Helldivers 2 Armor Passives: A Comprehensive Guide and Tier List
Helldivers 2 categorizes armor into light, medium, and heavy types, each impacting mobility and defense. However, the real power lies in the armor passives – potent perks significantly altering gameplay. This guide provides a complete overview of all passives and a tier list to help you optimize your loadouts.
All Armor Passives and Their Effects
The following table details the 14 armor passives currently in Helldivers 2 (as of the 1.002.003 game version). Remember, only body armor grants passive abilities; helmets and capes offer no additional bonuses.
| Armor Passive | Description |
|---|---|
| Acclimated | 50% resistance to acid, electrical, fire, and gas damage. |
| Advanced Filtration | 80% resistance to gas damage. |
| Democracy Protects | 50% chance to survive lethal attacks (like headshots); prevents chest injuries (like internal bleeding). |
| Electrical Conduit | 95% resistance to lightning arc damage. |
| Engineering Kit | +2 grenade capacity; 30% recoil reduction while crouching or prone. |
| Extra Padding | +50 armor rating. |
| Fortified | 50% resistance to explosive damage; 30% recoil reduction while crouching or prone. |
| Inflammable | 75% resistance to fire damage. |
| Med-Kit | +2 stim capacity; +2 seconds additional stim duration. |
| Peak Physique | 100% increased melee damage; improved weapon handling (reduced weapon movement drag). |
| Scout | 30% reduced enemy detection range; map markers generate radar scans. |
| Servo-Assisted | 30% increased throwing range; 50% additional limb health. |
| Siege-Ready | 30% increased primary weapon reload speed; 30% increased primary weapon ammo capacity. |
| Unflinching | 95% reduced recoil flinching. |
Armor Passive Tier List
This tier list (version 1.002.003) ranks passives based on overall value, utility, and effectiveness across various missions and enemy types.
| Tier | Armor Passive | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| S | Engineering Kit | Extra grenades are invaluable for various tasks: sealing bug holes, destroying fabricators, using Thermites, and stunning enemies. |
| Med-Kit | Significantly improves survivability, especially when combined with the Experimental Infusion booster, essentially allowing you to cheat death. | |
| Siege-Ready | Substantially boosts ammo capacity and reload speed for primary weapons, making it easier to handle large enemy groups, particularly with high-ammo-consumption weapons. | |
| A | Democracy Protects | Provides a strong defensive boost, especially early game, offering a significant chance to survive lethal attacks. |
| Extra Padding | Offers a straightforward increase in overall damage resistance. | |
| Fortified | Extremely useful generally, and exceptionally effective against Automatons, significantly increasing survivability against their explosive attacks. | |
| Servo-Assisted | Highly effective against Terminids; increased throwing range allows for safer stratagem deployment and grenade use, while increased limb health mitigates claw attacks. | |
| B | Peak Physique | Less useful as melee combat is generally avoided; the weapon handling improvement is helpful against mobile enemies, but other methods often prove more effective. |
| Inflammable | Best suited for fire-based builds, particularly useful in environments with fire tornadoes. Provides situational value against Terminids and Illuminate. | |
| Scout | The radar effect aids in enemy detection, but its value is limited as it doesn't highlight objectives or points of interest. | |
| C | Acclimated | Rarely beneficial as you won't encounter all four elemental damage types in a single mission. |
| Advanced Filtration | Only valuable for gas-focused builds, and even then, the overall benefit is limited. | |
| Electrical Conduit | Primarily useful against the Illuminate, but other options often prove superior unless friendly fire is a major concern. | |
| Unflinching | The reduction in recoil flinching and camera shake offers minimal impact on combat effectiveness. |
This guide and tier list should help you choose the best armor passives for your playstyle and mission objectives in Helldivers 2. Remember that the optimal passive will vary depending on the specific challenges you face.
