All Weapons (Helldivers 2)

"Your weapon is an extension of who you are. It defines your essence and a Helldiver is often judged, for better or for worse, by the weapon they bring into battle. You must know your weapons as well as you know many articles regarding the ideals of Managed democracy. Your success and failure rests upon it. Your weapons are best understood by the role and function they hold in your arsenal. Firstly, every weapon is NOT designed to be able to handle any and all threats. They are designed with a specific niche in mind, and it is a sad fact that many Helldivers overlook a weapon because they used it for the wrong role."

- S. E. A. F. Manual



Weapons
Primary and secondary weapons can be equipped before deploying to combat, though Primary weapons can also be picked up in the field. Helldivers can also equip one type of grenade, these cannot be swapped in the field. Whenever a Helldiver deploys to the field, they will be supplied with their chosen loadout and most of the respective ammo capacity (or full capacity with the Hellpod Space Optimization booster).

Stratagem or Support Weapons are not provided in the standard loadout and must be called in with their respective Stratagem (though they can also be randomly found in the field). They have their own weapon slot, so any Helldiver can carry one in addition to the rest of their loadout. Unlike the other weapons, they are effectively lost on death and may be lost behind enemy lines until their stratagem comes off cooldown. This can also somewhat limit their available ammunition, though they can still get ammo from all the usual sources, such as the Resupply stratagem (though only half the reserve capacity by default). They also aren't deployed with full reserve capacity by default. In both cases there are Ship Module upgrades available to provide full capacity.

Ammunition
Every weapon has its own ammunition type and number of reserve mags (or heat sinks for energy weapons) a Helldiver can carry at once. Remaining ammunition in a weapon cannot be transferred, even if picked up while already carrying the exact same weapon. Reloading will always discard any ammo left in the current magazine, so it should be avoided unless its close to empty or easy opportunity to stock up is close at hand. The amount of ammo in each magazine also depends on the weapon itself and can range from single-shot weapons to rapid-fire machine guns with up to 250 rounds.

For energy-based weapons, ammunition is technically infinite (except for the SG-8P Punisher & PLAS-1 Scorcher) but firing them builds up heat until the heat sink has to be replaced, not unlike changing magazines for traditional weapons. The heat will dissipate when the weapon isn't firing, so careful management can make these last longer, but in more intense engagements, this tends to make little difference.

Only a few select weapons don't rely on this system at all, such as the LAS-99 Quasar Cannon, though their fire rates are more limited compared to other weapons.

Despite these limitations, sources of ammunition resupply are generally universal. Ammunition can be picked up from boxes found on the map, the Resupply Pod or Supply Pack, which will automatically supply reserve mags for every weapon the Helldiver is currently carrying. This won't refill the currently loaded magazine however, and the source of ammunition is entirely used up, even if it only supplies a single item. Reloading weapons before picking up ammunition is generally preferable. Primary and secondary weapons always get their full reserve capacity back, Support weapons only get half without a specific ship module upgrade; superior packing methodology. Boxes found on the map work a bit differently and only provide a single magazine (or heat sink) for one weapon, prioritizing the currently held weapon.

Ammunition is also a factor at play for most Defensive stratagem deployments and Vehicles, which cannot be resupplied. Sentries will automatically deactivate when they run out of it.