All Helldivers 2 difficulty settings & which one you should pick
Firing up a new multiplayer game with your pals is always a welcome treat, especially one that’s been reviewed as positively as Helldivers 2 - but you will eventually run into the inevitable difficulty settings problem and figuring out which one is best for you.
To help you, we have outlined below the differences between all the difficulty settings to aid your decision. The game's missions take you to different planets that have been overrun by either Automatons or Terminids. Hopefully, you and your crew can help turn the tide in the war, unlocking new weapons and Stratagems along the way.
Difficulty settings explained in Helldivers 2
In total, nine different difficulty options in Helldivers 2 can be chosen from before entering into a mission at the Galactic War Screen. The options from easiest to hardest are:
- Trivial
- Easy
- Medium
- Challenging
- Hard
- Extreme
- Suicide Mission
- Impossible
- Helldive
How to change the difficulty setting
Click to enlargeYou can only adjust your difficulty setting before embarking on a new mission, so it is important to get it just right - otherwise, you could find yourself in a pretty sticky situation.
To change your difficulty settings, you must go to the Galactic War Screen where you accept your missions. After you have chosen your mission you can press R1/L1 on PS5 or Q/E on PC to switch between the different options, but you will need to unlock new difficulty settings first.
How to unlock new difficulty options
The only way you can unlock new difficulty options in Helldivers 2 is by completing a mission on the highest difficulty you’ve unlocked. So if you want Impossible, you will need to complete a mission on Suicide Mission first.
Each new difficulty ups the ante, with enemies having more health and more of them coming for you. However, the upside to doing missions on harder difficulties is earning more Medals for missions and more XP.
What’s the best difficulty setting to play on?
Click to enlargeIf you’re playing by yourself, getting much further than normal is going to be a challenge - the higher difficulties are certainly best when you’re playing with friends. Because of how you unlock the difficulty settings you will have to try out each difficulty option before moving on.
Normal offers a good challenge, and you will still find yourself dying a fair amount - once you get comfortable at this level, and you’re breezing through the mission quickly, then it’s time to crack it up a level.
That is all there is to know about the different difficulty settings in Helldivers 2. If you’re looking for more guides then check out our Helldivers homepage where we have already covered how well the game runs on Steam Deck, how to emote and more.
