Helldivers 2: Best Loadouts, Ranked

Summary

'Meta Build' dominates Helldivers 2 with Breaker Shotgun, Railgun, and Shield Generator Pack for survival and power. Popular for a reason.
Incendiary Bug Build offers fire damage advantage against bugs with Breaker Incendiary, Incendiary Grenade, and Flamethrower stratagem options.
Automaton-Focused Build targets tough Automatons with high single-target damage, armor passive, and effective stratagem choices for combat success.

With how absurdly well the co-op chaotic third-person shooter called Helldivers 2 is doing, it only makes sense to take a look a the loadouts players seem to be relying on. For each Helldiver, players get a choice of their Armor, Helmet, Cape, Primary Weapon, Secondary Weapon, Throwable, and four different Stratagems.

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Across these Stratagems, there are Orbtial Strikes, Eagle Strikes, summonable Sentries, and Backpack Weapons. So, with all these options, it can be a bit overwhelming to figure out a general loadout to use in Helldivers 2. With that in mind, let's put together a list of some of the best loadouts found so far in this game and go into why exactly they're so good, what specifically they're good at, and even some alternative options for players who aren't fans of specific Weapons or Stratagems.

6 The 'Meta Build'

Everyone Else Is Running It For A Reason

Armor Type	Primary	Secondary	Throwable	Stratagems
Light Armor	SG-225 Breaker	P-19 Redeemer	G-16 Impact	RS-422 Railgun, SH-32 Shield Generator Pack, Eagle 500KG Bomb, & Orbital Laser

It only makes sense to start a list of the best loadouts in Helldivers 2 with the most 'meta' of meta builds. This is a build that, on average, is used the most by players overall with some slight discrepancies here and there. Overall this loadout relies on the most overpowered options the game currently has to offer, those being the Breaker Auto Shotgun, the Railgun Backpack Weapon, and the Shield Generator Backpack.

Nothing even comes close to the Breaker Shotgun in terms of power, utility, consistency, or even in how 'fun' it is to use. If a player were, for example, to join 50 different parties mid-mission on Difficulty 7 or higher in Helldivers 2, it's very likely that 90 percent of the people they joined, at minimum, would be using the Breaker Shotgun. Additionally, the Railgun is also just as common, as this third-slot weapon by far has the most power for a Stratagem weapon that doesn't require the player's Backpack Slot in order to reload. And for the third 'overpowered' option, the Shield Generator Pack is going to be in most of these loadout recommendations simply because it ups the player's survivability by way too much to ignore.

5 Incendiary Bug Build

For Taking Out Swathes Of Filthy Bugs In Style

Helldivers 2 - Incendiary Bug Build Image

'Preferred' Armor Passive	Primary	Secondary	Throwable	Stratagems
Med-Kit (+2 Stims & +2.0/s Stim Effect)	SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary	P-19 Redeemer	G-10 Incendiary	FLAM-40 Flamethrower, SH-32 Shield Generator Pack, Eagle Napalm Airstrike, & Eagle 110MM Rocket Pods

Next up is a sort of 'themed' loadout, and the theme for this one is fire. While fire damage isn't overpowered in Helldivers 2, it's still pretty useful. Proper Flamethrower usage can take care of a Charger from the front, it can clear entire waves of Terminids with ease, and it's good area denial as well. Additionally, the reason this is a build centered around bugs is simply because fire damage seems to be better against them compared to Automatons.

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To briefly go over the reasoning for this loadout recommendation, the Breaker Incendiary is about as good as the regular Breaker but it also applies the burning debuff, the G-10 Incendiary Grenade matches the theme of the build while also being a fantastic grenade, and the Napalm Airstrike is a great Stratagem that people are sleeping on. Obviously, the Flamethrower is the most polarizing pick on here, and players can switch this out for a Railgun or Grenade Launcher. This build (with the Flamethrower) would also lack elite damage, which is exactly why we included the Eagle 110MM Rocket Pods, as these are great for taking out elite enemies and refresh pretty quickly.

4 Automaton-Focused Build

Solely Focused On Taking Down Those Scrap Metal Jerks

'Preferred' Armor Passive	Primary	Secondary	Throwable	Stratagems
Scout (Pings Generate Radar Scans & -30 percent Enemy Detection Range)	SG-225 Breaker (or Jar-5 Dominator)	P-4 Senator	G-16 Impact	RS-422 Railgun, SH-32 Shield Generator Pack, FX-12 Shield Generator Relay, Orbital Railcannon Strike, & A/M-12 Mortar Sentry

Moving on from Terminids to Automatons, the Automatons in Helldivers 2 are terrifying in a completely different way than the Terminids are. The bugs, on higher difficulties, are terrifying due to their overwhelming numbers and how they almost always force Helldivers to stay on the run in order to survive. Meanwhile, the Automatons are less numerous overall, but they have energy weapons and their camps are a lot harder to deal with.

So, to accommodate for this, this loadout recommendation is built around high single-target damage, giving players the ability to block gunfire, and even an Armor Passive that makes it harder for the Automatons to keep track of the Helldivers. To go a bit more into the Stratagems, the Railgun is great for taking out Elite Automatons, the Shield Generator Pack is a must-have for its ability to block enemy gunfire, the Railcannon Strike is also great for the more 'tanky' elites, and the Shield Generator Relay (while almost useless against Terminids) can give players a safe area to fire out from while blocking any incoming rockets, laser-based gunfire, or tank shells. Lastly, fighting Automatons is fantastic for players who like the Mortar Sentry, as these enemies keep their distance a lot more than the bugs do, making the Mortar Sentry a lot more useful and a lot less of a friendly-fire headache.

3 Nest-Closing Build

No More 'If I Just Had One More Grenade' With This Build

Helldivers 2 - Nest Clearing Build Image

'Preferred' Armor Passive	Primary	Secondary	Throwable	Stratagems
Engineering Kit (-30 percent crouching/prone recoil & +2 Grenades)	SG-225 Breaker or SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary	P-19 Redeemer	G-16 Impact (or G-10 Incendiary)	GL-21 Grenade Launcher, SH-32 Shield Generator Pack, Eagle Cluster Bomb, & Eagle Airstrike (or Orbital Laser)

For the next incredibly strong loadout, let's go over one that's designed for one specific purpose, clearing bug nests quickly and easily. Regardless of the 'main' mission, most of the maps on any of the Terminid planets in Helldivers 2 will have nests that players can go around and close to get additional Requisitions and XP. They're not required, but they can be seen on the map (most of the time) so most newer players just go through and clear them out on the way to the main objective or after clearing the main objective.

However, on the higher difficulties, getting into these bug nests and staying safe while throwing grenades into all the holes can be difficult for any number of reasons. So, this loadout gives players plenty of different ways to go about closing nests whether it's close up with Impact Grenades, at mid-range with the Grenade Launcher, or from a distance with the Eagle Cluster Bomb, Eagle Airstrike, and Orbital Laser.

2 Elite-Killing Build

Goodbye Chargers, Bile Titans, Hulks, and Tanks

Primary	Secondary	Throwable	Stratagems
SG-225 Breaker or Plas-1 Scorcher	P-4 Senator	G-16 Impact	RS-422 Railgun, SH-32 Shield Generator Pack, Orbital Laser (or Railcannon Strike), & Eagle 110MM Rocket Pods

Once players start really turning up the difficulty in Helldivers 2, they'll start dreading coming face-to-face with the tougher enemies such as Chargers, Bile Titans, Automaton Tanks, or even Devastators. A lot of these enemies can only be damaged in specific areas or require high armor penetration to do any 'real' damage to them. So, this is a loadout built around being able to take out small mobs with relative ease while also having a lot of options to take the elite mobs out quickly.

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At this point, most Helldivers 2 players probably know about how useful the Railgun is against Chargers in particular by using it to peel the armor off their leg and then unloading it into said exposed leg. But, if players don't have their Railgun or need another option, the Orbital Laser/Railcannon Strike and Eagle 110MM Rocket Pods are there for backup. This is also the only loadout on here that has the PLAS-1 Scorcher on it. This is because most players probably won't have this weapon, due to it being a reward on the last page of the free Battle Pass. However, this weapon can do a lot of damage to armored enemies even when shot directly in their armored sections, so it's worth considering.

1 Support Build

Ammo, Support Fire, Cover, & Raw Damage For Your Teammates

'Preferred' Armor Passive	Primary	Secondary	Throwable	Stratagems
Med-Kit (+2 Stims & +2.0/s Stim Effect)	SG-225 Breaker	P-19 Redeemer	G-10 Incendiary (or G-3 Smoke)	B-1 Supply Pack (or SH-32 Shield Generator Pack), A/M-23 EMS Mortar Sentry, Eagle Smoke Strike, & Orbital Laser

And for the final loadout recommendation, let's look into a Support Build. There are not a ton of direct supporting options in Helldivers 2, as the most supportive thing a player can do for another is Reinforce them when they're dead, shoot the enemies chasing them, or ping to ammo when they're low. However, there are still ways to support a team using a Loadout.

First off, the Med-Kit Armor Passive is almost required for this build, as the additional Stims allow the player to heal their allies in a pinch or rely more on using Stims to heal through the pain when they're surrounded. The primary and secondary weapons are obvious recommendations and are just there to give the player a good baseline damage output, but the Throwable Incendiary is good at protecting the area in front of an ally who is calling in ammo or a support weapon (same with the Smoke Grenade). And lastly, in regard to the Stratagems, the Supply Pack is one of the best support options a player could pick, the EMS Mortar Sentry is great passive crowd control, the Smoke Strike helps break enemy line-of-sight, and the Orbital Laser is a way to provide damage support to a far off ally without having to focus entirely on helping them.

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