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To be honest, most Helldivers 2 guns are not that good. There’s a degree to which the relatively weak power of those guns is an intentional design choice. You’re not meant to feel powerful in this game, and relatively weaker guns are part of that experience.
However, you’re not completely helpless in Helldivers 2. While you will often need to swap your loadout to account for the unique requirements of each mission, there are still some guns in Helldivers 2 that tend to be almost strictly better than others.
So if you’re wondering which guns you should prioritize unlocking or taking into battle, here’s a rundown of the absolute best weapons in Helldivers 2:
10. LAS-5 Scythe Beam Rifle
There are a lot of Scythe haters out there, and I understand why. Laser weapons are about as situational as weapons come in Helldivers 2, and the Scythe certainly feels weak when you first try to use it. It’s also practically useless against bugs, which certainly hurts its overall value.
However, the Scythe most certainly has its uses. Its unlimited ammo is a game-changer in and of itself, it has no recoil to speak of, and its “uptime” is pretty much impossible to beat. When you need a little help against Helldiver’s most dangerous robots (and you will), the Scythe is always there for you.
9. Redeemer Pistol
The bad news is that the Redeemer is “only” a secondary weapon and can’t really compete with the other weapons on this list in terms of its overall damage. It also absolutely chews through ammo, which can sometimes make it hard to rely on.
When it comes to secondary weapons, though, it’s the Redeemer and everything else. Despite its name, the Redeemer is actually closer to an SMG or machine gun. It can easily take down most lesser foes all on its own, which is exactly what you want from a secondary weapon that you’ll usually only turn to in desperate situations. Even then, you may be surprised by how useful it often is.
8. PLAS-1 Scorcher Plasma Rifle
This weapon can be a nightmare in the right or wrong hands. In the wrong hands, its ability to fire explosive gas canisters will almost certainly lead to devastating team kills. Even those who can keep this thing under control will have to deal with its relatively small magazine size.
In the right hands, though, this thing is basically a sniper rifle grenade launcher with an AoE kicker. If you can get the drop on a group of enemies, this rifle will turn them into helpless completed objectives in record time. Consider it to be a rocker launcher alternative in situations where you need to deal with large groups of lesser enemies.
7. AR-23 Liberator
Yes, your starting gun in Helldivers 2 is eventually outclassed by almost objectively better options. However, many Helldivers 2 players are quickly discovering that this gun is not only viable for much of the game but is often preferable to other options.
The Liberator may not offer many obvious strengths in the long run, but it’s good or better in nearly every measurable category. Considering that you can upgrade this weapon (and supplement it with Stratagems) as you advance, you may find yourself regularly returning to its reliable blend of attributes.
6. MG-43 Machine Gun
This LMG is one of the first Stratagems that you’ll unlock. While it can be tough to prioritize it over some of the other powerful Stratagems in the game, this really is one of the best overall guns in Helldivers 2.
The MG-43 offers pretty much exactly what you’d expect from it. It’s an incredibly powerful machine gun that boasts an absurd rate of fire that makes it ideal against incoming waves of enemies or even slower single targets. It does absolutely eat through ammo, but a Supply Pack can negate that drawback with relative ease.
5. R-63 Diligence Marksman Rifle
The biggest problem with the Diligence is the nature of the average Helldivers 2 match. For as undeniably powerful as this rifle is, it can be difficult to buy yourself the distance and time required to properly use it. When multiple enemies are surrounding you, this gun just doesn’t have much to offer.
When used properly, though, the Diligence is quite something. It’s an absolute canon that excels at taking down larger, slower foes who are otherwise occupied. Unlike other “boss killer” weapons, though, the Diligence can certainly be used against lesser enemies who aren’t right on top of you. It’s situational, but it has its uses.
4. M-105 Stalwart
While the M-105 Stalwart is technically considered to be a support weapon, more than a few people are already doing their best to treat it as a primary option. If it were a primary option, then it would almost certainly be higher on these rankings.
The Stalwart offers many of the advantages you may expect from a good video game assault rifle. It’s accurate, it is effective from various ranges, and it’s respectably powerful. What makes the Stalwart really special, though, is its optional high rate of fire modes. When cranked up to its max rate of fire setting, the Stalwart becomes a classic bullet hose that can mow down most bugs and even give bots something to think about.
3. SG-225 Breaker
Generally speaking, it’s hard to love Helldivers 2’s shotguns. They’re pretty slow, they don’t have the range you’re usually looking for, and they just lack a lot of flash in terms of specialty functionality. So what is the Breaker doing all the way up here near the top of the list?
Well, the Breaker is an exception ot a lot of rules. Not only does it boast a higher rate of fire than the other shotguns, but it packs a much tighter spread than most of the other shotguns in the game. That combination of improvements not only makes it easier to use the Breaker against waves of tightly packed enemies, but it makes the Breaker especially effective against enemies that are typically too close for comfort. When you reach the point of the game when even basic enemies start to boast absurdly high health pools, you may find that you simply need the Breaker to kill them with the amount of ammo typically available to you.
2. SMG-37 Defender
The SMG-37 Defender isn’t necessarily presented as a strict upgrade to the Liberator, but that’s essentially what it is. That also makes it the sometimes objectively better version of one of the best guns in the game.
Despite being classified as an SMG, the Defender boasts a respectable firing range to go along with its incredible range of fire and shocking per-bullet power. It’s one of the better hipfire weapons in the game, and it’s viable against all but the largest bugs and bots. Maybe there are more exciting or better specialty weapons in the game, but the SMG-37 Defender is almost always your best go-to option.
1. Railgun
If Helldivers 2 were a competitive multiplayer game, the Railgun would be a problem. It’s not just arguably overpowered, but it’s really one of the only guns in the game that properly fulfills an especially valuable purpose: killing the toughest foes in Helldivers 2 with relative safety and ease.
The Railgun fires absurdly powerful rounds in a perfectly straight line. It goes right through the majority of lesser enemies in the game, and it’s one of the only games that can effectively target boss-type enemies without needing to rely on potentially dangerous (and expensive) explosives. By the time that you’re battling bots, you’ll pretty much need to rely on the Railgun to actually stand up for yourself. It will take you quite a while to unlock the Railgun, but you absolutely need it.
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