With any action packed shooter like Helldivers 2, there’s bound to be a rising meta surrounding the game’s slickest weapons. Members of the game’s community have been cultivating a Helldivers 2 meta, but you don’t need to strictly abide by it. Developer Arrowhead Game Studios is stepping in to ease concerns about getting the most out of the PS5 hit.
In the weeks since Helldivers 2 emerged as one of the best co-op games of the year, weapons like the Breaker shotgun are now deemed essential weapons. Stratagems like the Orbital Laser are considered a must-have for any mission. However, game director Johan Pilestedt says that “so many of you use the 4 stats we show as comparison, while each gun has maybe 50 stats in total.” While this is a good way to gauge how these weapons function, Pilestedt clarifies “the numbers are a guideline but [it] does not paint a complete picture.”
Instead of appealing to the notion of meta, the Arrowhead Game Studios head encourages players to “use the one [weapon] you like the most.” It’s a simple, if not obvious piece of advice, but a necessary statement in the current world of multiplayer games. That’s because strictly using meta equipment, whether it is in shooters like Modern Warfare 3 or battle royale games like Apex Legends, can sometimes take away the magic. After all, variety is the spice of life.
The game’s community over on the Helldivers 2 subreddit is presently debating what meta loadouts are the most viable. Although there are some solid suggestions, many players are echoing Pilestedt’s thoughts. One player, ‘RustyMechanoid’, puts it best by commenting that “the best ‘meta’ loadout is the one you’ve tested and works for you.”
While we initially used support Stratagems like the Guard Dog heavily upon release, many of us at The Loadout have been changing up our choices with every deployment. Some of our setups can lead to some truly heinous defeats at the pincers of a Bile Titan, but that’s all part of the game’s relentless charm. There are so many ways to approach missions in Helldivers 2, and it is about to get even better.
Helldivers 2 vehicles are officially on the way, and Arrowhead is already dropping them into games at random if you’re lucky enough. It’ll certainly help in the efforts against the Automatons, as we recently lost the battle of Malevelon Creek.