History YMMV / HelldiversII

* FriendlyFandoms: With VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic, another co-op squad-based [=PvE=] shooter from a Scandinavian developer. The Deep Rock and Helldivers Twitter accounts have interacted with each other in playful manners, contributing to this.

** Automaton Gunships are capable of one-shotting a Helldiver regardless of their armor, cover, and seemingly whether or not they actually hit their mark. Worse, they spawn infinitely from a specific sub-objective on higher difficulties, meaning that if you can't get them down (which is near-impossible to do when you have gunships, heavy devastators, tanks, and Democracy-knows-what-the-fuck-else swarming your squad) you're going to be using up your entire reinforcement budget in the space of seconds.

* BestLevelEver: Cold worlds in ''Helldivers II'' are considered the only positive modifier. The lower rate of fire is more than offset by the lower heat build-up on energy weapons, making laser weapons like the Sickle better than ever. While not directly related to the temperature, the lack of plants and plentiful rock/glacial outcroppings on such worlds also mean generally clear lines of sight, but with no shortage of cover if needed. Even the hostile plants found on ice worlds, which generate a severe slowdown area when detonated, are a mere annoyance to Helldivers but can tie up enemy forces if used tactically. This is a distinct departure from their incarnation in the first game, where they were purely negative, necessitating the use of cold-weather gear or vehicles so as not to get constantly bogged down in the knee-deep snow.

** [[AndThisIsFor REMEMBER MALEVELON CREEK!]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]The battle for the Automaton-controlled planet Malevelon Creek quickly became the first major cultural touchstone of ''Helldivers II'', with hundreds of thousands of valiant Helldivers banding together and giving their lives trying to liberate the planet from Bot rule despite heavy resistance. Unfortunately, despite staggering casualties on both sides, The Creek ultimately fell to the Automatons on February 27, 2024. Many veteran players compared the experience to UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, the future war scenes in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', the [[Franchise/TheMatrix machine war during the 2nd renaissance]], the [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsUmbaraArc Battle of Umbara]], or the [[VideoGame/HaloReach Battle of Reach]], leading to the common sentiment that there ain't no dropsite like The Creek. However, in a striking and heroic upheaval of events [[UnstoppableRage powered by the burning conviction of countless revenge-hungry Helldivers]], Super Earth managed to turn the tide and completely liberate Malevelon Creek in early April. Suffice it to say, the memory of the Divers who gave their lives during the Fall shall never be forgotten by the playerbase.[[/labelnote]]

* PlayAlongMeme: Treating the Battle of Malevelon Creek with such severity as if it were a real battle in real life which claimed thousands of players. Divers who were there during the Fall will describe it with all the pain of a ShellShockedVeteran, and "[[AndThisIsFor REMEMBER THE CREEK!]]" is just as common of a BattleCry to hear over comms as "[[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar VIRGINIA!]]" or "[[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades DEUS VULT!]]" would have been in olden times.

** Automaton Gunships are capable of one-shotting a Helldiver regardless of their armor, cover, and seemingly whether or not they actually hit their mark. Worse, they spawn infinitely from a specific sub-objective on higher difficulties, meaning that if you can't get them down (which is near-impossible to do when you have gunships, heavy destroyers, and Democracy-knows-what-the-fuck-else swarming your squad) you're going to be using up your entire reinforcement budget in the space of seconds.

* FridgeBrilliance: A Terminid Charger's actual weakest spot isn't its rear end, but its legs. Blasting the armor off a leg via a Railgun or Autocannon and shooting the exposed leg a few times will kill it. This can likely be attributed to the SquareCubeLaw, especially with such an armored, heavy and large body -- by taking out one of its legs, the Charger's remaining legs cannot support its own weight, and get crushed to the point where internal bleeding takes out the creature. A Bile Titan's longer and even more heavily armored legs means it doesn't fall to this as easily, despite being far bigger.

** The Detector Tower is often referred to by players as the "[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Eye of Sauron]]" for its likely-intentional resemblance to the Eye. Playing online, it's more common to hear the nickname than the official designation over choice chat, e.g. "we've got an Eye of Sauron to the north, heading there to take it down before it calls reinforcements".

** The Detector Tower is often referred to by players as the "[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Eye of Sauron]]" for its likely-intentional resemblance to the Eye. Playing online, it's more common to hear the nickname than the official designation, e.g. "we've got an Eye of Sauron, north, heading there to take it down".

** Players who spend a lot of time on Malevelon Creek are referred to collectively, and affectionately, as "Creek Crawlers".

* EvilIsCool: The Automatons. Unlike the Terminids, the Automatons are more sophisticated, have their own society, have a slick [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver red and black aesthetic]], are shown to attack the Helldiver Dreadnaughts in space, and even have their own [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5KOgaE3FG4&t=0s marching chant]]. This, combined with their intimidating appearance and a [[VillainHasAPoint level of sympathy]] given how they are [[UndyingLoyalty fighting Super Earth to avenge and liberate their creators, the Cyborgs]], make them insanely cool and threatening, becoming a bit of a WorthyOpponent for much of the fanbase.

** 500kg Bomb is your average SmartBomb. It can OneHitKill anything in the game if it's centered dead on the blast zone, and it has respectable AOE to wipe out fodder. It also has a short cooldown of 2 minutes for its ability to wipe out hordes - and you get two per pass if you fully upgrade the Eagle.
** Orbital Gas Strike has a really short cooldown of just 75 seconds, and the lingering gas can be used as area denial, and if you have any stims on you, you can survive calling it down on yourself to wipe out swarming terminids. Automatons are usually too slow to escape the gas cloud once they enter it, and even if they do manage to escape, the DamageOverTime is usually a death sentence for them. Bonus points if you combine it with the EMS Strike, which has a similarly short cooldown. Oh, and it can occasionally take out fabricators too.

** Flashbangs can stun anything that isn't an Automaton tank or Bile Titan. This makes it easy for you or your teammates to line up shots with precision weapons like the Anti-Material Rifle or Railgun, or with stratagems that take time to land like the 500kg bomb. They also make for great escape tools. If a bunch of Hunters or Berserkers are right in your face or are nipping at your legs as you run, you can safely pull a flashbang out and hold onto it, stunning your attackers, while merely slowing you down, giving you plenty of time to retaliate or escape.
** The Quasar has quickly become a favorite among Helldivers because it addresses many of the weaknesses the other AT weapons have. As an energy weapon, it effectively has unlimited ammo so you don't have to keep calling in resupply strategems or replacement [=EATs=]. In addition, while the time it takes to cool between shots is comparable to that of the recoilless rifle and Spear's reload time, the Quasar will passively cool while stowed away, allowing the wielder to swap to their primary weapon to avoid unnecessary downtime. Finally, the Quasar doesn't need to use up a valuable backpack slot to store extra ammo, granting the user more flexibility. In comparison, the requirement for a wind up time before firing and the lack of splash damage seems like a small price to pay for an AT weapon that a single Helldiver can effectively wield solo.

*** The Railgun as of this writing is THE GameBreaker. It has only one shot before needing to reload, but it reloads quickly, can penetrate all armor in the game (including Bile Titans, Tanks and Dropships.), strike through multiple targets, and has the range of a sniper rifle. If that wasn't enough, it can be changed into an unsafe mode that allows it to do over double damage, at the cost of literal ExplosiveOverclocking if you're not careful. With careful precision, it's possible to kill Hulks and even Bile Titans with a single well placed shot. However, the Railgun was later nerfed so it no longer has as much armor penetration as it used to; it ''requires'' use of the Unsafe mode to get near the results it did before, and even then isn't quite as powerful.
*** The Shield Backpack provides some insane durability, both against the melee strikes of the Terminids and the gunfire of the Automatons. In a game where you die in just 5 or so good hits, being able to tank an additional 5-7 is game changing. Especially since the shield regenerates but your health doesn't, so the shield can soak up grazing hits that would otherwise add up over time.
*** 500kg Bomb is your average SmartBomb. It can OneHitKill anything in the game if it's centered dead on the blast zone, and it has respectable AOE to wipe out fodder. It also has a short cooldown of 2 minutes for its ability to wipe out hordes - and you get two per pass if you fully upgrade the Eagle.
*** Orbital Gas Strike has a really short cooldown of just 75 seconds, and the lingering gas can be used as area denial, and if you have any stims on you, you can survive calling it down on yourself to wipe out swarming terminids. Automatons are usually too slow to escape the gas cloud once they enter it, and even if they do manage to escape, the DamageOverTime is usually a death sentence for them. Bonus points if you combine it with the EMS Strike, which has a similarly short cooldown. Oh, and it can occasionally take out fabricators too.
*** The EMS Mortar, unlike its regular variant, does no damage, but can stunlock a huge amount of enemies quickly and efficiently. This is much more useful on evacuation and extermination missions, where friendly fire is a huge threat that the regular mortar turret has. It can be combined with the Orbital Gas Strike to clear out entire hordes of enemies with little fuss or muss.
*** The Breaker shotgun combines rapid fire and good firepower with decidedly non-ShortRangeShotgun tendencies, being capable of making short work of enemies much further away than one would expect. It cannot deal with heavy armour in the slightest (particularly Chargers, Titans, or Tanks), but it can still take out most smaller units either by targeting their weak spots or through simple raw power. Despite several nerfs that reduced its capacity and increased its recoil, it's still considered the go-to primary weapon.
*** After getting a substantial buff to its DPS, the Flamethrower has become a top contender for replacing the Railgun against the Terminids. What it lacks in range, it makes up for in horde killing and area denial. Lighter bugs are roasted to a crisp in seconds, while Chargers will survive little more than a couple seconds of concentrated fire (At least when you're the host). About the only thing it can't do against Terminids is kill Bile Titans or close their nest holes.
*** Impact Grenades are just shy of anti-tank levels of damage, and deal a hefty amount of damage. The fact that they don't need to be cooked, or predicting enemy movement means you can easily just toss one and not have to worry about enemies escaping or blowing yourself up. Two impact grenades to the back of an Automaton tank or Hulk can instantly kill them, and a dead-on hit will one-hit kill Devastators (unless you hit a Heavy's shield arm). Likewise they work on most Automaton emplacements (turret towers, mortars, anti-air turrets). They require a little more finesse to take out bug holes and fabbers with, but this is a minor tradeoff given the benefits.
*** Flashbangs can stun anything that isn't an Automaton tank or Bile Titan. This makes it easy for you or your teammates to line up shots with precision weapons like the Anti-Material Rifle or Railgun, or with stratagems that take time to land like the 500kg bomb. They also make for great escape tools. If a bunch of Hunters or Berserkers are right in your face or are nipping at your legs as you run, you can safely pull a flashbang out and hold onto it, stunning your attackers, while merely slowing you down, giving you plenty of time to retaliate or escape.
*** The Quasar has quickly become a favorite among Helldivers because it addresses many of the weaknesses the other AT weapons have. As an energy weapon, it effectively has unlimited ammo so you don't have to keep calling in resupply strategems or replacement [=EATs=]. In addition, while the time it takes to cool between shots is comparable to that of the recoilless rifle and Spear's reload time, the Quasar will passively cool while stowed away, allowing the wielder to swap to their primary weapon to avoid unnecessary downtime. Finally, the Quasar doesn't need to use up a valuable backpack slot to store extra ammo, granting the user more flexibility. In comparison, the requirement for a wind up time before firing and the lack of splash damage seems like a small price to pay for an AT weapon that a single Helldiver can effectively wield solo.

** Automaton Marauders are the most annoying unit you can face. They are equipped with rocket launchers, and while they may go down like any other automaton unit, one hit from their rocket will instantly kill you. It gets especially bad when you are already surrounded by other enemies, or preoccupied with doing something else, where they can attack you at a fairly long range.

*** The Quasar has quickly become a favorite among Helldivers because it addresses many of the weaknesses the other AT weapons have. As an energy weapon, it effectively has unlimited ammo so you don't have to keep calling in resupply strategems or replacement [=EATs=]. In addition, its recharge time in between shots is far faster than the recoilless rifle and Spear reload time and doesn't take up a valuable backpack slot to store extra ammo. In comparison, the requirement for a wind up time before firing and the lack of splash damage seems like a small price to pay for an AT weapon that a single Helldiver can effectively wield solo.

*** Orbital Gas Strike has a really short cooldown of just 75 seconds, and the lingering gas can be used as area denial, and if you have any stims on you, you can survive calling it down on yourself to wipe out swarming terminids. Automatons are usually too slow to escape the gas cloud once they enter it, and even if they do manage to escape, the DamageOverTime is usually a death sentence for them.

*** Impact Grenades are just shy of anti-tank levels of damage, and deal a hefty amount of damage. The fact that they don't need to be cooked, or predicting enemy movement means you can easily just toss one and not have to worry about enemies escaping or blowing yourself up. Two impact grenades to the back of an Automaton tank or Hulk can instantly kill them. Likewise they work on most Automaton emplacements (turret towers, mortars, anti-air turrets). They require a little more finesse to take out bug holes and fabbers with, but this is a minor tradeoff given the benefits.

** Of particular notoriety are the Devastators. While all Automatons are considerably more durable then the Terminids, Devastators stand out for being ''so'' heavily armored that the only way to reliably damage them is to hit their heads and shoulder joints, which are [[TinyHeadedBehemoth disproportionately small and hard to hit compared to the rest of their massive body]], especially when you're already in the thick of battle with other Automatons firing at you from all angles. And to add insult to injury, they can spawn as early as Easy tier.

* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: Whenever a Helldiver approaches an Automaton Mortar Base on an Automaton-controlled planet, MissionControl will chime in with "Warning, you are in range of enemy artillery" ''ad nauseum'' every time one of the mortar turrets fires. While allegedly there are a few variations of the line, there's barely any difference in the inflection of their voice; not only is it borderline {{Narm}}-inducing, it can be seriously aggravating to hear the same voice line repeated over and over until you manage to actually take out the damn thing. Even more annoyingly, this line triggers even if ''you, personally'' are not in range of the mortars, so it can be hard to tell if you've accidentally wandered into the range of an alerted mortar station or if a random stranger on your squad ran off into one by themselves.

*** Impact Grenades are just shy of anti-tank levels of damage, and deal a hefty amount of damage. The fact that they don't need to be cooked, or predicting enemy movement means you can easily just toss one and not have to worry about enemies escaping or blowing yourself up. Two impact grenades to the back of an Automaton tank or Hulk can instantly kill them.
*** Flashbangs can stun anything that isn't an Automaton tank. Not even the mighty Bile Titan is immune to being hit with a nasty stun from one of these bad boys. This makes it easy for you or your teammates to line up shots with precision weapons like the Anti-Material Rifle or Railgun, or with stratagems that take time to land like the 500kg bomb. They also make for great escape tools. If a bunch of Hunters or Berserkers are right in your face or are nipping at your legs as you run, you can safely pull a flashbang out and hold onto it, stunning your attackers, while merely slowing you down, giving you plenty of time to retaliate or escape.

** If Devastators were bad, when a Hulk joins the fray, it's a near guarantee someone will die. They are heavily armored to the point that nothing short of armor-piercing weapons or stratagems can kill them, are equipped with both rockets and flamethrowers, are deceptively quick despite their large frame, and on higher difficulties, a dropship can spawn up to '''3''' of them. While they do have a weak spot on their backs, they are so aggressive that it's nearly impossible to hit it.

* DiscreditedMeme: When ''Helldivers II'''[='s=] Reclamation storyline came around, focusing the playerbase on the bot front, Malevelon Creek went from a beloved in-joke to being regarded as a wasteful boondoggle. (Fitting for a world already nicknamed "Space Vietnam".) Many Helldivers went to it because of [[ThatOneLevel its reputation]] and to be [[PlayAlongMeme part of the meme]], but players who check the supply lines (which is only possible with 3rd party tools) noticed that it is strategically entirely unimportant. The Creek and its fanbase was eventually blamed for the failure of Super Earth to achieve the second part of the Reclamation storyline, and the devs decided to give a Major Order with the express purpose of taking the Creek once and for all to end the toxicity. On April 1st, 2024, The Creek finally fell to Super Earth's onslaught.

** Terminids and Automatons in the sequel are near-universally referred to among the playerbase as 'bugs' and 'bots' for convenience's sake. It's simple, descriptive, and alliterative.

* MemeticLoser: In ''Helldivers II'', "Creek Crawlers" have become this due to their insistence on capturing-- and failure to capture-- Malevelon Creek after over a month of combat, which resulted in a major order to liberate Tibit failing, leading to portrayals of them as {{Military Maverick}}s obsessed with revenge who are overall doing more harm than good for the war effort by [[SkewedPriorities refusing to prioritize actual objectives in favor of resuscitating their injured pride]]. These portrayals swiftly evaporated after Malevelon Creek was the prime subject of a Major Order and was finally reclaimed on April 1st of 2024, giving Helldivers everywhere a much-needed morale boost.

*** In a similar vein, Erata Prime is [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror Bug Afghanistan]].

** "Damn it Joel!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Arrowhead revealed they have a developer named Joel who acts as a game master coordinating the war macro game. Fans were quick to label Joel a KillerGM and blame him for every setback Super Earth has suffered. While Joel does have macro-level control over the general direction of the campaign, he has no direct control on things like the planetary liberation percentages (which players learned much later regenerate over time like HP during non-peak hours), though he CAN increase the enemy reinforcement percentages a little.[[/labelnote]]

* ScrappyMechanic: Fire damage as a whole in ''Helldivers II'', whether it be from the flamethrower, Napalm stratagems, or the Breaker Incendiary, is considered borderline useless due to the fact that fire damage doesn't apply a DamageOverTime effect to enemies unless one is the host. It works just fine on other Helldivers, but if you thought a bot or bug would actually burn to death when it's ''on fire'', you have another thing coming.

** Certain missions have modifiers to them on harder difficulties. Two of the worst are "AA Defenses", which reduce the number of stratagem slots for each Helldiver by 1, and "Complex Stratagem Plotting", which doubles the deployment time of all Stratagems except Reinforcement. The latter is especially bullshit, as it doubles the deployment time ''of extraction'', meaning you have to fight off waves of enemies for four minutes instead of two. Both of these turn what should be fairly simple missions into bloodbaths, as your squad is inevitably not going to be fighting at 100%. The latter was eventually given a {{Nerf}} down to 50% and removed the debuff to extraction time, which still sucks, but is marginally less painful.
** The Strategem Scrambler prior to its removal from the game was a particularly infamous mechanic that would cause your inputted code sequences to have a chance to replace whatever it is you chose replaced by another strategem in your inventory. This lead to a ''lot'' of incidents such as players calling in their support weapons upon first landing only to be met with a carpet bombing over their own heads instead. Even when players are aware of the presence of a scrambler, it still makes calling vital strategem completely unreliable during emergency situations, causing the inverse of the previous situation where players trying to call in an orbital bombardment on a horde of enemies closing in on them are repeatedly given the strategem to instead call in a support weapon instead.

* AwesomeMusic: