasma, ARC-12 Blitzer, R-36 Eruptor, AR-23P Liberator Penetrator, SG-8S Slugger, SG-20 Halt, R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper, LAS-5 Scythe, LAS-16 Sickle
B-Tier: AR-61 Tenderizer, SG-8 Punisher, SMG-37 Defender, SMG-72 Pummeler, R-63 Diligence, SG-451 Cookout
C-Tier: SG-225 Breaker, FLAM-66 Torcher, AR-23 Liberator, AR-23C Liberator Concussive, R-2124 Constitution, SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary
D-Tier: AR-23A Liberator Carbine, MP-98 Knight, SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray
How to Choose the Best Weapon for Your Playstyle
Weapons in Helldivers 2 support a variety of playstyles. It doesn’t matter if you prefer to keep your distance or get close and personal – it’s guaranteed that there is something you can use to complement that playstyle.
The game follows common game logic, so all the various types of weapons will excel at scenarios you would expect them to.
For example, shotguns are always preferred if you’d like to look your enemies in the eyes as you dispose of them or when you expect to spend the majority of your time in tight spaces, such as tunnels, corridors, or small rooms.
Submachine guns will be invaluable at short and medium distances, giving you a bit more versatility on the battlefield.
Assault rifles are chosen by those who like to be prepared for any combat scenario, as they can be effectively used at any range, although they usually work best if you can keep your enemies at a reasonable distance.
Marksman rifles are an obvious choice for all aspiring snipers who’d love to provide their team with long-range support.
In addition to that, if you prefer fighting Termininds, it’s a good idea to stick to weaker weapons with higher rate of fire and areawide capabilities, as Termininds tend to come in large groups. If you’d rather focus on eliminating heavily armored Automatons, you should pick something that can pack a punch and works at a greater distance instead.
Conclusion
Helldivers 2 provides a solid dose of action, allowing players to test their combat and teamwork skills in a series of demanding encounters behind enemy lines.
However, being an experienced soldier can only get you so far – your equipment also plays a crucial role, and knowing what to take with you for the next Hellpod planetary drop may significantly improve your chances of survival.
That’s why it’s important to learn everything about primary weapons in Helldivers 2 before you set out for the next mission.
With the help of our guide, you should have a better understanding of that aspect of the game.