It isn’t always clear how to join public lobbies or ongoing missions with other players in Helldivers 2. Since playing solo also isn’t ideal, so we’ve created a quick guide that details everything you need to know about matchmaking, joining public games and lobbies, and how to call more players into ongoing missions.
How to Matchmake and Join Public Games in Helldivers 2
In order to host a mission and have other players join you, you’ll first need to ensure you have a key setting enabled, as you may have accidentally turned it off. To check, go to the menu and select Options. Navigate to Gameplay and ensure Matchmaking Privacy is set to Public. With this enabled, you’ll go into matchmaking with other players on the network when looking for a game.
Now, once you’ve checked that setting, you’ll have three ways to matchmake with other players and join public games:
The first option is to use the Quickplay option that appears when viewing the Galactic War table. Using Quickplay, you’ll be automatically paired with an available or ongoing mission with other players.
If you’re not paired with other players after your Quickplay attempt or after manually selecting an available mission from the Galactic War table, you can opt to leave and retry or use the second option, which sees you starting a mission and using the SOS Beacon Stratagem that we discuss in further detail below to call for more players.