Ranking the BEST and WORST Premium Warbonds in Helldivers 2

[@Akantorz]

Chemical agents warbond would be better if the gas weapons/stratagems applied the corrosion effect reducing enemies armor value by 1. Similar to the acid rain weather effect.

[@Marsdend1]

This is such a good idea holy-

[@evanlassman1254]

Would help with bolstering its current supportive role as well currently

[@iamkablam8096]

The Dogs Breath Guard Dog should spray one enemy, then move on to another instead of focusing on one enemy until it’s dead. That would make it WAY more useful.

[@morganbrown392]

Damn you been thinking, thinking.

[@davidking2011]

Chemical Agents needs either to have more gas clouds or the corrosive effect. Brief confusion with minimal damage and no lingering clouds is so underwhelming. Imagine if the Dog Breath could create Gas Grenade sized clouds or the Sterilizer could build up to Gas Strike with enough use. Chemical Agents would be 100x more popular. Not the best, but damn fun. I think the worst part of Chemical Agents is it's just so meh. It's weak *and* boring. Also the passive is the worst passive in the game. All armors should have two bonuses, especially if one is niche. One general, one niche.

[@PirateCommando]

Not afraid to admit that Chemical Agents was the first warbond I bought and the reason I jumped into Helldivers. I thought it would have been cool to get the stim pistol and try and be a healer/ field medic sort of player. Of course the stim pistol wasn’t the best on release so I got the Viper Commandos solely for the booster. Now I’ve got 100+ hours into the game and I’m level 50! I can say there was definitely a mismanagement of funds in the early game but no regrets!

[@DrPooplove]

If you had fun with it I wouldn't call it mismanaged!

[@DuraheLL]

How to make gas OP is wearing the gas armor then bring gas nades and gas orbital, and you can just gas large areas and run throgh it freely and be all good

[@dylansmith6078]

I love playing as field medic it is so fun and more challenging

[@therealsushi423]

Chemical agents has a funny yellow suit and the (now buffed) stim pistol so it’s still valid. also welcome to the front helldiver!

[@AzureIV]

Best part about the Stim Pistol is that the Stims that you shoot at others get the effects of the Medic Armor Perk (if the user of the Stim Pistol, not the target, has it equipped) and the Experimental Infusion Booster, providing an extra 2 seconds of Stim and the increased movement and damage reduction to each shot of the Stim Pistol. It is amazing to have on the Medic Armor and run the Experimental Infusion Booster while shooting people with the Stim Pistol. They go "what the heck, this is so cool!"

[@raynefall3078]

“We love Dr. Pooplove” They say in unison

[@colobolo7532]

"I made my entire family subscribe to show our patriotism and love of democracy!" - John Diver

[@DrChaotix21]

@@colobolo7532 John HELLdiver.

[@Dessert_F0X]

Let's all love Dr.Pooplove

[@ManuR-l4m]

Democratic Detonation is indeed the one that deserves to be the only S tier. It just features the most useful stuff and it allows for the most build diversity as you can now choose a weapon for bug hole/bot fabricator removal on every slot you want. And Thermite nades give so much relief on your build as you re not forced to take anti heavy somewhere else anymore.

[@dylansmith6078]

I would argue polar patriots since it does have the 2 best primaries in the game right now. Tenderizer is just op in bots with no recoil 95 damage per bullet which is highest damage assult rifle. Plus it has all types of armor with different passives for build diversity. And the verdict is the best all rounder side arm i know there are senator lovers but verdict deals with every enemy in the game fairly well (even hulks) and it has a way faster reload and more ammo than senator. Also has a great booster for snow and jungle planets. As for the plas-101 after it's changes it is now the S tier gun in the game useable in both bugs and bots able to have 2 modes which is basically scorcher with higher rate of fire or charged shots that do massive aoe. Plas 101 is so op it 2 shots gunships

[@ShadeScarecrow]

Well, the cutting edge anti arc armor passive just got a whole lot better with the introduction of the squids. Anyways, thank you for making this video. I´m missing quite a few warbonds and I just farmed me some Supercreds but couldn´t decide which warbond to go for.

[@ey1615]

Barely. The tesla towers are the only thing the armor protects against. It doesn’t protect against the attacks of the voteless, the squids or the beam of the harvester

[@tubeya7912]

@ey1615 the harvester has an arc attack when getting close to it. perhaps he was talking about that

[@Lockerus]

Freedom’s Flame might compete with Polar Patriots for the worst warbond on release because of how Arrowhead nerfed fire in the Escalation of Freedom update that came out the same week.

[@davidsiepel6774]

yeah, if they had not pulled their heads out of their asses, the game would have had maybe 1-2 more months of life in it, people were sick of their nerfing bullshit

[@DakkaDakka12]

Freedom's flame was such a braindead move, a lot of people were looking forward to it because they had expectations based on how the fire grenade and flamethrower worked, and then arrowhead decided to nerf fire right before releasing a warbond based on fire, no foresight on their part.

[@somedudewithakeyboard5388]

@@davidsiepel6774 Would have had? Game is hitting 50K players daily

[@Stormyy6310]

@@somedudewithakeyboard5388 dude, the game is hitting 50K daily *because* they listened to the players

[@Dionysus-207]

@@somedudewithakeyboard5388re-read what he said, you misunderstood his comment

[@jaysonburke6839]

I made the same recommendations to my friend. Thermite, Grenade Pistol, Crossbow, Stun Grenade, Arc Blitzer, Incendiary Breaker, and Senator are all S tier and game changing equipment that give you far more loadout freedom with your top three Warbonds. With an honorable mention to the Purifier in Polar Patriots if you love fighting bots.

[@Stormyy6310]

I'll add that experimental infusion is a must have and completely changes your life

[@leonardovelasco5625]

I'm hoping we get a Medic/Engineer Warbond, where we can have a stim rifle, or a Repair ray that repairs turrets, and mech suits

[@DECONBOMB]

Meet the medic

[@egornick9206]

Yes yes yes yes yes I kinda miss my healing drone from hd1

[@sirzirconium9231]

mech resupply stratagem would be godly

[@KriegerChristi]

I remember the gun from the first game that healed your team in a chain reaction, which was great. It really was awesome because it could heal your mechs, we all loved it when someone used it in battle.

[@elitoby7734]

How good would a rover be with a shotgun blast, Call down extra ammo for exosuits & the style could be like the steeled veterans, with robot limbs that could be used for a secondary weapon emitting a laser

[@dreamlinervirus]

21:46 hey, experienced helldiver here. I agree that the decreased reinforcement time is SUPER niche. But I spend a lot of time in quick play, and it’s useful for saving a squad that’s low on reinforcements/completely out. Similarly, the steeled veterans armor passive is (in my opinion) actually really good. The limb health I agree is nigh useless, but that extra throw distance allows me to throw a 380 barrage on top of a fortress from a safe distance pretty reliably. The passivealso lets me throw support weapons, backpacks, and resupplies far enough in front of me that I don’t have to wait for call in- they drop down right as I approach them, which is super useful when you’re running away from enemies. Lastly, it also increases throw distance on nades. Being able to chuck thermite onto a tank 50 m away is seriously underrated, allowing me to consistently run super helldives. I honestly use this passive even more than the scout passive, and i recommend giving it a try before writing it off!!!

[@eco999]

Gotta say its hard to go back to the regular throwing distance once you get used to that armor perk.

[@KB-fk3jj]

Exactly, the Legionnaire outfit from super store goes hard too

[@dreamlinervirus]

@@eco999 right??? Something I recommend for team play is running that perk with all orbitals or air strikes and letting your team fill in the rest. It saves them stratagem slots + maximizes your team utility

[@Aegxs]

A good use case for the gas armor is to use gas like smoke, but you encase the enemies instead. For example dropping into a bot planet on top of or nearby a stratagem jammer, you can drop a couple of gas grenades along your path to buy you time to disable it and arm up.

[@MisterZimbabwe]

Eh, not really a good strategy though. Enemies will still attack randomly and can hit you in the gas, and the gas does not apply any sort of cover for enemies outside the gas cloud so you still get shot anyway also while losing health from being in the gas cloud.

[@kenethernandez6246]

The best part of the gas warbond is the grenade and it's not close. The gas nade is very underrated but it's the equivalent of multiple orbital gass strikes and is simply a better stun grenade against the bugs due to the damage and confusion it does. You can easily shut down entire bug breaches with the gas grenade. Horrible warbond but this item is very worth it and is way better then the stim pistol.

[@Degarth]

💯 the gas grenades can stop a whole horde from swarming you. Many times, I have been stuck needing to reload only to see a swarm coming at me. Gas Grenades buy a lot of time. Works just as well on bots to suppress incoming fire.

[@KB-fk3jj]

I saw it in use on a super helldive against the bots, and it made a pretty good compliance weapon. Sometimes it even causes Hulks to turn around, big plus!

[@sitfish1113]

The gas grenade is wonderful for those defense missions where you have to protect the rockets. If you're getting overwhelmed you can throw a few by the gates and nothing will get in for a few seconds. Sometimes that's enough to recover a game

[@Canesbread]

A good tip when using dead sprint in the truth enforcers warbond is to use the vitality booster along with it, you can go from running to like 20 seconds to like a full on minute

[@HallowedPurple]

*2 minutes

[@Karatarari]

Kind of a shame Experimental Infusion is attached to that Warbond since in your opinion it's not that grand, but it's truly a heavyweight in the boosters.

[@dripwastaken7884]

Imo the second most important booster after Vitality

[@hoau3472]

​@@dripwastaken7884hellpod opt is better imo, than experimental.

[@dripwastaken7884]

@@hoau3472 only if you die a lot i prefer to not even take hellpod optimisation because Muscle enhancement is just objectively better. Starting with full ammo is worthless because you can just instantly call in suppies

[@kenethernandez6246]

​@@hoau3472No

[@hitandruncommentor]

Full amma, infusions, extra budget, stamina boost, health boost. The rest of the boosters are just not good enough to replace them.

[@Daimondcraftz]

PSA for fighting scout striders: Aim for the crotch! Compared to the legs their waist (the part between the legs) has the same armor value, a larger hitbox, doesn't move as much, and actually has less health! This applies to both the standard and armored variants.

[@Extra_Onions]

This is pretty reassuring for a returning player after a long break. It seems i have 3/4 highest rated bonds on me already so i can just pick the artic one and then slowly progress the others

[@macandcheeseofficial]

Polar patriots armor should definitely have a unique passive for snowy weather. Like in a blizzard you’re harder to detect & you don’t slide on ice (because of the grippy shoes).

[@Drekromancer]

I'd love to see a visibility boost tbh. That'd be a great thing to put on the helmets to make them actually do something.

[@conormartin8894]

This video was super helpful in deciding which weapons were worthwhile. Thank you!

[@DrPooplove]

@@conormartin8894 glad it helped!

[@megapeebs2631]

The thing with regular incendiary grenades is that you can COOK them making them indefinitely better in my opinion also the short time before they explode makes them easier to get into bug holes

[@KennyMinigun]

The "Peak Physique" perk with the Autocannon makes a pretty solid combo on bug front. And since Autocannon is a stratagem that everyone can access, this might increase the value of the Viper Commandos.

[@roble8943]

I love the gas changes but yeah, Dog Breath and Steralizer needs a buff as what makes Gas so good is the lingering cloud and being able to use it at a distance which both do neither. The Warbonds saving grace is that Gas Grenades which are an A tier throwable that does make the most out of gas. I also think gas should have the Acid Rain/Corrosion effect of reducing armor to make it a better support weapon for heavies since they are substantially less effective against them.

[@Kaiser282]

Especially with the damage nerf they did, there should be lingering clouds. If they refuse to add clouds, then it needs a buff or secondary ammo type. Plus they need to add an eagle gas strike.

[@kenethernandez6246]

Agreed. Gas grenades are top 2 in the game with termites for me.

[@manguyboymale5716]

I quite like the gas drone with a flamethrower build. Allows me to confuse jumping hunters which stops them from catching me on fire in the first place allowing me to use an armor set with a different passive

[@patigelstarberry4302]

Make the dog breath actually switch targets and the armor passive be 100% immunity to gas, and we got a fairly fun and niche play style.

[@Green_Sentinel_3]

​@@patigelstarberry4302 Nah; the damage reduction is fine as is but the dog breath changes would be great.

[@Levyathyn]

A few things; I mostly agree with the list, but there are some outliers I wanted to talk about that stand out even among the worse on the list. Gas Grenade: While a bit understated, this is an *incredible* grenade for many types of builds. It's an amazing disengage tool, it helps with defense and offense, it's good for stealth and assault, it's good for bugs and bots, and it has a lot of upsides. It can be used to immediately destroy the moment of anything short of an Impaler or a Titan, it can curb an incoming breach or dropship, and it can function as a smoke grenade as well, stopping enemies from chasing, shooting, charging, or spotting you and your allies. I won't say it saves the Chemical Agents, Warbond, but it's very underrated, and has become something of a go-to for me even with the drastically improved damage on the timed grenades that I've been loving. The Dagger pistol: While basically a baby brother to the Scythe, it's notable for me in that it enables a much slower, heavier primary like the crossbow or the Eruptor (or anything that similarly explodes, as well) and still gives you a potent sidearm for ranged engaged, at the longest range on a sidearm that we have so far, and gives you a surplus of ammo for clearing grunts and basic enemies without wasting precious ammo. It's capable of dropping devastators, popping heads, lighting targets on fire at a distance, and while I won't say it's amazing, I love playing around with different builds and it's a versatile choice that opens up other slots for you to take for your equipment and stratagems--a running theme in weapons and items I enjoy from all of the Warbonds. The Halt: Maybe the best weapon they've ever added; overall, not the king by any means, but I absolutely love that it's versatile, for the reasons stated above. It's very good for support builds, but it also isn't 100% stun (like the Stim Pistol is, as a 100% heal weapon) meaning you can still defend yourself. It also enables you to work with gas strikes, rocket turrets, SEAF artillery, thermite grenades, and more, by enabling all of those things better working conditions in many, many situations. A really good support weapon, overall, and a crowning capstone for a lot of playstyles. Firebomb Hellpods: Now, a bit different here, but I will say one thing I absolutely LOVE about this Booster is that it opens up an actual different playstyle. One person bringing this can change how the entire team plays, and it can lead to more accidentals, or more... 'accidentals', and it can be a lot of fun for casual play and friends just playing around. But make no mistake; it allows all of you to focus on supply stratagems and bring more of them, and to tactically drop resupplies and support weapons among enemies, essentially giving you all entire extra explosive effects for free. It's not game changing, but in a way it kinda is... and I think it's great. What I love most about it is that it gives me hope for more future Boosters that change the entire playstyle of a run, and open up new strategic options.

[@Sothas]

I've taken firebomb hellpods and the EAT specifically just to have a quick fire hellpod drop for area clearing. It works surprisingly well.

[@Drekromancer]

That's actually genius

[@vxni_U1]

10:00 There are two lines of thought with the Firebomb Hellpods booster 1. You embrace the Chaos the booster brings and believe it fits perfectly with the warbonds style (fun & chaotic), so you don't want it to be changed or 2. You wish for the booster to be changed for balancing as the fire damage has killed you more times than you can remember - Personally, if it where to be buff just increase the AOE damage upon impact and remove the effect from resupply and support stratagems

[@AzureIV]

If I don't mention something on this list, it is because it isn't that impressive in my opinion in comparison to the rest of the stuff in the warbond. Steel Veterans: * Senator's heavy armor penetration buff makes it an amazing sidearm that can handle anything. Best use against Bot Hulks, Armored Striders, and Gunships. * Breaker Incendiary is still excellent against Bugs, but you might need to bring a Supply Pack for dealing with how ammo starved this gun got with the ammo clip nerf. * Jar-5 Dominator was my most favorite weapon for both Bots and Bugs for a long time. It is a very solid overall weapon. Cutting Edge: * Sickle is a very solid light penetration assault rifle that works better against Bots in my opinion just due to the fact that you can still headshot devastators with it. It is still okay against light chaff Bugs. * Las-7 Dagger is like the Sickle and is best used against the Bots and can headshot devastators really easily. The fire burn buff they gave to laser weapons makes it also great against light chaff Bugs and is amazing against Shriekers. Against Bots, you can sweep this gun across Jetpack Brigade members to detonate them in seconds. * The G-23 Stun Grenade used to be one of the premiere crowd-control grenades, but with the buffs to gas, now the G-4 Gas Grenade from Chemical Agents is now the premiere crowd-control grenade. Stuns are still very strong. *SG-8P Punisher Plasma for Bots and the Arc-12 Blitzer for Bugs are premiere crowd-control primaries that do enough damage and stagger to make them some of the best weapons in the game. Democratic Detonation: When this warbond came out, only the Eruptor was any good. Now, everything in the warbond is pretty decent if not amazing. Most people rate this warbond as one of the highest in the game at the moment. * G-123 Thermite Grenade started out as one of the weakest Grenade options in the game. But once it got its massive buff, it brought it up from basically unusable to the top grenade alongside the G-23 Stun/G-4 Gas Grenades. * R-36 Eruptor actually got nerfed (it used to have the shrapnel of the Orbital Airburst Strike stratagem - yeah, that happened - and now it has the shrapnel of the G-6 Frag Grenade), but it is still incredibly strong weapon that can also close Bug Holes and destroy Bot Fabricators (by shooting in the vents), giving it a lot of utility. * GP-31 Grenade Pistol is an amazing secondary that is tied with the Senator on how good it is. With the buff it basically fires the G-16 Impact Grenade and is also capable of closing Bug Holes and destroy Bot Fabricators. * CB-9 Exploding Crossbow is a primary that is basically the R-36 Eruptor or GP-31 Grenade Pistol, but multiple shots and was buffed to become one-handed. It is amazing against both the Bots and Bugs and is considered by many to be the strongest Primary in the game at the moment. Polar Patriots: I would argue that everything in the Polar Patriots is mid-tier compared to the three previous warbond entries on this list. With the buff to the P113-Verdict from light armor penetration to medium, it became okay, but I'd rather carry the Senator or GP-31 Grenade Pistol for my secondary. The only standout, after it got buffed, is the Plas-101 Purifier. It is now comparable to the various other S-Tier Bot weapons. Also, if I am rocking a fire build against Bugs, I might bring the G-13 Incendiary Impact Grenade from this warbond, but otherwise you are buying the warbond entirely for the Plas-101 Purifier. Viper Commandos: Like Polar Patriots, everything is pretty meh except the following: * Peak Physique Armor Passive is a very solid armor passive, and the look is immaculate. Though I tend to use Engineering Kit or Fortified and crouch to get a similar effect. * SG-22 Bushwhacker is a pretty solid staggering pocket-shotgun. It is a great "get out of jail free card". * Experimental Infusion Booster, like Polar Patriots, this is basically the real standout and the reason to buy this warbond. Bonus points: it stacks with Med-Kit Armor Passive. Freedom's Flame: Everything in this warbond is great against the Bugs. * SG-451 Cookout is a better SG-8 Punisher Shotgun. It trades some direct damage for fire burn Damage-Over-Time (DOT). It is by far one of the best Primaries against the Bugs right now alongside the Arc-12 Blitzer, and its stagger force is better than the Blitzer. * Inflammable Armor Passive is for when you bring a bunch of fire against the Bugs and you want to make sure you don't cook yourself. It is also one of the few Armor Passives that is good against an entire planet environment: the fire tornados. * Flam-66 Torcher and P-72 Crisper are slightly less damaging versions of the Flamethrower Stratagem AND they can kill Chargers from the front (aim for the spot between the head and the joints of the front legs). No stagger strength worth mentioning, so sweep the ground in front of you as you back up. Chemical Agents: * Advanced Filtration Armor Passive is great if you use the G-4 Gas Grenade AND the Orbital Gas Strike (both amazing crowd-control after the buff, these two have replaced the Stun Grenades in many Helldiver loadouts). You can basically walk into any gas and slaughter your enemy while they are helpless or are randomly attacking their allies. * G-4 Gas Grenade after the buff that gave them the confusion effect made them the premiere crowd-control grenade. I cannot overstate how strong this grenade is, and feels like a mandatory pick if you are not taking the Thermite. * P-11 Stim Pistol after the buff that made it capable of hitting a target AND if you are wearing Med-Kit Armor Passive AND someone brought the Experimental Infusion Booster, this is a premiere support weapon. If you have both armor and booster, shooting your allies the instant before battle will increase their survivability by a ton. It also helps if you have heavy armor wearing teammates, allowing them to keep up with the light armor wearing teammates. Truth Enforcers: The Unflinching Armor Passive will be great when they eventually give us a Heavy Armor version of this Armor. Until then, you are too squishy even with the Medium Armor for this passive to be useful. The Plas-15 Loyalist Pistol is okay, but the Senator is better. * SG-20 Halt is a great supporting weapon and also a great weapon for Stealth Divers. It's stun effect is amazing and is almost as good, if not better, than the Stun Grenade (man, the Stun Grenade went from one of the best grenades in the game to being like the third best crowd-control behind the G-4 Gas Grenade and SG-20 Halt primary). I recommend binding both the "Open Weapon Wheel" and "Weapon Wheel Right Side" to the same "Press [insert button]" for quick change between the two ammo types. * Dead Sprint - If you have Vitality Booster as well, then this Booster is amazing and will let you basically run across the map without stop. If someone is also P-11 Stim Pistoling you alongside that, your team can basically cover the map in half the time it normally takes. Amazing Booster if paired with Vitality Booster on a big map where sustained speed is king (also during Blitz missions). * SMG-32 Reprimand - I hope this gets buffed in the future to be one-handed, similarly on how they buffed the Exploding Crossbow from two-handed to one-handed. It is one of the strongest damaging assault rifles with medium penetration, though it has a huge amount of recoil and spread that makes it only really viable close up. Great against both Bots and Bugs.

[@ANKHZONE]

waiting for the addition with the new warbond)

[@hillbillyboyDakota]

I'd love to see a medic/support focused warbond. I love playing support in games.

[@nathanwilliams3877]

I just built a pc and got the game, wouldn't wait to dive in! ...then I broke my thumb. Super useful guide, can't wait to use it lol

[@Colonel-Sigma]

That's rough Diver, you'll probably join us after the DSS is operational though so that's a bonus.

[@Samuel-j9q2b]

The inflammable passive is great when fighting the jet brigade, since their jetpacks always explode in your face and set you on fire

[@Dzifii]

20:10 as a Chaosdiver, we do not accept this slander lightly. We are not agent of chaos, who would bring demise among the Helldivers, rather we will continue to support our fellow brothers and the citizens of Super Earth in any way possible.

[@bigalfakaalfyausten8543]

ew chaosdiver

[@dwarfdigger135]

chuddivers

[@SilverDwarven]

​@@bigalfakaalfyausten8543exactly

[@masonolsen4256]

@@bigalfakaalfyausten8543nah fr, it’s cringe

[@xanmontes8715]

We are shaking in our Super Earth issued combat boots!

[@elixer88]

I recently started playing again, and upon looking at what's in what, I also opted for what you put in S. So many great options in there to change up my options while also just being damn good. I'm glad I appeared to make the right choice.

[@aaronwald9417]

Nice list Dr. Pooplove. I've got about 90 hours on HD2 now and I went for the Democratic Detonation one first, currently working on Freedoms Flame and this list has help me decide what I will open for my third.

[@Aurora-mq8ph]

I will mention: The incendiary grenade has better burn time and damage than the impact incendiary if I remember correctly. Also, I think it mightve been patched out, im unsure, but localization confusion used to/might still absolutely break any mission with "force spawns" (Eradicate swarm, evac high value assets, even spread democracy) by massively increaseing the time between spawn waves, letting you easily wipe out the last wave before the next arrived.

[@brennan9194]

I think the Unflinching perk from the Truth Enforcers works really well when going through Illuminate Hordes. It bumps it up on the list in my opinion

[@davidsiepel6774]

Dont think i can argue with you at all on this list, 100% agree...at least for now, till they try to touch the nerf bat again

[@vxni_U1]

Democratic Detonation is an incredible example of how to drastically change a warbonds status. It launched being pretty mid and then after some buffs turned into the best warbond. Four great guns, good armour sets and an incredible grenade. In regards to the other warbonds that didn't rank so high I hope the Devs look at Democratic Detonation and try to buff the content in the other warbonds the same way. It doesn't have to become S teir but aimming for a B would be a good start

[@colobolo7532]

The chemical war bond is by no means good, but I think it deserves a minimum C just because it adds a completely different way of playing that appeals to a more team oriented crowd control plus healing play style.

[@jteale4951]

My feeling too. It was my first warbond and I literally don't give a fuck, it's been the most fun. Sure some stuff is niche, but as a support roll it's great. People shit on it because it's not very damaging, and that's fine, but that's not the point. C tier for sure, but poop tier is *way* too harsh.

[@kaisermaximal8123]

Gas would be so much better if it stuck around for longer, creating this wall of toxic fumes that enemies are forced to walk through

[@SuperGoose42]

The liberator carbine is fantastic against bugs when paired with the Autocannon and verdict/senator. Equip the peak physique armor's better handling makes the Autocannon a monster with how fast you can aim and spam explosives. That armor also helps the dominator out a LOT

[@Stormyy6310]

dominator is still trash though

[@LogainTheHumane]

OP bot loadout. Ballistic shield, Quasar, Crossbow, Verdict, thermite grenade, light armor with explosion resistance, eagle airstrike, 500kg. Try it. Play style tip, face tank with shield and don’t be afraid to use the verdict as a primary against light targets. Gives you amazing combined ammo efficiency

[@jekkin8972]

Where do I get explosive resistance light armor?

[@LogainTheHumane]

@ FS-38 Eradicator, from the super store. But you can make do with any light armor. The explosion resistance just helps a lot since it’s usually the only damage type that’ll hurt you through the ballistics shield

[@AzureIV]

Why the Verdict over the Senator?

[@LogainTheHumane]

@@AzureIV Well I used to only use the senator. But I found when using your secondary as a primary for ammo efficiency, the verdict gives you more ammo, higher rate of fire, a faster reload, and with the recoil it has faster follow up shots. And it still one shots almost all light armored enemies. Given that you'd be using the crossbow for the medium and heavy enemies, your secondary only has to clean up the light enemies. Making the verdict far more efficient for this role.

[@AzureIV]

@@LogainTheHumane That is fair.

[@Stedman75]

I just started playing with the release of the illuminate and as soon as i saw the viper commando drip i started it on level 1 lol

[@JeancarlosRPerez]

These Warbonds can vary to anyone dependin on what playstyle you like the most. i think thats always an important note. The Democratic Detonation warbond is one of my favorite since it opens so many other options to bring to your arsenal

[@Itz_Gecko]

Love your ranking, very reasonable and down to earth. keep up the good work ^^

[@andrewsnyder9241]

This is great! I just now have a current gen console and am able to play helldivers 2. It’s awesome to find good current content for the game :)

[@Moodyman90]

As I been saying in the Reddit when people go "Which War Bond should I get?" Chemical Agents is always at the bottom of the recommendation despite personally loving it, with the only worthwhile item for regular gameplay is the gas grenade since it's a pocket Orbital Gas Strike. The Stim pistol is great if you want to play medic but the rest needs some work if you're not a fan of being a support player. Sterlizer really does need either a damage boost, the ability to leave a lingering gas cloud, or maybe an increase effect duration due to it being more concentrated. This list is pretty much what my thoughts are. When making suggestions I do put Freedom's Flame a bit higher up with the cavate of "if you like the flamethrower, you'll love this."

[@tomasmolnar5889]

What about the new Urban Legends one where would you put it on your list ??

[@bmouch1018]

Not disagreeing with the ranking, but the Bushwacker is my go-to side arm for bugs (unless I'm already running a shotgun) if stalkers are about, the triple shot mode is usually enough to make them buzz off before they pounce, sometimes even one shotting them. Also the single shot is pretty good at handling Shriekers

[@Brownkid422]

Traded the bushwacker for the verdict recently and no regrets (except shriekers)

[@Edweeniest]

Triple shot kills both commanders in 1 headshot i think, for stalkers its a 1 shot headshot too btw

[@hitandruncommentor]

Loyalist is basically a mini primary, i recommended giving ot a try. Two/three shot spewers and stalkers, two shot beserkers and striders.

[@bmouch1018]

@hitandruncommentor I've seen it's pretty good, but I'd rather just have the Purifier if that's what I'm going for

[@mrrgb4954]

I mostly agree with this list, except I would put steeled vets in s. The senator on the bot front is like the grenade pistol on the bug front as it is basically a must-have. That said, the jar-5 really does need peak physique armor to make it s tier, so that may keep steeled vets in A overall.

[@kashjw8390]

Localized confusion should make bot drop ships and bug breaches take longer to start or something similar

[@BETRvids]

With the release of the illuminates, i would personally bump Cutting Edge up to S tier. With the tesla weapons used by the squids, coupled with the usefulness of the blitzer against voteless hordes, and the fact that the plasma punisher can stagger walkers... it has a lot going for it now.

[@AnInsaneOstrich]

Let's also point out that using each warbond in conjunction with another can elevate any single item. The Eruptor from Democratic Detonation is heavy so you can't whip it around like it's made of styrofoam, but pair it with the armour from the Viper Commandos and that weakness is lessened, then you pair it with the Verdict from Polar Patriots and you have an answer to most things that get too close as it has good damage, a decent magazine and medium pen.

[@ketchupboi8934]

pooplove can u rank the new warbond thats out? urban legends? i just got it and im wondering which weapons and stratagems i should use more

[@DrPooplove]

@@ketchupboi8934 im planning to rank a bunch of stuff now that the updates are here!

[@lostrobot3666]

3:40 once on a terminid planet, we were done with the mission and ready to extract but we became overwhelmed with bugs and extraction was covered in bugs. I quickly gas striked it and called in extraction with not a single bug hitting me. This ultimately gave us the win.

[@JoiH_Squigs]

I remember watching your primary weapons tier list and thinking about the Cookout on bots and remembering the many times I staggered a constant stream of berserkers

[@LinksRoyal]

cross bow as mai and a pistol sidearm is handy for taking out the mini bugs. save the bolt for the more important ones and bug holes.

[@soon3794]

the arc armour may now work for the iluminates

[@Curdledgorilla]

I gotta defend the gas grenade a bit. It works exactly like a mini gas strike, smaller area/duration, but same effects. Place one or two between you and a bug breach, and it'll take out pretty much all the small/mediums for the duration. The stim pistol is also pretty neat, experimental infusion and medic armor apply to the darts, but the velocity/spread still makes landing it difficult.

[@Arctic96]

I never use any grenade other than gass. It is amazing for locking down an area, escape or covering your flank. Throw a gass nade on a bug breach, quickly kill 20+ trash bugs and cause warriors, commanders and such to attack each other. Also if i use any kind of heavy weapon i have to use viper armor. The difference is night and day with almost no drag on weapon reticle. No warbond deserves to be lower than B. Yes i truly mean that despite the fact that 99% of chemical agents is dog breath (pun intended)

[@nevercroft6711]

Chemical Agents gets slept on pretty hard. It's the support warbond - you aren't doing the damage, but you're controlling the battlefield and providing stims at range. My only real complaint with it is that the chemthrower should have had either more of a corrosive effect or more of a pronounced confusion effect.

[@Sothas]

YES! Exactly. Us support players love the chem agents warbond. I use the sterilizer a lot, and I agree that it needs a buff, but it is absolutely functional as is.

[@aaronwhite1786]

Oh man, I love the Sickle against bugs, though I think it works better against the bots because of how accurate it is. It's surprisingly easy to just pinpoint on robot faces and drop some of the bigger bots. I just love the thing in general, and it's hard for me to switch away from it after getting used to running with it. Same with the increased throwing distance suits. Switching from those just ends up being a disaster as I inevitably forget and throw something like a 380 way short.

[@pyroplays599]

20:11 troll diver* Chaos divers do NOT teamkill, we arent that scummy, we are just roleplayers who were fed up with the nerfs a little while back

[@jpjfrey5673]

Damn straight The worst we do is not do major orders or don't play at all

[@elitoby7734]

An Engineer war bond would be incredible. Since the Automatons are always upgrading their troops, we should do the same. Heavier Armour set at 200-250 Robot limbs we can use as laser or charge up blasters for secondaries Call down extra ammo for exosuits A booster allowing the use to wear 2 backpacks at the same time? A repair tool for sentries. The bots are getting closer & closer, if Super earth high command wants us to win, GIVE US THE TOOLS TO WIN

[@Gameknight98764]

Would you move the Cutting edge warbond now the illuminate are here?

[@DrPooplove]

It definitely deserves more points now. The sickle being one of the top guns for it and the armor being very useful vs the electricity. I also see the arc blitzer and plasma punisher as top weapons vs squids

[@blbprime11]

Since the Squid update some of these warbonds have gone up in value. Viper commando, Freedoms flame, Cutting Edge. All have gone up at least one rank IMHO

[@whyisdiscostevetaken]

funny enough, your two shoutouts for "S-tier primaries" are my two primaries: blitzer and crossbow i don't remember if you mentioned it, but crossbow is also one-handed so it fits in well with bots

[@Commodus14]

With my use of the gas I feel like there is a very specific way to use it, there are moments where I use it to get away or times where there is a bug nest and get 40 kills alone with it.

[@lejenddairy]

The gas grenades are really strong for locking down bug breaches.

[@Kimahri01]

For me gas warbound is meta vs bug, but 😢 only if you buy the heavy armor with gas resistance. You don’t get gas damage if you have all your pads (no heavy damage). Gas guard dog and gas grenade with blitzer (walking forward when attacking) and quasar cannon. Literally you can go alone on 8-10 lvls. I add 500 k and orbital gas. For flag mission ask your team to stay away from the flag, and kill vile titans and charger. Throw a supply pack on flag, throw a orbital gas, and throw 2 gas grenade when you need it, that flag is so easy. The supply is for grenades and stim if you get hit or you have a lot of spewer I use a dagger on this build to kill the shriekers and make long enemies to come to me including chargers and Titans For bots same build, but change for a stun weapon or long range weapon, and can change quasar for railgun (both are good)

[@t-rex9809]

My ranking for all the warbonds is the exact same, I agree with all of what you said tbh!

[@vonrichthofen7515]

Viper Commandos’ only saving grace is Experimental Infusion. Peak Physique is ok but pretty outclassed by Fortified and Engineering Kit, especially since a loadout that makes Peak most relevant is going to be noticeably inferior to one based on Fortified or Engineering Kit. The Bushwhacker is ok but realistically your sidearm should always be either the grenade pistol, Loyalist, or Senator. Chemical Agents gives you gas grenades which are extremely useful and fun vs bugs. I even started carrying them over thermite. You get more kills, it helps protect you and your team, gives you breathing room (ironically), and allows you to create a pretty solid (also ironically) barrier at extraction or against bug breaches. Steeled Veterans belongs in C tier. It definitely isn’t A.

[@borisac3780]

I'm not a big fan of chemical agents and I don't actually have it but to me dog breath and the flamethrower seem like a really good combo against the bugs.

[@GoreGutztheImpaler]

I'm looking forward to your explanation of the snow warbond. Durring the 60 day patch one of it's weapons became the best primary in the entire game. I very much suspect it has gotten nerfed by now so I want to see how it effects the warbonds ranking. I still suspect it will be high.

[@hitandruncommentor]

Nope, not nurfed yet. Makes it the best primary in the game right now.

[@RipPhillips]

I think they need to do another electric warbond or maybe plasma and include an EMS drop pod for bots. Less annoying than the firepods in terms of team killing with just a stun but would help wreck bots. He'll they should have added chemical drop pods while they were at it.

[@KB-fk3jj]

Something about the Truth Enforcers weapons is that I find their ammo count a little too low. While the Halt is definitely useful, it suffers from holding only 8 flechette rounds; Its dps on higher dives isn't great. And as for the Reprimand, I'm actually fine with the stats, the big problem is that it has no scope! Not even having a 50m scope incredibly handicaps it against bots. The next warbond I would love to see is a Cowboy themed one! It would be great to have a poncho or vest outfit that gave a 10% reload and mounting speed boost. Wouldn't mind a repeater rifle and lasso-like throwable also.

[@Sothas]

You could not be more wrong about chem agents. Even if it is a specific style of gameplay, it does that style VERY well, unlike several of the other warbonds. The chem agents is for us support p players. We finally get to play support. I exclusively play with friends, so we can coordinate very well. I'll run the sterilizer, 500lb, gas orbital, supply pack, nade pistol, thermine nades, and cookout. This allows me to be well rounded while also providing support for my team. I've saved countless lives sterilizing the battlefield for my friends. I also run the gas armor because dropping a gas orbital on myself when i get overrun isn't just useful, it has style points. Then there's the stim pistol. Honestly, I bought this warbond for just this. Medic armor + stim pistol + stim booster. I've hit 60+ stims used in a match. If you enjoy a support-style gameplay, this is an S tier warbond. Side note: Peak physique + constitution is hilariously fun.

[@gummyboots]

The gas strike over the objective is exactly what I use that armor for

[@JeancarlosRPerez]

Helldivers Warbond finally suffer from the best problem to have in gaming. A brand new Green Diver wouldn't even know where to start since all the options are so damn good now! What a great come back for so much of our arsenal 😁

[@manray005]

I think viper commandos is objectively pretty bad over all. A borderline useless grenade, yet another liberator (though I do like it a lot), pretty decent booster but the screen effect is polarizing, an okay secondary and a very niche armor passive. Kinda a tough sell for $10 for most. It does have style points though and as an avid melee-diver, I love it. I rock my viper commando title and tiger strips with pride. Suns out, guns out fascists. Time to taste fist.

[@svartrbrisingr6141]

I'm hoping for a stealth focused warbond next. snipers such as myself have had 0 support from high command since this war started. and while the tools we got so far are nice. they are far from enough as its just the same equipment each dive with no variety. i also hope warbonds are going to get better overall. Chemical Agents as mentioned here was terrible. such a disappointment and likely a warbond I will never pick up. and I hope with how Truth Enforcers is a decent warbond that its showing a trend of High Command giving out tools that are actually useful for the majority of divers and not highly niche options

[@KriegerChristi]

That would be great, maybe also add a dedicated medic warbond while they're at it.

[@svartrbrisingr6141]

@@KriegerChristi while thatd be cool i think itd end up a lot like chemical agents in quality. has some niche use but the vast majority wont use it. since a support build doesnt work when playing with randoms

[@r-saint]

Gas mask perk armor should grant 100% gas protection to be honest!

[@ApocolypsMeow]

If the liberator carbine came with the one handed trait it would be a lot better since it's supposed to be a shorter version of the standard and would give it more utility

[@Suhayl_Khatib]

I love the throwing knives. I can’t wait for them to be completely silent when thrown.

[@thomashillyard6553]

The gas grenade is top tier. But I agree with the rest of his breakdown on chemical agents

[@Ayto27]

Id say you're pretty much spot on in your rankings.

[@madhatter2705]

I used to use the impacts alot but I find it really helpful to throw a grenade right at my feet if theres a horde on me and dive away

[@theGVS360]

Yeah, I have found the peak physique is very good with Support weapons ESPECIALLY the Heavy machine gun.

[@jerrybeansman1040]

Dead sprint, Experimental infusion, muscle enhancement, and light medic armors for fastest running.

[@mayhemivory5730]

I‘ve had a serious Senator addiction even before the buffs, I carry an Eruptor only for closing holes, please send help.

[@lonesomeranger7145]

I know localization confusion actually made it worse with encounters. Everytime I had it on we would literally just be facing bugs constantly and it was pretty annoying

[@KriegerChristi]

Probably a bug, if it's still happening then someone should tell the devs. They generally try to fix those quickly.

[@Alohasnackbar88]

Any advice on whether it's possible to play this game at a high level whilst using a controller (i.e. gamepad)? I'm at the point where I'm trying to "get good" at this game, but can't decide between controller or mouse&keyboard. I like the relaxed nature of controller gaming, but I'm also well aware that nothing can beat the precision of mouse&keyboard (although gyro aiming does buff controller accuracy significantly...).

[@kingginger3335]

Having the Dead Sprint booster, the Vitality booster, and the Stim booster, along with a teammate who uses the stim pistol, is actually kind of a broken mechanic. Broken, meaning it's incredibly powerful.

[@KriegerChristi]

Especially with experimental infusion, it makes the stim pistol much more viable.

[@SnottyNoseGaming]

They should either change the firebomb hellpods to be smoke instead of fire, or make it so it’s only on your hellpod or land mine hellpods

[@Ifyoucanreadthisgooglebroke]

When it comes to advising a new player, I'd basically always say "Just complete Helldivers Mobilize first". They'll need the boosters, it has their armor option needs covered, it has solid weapon diversity including some generally quite high tier, and is the free one they might as well start with. I think that is worth bearing in mind when ranking premium warbonds on account of who the advice is obviously for, new people. Sort of a situation of "it is a trick question, the answer is actually none. Do the basic warbond first." Have to echo that thermite grenade, grenade pistol, senator, and stun grenade are loadout definers that mandate those warbonds go on top. Makes Democratic Detonation king of the warbonds in my estimation, particularly combined with how it is one of the old warbonds which were all better with three primaries+a secondary+a grenade+a booster each time. Skins and titles just don't cut it as well for obvious reasons. It sure happens to help some warbonds currently that the likes of crossbow, incendiary breaker, arc bltizer, and purifier happen to be (factionally dependent) S class primaries right now. But that balance stuff shifts back and forth a bit.

[@RainD4]

A couple weeks ago I made a tierlist for my friends since they were about to buy and play HD2 for the first time, and it's pretty much the same as the one here. I'd place Steeled Veterans a little lower because I rarely use the Dominator, but I do agree that the Senator is one of the top secondary. Democratic Detonation is definitely without a doubt the best premium warbond there is right now haha

[@devasprime6700]

Freedoms Flame and Chemical Ops in combination make up my absolute favorite Termid kit I've ever played with

[@ownzuall]

Thanks, its really really helpful, just returned playing this game after whole year being absent lol (played at release a lot_

[@DrPooplove]

welcome back!

[@EnigmaticRealist]

So the reason people hate Chemical Agents as it's supposed to be a more a support based warbond. If your team can do damage or if you duo up with someone you can tag em and they can bag em.

[@walkingmelon2100]

Can you do armor passives next time? I really do wanna hear your opinion on them!

[@Aviator-Chicken]

I do think AH needs to return to a larger war bond system with more time in between war bond drops

[@McKillersDollarMenu]

I just started playing this a few weeks ago and am hooked. We gotta play together!

[@kero4813]

They should really make flame, electric and gas themed armored sets completely immune to their respective effects, that is the only way they can really be useful

[@Averagejack1234]

Honestly fully agree with this list.

[@hector_campus]

Gas granade with jump pack is a good combo against bugs(trow the granade in the middle of bug group and runnaway) but the stim pistol only works versus bots , against bugs granade pistol is more usefull and versatile.