In Helldivers 2, while exceptional individual skill is undeniably important - landing a clean shot on an enemy's weak point can instantly turn the tide of a firefight - your loadout ultimately defines each mission's experience. Even a highly capable player may struggle to achieve meaningful results if they bring a set of equipment geared more toward novelty than efficiency. Your loadout and your technical ability together shape your performance on the battlefield. Without a well-considered combination of gear, you will find progression arduous. It is not simply a matter of picking the most powerful weapons; instead, you need to build around each piece's shortcomings. Let us examine a few examples to illustrate this approach. High Damage But Weak Against Swarms Take R-6 Deadeye as a case in point. This sniper rifle handles beautifully, delivering 300 damage per shot with medium penetration capability, and its stagger force rivals that of many shotguns. That makes it exceptionally effective against larger foes. However, its drawbacks are equally pronounced: a magazine capacity of only eight rounds, paired with an excruciatingly slow reload. When facing Terminids' relentless swarms of smaller enemies, this limitation can prove fatal. The core issues with this weapon are its reload speed and the vulnerability window that arises when facing numerous adversaries. Reload Speed Reload speed can be addressed through your armor selection. Two options stand out: RE-2310 Honorary Guard, whose Reinforced Epaulettes passive boosts primary weapon reload speed by 30%; Siege-Ready armor passive, which also provides a 30% reload bonus and adds 20% extra ammunition capacity. Given that R-6 Deadeye does not typically suffer from ammo shortages, Honorary Guard offers the better trade-off here, allowing you to carry other, more impactful choices in your loadout. Clearing the Horde that is the real challenge you must confront. Your sidearm can handle small or medium enemies to some extent, but the core solution ultimately relies on your Stratagems. For your Backpack slot, consider AX/AR-23 Guard Dog or AX/LAS-5 Rover. Both are excellent tools for sweeping away lesser foes. AX/LAS-5 Rover is particularly outstanding because it requires no ammunition and delivers sustained damage over time. If you prefer not to bring a Guard Dog, you can opt for a Sentry with a short cooldown, such as A/MG-43 Machine Gun Sentry or A/FLAM-40 Flame Sentry. Should you choose neither of those, then you will need a Support Weapon dedicated to crowd control - for example, GL-28 Belt-Fed Grenade Launcher, M-1000 Maxigun, MGX-42 Bullet Storm, ARC-3 Arc Thrower, or LAS-98 Laser Cannon. You have up to four Stratagem slots, so your options are plentiful. By flexibly selecting among these, you can handle most combat scenarios. If you are playing in a squad, you can delegate the task of clearing minor enemies to your teammates; under their cover, you can safely take your sniper shots from a distance. Strong against Swarms But Lacking in Damage AR-23 Pacifier presents almost the exact opposite situation to R-6 Deadeye. It features medium armor penetration and a stunning effect, with a rate of fire comparable to that of an assault rifle. AR-23 Pacifier excels at eliminating smaller targets and can effectively interrupt charging heavy units, yet many players consider it underwhelming because its swarm-clearing potential remains limited, and its high fire rate drains ammunition at an alarming pace. Ammunition Concerns While Siege-Ready armor passive was not the optimal choice for R-6 Deadeye, it proves especially suitable for AR-23 Pacifier, increasing your total ammo reserves and easing sustained-combat pressure. Damage AR-23 Pacifier can reliably stagger and stun enemies, but its raw damage is somewhat insufficient. It functions more as a support tool, and you will need other weapons to supply the finishing power. AX/FLAM-75 Hot Dog pairs exceptionally well with AR-23 Pacifier. Because the Pacifier can pin enemies in place, Hot Dog's flames will not accidentally harm you; instead, you can calmly roast the stunned foes at your leisure. You might also choose LAS-99 Quasar Cannon as your anti-heavy support weapon. For your sidearm, LAS-58 Talon handles medium threats like Alpha Commanders effectively. G-13 Incendiary Impact grenade synergizes with Pacifier's stun, creating a sea of fire within enemy groups. In combat, you can then rely primarily on AR-23 Pacifier for crowd control while letting your other Stratagems deliver the bulk of the damage. Balanced Performance But Scarce Ammunition Consider SMG-203 Gallant. This medium-penetration submachine gun defies the traditional SMG role, which usually restricts you to close-range skirmishing against weak foes; instead, it possesses a genuine capacity to deal with elite targets. Its rate of fire is extremely high, but its greatest flaw is again the rapid depletion of ammunition. Ammo Issue SMG-203 Gallant offers excellent damage output, yet its ammunition supply curtails its potential. You can bring a powerful support weapon such as AC-8 Autocannon or LAS-98 Laser Cannon to reduce your dependence on the primary. For your backpack slot, B-1 Supply Pack completely eliminates Gallant's ammo anxiety. For Stratagems, take 20mm HE Barrage to clear Factory Striders, and add an A/MLS-4X Rocket Sentry to counter dropships from automaton reinforcements. As your sidearm, P-33 Missile Pistol can destroy bunker turrets and even Factory Striders from a distance; for grenades, G-48 Giga Grenade handles heavily armored units. With these choices, you effectively cover nearly every weakness. In Helldivers 2, no weapon is truly useless. As long as you thoughtfully consider its shortcomings and build around them - using your sidearm, grenades, armor passives, and Stratagems to compensate - you can often turn any mission into a resounding victory. Some key pieces of equipment aren't free, and they may be included in Warbonds. You can buy Helldivers 2 Super Credits on IGGM to unlock these weapons and stratagems, so you can optimize your loadout.

Dear Raiders, the fourth Expedition Departure for ARC Raiders officially began yesterday. To be honest, every time Expedition is about to start in the game, players can't help but express in the community their expectations that the development team might create some surprises. And this isn't just hype; it's purely based on their understanding and experience of the game. They just feel that for such an important milestone as Expedition, the development team should at least include something new, right? Even if it's not a major update, a new Raider deck, some new ARC Raiders items to pick up, or even a backpack trinket would be great. Many veteran players, though they don't say it out loud, are secretly hoping for even a small update. However, perhaps because of previous disappointments, some players are saying, "Don't worry, it'll probably just be adding a couple of new colors to our skins and that's it." Or they're saying there will definitely be another round of Trials, but it'll likely be released with bugs. These jokes are quite disheartening. So, did the recent ARC Raiders Store Update 1.38.0 meet everyone's expectations? Update Content The update everyone was waiting for finally went live on July 21st: Store Update 1.38.0. And indeed, as some players predicted, this update added two new colorways to Torpedo set - Camo and Black. Frankly, this is just a cosmetic change and doesn't significantly affect how you play matches in ARC Raiders. The truly noteworthy change is the optimization of the matchmaking algorithm. The development team candidly stated in their announcement that they received numerous complaints from players regarding the quality of matchmaking, especially during off-peak hours, in certain regions, or under specific map conditions, where the match experience was indeed subpar. Therefore, starting July 21st, they will be testing a new matchmaking logic. Simply put, the algorithm might make you wait a little longer, but the goal is to match you with opponents of similar playstyles and team sizes, making matches fairer and more interesting. This change is actually quite crucial because ARC Raiders is a mix of PvPvE. The quality of matchmaking directly determines whether you encounter equally matched opponents, get crushed by skilled players, or have a very quiet match when you enter the map. The Gap Between Expectations and Reality The updated outfit colors and matchmaking algorithm seem fine on their own, but the problem is that Update 1.38.0, comprised of these two elements, completely fails to meet player expectations. Many players are complaining that after each Expedition, regardless of win or loss, they have to use the materials lost in Topside to upgrade their benches level by level. This is the fourth Expedition, and the situation has remained almost unchanged in ARC Raiders. What players truly want is something fresh and innovative that breaks the mold - like a new gun that makes the ubiquitous Bobcat and Vulcano no longer the only viable options. Or a new map mechanic that forces players to adjust their tactics from ARC Raiders. In short, only these things can make Expedition feel different and fresher than before. How can new outfit colors and matchmaking optimizations alone keep players motivated to log in during the long lull from July to October? The Main Event in October If we put ourselves in their shoes, we might understand that ARC Raiders development team is not unaware of the desire for a new design, but they have most likely focused their manpower on the major update in October of this year. The community is naturally placing incredibly high expectations on that October update, with some even jokingly saying it will not only save the game but also solve world peace. It's clear that most people are pinning their hopes on that moment, but with several months to go, the regular updates in between won't satisfy the players' desires. Many rational veteran players believe that once this Expedition ends, they should put ARC Raiders aside and play something else first. Don't mistake this for giving up; it's more like a smarter form of self-management - since there's no new work, I won't waste my time here, lest I burn out my last bit of enthusiasm for the game. Future Uncertainties Overall, it's not that ARC Raiders development team isn't working, nor that players are too picky. Rather, the current timing is indeed delicate and awkward, and games that focus on PvPvE inherently need a constant influx of fresh content. Outfit color updates and matchmaking optimizations are routine game maintenance procedures and have their value, but expecting them to sustain the hype during a months-long hiatus is unrealistic. Whether the highly anticipated major update in October will deliver the new map, weapon balance improvements, and system overhaul everyone is hoping for remains to be seen. For veteran players who have already spent hundreds of hours in ARC Raiders, they need to see some noteworthy new changes in the game. Only in this way can Expedition not just be a repetition, but truly the beginning of a new journey. And only in this way will those who decide to leave ARC Raiders temporarily be willing to download the game again and return to this familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar battlefield when October truly arrives!