Weapons (Helldivers)

Standard Weapons


Helldiver troops are sent into battle with one primary weapon as well as a sidearm. There are 22 primary weapons to choose from in total, each falling into one of several categories depending on their characteristics, such as assault rifles or shotguns.

The P-2 Peacemaker is the standard-issue sidearm and is always equipped unless the player selects one of three other sidearms as a Perk.

Most weapons are unlocked when the player reaches certain Ranks, while others are made available at any Rank to players who purchase the relevant DLC Pack.

Every weapon (except for the three Pistol Perks) has multiple upgrades which can be purchased with Research Points. These can raise the weapon's efficiency greatly by increasing damage and magazine size; or provide unique bonuses like incendiary or armour-piercing rounds.

Additionally, some primary weapons are classed as one-handed (such as the Knight SMG or fully upgraded Double Freedom), this trait allows players to continue to use these primary weapons when mortally wounded or while completing 'Retrieve Black Box/Power Core' objectives, instead of being forced to swap to their sidearm.

Standard Weapons Table
The primary weapons and sidearms that can be equipped before deploying to combat:

''&#42; Item is part of a paid DLC pack. DLC weapons are unlocked immediately after purchase.  † Item is classed as a Perk.''

Heavy Weapons
Players can also equip certain Stratagems which, during combat, allow them to call down heavy weapons (also known as support weapons or secondary weapons). These Stratagems must first be unlocked by successfully completing all missions on their associated planet or purchasing the relevant DLC. Players are only capable of carrying one heavy weapon at a time during combat.

Heavy weapons fall into several categories, with some (for example, the LAS-98 Laser Cannon) essentially being more powerful versions of certain primary weapons; while others have special attributes (for example, the TOX-13 Avenger's ability to slow down enemies) which can make them invaluable in some situations.

Heavy Weapons Table
The heavy weapons which can be requested during combat as Stratagems:

''&#42; Item is part of a paid DLC pack. DLC Stratagems are unlocked immediately after purchase.''

Fast Reloading
As is mentioned in the in-game tips, many weapons can be reloaded more quickly if the player reloads before emptying the full magazine. Reddit users have discovered that fully emptying the magazine leads to a significantly slower reload time for those weapons, until the first succesful fast reload has been performed with that specific weapon during a given mission (or until you are killed). After this, all further reloads (even with a fully emptied clip) are of the "fast" variety. In short: if you keep emptying the entire magazine every time before reloading, you will have a slow reload every time until you do a fast one.

Succesful fast reloads do not carry over between a player's sidearm, primary weapon and secondary weapon. Interestingly, picking up a secondary weapon that has been fast-reloaded will reset it, and it will revert to the slower reload when fully-emptied until a fast reload has been succesfully performed.

Chambering Rounds
Many weapons that let players perform a fast reload have an additional benefit: it retains a single round (bullet) in the chamber after changing out the clip (if it has not been fully emptied). This gives the player one additional round of ammunition in addition to the full clip inserted after reloading. This even works for the AC-22 Dum-Dum autocannon.

As laser and arc weapons do not use magazines per sé, neither the fast reload nor chambered round mechanics apply to these classes of weapons at all.