Helldivers 2 Warbond tier list and the best ones to unlock first

Helldivers 2 democratic detonation warbond page
(Image credit: Sony)

Our Helldivers 2 Warbond tier list ranks all 18 Warbonds from S-tier to D-tier so that you know how best to spend your Super Credits. If you're a rookie Helldiver and aren't sure how they work, Warbonds are essentially small, permanent battle passes that let you unlock all sorts of new weapons, Stratagems, armor, and cosmetics with your hard-earned Medals. But some are much better than others in terms of the quality of the gear you can obtain. With that in mind, we've ranked every Warbond and have laid out the best items Super Earth has to offer in each one.

Helldivers 2 Warbonds ranked

Helldivers 2 Dust Devils Warbond helldiver reloading speargun while dragonroach flies nearby

(Image credit: Sony)
  • S-Tier: The best Warbonds which offer a selection of excellent weapons, Stratagems, or armor sets, including one or two loadout staples.
    • Democratic Detonation, Dust Devils, Control Group
  • A-Tier: Warbonds with great rewards that are a bit more specialized, excelling in certain mission types, environments, and builds, or against particular factions.
    • Freedom's Flame, Urban Legends, Servants of Freedom
  • B-Tier: These Warbonds feature a nice selection of good, general-purpose gear that won't necessarily blow your Super Earth socks off.
    • Cutting Edge, Truth Enforcers, Borderline Justice, Python Commandos
  • C-Tier: Average Warbonds which feature adequate gear, sometimes supported by one excellent item.
    • Polar Patriots, Viper Commandos, Chemical Agents, Force of Law, Halo Legendary Warbond
  • D-Tier: Warbonds with underwhelming gear that aren't worth your Super Credits unless you have nothing else to spend them on.
    • Masters of Ceremony, Killzone Legendary Warbond

So, Democratic Detonation, Dust Devils, and Control Group feel like the best Warbonds in all of Helldivers 2 based on our testing. If you're a newer player or are just unsure on what to spend your Helldivers 2 Super Credits on to get the most bang for your bucks, these are great options. Remember, all premium Warbonds cost 1,000 Super Credits each, with Legendary Warbonds costing 1,500 SCs. But if you happen to have a Helldivers 2 Warbond Token lying around, you can spend that on any non-Legendary Warbond to avoid paying Super Credits.

Of course, also keep in mind that buffs and nerfs to weapons and Stratagems over the lifetime of Helldivers 2 might make some Warbonds better or worse. There's no guarantee that the best Warbonds now won't get outclassed by new Warbonds or improvements to older ones in the future. Regardless, we'll be sure to update the above Warbond tier list accordingly!

If you want a bit more nuance rather than just looking at rankings, I've laid out the highs and lows of all 18 premium Warbonds currently in Helldivers 2 below:

Steeled Veterans

Helldivers 2 Steeled Veterans Warbond

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Senator revolver, Breaker Incendiary shotgun, armor with the Servo-Assisted passive

The Helldivers 2 Steeled Veterans Warbond was the first premium offering in the game but is quite mediocre in terms of its overall quality these days. It holds the Senator revolver, which is a great sidearm, especially against the Helldivers 2 Automatons, and the Breaker Incendiary, which is a good option for cooking the Terminids. The Servo-Assisted armor passive is also good but is widely available elsewhere.

Cutting Edge

Helldivers 2 Cutting Edge Warbond

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Sickle energy weapon, Stun grenade

Some items in the Helldivers 2 Cutting Edge Warbond won't be to everyone's tastes, probably except for the Sickle, which is one of the best Helldivers 2 weapons available – a reliable and easy-to-use energy weapon for any mission. It's arguably the reason to get this Warbond, but the Stun grenade is a close second, with the Punisher Plasma and Blitzer being nice bonuses.

Democratic Detonation

Helldivers 2 Democratic Detonation Warbond explosive crossbow page 3

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Thermite grenade, Adjudicator assault rifle, Eruptor, Grenade Pistol, Exploding Crossbow

Every weapon in the Helldivers 2 Democratic Detonation Warbond is a banger, both in the sense that they're really good and explode (Okay, the Adjudicator doesn't have anything explosive about it, but it can penetrate medium armor, which is incredibly useful). Friendly fire incidents can be common with the Eruptor and Exploding Crossbow in play but they're undeniably strong against all enemy factions, and the Grenade Pistol is one of the most useful secondary weapons in the game.

Polar Patriots

Helldivers 2 Polar Patriots

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Purifier energy weapon

The Helldivers 2 Polar Patriots Warbond is packed with items but none of them are particularly special, save for the PLAS-101 Purifier which is arguably the best primary weapon in the game. However, compared to other Warbonds, that fact that it offers three other weapons, three armor sets, and the Incendiary Impact grenade means it's a decent starting point for new players looking to bulk out their loadout options reasonably quickly.

Viper Commandos

Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Experimental Infusion Booster

The Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond is one of the more stylish but isn’t very good, unfortunately. The Liberator Carbine and Bushwhacker weapons are adequate but not great, and the Peak Physique armor passive is only good if you want to use melee weapons. However, it has one of the best Helldivers 2 Boosters available, though I wouldn't say it's a good justification for buying the Warbond.

Freedom's Flame

Helldivers 2 Freedom's Flame warbond cookout shotgun

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Cookout shotgun, Torcher primary weapon, Crisper secondary, armor with the Inflammable passive

If you're a big fan of the Flamethrower, you might want to enhance your incendiary arsenal with the weapons in the Helldivers 2 Freedom's Flame Warbond – and if you aren't a fan, you should be asking yourself why. The Cookout, Torcher, and Crisper are great against the swarms of Helldivers 2 Terminids you can encounter, as well as the fleshy Voteless of the Illuminate.

Chemical Agents

Helldivers 2 Chemical Agents Warbond items page 2

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Gas grenade

The Helldivers 2 Chemical Agents Warbond is probably the stinkiest of them all, both because of its noxious theming and because the gear within is very underwhelming and not very useful – I'm looking at you, Stim Pistol. However, the Gas grenade is fantastic due to its stun effect which works on almost all enemies, and its corrosive damage.

Truth Enforcers

Helldivers 2 Truth Enforcers Warbond Page 2

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Armor with the Unflinching passive, Loyalist secondary

Pretty much everything in the Helldivers 2 Truth Enforcers Warbond is useful at the very least. All three weapons are solid choices against most enemies, and the armor provides the unique Unflinching passive which helps with protection, flinching, and radar scans. Other Warbonds offer better weapons, but Truth Enforcers has a good selection of gear that can serve you adequately in most missions.

Urban Legends

Helldivers 2 Urban Legends warbond anti-tank emplacement stratagem

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Armor with the Siege-Ready passive, Anti-Tank Emplacement Stratagem, Directional Shield Strategem

The Helldivers 2 Urban Legends Warbond features only one weapons and it's the Stun Lance melee weapon, which isn't great. Otherwise, the Urban Legends features a few useful defensive items. Of note are the Siege-Ready armor passive – not essential but faster reloads and more ammo are always nice – and the Anti-Tank Emplacement, the latter being capable of delivering massive damage at range. Use it to shred through things like Helldivers 2 Leviathan ships, Bile Titans, and Factory Striders.

Servants of Freedom

Servants of Freedom Warbond in Helldivers 2

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Double-Edge Sickle energy weapon, Ultimatum secondary, Portable Hellbomb Stratagem

The Helldivers 2 Servants of Freedom Warbond has some excellent explosive weapons up for grabs that can be really useful in higher-difficulty missions. The Ultimatum and Portable Hellbomb are great for blowing up large, armored enemies and even some structures, while the Double-Edge Sickle is an improved version of the regular Sickle, balanced with burning self-damage. The Integrated Explosives armor passive is a fun gimmick but not all that useful overall.

Borderline Justice

Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice Warbond

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Talon secondary, Hover Pack Stratagem

Unless you're a big fan of quick-drawing your iron on your hip, the Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice Warbond hasn’t got much going for it. The Talon is an energy revolver-style sidearm that packs a punch, like a slightly weaker Senator but with (theoretically) infinite ammo, which makes it one of the best available. The Hover Pack is also nice for getting a quick aerial advantage, but you might find the regular Jump Pack more useful.

Masters of Ceremony

Helldivers 2 masters of ceremony warbond page 2 saber weapon

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Sample Scanner Booster, Pyrotech grenade

The Helldivers 2 Masters of Ceremony Warbond doesn't have much in the way of notable gear, packing some silly, parade-ready goodies to take into a mission. The Amendment is a decent marksman rifle and the armor sets with their Reinforced Epaulettes passive are somewhat useful, but the One True Flag Stratagem is downright useless. The Sample Scanner Booster and thermite-like Pyrotech grenade are the only items worth highlighting.

Force of Law

Helldivers 2 Force of Law Warbond page 2 jackboot armor

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: De-escalator Stratagem

The Helldivers 2 Force of Law Warbond isn't that good overall. The Pacifier assault rifle and Ballistic Padding armor passive are far from useless but better and more interesting options are available in other Warbonds. The rest of the gear isn't particularly effective save for the De-escalator, which is an excellent support weapon that dishes out lots of damage and can stun plenty of enemies.

Control Group

Helldivers 2 Control Group Warbond pgae 1 rewards Epoch plasma launcher

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Variable special weapon, Epoch, Warp Pack

In what feels like a sequel to Cutting Edge, the Helldivers 2 Control Group Warbond, offers some potent and fun experimental gear that you can bring into missions, but there's a bit of learning curve. The Variable and Epoch are both powerful weapons but have a tremendous capacity for injuring (or killing) their user. Similarly, the Warp Pack is one of the best backpack Stratagems in the game but using black holes to teleport is far from safe.

Obedient Democracy Support Troopers (Halo Legendary Warbond)

Helldivers 2 Halo Warbond page 1 Halo 3 assault rifle

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: MA5C Assault Rifle, M90A Shotgun

The Helldivers 2 Halo ODST crossover Warbond has some nice weapons and armor but nothing game-changingly spectacular and its 1,500 Super Credit price tag means it's quite difficult to justify buying. The assault rifle is a fantastic all-rounder medium armor penetration weapon, and the shotgun has great range and damage, but the SMG and pistol are underwhelming and don't help with stealth approaches as much as you'd hope – even with the Feet First armor passive too.

Dust Devils

Helldivers 2 Dust Devils Warbond page 1 coyote assault rifle

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Coyote assault rifle, Speargun

With an unusual mix of weapons and Stratagems, the Helldivers 2 Dust Devils Warbond is surprisingly great. It features the incendiary, medium-armor-penetrating Coyote, which I think is one of the best primary weapons in the game, and the gas-spewing Speargun support weapon, which is great against all factions. Otherwise, the Pineapple grenade and Solo Silo Stratagem are the only real disappointments.

Python Commandos

Helldivers 2 Python Commandos warbond AR/GL gun on page 1 of warbond

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Defoliation Tool Stratagem, Hot Dog Stratagem, One Two assault rifle

The Helldivers 2 Python Commandos Warbond brings hefty firepower to the jungle with mixed results. The Hot Dog drone and chainsaw are easily the two most powerful items in this Warbond but have clear drawbacks – the former is a friendly-fire nightmare, and the latter requires you to build heavily into melee damage and personal protection. Otherwise, the Maxigun's bulk make it awkward to wield, and the One Two assault rifle is only worth highlighting for its underbarrel grenade launcher, adding some nice versatility.

Righteous Revenants (Killzone Legendary Warbond)

Helldivers 2 Righteous Revenants Killzone Warbond StA-52 assault rifle on page 1

(Image credit: Sony)

Highlights: Accelerator Rifle

If you didn't get this Warbond for free, I wouldn't pay 1,500 Super Credits for the Helldivers 2 Killzone Warbond unless I was a massive fan of the Killzone cosmetics. The weapons and armor are nothing special with better alternatives elsewhere, though snipers may enjoy the Accelerator Rifle. This Legendary Warbond's only saving grace is that it's the cheapest in the whole game in terms of the total Helldivers 2 Medals required to unlock everything.

We've also covered what the best Helldivers 2 armor sets are thanks to their passive and what the best Helldivers 2 Stratagems are if you want to know how to kit up before a mission.

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Will Sawyer
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.

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