Helldivers 2 now carries 55 primary weapons, and almost none of them perform the same way against all three enemy factions. A shotgun that tears apart Terminid swarms can stall out against Automaton armor, and a laser that melts Illuminate waves is close to useless on the bot front. Graded S down to F for each faction as of Patch 7.1.1, the arsenal sorts into a small group of all-rounders and a long tail of specialists.
Quick answer: The CB-9 Exploding Crossbow and R-36 Eruptor rate at or near the top against every faction. Otherwise pick by front: the LAS-5 Scythe for Illuminate, the SG-97 Sweeper for Terminids, and the Eruptor or Crossbow for Automatons.
How the faction grades are decided
Each faction punishes a different weakness. Automatons bring heavy armor, exposed faceplates, and Scout Striders, so weapons with medium or heavy armor penetration and clean weak-point accuracy rise to the top. Terminids attack in dense swarms backed by Hive Guards and Bile Spewers, which rewards raw damage, stagger, and area-of-effect fire. The Illuminate, particularly Wretches and Voteless, fold quickly under continuous laser beams and sustained burn damage.
That split explains why the same gun can earn an S against one faction and a D against another. Armor penetration and the way a weapon delivers its damage matter more than a single damage number on the stat card.
Weapons that hold up on every front
| Weapon | vs Bots | vs Bugs | vs Squids |
|---|---|---|---|
| CB-9 Exploding Crossbow | S | S | A |
| R-36 Eruptor | S | S | A |
| DBS-2 Double Freedom | B/B+ | A | A |
| PLAS-101 Purifier | A | B | B |
CB-9 Exploding Crossbow fires one-handed explosive bolts with medium armor penetration, clears elite clusters, and seals spawners from a safe distance. Its flexibility is what keeps it at the top of the pile regardless of who you are fighting.
R-36 Eruptor behaves like portable artillery. It carries heavy armor penetration and sends its explosive round along a flat, straight line rather than the arcing lob of the GL-15 Evictor, which makes it more predictable at range and lets it destroy structures without closing in.
DBS-2 Double Freedom puts 840 damage behind a double-barrel blast. The two-round capacity forces frequent reloads, but the burst output stays strong enough to carry it across all three fronts.
Best primaries against Automatons
| Weapon | Grade | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| R-36 Eruptor | S | Heavy pen, destroys fabricators |
| CB-9 Exploding Crossbow | S | Explosive bolts, elite clearing |
| R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper | A | Weak-point kills on bots |
| PLAS-101 Purifier | A | Charged explosive shots stagger Hulks |
| JAR-5 Dominator | A | Jet-propelled slugs punch armor |
Accuracy and armor penetration are key in bot fights. The R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper gets an A for pairing medium armor penetration with enough damage to punch through exposed faceplates. The JAR-5 Dominator sends rounds through heavier units without losing momentum. The PLAS-101 Purifier completes the lineup: its charged plasma bursts can pin down Hulks and Devastators, preventing them from firing back.
By contrast, light-penetration spray weapons struggle. The SG-225 Breaker, SG-8S Slugger, and MA5C-adjacent light rifles drop into C and D territory against bots because they cannot reliably break armor.
Best primaries against Terminids
| Weapon | Grade | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| SG-97 Sweeper | S | 504 damage slamfire, medium pen |
| R-36 Eruptor | S | Explosive rounds seal bug holes |
| CB-9 Exploding Crossbow | S | Clears clusters and spawners |
| SG-8 Punisher | A | Heavy stagger in close quarters |
| LAS-12 Sai | A | One-handed medium-armor laser spray |
SG-97 Sweeper is the standout bug gun. Its slamfire flechette rounds hit for 504 damage with medium armor penetration, which shreds swarms and still punches through Hive Guards. The SG-8 Punisher leans on stagger to keep groups off balance, and the LAS-12 Sai provides sustained, heat-based fire that chews through dense packs without a reload cycle.
Fire-based and explosive options also thrive against bugs. The SG-451 Cookout, FLAM-66 Torcher, and ARC-12 Blitzer all climb into the B-to-A range thanks to burn damage and area coverage that organic swarms cannot shrug off.
Best primaries against the Illuminate
| Weapon | Grade | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| LAS-5 Scythe | S | Continuous beam melts Wretches and Voteless |
| LAS-13 Trident | A+ | Triple-beam laser shotgun |
| AR-2 Coyote | A | Incendiary rounds, medium pen |
| FLAM-66 Torcher | A | Fire stream clears swarms |
| DBS-2 Double Freedom | A | High burst damage per shell |
The squid front belongs to lasers and fire. The LAS-5 Scythe earns its only S grade here, its continuous beam cutting straight through Illuminate waves. The LAS-13 Trident follows close behind with its triple-emitter spread, and both the AR-2 Coyote and FLAM-66 Torcher apply the burn damage that Voteless and Wretches are especially vulnerable to.
The incendiary R-4 Hyena, an A performer as a fire-setting marksman rifle, follows the same logic. It grades B+ against bots for its medium armor penetration, but its damage-over-time payload is what keeps fire weapons competitive on the Illuminate front.
Mechanics worth knowing before you equip
A handful of weapons behave in ways their stat cards do not make obvious, and those quirks decide whether they are worth the slot.
- The LAS-17 Double-Edge Sickle ramps its armor penetration from light to medium to heavy as heat climbs, but pushing it to overheat burns the player.
- The VG-70 Variable runs three fire modes (Auto, Volley, and a full Mag Dump), and the Mag Dump recoil physically knocks the Helldiver onto their back.
- Firing a AR-59 Suppressor or M75 SMG makes it harder for patrols to locate your exact position from far away. The AR-59 Suppressor’s projectiles experience less drag than the M75’s, so it remains effective over a greater distance.
- The ARC-12 Blitzer runs on infinite ammo, discharging arc lightning that chains through hordes.
The weakest pick in the arsenal
One weapon sits at the bottom against every faction. The R-2124 Constitution takes a straight F on all three fronts. It is a ceremonial bolt-action rifle with a five-round capacity and a fire rate of roughly 60 rounds per minute, which leaves it far too slow for any serious combat role. Treat it as a novelty rather than a loadout option.
The broader takeaway is that there is no single best primary. Two weapons, the Exploding Crossbow and the Eruptor, cover every front well enough to default to, but the strongest loadouts match the gun to the faction: beams and fire for the Illuminate, stagger and swarm damage for Terminids, and penetration and precision for the Automatons.
