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Ship modules in Helldivers 2 turn your Destroyer into a passive stat stick for your stratagems, and the honest short answer is: unlock Liquid-Ventilated Cockpit and Expanded Weapons Bay first no matter how you play, because full unlock of every module costs 3,830 common samples, 2,920 rare samples, 305 super rare samples and 335,000 requisition, and nobody is doing that in a week. This guide is about the order to buy things in, not about where samples come from — for that side of the grind, our separate breakdown of farming and where samples actually drop covers it in detail. What follows is the spend order that holds up whether you’re an Eagle spammer, an orbital main or someone who lives behind three turrets.
TL;DR
- Full module unlock costs 3,830 common, 2,920 rare, 305 super rare samples and 335,000 requisition — this is a long-term goal, not a first-month one
- Liquid-Ventilated Cockpit (50 percent Eagle cooldown cut) and Expanded Weapons Bay (+1 Eagle use per rearm) pay off for every playstyle and go first
- After that, the correct order splits by playstyle: orbital players want Zero-G Breech Loading next, turret players want High-Quality Lubricant
- 305 super rare samples are locked behind higher difficulties — if you don’t run those missions, some modules are gated by skill level, not currency
- Skip the deep, expensive late-tier modules in each category early — they stretch your first real investments too thin
What Are Ship Modules in Helldivers 2?
Ship modules are permanent, passive upgrades bought on your Destroyer through the Ship Management console, and unlike Boosters they only affect the Helldiver who bought them, not the whole squad. Ship Modules are permanent, passive upgrades to your Destroyer, so once you unlock a Ship Module, it’ll go into effect automatically, and they’re personal, so they won’t benefit your squad like Boosters. They sit alongside Warbonds, boosters and your stratagem loadout as one of the main long-term progression systems, and they’re arguably the single biggest quiet power spike in the game once you’ve settled on a build — something covered in more depth in our look at underrated builds quietly working right now. Modules are grouped into six ship sections, each with its own upgrade line. Your ship can equip three ship modules for each of the six sections of your ship, called Patriotic Administration Center, Orbital Cannons, Hangar, Bridge, Engineering Bay, and Robotics Workshop.
| Ship section | What it governs |
|---|---|
| Patriotic Administration Center | Support weapon ammo, resupply behavior |
| Orbital Cannons | Orbital stratagem cooldowns and deployment |
| Hangar | Eagle stratagem cooldowns, rearms and uses |
| Bridge | Orbital deployment speed and utility effects |
| Engineering Bay | Sentry and emplacement cooldowns and deployment |
| Robotics Workshop | Sentry health, ammo and targeting behavior |
How Much It Costs to Unlock Every Ship Module
Each module can only be bought once the tier before it in that same section is already unlocked, and costs climb fast as you go deeper into a line. Ship Modules can be found in the Ship Management console on your Destroyer, and all cost increasing amounts of Samples to unlock; Level 1 Ship Modules have no pre-requisites or level requirements attached, but to buy each Ship Module of Level 2 and above, you need the Ship Module of the previous level already unlocked, then you pay the associated Sample cost as well. The total across every section is the number that should end any “should I just open everything” conversation.
You need a total of 3,830 common (green) Samples, 2,920 rare (orange) Samples, 305 very rare (pink) Samples, and 335,000 Requisition Slips to unlock all Ship Modules in Helldivers 2. That figure has actually grown over the game’s life as Arrowhead added more modules to some categories, so treat older guides quoting smaller totals as out of date rather than wrong for their time. Where those samples actually come from — planet types, difficulty tiers, POI routes — is its own topic and not something worth re-covering here.
Warning
Super rare samples only drop from higher-difficulty missions. If you mostly play lower difficulties, the late-tier modules in Hangar and Engineering Bay aren’t locked behind grind time so much as behind a difficulty wall you haven’t climbed yet.
Step-by-Step: Planning Your Ship Module Priority
Follow this sequence to get it done fast.
-
1
Check what you can afford right now
open Ship Management and note which level-1 modules across all six sections you can already buy with samples on hand.
-
2
Buy Liquid-Ventilated Cockpit first
it's cheap relative to what it does and benefits every stratagem loadout that includes an Eagle.
-
3
Queue Pit Crew Hazard Pay next
it's the required step before Expanded Weapons Bay, so there's no way to skip it even if the module itself is the least exciting of the three.
-
4
Unlock Expanded Weapons Bay
this is where the Eagle stops being an occasional panic button and becomes something you use on cooldown, every mission.
-
5
Pick your playstyle fork
decide whether orbitals or turrets are your actual second stratagem category, and commit samples there instead of splitting them thin.
-
6
Leave the level-3 modules in unused categories for later
don't chase a full Robotics Workshop if you never run turrets, no matter how cheap it looks on paper.
Best Ship Modules to Upgrade First
Two modules pay off regardless of loadout, difficulty or squad composition, because Eagle stratagems are common to nearly every build in the game.
The logic is simple: reducing Eagle stratagem cooldowns by 50 percent is a pretty massive buff if you use them often, and stacking Expanded Weapons Bay on top means an Eagle 500KG Bomb or Airstrike loadout goes from something you save for emergencies to something you throw at every pack of medium enemies. Players who read our PS Plus first week guide and are just building their first loadouts should treat these two as the actual starting point once they have enough samples banked, ahead of anything cosmetic or situational.
| Module | What it gives | Who should buy it first |
|---|---|---|
| Liquid-Ventilated Cockpit | Cooldown time for Eagle Stratagems is reduced by 50 percent | Everyone, day one |
| Expanded Weapons Bay | The number of Eagle Stratagem uses is increased by 1 per Rearm | Everyone running any Eagle |
| Pit Crew Hazard Pay | Reduces Eagle stratagem rearm time, making rearming 20 percent faster | Required step before Expanded Weapons Bay |
| Donation Access License | Support Weapons come with full ammo when deployed | Anyone leaning on a support weapon early |
Ship Module Priority by Playstyle
Past the two universal buys, the correct next purchase depends entirely on what you actually call in during a mission. This is where generic tier lists fall apart, because a module that’s essential for a turret build does nothing for someone who never places a sentry.
Orbital-focused players
If your loadout leans on orbital barrages, strikes and lasers, the Bridge and Orbital Cannons sections matter more than anything in Hangar past your first two buys. Orbital-heavy players should prioritize Zero-G Breech Loading next. Orbital Stratagems are very powerful and so have very long cooldowns, so any cooldown reduction is welcome — this module’s 10 percent reduction works out to over 20 seconds in most cases.
Turret and sentry players
If you’re the one dropping sentries to lock down a flank while the squad pushes objectives, Robotics Workshop and Engineering Bay are your actual priority tree. Sentry engineers should push toward High-Quality Lubricant. Combined with ammo and health upgrades from the same section, this is what keeps a placed turret relevant against later waves instead of getting flanked or running dry mid-fight.
Generalists and support-weapon players
If you don’t have a strong stratagem identity yet, Patriotic Administration Center is the safest early spend outside the two universal Hangar buys, since full-ammo support weapons help in every mission type regardless of enemy faction or difficulty.
Tip
Buy the cheap level-1 module in every section you might eventually use before committing hard to one category’s expensive level-3 tier. It keeps options open while you’re still figuring out your preferred stratagem mix.
| Playstyle | Next priority after the universal core | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Orbital-focused | Zero-G Breech Loading | Cuts long orbital cooldowns by a meaningful margin |
| Turret / sentry | High-Quality Lubricant | Fixes sentry targeting so it doesn't waste shots on old threats |
| Generalist / support weapon | Patriotic Administration Center line | Full ammo on deploy helps every loadout |
What Can Wait: Modules to Delay
Because costs stack and every module past level one requires the tier before it, spreading samples too thin early just delays the buys that actually change how a mission plays. A few categories are safe to leave alone until you have a clear surplus.
| Category / module | Why it can wait |
|---|---|
| Deep Robotics Workshop tiers | Useless if you don't run sentries regularly; expensive for a niche payoff |
| Late Engineering Bay upgrades | Only matters if emplacements are a core part of your loadout |
| Cosmetic-adjacent utility modules | Nice quality-of-life, no combat impact worth prioritizing over cooldowns |
| Any level-3 module in an unused category | Requires two prior purchases in a line you're not actually using |
Common Misconceptions About Ship Module Priority
“You can just buy whatever module you want”
Not true past level one. Each of these upgrades can only be purchased if you have already unlocked the previous tier in its corresponding section. That sequential requirement is why planning an order matters more than picking a single “best” module in isolation.
“Requisition is the real bottleneck”
Requisition is cheap and plentiful compared to samples, especially super rare ones. The 335,000 total requisition figure sounds huge, but it’s the sample requirements — particularly the 305 super rares — that actually gate progress, since those only come from harder content.
“Full unlock is a reasonable short-term goal”
It isn’t, and no honest guide should imply otherwise. With totals in the thousands for common and rare samples alone, full unlock is an endgame-adjacent target, not a first few weeks’ project — which is exactly the territory our piece on the level 300 cap and endgame prep gets into.
Our Take: Is Rushing Full Module Unlock Worth It?
Our Take
No, and treating it as a checklist to clear misses the point of the system.
The two Hangar buys are close to mandatory because Eagles show up in almost every loadout, but everything after that should follow how you actually play, not a universal tier list. Super rare samples being tied to difficulty rather than time spent is the honest part nobody likes saying: if you’re not diving high difficulties, some modules simply aren’t available to you yet, and no amount of low-difficulty grinding changes that.