Meta may not be at the forefront of your mind in a PvE shooter. Still, metas truly do make a colossal difference in gameplay when you’re on Level 10 Super Helldive difficulty in Helldivers 2. There’s quite an unmistakable disparity between the quality and effectiveness of some weapons, stratagems, and boosters, for instance, and, while you can have an enormous amount of fun with whatever build you’d like to role-play in, some will eclipse others.
This is the nature of a shooter like Helldivers 2 that is constantly grappling with balance and community feedback.
The game’s booster meta is clearly defined, for example, with four boosters that are instrumental and more OP than others. As for Helldivers 2’s secondary weapons, there are perhaps only a couple of S-tier sidearms, with the rest being a mixed bag that you or I may disagree on regarding their value. It seems there is a wide consensus affirming that the P-4 Senator is an S-tier secondary, for instance, but I’d die on the hill that the only secondary deserving of ‘S-tier’ status is the GP-20 Ultimatum.
No Secondary Outclasses Helldivers 2’s Ultimatum in Anti-Tank DPS
Secondary weapons are intended as backup sidearms that you can default to in a pinch, such as when doggedly pursued and without a second to spare reloading your primary weapon. In such cases, many players agree that the Senator crests Helldivers 2’s S-tier weapons, and I could genuinely see its merit, if not for how foundational and OP the Ultimatum is.
P-4 Senator Stats
- Damage: 200
- Capacity: 006
- Recoil: 031
- Fire Rate: 200
P-4 Senator Weapon Traits
- Heavy Armor Penetrating
- One Handed
- Rounds Reload
GP-20 Ultimatum Stats
- Damage: 3,000
- Capacity: 01
- Recoil: 031
- Fire Rate: 900
GP-20 Ultimatum Weapon Traits
- Anti-Tank
- One Handed
- Explosive
Call it a skill issue, but meticulously aiming or properly taking advantage of light, medium, or heavy penetration simply isn’t what I want to contend with when I feel like I’m firing an airsoft gun and ragdolled across a map. Either way, that’s why I equip the MG-43 Machine Gun stratagem on Helldivers 2’s Terminid and Illuminate planets, freeing my core build to focus wholly on mass destruction and objective completion.
I’d die on the hill that the only secondary deserving of ‘S-tier’ status is the GP-20 Ultimatum.
Helldivers 2’s Ultimatum Has S-Tier Utility
Before the GP-31 Grenade Pistol and the premise of mission-centric functionality, secondary weapons were completely forgettable to me, and I’d never bother unholstering mine for any reason. Few secondary weapons moonlight as an objective utility tool, and it’s these tools that have effortlessly eclipsed all other secondaries by contributing substance and viability to what sidearm I decided to equip.
Hundreds of hours ago, for example, I exclusively ran Helldivers 2’s Grenade Pistol, while my main primary was the LAS-17 Double-Edge Sickle, so that I could reliably close bug holes or implode bot fabricators. However, as soon as I came to the alarming realization that the R-36 Eruptor’s jet-propelled rounds can close bug holes and the Ultimatum can squash bot fabricators, it was an easy decision to graduate from them.
This also alleviates the need to delegate my throwable slot to a high-capacity inventory of basic grenades; rather, indulging fully in Helldivers 2’s anti-tank meta, I greatly prefer the DPS of the G-123 Thermite. Indeed, the Ultimatum may seem like overkill when I also equip the Eagle 500KG Bomb and Orbital 380MM HE Barrage stratagems, but I gladly accept the risk of being swarmed in ambushes if it means I can efficiently clear objectives with a handful of anti-tank explosives:
Helldivers 2’s Ultimatum Makes Quick Work of the Following Missions/Side Objectives
- Anti-Air Emplacement
- Blitz: Search and Destroy
- Destroy Command Bunkers
- Destroy Rogue Research Station
- Intercept Convoy
- Purge Hatcheries
- Purge Illuminate
- Mortar Emplacement
- Shrieker Nest
- Spore Spewer
- Stalker Lair
- Terminate Illegal Broadcast
The Ultimatum’s biggest disadvantage is that it only holds two rounds, though this can be mitigated depending on how frequently you’re able to loot ammo pickups or Hellpod resupply drops.
Helldivers 2
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- February 8, 2024
- 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
WHERE TO PLAY
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Prequel(s)
- Helldivers
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players (online)
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Playable
- PC Release Date
- February 8, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- August 26, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- February 8, 2024
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 70 hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 25.96 GB
