All Helldivers 2 difficulties explained

There are 10 Helldivers 2 difficulty levels to learn and master, each more unforgivingly brutal than the last. The hordes of enemies become more varied, more monstrous, and more massive with each step up the ladder, but the rewards also get better at each level too – more XP, Requisition Slips, Medals, and Samples await.

However, you'll find that the early levels in Helldivers 2 ramp up the difficulty quickly, making for a bit of trial by fire as new enemies appear all the time and you stumble into unfamiliar objectives. Bearing that in mind, it's a good idea to go into a mission knowing exactly what to expect so that you can prepare appropriately, so I've laid out everything you need to know about every difficulty in Helldivers 2, including the sorts of threats you'll face and what rewards you can get.

How to change difficulty level in Helldivers 2

To change your mission difficulty level, you first need to unlock the next difficulty up by completing an entire Operation (1-3 missions) on your current difficulty. For example, to unlock Easy difficulty, you just need to play an Operation (complete one mission) on Trivial difficulty, and so on.

With a new difficulty unlocked, you can then head to the Galaxy Map and use R1 and L1/RB and LB to increase or decrease the difficulty of whatever Operation you choose next. But be aware that you cannot change the difficulty of an Operation once you're started it!

Every Helldivers 2 difficulty level explained

Every difficulty level alters something about a mission, including, enemy outpost sizes (Terminid nests, Automaton fabricators, and Illuminate warp ships), side objectives, the types of enemies you'll face, and how many of them there are.

Here's how each difficulty works, from Trivial all the way up to Super Helldive:

Helldivers 2 Trivial difficulty

The easiest difficulty meant for learning the absolute basics of Helldivers 2.

• Operation size: One mission on a small map
• Objectives: Primary objectives (orange map icons)
• Enemy presence: Small enemy patrols
• Rewards and loot: 0% XP modifier. 1 Medal per successful mission. Green Common Samples available.
• Modifiers: None

Helldivers 2 Easy difficulty

A small step up from Trivial that introduces extra core mechanics.

• Operation size: One mission on a medium-sized map.
• Objectives: Primary Objectives, Allied Tactical Objectives (optional objectives with blue map icons that provide extra support to your team or relate to Super Earth directly. Includes Radar Towers, SEAF Artillery, Illegal Broadcast Towers, Rogue Research Labs, and Escape Pods)
• Enemy presence: Small enemy patrols, Light Outposts
• Rewards and loot: 0% XP modifier. 2 Medals per successful mission. Common Samples available.
• Modifiers: None

Helldivers 2 Medium difficulty

This is the last of the beginner difficulties and is quite a big step up, introducing tougher enemy types with heavy armor.

• Operation size: Two missions and one of them can be a shorter Blitz mission. From this difficulty and beyond, all standard 40-minute missions take place on large maps.
• Objectives: Primary Objectives, Allied Tactical Objectives, Secondary Objectives (One optional Tactical Objective is permanently marked on your map with a blue icon)
• Enemy presence: Small enemy patrols, heavily armored enemies, Light Outposts, Medium Outposts
• Rewards and loot: 25% XP modifier. 2 Medals for first mission, 4 Medals for second mission. Common Samples available.
• Modifiers: None

Helldivers 2 Challenging difficulty

Challenging is where Helldivers 2 really starts to ramp up the difficulty, representing the first of the moderate difficulty levels. From here on, playing Helldivers 2 solo becomes noticeably harder.

• Operation size: Two missions and one of them can be a shorter Blitz mission.
• Objectives: Primary Objectives, Secondary Objectives, Allied Tactical Objectives, Enemy Tactical Objectives (optional objectives, also marked with blue icons, that revolve around destroying enemy assets. Includes things like Terminid Stalker Lairs and Spore Spewers, and Automaton Detector Towers and AA Emplacements)
• Enemy presence: Enemy patrols, heavily armored enemies, Light Outposts, Medium Outposts, Heavy Outposts
• Rewards and loot: 50% XP modifier.  3 Medals for first mission, 5 Medals for second mission. Green Common Samples and orange Rare Samples available.
• Modifiers: None

Helldivers 2 Hard difficulty

Another significant step up, Hard introduces the largest enemies in Helldivers 2 and Operation Modifiers. Operations are now three missions long, with one or two being Blitz missions.

• Operation size: Three missions and up to two of them can be shorter Blitz missions.
• Objectives: Primary Objectives, Secondary Objectives, Allied and Enemy Tactical Objectives
• Enemy presence: Enemy patrols, heavily armored enemies, massive enemies, Light Outposts, Medium Outposts, Heavy Outposts
• Rewards and loot: 75% XP modifier. 4 Medals for first mission, 6 Medals for second mission, 8 Medals for third mission. Common and Rare Samples available.
• Modifiers: 1 Operation Modifier (Operation Modifiers add team-wide penalties or gameplay quirks to all missions in an Operation, such as increased Stratagem cooldown times or an obscured map)

Helldivers 2 Extreme difficulty

Little changes in Extreme compared to Hard, aside from extra Tactical Objectives, but this means each mission has more to do in the same amount of time which will really start to test your efficiency.

• Operation size: Three missions and up to two of them can be shorter Blitz missions.
• Objectives: Primary Objectives, Secondary Objectives, even more Allied and Enemy Tactical Objectives
• Enemy presence: Enemy patrols, heavily armored enemies, massive enemies, Light Outposts, Medium Outposts, Heavy Outposts
• Rewards and loot: 100% XP modifier. 5 Medals for first mission, 7 Medals for second mission, 9 Medals for third mission. Common and Rare Samples available.
• Modifiers: 1 Operation Modifier

Helldivers 2 Suicide Mission difficulty

This is the point where Helldivers 2 starts to get really hard. Enemies are abundant and relentless in Suicide Mission difficulty, and stealth approaches can be useful for avoiding massive fights. This is also the lowest difficulty that Super Samples become available.

• Operation size: Three missions and up to two of them can be shorter Blitz missions.
• Objectives: Primary Objectives, Secondary Objectives, increased Allied and Enemy Tactical Objective
• Enemy presence: Large enemy patrols, heavily armored enemies, massive enemies, Light Outposts, Medium Outposts, Heavy Outposts
• Rewards and loot: 150% XP modifier. 6 Medals for first mission, 8 Medals for second mission, 10 Medals for third mission. Common, Rare, and Pink Super Uranium Samples available.
• Modifiers: 1 Operation Modifier

Helldivers 2 Impossible difficulty

Only coordinated and experienced players with the best Helldivers 2 builds are getting through these Operations.

• Operation size: Three missions and up to two of them can be shorter Blitz missions.
• Objectives: Primary Objectives, Secondary Objectives, increased Allied and Enemy Tactical Objectives
• Enemy presence: Increased enemy numbers overall, large enemy patrols, heavily armored enemies, massive enemies, Light Outposts, Medium Outposts, Heavy Outposts
• Rewards and loot: 200% XP modifier. 7 Medals for first mission, 10 Medals for second mission, 12 Medals for third mission. Common, Rare, and Super Samples available.
• Modifiers: 2 Operation Modifiers

Helldivers 2 Helldive difficulty

A brutal ordeal for hardened players, this used to be the hardest difficulty until Super Helldive came along. It's no mechanically different to Impossible aside from the fact enemies are all a bit more unrelenting.

• Operation size: Three missions and up to two of them can be shorter Blitz missions.
• Objectives: Primary Objectives, Secondary Objectives, increased Allied and Enemy Tactical Objectives
• Enemy presence: Increased enemy numbers overall, large enemy patrols, heavily armored enemies, massive enemies, Light Outposts, Medium Outposts, Heavy Outposts
• Rewards and loot: 250% XP modifier. 8 Medals for first mission, 11 Medals for second mission, 14 Medals for third mission. Common, Rare, and Super Samples available.
• Modifiers: 2 Operation Modifiers

Helldivers 2 Super Helldive difficulty

The fight for Super Earth at its absolute hardest, although the only difference compared to regular Helldive is the addition of Super Heavy Outposts (Mega Terminid Nests and Automaton Fortresses). Enemies of all kinds are almost everywhere, with massive, heavily armored foes being common. Good luck, Helldivers.

• Operation size: Three missions and up to two of them can be shorter Blitz missions.
• Objectives: Primary Objectives, Secondary Objectives, increased Allied and Enemy Tactical Objectives
• Enemy presence: Increased enemy numbers overall, large enemy patrols, heavily armored enemies, massive enemies, Light Outposts, Medium Outposts, Heavy Outposts, Super Heavy Outposts.
• Rewards and loot: 300% XP modifier. 9 Medals for first mission, 12 Medals for second mission, 15 Medals for third mission. Common, Rare, and Super Samples available. Can also find carriable enemy items that award additional samples if extracted.
• Modifiers: 2 Operation Modifiers

The enemy Helldivers 2 factions are quite varied so it's a good idea to learn everything you can about how they operate.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.