Helldivers 2 Weapons Tier List

Here is a weapons tier list for Helldivers 2 from S to D-tier

Helldivers 2 is the newest title released by Arrowhead Game Studios for PlayStation and PC. The third-person action shooter was released on 8 February and since then has risen in popularity among gamers. It is a sequel to the first Helldivers released in 2015. So far the game has performed well and has earned the admiration of a large group of players, despite having a few post-launch bugs and errors. The game's fresh mechanics and a wide arsenal of weapons have been key to its success. Ever since its release fans have been flooding the servers fighting the Galactic War and searching for the strongest weapons.

Therefore we have come up with a tier list that will mention the strongest weapons in the game and give players some idea on what to look for.

Helldivers 2 Weapons Tier List

Helldivers 2 has a lot of strong weapons that can be effective in your fight against Terminids. You can get the strongest weapons from Stratagem drops. Considering how diverse and unique each of the missions is, it's very hard to settle for a universal tier list. Some weapons are strong against large enemies whilst others are better at taking out swarms. For this reason, it is wise to play with a team that has all the bases covered. This means each member should have something unique, someone can carry weapons for piercing armor and someone for taking out large groups.

There are still some weapons that are better than others. Certain weapons are good at one specific job and others are great overall in every situation. Based on conditions like these, we have come up with a tier list that contains weapons that are overall stronger and also ones that are very good at their own thing.

S-Tier

These weapons are the best of the best and each of them is the strongest in their respective categories.

Railgun (Stratagem): This is a single-shot rifle that has devastating damage. The weapon does require some time to charge up before firing and can also get overcharged, but if used smartly then it can do some serious damage to any target.
Breaker: The Breaker is one of the best shotguns in the game and no other comes close to its damage across all ranges. It is especially strong in mid-ranged fights and is very effective against fighting large swarms of enemies.

Stalwart (Stratagem): The Stalwart is the strongest machine gun in the game and is very effective in fighting against swarms of smaller targets.
Anti-Material Rifle (Stratagem): The Anti-Material Rifle lives up to its name as a sniper rifle that tears through enemy armor and dishes out high levels of damage. Its accuracy is quite high which allows it to be very effective even at longer ranges.

A-Tier

The A-tier weapons aren’t as strong as the ones in the S-tier but have good overall effectiveness and can get the job done in pretty much every situation.

Liberator: Despite being the standard starting weapon for all players, the Liberator is quite effective as a rifle and is great for almost every scenario.
Machine Gun (Stratagem): The Machine Gun is very similar to the Stalwart. The main difference between the two is that the Machine Gun is much slower and clunkier. This makes it a little hard to use.
Diligence Counter Sniper: This is a stronger version of the Diligence ranged rifle which is featured in the B-tier. It packs a stronger punch and has double the damage compared to the regular Diligence.

Autocannon (Stratagem): The Autocannon is an extremely powerful weapon that is a great substitute for the Railgun. However, this one does need ammo feeding similar to the Recoilless Rifle.
Grenade Launcher (Stratagem): This is a high-explosive frag grenade launcher that is strong at taking down groups of smaller and medium enemies. Besides eliminating targets, it is effective at destroying enemy nests and fabricators.
Dominator: The Dominator is a much slower rifle compared to the likes of the Liberator and has a much slower rate of fire. However, it makes up for it by having increased damage per shot.

B-Tier

The B-tier contains downgraded and lesser effective versions of stronger weapons which are already mentioned high up in the list.

Diligence: The Diligence is a decent rifle that has good damage and is pretty accurate. It is especially strong against Automatons.
Recoilless Rifle (Stratagem): This is a rocket launcher with good range and damage. However, it does require the assistance of a teammate who has to feed you ammo.
Flamethrower (Stratagem): The Flamethrower is good at defending or taking control of an area. It also has good damage at short ranges and is very good against bugs. Despite all its strengths, the Flamethrower is quite situational.
Laser Cannon (Stratagem): This is a laser beam that can shoot very strong beams at enemies and can even pierce armor. One good thing about this weapon is that it requires no ammo, all you have to do is be careful with your shots and not let it overheat.

Defender: The Defender is a one-handed SMG that works well against hordes at close ranges.
Knight: The Knight is a very fast SMG that can also be wielded with one hand. It can do high rates of damage at close ranges but because of its rate of fire, it runs out of ammo quite fast.
Incendiary Grenade: It is a firebomb that can clear out and deny enemies from an area. It has good range and damage, which makes it effective for defending or extracting during missions.

C-Tier

These weapons are severely underwhelming and act as substitute weapons that can be used until you better better ones.

Peacemaker (Secondary): The pistol is balanced and works well in every situation, but its damage is quite low. It is also weak against larger and more heavy targets.
Arc Thrower (Stratagem): This is a lighting gun that charges itself up before firing. It can preserve ammo and leaps between multiple enemies. However, its lack of damage makes it severely underwhelming.
Penetrating Liberator: This is severely worse than the normal gun. It has much weaker stats, which it tries to balance by having higher armor penetration. However, in the grand scheme of things it is not very effective compared to other weapons.

Explosive Liberator: Similar to the normal Liberator, but has explosive bullets. On paper, it doesn’t sound bad but in the game, it does not live up to the potential it displayed.
Smoke Grenades: Can be used for covering movement while retreating or blocking the enemy’s vision. However, the way Helldivers 2 is played, there isn’t much room for tactical moves like this. Therefore the Smoke Grenade can be considered highly ineffective.

D-Tier

These weapons aren’t worth the trouble using. They have little to no effect in a fight and you’re better off without them.

Punisher: The Punisher shotgun is quite slow and lacks damage. Those two combined make it a very situational weapon. Considering everything, it just isn’t worth picking up.

Credit: Arrowhead Game Studios
Slugger: Compared to the Punisher, this is even worse. There is not much going on statistically and it doesn’t have any gimmicks that make it unique.