Helldivers 2 Cheats and Tips

Our best tips for this third-person shooter.

Helldivers 2 Cheats and Tips

On this page you'll find our best cheats and tips for Helldivers 2, a third-person shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios. Helldivers was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows on 8th February 2024.

Helldivers 2 Cheats and Tips

Here our our top tips to help you out in Helldivers 2.

Hidden Secondary Objectives

Missions in Helldivers 2 have a strict time limit and its presence alone will make most players want to stick to the main path and clear the priority objectives first. The game also gives you bonus rewards for clearing a mission depending on the amount of time remaining. However, it is worth noting that there might be objects of interest that contain additional weapons, cash, and other supplies. These are usually located in areas far off the main path so you and your squad may need to scour for these while moving between objective points. If you're playing solo, you have the freedom to explore these though you have to keep an eye for the timer and whether you can complete the main objectives later on.

You should also look out for hidden secondary objectives that will award more XP and Requisition Slips. Completing these hidden objectives will give better rewards compared to ignoring them and earning time-bonus rewards for clearing a mission with some time remaining.

Don't forget to collect samples

These are important items that you must collect during missions as they're used to upgrade your ship and improve various stratagems that your ship can activate to support you on the ground. These may include more effective airstrikes or more potent orbital cannon damage. Samples come in the form of plants and nodes. In order to secure them, you have to survive and extract (exfiltrate) successfully from the mission. If ever you die during a mission, your teammates can still pick up the samples from your body and attempt to carry it until extraction. Samples are shared among party members - everyone gets the same amount of samples that anybody from the squad has successfully returned to the ship. Higher difficulty missions will yield higher quality and rarer samples.

Be flexible with your loadouts

Before starting a mission, it is ideal to check your loadout and use the ideal weapons and stratagems to make it easier for you to complete objectives. For example, if you're going on a defensive mission where waves of enemies are expected, bringing in mortars and turrets are highly recommended. On the other hand, if you're expecting to deal with larger or armored targets, access to Orbital Laser and/or a Railgun will make a difference.

Another consideration is selecting your loadout to complement the loadout of your teammates and cover any potential weaknesses. This is much better done with everyone actively involved in the planning and preparation.

Avoid wasting ammo from too much reloading

In most shooters, there's no concept of wasting ammo since even if you reload, the remaining ammo on the magazine remains the part of your ammo reserves and will be replenished fully to what your magazine size allows. However, in Helldivers 2, this is not the case. If you reload, any remaining ammo still left in the magazine will be discarded. This is why you should try breaking the habit of reloading regularly and reload only once your mag is completely empty.

Fight strategically

Before stirring up the hornet's nest, it will be ideal to make some preparations whenever you can. For example, you can plan to place automatic defenses like turrets or traps like mines around your position. You can also plan what stratagems to use so you don't have to decide on it in the heat of the battle. You can also plan an escape route or where you'll want to resupply the squad. This thinking can be used in almost all situations in the game where you have the opportunity to prepare.

Beware of Friendly Fire

Friendly fire is part of the game's design and can't be disabled. This adds depth and challenge since you'll need situational awareness, strategic thinking (where to deploy turrets, where to call in airstrikes, etc), and ability to make quick decisions. Each player in a mission only has a limited number of respawn chances so getting killed by a teammate is something that nobody wants in the game.

Use your Stims only in the brink of death

Stims are powerful healing consumables in Helldivers 2 which will fully heal your Helldiver and also cure any injury. By default, each Helldiver can only carry four of them at a time though you can get up to two more by sharing a Supply Pack with your squad. What's interesting about Stims is that after using it, there's no fixed HP value that it recovers. This means that you can continue taking damage moments after its activation and your HP will still continue replenishing until your character is fully healed. This is insanely invaluable especially during intense firefights where you'll take small chunks of damage in short intervals.

Memorizing codes for crucial and favorite stratagems

Activating stratagems will require you to memorize codes so being able to input them through muscle memory will shave precious seconds per input which can mean life or death in the middle of a battle. There are two crucial stratagems that all Helldivers 2 player must know:

• Resupply: DOWN, DOWN, UP, RIGHT
• Reinforce: UP, DOWN, RIGH, LEFT, UP

These two codes are permanently available regardless of your loadout. If you have favorite stratagems that you always carry, memorizing their activation codes will also help you in the long run.

Regularly use Stratagems

Each player in the quad can have at least four stratagems. Several of these have unlimited activations and you only have to worry about their considerable cooldown period between uses. Heavy Support Weapons like Railguns and Arc Throwers are also stratagems so having at least one squad member with the ability to call them in is always welcome.

Play around with weapon settings

Almost all weapons in Helldivers 2 have additional settings that you can modify on the fly by holding the reload button. For example, you can adjust certain weapons' magnification (zoom), fire mode, toggle flashlights on/off, and more. When toying with the Railgun's unsafe mode, don't charge it too much since it will accumulate too much energy and explode on your face, instantly killing you. Adjust these settings to complement your playstyle and preference.