With Update 7.2 pushing fresh content to the Terminid front, there’s never been a better time to double-check your Helldivers 2 loadout. Friendly fire is always on and can’t be turned off, so a loadout that’s actually built around your squad matters as much as raw stratagem power. Here’s the current tier list, from the stratagems that solo-carry missions down to the solid-but-situational picks.
S-Tier: Bring These Every Time
LAS-99 Quasar Cannon — No backpack slot, unlimited uses, and strong enough to kill Bug Holes, Chargers, and Titans outright. An 8-second call-in and 480-second cooldown are the only real costs; aim for heads and vents to drop tougher targets in two or three hits.
RS-422 Railgun — A charged shot that can instantly kill large, heavily armored enemies, also with unlimited uses and a 480-second cooldown. Pair it with a shield backpack if you’re running it unsafe for maximum charge.
Orbital Laser and Orbital Railcannon Strike — Treat these two as interchangeable and split them between two squadmates rather than stacking both. The Railcannon Strike auto-targets anything in range on a 210-second cooldown and only causes friendly fire if you’re standing directly under the beam, while the Orbital Laser hits harder on a 300-second cooldown with three uses per call-in.
EXO-45 Patriot Exosuit — A two-use, 600-second-cooldown mech that’s strong against bugs, hunters, and troopers, with a machine gun that can also chew through enemy tech.
Eagle Airstrike and Eagle 500kg Bomb — The Airstrike has a tight initial blast radius that grows as you stack more hits in the same spot, while the 500kg Bomb is imprecise but can one-shot a wide spread of enemies when it lands clean. Both refill fast thanks to the Eagle rearm mechanic.
Arc Thrower — Infinite ammo, no backpack, and bolts that chain to nearby enemies. A clean headshot can one-shot lower-tier Terminids, making it one of the better crowd-control weapons in the game.
RS-422 Railgun — A charged shot that can instantly kill large, heavily armored enemies, also with unlimited uses and a 480-second cooldown. Pair it with a shield backpack if you’re running it unsafe for maximum charge.
Orbital Laser and Orbital Railcannon Strike — Treat these two as interchangeable and split them between two squadmates rather than stacking both. The Railcannon Strike auto-targets anything in range on a 210-second cooldown and only causes friendly fire if you’re standing directly under the beam, while the Orbital Laser hits harder on a 300-second cooldown with three uses per call-in.
EXO-45 Patriot Exosuit — A two-use, 600-second-cooldown mech that’s strong against bugs, hunters, and troopers, with a machine gun that can also chew through enemy tech.
Eagle Airstrike and Eagle 500kg Bomb — The Airstrike has a tight initial blast radius that grows as you stack more hits in the same spot, while the 500kg Bomb is imprecise but can one-shot a wide spread of enemies when it lands clean. Both refill fast thanks to the Eagle rearm mechanic.
Arc Thrower — Infinite ammo, no backpack, and bolts that chain to nearby enemies. A clean headshot can one-shot lower-tier Terminids, making it one of the better crowd-control weapons in the game.
A-Tier: Reliable Role-Players
Among weapons, the Stalwart, Anti-Materiel Rifle, Grenade Launcher, and Autocannon all earn regular slots depending on mission type. Support options like the Autocannon Sentry, Mortar Sentry, EMS Mortar Sentry, and Guard Dog Rover cover area denial and crowd control without eating a squadmate’s weapon slot. For backpacks, the Shield Generator Pack, Jump Pack, and Supply Pack all solve different survivability problems, and the Eagle Cluster Bomb rounds out the orbital/eagle options for wide-area clears. Don’t skip the utility picks either — Resupply and Reinforce aren’t glamorous, but a squad that runs out of either loses fights it should win.
Building Around the Terminid Front
Since Update 7.2 is pushing new biome and enemy content specifically for the Terminid front, lean into anti-swarm tools: the Arc Thrower and Stalwart both excel at thinning large groups of smaller bugs, while the Quasar Cannon and Railgun stay on call for Chargers, Bile Titans, and anything else that needs a single hard-hitting answer. Coordinate loadouts as a squad before dropping in — because friendly fire can’t be disabled, two players bringing the same support weapon is often less useful than splitting coverage across anti-horde and anti-heavy roles. For a deeper rundown on stratagem mechanics and unlock requirements, the community-run Helldivers Wiki keeps a full, regularly updated database.
Stocking up on Super Credits for the new Warbond is easiest with a Steam gift card for the PC version, or a code from our PlayStation Network selection on PS5.
Stocking up on Super Credits for the new Warbond is easiest with a Steam gift card for the PC version, or a code from our PlayStation Network selection on PS5.
