Highlights

  • Armor sets in Helldivers 2 come in a range of types from light to heavy, but medium armor seems to be the most consistent option.
  • Medium armor with the Democracy Protects passive perk is currently the best choice for survivability in Helldivers 2, offering consistent ways to prevent death without major penalties.
  • Heavy armor in Helldivers 2 comes with steep movement penalties even though it doesn't prevent instant death from some enemies, while light armor leaves players too vulnerable in combat.

When it comes to the differences in armor rating between the various light, medium, and heavy armor sets in Helldivers 2, the amount of damage that players will take from certain attacks seems inconsistent. Whether this is a bug, or due to uncontrollable factors, like where an enemy hits the player and which attack the enemy uses, is uncertain for the time being. While the different armor sets in Helldivers 2 do occasionally reduce the amount of damage that players take from enemy attacks, it isn’t a consistent and universal damage reduction.

On a related note, friendly fire damage currently appears to be unaffected by the player’s armor rating for the most part, meaning that players always seem to take around the same amount of damage from a teammate's attacks, regardless of what armor type they are wearing. It makes sense that high-explosive weapons like Stratagems in Helldivers 2 are usually lethal to players, but even accidental attacks from some of the secondary weapons can surprisingly deal a significant amount of damage to players.

helldivers 2 all difficulty levels explained
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Helldivers 2: All Difficulty Levels Explained

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Medium Armor Is the Current Meta for Helldivers 2

Arguably, the armor that provides the best overall survivability in Helldivers 2 is any medium armor that comes with the Democracy Protects passive perk, which has a chance to prevent the player from dying whenever they take lethal damage. Sets of this particular armor can currently be earned from pages five and ten of Helldivers 2’s standard battle pass, the Helldivers Mobilize Warbond.

As the game continues to grow throughout post-launch support for Helldivers 2, this is likely to change, but for now, medium armor with the Democracy Protects passive perk appears to be the current meta for playing on any difficulty in Helldivers 2. This armor is one of the most consistent ways to prevent players from dying, and because it's medium armor, it doesn’t reduce the player’s stamina recovery or mobility as much as heavy armor sets. However, some of the passive armor perks are currently exclusive to the different armor types, so players who prefer to utilize other perks have no other choice but to suffer the side effects of wearing these armor types.

Why Heavy Armor Isn’t Worth It In Helldivers 2

While heavy armor categorically provides the highest amount of armor rating over light and medium armor, there are still enemies that can kill players wearing heavy armor in one hit, even on the lower difficulties, such as Bile Spewers and Chargers in Helldivers 2. In general, testing the defenses provided by each armor type so far in Helldivers 2 has also revealed that players will take inconsistent damage from enemy attacks, despite taking consistent damage from friendly fire attacks.

Overall, it seems that the increased defense isn’t a universal damage reduction, instead being more of an occasional damage reduction. Consequently, it seems that the increased defense that heavy armor is expected to provide generally isn’t worth the penalty to the player’s mobility.

Why Light Armor Isn’t Worth It In Helldivers 2

The main appeal of choosing light armor in Helldivers 2 is that it provides increased mobility and a lower chance of being detected by nearby enemies. Although light armor naturally provides some of the lowest armor ratings compared to other armor types, it does live up to its name of providing superior mobility for players who want to speed-run certain objectives. However, the stealth capabilities of light armor are almost nonexistent, considering that stealth isn’t exclusive to light armor, and the majority of main mission objectives in Helldivers 2 will inevitably force players into combat anyway.