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Helldivers 2 landed in the PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium catalog today, and the fastest way to use your first week well is this: play a handful of missions on Trivial and Easy to learn the controls, then push to Medium and Challenging as soon as new gear opens up, chase Medals and Samples over raw rank, and knock out the community-wide kill event before it closes. The timing matters too — the same day the game joined PS Plus, Arrowhead shipped the Devoid of Liberty update, so anything you watched last month about “starter tips” does not know about the two enemies or the new rank ceiling that shipped today.
TL;DR
- Rank is a level-up counter for stat bonuses, not a gear gate — weapons and stratagems come from Requisition Slips and Medals, not from hitting a rank number.
- Grab every Sample you see from your very first drop — Common ones matter immediately, and Rare and Super Samples only start appearing once you unlock harder difficulties.
- Devoid of Liberty (live today) added two new enemies, The Wretch and The Crusher, plus a new Void biome and a rank cap raised from 150 to 300.
- A separate community challenge — 500 million kills by August 18 — needs zero extra effort beyond normal play, so treat it as the cheapest box to check this week.
- Getting to a genuinely comfortable difficulty takes more than one evening — expect it to span most of the week, not one sitting.
What Rank Actually Unlocks in Helldivers 2
Rank in Helldivers 2 is closer to a loyalty counter than a power meter. Levelling up hands you passive stat bumps and occasional cosmetic unlocks, but it does not gate your weapons or stratagems. Those come from two separate currencies: Requisition Slips, which you spend at the acquisitions terminal on your ship for new stratagems and weapon slots, and Medals, which unlock warbond pages full of armor, primaries, and support gear. Samples are the third resource, and they feed ship module upgrades that make your existing stratagems stronger rather than unlocking new ones outright.
That’s the part nobody explains to new arrivals: grinding rank for its own sake is a waste of a week. Focus on missions that actually pay out Medals and Samples, because those are the two things gating your real progress. If you want the long version of how far this system scales once you’re past onboarding, the level 300 cap breakdown covers what the new rank ceiling from today’s update banks for you long term — this guide stays focused on week one.
| System | What it tracks | What it actually unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Rank / Level | Total missions completed and XP earned | Passive stat bonuses, some cosmetic titles |
| Requisition Slips | Currency earned per mission, scaled by difficulty | New stratagems and stratagem slot expansions |
| Medals | Earned from missions, Personal Orders, Major Orders | Warbond pages: armor, primaries, support weapons |
| Samples (Common / Rare / Super) | Picked up on the map, banked on your ship | Ship module upgrades that buff existing stratagems |
Where to Get Requisition, Medals and Samples Early
In week one almost everything you need comes from just playing missions rather than any special farming route. Trivial and Easy operations hand out small but steady Requisition and Medal drops, and every difficulty tier has Common Samples scattered around the map. The catch is that Rare Samples only start appearing once you’re cleared for Challenging difficulty, and Super Samples don’t show up until Extreme, so picking up commons early and banking them matters more than most new players realize — you can’t buy back a Sample you walked past.
Tip
Pick up every Sample you pass even if you’re not actively farming — they carry over permanently, and skipping them on Trivial just means buying yourself a slower Rare/Super Sample unlock later in the week.
| Source | What you get | Requirement | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trivial / Easy missions | Requisition, Medals, Common Samples | Default access | First two to three days |
| Medium / Challenging missions | More Requisition and Medals, Rare Samples unlock | Complete an operation on the prior tier | Mid-week once controls click |
| Extreme missions | Best Medal payout, Super Samples unlock | Complete a full Hard operation | Players comfortable with armored enemies |
| Personal Orders / Major Orders | Bonus Medals and Requisition for objectives you'd do anyway | None extra — check the war table | Everyone, every day |
Step-by-Step: Your First Helldivers 2 Week
Follow this sequence to get it done fast.
-
1
Clear two or three Trivial or Easy missions first
this is purely to learn stratagem call-in timing, friendly fire angles, and extraction routines before enemies get dangerous.
-
2
Unlock your first support stratagems
most players start with an Eagle airstrike-type call-in and an orbital precision strike already available; spend early Requisition on a support weapon slot rather than cosmetics.
-
3
Push to Medium once a mission feels boring, not scary
that boredom is the actual unlock signal, not your rank number.
-
4
Complete a full operation at Challenging as soon as you can
this is where Rare Samples start dropping and where the game meaningfully opens up.
-
5
Bank Samples at your ship's terminal instead of hoarding
module upgrades compound, and an unspent Sample stash does nothing for your loadout.
-
6
Check the community event and Major Order screens daily
both often reward Medals for things you were going to do anyway.
Your First Week: Stage by Stage
| Stage | What it unlocks | Where people usually get stuck |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 – 2 (Trivial / Easy) | Basic Requisition, first Medals, Common Samples | Friendly-fire deaths and misreading stratagem throw arcs |
| Days 3 – 4 (Medium / Challenging) | Rare Samples unlock; armored enemies like Chargers and Hulks start appearing | No anti-armor stratagem equipped yet |
| Days 5 – 6 (Hard / Extreme) | Super Samples unlock; best Medal payout per mission | Squad coordination — solo players get overwhelmed by patrol density |
| Day 7+ (Suicide Mission and beyond) | Best overall reward-to-time ratio, per most veteran consensus | Jumping here too early before ship modules are upgraded |
Devoid of Liberty: What's New for Brand New Players
The update that shipped alongside today’s PS Plus arrival is called Devoid of Liberty, and it pushes the war into a new Illuminate-controlled region referred to as the Void. It adds new mission types built around destroying spires and gateways, running data reconnaissance, and infiltrating enemy structures, plus non-playable SEAF troops that can now show up to assist on certain planets. It also raised the level cap from 150 to 300 with new ranks and titles attached — the full mechanics of that new ceiling are covered separately in the level 300 cap guide rather than here.
The Wretch
Described in the patch messaging as a fast, mutated Illuminate unit. Exact damage numbers and attack patterns have not been detailed publicly yet, so treat any specific counter advice you see right now as a guess rather than a confirmed strategy.
The Crusher
The armored counterpart to the Wretch, again without published stat breakdowns as of launch day. Because both enemies are brand new, any tips-and-tricks content dated before August 12 simply could not have covered them — they did not exist yet.
Warning
The Devoid of Liberty update reset equipped loadouts on many accounts — armor, weapon, helmet, and cape can revert to defaults. Re-check your loadout screen before queuing your first mission this week.
If you’re curious how the Illuminate faction fits into the wider story before diving into Void missions, the earlier Illuminate return guide covers how that enemy type first came back into rotation.
The 500 Million Kill Event: The Cheapest Box to Check This Week
Running alongside the update is a community-wide challenge: the Helldivers 2 player base needs to eliminate 500 million enemies collectively before August 18 to unlock four PlayStation avatars. There is no separate objective, no special mission type, and no extra grind attached — every kill from your normal missions this week counts toward the total. Because it costs nothing beyond playing the game you were already going to play, it is the single most efficient item on any new player’s first-week list, and there’s no reason to leave it for later given the fixed deadline.
Common Misconceptions About Progressing Fast
Myth: A Higher Rank Means a Stronger Loadout
Rank gives stat bonuses and cosmetics, not access. A rank 40 player and a rank 10 player can have access to the exact same stratagems if they’ve spent similar Requisition and Medals — rank alone buys nothing at the acquisitions terminal.
Myth: Farming Trivial Missions Repeatedly Is Efficient
Trivial pays out the least Requisition, the fewest Medals, and no Rare or Super Samples at all. It’s useful for learning controls in your first day or two and for occasional Super Credit runs, but staying there past that point actively slows your first week down.
Myth: You Have to Buy a Warbond to Keep Up
The free warbond track alone covers a functional loadout for most of your first week. Paid warbonds add variety, not a hard requirement — a point worth remembering if you’ve seen older advice built around habits that stopped working after later balance passes.
How Long Until Helldivers 2 Actually Feels Comfortable
Being honest here matters more than being encouraging. Reaching Challenging or Hard difficulty with a loadout that doesn’t fall apart against armored enemies is realistically a multi-session goal, not a one-evening one — most new players need several play sessions spread across the week rather than a single long grind to get there, especially solo. If you’re playing with a coordinated squad, that timeline compresses noticeably because someone else can carry anti-armor duty while you learn positioning. Playing solo stretches it out, since you’re covering every role yourself. Once builds start feeling less trial-and-error, it’s worth checking which loadouts are quietly overperforming right now via the underrated builds guide — but that’s a second-week problem, not a first-week one.
Our Take: Is Jumping In Through PS Plus Worth It Right Now?
Our Take
Good timing to start, as long as you ignore rank chasing and lean into the currency system instead.
Landing on the exact day of a content update is a mixed bag — you get new missions and a fresh rank ceiling, but also two enemies nobody has fully mapped out yet and a loadout reset to clean up first. None of that is a reason to wait. The core loop that made this game work at launch — pick objectives, manage stratagem cooldowns, bank Samples — hasn’t changed, and the free 500 million kill event this week is close to a strict bonus for anyone playing normally anyway.