There are 10 Helldivers 2 difficulty levels to learn and master, each more unforgivingly brutal than the last. The hordes of enemies become more varied, more monstrous, and more massive with each step up the ladder, but the rewards also get better at each level too – more XP, Requisition Slips, Medals, and Samples await.
However, you’ll find that the early levels in Helldivers 2 ramp up the difficulty quickly, making for a bit of trial by fire as new enemies appear all the time and you stumble into unfamiliar objectives. Bearing that in mind, it’s a good idea to go into a mission knowing exactly what to expect so that you can prepare appropriately, so I’ve laid out everything you need to know about every difficulty in Helldivers 2, including the sorts of threats you’ll face and what rewards you can get.
How to change difficulty level in Helldivers 2
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To change your mission difficulty level, you first need to unlock the next difficulty up by completing an entire Operation (1-3 missions) on your current difficulty. For example, to unlock Easy difficulty, you just need to play an Operation (complete one mission) on Trivial difficulty, and so on.
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With a new difficulty unlocked, you can then head to the Galaxy Map and use R1 and L1/RB and LB to increase or decrease the difficulty of whatever Operation you choose next. But be aware that you cannot change the difficulty of an Operation once you’re started it!
Every Helldivers 2 difficulty level explained
Every difficulty level alters something about a mission, including, enemy outpost sizes (Terminid nests, Automaton fabricators, and Illuminate warp ships), side objectives, the types of enemies you’ll face, and how many of them there are.
Here’s how each difficulty works, from Trivial all the way up to Super Helldive:
Helldivers 2 Trivial difficulty
The easiest difficulty meant for learning the absolute basics of Helldivers 2.