Helldivers 2 Items

According to the official roadmap, after Helldivers 2 Update 8.0 arrives in December, Automatons will become Super Earth's main enemy. These machines have powerful firepower and heavy armor, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

Fortunately, we also have some powerful and interesting weapons to protect our precious freedom and democracy. Some are designed to deal with enemies at long range, while others simply rely on overwhelming firepower. Let's take a look at the strongest support weapons available as of Update 7.1.

Here are the top 5 support weapons: 

• AC-8 Autocannon
• EAT-411 Leveller 
• RS-422 Railgun
• APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle
• GR-8 Recoilless Rifle

AC-8 Autocannon

AC-8 Autocannon has excellent ammunition efficiency. It can carry 60 rounds and fire rapidly while dealing solid damage. It can usually take down Devastators in around two shots, hit a Hulk in the eye to stagger it, and even destroy Gunships from the air.

Autocannon has two programmable ammunition types: Flak and AP rounds. Flak is generally used for crowd control and works well against groups of soldiers and Devastators, allowing you to clear one group quickly before moving on to the next. AP rounds are better suited for tougher heavily armored enemies and their vulnerable body parts.

Autocannon has also received a quality-of-life buff that makes team reloading much easier, as the assisting Helldiver no longer needs to carry the backpack. You only need to move next to the wielder to assist with reloading, increasing the rate of fire while maintaining sustained damage output.

Autocannon's reload speed has also been improved, making it more suitable for solo play as well as team reloads. Overall, Autocannon remains an amazing weapon even after all these years. If you want to have both fun and efficiency on Automaton front, this is definitely a weapon worth trying.

EAT-411 Leveller

EAT-411 Leveller comes from Siege Breakers Warbond, which can be unlocked with Helldivers 2 Super Credits, and the other 4 can be unlocked simply by using Requisition Slips.

EAT-411 Leveller anti-tank weapon can reliably destroy almost every heavy unit in the game with a single shot, including Bile Titans and Factory Striders. If a group of enemies is clustered together, you can also fire into the group and wipe them out.

Leveller has the largest explosion radius of all support weapons. This means that even without a direct hit, its massive blast radius can still deal effective damage to the target or clear out a large group of nearby enemies in one shot, giving it a relatively forgiving margin for error.

Although it is a single-shot weapon that is discarded after firing, you can call down another one as many times as needed. After the relevant Ship Module upgrades, its cooldown can be reduced to around two minutes, meaning you can get another chance to instantly eliminate a heavy unit roughly every two minutes.

RS-422 Railgun

RS-422 Railgun can kill a Hulk with a single shot through its viewing slit, while it can also easily destroy Devastators and Scout Striders.

Against Terminids, it can kill a Brood Commander with a single headshot, while a charged shot can even penetrate the head of an Alpha Commander.

In Safe Mode, you can relatively reliably fire at a Hulk's eye without putting yourself at significant risk, while Unsafe Mode provides much higher damage.

When using Railgun, you should try to use Unsafe Mode whenever possible, otherwise you will lose out on additional damage.

Unsafe Mode is activated by manually switching the firing mode, allowing the weapon to penetrate tank-level armor. However, you should avoid charging it for more than around three seconds, or the weapon will explode, killing you and potentially injuring nearby teammates.

If you do not want to worry about ammunition, bring a Supply Pack. This reduces the need to rely on ammunition Stratagems and makes the loadout more team-oriented while still allowing you to deal respectable damage.

APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle

APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle is a heavy sniper rifle, and its effectiveness depends heavily on the user's skill.

AMR can kill a Devastator with a single headshot, while two shots to the red eye can destroy a Hulk. It can also effectively target the rear heat sinks of Tanks and the turret of a Factory Strider.

The weapon has a 7+1-round magazine and six spare magazines, allowing a single call-in to deal with multiple targets. Even after running dry, it can be called down again as a support weapon, with a cooldown of around eight minutes.

Despite being a sniper rifle, it has a semi-automatic fire rate of 400 RPM. In an emergency, switching to third-person view and rapidly firing off rounds can be an effective way to defend against close-range threats, although this should be used carefully to conserve ammunition.

However, its bullets have significant drop, so you cannot stay too far away from your target, or you may miss shots that would otherwise be within effective range.

GR-8 Recoilless Rifle

GR-8 Recoilless Rifle has some of the highest single-shot damage in the game. With HEAT rounds, a single shot can take down a Bile Titan with a headshot, an Impaler by hitting its neck weak point, or a Factory Strider.

Against a Hulk, hitting its viewing slit is enough for an instant kill. You can even destroy a Factory Strider by hitting the weak point on its toe with a single shot, something that is difficult for other weapons to accomplish.

Against a Charger Behemoth, shots to the body can cause it to bleed out, while a headshot kills it instantly.

GR-8 requires a backpack slot to carry its ammunition, but when a teammate assists with reloading, you can keep moving while firing at an extremely fast pace. This is why it remains a meta weapon across all three enemy factions.

These support weapons are extremely powerful against Automatons, while they are still effective against enemies from the other factions. If you are struggling to progress, these weapons are well worth trying.

Players, Helldivers 2 has finally released some exciting news - the content roadmap after Major Update 7.0 has been presented to all valiant warriors, including the upcoming Update 7.1.

While the roadmap only outlines the main content of Update 7.1 and doesn't reveal more specific details, it's already enough to spark widespread discussion among players.

Now, based on the currently released information, we've compiled a summary of the core content of Helldivers 2 Update 7.1, its possible release window, and the focus of attention in the player community, helping you prepare for battle!

Update 7.1 Core Content

According to the official roadmap, players can see that Update 7.1 will explicitly include two elements: a new Warbond and two brand-new rewards.

As a regular feature of Helldivers 2 content, Warbonds usually come with new armor sets, weapon skins, emotes, Super Credits, and other unlockable items.

Regarding the two new rewards mentioned by the official team, we can infer from the differences in wording in subsequent updates on the roadmap (such as Update 7.2 New Reward) that these rewards likely refer to Campaign rewards.

Unlike items that are unlocked progressively within Warbond, these two rewards may require participation in specific Galactic War fronts and completion of stage objectives.

While the official theme and specific reward types for the new Warbond haven't been revealed yet, based on Helldivers 2's past update cadence, new Warbonds often come with a new gameplay style or weapon category.

For example, explosive weapons, energy-based weapons, or melee enhancements.

It is recommended that players stockpile Helldivers 2 Super Credits in advance to unlock desired content as soon as the new Warbond in Update 7.1 is released.

Release Date

The roadmap only indicates that Update 7.1 will be released in September, without providing a more specific date.

Looking back at the deployment patterns of previous Warbond updates in the game, we've noticed that most content updates tend to fall in the latter half of each month, such as around the 25th.

This timing has previously caused dissatisfaction among some players, who felt that releasing at the end of the month would reduce their playable time that month and potentially conflict with events in other games.

Judging from community discussions, if Update 7.1 is also scheduled for release in the last week of September, it will probably remain unacceptable to some players.

However, Helldivers 2 development team seems to have accelerated its patch release pace recently, with Major Update 7.0 already released. Therefore, the possibility of Update 7.1 launching in mid-September or the third week of September cannot be ruled out.

Regardless of the final date, players are advised to pay close attention to official announcements and complete their daily Personal Orders and current Warbond cleanup before Update 7.1 to avoid wasting resources during the transition between old and new content.

Player Anticipation

Although the description of Update 7.1 is rather concise, players generally seem to view it as a prelude to the major events of October (Liberty Day event, new biomes, new enemies, new missions, etc.).

Many veteran players believe that while this update may seem small, the two new rewards could have a crucial impact on the subsequent Galactic War, such as providing support weapons for Terminids or Automatons.

Furthermore, regarding the recently circulated Stratagem Beacon Bounce Fix Mods, after multiple rounds of testing, these mods have brought no substantial changes, and their code source is controversial, even suspected of being AI-generated.

Therefore, it is recommended that players not rely too much on unofficial patches and patiently wait for the official update logs.

If you encounter abnormal bounces when throwing Stratagem Balls in Helldivers 2, try adjusting the throwing angle or choosing a flatter surface; this is often more reliable than third-party tools.

How to prepare for Update 7.1?

Since the exact release date of Update 7.1 is unknown, it's best to prepare in-game now to be more prepared.

Reserve Resources

First, ensure you have at least 1000 Helldivers 2 Super Credits to unlock the new Warbond mentioned on the roadmap.

Simultaneously, start accumulating Medals in-game to quickly level up after the new Warbond's release.

Clear Current Warbonds

If your current Helldivers 2 Warbond isn't finished, hurry up and claim all unlocked rewards before Update 7.1 to avoid being distracted and neglecting other tasks after the new Warbond's release.

Monitor Campaign Progress

As mentioned earlier, the two new rewards in the update are likely tied to specific campaigns, so actively participate in all phases of your current Galactic War to ensure you have enough contribution points to unlock the rewards.

Keep Your Client Stable

Finally, because Helldivers 2 often has hotfix patches before and after major updates, you can enable automatic updates and restart the game promptly after updating to avoid caching issues.

While Update 7.1 doesn't have the same mystique and abundance of new features as the October update, it likely lays the necessary groundwork for the upcoming Liberty Day event and new enemies.

For all Helldivers players, every Warbond update is a great opportunity to adjust your gear and try new tactics, so planning ahead, regardless of when Update 7.1 goes live, will always get you further!