The best Helldivers 2 Warbonds for new players to buy first

The best Helldivers 2 Warbonds offer a nice selection of top-tier weapons, armor, Stratagems, and more, but only a few tick most of these boxes. If you're not sure how they work, Warbonds are essentially small, themed battle passes that allow you to exchange your hard-earned Medals for all sorts of new gear and cosmetics for your Helldivers 2 arsenal.

Crucially, some of them have only one or two standout items, if any, while others have a larger range of desirable equipment, which is what makes choosing Warbonds difficult, particularly if you're new and don't know what's most useful. Do you want the best guns possible no matter the cost or do you want to get the most out of your Super Credits or Warbond token? With that in mind, we've explained our picks for the top five Warbonds you can buy in Helldivers 2 to help you get the best gear.

Best Helldivers 2 Warbonds

We reckon the following are the best Warbonds, ranked in a top 5 list, with some honorable mentions further below:

1. Helldivers 2 Democratic Detonation Warbond: The explosive power contained within Democratic Detonation makes it arguably the best Warbond, with gear that can be useful for any incursion.
2. Helldivers 2 Dust Devils Warbond: The Coyote assault rifle is easily one of the best primary weapons in the game right now and the Speargun is a hugely useful, essentially acting as a gas grenade launcher. It's worth getting this Warbond for these weapons alone.
3. Helldivers 2 Servants of Freedom Warbond: Similar to Democratic Detonation, Servants of Freedom packs some potent explosive power, namely the Portable Hellbomb, but also has the superior Double-Edge Sickle variant.
4. Helldivers 2 Freedom's Flame Warbond: Fire is hugely effective against the Terminids and certain Illuminate enemies, so if you want to go all-in on incendiary tools of destruction, this is a great option.
5. Helldivers 2 Control Group Warbond: Despite Control Group's weapons and Warp Pack not being the most straightforward or user-friendly, they're great additions to the sandbox, offering versatility and power.

Those are our top five picks for the best Warbonds in Helldivers 2, and they're all excellent options if you've got a Helldivers 2 Warbond Token to spend, getting you plenty of good gear for free.

But it's also worth highlighting the Helldivers 2 Chemical Agents Warbond and the Helldivers 2 Polar Patriots Warbond. The former contains the Gas grenade, which is currently the best grenade in the game (but the Speargun in Dust Devils also exists!), and the latter holds the Purifier, which is one of the most powerful primary weapons in Helldivers 2. The problem with these Warbonds is that there's little else of note, so you will essentially be paying 1,000 Helldivers 2 Super Credits each for these standout items.

And finally, there's the Helldivers 2 Cutting Edge Warbond. This used to have a spot in our top five, but I still think it's worth highlighting. The Sickle and Stun grenade are this Warbond's main highlights, and while there are technically superior replacements for both, they're in separate Warbonds. Overall, Cutting Edge represents pretty solid value with a good selection of weapons that might not be the best, but is a good starting point if you want to bulk out your collection with some variety.

Of course, also keep in mind that buffs and nerfs to weapons and Stratagems might make some Warbonds better or worse over time. There's no guarantee either that the best Warbonds now won't get outclassed by new Warbonds or buffed older ones in the future.

Helldivers 2 Warbond list

There are now 15 Premium Warbonds in Helldivers 2 on top of the Helldivers Mobilize Warbond which is available to all players for free, and the 16th is on the coming soon.

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

Steeled Veterans

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. 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, making your limbs sturdier and increasing your throwing distance, but is widely available elsewhere.

Cutting Edge

Highlights: Sickle energy weapon, Stun grenade, Punisher Plasma energy weapon, Blitzer energy weapon

Some of the Helldivers 2 Cutting Edge Warbond's items won't be to everyone's tastes, probably except for the Sickle, which is one of the best Helldivers 2 weapons – a fantastically reliable and easy-to-use energy weapon for any mission. It's arguably the reason to get this Warbond, but the Stun grenade, Punisher Plasma, and Blitzer are nice bonuses (although the latter two are much more niche weapon choices).

Democratic Detonation

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 best secondary weapons in the game.

Polar Patriots

Highlights: Purifier energy weapon

The Helldivers 2 Polar Patriots Warbond is one of the weaker premium offerings because it doesn't have any notable armor sets and the weapons aren't particularly special, save for the PLAS-101 Purifier, which is a superb primary weapon for most loadouts.

Viper Commandos

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

Highlights: Cookout shotgun, Torcher special 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

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 quite underwhelming and not very useful. However, as I've already said, the Gas grenade is absolutely fantastic due to its stunning and corrosive damage effects which work on almost all enemies.

Truth Enforcers

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 a unique and effective 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

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

The Helldivers 2 Urban Legends Warbond isn't much to write back to Super Earth about because it offers an odd mix of defensive gear. The Siege-Ready armor passive is nice to have but far from essential, but the Anti-Tank Emplacement is excellent, capable of delivering massive damage at range. Use it to shred through things like Helldivers 2 Leviathan ships, Bile Titans and Factory Striders. However, everything else in unremarkable.

Servants of Freedom

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

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

Highlights: Sample Scanner Booster, Pyrotech grenade

The Helldivers 2 Masters of Ceremony Warbond also doesn't have a lot of notable gear, unless you're looking for some silly, parade-ready goodies to take into a mission. The Amendment and Sabre weapons are mediocre, and the armor sets with their Reinforced Epaulettes passive are somewhat useful, but the One True Flag Stratagem is downright useless. The Booster and thermite-like Pyrotech grenade are the only items worth highlighting.

Force of Law

Highlights: De-escalator Stratagem

The Helldivers 2 Force of Law Warbond is a mixed bag but isn't that good overall. The Pacifier assault rifle and Ballistic Padding armor passive are far from useless but better options are available in other Warbonds. However, the Stun Pods Booster, Guard Dog K-9, and Urchin grenade aren't that effective against the enemies of democracy. That leaves the De-escalator, which is an excellent support weapon that dishes out lots of damage and can stun plenty of enemies.

Control Group

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 take on missions, but there's a bit of learning curve. The Variable and Epoch are both powerful weapons but have a tremendous capacity for self-harm. Similarly, the Warp Pack is one of the best backpack Stratagems in the game with some creative uses but using black holes to teleport is far from safe.

Obedient Democracy Support Troopers

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, pistol, and Feet First armor passive are only useful if all squadmates are committed to a stealth approach.

Dust Devils

Highlights: Coyote assault rifle, Speargun

Coming in as somewhat of a surprise smash-shit, the Helldivers 2 Dust Devils Warbond is an excellent reward pass to buy. Having now tested it extensively, I can say it offers one of, if not, the best primary weapons in the game – the incendiary, medium-armor-penetrating Coyote – and packs the solid Speargun support weapon, which is especially good against the bugs. Otherwise, the Pineapple grenade and Solo Silo Stratagem being the only disappointments.

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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