Is the Helldivers 2 TR-40 Golden Eagle armor set good?

The Helldivers 2 TR-40 Golden Eagle armor was given away as Steam's equivalent of a Twitch drop, but this streaming reward is now available for everyone as a part of the Escalation of Freedom update. But is it any good? Let's take a look at what it does and if it's worth taking into battle.

Is the Helldivers 2 Golden armor good?

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The short answer here is yes. The HD2 Golden Eagle armor is a yellow-coloured medium set with an "Extra Padding" buff - which means it provides the protection of heavy armor only with the stamina/speed penalties of medium armor.

While there's not much more to it than that, it's a pretty good extra. Especially on a free set of armor. In practice I really noticed the extra beating I could take without being in any real danger. Several times I checked my health after ricocheting from one explosion to another, expecting to be in trouble and need healing, only to realise I was absolutely fine. It's going to take a little more testing before I'm ready to abandon my beloved DP-40 Hero of the Federation medium armor (50% chance not to die when taking lethal damage) but I've felt no immediate urge to switch back just yet which is a good sign.

The TR-40 Golden Eagle armor was originally available 48 hours early for Steam players if you watched at least ten minutes of a Steam stream explaining the new update. That was tied to the account watching the livestream so for Steam players only, and the developers did warn that high traffic could mean delays in the armor being added to your game inventory in that early window. However, at this point everyone should have it after it was added as part of the Escalation of Freedom update.

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.

With contributions from

Leon HurleyManaging editor for guides