Missions in Terminid Hive Worlds pose the hardest challenges players can experience in Helldivers 2. Not only are they infested with bugs, but the stratagem restrictions inside underground areas make traditional Helldivers 2 Terminid loadouts a lot less viable.
Since most Orbital and Eagle strikes are useless in Terminid cave missions, players will need to adapt if they want to win. This Helldivers 2 guide covers some of the best pieces of equipment you can use to maximize your odds of success in Terminid Hive Worlds.
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Best Primary Weapons for Terminid Hive Worlds in Helldivers 2
Terminid Hive Worlds are the first biome type in the game to feature randomly-generated underground cave networks. Players who enter these caves will not be able to call in any sort of stratagem unless there is an opening above them. Because of this, you'll need to bring a loadout that can clear all kinds of bugs quickly without relying heavily on fire support.
Plasma Weapons
Rupture Strain Terminids are a subfaction of the bugs that feature burrowing units. They're predominantly found on Terminid Hive Worlds, and they can be pretty annoying to fight. Plasma weapons like the Scorcher, Purifier, and Plasma Punisher can counter Rupture Strain enemies because their explosive projectiles can cause burrowed bugs to prematurely emerge. Plus, all of these weapons can punch through medium armor.
Explosive weapons like the Exploding Crossbow and Eruptor can do the same thing, but since players can easily get swarmed in Terminid cave missions, these weapons will often become a detriment to their users' safety.
Rupture Strain Terminids are not exclusive to Terminid Hive Worlds. These weapons will be great against them regardless of which planet they appear on.
Flame Weapons
Hive World caves and tunnels are full of choke points, and if you want to keep a horde of bugs at bay, then the Torcher, Crisper, and Incendiary Grenades (also the Flamethrower Support Weapon) will do the trick. These aren't as good against Rupture Strain bugs, but they'll cook everything else just fine.
Keep in mind that flame weapons can penetrate heavy armor, so if a Charger appears in a tunnel and you don't have an anti-tank solution, just torch one of their legs until they croak.
Flame weapons are best used with the Inflammable perk in Helldivers 2, which provides a significant resistance to fire damage.
Thermite Grenades
Speaking of AT solutions, Thermite Grenades are great for underground missions. They allow a wider degree of flexibility when it comes to weapon choices, and they can deal with small bug holes just as well as the other explosive grenades. Thermite Grenades pair well with plasma guns. Since the latter can deal splash damage, players will still have decent crowd control.
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Find the best secondary weapons in Helldivers 2 to help spread managed democracy faster. These powerful sidearms cannot be ignored.
Best Support Weapons for Hive World Missions
Since you won't be able to rely on Orbitals and Eagles for firepower, you'll need to bring reliable Support Weapons in order to deal with everything the bugs throw out at you underground.
Supply Pack
While not necessarily a weapon, the Supply Pack will keep your ammo, stim, and grenade stocks full while clearing cave systems. Sure, players can still call Supply Pods inside caves, but with the sheer amount of bugs that spawn underground, you'll need every bullet you can get.
MG-43 Machine Gun
Medium penetration weapons with good stagger strength are great for underground missions, especially when fighting the Rupture Strain. The MG-43 Machine Gun is especially good here — bugs tend to group tightly together when fighting in tunnels, making them very easy targets.
Helldivers 2 uses a tiered reload system. This allows players to pause the reload animations of weapons and continue them some other time. For example, if your character has already taken out the magazine of your MG-43, you can cancel your reload, reposition, and continue reloading from where your character last stopped. This applies to all weapons.
Grenade Launcher
While the Grenade Launcher is a little risky to use in tight, enclosed spaces, it's a tremendous help when you're trying to push forward, and even more so if you're trying to destroy an underground Terminid nest. However, keep in mind that grenades have a minimum arming distance. If you fire one at something that's too close, it'll bounce off and explode somewhere else.
Recoilless Rifle
Yes, heavily-armored units will still spawn underground, and since you won't be able to call in EATs or Commandos from most areas inside a cave, the Recoilless Rifle is going to be your best bet. Don't forget that you can toggle between HE and AT rockets when using this Support Weapon — use HE to clear groups, and AT to kill Bile Titans, Chargers, and Impalers.
The Recoilless Rifle is also good for killing Dragonroaches and Hive Lords outside of cave systems.
Helldivers 2: The Best Orbital Barrages
Orbital Strategems call on the player's ship to strike the planet's surface with a variety of weapons. However, each barrage has its pros and cons.
Best Stratagems for Terminid Hive World Missions
Hive World missions don't always take place underground, and even so, some underground mission objectives (like the Nuke Nursery and Spread Democracy ones) take place in areas with open ceilings, allowing players to use Orbitals and Eagles even while inside a cave. With that said, you can't just bring the best Stratagems in Helldivers 2 and call it a day. For cave missions, consider the following:
We recommend against using Eagle strikes for cave missions due to the nature of their targeting. Airstrikes will often hit the roof of the cave instead of the insides. Still, they're great for GATER escort missions and every other mission type where objectives are primarily found on the surface.
Orbital EMS Strike
EMS fields will keep bugs away from drills in Nuke Nursery missions, and they're generally good for crowd control in spaces where friendly fire is harder to avoid. The Into the Unjust update also buffed these to have Impact Damage and Demolition Force, which means direct hits with EMS shells will now damage enemies and destroy buildings (and bug holes).
Orbital Gas and Orbital Gatling Barrage
These two fulfill the same role: area denial. They're great when you're trying to raise flags underground, and if you're on the surface, you can use them to spawn-kill any Terminids emerging from Bug Breaches.
If the team already has one or two of these stratagems equipped, consider bringing Orbital Precision Strike instead.
Sentry Turrets
Turrets can help shave some pressure off of you and the team by thinning enemy hordes and drawing their aggro. Set one up before entering a tunnel, then retreat to it when things get dicey. Alternatively, call one down in an objective area, then try to protect it as it tries to do its job. The Autocannon Sentry is arguably the most well-rounded for Terminid cave missions, though the Rocket Sentry can do well too.
Guard Dogs
Much like Sentry Turrets, Guard Dogs will alleviate some of the pressure the team will face when inside a cave. Use the regular Rifle Guard Dog if you want extra firepower that can punch through armor, or take the Gas Guard Dog from the Chemical Agents Warbond if you want better crowd control. The latter tends to be more useful, especially on Super Helldive.
Exosuits
Either of the Exosuit variants are amazing when clearing caves on Terminid Hive Worlds. The ammo they pack is often enough for an objective or two, and they can bulldoze their way through hordes of small/medium bugs. However, Bile Titans, Chargers, and Impalers will chew through their ammunition fairly quickly, so it's best to have an on-foot Helldiver supporting Exosuits with a Recoilless Rifle.
Helldivers 2
- Released
- February 8, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
- Engine
- bitsquid
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players (online)
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
