Helldivers 2 Best Stratagems: Tier List, Picks by Faction

The best stratagems in Helldivers 2 right now are the Eagle 500kg Bomb, Orbital Railcannon Strike, Eagle Airstrike, GR-8 Recoilless Rifle and LAS-99 Quasar Cannon. Each one either kills heavy targets or clears objectives on a short or unlimited cycle, and all five are bought with Requisition Slips, so no Warbond is needed. The game is on patch 7.2.3 (November 11, 2026), and Update 7.2.0 on October 20 retuned the Orbital Airburst Strike, M-1000 Maxigun, CQC-20 Breaching Hammer and two flame stratagems. This guide ranks the free stratagems, then covers the strongest Warbond options, the best picks per faction and what Update 8.0 changes in December.

Checked against Arrowhead's Devoid of Liberty 7.2.0 to 7.2.3 patch notes on November 12, 2026.

Tiers here are editorial judgments, not official rankings. They are built on cooldowns, use limits, damage and armor penetration listed on the community Helldivers Wiki (which shows values for build 1.007.203, released November 11) and on Arrowhead's patch notes. Player preference shifts after every balance pass, so treat the lower tiers as "situational" rather than "bad".

What are the best stratagems in Helldivers 2 right now?

S tier is the group that answers the hardest enemies on every front without a long wait. Two Eagles, one Orbital and two anti-tank support weapons make the cut.

A tier: strong in most squads

• EAT-17 Expendable Anti-Tank (70s, Level 3, 3,000 Req): drops two single-shot launchers at Anti-Tank II for 2,000 damage each. The short cooldown means a squad can keep a pile of them near an objective.
• AC-8 Autocannon (480s, Level 10, 7,000 Req): APHET rounds penetrate Heavy armor and a Flak mode adds a proximity fuse for crowds. It needs its backpack for reloads.
• Orbital Laser (300s, Level 15, 10,000 Req): three uses per mission, each a 25-second beam at about 600 damage per second that seeks the deadliest nearby targets. It can swing toward enemies on the far side of your squad, so throw it well ahead.
• SH-32 Shield Generator Pack (480s, Level 20, 10,000 Req): a 150-health bubble that blocks projectiles, melee, explosives and arc damage. It starts recharging 12s after breaking but does nothing against fire or gas.
• AX/AR-23 Guard Dog (480s, Level 10, 7,500 Req): a drone firing Liberator Penetrator rounds at Medium penetration, 660 rounds per minute, that returns to the backpack to reload on its own.
• Orbital Precision Strike (free at Level 1): Update 7.1.0 cut its cooldown from 90s to 80s, and the wiki lists it as able to kill a Bile Titan with good placement.
• B-1 Supply Pack (480s, Level 1, 4,000 Req): four resupply boxes, each refilling ammo, stims and grenades for you or a teammate.
• MG-43 Machine Gun (free, Level 1): Medium penetration and no backpack. It is one of the wiki's recommended answers to Illuminate Wretches.

B tier: good picks with a narrower job

• Orbital Airburst Strike (Level 5, 4,000 Req): 7.2.0 lowered its cooldown from 100s to 90s and tightened the shrapnel cone from 35 to 27 degrees, so it saturates the target area instead of scattering.
• Eagle Napalm Airstrike (Level 5, 5,000 Req): Update 7.0.0 raised its explosion radius from 8m to 10m and spread the bombs over a wider area.
• A/MG-43 Machine Gun Sentry (90s) and A/G-16 Gatling Sentry (150s): cheap crowd control. Wretches go after sentries and emplacements before Helldivers, which makes a sentry a useful decoy on Illuminate fronts.
• RS-422 Railgun (Level 20, 10,000 Req): Anti-Tank I in a support weapon without a backpack. One shot destroys a Hulk Bruiser's head, and one Safe Mode shot can break a Crusher's helmet.
• MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines (Level 15, 7,000 Req): 7.0.0 raised their demolition strength from 30 to 40 so they can break Bug Holes and colony walls, and the wiki notes 2 to 3 mines take down a Factory Strider.
• Orbital Gas Strike (75s, Level 1, 4,000 Req): fast area denial on a short cycle, though the Shield Generator Pack does not block gas, so keep it away from teammates.

Situational: long cooldowns or a niche role

The Orbital 380mm HE Barrage and Orbital Walking Barrage both sit on 240-second cooldowns, the same as the Orbital Napalm Barrage, so they are best saved for a fortified base you can see coming. Smoke strikes, the Anti-Personnel Minefield and the Tesla Tower (120s) work in coordinated squads but rarely carry a random-lobby mission. Exosuits (420s) and the TD-220 Bastion tank (780s, Level 30, 35,000 Req) hit hard, with the Bastion's 120mm gun dealing 3,500 damage at Anti-Tank IV, but their cooldowns mean one per mission in practice.

Which Warbond stratagems are worth unlocking?

The Leveller and Solo Silo are the standouts because they kill the biggest targets regardless of where they hit. The new AMW-20 Apex is the best long-range anti-tank option after its October fix. Warbond stratagems cost Medals inside a Warbond you have unlocked.

Update 7.2.2 fixed the Apex: its caliber dropped from 60 to 20 to reduce damage drop-off at range, its demolition strength rose to 30 so it breaks cover and container doors like the Anti-Materiel Rifle, and the armory now shows its penetration correctly as Anti-Tank. The Nova got the same display fix. Castellan's Creed is a Legendary Warbond priced at 1,500 Super Credits and cannot be claimed with a Premium Warbond token.

What are the best stratagems for each faction?

Bugs reward big single-target kills, bots reward precise anti-tank shots and base clearing, and the Illuminate reward sustained fire and explosives. The table pairs each front with its main threats and the picks that answer them.

Two Illuminate notes change the usual math. Crushers regenerate about 30 health per second, and the wiki advises against single-shot anti-tank weapons on them because they can absorb a direct hit. Harvesters lose their shield for good once any one of their three shield generators is destroyed, and their exterior is immune to explosions until the carapace breaks, so a 500kg Bomb is a poor opener.

On bug fronts the new Noxious strain (added November 3) brings fast, poisonous Scavengers and Spewers into caves that now spawn on more biomes. Arrowhead's own briefing recommends close-range volume weapons and keeping stims ready, since stims cure poison.

What changed for stratagems in the latest patches?

The October update was mostly buffs. These are the stratagem changes since Devoid of Liberty launched on August 12:

• 7.0.0 (August 12): Eagle Napalm radius 8m to 10m; Anti-Tank Mines demolition 30 to 40; assisted reload now works when either the wielder or the reloader has the backpack.
• 7.1.0 (September 22): Orbital Precision Strike cooldown 90s to 80s.
• 7.2.0 (October 20): Orbital Airburst cooldown 100s to 90s and cone 35 to 27; Maxigun movement delay after firing 0.5s to 0, stagger force 15 to 20, stagger impulse 12 to 24; Breaching Hammer spare charges 7 to 10; EXO-51 Lumberer and A/FLAM-40 Flame Sentry flame damage per particle 3 to 8; Eagle Gas Airstrike demolition 50 to 40 so it no longer breaks structures other Eagles cannot.
• 7.2.2 (October 29): AMW-20 Apex caliber 60 to 20 and demolition raised to 30; Apex and Nova now display Anti-Tank penetration.
• 7.2.3 (November 11): crash and cave fixes, including fire not spreading in caves and cave assets that could block stratagem call-ins.

How do you build a squad's stratagem lineup?

Each Helldiver can bring up to four stratagems. A reliable split is one anti-tank answer, one Eagle or Orbital for heavies and objectives, one backpack or support role, and one flexible slot for the front you are on.

• Mind the backpack slot. Backpack-fed weapons such as the Recoilless Rifle, Autocannon and Apex use your back slot, so pairing them with the Shield Generator Pack or Guard Dog means giving one up.
• Spread the anti-tank. Two squad members on EAT-17 or Quasar plus one on an Eagle 500kg covers most heavy waves without everyone waiting on the same cooldown.
• Buy the Eagle modules. Expanded Weapons Bay adds one use per rearm, Liquid-Ventilated Cockpit halves Eagle cooldowns, Pit Crew Hazard Pay cuts rearm time by 20%, and Morale Augmentation trims every cooldown by 5%.
• Use vehicles on open maps. The M-103 Supply FRV became a permanent Requisition unlock (25,000 Req) in October, and the M-104 Incinerator FRV is the reward for the November 3 to 16 campaign.

What does Update 8.0 change in December?

Arrowhead's November developer blog lists changes already locked for the next major update in early December. Jump, Hover and Warp packs will work while carrying two-handed items, the Hellbomb backpack can be armed or picked up from the ground with a long press, and gas clouds will no longer slow Helldivers. A new utility belt will hold small handheld items such as remotes and detonators, which makes the Solo Silo and C4 easier to use alongside a support weapon. The long-requested Hellpod steering and stratagem bouncing fixes are still in testing and will likely miss that update. Expect this tier list to shift once those changes land; the full loadout picks per faction are in the Helldivers 2 best loadout guide.

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