The best stratagems in Helldivers 2

These are the best stratagems to use in Helldivers 2

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What are the best stratagems in Helldivers 2? Before every mission in Helldivers 2 you must select your stratagems, which range from airstrikes and orbital lasers to defensive fortifications and heavy weaponry. There are 47 different stratagems to unlock in total, so you have plenty of options, but to begin with, only a few will be available.

As you level up, more stratagems will unlock, though each new one must be bought with requisitions, which are earned by completing missions. So if you’re wondering which are the best stratagems for you to prioritize in Helldivers 2, look no further.

Railgun (Best Stratagem in Helldivers 2)

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• Level: 20
• Call-in Time: 3 sec
• Uses: Unlimited
• Cooldown Time: 480 sec

The best Stratagem in Helldivers 2 is clearly the Railgun. You’ll have to wait a while to unlock it, but this support weapon is the best of the bunch thanks to its immense firepower which can deal with even the biggest of bosses with ease. However, to deal with Hulks, Bile Titans, and Chargers, we’d recommend you enable unsafe mode by holding R and selecting it from the options. This unlocks the potential for the Railgun, meaning you can fire more powerful shots, but don’t charge it for too long or it’ll explode and kill you instantly.

Orbital Laser

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• Level: 15
• Call-in Time: 1 sec
• Uses: 3
• Cooldown Time: 300 sec

Orbital stratagems come down from your ship high above the planet, and the Orbital Laser is by far the best. This is a single, concentrated laser beam that will automatically seek out all targets in the designated area, and much like the Railgun, can be used to take down some of the game’s biggest foes pretty much single handedly. However, you can only call in a maximum of three of these per mission, so use them wisely.

Eagle Airstrike

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• Level: 1
• Call-in Time: 0 sec
• Uses: 2
• Cooldown Time: 8 sec

As a contrast to these extremely powerful late-game stratagems, the Eagle Airstrike is available right from the get-go in Helldivers 2. It’ll still set you back 4,000 requisitions, but it’s an extremely versatile stratagem that you’ll keep falling back on as ol’ reliable no matter the foe you’re facing. It’s essentially just a carpet bomb that devastates a small area, obliterating anything found within. It’s also extremely quick to turn up, but you can only use it twice before the Eagle must re-arm, which isn’t a quick process.

“Guard Dog” Rover

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• Level: 10
• Call-in Time: 5 sec
• Uses: Unlimited
• Cooldown Time: 480 sec

The first backpack in the list, the “Guard Dog” Rover is your best friend in the fight for Super Earth. While not a literal dog, this is a drone that follows you round, equipped with a laser rifle. When it needs to cool down, it will return to the backpack for a short while, before automatically redeploying itself. You can also get a “Guard Dog” with an assault rifle, but the Rover tends to perform better thanks to the range and continuous damage output from the laser.

Autocannon Sentry

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• Level: 13
• Call-in Time: 3 sec
• Uses: Unlimited
• Cooldown Time: 180 sec

When you need to fortify a position in Helldivers 2, such as during a defend mission or when you’re waiting to extract, there are few things more useful than an automated turret. On harder difficulties, you’ll often have heavy enemies such as Chargers, Titans, and Hulks all over the place, so the Autocannon Sentry comes in very handy. It fires slower than the Gatling Sentry, but deals much more damage per shot. The Gatling Sentry is useful at lower difficulties, while the Rocket Sentry is also useful, but has a much higher chance of friendly fire and has a much slower fire rate.

Anti-Personnel Minefield

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• Level: 1
• Call-in Time: 3 sec
• Uses: Unlimited
• Cooldown Time: 180 sec

The Anti-Personnel Minefield does exactly what it says on the tin: mines. Call it in and countless mines will be scattered in a circle around the device, like a garden sprinkler activating. Any enemies that walk over the minefield will meet their demise quickly. However, you need to be in communication with your teammates for this one, because the mines don’t differentiate between a Helldiver and a Terminid or Automaton, so you can rack up the accidentals with ease too.

Eagle 500kg Bomb

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• Level: 15
• Call-in Time: 0 sec
• Uses: 1
• Cooldown Time: N/A

When you hit level 15, you can essentially unlock a nuke. You only get one Eagle 500kg Bomb before the Eagle needs to rearm, but it works exactly as you’d expect it to. Drop it on a Bile Titan or a Hulk to one-hit-kill it, or in the middle of a huge nest to obliterate lots of smaller enemies.

Grenade Launcher

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• Level: 1
• Call-in Time: 3 sec
• Uses: Unlimited
• Cooldown Time: 480 sec

While the Railgun is the best support weapon in Helldivers 2, you can’t get your hands on it for quite some time. In the early stages, you should grab the Grenade Launcher, because it’s a solid all-rounder for dealing with any type of foe. It doesn’t do well against armor - the grenades will bounce off - but all armored enemies have weak spots, where the Grenade Launcher can deal some serious damage. You can also close up bug holes from afar, if your grenade throwing arm isn’t quite up to scratch.

Orbital Railcannon Strike

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• Level: 20
• Call-in Time: 0 sec
• Uses: Unlimited
• Cooldown Time: 210 sec

If you want to destroy one singular big target in an instant, you could do worse than the Orbital Railcannon Strike, which is very reminiscent of “Alice in Borderland”-style deaths. The targeting laser quickly finds the largest target nearby and fires an immensely powerful shot straight through the top, with the ability to kill Chargers, Hulks, and the like in one hit.

Recoilless Rifle

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• Level: 5
• Call-in Time: 3 sec
• Uses: Unlimited
• Cooldown Time: 480 sec

Finally, we have the Recoilless Rifle. This is another earlier option instead of the Railgun to deal with armored targets, as it completely shatters the armor on Chargers and Hulks. However, it also comes with a support backpack for reloading. This means you must also wear that and reload yourself, albeit slowly, or a teammate can equip it to perform a team reload which is more efficient, but takes both of you out of action for a short while.

That’s all you need to know about the best stratagems in Helldivers 2, but make sure you also check out our guide to the best weapons in Helldivers 2 , as there are plenty of choices there too.

Helldivers 2

PS5 , PC

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

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Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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