To become the invincible Helldiver you were born to be, you’ll need the most powerful Stratagems available to you. From calling down high explosives from orbit to heavy weapon delivery and a whole lot more, these are the best Stratagems in Helldivers 2, along with their traits, level requirements, and costs in Requestion Points (called R in-game).

Eagle Airstrike

• Traits: Explosive, Eagle
• Unlocked by default

One of the first Stratagems you'll have ready to go, the Eagle Airstrike is like the Swiss army knife of Stratagems. It closes bug holes (sometimes even entire nests), it deals good damage against armored opponents, and it can clear entire waves of non-armored enemies, giving you some much-needed breathing room.

Grenade Launcher

• Traits: Support Weapon, Hellpod, Explosive
• 6,000 R

One of the earliest problems you’ll encounter, at least on the bug side of the conflict, is armored enemies. You don’t begin with a weapon that can break through armor directly, meaning you’ll have to flank them to reach their weak spots, or use grenades or orbital strikes.

The Grenade Launcher is a great way to quickly, easily, and cheaply deal with armored threats like Chargers, quickly clear out larger enemies like Bile Spewers, get rid of whole groups of weaker enemies, and even quickly close large numbers of bug holes to destroy nests. Get this early and use it often.

Recoilless Rifle

• Traits: Support Weapon, Hellpod, Explosive
• Level 5, 6,000 R

The Recoilless Rifle is one of the more powerful single-shot weapons in the game, and it’s available very early, meaning it can be your go-to against large enemies like Chargers, or even massive Bile Titans for a long time. However, you'll need to crouch down to reload it by yourself unless you coordinate with an ally to reload it for you. So you’ll need to be very careful using it during very tense battles without teammates ready to help out. Still, it delivers a ton of bang for your buck early on in the game.

Mortar Sentry

• Traits: Hellpod, Explosive, Sentry
• Level 8, 8,000 R

The Machine Gun Sentry you get at the beginning of the game is great, and it will carry you for much of the early game, but it’s not the best Sentry by a long shot. Available starting at Level 8, call down a Mortar Sentry when it’s time to defend key locations, or when you need extra firepower, and you’ll see what a real Sentry can do.

Firing automatically at targets even relatively far away, it drops small bombs on them, taking out groups of smaller enemies and even turning to chunks some larger ones fairly quickly. The trade-off is you really cannot be anywhere near your enemies unless you want to be collateral damage. Many weaker Helldivers have perished this way, so don’t be like them.

Guard Dog Rover

• Traits: Hellpod, Backpack
• Level 10, 7,500 R

This Stratagem can be purchased from the Engineering Bay section, the Guard Dog Rover is an autonomous attack drone that uses a laser rifle. It can attack in any direction and gives you an extra set of eyes, even when you are caught alone by the enemies of freedom.

It reloads and recharges by returning to your backpack before taking to the skies again. In true Helldivers fashion, it can attack and even kill your allies or yourself, so keep moving and be aware of teammate locations to make the most of it.

Orbital Laser

• Traits: Orbital
• Level 15

The Orbital Laser is like a beautiful cameo from a series about a certain group of Locust-hunting heroes. Paint the ground you want scourged of enemy presence and then stand back as the powerful laser tracks down any threat in the area. It lasts for a while and hits hard, making it great for prolonged fights in a single area.

Eagle 500KG Bomb

• Traits: Explosive, Eagle
• Level 15

When it absolutely, positively has to die, you might as well hit it with the biggest bomb you’ve got, and the Eagle 500KG Bomb is precisely that. It deals an absolutely ridiculous amount of damage, but be careful about when you deploy it, because not only does it have a large damage zone, but certain types of landscape can mean it doesn’t hit nearly as hard. Whether it was a bug (haha) or working as intended, I once called one down on a Charger in a space between two cliffs and it walked away nearly unscathed. Be cautious, Helldivers.

Railgun

• Traits: Support Weapon, Hellpod
• Level 20

The Railgun is probably the single most powerful weapon in Helldivers 2. You must be Level 20 to unlock it, but it is a heavy weapon whose only weakness is that it must be charged for a few seconds before firing. It deals an absurd amount of damage, you do not need help to reload it, and it will kill basically anything you point it at. Just make sure you are pointing it in the right direction… and don’t hold the charge too long.

Shield Generator Pack

• Traits: Hellpod, Backpack
• Level 20

Helldivers 2 is difficult. There are no two ways about it. The Shield Generator Pack blocks incoming fire for a few moments to give you some breathing room, and believe me, you are going to need it once you begin going on higher-difficulty missions. Do yourself a favor and take a pack.