Does Helldivers 2 have matchmaking?

Teamwork is essential for completing the problematic operations in Helldivers 2, liberating the many planets throughout the galaxy. You won’t always have your favorite squad at the ready, but you might be wondering if there’s a matchmaking feature you can use to find other Helldivers 2 players.

Because of how much emphasis developers Arrowhead Game Studios has put on cooperation in Helldivers 2, having an entire squad makes it much easier to work through these missions. Matchmaking seems like a great way to have this happen, even if you don’t have friends who can immediately play alongside you. Thankfully for fans, matchmaking is a feature you can use, but you might miss it in the menu. Here’s what you need to know about if Helldivers 2 has matchmaking.

How matchmaking works in Helldivers 2

We can confirm that Helldivers 2 has matchmaking, which means if you can’t fill up a squad with your friends, you can work alongside other players to complete tedious operations. You can activate the Helldivers 2 matchmaking by selecting the “quickplay” button on the Galactic War tab before choosing a mission.

After clicking on the quickplay option, a notification appears on the bottom of your screen where your Helldivers 2 game is looking for SOS beacons. These are other players who are looking for assistance from other Helldivers 2 players during missions. We recommend clicking on the cross-play settings in your menu before going into matchmaking to ensure you can find all players in Helldivers 2 rather than those only on your current platform. Before jumping into a game, it also helps to adjust your camera settings.

Once the quickplay function tracks down an SOS beacon, the Galactic War monitor switches over the planet and shows you the operation. You can expect to be in the game shortly after this. Granted, several matchmaking errors are happening throughout the first day of the Helldivers 2 launch, but these should clear out as the game continues to prosper and more support is given by the development team at Arrowhead Game Studios. You might be better off tracking down the official Helldivers 2 Discord and sending friend requests with players to get around this, though.

Matchmaking might prove more difficult as you progress into the more challenging difficulties of Helldivers 2. Anything about operation level seven, Suicide Mission, likely requires precise coordination, and you might not always get that with a random team. If you want to level up and earn Warbond Medals, the lower-level missions might be a good idea to grab any missing equipment to add to your arsenal.