The Helldivers 2 progression system explained
Feb. 19, 2024Progression and levelling up in Helldivers 2 is done through objective completion, not kills
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The Helldivers 2 progression system includes numerous currencies, including levels, Medals, Requisition Slips and Samples, all of which are earned and spent in different ways. There’s also some nuances to progression that divulge from the norm - such as the fact that there’s no benefit or bonus for killing enemies! Well, except for those that are specifically on your target list when you start a mission, of course. Regardless, I’ll explain progression in Helldivers 2 below, as well as the different currencies and rewards built into the game, and how you can get them all.
If you already understand the system of course, why not check out how to work it to its utmost - we have guides onHelldivers 2 fast levellingandhow to farm Samples in Helldivers 2!
The Helldivers 2 progression system and levelling up explained
The progression system in Helldivers 2grants players certain rewards and experience for completing both optional and mission essential objectives, rather than how many bugs and bots you kill along the way. The more of the objectives you complete, the greater your payout. This means that at the end of a mission, the game tallies up the following:
The reward for completing missions and all the objectives above areXP and Requisition Slips. It’s also worth mentioning thatall rewards are shared equally among the entire team at the end of the mission,no matter who’s responsible for what. That includes XP, Slips, Medals and Samples. And speaking of which…
At time of writing Helldivers 2 has the following rewards and currencies:
Helldivers 2 Defend CampaignsHelldivers 2 enemies listHelldivers 2 Scout StridersHow to rescue science teams in Helldivers 2 and evacuate civiliansHelldivers 2 Devastators
Personal progression is one thing, but how do you get harder missions to test yourself against? It’s fairly basic:to unlock higher difficulties in Helldivers 2, you simply need to successfully complete a full operation on the previous difficulty. Operations will have different numbers of missions attached to them depending on what difficulty you start them at, with increasing numbers required of players as you go up the chain.
There are nine levels of difficulty in Helldivers 2 to be unlocked: Trivial, Easy, Medium, Challenging, Hard, Extreme, Suicide Mission, Impossible and Helldiver. This doesn’t just change enemy health - expect to encounter different threats and different mission types, depending on the challenge you choose.
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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.
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