How to kill enemies with the Machine Gun in Helldivers 2

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The Machine Gun Stratagem in Helldivers 2 is best used on bugs, and at high fire rate

Helldivers 2
(Image credit: Sony)

For the Helldivers 2 kill 200 enemies with the Machine Gun Personal Order, you can get an easy 15 Medals by following the simple instructions - slot your Machine Gun support weapon Stratagem into your loadout and get blasting! However, time can be tight when it comes to Personal Orders in Helldivers 2, what with the 24-hour time limit. I've prepared some quickfire tips to help you beat that Personal Order and kill 200 enemies with the Machine Gun in Helldivers 2 fast.

Killing 200 enemies with the Machine Gun in Helldivers 2 explained

Helldivers 2 machine gun

(Image credit: Sony)

The Machine Gun is a support weapon Stratagem that all players have access to by default, so you don't need to worry about unlocking it first. To get the Machine Gun Personal Order done as quickly as possible in Helldivers 2, I recommend following this advice:

  • Keep in mind this is specifically for The Machine Gun - as in, the Stratagem support weapon of that name. The Helldivers 2 Stalwart support weapon and Heavy Machine Gun support weapon, and various Primary weapons won't count towards this challenge, despite some of them technically being machine guns.
  • You want to fight Bugs, not Bots. Terminids come up close and use swarm tactics, perfect for spraying with the less accurate Machine Gun. Bots stay at a distance and use armor and cover - hardly ideal. Eradication missions provide a consistent supply of enemies to kill too, but frankly players shouldn't struggle to find Bugs to kill - if nothing else, they'll find you.
  • Set your Machine Gun to the highest fire rate (hold reload button). There's no reason not to - it doesn't massively impact accuracy or recoil, and just kills things all the quicker.
  • Play at Medium difficulty. Any difficulty will work of course, but this provides the best middle ground of having a lot of enemies to kill, but with all of them being comparatively weak and easy to take out.
  • Stay mobile. The machine gun is big and slow, and the strategy is to backpedal while firing into a crowd and kiting the bugs.
  • Give yourself time to reload. The Machine Gun has a long reload in which you have to kneel down, so when you run out of ammo, sprint to a safe distance rather than doing it mid-combat.
  • Stratagems that will help you include the Shield Pack Generator, any EMS weapon, and the Jump Pack. These help defensive play, rather than stealing kills from your Machine Gun itself.

Once you've got 200 Kills, you'll get the reward of 15 Medals, setting you up for the game's various battle passes nicely. You might also want to consider keeping the Machine Gun in your regular rotation when fighting Terminids, even beyond this one - it's fun and respectably effective, especially for low level players.

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Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

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.