Helldivers 2 Armor Passives: A Comprehensive Guide & Tier List
Helldivers 2 categorizes armor into light, medium, and heavy, impacting mobility and defense. However, the real game-changer lies in the armor passives – powerful perks significantly altering gameplay. This guide provides a complete overview and tier list to help you optimize your loadouts.
All Armor Passives and Their Effects
Helldivers 2 currently boasts 14 armor passives, each impacting your strategy and combat effectiveness. Remember, only body armor possesses passives; helmets and capes are standard.
| 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 (e.g., headshots); prevents chest injuries (e.g., 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 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 (Version 1.002.003)
This tier list assesses 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 diverse tasks: sealing bug holes, destroying fabricators/warp ships, using Thermites, and stun-locking enemies. |
| Med-Kit | Significantly improves survivability, especially when combined with the Experimental Infusion booster, effectively cheating death. | |
| Siege-Ready | Significantly boosts ammo capacity and reload speed, crucial for managing large enemy groups, particularly with high-ammo weapons. | |
| A | Democracy Protects | Provides substantial early-game defense, increasing survival against lethal damage. |
| Extra Padding | Offers consistent armor rating increase for broad damage resistance. | |
| Fortified | Extremely useful generally, but especially effective against Automatons, enhancing survival against explosives and improving weapon effectiveness against robotic foes. | |
| 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 beneficial against mobile enemies, but other options often prove more effective. |
| Inflammable | Ideal for fire-based builds, particularly useful in environments with fire tornadoes; effective against Terminids and Illuminate. | |
| Scout | Useful for revealing enemy positions, but limited by its lack of highlighting points of interest or side objectives. | |
| C | Acclimated | Limited utility as you rarely face all four elemental damage types (acid, electrical, fire, gas) simultaneously. |
| Advanced Filtration | Only beneficial for gas-focused builds, and even then, the overall impact is relatively minor. | |
| Electrical Conduit | Primarily useful against Illuminate, but other options often provide superior benefits, unless friendly fire is a major concern. | |
| Unflinching | Minimal impact on combat effectiveness; the reduction in camera shake and recoil is negligible. |
