Helldivers 2 Stratagems – Guide with Builds

Stratagems in Helldivers 2 are your bread and butter. Even more than your trusty Liberator Assault rifle or the armor you’re wearing, Stratagems are what make or break most missions. And, as a Helldivers, you have access to quite a lot of them, and it can be hard to gauge which are the best, how to use them in the most efficient ways, and how to build around them. Well, we’ve got you covered: we’ve rated each stratagem in the game and explained the best way to play with every single one, as well as how to start making builds around each.


Stratagems in Helldivers 2 are game-changing pieces of ordinance that can be called down in game in order to even the odds. Taking the form of airstrikes, heavy weapons, sentries, and various other pieces of support equipment, Stratagems are one of the most important parts of a Helldiver’s equipment.

To activate a Stratagem that has been selected for a mission, you simply need to open the Stratagem List (playstation l1 button/computer key ctrl t), and then key in the Stratagem’s code using WASD or the D-Pad to represent ⬆️⬅️⬇️➡️, respectively (by default). This will create a throwable marker that you can toss wherever you want your stratagem to land.

helldivers 2 stratagems how to

These support packages are dropped or sent directly from your ships in orbit and onto a marker that you can call in (after a brief delay). After being called in, nearly all Stratagems have a cooldown before they can be called in again. Some of these cooldowns can be brief (most notably the Eagle strikes while you still have uses remaining, and Expendable Anti-Tank rockets), while many of them are several minutes long, which should be kept in mind while selecting them.

Mission-based stratagems, such as SEAF artillery shells, Hellbombs, or Prospecting Drills, and the Reinforce and Resupply stratagems are always available. Because these are situational, we will not be focusing on them, instead focusing on the Stratagems you can unlock and select at the start of each mission.

Before we list all the Stratagems, let’s go over how to make a Stratagem loadout. This will be how to best select what 4 (or sometimes 3) Stratagems you should take with you in order to maximize your efficiency (even on the highest difficulties) while still having plenty of room to play around with different items.

In the lists below, we’ve given each Stratagem 1 or 2 “types”, in addition to their overall categories. These types are as follows:

  • Anti-Heavy: Reliably kills Heavy Enemies quickly.
  • Anti-Horde: Kills hordes of Small and Medium Enemies quickly.
  • General: Kills Small and Medium Enemies, damages and sometimes kills Heavy Enemies.
  • Siege: Destroys buildings and infrastructure.
  • Support: Doesn’t deal direct damage, but provides advantage.

With that in mind, any given build you make on higher difficulties should include the following:

  • At Least 2 Anti-Heavy Stratagems, or 1 Anti-Heavy Stratagem and a General Stratagem .
    • This is because the meta of Helldivers 2 currently favors “tank-busting,” and often the only way to kill the heaviest enemies reliably is using Anti-Heavy items.
  • At least 1 Low Cooldown or Reusable Siege Stratagem, or 2 High Cooldown Stratagems Items (except on Defense).
    • Most missions see you destroying infrastructure as a primary or secondary mission objective. For these, you will need a lot of ordinance. So, you will either want a Weapon or airstrike that is capable of destroying multiple buildings, or 2 airstrikes on longer cooldowns able to destroy buildings.
    • If you are on a Defense mission that doesn’t require you to destroy any buildings, you don’t need any Siege items.
  • Up to 1 Anti-Horde Stratagem, or up to 1 General Stratagem that you plan to use primarily for Hordes.
    • Especially if your primary weapon fires slowly, you will want something to deal with light and medium enemies, and so bringing an anti-horde weapon like one of the machine guns, or certain Airstrikes or Sentries, is a safe choice.
  • Up to 1 Support Stratagem .
    • Support Items can be incredibly useful for mobility and survivability, and can be essential on higher difficulties, especially Solo.
screenshot 2024 05 25 143739
Example of a good loadout. An Anti-Horde Airstrike, a General Airstrike, A Support Pack, and an Anti-Heavy Weapon.

In addition to the above, you also will want to make sure your Stratagem types are divided amongst the following:

  • At least 1 Weapon
  • At least 2 Airstrikes
  • The last slot can either be another Airstrike, a Backpack, or a Defense, according to the following:
    • Airstrike for mobile operations where you want to destroy most enemy bases
    • Backpack for survivability and speed, especially Blitz missions or full-map-clears. This should only be used if you are not bringing a Weapon requiring a backpack, obviously.
    • Defense for Defense Missions (duh).
    • Very rarely, taking Expendable Anti-Tank as a second weapon can be useful, if you are designating a single Helldiver as dedicated anti tank.

Here is the full list of Stratagems, listed alongside their Type (see above), Cooldown time, and Code to activate them. These are presented in no particular order.

Weapons are equipable stratagems that can be acquired and used as an additional piece of weaponry beyond your primary and secondary weapons. Certain weapons also have ammo packs that take up your backpack slot.

In general, you should always have no more than one Weapon stratagem, with a minor exception of the Expendable Anti-Tank stratagem, which can be dropped often and used before picking up your other Weapon again.

Icon
Name
Pack?
Type
Cooldown
Code
hd2 strategems pac machine gun
Machine Gun
Anti-Horde Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬅️⬇️⬆️➡️
hd2 strategems pac anti material rifle
Anti-Material Rifle
Anti-Heavy Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬅️➡️⬆️⬇️
hd2 strategems pac stalwart
Stalwart
Anti-Horde Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬅️⬇️⬆️⬆️⬅️
hd2 strategems pac expendable anti tank
Expendable Anti-Tank
Anti-Heavy Weapon
Siege Weapon
70 sec
⬇️⬇️⬅️⬆️➡️
hd2 strategems pac recoilless rifle
Recoilless Rifle
Anti-Heavy Weapon
Siege Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬅️➡️➡️⬅️
hd2 strategems pac flamethrower
Flamethrower
General Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬅️⬆️⬇️⬆️
hd2 strategems pac autocannon
Autocannon
Anti-Heavy Weapon
Siege Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬅️⬇️⬆️⬆️➡️
hd2 strategems pac heavy machine gun
Heavy Machine Gun
Anti-Horde Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬅️⬆️⬇️⬇️
hd2 strategems pac airburst rocket launcher
Airburst Rocket Launcher
General Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬆️⬆️⬅️➡️
hd2 strategems pac railgun
Railgun
General Weapon
480 sec
⬇️➡️⬇️⬆️⬅️➡️
hd2 strategems pac spear
Spear
Anti-Heavy Weapon
Siege Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬇️⬆️⬇️⬇️
hd2 strategems engineering bay grenade launcher
Grenade Launcher
General Weapon
Siege Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬅️⬆️⬅️⬇️
hd2 strategems engineering bay laser cannon
Laser Cannon
Anti-Horde Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬅️⬇️⬆️⬅️
hd2 strategems engineering bay arc thrower
Arc Thrower
Anti-Horde Weapon
480 sec
⬇️➡️⬇️⬆️⬅️⬅️
hd2 strategems engineering bay quasar cannon
Quasar Cannon
Anti-Heavy Weapon
Siege Weapon
480 sec
⬇️⬇️⬆️⬅️➡️

Air Strikes are, usually, the most useful kind of stratagem. Once called in, they will drop their payloads onto their target within a few seconds, and provide the most effective support against all manner of enemy. It should be noted that the Eagle stratagems have a certain number of uses that, once expended, will not be regenerated until Eagle rearms, requiring 150 seconds where no Eagle strikes can be called in.

Icon
Name
Type
Cooldown
Code
hd2 strategems orbital cannons gatling barrage
Orbital Gatling Barrage
Anti-Horde Strike
80 sec
➡️⬇️⬅️⬆️⬆️
hd2 strategems orbital cannons airburst strike
Orbital Airburst Strike
Anti-Horde Strike
120 sec
➡️➡️➡️
hd2 strategems orbital cannons 120mm he barrage
Orbital 120mm HE Barrage
General Strike
Siege Strike
240 sec
➡️➡️⬇️⬅️➡️⬇️
hd2 strategems orbital cannons 380mm he barrage
Orbital 380mm HE Barrage
General Strike
Siege Strike
240 sec
➡️⬇️⬆️⬆️⬅️⬇️⬇️
hd2 strategems orbital cannons walking barrage
Orbital Walking Barrage
General Strike
Siege Strike
240 sec
➡️⬇️➡️⬇️➡️⬇️
hd2 strategems orbital cannons orbital laser
Orbital Laser
Anti-Heavy Strike
Siege Strike
300 sec
➡️⬇️⬆️➡️⬇️
hd2 strategems orbital cannons railcannon strike
Orbital Railcannon Strike
Anti-Heavy Strike
210 sec
➡️⬆️⬇️⬇️➡️
hd2 strategems bridge orbital precision strike
Orbital Precision Strike
Anti-Heavy Strike
Siege Strike
100 sec
➡️➡️⬆️
hd2 strategems bridge orbital gas strike
Orbital Gas Strike
Anti-Horde Strike
75 sec
➡️➡️⬇️➡️
hd2 strategems bridge orbital ems strike
Orbital EMS Strike
Support Strike
75 sec
➡️➡️⬅️⬇️
hd2 strategems bridge orbital smoke strike
Orbital Smoke Strike
Support Strike
100 sec
➡️➡️⬇️⬆️
hd2 strategems hangar eagle strafing run
Eagle Strafing Run
Anti-Horde Strike
8 sec/150 sec
⬆️➡️➡️
hd2 strategems hangar eagle airstrike
Eagle Airstrike
General Strike
Siege Strike
8 sec/150 sec
⬆️➡️⬇️➡️
hd2 strategems hangar eagle cluster bomb
Eagle Cluster Bomb
Anti-Horde Strike
8 sec/150 sec
⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️➡️
hd2 strategems hangar eagle napalm strike
Eagle Napalm Airstrike
General Strike
8 sec/150 sec
⬆️➡️⬇️⬆️
hd2 strategems hangar eagle smoke strike
Eagle Smoke Strike
Support Strike
8 sec/150 sec
⬆️➡️⬆️⬇️
hd2 strategems hangar eagle 110mm rocket pods
Eagle 110mm Rocket Pods
Anti-Heavy Strike
8 sec/150 sec
⬆️➡️⬆️⬅️
hd2 strategems hangar eagle 500kg bomb
Eagle 500kg Bomb
Anti-Heavy Strike
Siege Strike
8 sec/150 sec
⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️

Emplacements and Armor are mostly stationary positions, generally used for point defense. These can be incredibly effective when placed on an objective or during certain defense missions, racking up scores of kills against pressing enemies, though their lack of mobility can be an issue.

The Exosuits are mobile, but their slow movement speed and vulnerability to close range attacks mean that they should be used defensively, primarily, acting in most ways as a manned, mobile platform for their weapons.

Icon
Name
Type
Cooldown
Code
hd2 strategems bridge hmg emplacement
HMG Replacement
General Defense
180 sec
⬇️⬆️⬅️➡️➡️⬅️
hd2 strategems bridge shield generator relay
Shield Generator Relay
Support Defense
90 sec
⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️
hd2 strategems bridge tesla tower
Tesla Tower
General Defense
150 sec
⬇️⬆️➡️⬆️⬅️➡️
hd2 strategems engineering bay anti personal minefield
Anti-Personnel Minefield
General Defense
180 sec
⬇️⬅️⬆️➡️
hd2 strategems engineering bay inceniary mines
Incendiary Mines
General Defense
180 sec
⬇️⬅️⬅️⬇️
hd2 strategems robotics workshop machine gun sentry
Machine Gun Sentry
Anti-Horde Defense
180 sec
⬇️⬆️➡️➡️⬆️
hd2 strategems robotics workshop gatling sentry
Gatling Sentry
Anti-Horde Defense
180 sec
⬇️⬆️➡️⬅️
hd2 strategems robotics workshop mortar sentry
Mortar Sentry
Anti-Heavy Defense
180 sec
⬇️⬆️➡️➡️⬇️
hd2 strategems robotics workshop autocannon sentry
Autocannon Sentry
Anti-Heavy Defense
180 sec
⬇️⬆️➡️⬆️⬅️⬆️
hd2 strategems robotics workshop rocket sentry
Rocket Sentry
Anti-Heavy Defense
180 sec
⬇️⬆️➡️➡️⬅️
hd2 strategems robotics workshop ems mortar sentry
EMS Mortar Sentry
Support Defense
180 sec
⬇️⬆️➡️⬇️➡️
hd2 strategems robotics workshop patriot exosuit
Patriot Exosuit
General Defense
Siege Defense
600 sec
⬅️⬇️➡️⬆️⬅️⬇️⬇️
hd2 strategems robotics workshop emancipator exosuit
Emancipator Exosuit
General Defense
Siege Defense
600 sec
⬅️⬇️➡️⬆️⬅️⬇️⬆️

Backpacks are equipped onto your backpack slot on your Helldiver, and almost universally provide either survivanbility or mobility options. These will generally keep you alive longer, and should be used frequently on missions requiring you to go longer, or on Solo missions where survival is critical.

Icon
Name
Type
Cooldown
Code
hd2 strategems hangar jump pack
Jump Pack
Support Backpack
480 sec
⬇️⬆️⬆️⬇️⬆️
hd2 strategems engineering bay supply pack
Supply Pack
Support Backpack
480 sec
⬇️⬅️⬇️⬆️⬆️⬇️
hd2 strategems engineering bay guard dog rover
“Guard Dog” Rover
Anti-Horde Backpack
480 sec
⬇️⬆️⬅️⬆️➡️➡️
hd2 strategems robotics workshop guard dog
“Guard Dog”
Anti-Horde Backpack
300 sec
⬇️⬅️⬇️⬇️⬆️⬅️
hd2 strategems engineering bay ballistic shield backpack
Ballistic Shield Backpack
Support Backpack
300 sec
⬇️⬆️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️
hd2 strategems engineering bay shield generator pack
Shield Generator Pack
Support Backpack
480 sec
⬇️⬆️⬅️⬆️➡️⬇️

And that is all there is to know generally about Stratagems in Helldivers 2. With this all in mind, you should be able to make the best Stratagem loadouts in the game. Let us know your favorite builds below, and keep an eye out for some of ours to come!

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Graves
Graves

Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he'll try. When he isn't working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.

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