Overview
This guide will provide you with a comprehensive understanding to every weapon available in HELLDIVERS.
Before we begin…
HELLDIVERS has been part of my life ever since its launch on PlayStation 4; I have achieved the platinum trophy and experienced everything the game can provide. this guide is the extension of my love and enthusiasm towards it.
I will use as much subjective evaluations as possible throughout the guide; please keep in mind that personal opinions are inevitable and your experience may vary.
If you would like to know more about HELLDIVERS, please pay my Stratagem guide a visit.
Secondary Weapons
P-2 “Peacemaker”
The P-2 “Peacemaker” is your standard secondary weapon on every dive. The unupgraded version is a perfect pin-point “primary” weapon for beginners since the enemies are pretty weak and few in numbers on low level planets.
The AP-AMMO is a nice addition but gives you little advantage: the low level enemies won’t have any armor to pierce, but any armored enemies usually possess way too many HPs for the pistol to effectively handle. The EXTENDED MAGAZINE is a must have because it simply gives you extra ammo at no cost.
The water diviner lays in its last upgrade – BURST FIRE. After the upgrade, the pistol will turn into a beast that can dish out moderate amount of damage in a very short period of time at the cost of spread and ammo consumption hit the ceiling. This is not a bad thing if you just want a downed lifesaver or a last minute back-up; it could hurt certain play style however, if you require a high accuracy pistol without spending your precious perk slot for a replacement. Be cautious with this upgrade.
P-6 “Gunslinger”
The P-6 “Gunslinger” is a powerful yet expensive replacement for your standard P-2. Powerful, for it can one-shot a cyborg SQUAD LEADER at any angle or a bug WARRIOR; expensive, for it occupies your perk slot and has very limited ammo.
The overall low ammo pool combined with the long reload animation when all six rounds are out renders its high damage much less persuasive. It has a very niche usage since it can not be a good lifesaver nor a long term main engagement weapon; in my experience, I have only successfully managed it to its full extend on a solo Cyborg dive.
Consider the ratio between your investment and the bang it returns, I cannot recommend it unless you are simply using it for fun or on low risk dive.
FLAM-24 “Pyro”
The FLAM-24 “pyro” is a portable flame thrower. It holds every characteristics the FLAM-40 “Incinerator” does with an additional advantage that it wouldn’t drop once your character died.
The down side however, drops the weapon dead. It has a very short range, very little fuel, and it occupies your perk slot. It can be good at preventing the Illuminates from regenerating their shield, thus, give your teammates longer window of attacks. However, due to its limited range, you are literally “playing with fire”.
Again, consider the ratio between your investment and the bang it returns, I cannot recommend it unless you are simply using it for fun or on low risk dive.
PLAS-3 “Singe”
The PLAS-3 “Singe” is a blaster that does a sweet job against soft target. It is ideal against bug or Cyborg’s less armored infantries on multiple occasions or a single full-mag blow at a Cyborg HULK in the front.
The down side is obvious. The weapon will work against you and your teammates if exploded at close proximity, making it impossible to be a lifesaver. It also doesn’t have any armor piercing ability, thus, ineffective against higher level opponents.
I can see why some people would use this weapon despite the sacrifice on a perk slot. But I cannot recommend it to everyone since the weapon involves too much positioning skills.
Primary Weapons Part – 1
AR-19 “Liberator”
The AR-19 “Liberator” is the basic weapon module for all AR series rifles as well as the MG series machine guns. It is the first gun every player must use.
This base model holds no tactical advantages or disadvantages; it is an average gun for you to get your hands on the game mechanism. Most likely, you would move on from it within the first few dives before you even know it.
Do not spend your research points on this; there are other, better places to invest.
AR-20L “Justice”
When in doubt, use “Justice”. The AR-20L “Justice” is what I called the “Standard Infantry Rifle”, or the SIR.
It has everything you would ever need for a primary weapon: a BAYONET to shred through a Cyborg HOUND with ease; a RECOIL ABSORBER and an EXTENDED MAGAZINE with no drawback; and finally, a PENETRATOR ROUNDS which gives it not only AP AMMO as well as the UNSTOPPABLE property (bullets continue to travel until they hit something too hard for them to handle). You can see why I simply call it the SIR.
The AR-20L is a jack-of-all-trade; true, there are better weapons for each specific situations, but the SIR never fails you.
AR-22C “Patriot”
The AR-22C “Patriot” is a rather extreme combination. It is basically the primary weapon version of a MG-II minigun mounted on the EXO-44 “walker”; without the ammo capacity, of course.
All upgrades are essential to the play style of this gun: a BAYONET, a RECOIL ABSORBER and an EXTENDED MAGAZINE. The fire rate on this beast will chew through your magazine with a single sweep on a Cyborg patrol; but hey, who would say no to a good job no others but a bulky “Walker” can done?
The AR-22C can clear out any patrols put up by enemies within seconds; it is the perfect answer to the question “what if we down-scale a ‘Walker’ to a human size?” Do keep in mind though, as the AR-22C doesn’t have AP rounds; don’t bite what you can’t chew.
SG-225 “Breaker”
The SG-225 “Breaker” is the ultimate primary weapon against soft target; unfortunately, that includes your teammates as well.
The SG-225 has a good combination of range, damage and ammo capacity. The crown jewel of it though, is the UNSTOPPABLE property. Imagine, a deadly weapon with great stability plus piercing ability against all soft target; that weapon is the SG-225. You would have no pressure at all when facing a dense group of Cyborg GROTESQUE or BUTCHER with it in your hand.
Which brings me to my second point. DO WATCH WHERE YOU POINT IT. From my past experience, a blow from SG-225 is my second to none reason on teamkill. Unlike other weapon, a deadly ‘wall’ of FLECHETTE ROUNDS doesn’t even give your teammates a chance to lay down if they happened to stand near you within half the screen. BE CAREFUL.
SG-8 “Punisher”
When first lay your hands on a SG-8 “Punisher”, you would probably question why such weapon exists except the being nostalgic. But when upgraded with an EXTENDED MAGAZINE and an EXTENDED BARREL, the SG-8 is essentially a sniper rifle with high error tolerance.
The SG-8 is no stronger than the SG-225 “Breaker”, but the combined force of its maximum stability and longer range gives birth to a beautiful bullet trajectory that sweeps a narrow channel through the screen. Anything from a soft target like Cyborg GROTESQUE to a shielded target like illuminates WATCHER will be destroyed with no exception. Throw a Laser Aim Module on it and you got yourself a magic rifle that kill things out of everyone’s reach.
That being said, don’t get yourself in a pinch. A slow rate of fire plus a slow reload mechanism usually means an one-way ticket to hell in that situation.
DBS-2 “Double Freedom”
The BDS-2 “Double Freedom” is a wide range flammable bug spray that set common bug infestations afire and be done with them. With the option to SAW-OFF, bug extermination can now be performed even on the way to your local Vault while carrying sensitive materials…
Ok, enough about the joke.
The BDS-2 is more like a secondary weapon that somehow ends up being a primary. Even by the standard of a secondary weapon though, the two shots barrel forbids it from becoming a good lifesaver due to the lack of continuity, an over-stretched damage zone prevents it from becoming a damage dealer due to the nature of its spread. It is undeniably a cool weapon to use, but it can left you with many awkward moments not killing any enemies in a full blow.
Unless you are attracted by the idea of a flammable bug spray, do not spend your research points on this; there are other, better places to invest.
SMG-45 “Defender”
The SMG-45 “Defender” is the basic module for a series of single-handed weapons.
The weapon itself is slow enough for everyone to handle some low level enemies in the early game. However, it is not recommended to use it in any higher level planets due to the combination of low damage output and slow rate of fire. It is advised to move away from it once you get a hold of how single-handed weapon feels like.
Do not spend your research points on this; there are other, better places to invest.
MP-98 “Knight” SMG
The MP-98 “Knight” SMG is the fully improved version of the basic SMG-45. It is not really a weapon but a utility tool for crowd control.
The MP-98 can holds more bullets, shot bullets at a much higher rate of fire, and swap for more bullets even faster. Its very existence renders the SMG-45 redundant. Because of a higher rate of fire, the MINI-STUN AMMUNITION upgrade can now serve some actual use when trying to control a group of enemies in place. The gun is perfect at cleaning out weak targets like bug or illuminates patrol or use in combination with Stratagems like Air Strike or Close Air Support.
It is not recommended however, to use it in solo dive since the gun simply packs too little punch on any armored enemies. Work closely and actively with your teammates.
RX-1 Railgun
The RX-1 Railgun is simply the best utility weapon in game: it punches everything like a truck.
Much like the illuminates OBELISK, the RX-1 keeps the players breathing room alive and support follow up teammate attack or Stratagems attack. Despite being designed as a anti-armor rifle, its UNSTOPPABLE property and the STUN ROUNDS are what matters to us. Keep a bug BEHEMOTH in place, keep a bug IMPALER’s tongue short, keep a group of Cyborg BUCHER from getting close…That’s what the RX-1 really good at. Combined with powerful Stratagems, the RX-1 can turn the game in favor of the players and work the numbers against the enemies.
Do be warned, the RX-1 has a long reload animation and low ammo reserves; always pack some ammo in your Stratagems loadout or you are not helping.
LAS-5 “Scythe”
The LAS-5 “Scythe” is the basic module for all laser weapons.
It fires a continuous laser beam that can cut through many enemies, including armored ones with ease. Like all laser weapon, the LAS-5 doesn’t consume ammunition unless overheated, thus, it is great for people who doesn’t like ammo management. Do notice the gun has a slow turning radius while firing. With the fact that a continuous beam on enemy is needed to deal any significant amount of damage, you will need teammates’ protection to be effective.
However, do not spend your research points on this; this is just a base module that gives you a feeling about what does a laser weapon do. There are other, better places to invest.
Primary Weapons Part – 2
AC-3 Arc Thrower
The AC-3 Arc Thrower has a good design on paper: unlimited ammo, high damage, and long reach distance… But in reality this weapon failed miserably.
To start with, the AC-3 has a slow turning radius while aiming which makes it cumbersome in combat. Due to its nature of “charging before firing”, you would also find yourself unable to respond to any enemy patrols fast enough or strong enough. The charging mechanism on this weapon can only be described as painful: with less than a second of charging, you wouldn’t even kill a bug patrol; when being targeted by a swarm of bug ELITEs or Cyborg GROTESQUEs, a full charge at point blank range is now not enough to kill them all, which usually leads to your eventual death.
If I could, I would rather bring a bug-zap on my dive instead this: at least it kill bugs. Don’t even bother using this weapon.
MG-105 “Stalwart”
The MG-105 “Stalwart” is the assault rifle version of its bulkier MG-94. It has every characteristic the MG-94 has but at a price.
First of all, the magazine naturally holds less ammo even with the EXTENDED MAGAZINE upgrade: It wouldn’t be a big deal if that is all the trade-off. What comes next is the MG-105 also has a wilder initial recoil that would make the bullets fly around randomly. Such disadvantage makes tap-fire extremely inaccurate, thus, depleting your magazine at a much faster rate than the MG-94 because you have to keep firing to maintain the accuracy.
The MG-105 is not inferior than the MG-94, but it certainly has less of a role as fire support. Since you will not lose it in battle, getting up close and personal like a stormtrooper is the wiser way to weld the MG-105 instead of supporting your teammates from behind.
SMG-34 “Ninja”
The SMG-34 “Ninja” is the perfect replacement for people who just want to carry the suitcase or the energy core on occasions instead of walking into the school of crowd control. It’s basically a bigger, full-automatic pistol.
The damage can only be described as decent, but it definitely punches harder than its SMG brotherens. With a full mag, at least you can take care of a Cyborg BUTCHER or a two-three heads of bug ELITEs now. The magazine capacity is less than ideal but the reload animation is fairly short, enhance its strongsuit as a damage dealer.
If you have trust issue with your teammates’ skill as a bodyguard, bring a “Ninja” as your bodyguard would definitely be the safer bet.
LHO-63 “Camper”
Be hold! The glorious semi-auto sniper rifle… that shines in every other shooters except this!
Let us contrast the LHO-63 with the P-6, a pistol I deemed unworthy. The LHO-63 has a LOWER damage than the P-6, it doesn’t come with a Laser Aim Module like the P-6 does, and it has roughly the same reload time as the P-6 with only two more rounds. AND, to make matter worse, it doesn’t have AP rounds which is just ridiculous.
Pathetic.
AR-14D “Paragon”
The AR-14D is a wired elder in the AR family who fancy the school of crowd control instead of the art of killing.
Even with the EXTENDED MAGAZINE upgrade, the “Paragon” only hold 25 rounds. However, like the SMG-98 “Knight”, its AP-AMMO and poisoning rounds makes it superb at controlling the enemies: slow down a group of Cyborg BUTCHERs, a group of bug BROOD COMMANDERs are just part of the “Paragon”‘s daily routine.
If it doesn’t used up all your ammo in just a few volleys, I bet nobody would want to use the “knight”. Word of an advice, help yourself with a Resupply Backpack whenever you are equipped with the “Paragon”, otherwise your teammates will have to fight the enemies with their bare hands since you must need ALL THE AMMO.
CR-9 “Suppressor” & PLAS-1 “Scorcher”
If you haven’t grow hate of these two boys, grow fear of your vengeance-seeking teammates.
In an ideal world, both the “Suppressor” and the “Scorcher” can deal massive damage to multiple enemies; a mini rocket launcher that wipes the screen clean. Reality is cruel though, since most of the time this killing potential is wasted because enemies come at you in a single file line. You also cannot defend yourself when enemies get close, you cannot save your teammates, or any of the mission objects because the explosion will put you out of your miserable choice faster than any enemies.
If you insist on using these elaborate suicide tools, my hellpods will always be closed for you.
LAS-16 “Sickle”
The LAS-16 “Sickle” is widely considered the second best general defence weapon right behind the AR-20L “Justice”.
It has unlimited ammo, literally no spread, a fast turning radius, and it fires like a conventional rifle. The only thing that stopped it from becoming the best is its small heatsink. Being heated faster than any other laser weapon when firing, some people just find it difficult to manage.
In short, if you would like to trade off some fire continuity for easier ammo management, the LAS-16 “Sickle” is the way to go.
LAS-12 “Tanto”
“Tanto”, the name says it all. It is not a gun, it is a light saber!
The “Tanto” has the fastest turning radius in game, highest rate of fire in all laser weapons, and a more than enough heatsink. You can cut through 3 bug ELITEs, dozens of bug patrols, or 3 illuminates “STRIDERs” like butter without a halt. It has a short range, but since it is a single-handed laser weapon, you don’t need to worry about ammo consumption and can maintain a fierce combat ability while carrying the suitcase.
If you prefer to fight like a Jedi, “Tanto” will be the only weapon you will ever need. May democracy be with you.
AC-5 Arc Shotgun
Why do we even have these in the armory?!
Aside from having every flaws the AC-3 have, the Arc Shotgun has an even wider spread, inferior damage, and shorter reach. The only thing they improved is teamkilling efficiency.
I think now would be a good time to pull that arrow out of the developer’s head.