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Best Helldivers 2 armor

Give yourself the best odds of taking down the powerful aliens and bugs by equipping yourself with the best Helldivers 2 armor available.

Want to know the best armor is in Helldivers 2? Don’t let the stylish Helldivers 2 armor fool you, sometimes it’s not always about looking the best on the battlefield. There are three armor weight classes, and each piece of armor has its own set of stats that you need to take into account before any mission.

Picking the wrong piece of Helldivers 2 armor can make your mission much more difficult than it needs to be, so pay close attention to your options. Don’t forget, this is a co-op game, so if your mates drop onto a planet wearing the wrong gear, feel free to give them a word. When you’re dealing with the hardest difficulties in Helldivers 2, your choice of armor is just as important as the best Helldivers 2 stratagems. Here’s what you need to know when picking the best Helldivers 2 armor.

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Best Helldivers 2 armor explained

As mentioned earlier, each piece of armor has three sets of stats that you need to pay attention to. However, there isn’t a lot of variety when picking armor in Helldivers 2 — stats-wise, a lot of the armor picks are largely the same.

Here are the stats that determine how good a piece of armor is in Helldivers 2:

  • Armor Rating: This stat represents how much protection the armor provides during combat. The higher the number, the stronger it is at protecting you from damage.
  • Speed: Your speed total gives you an idea as to how fast you’re able to both run and sprint while wearing your armor. Typically, the lighter your armor is, the faster you can move.
  • Stamina Regen: The amount of stamina consumed as you perform actions such as sprinting. The higher the value, the faster you regenerate stamina.

Armor is also split into weight categories: light, medium, and heavy. Light armor tends to have strong speed and stamina regeneration stats, medium armor provides an equal mix of all three, and heavy armor favors the armor rating stat. We recommend sticking with medium armor as the preferred weight class, as it performs well across a variety of missions.

Once you have a good idea about the types of enemy you’re about to face, now you can start thinking about what type of armor you need to bring with you. As for your helmet and cape, it doesn’t matter what you pick for these options, it doesn’t make any difference to your character. Of course, you should try to pick the helmet and cape combination that suits your armor set — you don’t want to look like a fool among your drippy peers.

A soldier in Helldivers 2 stands in front of a burning mountain

What is the best armor in Helldivers 2?

The main attribute that determines the true strength of an armor set in Helldivers 2 is the armor passive ability. While your armor also features a weight class and their set of stats, the armor passive effect can make all the difference in a tough mission. There are several armor passive abilities on offer, with more being added as the game continues to receive updates, but here are the ones we think are the best.

Here are the best armor in Helldivers 2:

  • Extra Padding
  • Democracy Protects
  • Med-Kit
  • Electrical Conduit

Extra Padding

Prior to the balance update in early April, your armor rating barely made a difference in combat. With the Extra Padding armor passive, you receive a higher armor rating (increased by 50) that makes it possible to withstand a barrage of attacks coming from all directions.

The Extra Padding armor passive can be found on the following armor sets:

Armor Name Armor Type Armor Rating Speed Stamina Regen Price (Super Credits)
B-01 Tactical Armor Medium 100 500 100 Free
B-08 Light Gunner Light 57 543 121 150
B-27 Fortified Commando Heavy 200 450 50 400

Democracy Protects

The hectic nature of Helldivers 2 means you’re going to be sent flying across the map every so often when you fail to spot a random mine on the ground. The Democracy Protects armor passive is perfect for those who want more protection against random explosives. It provides the wearer with a 50% chance to avoid death when taking lethal damage, and it also prevents bleed damage if your chest hemorrhages.

The Democracy Protects armor passive can be found on the following armor sets:

Armor Name Armor Type Armor Rating Speed Stamina Regen Price (Medals)
DP-11 Champion of the People Medium 100 500 100 100
DP-40 Hero of the Federation Medium 100 500 100 25
DP-53 Savior of the Free Heavy 200 450 50 Super Citizen DLC

Med-Kit

Everybody loves that teammate who brings the resupply stratagem, and that also applies to the person who has the Med-Kit armor passive. This ability gives the user two extra stims, and it increases the stim effect duration by two seconds. Not only does this improve your healing speed, but you also have extra stims, which can get you out of a sticky situation during long missions.

The Med-Kit armor passive can be found on the following armor sets:

Armor Name Armor Type Armor Rating Speed Stamina Regen Price (Super Credits)
CM-09 Bonesnapper Medium 100 500 100 15 (Medals)
CM-10 Clinician Medium 100 500 100 250
CM-17 Butcher Heavy 150 450 50 250 
CM-21 Trench Paramedic Light 69 531 116 250

Electrical Conduit is one of the best perks for Helldivers 2 armor and here you see one of them in the Cutting Edge acquisition center Warbond.

Electrical Conduit

The only real drawback to using electrified weapons such as tesla coils and arc throwers is that they aren’t the most accurate weapons. There’s a high chance that you’ll shock yourself or your teammates if you’re not cautious, and who bothers with that when they’re surrounded by hordes of bloodthirsty insects? Electrical Conduit gives you a 95% resistance to arc damage, meaning that you can take a few more risks with shock-based tactics and stratagems. The only downside is that the compatible armor is exclusive to the Cutting Edge set, so you’ll need to buy this premium Warbond if you want this perk.

The Electrical Conduit passive can be found on the following armor sets:

Armor Name Armor Type Armor Rating Speed Stamina Regen Price (Cutting Edge Premium Medals)
EX-03 Prototype 3 Medium 100 500 100 18
EX-16 Prototype 16 Medium 100 500 100 45
EX-00 Prototype X Light 50 550 125 64

And that’s all you need to pick out the best Helldivers 2 armor for your character. If you’re looking for the most stylish gear, check out our Helldivers 2 mods guide. We highly recommend checking out our best Helldivers 2 weapons guide, as this is going to play a large part in helping you clear the game’s hardest difficulties. Though the devs have worked hard to fix the issues in the game, you may want to double-check our Helldivers 2 servers before starting up a session with your mates to ensure you don’t waste any time.