All Helldivers 2 difficulty levels explained

All the Helldivers 2 difficulties are laid out here

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The highest Helldivers 2 difficulties can be absolutely brutal, with hordes of enemies of all shapes and sizes, but you can also get some of the best possible rewards and resources. With so many difficulty options to choose from inHelldivers 2, it’s hard to know how much they differ, and which level is the most worthwhile when it comes to rewards. To help you understand the levels of play, I’ve explained the major differences between all the Helldivers 2 difficulty levels below.

Every difficulty level in Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 features ten unlockable difficulty levels, each ramping up the challenge from the last with greater numbers of enemies, objectives, but also rewards – more XP, Requisition Slips, Medals, and Samples await with each step up the difficulty ladder.Unlocking each difficulty level requires you to complete an entire operation at the previous level, so to unlock Extreme, you need to play an entire operation on Hard, for example.

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When you open the galaxy map and select a planet to fight on, you can set the difficulty at the bottom of your screen, which will then show you a selection of operations and missions-in-progress on the planet for that difficulty. You can also select the Quickplay option to immediately join a mission at that challenge level.

Here’s how each difficulty works, from Trivial all the way up to Helldive:

Helldivers 2 Trivial difficulty

The easiest difficulty meant for learning the absolute basics of Helldivers 2. Operations consist of one mission.

Helldivers 2 Easy difficulty

A small step up from Trivial that introduces extra core mechanics.

Helldivers 2 Medium difficulty

This is the last of the beginner difficulties and is quite a big step up, introducing tougher enemy types with heavy armor. Operations now consist of two missions and one of them can be a shorter Blitz mission.

Helldivers 2 Challenging difficulty

Challenging is where Helldivers 2 really starts to ramp up the difficulty, representing the first of the moderate difficulty levels. From here on, playingHelldivers 2 solobecomes noticeably harder.

Helldivers 2 Hard difficulty

Another significant step up, Hard introduces the largestenemies in Helldivers 2and Operation Modifiers. Operations are now three missions long, with one or two being Blitz missions.

Helldivers 2 Extreme difficulty

Little changes in Extreme compared to Hard, aside from extra Tactical Objectives, but this means each mission has more to do in the same amount of time which will really start to test your efficiency.

Helldivers 2 Suicide Mission difficulty

This is the point where Helldivers 2 starts to getreallyhard. Enemies are abundant and relentless in Suicide Mission difficulty, and stealth approaches can be useful for avoiding massive fights. This is also the lowest difficulty that Super Samples become available.

Helldivers 2 Impossible difficulty

Only coordinated and experienced players with thebest Helldivers 2 buildsare getting through these Operations.

Helldivers 2 Helldive difficulty

The fight for Super Earth at its absolute hardest. There’s nothing new mechanically compared to Impossible, but enemies are almost everywhere, and heavily armored and massive enemies are common. Good luck, Helldivers.

Helldivers 2 Super Helldive difficulty

The fight for Super Earth at its absolute hardest – though it doesn’t feel much harder than Helldive. Enemies are almost everywhere, and heavily armored and massive enemies are common. Good luck, Helldivers.

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Will Sawyer is a guides writer at GamesRadar+ who works with the rest of the guides team to give readers great information and advice on the best items, how to complete a particular challenge, or where to go in some of the biggest video games. Will joined the GameRadar+ team in August 2021 and has written about service titles, including Fortnite, Destiny 2, and Warzone, as well as some of the biggest releases like Halo Infinite, Elden Ring, and God of War Ragnarok.

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