Difficulty 1 missions are officially called "Dive in the park", they are easy for even starters, here is the loadout I recommend:


Take minigun turret and mechs! Since you won't have chance to use them in later missions, even if they seem so powerful for starters. I'll explain the reason in later chapters

• Member of the primary cyborg patrol squad, at first the 4-man squad consists of 1 squad leader soldier and 3 initiates, and in higher missions initiates will gradually be replaced by squad leader solders, ending up with all squad leader soldier patrol team;
  
• With two buttstock bash, or one single bayonet stab can you kill an initiate;
  
• Just move a little bit, and you can dodge their pitiful pistol fire;
  
• They are not able to execute a downed helldiver;
  
• Since initiates are really too weak, they completely do not appear at high difficulty missions.

• The major alarm sounder in cyborg missions, your primary weapon should be capable of killing them as fast as possible;
  
• When they keep a long distance from you, they will fire grenade to where you stand;
  
• When they are at a medium distance from you, they will try to escape and leave their back without defense (the same as legionnaire soldiers, this gives you the chance to kill them without anti-tank or scorcher);
  
• When you are on their face, they will try to bash on you, with a pitiful damage, and that means you are free to stab them (2 bayonet stabs needed);
  
• Though grenades are easy to dodge, they are lethal to downed helldivers;
  
• Before alarm sounded, their priority is at the top; but after alarm sounded, aim at other high-danger enemies first.

As my screenshot shows, if you stay close to the wall when retreat, you will have a sight range of a full screen, making you discover squad leader soldiers much quicker (works the same on bug/illuminate missions), and you can stay alert on just one direction.

This skill can help you achieve alarm-free easily when you are waiting for the shuttle

Though there are many to choose from, I strongly recommend for starters.

This gun is unlocked at character level 2, and very cheap (2 or 3 points?) to be upgraded to full level. Even when you have unlocked and upgraded all the other gun, you will still find Breaker the most powerful against cyborgs. Although veterans prefer some other strange guns in normal combat, when it comes to retaliatory, they choose Breaker!

Similar with Breaker as a shotgun, Trident may be some starters' choice due to its being a laser weapon thus consuming no ammo. But I don't recommend it for you, because it will consume EIGHTEEN research points to be upgraded to full level. With that many research points I can
even upgrade a whole loadout using Breaker. Plus it's not unstoppable as breaker, and this trait may be essentially important fighting against butchers.

However, when you are using Breaker, hold fire if an ally is in your range. Too many TKs will make your teammate turn their gun (or bayonet) to you, trust me you can never win a veteran if the game turns into PvP mode. The most TK scenes happen at when you try to kill hounds that have charged on or over your face. At these scenes, instead of pressing the fire button directly, adjust your position and make sure no ally is in your range first.

Knowing to hold fire is important for starters. I even saw some guy changed his steam name to "No Trident", just because in starters' hand trident can be a destructive teammate killer, and the same with Breaker, or even worse. So always think before you fire!

• These guys are lethal to new helldivers;
  
• They will start a charge at long distance, if all the 3 charges hit you, you are downed;
  
• They will bite helldivers at short distance, though it's of low damage, it's still capable of executing downed helldivers.
  
• The most death tolls made in cyborg missions is downed by hounds, and executed by others.

Using Breaker, with one single round can you kill a horde of hounds.

Although hounds start from difficulty 2 (or 3?), they are one of the most dangerous enemies on Cyberstan. An advanced skill, melee dodge, is mainly applied in dealing with them. Since this guide is for starters I won't introduce it, and I don't recommend starters to try it.

At stratagem slot, the SH-20 Shield Generator can efficiently prevent hound charges. When your shield is on, the hounds will not try to start a charge. Even if they do, hitting on you just consumes slightly a bit of your shield energy. If you feel dealing with hounds too difficult, or your primary weapon is completely not capable of killing hounds (like ac3 and scorcher), use sh20 to save your life.

At skill slot, the MD-99 Auto Injector can make you get back up quickly after being charged down by hounds, and thus avoid consequent execution.

Another solution is to upgrade your P-2 Peacemaker pistol to full level. When you are knocked down by hound charges, kill them with your pistol first to avoid being executed by their bite, and then try to stand up.

When one hound charge hits you, after standing up, kill the remaining hounds that are in charging first. Although charge damage is far higher than bite, only when you are hit by all the 3 charges can you be knocked down. So avoiding hit by 3 charges can be an efficient strategy while fighting against them.

• Just as the encyclopedia says, this one is of low danger;
  
• Simply get down (space by default for keyboard) and you put out the fire;
  
• When a helldiver is downed, flames on them are automatically put out, thus these guys are completely incapable of performing execution.
  
• These weaklings do not appear at high difficulty missions. (I mean below 13, I think you won't need this guide if you are already prepared for a hell inner circle mission)

• Like initiates, there is quite a long time from aiming to firing for comrades, giving you chance to move a slightly bit to avoid their shot;
  
• Unlike immolators, comrades' canon shot can be the main HP loss reason in cyborg missions;
  
• They are weak in melee combat.

Although you may find comrades' canon shot easy to dodge just like initiates, their canon shot can be lethal when they are outside the screen, since you can't dodge it if you don't know it. So when you are in a team, don't stay around the screen border in order not to be hit by these invisible attacks.

• Once injured, their speed is down, nearly incapable.
  
• Static field can efficiently restrict them.
  
• The primitive version of butcher.

Berserker is quite fragile under Breaker's fire. The threat is not themselves, they are Warlord's guard in higher difficulties. When you see berserkers dropping into the battle field, that means a Warlord is about to show up.

The true challenge is to kill them with bayonet.

• The tower of strength in cyborg infantry;
  
• They will bash enemies that are on their face with shield, with one bash you are knocked down and with another you get killed.
  
• Their minigun shot pattern is like initiates, just moving a bit can you avoid the fire;
  
• They prioritize executing downed helldivers!!!
  
• Their shield is invulnerable, even nuke cannot pierce it;
  
• If you aim at them, they will wield shield. They will only start firing minigun when no one is aiming at them
  
• When they have started shooting, they can't change the direction, that means you can even stab their belly exploiting this chance.
  
• EXPLODE ON DEATH

Since you can't kill hulks quickly with your primary weapons, from difficulty 5, you will need anti tank stratagems. I recommend Demolisher for starters and EAT for DLC-free fellow helldivers.

Yes, you can still use breaker to kill hulks, but it will consume you a whole magazine of ammo. Thus I recommend you use this only for emergency.

Start firing only after hulks start first, because if you aim at them while they are idle, they will wield their invulnerable shield. No weapon except scorcher works on a hulk hiding in their damned shield. Even EAT or Demolisher can't pierce it!!!

You can dodge their fire quite easily just as you do against initiates. Here are two examples:


At skill slot, autoinjector can help you avoid shield bash execution. And using P-6 Gunslinger , with all 6 rounds shot on belly you can kill a hulk in one second.

With static field, hulks get incapable of executing downed helldivers, but still able to shoot you down.

Although hulk's prioritizing execution may make quite many death tolls, this pattern can also be exploited. When a hulk is bashing your launch pad, you can shoot your teammate down with your pistol to lure him away, prevent his death explosion from failing your mission.

When a hulk is about to execute your teammate, throw a stun grenade, or shoot him using rail gun, whatever that stuns him, and you can get the time to pull your ally up. If you are knocked down and a hulk is on the way to execute you, aim at him to force him wielding shield, giving you time to get up.

Hold fire if your ally is in his melee range, because once you kill him, his on death explosion will also kill you ally, and that means you dealt an indirect TK, though it will not be counted into incidents.

In order to practice your dodging ability, I recommend you to kill a hulk by only stabbing him with bayonet, in one firing round you can stab him 4 times. After doing so you will never fear hulks any longer.



Helldiver becomes challenging from this level, I see quite many new helldivers prefer turrets and mechs. However, in a veteran's eye, they are completely trash.

In the last chapter I taught you guys to hold fire when an ally is in your range, BUT TURRETS DO NOT. Shot downed nearly means death from this difficulty, since there are quite many executors that are invulnerable to minigun fire (or a enough long HP bar to execute you under minigun fire) in the battle field. Although minigun turrets may have watched your back quite many times in low difficulty missions, now is the time to transfer this glorious mission to your fellow helldivers. A 50-level old veteran is always more capable than a poor turret.

As for mechs, all mechs have a slow turn speed, making you not able to kill squad leaders to avoid alarm. Besides, mechs' moving velocity is equal to walking, which means anyone getting on a mech will slow down the whole squad's march pace.

This set is even capable of lv12 soloing. All blue stratagems being discardable means you don't have to loot your gears back, helpful for starters that may die quite many times. The skill slot is free to replace, you can replace it with Cardio Accelerator if you feel ammo and anti-tank is sufficient enough, or All-Terrain Boots in snow and forest map.

In this chapter two of the true enemies of democracy are introduced.

• Small but LETHAL
  
• White and LETHAL
  
• The encyclopedia didn't tell you the truth, the danger level of these guys shall be LETHAL
  
• Almost instantly destroy targets of defense mission
  
• If someone is surrounded by a group of grosteques, just throw your reinforcement beacon, when the light ball touches ground, that poor guy dies.

Try to keep distance from these white demons, their claw can tear any preys into pieces in a short time. But thank God they have a relatively low hit point, with some Breaker shots or an accurate grenade can you kill a squad of grosteques. Breaker can deal tons of damage to such unarmored targets.

Due to their being so destructive for defense targets, when the alarm is sounded, I recommend you throw a static field on the defesne target at once. Static field can efficiently protect launch pads and geosurvey machine from these guys' claw.

Another rule is to let the defense targets always stay in center of the screen. Thus enemy cyborgs won't directly drop onto it, giving you time to handle with them.

• Unlike hulks, IFV is INVULNERABLE to all primary weapons;
  
• Instantly sound the alarm, makes sneaking almost impossible in high difficulty cyborg missions;
  
• Produce grosteques;
  
• Crush will cause instant death, also the way how IFV performs execution;
  
• Cannon shot in the center will cause instant death;
  
• Being at the edge of its cannon shot blast still knocks you down.

IFV is the most representative enemy type on Cyberstan among difficulty 7~12 missions. In difficulty 6 missions you can take 4 ammos to clear the game using only your primary weapon. But that won't be true for above difficulty 7 missions, mainly because of the presence of IFV. As I write in their traits, IFV is INVULNERABLE to all primary weapons, making destroying them the most challenging part in high difficulty cyborg missions, so stop shooting with your Trident, you need anti-tank support weapons.

Below are some of the options:

• Demolisher, the option I recommend for starters who have bought the DLC. It's easy to use, simply throw on IFV's turret or around its rear part, and then detonate by pressing reload button to destroy it. It can also destroy an IFV's track when exploding on other parts.
  
• EAT, the option I recommend for starters without demolisher DLC. It's even easier and faster than demolisher, but only one shot at a time limits its usage.
  
• RL-112, the non-discardable version of EAT, since it's really slow to reload, I recommend you to use it only at multi-player games.
  
• Vindicator, the airstrike and larger edition grenade. Vindicator is quite similar with demolisher, but 1 slot provides only 10 times to use, limiting its application. When you are using vindicator, accuracy is of vital importance fighting against IFV, only when the red lighting beacon is inside the IFV makes sense. You can role play a mad man by taking 4 vindicators in your stratagem slots and a laser primary weapon
  
• Railcannon strike, A.K.A anti-IFV strike. Simple to use, accurate, safe for allies, but slow to take effect.
  
• AT-47, A.K.A the official cheat program, the option for defense missions. Veterans don't like it because it's so powerful and simple that even makes the game quite boring. A hidden rule among veterans is that don't use AT-47 and barbwires in retaliatory strikes, and you will get killed and kicked if you do.
  
• Airdropped Anti-tank (anti-helldiver) Mines, another option for defense mission, the ultimate Siegemech killer, and the best option for solo. But it's also an ultra teammate killer, no matter how familiar you are with it. For the safety of my other teammates I kick all mine users when I'm the host, remember my name and avoid joining my game if you plan to use it.
  
• Commando, veterans' choice, don't try it until your game time exceeds 100h. If you want to try it, search and see Lein's commando guide. This weapon is the ultimate IFV killer, advanced edition of RL-112.
  
• Rumbler, veterans' choice, don't try it until your game time exceeds 100h. Starters (noobs) with rumbler can be the ultimate teammate killer. Besides, only hitting the rear part of IFV can you deal damage to it, which needs a strict accuracy.

When an IFV sounds the alarm and join the battle, you should stay away from any wall, your teammate, and kill hounds in the battle field as quick as possible. When you are close to a wall, even if you managed to dodge the straight cannon shot, the blast is still able to knock you down. And this is also true for your teammate and hounds, especially a teammate with SH-20.

IFV always choose the target that is nearest to shoot. If your ally is closer than you to the IFV, you are assured to have the time to reload your weapon.

Remember a rule: don't try to pull any one up when an IFV is present. when you are pulling an ally up, you and your ally are both incapable of moving, at this time a straight cannon shot can kill both of you. An interesting TK method applied by cyborg spies who want some challenges is using rep tool to pull up someone already aimed by an IFV.


In order to control the difficulty, a hidden rule applied by Arrowhead is that there can be at most one IFV present in the battle field.

A track-destroyed IFV is incapable of producing grosteques. And when its nearest target is on its face, IFV won't perform cannon shooting in order not to injure itself. (even cyborgs know to hold fire, and you?)

So during defense missions, it's better to leave a track-destroyed IFV in the battle field than to kill all of them.


A track-destroyed IFV can also be a good cover, I saw many 12 retaliatory strike solo videos do that.

If you have seen veterans destroyed an IFV's track but don't kill it, now you know the reason. And just leave it, killing the track-destroyed IFV and let a brand new one dropping into battle field will only make you look stupid. (If the host is also a noob and too eager to win, you may be kicked)

• The advanced version of berserker;
  
• Really afraid of static field ;
  
• With Breaker you can kill a horde of them using just a single magazine;

Yes, Breaker can kill them faster even than Rumbler! Butcher is one of the reasons I recommend Breaker for you.

And I think this picture below is enough to teach you how to cope with these guys:


But when your primary weapon is not unstoppable, and your support weapon is not capable of dealing AOE damage, such as RL-112 or Commando, butchers can be threatening. When your static field is out, your defense target or even yourself can get killed by them. So you can take Strafing Run or Heavy Strafing Run for these circumstances.

Only with Breaker, Justice, Rail Gun, AC3 and AC5 these five guns I recommend you to deal with butchers with primary weapon. Although grenade launchers, including Suppressor and Scorcher deal AOE damage, they are not efficient enough to kill butcher horde.

Another weapon is . Using P-6 you can kill a butcher within one second. You can use P-6 to kill the butcher that is attacking your ally to save his life, or to kill the butcher whose companions have be slain by rumbler blast in order to save your rumbler's ammo.

The real challenge is to stab one butcher to death, time to hunt one down to get Cyberstan Blademaster Certificate!


As my screenshot you have seen above, simply throw a static field on the launch pad and you can leave the butchers be. This is quite important in above difficulty 11 missions.

The stun mines can be a substitution for static field, they work almost exactly the same. If you feel tired of using static field, you can try stun mines instead.

Another option is , using this gun can you prevent Hulk or Warlord from shooting, executing your teammate, or bashing the defense target. But this gun is quite lacking ammo, you may need a resupply backpack to support it. What's worse, its slow firing speed makes it hard to kill patrols and hounds, you can use your P-2 Pistol during march instead, and don't head first, let the ones capable of clearing alarms lead you.

Once someone of your squad has been responsible for doing group control, only IFV can be possible to destroy your defense target. And once you guys leave a track-destroyed IFV in the battle field, your defense target is invulnerable.

Due to being vulnerable to group control, taking enough static fields and all bug missions will be as easy as "Dive in the park" for you, even difficulty 15.

• Can be killed by within 3 magazines;
  
• Can be killed by Constitution with around 50 rounds;
  
• Can be killed by Camper with around 30 rounds;
  
• Can be killed by Tanto with around 2 magazines of heat;

Since this guy has written "I need anti-tank to defeat" on his face, I introduced only some for-emergency non-anti-tank weapons that can deal damage to it.

This guy needs 2 blasts of demolisher to knock out. You can also use any of the weapons I introduced to fight against IFVs above to fight against them.

Unlike initiates or hulks, its cannon shot has a range of an about-15-degree angle, but you can still run to his left hand (hammer hand) to dodge it.

Though this is not a good screenshot timing, you can still see the cannon shot smoke

If the warlord starts firing at the longest distance, you can run back to dodge the fire.

If you don't have enough time and your hit point is healthy, you can run to his right hand (cannon hand). In this process you are highly likely to receive one cannon hit, but if you are healthy enough this won't knock you down.

Like hulks, I recommend you to kill one warlord with Tanto to sharpen your dodge skill, after doing so you won't fear them any more.


Now all the enemies except Siegemech have been introduced. The last two ones can be badly restricted by static field , so they can hardly be a challenge. In difficulty 12 missions your major threat is still the IFV.


Replace cardio accelerator with boots on snow maps. This suit is the standard one for veterans. But don't try it until your game time exceeds 100h.