History YMMV / HelldiversII

* AccidentalAesop: Helldivers makes a case for how effective ''actual'' propaganda can be. While audiences (rightfully) laugh at the [[PropagandaMachine over-the-top brainwashing Super Earth commits in-universe]], the pride the real life community takes in symbolic Major Orders such as winning Malevelon Creek (which was already mostly liberated and had minimal strategic advantage) and in culling the generally weaker Terminid faction (despite the Automatons presenting a more pressing territorial threat) demonstrate how easily people can be motivated to rally behind victories that serve a sense of identity or establish superiority.

* 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 "[[RememberTheAlamo 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.

* MisaimedFandom: Like its [[VideoGame/{{Helldivers}} prequel]], there are plenty of fans who unironically celebrate Super Earth's government as a democratic utopia, or even more troubling, Fascists, Nazis and other Authoritarians who simply don't care that the game is supposed to be satire or claim that the game is somehow satirizing ''modern Democracy''. The over-the-top nature of the propaganda and the LargeHam lines from the Helldivers themselves are meant to be funny in how [[HamAndCheese enthusiastically they're delivered]], with most of the humor deriving from the fact that the player can clearly get that this is all a big joke at the expense of warmongering Authoritarian governments. [[WeHaveReserves The expendable nature of the Helldivers]], [[OrwellianEditor the hand-waving of discrepancies in the propaganda]], and [[BigBrotherIsWatching the virulent culling of anyone who dissents]] make it clear that this is a CrapsackWorld with a nice coat of paint. Even if some players are going along with the idea of Super Earth being awesome as a PlayAlongMeme, it's done with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The fact that some players miss how over the top and silly this all is means that they are, rather ironically, demonstrating that such propaganda can actually work.
* NightmareFuel: [[NightmareFuel/HelldiversII Has its own page]]

** 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.

** 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 and ensures that nobody will be escaping the gas cloud. 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.

** 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. It even has a Tier 4 upgrade that increases its damage by 25%.

** 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 stratagems 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 (or survivability, as anyone facing the Automatons will probably be taking the shield). 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.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Both Eagle-1 and Pelican-1 are well loved and respected in the community despite only playing minor support roles. For Eagle-1, she always provides [[DeathFromAbove prompt air cover]] to any Helldiver that requests it, no questions asked. For Pelican-1, he will always land on the drop zone no matter how hot it is to get as many Helldivers out alive as possible. This has led to many fans creating fanart and fan depictions of both pilots, even going so far as to ship them together.

** Contrary to popular belief, Pelican-1 and Eagle-1 are NOT married. This statement started to float around when fans found a Tumblr account that people mistook as an official ''Helldivers 2'' account due to its name and claimed that the two pilots were married. This was later disproven when Arrowhead Studio devs confirmed that they don't run an account on Tumblr. Despite this, it hasn't stopped many fans from shipping Eagle-1 and Pelican-1 with each other and there's quite a bit of fanart of them "flirting" by [[PopulationControl offering to apply for a C-01 form with each other]].

* GameBreaker: The Eruptor, added in the Democratic Detonation Warbond, is what would happen if the Slugger had a baby with a Grenade Launcher. Despite being a primary weapon, it being explosive means that it can [[AntiStructure close bug holes, blow up fabricators]], and has medium armor penetration; one headshot from this will core out the skull of any type of Devastator on any difficulty below Helldive. What sets it apart is that its projectile essentially has hitscan-level aiming; provided you're not moving and not getting hit, the grenade will go ''exactly'' where you're aiming it.

** Marksman Rifles are considered some of the least effective weapons in the game, due to issues with aiming down the scope and universally having low damage for freaking ''{{Sniper Rifle}}s''. Upon its release as part of the Democratic Detonation Warbond ,the BR-14 Adjudicator was immediately trashed as a waste of Medals. It has a lower damage and a higher recoil than the R-63 Dilligence that's available as part of the free Warbond, and its medium armor penetration doesn't even remotely make up for it. Marksman Rifles as a whole are in such a pathetic position that the SG-8S Slugger, a rare aversion of ShortRangeShotgun in Video Games, is considered a ''better sniper rifle than the actual sniper rifles'', even after a {{Nerf}} to its damage and ability to destroy objects; a poll released by the developers on the game's official Discord overwhelmingly agreed that Marksman Rifles were underpowered and needed tuning. Though it should be mentioned that, as its name implies, the Slugger doesn't fire buckshot but ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_slug slugs]]'', making its range and lack of spread entirely justified.
** Secondary weapons are okay, but basically all of them have severely limited ammo and, as of the Democratic Demolition Warbond, there are only 5 total options. The achievement "Hold My Primary, I'm Going In", which requires the entire team to go without firing a primary or support weapon for an entire mission on hard or harder is pushing into ThatOneAchievement territory as a result. Probably the two most popular options are the P-4 Senator, a functional but unremarkable revolver, and the Redeemer, a powerful machine pistol that runs out of ammo very fast due to high fire rate and limited spare magazines. The grenade pistol isn't great in combat, but still has a niche since it's the only secondary that can destroy fabricators/bug holes.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5hCkh2AH58 A Cup Of Liber-Tea]] is basically asking new players "Are you ready to do your duty for democracy and Super Earth?", while telling veterans of the first game "Welcome back. Are you ready to take up arms once more?". Incorporating parts of the first game's theme, while also establishing its own identity, it sets the tone of what the game is about. It also plays every time the drop pod is launched to the planet you'll be in action, which never gets old.
** And the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VS2XyeuBF8 extraction theme]] does the same for its main theme, and it's arguably MORE epic than the one from the first game!
** The sequel's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5KOgaE3FG4&t=0s Automaton Marching Cadence]] is an intimidating battle march, sounding like something that wouldn't be out of place in Medieval Europe, but being sung by dozens of ''giant war robots,'' leading to it being a major factor in terrifying players on the field [[HellIsThatNoise when they hear the march approaching]]...or hearing it suddenly stop and [[OhCrap realizing they've been spotted.]]
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed9ED5KSHQc Super Earth Anthem]] is a [[MusicToInvadePolandTo rather fittingly bombastic tune for a militaristic dictatorship]].
** Stratagem Hero uses segments of the original Helldivers' theme whenever the next round starts. Put them together, and you get [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILww6K_zZdc a tribute to the original song.]]

** Marksman Rifles are considered some of the least effective weapons in the game, due to issues with aiming down the scope and universally having low damage for freaking ''{{Sniper Rifle}}s''. Upon its release as part of the Democratic Detonation Warbond ,the BR-14 Adjudicator was immediately trashed as a waste of Medals. It has a lower damage and a higher recoil than the R-63 Dilligence that's available as part of the free Warbond, and its medium armor penetration doesn't even remotely make up for it. Marksman Rifles as a whole are in such a pathetic position that the SG-8S Slugger, a rare aversion of ShortRangeShotgun in Video Games, is considered a ''better sniper rifle than the actual sniper rifles'', even after a {{Nerf}} to its damage and ability to destroy objects; a poll released by the developers on the game's official Discord overwhelmingly agreed that Marksman Rifles were underpowered and needed tuning.

* MisaimedFandom: Like its [[VideoGame/{{Helldivers}} prequel]], there are plenty of fans who unironically celebrate Super Earth's government as a democratic utopia. The over-the-top nature of the propaganda and the LargeHam lines from the Helldivers themselves are meant to be funny in how [[HamAndCheese enthusiastically they're delivered]], with most of the humor deriving from the fact that the player can clearly get that this is all a big joke. [[WeHaveReserves The expendable nature of the Helldivers]], [[OrwellianEditor the hand-waving of discrepancies in the propaganda]], and [[BigBrotherIsWatching the virulent culling of anyone who dissents]] make it clear that this is a CrapsackWorld with a nice coat of paint. Even if some players are going along with the idea of Super Earth being awesome as a PlayAlongMeme, it's done with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The fact that some players miss how over the top and silly this all is means that they are, rather ironically, demonstrating that such propaganda can actually work.

** Terminids and Automatons in the are near-universally referred to among the playerbase as 'bugs' and 'bots' for convenience's sake. It's simple, descriptive, and alliterative. They're often referred to as such by the Super Destroyer crew as well.

* ItsPopularNowItSucks: As to be expected of any fanbase of an indie game series suddenly and unexpectedly shoved into the mainstream, there are some old-guard ''VideoGame/{{Helldivers}}'' fans who dislike how ''II'' has become the next gigantic gaming phenomenon, as it supposedly devalues the once-intimate experience they had with the series and has flooded the sequel with bandwagoners and casuals who aren't really dedicated fans of the games.

** On the armor side of things, the EX Prototype armors from the Cutting Edge Warbond are basically considered useless; their passive provides a 95% damage reduction to arc damage from the Tesla Tower and Arc Thrower stratagems. The Tower is stationary and most players pretty quickly learn not to go anywhere near it. Meanwhile the Arc Thrower is absolutely prone to friendly fire, especially in the hands of inexperienced players, but it's still not even close to worth trading a different consistently valuable armor perk to occasionally save you from a careless teammate with a specific weapon. Barring coordinated teams who choose to all take the above stratagems and armor, pretty much the only reason to wear it is fashion reasons.

** And the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VS2XyeuBF8 extraction theme]] for ''II'' does the same for its main theme, and it's arguably MORE epic than the one from the first game!

** 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.

* CommonKnowledge: While Arrowhead Game Studios is ''technically'' an "indie" game studio, basically all of their games have had larger publishers, Sony Interactive in the case of ''Helldivers II''. Overall ''Helldivers II'' has a lot more in common with AAA releases than it does with small-team indie games in terms of budget and promotion. Despite this, there are frequently claims made that ''Helldivers II'''s runaway success is somehow "Indie devs sticking it to AAA gaming" and "setting an industry standard" even though the game is literally being financed by the group it's supposedly rebelling against.

* 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 (not that it helped much in that regard, as now some people are teamkilling or immediately kicking anyone who dares to wear the Malevelon Memorial cape instead). On April 1st, 2024, The Creek finally fell to Super Earth's onslaught.

* 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 many insist 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.

** >Watches propaganda >Buys it unquestioningly[[labelnote:Explanation]] A meme taking the piss out of a [[https://preview.redd.it/where-did-bro-get-all-this-lore-from-v0-arzhem6o94lc1.png?auto=webp&s=1fc3a61ae7a9852dd53109fb5e43de4b0a62b496 4chan greentext post]] where the original poster seems to not understand that the opening cinematic of ''II'' is an in-universe PropagandaPiece and [[MisaimedFandom thinks that Super Earth is really the utopia that it claims to be]]. Variations on this phrase are thus deployed in response to members of the games' MisaimedFandom clearly interpreting the story and world incorrectly.[[/labelnote]]
** Space [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam]] [[labelnote:Explanation]] An [[EverythingTryingToKillYou apt description of the gameplay]], especially of ''II'', is that it's UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar [[RecycledWithAGimmick IN SPACE!]] This phrase is often used in conjunction with the famous "ThousandYardStare" image but modified to be of a Helldiver, denoting that playing ''Helldivers'' [[ShellShockedVeteran changes a man]]. What solidifies this meme is the fact that Malevelon Creek, one of the more infamous planets under Automaton control is very much a lush jungle.[[/labelnote]]

** [[RememberTheAlamo 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]]

* MemeticPsychopath: [[GameMaster Joel]], the real-life Arrowhead employee who runs the Galactic War in ''II'', is often jokingly regarded as the GreaterScopeVillain of the game. Sometimes fans go so far as to portray Joel as an in-universe character, usually a Helldiver who committed a FaceHeelTurn and is now working for the enemy by feeding them information on Super Earth's tactics a la [[Franchise/BattlestarGalactica Gaius Balthar]]. Alternatively, he's sometimes characterized as an Automaton super intelligence known as J.O.E.L.

** 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. Worse, patch 01.000.200 increased fire damage by 50% both ways... meaning the host's incendiary weapons work great, as do any enemy ones -- but if you're not the host, you're ''still'' screwed. People have been pleading for an armor that resists fire damage, to no avail.

** There's a reason, out of the myriad procedurally generated planets in ''Helldivers II'', Malevelon Creek has achieved MemeticMutation as "Space Vietnam" and, for certain kinds of players, the BestLevelEver. It's inhabited by the Automatons, who are generally seen as more dangerous than the Terminids for their use of military equipment including but absolutely not limited to: strategic jammers, anti-aircraft guns, mortar pits, bulletproof armor and main battle tanks. Going from a planet where the most dangerous thing is a bile titan or a stalker, to a battlefield where the first sign you've been spotted is the air becoming majority tracer by volume takes quite a bit of getting used to. Helping the "Space Vietnam" meme, they're also [[DirtyCommies dirty commie]] [[RobotWar robots]] (according to [[UnreliableNarrator Super Earth propaganda]]). It is a swampy jungle world, with poor sightlines on the shore. The sightlines are better in lagoons, but with Helldivers' SuperDrowningSkills and the slow movement through the shallows, that's just asking to get shredded by Automaton fire from the shore. Other jungle worlds are often bright, but Malevelon Creek is shrouded in a dark blue twilight even at high noon. While Automatons' fire can be disrupted by smoke and such, the darkness doesn't seem to affect them as badly as it affects players. The addition of planetary weather effects in later patches only adds to the fun - the Creek has ion storms, electromagnetic disturbances in the atmosphere that block your stratagems for short periods of time (often when you've got an irate KillerRobot horde on your tail who you'd very much like to get rid of). All of these combine to make a ''unique'' experience: creeping through the thick jungle, hoping to spot Automaton red in the dark blue foliage... before the Automatons spot the Helldivers and the jungle erupts in red tracers.

** "[[Film/StarshipTroopers I'm doing my part!" "I'm doing my part!" "I'm doing my part!]]" "[[TheLoad I DIDN'T DO FUCKIN' SHIT!]]"[[labelnote:Explanation]]A meme playing into the propaganda of Super Earth that also mocks players who don't contribute very much to the overall success of a mission.[[/labelnote]]

** The Spear missile launcher is considered worse than the Expendable Anti-Tank munition, and possibly one of the worst anti-tank weapons in general; the Spear is supposed to have a HomingProjectile after locking onto a target, but it has not worked reliably since it was added to the game. Some people have reported needing to be on the other side of the map from what they want to hit before the Spear will so much as try to lock on to anything. Other times it will refuse to lock onto things the player has a clear view of, and sometimes even when it ''does'' lock on it can require more than one hit to actually kill the target - when the backpack only has three spare missiles. All of these flaws are further exacerbated by the fact the weapon '''cannot''' 'dumbfire' its missiles; it absolutely ''must'' have a lock to fire, meaning it's nothing but dead weight if the thing won't cooperate with the player. For a top-attack style anti-tank missile launcher that is one of the later rank-restricted unlocks alongside the shield backpack and (formerly extremely overpowered) railgun, the Spear is ''remarkably'' ineffectual at its primary job.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:
** After two months of utter hell and fully losing the planet at one point, High Command finally issued a Major Order to liberate Malevelon Creek and avenge the hundreds of thousands of patriotic Helldivers that Super Earth had lost there, both to boost waning Helldiver morale and wrap up the loose end that the Creek presented in the Severin sector. Though the planet was already extensively liberated, the Helldivers got it done in ''five hours'' of ruthlessly spilling oil. High Command then had this to say:
---> '''High Command:''' At long last, Malevelon Creek is free. The heroes who died in its defense can finally rest in peace, knowing justice has been served, and the planet's rhodium deposits will be mined by the citizens who rightfully own them. Colonists are returning to the ruins of their settlements, pickaxes in hand, hopeful for a prosperous future. For at last, dawn breaks on the Creek.
** After Operation Harvest ordered the Helldivers to [[MassMonsterSlaughterSidequest slaughter a minimum of 2 billion Terminids in order to stockpile E-710 for the coming operations on the Automaton front]], the expectation was clearly that it would take them a couple days as with previous Major Orders, if not almost a week given the allotted amount of time to complete it. They completed the objective in just over ''twelve hours'', vastly exceeding the projected timespan[[note]]Granted, this was partially due to a GameBreakingBug inflating the Terminid kill count, but the legitimate number of bugs killed was still somewhere in the realm of ''700 million'' on the low end, itself a still very impressive number for the community to have hit in such a short time[[/note]].

--> '''High Command:''' At long last, Malevelon Creek is free. The heroes who died in its defense can finally rest in peace, knowing justice has been served, and the planet's rhodium deposits will be mined by the citizens who rightfully own them. Colonists are returning to the ruins of their settlements, pickaxes in hand, hopeful for a prosperous future. For at last, dawn breaks on the Creek.

** Several people on the Helldivers subreddit have reported facing backlash from other players for wearing the Malevelon Creek Memorial Cape[[note]]Due to lingering resentment towards "Creekheads" for supposedly taking the Malevelon Creek meme too far at the expense of actual objectives[[/note]], ranging from being kicked from squads to active {{Griefing}}, such as [[UnfriendlyFire having stratagems thrown on top of them or being subjected to intentional friendly fire]].\

* {{Scrub}}: Several people on the Helldivers subreddit have reported facing backlash from other players for wearing the Malevelon Creek Memorial Cape[[note]]Due to lingering resentment towards "Creekheads" for supposedly taking the Malevelon Creek meme too far at the expense of actual objectives[[/note]], ranging from being kicked from squads to active {{Griefing}}, such as [[UnfriendlyFire having stratagems thrown on top of them or being subjected to intentional friendly fire]].

* ThatOneSidequest: Destroying Gunship Fabricators. It doesn't matter what you throw at it, from two 500kg bombs to an orbital laser to half a dozen blasts from a Quasar Cannon, the only thing that's destroying them is a Hellbomb. Gunships are already DemonicSpiders, and they are more than capable of destroying a Hellbomb just by glancing at it. Even better? Sometimes ''two'' fabricators spawn next to each other, and you have to call in ''multiple'' Hellbombs to take them out.

** Overall, players seem to prefer missions where a planet is defended over attempting to liberate the planet, in part because higher-difficulty missions lack [[ThatOneDisadvantage enemy-generated modifiers such as AA Defenses and orbital flucutations]] that make the missions far more difficult than they should be.

** Secondary weapons are currently rather disappointing-- not for the lack of power, but for the lack of variety. There are only five of them in the game, as of the release of the Democratic Demolition Warbond; one of them is a laser weapon with a heavily limited capacity, two are full-auto pistols that drain their magazine in less than five seconds, one is a handheld grenade launcher that is inaccurate and has a magazine capacity of ''1 round'', with only ''eight rounds'' able to be carried at once... there's a reason that so few people have the achievement "Hold My Primary, I'm Going In", which requires primary and support weapons to ''never'' be fired throughout the mission. The only decent secondary in the game is from the Steeled Veterans Warbond, the P-4 Senator, which is just a baseline revolver.
** On the armor side of things, the EX Prototype armors from the Cutting Edge Warbond are basically considered useless; their passive provides a 95% damage reduction to arc damage from the Tesla Tower and Arc Thrower stratagems. There are a few problems with this: the former is a stationary turret that most people will know no to go near for any reason. In the case of the latter, most people who are high enough level to unlock the Arc Thrower know not to aim it anywhere near their squad due to "Friendly Fire Isn't" being drilled into their heads since they started playing the game. It's such a niche use case that the only reason most people would wear that armor is for fashion reasons.

** After Operation Harvest ordered the Helldivers to [[MassMonsterSlaughterSidequest slaughter a minimum of 2 billion Terminids in order to stockpile E-710 for the coming operations on the Automaton front]], the expectation was clearly that it would take them a couple days, as with previous Major Orders. They completed the objective in just over ''twelve hours'', vastly exceeding the projected timespan[[note]]Granted, this was partially due to a GameBreakingBug inflating the Terminid kill count, but the legitimate number of bugs killed was still somewhere in the realm of ''700 million'' on the low end, itself a still very impressive number for the community to have hit in such a short time[[/note]].

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: In ''II'', after two months of utter hell and fully losing the planet at one point, High Command finally issued a Major Order to liberate Malevelon Creek and avenge the hundreds of thousands of patriotic Helldivers that Super Earth had lost there, both to boost waning Helldiver morale and wrap up the loose end that the Creek presented in the Severin sector. Though the planet was already extensively liberated, the Helldivers got it done in ''five hours'' of ruthlessly spilling oil. High Command then had this to say:

* CommonKnowledge: While Arrowhead Game Studios is ''technically'' an "indie" game studio, basically all of their games have had larger publishers, Sony Interactive in the case of ''Helldivers II''. Overall Helldivers 2 has a lot more in common with AAA releases than it does with small-budget indie games in terms of budget and promotion. Despite this, there are frequently claims made that ''Helldivers II'''s runaway success is somehow "Indie devs sticking it to AAA gaming" and "setting an industry standard" even though the game is literally being financed by the group it's supposedly rebelling against.

** 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 just increasing deployment times (including extraction) by 50%, which still sucks, but is marginally less painful.

* ThatOneSidequest: Destroying Gunship Fabricators. It doesn't matter what you throw at it, from two 500kg bombs to an orbital laser to half a dozen blasts from a Quasar Cannon, the only thing that's destroying them is a Hellbomb. Gunships are already DemonicSpiders, and they are more than capable of destroyign a Hellbomb just by glancing at it. Even better? Sometimes ''two'' fabricators spawn next to each other, and you have to call in ''multiple'' Hellbombs to take them out.

* CommonKnowledge: Make no mistake; while Arrowhead Game Studios is ''technically'' an "indie" game studio, ''Helldivers II'' is unquestionably a AAA release marketed as such and being sold at the full price of a AAA game at the behest of Sony Interactive, their publisher. Despite this, there are frequently claims made that ''Helldivers II'''s runaway success is somehow "Indie devs sticking it to AAA gaming" and "setting an industry standard" even though the game is literally a part of that same group it's supposedly rebelling against.

** 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 voice chat, e.g. "we've got an Eye of Sauron to the north, heading there to take it down before it calls reinforcements".

** "Hold My Primary, I'm Going In!" specifies that nobody on your squad can use a use primary weapons ''or'' support weapons, only secondaries and stratagems like turrets or airstrikes on Hard (Difficulty 5) or higher. Hard is where heavily-armored enemies such as gunships, factory striders, and bile titans start showing up ''far'' more often, and currently, there are no secondary weapons that offer ''any'' level of armor penetration beyond 'light'.

* {{Scrub}}: Several people on the Helldivers subreddit have reported facing backlash from other players for wearing the Malevelon Creek Cape, ranging from being kicked from squads to active {{Griefing}}, such as having stratagems thrown on top of them or being subjected to intentional friendly fire.

* FanNickname: Players refer to difficulties by the number associated with them, rather than their names; for example, instead of saying "Looking for Suicide Mission difficulty", one would say "Looking for Difficulty 7".