Helldivers 2 best weapons tier list

In the fight against the overwhelming bug-like Terminids and the robotic Automatons in Helldivers 2, picking the best weapons can seem daunting. Our weapons tier list covers all the best primary weapons that you can pick up and take on your next mission.

The Breaker shotgun has dominated weapons rankings for some time and is an all-around safest pick for most situations.

• Type: Explosive
• Cost: 60 Medals in Democratic Detonation Warbond
• Damage: 570
• Capacity: 5
• Recoil: 75
• Fire rate: 25 RPM
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating, Explosive

Pros

• Very high damage
• Explosive and Medium penetration are a nasty combo
• Shrapnel is added back!

Cons

• Very slow rate of fire
• Punishing if you miss shots

The Eruptor is the epitome of a high-risk, high-reward weapon. It will decimate everything in range, but suffers at close quarters, especially due to being susceptible to friendly fire. Its rate of fire is fairly slow, so you have to carefully place your shots. With that said, it has a very high damage potential (after buff) that should never be overlooked.

SG-8S Slugger

• Type: Shotgun
• Cost: 60 Medals on page 8 of Helldivers Mobilize Warbond
• Damage: 250
• Capacity: 16
• Recoil: 120
• Fire rate: 80 RPM
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating, Rounds reload

Pros

• Can penetrate medium armour
• Excellent to face big enemies

Cons

• Low fire rate and bullet capacity

You want to bring a Slugger to any fight against big, tough foes. While it’s serviceable against hordes of enemies, it shines when it comes to taking down the big guys. It has plenty of ammunition to weather those epic duels and will deal damage even against armour, thanks to its medium penetration. However, it’s still always best to hit the weak spots, even with a Slugger.

R-63 Diligence

• Type: Marksman rifle
• Cost: 8 Medals on page 1 of Helldivers Mobilize Warbond
• Damage: 165
• Capacity: 20
• Recoil: 35
• Fire rate: 350 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating

Pros

• Excellent early-game single-shot rifle
• Damage buff helps it stay relevant

Cons

• Struggles against armour

Good old Diligence was most players first replacement weapon when Helldivers 2 came out. It is still a very good gun, especially after the damage buff, able to place semi-automatic single-shot bullets at a decent speed. However, it doesn’t help against anything remotely armoured.

R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper

• Type: Marksman rifle
• Cost: 40 Medals on page 6 of Helldivers Mobilize Warbond
• Damage: 200
• Capacity: 15
• Recoil: 53
• Fire rate: 350 RPM
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating

Pros

• Helps you deal with armoured enemies at long range

Cons

• Each miss can cost you

The Diligence Counter Sniper will favour players who like one-shot over burst fire. It rewards good aim with damage and higher armour penetration. Their main drawback is that it’s not great at thinning out hordes. However, if you have the aim, it will deal serious damage to armoured foes before they can get too close.

SG-451 Cookout

• Type: Shotgun
• Cost: 20 Medals in Freedom’s Flame Warbond
• Damage: 320
• Capacity: 16
• Recoil: 100
• Fire rate: 80 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, Rounds reload, Incendiary

Pros

• Deals lingering fire damage

Cons

• Can struggle against Automatons

The cookout fires incendiary rounds that will burn your enemies even when you’re not shooting at them. It deals decent damage, which is only helped by its DoT. However, in many ways, it does a similar thing as SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary, so you can pick which one you prefer.

B-tier weapons

These weapons are middle of the road, well-balanced and have their own niches to fulfill. They’re not the best choices, but you won’t question your picks too much with them. These are our B-tier weapon picks:

CB-9 Exploding Crossbow

• Type: Explosive
• Cost: 80 Medals in Democratic Detonation Warbond
• Damage: 420
• Capacity: 5
• Recoil: 35
• Fire rate: 50 RPM
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating, Explosive, One-handed

Pros

• High explosive damage
• Having one hand free while wielding a strong weapon is a good perk

Cons

• Low ammo capacity
• Very easy to deal friendly fire damage

The crossbow is a silent, stealthy weapon – up until its payload detonates. It’s kind of ironic, but in a sense, this weapon is a grenade launcher with a silencer. It has been buffed over time, having been one of the worst weapons for a long time. It still suffers from friendly-fire issues, but at least can deal more damage now and its shots penetrate some armour.

Despite numerous buffs, the Exploding Crossbow remains too unreliable to propel it into higher tiers.

SG-22 Bushwhacker

• Type: Shotgun
• Cost: 50 Medals in Viper Commandos Warbond
• Damage: 405
• Capacity: 3
• Recoil: 170
• Fire rate: 650 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, One-handed

Pros

• High damage potential from up-close

Cons

• Only 3 rounds per reload

The Bushwhacker is a sawed-off shotgun that takes the place of a secondary weapon in your loadout. As such, it certainly has its uses but is held back by its low ammo capacity. When it does hit an enemy, it will deal decent damage, though its pellets will patter off anything above light armour. Not a bad sidearm in a pinch, but there are better options.

SMG-72 Pummeller

• Type: Submachine gun
• Cost: 60 Medals on page 2 of Polar Patriots Warbond
• Damage: 65
• Capacity: 45
• Recoil: 10
• Fire rate: 475 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, One-handed

Pros

• Excellent at staggering enemies

Cons

• Low range and damage for a primary

The best thing about the Pummeller is its ability to stagger enemies. If you’re hanging in the back and covering your teammates, this can be a great weapon to help stave off a horde. But as a primary weapon, it somewhat lacks when it comes to range and damage, making it less viable than many other weapons.

BR-14 Adjudicator

• Type: Assault Rifle
• Cost: 20 Medals in Democratic Detonation Warbond
• Damage: 90
• Capacity: 30
• Recoil: 40
• Fire rate: 550 RPM
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating

Pros

• Can double as both single-shot and burst shot gun
• Good versatility when necessary

Cons

• Falls behind more specialized primaries

Falsely listed as a marksman rifle (until patch 0.1.000.300), the Adjudicator still boasts several common traits with them. It represents a mid-point between an assault and a marksman rifle, with the ability to fire both single and burst shots. However, it has low ammo capacity and doesn’t do particularly well in either area. It’s still a decent weapon, but a more specialized pick would be more optimal.

AR-23 Liberator

• Type: Assault rifle
• Cost: Free (default)
• Damage: 70
• Capacity: 45
• Recoil: 15
• Fire rate: 640 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating

Pros

• Good beginner weapon
• Decent at everything

Cons

• Lack of specialization hurts it
• Low damage compared to better ARs

The default Liberator assault rifle does great against hordes of weaker hordes. You can do some decent damage against larger foes but you’re better off relying on other Stratagems or support weapons for them. It doesn’t do too well against armour but its scope lets you target weak spots to an extent. It’s an okay weapon, especially when you start the game.

✓ Our observation

Liberator may be the game’s starter weapon, but it’s certainly still good enough to compete with many others. Weapons progression in Helldivers 2 is lateral, making most other weapons sidegrades, rather than upgrades. If you like using the Liberator, there’s nothing wrong in keeping it as your primary.

SMG-37 Defender

• Type: Submachine gun
• Cost: 15 Medals on page 2 of Helldivers Mobilize Warbond
• Damage: 75
• Capacity: 45
• Recoil: 10
• Fire rate: 520 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, One-handed

Pros

• Early introduction to SMGs

Cons

• Middle of the pack SMG with fairly low damage

The Defender was an early introduction to one-handed submachine guns in the game. That is its main perk still, being able to carry an objective item while still having a primary weapon to back you up. It has a surprisingly mediocre fire-rate for an SMG, which isn’t helped by its low damage.

LAS-5 Scythe

• Type: Energy-based
• Cost: 30 Medals on page 5 of Helldivers Mobilize Warbond
• Damage: 350
• Capacity: 4 heatsinks
• Recoil: 0
• Fire limit: 8
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, Beam, Heat

Pros

• Decent weapon as long as you can keep the beam on

Cons

• You have to stay on target to deal damage
• Easy to cut teammates due to frindly fire

The Scythe and other LAS weapons need to stay on their target to ramp up their low initial damage. In theory, they should melt them over time. In practice, with how chaotic things can turn out quickly, this weapon is a detriment. It can cause friendly fire, needs to be kept on target to deal damage, and can overheat. Just avoid it until it gets buffed or reworked.

LAS-7 Dagger

• Type: Pistol
• Cost: 60 Medals in Cutting Edge Warbond
• Damage: 250
• Capacity: Infinite
• Recoil: 1
• Fire limit: 5
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, One-handed, Beam, Heat

Pros

• Increased damage makes it a decent secondary choice

Cons

• Low range

On paper, LAS-7 Dagger should be the mini version of the Scythe. Seeing how even its influence is not doing great in the current version, the Dagger suffers from the same issues. Additionally, its damage is even lower in comparison, making it the worst sidearm choice in the game.

P-72 Crisper

• Type: Special
• Cost: 275 Medals in Freedom’s Flame Warbond
• Damage: 375
• Capacity: 30
• Recoil: 3
• Fire rate: N/A
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating, Incendiary, One-handed

Pros

• Hand-held flamethrower
• Great for quick bursts against small Terminids

Cons

• Takes a long time to kill most other enemies

The Crisper is a hand-held flamethrower. Besides the coolness factor, it has limited range but deals a high amount of damage and leaves your foes burning. Its best use is against a horde of small Terminids that have crept up way too close. Sadly, it’s not as effective against Automatons, so keep that in mind.

FLAM-66 Torcher

• Type: Special
• Cost: 40 medals on page 2 of Freedom’s Flame Warbond
• Damage: 375
• Capacity: 80
• Recoil: 3
• Fire rate: N/A
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating, Incendiary

Pros

• Flamethrower as a primary weapon
• Damage buff and better penetration helped it

Cons

• Can take a while for the damage to ramp up
• Less effective against Automatons

The Torcher is the first flamethrower primary weapon added to Helldivers 2. It does well enough against hordes of enemies, with medium armour penetration helping you somewhat tackle bigger foes. It performs much better against Terminids than against Automatons, so be mindful of that. Against bots, you’re better off using a pistol.

P-4 Senator

• Type: Pistol
• Cost: 15 Medals in Steeled Veterans Warbond
• Damage: 200
• Capacity: 6
• Recoil: 43
• Fire rate: 200 RPM
• Traits: Heavy armor penetrating, One-handed, Rounds reload

Pros

• Helldivers 2 version of a revolver
• Deals high damage, if you hit
• Pierces even heavy armor

Cons

• Low ammo capacity and slow rate of fire

The Senator is a hand-cannon, plain and simple. It deals slow, high damage with every shot and is able to pierce up to medium armour. The main drawbacks are its small ammo capacity and long reload time, so you have to be sure when is the best time to use it. 

C-tier weapons

The weapons in C-tier aren’t the best picks in most situations. However, they can find their uses, though often requiring perfect situations. It’s usually better to pick some of the above weapons, unless you like the challenge.

AR-23A Liberator Carbine

• Type: Assault rifle
• Cost: 20 Medals on page 1 of Viper Commandos Warbond
• Damage: 70
• Capacity: 45
• Recoil: 26
• Fire rate: 920 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating

Pros

• Decent at gunning down smaller foes

Cons

• Very bad recoil and spread

The AR-23A functions in a similar way to the original Liberator rifle. However, its recoil and spread are bigger, making it a less optimal choice. It’s a decent gun for thinning out lightly armoured hordes, but there are better options when it comes to both carbines and assault rifles.

P-113 Verdict

• Type: Pistol
• Cost: 60 Medals in Polar Patriots Warbond
• Damage: 125
• Capacity: 10
• Recoil: 40
• Fire rate: 450 RPM
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating, One-handed

Pros

• Decent damage for a pistol
• Has a quick-reload hidden function
• Can be used about medium enemies after a buff

Cons

• Needs to be in close-range to deal full damage

The Verdict is stronger than the basic Peacemaker, but that is its only real merit. True, it has light armour penetration, but with its low base damage, it won’t do much against most foes, except at point-blank range. Even then, it won’t penetrate any stronger armour. Its best quality is the ability to quickly reload, which can come in handy in panic.

AR-61 Tenderiser

• Type: Assault rifle
• Cost: 20 Medals on page 1 of Polar Patriots Warbond
• Damage: 60
• Capacity: 35
• Recoil: 10
• Fire rate: 600 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating

Pros

• Decent all-rounder assault rifle

Cons

• Low damage, on par with the basic Liberator

Fairly similar on paper to the regular AR-23 Liberator, this is a gun that does everything similarly to it. It’s a matter of personal preference which one you choose, and we recommend trying both out to see which one feels better to use before settling on one.

SG-8P Punisher Plasma

• Type: Shotgun
• Cost: 60 Medals on page 2 of Cutting Edge Warbond
• Damage: 250
• Capacity: 8
• Recoil: 110
• Fire rate: 100 RPM
• Traits: Explosive

Pros

• Decent range for a shotgun

Cons

• Deals friendly-fire due to splash at close range

While it’s great to target enemy weak spots from medium range, the Punisher Plasma is not very helpful against nearby foes. It can harm you with its splash damage so don’t aim at bugs that are right next to you. Lead your shots and focus on crowd control to make the most of it. In the shotgun department, consider the Breaker instead for a good all-rounder.

AR-23P Liberator Penetrator

• Type: Assault rifle
• Cost: 40 Medals on page 6 of Helldivers Mobilize Warbond
• Damage: 60
• Capacity: 45
• Recoil: 19
• Fire rate: 640 RPM
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating

Pros

• Excellent to deal with groups of medium armour foes

Cons

• High recoil when burst-firing
• No full-auto fire mode

The Liberator Penetrator does more damage to weak spots and is a boon against armour, thanks to its scope and medium armour penetration. However, it isn’t as good while clearing weaker foes and has higher recoil than most ARs. Remember that it isn’t fully automatic so you can’t clear hordes as quickly as the regular Liberator.

SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray

• Type: Shotgun
• Cost: 60 Medals on page 9 of Helldivers Mobilize Warbond
• Damage: 240
• Capacity: 26
• Recoil: 45
• Fire rate: 330 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating

Pros

• Decent against small Terminids, thanks to high rate of fire

Cons

• Will struggle against everything else due to low damage

While a shotgun with a better fire rate and lower damage sounds good in theory, we found the regular Breaker better for most engagements. Weaker enemies, especially Terminids, fall faster thanks to the Spray and Pray having more shots per magazine. It’s a good shotgun for what it does, but there are far better picks in this weapon type.

SG-8 Punisher

• Type: Shotgun
• Cost: 4 Medals on page 1 of Helldivers Mobilize Warbond
• Damage: 405
• Capacity: 16
• Recoil: 120
• Fire rate: 80 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, Rounds reload

Pros

• An okay introduction to shotguns
• Can stagger enemies

Cons

• Takes a long time to fire successive shots
• Outshined by multiple better shotguns

Despite its poor fire rate, the Punisher backs it up with solid damage and stagger against armoured foes. Being able to stagger enemies like Chargers is a welcome perk. It comes with a large magazine capacity, but its rate of fire is too glaring of a weakness to ignore. As with Breaker Spray and Pray above, there are better shotguns to choose from.

MP-98 Knight

• Type: Submachine gun
• Cost: Rank 21 (Marshal) with Super Citizen Edition
• Damage: 65
• Capacity: 50
• Recoil: 15
• Fire rate: 1380 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, One-handed

Pros

• Highest rate of fire in the game

Cons

• Annoying recoil pattern
• Exclusive, so can’t be obtained normally

As an exclusive Super Citizen SMG, the Knight is rarely seen in the game. It suffers from the same issue as most submachine guns, in that it deals low damage (with, admittedly, good fire rate) while taking up the primary slot. It has a high recoil that doesn’t help it deal more damage, despite firing so quickly.

P-2 Peacemaker

• Type: Pistol
• Cost: Free (default)
• Damage: 75
• Capacity: 15
• Recoil: 23
• Fire rate: 900 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, One-handed

Pros

• Good introductory sidearm

Cons

• Often replaced by more specialized choices

The Peacemaker is the default pea-shooter we all started with. It does its job well for a starter secondary weapon, but can’t really compare to stronger options that came after it. It’s well-balanced with nothing going for or against it.

ARC-12 Blitzer

• Type: Shotgun
• Cost: 80 Medals on page 3 of Cutting Edge Warbond
• Damage: 250
• Capacity: Infinite
• Recoil: 60
• Fire rate: 45 RPM
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating

Pros

• Decent against Automatons

Cons

• Punishingly slow rate of fire
• Worst shotgun in the game

This weapon is good against Automatons but its slow fire rate makes it take a while to kill enemies. It has decent crowd control and is a good supplement to heavier weapons, especially when you take it against the bots. However, it is easily the weakest shotgun in the game.

PLAS-101 Purifier

• Type: Energy-based
• Cost: 80 Medals in Polar Patriots Warbond
• Damage: 250
• Capacity: 15
• Recoil: 20
• Fire rate: 250 RPM
• Traits: Medium armor penetrating, Charge up, Explosive

Pros

• Deals AoE damage
• Recent buffs could make it viable for clearing hordes

Cons

• Takes ages to charge every shot
• There are much better options among stratagems

The Purifier has a very slow rate of fire, able to shoot every 2 seconds or so. It deals AoE damage with medium penetration, which doesn’t often equate to good practical use. It’s slow and has much lower damage than Scorcher or Punisher Plasma. However, recent buffs can make it a viable option for clearing hordes of enemies.

D-tier weapons

These are the weakest weapons in the game at the moment. They will require buffs to be more useful than other picks, so avoid them for now. Unless you really want to challenge yourself.

AR-23E Liberator Concussive

• Type: Assault rifle
• Cost: 20 Medals in Steeled Veterans Warbond
• Damage: 65
• Capacity: 30
• Recoil: 28
• Fire rate: 320 RPM
• Traits: Light armor penetrating, Explosive

Pros

• Great at stun-locking enemies
• Deals extra damage to weak spots

Cons

• Serves as a specialist niche gun

Artist formerly known as Liberator Explosive, this weapon should be able to deal extra damage to an enemy’s exposed weak points. However, it performs much better as a stun-lock weapon, as it’s able to stagger enemies it hits. We can classify it as a specialist pick at best.

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