The starting weapons are solid choices in Helldivers 2, so there’s no real need to mess around with them until you start to earn Medals and can unlock some more weapons on the Warbonds progression pages. As for Armor, we’d recommend going with the Med-Kit perk while you get used to the game, so you have additional Stims. This should be your go-to, particularly if you’re going solo on your first few missions. The alternative is to get Armor with the Democracy Protects trait, which protects you from bleeding out and gives you a 50% chance of not dying when you take lethal damage.
When it comes to choosing Stratagems, you’ll benefit from the early support weapons. The Machine Gun Stratagem is a good all-rounder; it’s quick to reload and easy to use, which makes it great for low-level bug and bot missions. Team it with a Supply Pack, so your Machine Gun and AR-23 Liberator are always loaded, without relying on just the Resupply Stratagem.
Finally, grab yourself an Orbital Precision Strike, which is a good early-game explosive you can send in to target small clusters of enemies or to close up bug holes. Complete your loadout with a Machin Gun Sentry, and you’ll tear through lower-level enemies in no time. Just remember that it will spin 360 and friendly fire is on, so place it well!
Alternative Choices
If you don’t feel like you need to take in the Supply Pack, an Orbital Gatling Barrage or Eagle Cluster Bomb is great for taking out concentrated groups of enemies early on.
Automaton Loadouts
For fighting against the Automatons, you’ll want weapons and Stratagems that can pierce through their armor and deliver barrages of heavy artillery fire. Even the Trooper, Raider, and Marauder types of Automatons have some light armor, so from the get-go, anti-tank weaponry and armor-piercing Stratagems should be considered.
Best Early Game Loadout Against Automatons
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Because you can meet even Devastators at Trivial difficulty in bot missions, you’ll want a support weapon that does a hefty amount of damage. The Anti-Tank is only one shot, but it does do the job of knocking down the lower-level Automatons and taking off the mechanical limbs of some of the larger enemies.
Pair this with a Gatling Sentry for a rapid-firing weapon that can take down swarms of Troopers, Marauders, and Raiders while you concentrate on the ones with explosive weaponry like Rocker Launchers. An Orbital Gatling Barrage is great for the early bot missions, as it rains plenty of bullets down on the swarms of robots and can eradicate those with less armor. Finally, an Eagle Cluster Bomb has 4 uses, so you can keep pulling it out to destroy troops as they’re dropped off.
Alternative Choices
Expendable Anti-Tank not for you? Try swapping in the Recoilless Rifle instead. It comes with a supply backpack to help you reload, so it offers more shots than an Expendable Anti-Tank. Not a fan of either? Then, the Grenade Launcher might be for you! It’ll work well against some light armor but won’t cut it against the tougher stuff.
Best Mid-Game Loadout Against Automatons
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We’ve had the best luck taking out bots with a combination of the Breaker Shotgun set to semi and the Autocannon Stratagem. They seem to work well together and allow you to take out some of the more challenging armored enemies that will appear around the mid-game mark.
We’d recommend taking a shield in around the mid-game missions to give you a chance to take some of the firepower off you. It can make all the difference when you’ve got enemies firing non-stop at you while you’re concentrating on taking down Hulks and Tanks.
The Orbital Walking Barrage encourages enemies to come out from cover and is complemented by the Mortar Sentry, which can take groups out at a time and has less chance of wiping out your teammates with friendly fire.
Best Late-Game Loadout Against Automatons
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When you’re unlocking the harder difficulties and being overrun by bots and dropships, you’ll want to pull out the big guns. Using an EMS Mortar Sentry will have a turret firing out static fields to stop enemies in their tracks, making them a perfect target to throw an Orbital Laser or Eagle 500KG Bomb on.
The Spear is also great for locking on to Dropships and ending them before they’re able to unload another round of robot troops and can deal with Tanks and Hulks quickly.