In Helldivers 2, unlocking legendary, top-tier weapons does not rely on random loot drops or boss kills. Instead, high-impact primaries, secondaries, and heavy support stratagems are earned by spending Warbond Medals inside Warbonds, farming Super Credits at Points of Interest (POIs), and purchasing heavy stratagems using Requisition Slips at your Ship Management terminal. To build a high-performance arsenal fast, you need to target high-priority Premium Warbonds like Cutting Edge and Democratic Detonation while speed-farming low-difficulty maps for rapid payouts.
Understanding the Warbond Unlock System in Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 replaces traditional battle passes with permanent, battle-pass-style catalogues called Warbonds. Unlike standard live-service titles where passes expire, every Warbond published by Arrowhead Game Studios remains accessible indefinitely once purchased. Weapons inside these catalogues are gated by tier pages, which unlock sequentially as you spend more Warbond Medals overall within that specific catalogue.
The game splits weapons into two distinct distribution tracks:
- Helldivers Mobilize (Free Base Warbond): Contains 10 pages of essential gear including foundational primaries like the SG-225 Breaker and the PLAS-1 Scorcher. It requires a cumulative investment of 750+ Medals to clear entirely.
- Premium Warbonds (1,000 Super Credits Each): Specialized Warbonds such as Steeled Veterans, Cutting Edge, Democratic Detonation, and Freedom's Flame contain specialized armor, capes, and highly impactful meta weapons like the LAS-16 Sickle and GP-31 Grenade Pistol.
Because premium passes hold many of the strongest weapons, optimizing your progression requires balancing Medal acquisition with free Super Credit harvesting. If you enjoy optimizing action titles, check out our guide on Path of Exile 2 graphics settings to maintain smooth framerates in heavy combat scenarios.
Farming Warbond Medals Efficiently for High-Tier Guns
Warbond Medals are the core currency needed to claim weapons from any Warbond. Earning them efficiently comes down to executing three specific gameplay strategies:
1. Complete High-Difficulty Operations
Mission sets on Difficulty 7 (Suicide Mission), Difficulty 8 (Impossible), and Difficulty 9 (Helldive) grant escalating Medal rewards per completed stage within a 3-mission Operation. Completing a full Helldive operation yields up to 33 Medals. Always complete all three missions in an operation sequence to secure the highest multi-stage bonus payout.
2. Speed-Run Trivial (Difficulty 1) Map POIs
For solo players looking for constant gains, drop onto Trivial difficulty Terminid planets with clear visibility (such as Fenrir III or Erata Prime). Equipping light armor allows you to sprint across minor Points of Interest (marked by radar icons or diamond symbols on your map). Saluting crashed beacons, blowing open metallic shipping containers with grenades, and opening double-button bunkers frequently drops stacks of 2 to 5 Warbond Medals per pickup.
3. Complete Daily Personal Orders and Galactic Major Orders
Check your pause menu daily for Personal Orders (e.g., "Kill 100 enemies with the Flamethrower"), which yield 15 Medals upon completion. Participating in community Major Orders awards massive bonuses ranging between 45 to 55 Medals when the collective global objective succeeds.
How to Get Super Credits Without Spending Real Money
To access top-tier weapons locked behind Premium Warbonds, you need 1,000 Super Credits per Warbond. While you can buy Super Credits with real-world currency on the Helldivers 2 Steam page or PlayStation Store, you can farm them entirely for free in-game.
Follow this exact farming loop to earn 100-300 Super Credits per hour:
- Select a Trivial difficulty mission on an open, flat desert planet.
- Equip the Jump Pack stratagem and high-stamina Light Armor (e.g., SC-30 Trailblazer).
- Run immediately to every Point of Interest. Look for yellow light beams (crashed pods) and blue/red container doors buried in dirt mounds.
- Loot every Super Credit pickup (which awards 10 Super Credits instantly directly to your account). Rare lucky pickups drop 100 Super Credits in a single stack.
- Once all POIs are cleared, abandon the mission via the options menu (or return to ship). Pickups save instantly to your account upon looting, meaning extraction is completely optional for currency farming.
If you enjoy discovering efficient resource loops in major action-adventure titles, read our coverage on farming gold fast in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.
Top Legendary Weapons to Target First
Not all weapons in Warbonds are created equal. Focus your Medals on unlocking these standout primary and secondary weapons first:
1. LAS-16 Sickle (Cutting Edge Warbond – Page 1, 20 Medals)
This energy-based primary assault rifle features near-zero recoil, pinpoint accuracy, and infinite ammunition if you burst fire to manage heat build-up. It cleanses low-tier Terminid swarms and Automaton infantry effortlessly.
2. SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary (Steeled Veterans Warbond – Page 2, 60 Medals)
The undisputed king of Terminid crowd control. Spraying fire pellets into incoming bug breaches inflicts wide-area damage over time, killing Hunters, Shriekers, and Warriors before they reach your squad.
3. GP-31 Grenade Pistol (Democratic Detonation Warbond – Page 3, 60 Medals)
An indispensable secondary weapon that fires explosive grenades directly into Bug Holes and Automaton Fabricators. Unlocking this allows you to carry stun or smoke grenades in your main grenade slot without sacrificing destruction utility.
4. PLAS-1 Scorcher (Helldivers Mobilize – Page 10, 75 Medals)
Fires plasma projectiles that inflict explosive splash damage. The Scorcher penetrates heavy armor plates, allowing you to destroy Automaton Scout Striders right through their front armor plating.
Gamers looking for performance tuning while trying out high-intensity shooters should review our Shadow of the Erdtree PC graphics guide for optimization techniques that apply across major action titles on PC.
Unlocking Top-Tier Support Weapons at the Ship Management Terminal
While primary weapons come from Warbonds, heavy endgame anti-tank equipment is purchased at the Ship Management terminal using Requisition Slips unlocked through level progression. To ensure high mission success rates on Super Helldive difficulty, unlock these legendary support weapons as soon as you reach their level requirements:
- LAS-99 Quasar Cannon (Level 18 – 7,500 Requisition Slips): Fires a heavy anti-tank energy beam capable of decapitating Chargers and shooting down Automaton dropships in a single shot without requiring a backpack slot.
- AC-8 Autocannon (Level 10 – 7,000 Requisition Slips): The absolute most versatile support weapon in Helldivers 2. Destructive explosive rounds rip through medium armor, spores, fabricators, and gunships easily.
- RS-422 Railgun (Level 20 – 10,000 Requisition Slips): High-precision anti-armor kinetic rifle that pierces heavy armor plates when set to unsafe firing mode.
Combining top-tier support Stratagems with fully unlocked Premium Warbond weapons gives your Helldiver maximum tactical versatility across all planet sectors. For more recommendations on top experiences on PC, explore our rundown of the top free-to-play PC games or check out great budget titles with our list of best Steam games under $5.