Helldivers 2 best weapons tier list after the Escalation update

Our Helldivers 2 best weapons in our tier is making some changes thanks to the Escalation of Freedom update and the new Freedom's Flame warbond shaking up the meta. 

First up we've seen some rebalances, buffs and nerfs via the updates, with the Flamethrower and Incendiary Breaker in particular taking a knock. While the Freedom's Flame Warbond has added some interesting new options worth considering. 

Whatever the changes, there's plenty of powerful weapons and guns to consider here and we lay them all out below. We've tested the latest options and checked how the new patches, updates and balances have changed things. So whether it's a primary or secondary weapon, throwables, or Stratagems, we've got suggestions on all the best gear for fighting the different enemy factions. 

Here's the best weapons in Helldivers 2, and our tier list to walk you through them all.

The best weapons in Helldivers 2

• Best support weapon Stratagem: Quasar Cannon
• Best primary weapon: Sickle
• Best secondary weapon: Redeemer Pistol
• Best grenade: High Explosive

There are plenty of viable weapons to use, but right now the best weapon in Helldivers 2 seems to be the Quasar Cannon. It's incredibly powerful, has infinite ammo, and is highly versatile, being able to take out all sorts of armored targets and structures, making it one of the top picks. Although it's closely followed by the explosive and armor-piercing powerhouses that are the Railgun, Recoilless Rifle, and Expendable Anti-Tank.

Although, the Quasar Cannon is just one of many support weapon Stratagems, and there are plenty of other Stratagems to pick from, including orbital lasers, airstrikes, and sentry turrets - we've also laid out the best Helldivers 2 Stratagems if you want tips there too.

Helldivers 2 weapon tier list

Below I've put all loadout and stratagem weapons into a tier list from S to D, including some details on the pros and cons of each. Obviously, the ones in S-tier appear in the best Helldivers 2 loadouts and are superb picks for any mission.

Helldiver 2 S tier weapons

Excellent weapons that are great for general use.

• Quasar Cannon (Stratagem): An extremely powerful energy weapon that fires a massive laser blast. It even has infinite ammo and doesn't need a backpack. Excellent against big, armored enemies, but power is offset by a significant cooldown time between shots. 
• Railgun (Stratagem): Devastating single-shot weapon that can be overcharged in Unsafe Mode for extra power. It has good armor penetration that makes it great for focusing on headshots/weak spots.
• Sickle: This energy-based AR from the Helldivers 2 Cutting Edge Warbond is completely lethal, firing rapidly and capable of cutting down opponents swiftly, both bug and bot. It also has infinite ammo (in theory) if you effectively manage its cooling. Recent nerfs haven't been able to restrain this one - it's still utterly lethal.
• Breaker: While not as powerful as it was at launch, it's still one of the best weapons, you just need to use careful, precise shots.
• Scorcher: An explosive energy weapon that fires small bolts quickly and does very high damage per-shot. The only danger is that its explosive nature means shooting enemies close up can kill you too so keep your distance!
• Commando (Stratagem): A hybrid of the Expendable Anti-Tank Launcher and Spear, this rocket launcher manages to keep the advantages of both while keeping few of their weaknesses. Great for dealing with large, armored enemies.
• Recoilless Rifle (Stratagem): A rocket launcher that deals high damage to any enemy and can destroy lots of structures. Excels when coordinating with an ally and having them rapidly feed you rockets.
• Jar-5 Dominator - This slow but powerful shotgun fires jet propelled rounds that hit like a truck, trading stopping power for fire rate.
• Stalwart (Stratagem): A versatile and powerful machine gun that clears smaller enemies effectively thanks to a huge magazine. Great against weaker Terminids and you're completely mobile while reloading, unlike the slightly more powerful Machine Gun. 
• SG-451 Cookout shotgun - Added with the Freedom's Flame Warbond, this isn't quite the spray and pray chaos that the Incendiary Breaker used to be. But it's a beast of you want fire damage, with a constant and controllable rate of fire. 

Helldivers 2 A tier weapons

Great weapons with minor drawbacks or specific niches.

• Autocannon (Stratagem): A powerful automatic cannon capable of destroying structures with excellent range. It's what you should buy if you can't get the Railgun yet. Requires a backpack, like the Recoilless Rifle, but holds loads of ammo.
• Incendiary Breaker: A version of the Breaker that's more specialised against bugs and unarmored enemies thanks to extra fire damage. Nerfs have decreased its ammo and made recoil worse, but it's still in the upper echelons.
• Expendable Anti-Tank (Stratagem): A decent way to clear armored enemies in a hurry, but the Recoilless is better. Benefits from an extremely short cooldown so can be called in more frequently than any other support weapon Stratagem.
• Grenade Launcher (Stratagem): A high-capacity grenade launcher that's very good against medium-tier enemies and can be used to destroy nests and fabricators. Just don't fire it at close range as the grenades will bounce unpredictably!
• Eruptor: The best weapon in the Helldivers 2 Democratic Detonation Warbond, the Eruptor is a bolt-action rifle that fires exploding shrapnel shells. It can wipe out enemies, sometimes many at once, and can even destroy nests and fabricators. But it is cumbersome and slow to use, and risks killing you if fired at an enemy that's too close.
• Anti-Materiel Rifle (Stratagem): A lethal sniper rifle that can be used to break armor and deal distant damage without much struggle. A great low-level Railgun substitute and useful against the Automatons.
• Spray and Pray Breaker: A Breaker variant with a larger magazine and faster fire rate.
• SMG-72 Pummeller: This fires concussive rounds that have a stunning effect on enemies, although this had been nerfed. It was an S tier weapon before but now it's much less useful.  
• Redeemer Pistol (Secondary): A fast-firing machine pistol that chews up ammo, but also enemies at close range. Reliably cuts through unarmored enemies and can be drawn and fired quickly.
• Senator Pistol (Secondary): A heavy revolver that preserves ammo and leaves heavy holes in enemies. A very solid option. 
• Incendiary Grenade: A firebomb used for area denial. Decent in extractions or defense missions.
• AG-22 Bushwhacker: This triple barrel shotgun can fire one or all of its barrels for precision and power and is good up close if you can time it well. 
• High Explosive Grenade: The starting grenade is ultimately the best one - the small blast radius compensated for by high damage and some armor penetration.
• G-13 Incendiary Impact grenade: This explodes on impact coating enemies and the surround area with white phosphorus which then damage enemies that pass through it. Good for battlefield control, though recent nerfs to fire have taken it down a peg.
• AR-61 Tenderiser: This rifle trades magazine size for more stopping power and is one of the more powerful ARs as a result.
• P-72 Crisper: This short range, pistol style flamerthrower secondary is great if you want fire damage sometimes, and don't want to sacrifice your primary weapon to get it. Useful to pull out if you're in a close range huddle of enemies.

Helldiver B-tier weapons

Good weapons that can serve you well with the right loadout and playstyle.

• Laser Cannon (Stratagem): A laser beam weapon that, like the Quasar Cannon, has no backpack and infinite ammo (in theory). Cooks all enemies but Automatons are especially susceptible to it, though it can't handle heavily armored enemies at all.
• Spear (Stratagem): An anti-armor rocket launcher - very specialised, but very deadly against heavily-armored enemies such as Helldivers 2 Tanks, Dropships, and Helldivers 2 Bile Titans. However the lock-on can be extremely finnicky and doesn't let you target specific weaknesses.
• Airburst Rocket Launcher (Stratagem): Fire proximity detonation rockets that then release a hail of cluster bombs in a wide area. Very powerful, especially against aerial enemies such as Helldivers 2 Shriekers, but massively likely to cause friendly-fire incidents. Be very careful.
• Defender: An SMG that can be used one-handed and is quite similar to the standard Liberator. Decent against close hordes or as a quick response.
• Dominator: A slow, impactful AR with explosive power and medium armor penetration. A decent weapon for staggering larger enemies.
• Flamethrower (Stratagem): Changes to the way fire works have nerfed this weapon somewhat, but it's still effective against large hordes of low-to-mid level bugs. The Enhanced Combustion Helldivers 2 Ship Module makes it even better, amplifying its damage - Just try not to set yourself on fire.
• Adjudicator: A decent assault rifle with medium armor penetration limited by a small magazine.
• Grenade Pistol (Secondary): This sidearm fires a single grenade, dealing solid damage over its blast radius. Pairs very nicely with Stun Grenades but suffers from low ammo reserves.
• Stalwart (Stratagem): A versatile and powerful machine gun that clears smaller enemies effectively thanks to a huge magazine. Great against weaker Terminids.
• Impact Grenade: A zero-fuse explosive that's suited for precision blasts but can't be used as effectively on bug holes or bot factories.
• Arc Thrower (Stratagem): A charging lightning gun that has truly infinite ammo and sends out shocks that leaps between enemies (and allies). It's not as good as it once was but can reliably stagger most enemies, making it good for crowd control.
• Arc Blitzer: Like the Arc Thrower, the Blitzer fires arcs of electricity but does not require charging. It's good for crowds of weak enemies and can damage those with better armor too.
• Slugger: A Punisher variant that fires high-damage slugs. The Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom update buffed it notably - it's no gamebreaker yet, but it's good for dealing with mid-tier Bots.
• Diligence: A solid ranged rifle that's good for precision damage on robot enemies.
• Diligence Counter Sniper: A bigger, punchier version of the Diligence that doubles down on its strengths but requires a stable firing position.
• Liberator: Standard starting assault rifle – works in almost any situation.
• Knight: A quick SMG with a very high fire rate and one-handed option. Eats through ammo quickly, but lethal at close range.
• Punisher: A slow-firing but punchy shotgun that has the benefit (and drawback) of reloading per shot, removing ammo waste but also slowing reloads.
• Spray and Pray Breaker: A Breaker variant with a larger magazine and faster fire rate.
• Flam-66 Torcher: This shorter range primary flamethrower is pretty good when dealing with close groups at short to medium range. It's lack of loger range damage can be an issue though.
• Stun Grenade: The Stun Grenade in the Cutting Edge Pass deals no damage but temporarily stuns enemies over a wide radius. An effective crowd control option, particularly against Automatons.

Helldiver 2 C-tier weapons

Average weapons that are usable but far from being must-picks.

• Scythe: A highly accurate laser beam weapon that's serviceable against both robots and bugs but overheats quite quickly. The Sickle feels better in pretty much every way.
• Machine Gun (Stratagem): A rapid-fire, high-capacity weapon that packs a punch, but is both cumbersome and sometimes hard to control. You're also dangerously immobile while reloading.
• Heavy Machine Gun (Stratagem): An incredibly powerful gun that's also incredibly hard to aim, the recoil throwing the sights upwards, somehow even more than the normal machine gun. You'll need to stay crouched to use this effectively and be prepared to spend a lot of time reloading.
• Dagger Pistol: A laser pistol from the Cutting Edge Warbond that's only saving grace is its infinite ammo.
• Peacemaker Pistol: A serviceable starting pistol with balanced stats that's fine in a pinch.
• Frag Grenade: An explosive that trades power for blast size. Suited for clearing groups.
• Thermite Grenade: Burns whatever it sticks to for several seconds before exploding. Other grenades are more useful and its burn radius is so small that failing to hit an enemy with it makes it almost pointless.
• Liberator Penetrator: The starting gun but with slightly worse stats, balanced by medium armor penetration. A bit meh, frankly.
• Smoke Grenade: A smoke grenade used for escaping enemies - something that rarely is a focus in Helldivers 2.

HellDivers 2 D-tier weapons

Weapons whose performance is sub-par and aren't worth packing in your loadout.

• Exploding Crossbow: A weapon that feels like more of a novelty with little remarkable about it. Updates have made it one-handed, but the one-handed meta is generally non-existent, so it's an enhancement that nobody needs.
• Liberator Concussive: An unremarkable explosive version of the standard AR that doesn't really live up to the promise and is functional at best.
• PLAS-101 Purifier - With a slow charge to fire and a concussive effect that's as dangerous to you as the bugs, this is one of the worst weapons I've used in Helldivers 2.
• AR-23A Liberator Carbine - An assault rifle that feels more like an SMG this ups the fire rate for more DPS but is harder to control as result. 
• K-2 Throwing Knife - General opinion on the throwing knife is that it's fun to use but doesn't really have a clear purpose as a grenade alternative. It's not stealthy, can't be retrieved and isn't always a one hit kill. 

Of course, if you need to actually get any of these weapons, we've explained how to unlock weapons in Helldivers 2 here.

Best weapons for Automatons

Bots in are the more heavily-armored Helldivers 2 faction and tend to fight at range, occasionally with glowing weak spots that need to be targeted, and are best fought with any of the following weapons:

• Sickle: A laser weapon that shreds through bots and is highly accurate, making it great for focusing on tiny heads.
• Quasar Cannon: An all-round beast when it comes to destroying anything Automaton, including the bulkiest units, aerial vehicles, and even Fabricators.
• Commando: This heavy rocket launcher is good for the Automatons' larger forces, like the walking factories and tanks.
• Breaker: This shotgun is good against almost everything, as mentioned.
• Railgun: If you're a high enough level to get it, this armor penetrating Stratagem can be used to two-shot Helldivers 2 Hulks if you hit their glowing, red eye (assuming you'll risk the Unsafe mode).
• Anti-Materiel Rifle: This powerful sniper rifle can blow holes in enemies and target weak points well enough for early players.
• Scorcher: Robots are more vulnerable to energy weapons, and the Scorcher is the best of that sort, also blowing up armor.

Best weapons for Terminids

Bugs in Helldivers 2 are generally less armored than bots (though there are exceptions), fight more in melee and close range, appear in greater numbers and have a vulnerability to fire. You should use any of the following:

• Flamethrower: A great weapon for keeping bugs back and it's surprisingly useful against even heavily-armored Terminids like Helldivers 2 Chargers. Just be aware of it setting the ground on fire.
• Sickle: Spray and pray while managing your cooling to blast those weaker bugs apart.
• Breaker: I keep telling you that the Breaker is good.
• Incendiary Breaker: This inflammatory version of the game's best weapon is more specialized against certain kinds of bugs.
• Stalwart: When holding back hordes of insects, a rapid-fire machine gun that rarely need to be reloaded is a good bet, especially if you can still maintain some mobility for backing up.
• G-13 Incendiary Impact grenade - Layering the area with white phosphorus is a great way of damaging any bugs trying to get near you.
• SG-451 Cookout shotgun: There's so much fire with this thing it can sometimes be hard to tell what's happening, but it's great against bugs.

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