Best Helldivers 2 loadouts for the Illuminate, Terminids, and Automatons

Assembling the best Helldivers 2 loadouts, whether you’re fighting the Illuminate, Terminids, or Automatons, is vital for mission success, particularly on the highest difficulties. Weapon balancing in Helldivers 2 is in a decent spot and there are plenty of viable options you can add to your loadout before a mission, and it’ll help a lot if you’ve got friends who can bring their own firepower to make up for what you’re missing.

However, there are always going to be clear standouts and the variation across and within all the enemy Helldivers 2 factions means some weapons are essential for taking down certain foes. So, to help you fight for Super Earth with maximum effectiveness, I've detailed some of the best Helldivers 2 loadouts for all three enemy factions and for all difficulties.

Best Helldivers 2 Illuminate loadout

The mix of organic and robotic units that the Helldivers 2 Illuminate deploy on the battlefield means making an all-rounder loadout can be a bit tricky, but the fact that they can’t bring much heavy armor is a big help. The main issue to counter that is their love of energy shields but anything that spews bullets can be great at getting rid of them. From our experience fighting the Squids, this is one of the best Helldivers 2 Illuminate loadouts you can pick:

• Primary: Scorcher/Purifier energy weapon, Sickle/Double-Edge Sickle, or Punisher Plasma
• Secondary: Grenade Pistol, Loyalist, or Crisper
• Grenade: Gas Grenade
• Armor: Any light or medium armor (the passive perk is up to you)
• Stratagems:
  • Machine Gun or Flamethrower
  • Jump Pack or Hover Pack
  • Eagle 500kg Bomb or Eagle Strafing Run
  • Orbital Laser, Orbital Precision Strike, or Orbital 380mm HE Barrage

While the Illuminate appear to be all about powerful alien tech, you’ll actually spend most of your time cutting down Voteless hordes and that’s why I recommend the Machine Gun, Flamethrower and Sickle (from teh Helldivers 2 Cutting Edge Warbond), along with the Gas grenade for a bit of crowd control. As a bonus, the Machine Gun and Sickle are also great for destroying shields on Harvesters and warp ships! Packing the Grenade Pistol too and you can easily destroy warp ships by yourself.

However, if you want a slightly more generalist Helldivers 2 loadout, the punchy explosive power of the Scorcher, Purifier, and Punisher Plasma is great against almost all the Illuminate enemy types, helping you keep Overseers at bay.

Regardless of your choices, it’s still vital to bring some powerful Eagle and Orbital Stratagems as these will be very helpful in dire circumstances, helping to deal with massive hordes and tougher enemies. Either of the jet packs will also be a useful for navigating the urban environments the Illuminate are found in and can help you outmanoeuvre the deadliest attacks the Illuminate have, from Interloper strafing runs to Harvester beams.

Best Helldivers 2 Terminid loadout

The Helldivers 2 Terminids mainly use swarming tactics and melee attacks, seeking to overwhelm teams of Helldivers with pure numbers, slowing venom, and ferocious claws. Compared to the Illuminate and Automatons, they’re less resilient, with only the largest bugs having strong armor and their organic nature means they’re susceptible to fire. Bearing all that in mind, here's a good meta loadout for killing Terminids in Helldivers 2:

• Primary: Breaker Incendiary shotgun, Cookout shotgun, Sickle/Double-Edge Sickle
• Secondary: Grenade Pistol or Crisper
• Grenade: Gas Grenade
• Armor: Any light or medium armor (the passive perk is up to you)
• Stratagems:
  • Flamethrower
  • Personal Shield Generator, Jump Pack, or Hover Pack
  • Orbital Naplam Barrage
  • Orbital Laser, Orbital Precision Strike, or Orbital Gas Strike

As mentioned, fire is highly effective against the Terminids so to kill as many as possible, you need to be the ultimate bug barbecue-r. The Flamethrower support weapon is essential as it can incinerate swarms and even burn through the armor of creatures like Helldivers 2 Chargers. Take the Personal Shield Generator to protect yourself from bile and other attacks and the Helldivers 2 Chemical Agents Gas Grenade to slow and confuse Terminids and you'll have a solid loadout.

As for other Stratagems, the Orbital Napalm Barrage is downright busted if you drop it on a nest or breach, scorching a massive area for a long time. It’s also even better with the Enhanced Combustion Helldivers 2 Ship Module. You should also pack one of the harder-hitting Stratagems, such as the Orbital Laser, to help deal with larger Terminids.

Variety is key, however, so this Helldivers 2 loadout shouldn't be used by all four team members – four Flamethrowers would be quite ridiculous after all – but it's good for one or two people to pack to ensure swarms and many of the tougher enemies are dealt with. Other players can then use dedicated anti-armor weapons, such as the Autocannon, Quasar Cannon, Commando, and Recoilless Rifle to take down the largest of the Terminids, such as Impalers and Helldivers 2 Bile Titans.

Best Helldivers 2 Automaton loadout

Dealing with the armored Helldivers 2 Automatons requires hard-hitting weaponry that can be fired at a variety of ranges. Thankfully, there are many options when it comes to effective bot-killing weapons, but energy weaponry is a good place to start. Here's what I recommend for the best Helldivers 2 Automaton loadout:

• Primary: Scorcher/Purifier energy weapon, Sickle/Double-Edge Sickle, or Explosive Crossbow
• Secondary: Senator, Grenade Pistol, or Loyalist
• Grenade: Thermite or Stun Grenade
• Armor: Any light or medium armor (the passive perk is up to you)
• Stratagems:
  • Quasar Cannon, Railgun, or Anti-Materiel Rifle
  • Personal Shield Generator
  • Eagle 500kg Bomb or Eagle Strafing Run
  • Orbital Laser, Orbital Precision Strike, or Orbital 380mm HE Barrage

Currently, the Quasar Cannon and Railgun feel like the best options for fighting the Automatons, capable of killing Helldivers 2 Hulks and other big robots easily. Arguably the most important aspects of these weapons is that they don’t take up a backpack slot, which means you can still use the Personal Shield Generator for more protection from Automaton guns. Stun grenades are also a great choice against the bots as they'll buy you valuable time to run, recover, or line up a deadly headshot, although Thermite Grenades are also solid if you want more anti-armor power.

Of course, it's still a good idea for one or two team members to pack a different loadout. For example, having one player swap out the Quasar Cannon and shield pack for a Spear, Recoilless Rifle, or Commando is advised, adding more anti-vehicle and anti-structure firepower to the team so you can take down Helldivers 2 Gunships, Fabricators, and Tanks more easily. The Orbital EMS Strike or EMS Sentry are also great options for stunning many bots at once.

Best Helldivers 2 loadout for beginners

Some of the best Helldivers 2 loadout options are either unavailable until level 15 and above, or are locked behind Warbonds. With that being said, there are still plenty of powerful options if you’re still trying to level up fast in Helldivers 2.

I’ve created this loadout using only weapons and Stratagems unlocked before level 10 and no premium Warbonds:

• Primary: Liberator assault rifle
• Secondary: Redeemer or Senator
• Grenade: High-Explosive
• Armor: Any medium armor
• Stratagems:
  • Machine Gun, Anti-Materiel Rifle, Stalwart, Grenade Launcher, or Expendable Anti-Tank
  • Jump Pack
  • Eagle Strafing Run or Orbital Precision Strike
  • Orbital 380mm HE Barrage, Orbital 120mm HE Barrage, or Mortar Sentry

Obviously, you should consider which of the Helldivers 2 factions you’re facing when choosing from the above options, but there are still plenty of weapons and Stratagems that will see you through the to the higher difficulties.

Once you reach level 10, you can unlock the Flamethrower and Autocannon, which are two of the best support weapons in the game. You’ll also be able to unlock the Orbital Walking Barrage and two Guard Dog variants if you want a little backpack buddy to provide extra support.

Make sure you modify your guns with Helldivers 2 weapon customization, adding attachments to improve their performance within your loadouts. Helldivers 2 Boosters are another crucial pre-mission choice, but since you’ll have to coordinate with your team, we’ve got a separate guide for those.

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