Helldivers is a series known for its difficulty and Arrowhead Game Studios have upped the ante with Helldivers 2, offering nine different difficulty levels that get progressively harder. While your first few missions will be a breeze, by the time you get to the fourth Helldivers 2 difficulty mode, you will need to put a lot more thought into your build, upgrades, and weapons to be able to tackle any threat.
Below, you can find an overview of each difficulty, the samples available within missions on these difficulty levels, and some tips to give you an idea of what to expect as you move up.
Helldivers 2 Difficulty Modes¶
There are nine difficulty modes in Helldivers 2:
| Difficulty | Modifers | Samples available |
|---|---|---|
| Trivial | Primary Objectives, Enemy Patrols | Common Samples |
| Easy | Allied Tactical Objectives, Light Outposts | Common Samples |
| Medium | Secondary Objectives, Medium Outposts, Heavily Armored Enemies | Common Samples |
| Challenging | Enemy Tactical Objectives, Heavy Outposts, Heavily Armored Enemies | Common Samples, Rare Samples |
| Hard | Operation Modifiers, Massive Enemies, Heavily Armored Enemies | Common Samples, Rare Samples |
| Extreme | Tactical Objectives Increase, Massive Enemies, Heavily Armored Enemies | Common Samples, Rare Samples |
| Suicide Mission | Tactical Objectives Increase, Massive Enemies, Heavily Armored Enemies | Common Samples, Rare Samples, Super Rare Samples |
| Impossible | Increased Enemy Presence, Multiple Operation Modifiers, Heavily Armored Enemies | Common Samples, Rare Samples, Super Rare Samples |
| Helldive | Increased Enemy Presence, Multiple Operation Modifiers, Heavily Armored Enemies | Common Samples, Rare Samples, Super Rare Samples |
(1 of 2) The easier difficulties allow you to get your feet wet, but you will be missing out on the best rewards.
The easier difficulties allow you to get your feet wet, but you will be missing out on the best rewards. (left), Before you know it, you can advance onto the higher difficulty modes. But, the missions become incredibly tough. (right)
As mentioned in our Helldivers 2 solo play guide, you can complete missions up to Medium or even challenging solo, but beyond that, it is incredibly hard (and virtually impossible) to play the game alone. Thankfully you can matchmake in Helldivers 2 if you don’t have any buddies to play with.
Additionally, at these higher difficulties, you will need to forgo completing some objectives and side activities as enemies spawn in larger numbers, there are more patrols, and the longer you stay in missions the more enemies will spawn. Really, this starts becoming something you need to worry about from Challenging and up. You can still complete a few side objectives, but your missions are no longer about completing as much as possible. You should get in, grab your samples, complete the main objective, and get out as fast as you can.
Beyond the Challenging difficulty, you will also start seeing large bosses roaming around the map freely and groups of heavily armored enemies that can easily overwhelm you.
Finally, if you are taking on the Automatons, keep in mind that they are far more difficult to fight than the Terminids. With their increased armor and ranged capabilities, you will need to be even more careful when fighting and tackling them on higher difficulty modes.
At lower difficulties, the robots are still hard, but you can make it out alive if you play carefully.
How to change difficulty in Helldivers 2?¶
You can change the difficulty in Helldivers 2 whenever you are at the Galactic War Table. However, if you are in the middle of an operation (two or more connected missions) you cannot change the difficulty. You will need to leave that operation and return to the main Galactic War map that allows you to look around a planet. From there you can lower or increase the difficulty depending on if you want a more extreme challenge or an easier time saving democracy.
The Galactic War Map can be seen.
Now you have a good idea of how Helldivers 2’s difficulty modes work, you can begin grinding and taking on tougher enemies, upgrading your stratagems, and unlocking weapons. For a full guide on how to get all the Stratagems in Helldivers 2 and how to unlock all weapons in Helldivers 2, check out our pages.
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