Leveling up in Helldivers 2
Leveling up in Helldivers 2 opens new Stratagems for you to try and gives you ranking titles for every 5 to 10 levels you progress in. The prestigious title of Super Private is only given to the most democratic Helldivers after reaching level 150. This article will provide some tips and tricks to make leveling up faster.
Difficulty Bonuses
Each difficulty in Helldivers 2 provides a scaling multiplier that increasess. Helldive difficulty has the most rewards in the game, but missions in that mode have the most enemy patrols, objectives, and operational modifiers, making the run difficult. The sweet spot for earning enough experience is in Suicide Mission mode, with an experience multiplier of 150%. Harder missions also increase the number and variant of Samples that spawn on the map to upgrade your Super Destroyer.
For reference, here are the experience multipliers per difficulty:
- Trivial: 0%
- Easy: 0%
- Medium: 25%
- Challenging: 50%
- Hard: 75%
- Extreme: 100%
- Suicide Mission: 150%
- Impossible: 200%
- Helldive: 250%
Secondary Objective Completion
Secondary objectives are your primary source of experience outside of the main mission. Doing side objectives like Radar Stations, Escape Pods, SEAF Artillery, etc., will be necessary, especially when tackling higher-difficulty missions. These objectives have a blue icon on the map, signifying their status as optional missions. Not only do they provide some aid to your mission, but they also pay out a chunk of experience once you finish the mission. Destroying Outposts is also a good source of experience, as the bigger the outpost, the more XP is given once they’re destroyed.
There will also be tactical objectives on top of the regular ones in greater difficulties, such as Spore Spewers, Shrieker / Stalker Nests, Detector Towers, Stratagem Jammers, and Automaton Emplacements that will give the enemy an edge on the map. Destroying them will make the rest of the mission more manageable, as well as the experience reward you can gain.
Full Team Extraction
The game provides a small experience bonus for every person who successfully extracts in the dropship. While optional, extracting with an entire team can make a difference in the experience gained on higher difficulties.
Mission Timer Bonus
You also gain XP based on how fast you complete a mission. The bonus is meager, but it can become significant with higher difficulties. Extracting with the expired timer will yield no bonus experience, so ensure you get everything done quickly and avoid long, protracted fights.
Quickest Method
If you need to earn a small but fast amount of experience, you can run the Eradicate missions on lower difficulties as the kill quota will be low enough to finish the mission within 5 minutes. While the payout isn’t as large, it’s a quick source of XP.
Alternatively, you can run the Terminate Illegal Broadcast mission with an Autocannon support weapon on Trivial difficulty to get the mission done quickly.
Largest Experience Gain
First, you must run a mission on Helldive difficulty to receive a 250% experience bonus upon completion. This difficulty also has 5 side objectives on regular open maps, meaning even more XP gains. Ensure everyone in your squad extracts safely while keeping the mission timer above 20 minutes.