How to unlock difficulty settings in Helldivers 2

The swarm of aliens get bigger, badder, and tougher as you unlock each difficulty setting in Helldivers 2. Be prepared to lose many Helldivers in your quest to reach Helldive difficulty. Here are all difficulty settings and how to unlock them.

All Helldivers 2 difficulty levels and how to unlock them

Helldivers 2 offers a whopping nine difficulty settings options in the Campaign. You can set the difficulty on the Galactic War console inside the Destroyer’s War Room. Difficulty selection is made when you open the Galactic War menu with the planet and mission overview. You can filter through each difficulty (R1 or L1 on controller), with a brief summary provided for each difficulty and what you can expect heading into battle. Most missions offer a 40 minute timer to complete all objectives and safely extract.

Here are all difficulties and how to unlock them in Helldivers 2:

• Trivial: Default setting
• Easy: Unlocks after completing a mission on Trivial difficulty.
• Medium: Unlocks after completing a mission on Easy difficulty.
• Challenging: Unlocks after completing a mission on Medium difficulty.
• Hard: Unlocks after completing a mission on Challenging difficulty.
• Extreme: Unlocks after completing a mission on Hard difficulty.
• Suicide Mission: Unlocks after completing a mission on Extreme difficulty.
• Impossible: Unlocks after completing a mission on Suicide Mission difficulty.
• Helldive: Unlocks after completing a mission on Impossible difficulty.

Each difficulty have their own missions on each planet. Filtering through the difficulties can give you the same mission type but on a different part of the planet. The higher the difficulty, the higher the reward, with more Medals to gain as you face against larger outposts and stronger enemies.

Helldivers 2 updates in real time, with every planet, mission, and solar system on a timer. We recommend completing as many missions as you can on the easiest difficulties before attempting a newly unlocked, harder difficulty. Each mission has its own type, alongside its time to complete. Figure out what mission you and your teammates work best at and choose these when you wish to unlock the next difficulty.

To be clear, you only need to complete one operation on the highest difficulty you have unlocked at the time to unlock the next difficulty. Solo players may have a tougher time completing these missions as aliens easily swarm the extraction point. With limited resources, ammo, and weapons to work with, rely on a supply drop Stratagem to stay in the fight. Try to save as many resources as possible before you head for extraction. Those playing with others don’t have to worry about losing Helldivers as often as solo players in the attempt to complete harder difficulty settings.