Helldivers 2 splits armor into three categories: light, medium, and heavy. Each type affects your mobility and defensive stats. While important, the true value of armor actually lies in its passive abilities. Think of them as powerful armor perks that can significantly influence your gameplay experience.
With a wide range of armor passives available in Helldivers 2, knowing which ones to prioritize and when is essential for survival and combat effectiveness. Do not jump into your hellpod just yet. Our up-to-date tier list breaks down the best armor passives in Helldivers 2, helping you select the top choices for every mission situation.
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Updated August 28, 2025 by Marc Santos: The list of armor passives in Helldivers 2 grows with every Warbond content drop, but not every new passive is as good as some of the existing ones. We’ve updated this guide to include the armor effects that has been added to the game, up until the release Halo ODST Warbond for Helldivers 2.
All Armor Passives & What They Do in Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 features 20 armor passives at the time of writing. Each plays a crucial role in defining your playstyle, strategy, and combat effectiveness in missions. From extra padding for absorbing more damage to enhanced scouting abilities for improved stealth, the right armor passive can make all the difference.
In Helldivers 2, armor passives are tied to body armor. Your helmets and capes are standard-issue equipment that has no additional bonuses.
Below is a complete list of all armor passives in Helldivers 2 and what they bring to the table. Understanding them ensures you are always ready to adapt to varying challenges and mission requirements. Whether that includes focusing on survival or maximizing utility, choosing the right passive is an important step when creating loadouts and builds.
|
Armor Passive |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Acclimated |
50 percent resistance to acid, electrical, fire, and gas damage. |
|
Advanced Filtration |
80 percent resistance to gas damage. |
|
Adreno-Defibrilator |
Resurrects you upon dying, provided your limbs are intact. Health rapidly deteriorates after resurrection. Additionally, this grants players 50 percent reduction to incoming Arc Damage and two extra seconds of Stim duration. |
|
Ballistic Padding |
Provides 25 percent chest damage resistance and explosive damage resistance. Prevents all damage from bleeding when chest hemorrhages. |
|
Democracy Protects |
50 percent chance of surviving lethal attacks, such as headshots. Prevents chest injuries, such as internal bleeding. |
|
Electrical Conduit |
95 percent resistance to lightning arc damage. |
|
Feet First |
Completely prevents serious leg injuries. Increases POI detection range on radar by 30 percent. Wearers make 50 percent less noise when moving. |
|
Engineering Kit |
+2 grenade capacity. 30 percent recoil reduction when crouching or prone. |
|
Extra Padding |
+50 armor rating for improved defense. |
|
Fortified |
50 percent resistance to explosive damage. 30 percent recoil reduction when crouching or prone. |
|
Gunslinger |
Increases sidearm reload speed by 40 percent. Sidearm draw/holster speed increased by 50 percent. Sidearm recoil reduced by 70 percent. |
|
Inflammable |
75 percent resistance to fire damage. |
|
Integrated Explosives |
Explode on death. Increases initial grenade carrying capacity and max inventory by 2. |
|
Med-Kit |
+2 stim capacity. +2 seconds additional stim duration. |
|
Peak Physique |
100 percent increased melee damage. Improves weapon handling by reducing weapon movement drag. |
|
Reinforced Epaulettes |
Increases primary weapon reload speed by 30 percent. Gives wearers a 50 percent chance to avoid grievous lumb injuries. Increases melee damage by 50 percent. |
|
Scout |
30 percent reduced range at which enemies can detect players. Map markers generate radar scans to reveal nearby enemies. |
|
Servo-Assisted |
30 percent increased throwing range. 50 percent additional limb health. |
|
Siege-Ready |
30 percent increased reload speed of primary weapons. 30 percent increased ammo capacity of primary weapons. |
|
Unflinching |
95 percent reduced recoil flinching. Increases your armor rating by 25. Markers placed on the minimap generate Radar Pings every 2.0 seconds, revealing nearby hostiles. |
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Armor Passive Tier List in Helldivers 2
The following armor passive tier list is based on the 1.003.302 game version of Helldivers 2. It ranks all the passives based on their overall value, utility, and effectiveness across missions and enemy types.
|
Armor Passive |
Why? |
|
|---|---|---|
|
S Tier |
Engineering Kit |
Extra grenades are always a game-changer. Close more bug holes. Destroy more fabricators and warp ships. Tear through armor with Thermites. Stun-lock priority enemies. The possibilities are endless. |
|
Med-Kit |
Being able to heal more often is a powerful ability in Helldivers 2. When paired with the Experimental Infusion booster, stims allow you to essentially cheat death. No other armor passive improves your survival chances like the Med-Kit. |
|
|
Siege-Ready |
Siege-Ready is easily one of the best armor passives in Helldivers 2. The improved ammo count and reloads allow you to handle large crowds with ease, especially with ammo-hungry weapons. |
|
|
A Tier |
Democracy Protects |
It offers a solid defense boost, especially in the early game, allowing you to survive lethal damage on all fronts half of the time. |
|
Extra Padding |
You cannot go wrong with having a higher armor rating for flat damage resistance across the board. |
|
|
Ballistic Padding |
This isn’t quite as good as Extra Padding, but it’s still good. It is most useful against Automatons, since many of their units aim for the chest and use explosive damage. |
|
|
Fortified |
Highly useful in general, but an immediate S-tier armor passive when fighting Automatons in Helldivers 2. It helps you survive rockets from Devastators, Hulks, and Tanks while enhancing weapons like the Machine Gun to shred bots with precision. |
|
|
Servo-Assisted |
This top-tier armor passive in Helldivers 2 is particularly effective against the Terminids. The increased throwing range lets you deploy stratagems from a distance without drawing aggro, or toss grenades to close bug holes. Plus, it helps you avoid most injuries from their claw attacks. |
|
|
Reinforced Epaulettes |
Much like Siege Ready, Reinforced Epaulettes is very good against all enemies and at all difficulties. The limb injury prevention is great against Automatons, and you can’t go wrong with the bonus reload speed and melee damage stats. |
|
|
Gunslinger |
Gunslinger is great for players who love using weapons like the Deadeye, Eruptor, and other weapons that are risky to use in close combat. It’s also very strong when used with a Stun-based primary weapon and a heavy-hitting sidearm like the Senator. |
|
|
B Tier |
Feet First |
The bonus to stealth is great for specific types of players, and the extra POI detection range is perfect for farming Super Credits. Immunity to leg injuries is the only part of this armor passive that helps in combat, and while it might not seem like much, it’s enough to save the lives of many Helldivers. |
|
Peak Physique |
You generally do not want to get into melee range, and while the reduced drag is useful against mobile enemies like the Illuminate Overseers, there are several other ways to deal with them effectively. Still, it’s great if you’re using heavy weapons like the Dominator and HMG, and the bonus melee damage is more than welcome. |
|
|
Inflammable |
It is ideal for fire-based builds, and especially useful on planets with fire tornadoes. While situational, it provides enough value considering how Flamethrowers and Incendiaries can be highly effective against Terminids and the Illuminate. |
|
|
Scout |
The radar effect is useful for revealing enemy positions, allowing you to change your approach to different threats. It would rank higher if it also highlighted points of interest or side objectives. |
|
|
Adreno-Defibrilator |
The short-lived resurrection from Adreno-Defibrilator lets players go down in a blaze of glory, and those few extra seconds of life (which gets even longer with the bonus Stim duration) can spell the difference between winning and losing a mission. However, the Arc resistance it provides is negligible, making a third of this armor passive effectively worthless. |
|
|
Unflinching |
After initially providing only flinch resistance, this passive got buffed to also give bonus armor and the ability to detect hostiles using map pings. It’s much better than before, but it’s still not good enough to sit with other passives in the A and S tiers. |
|
|
C Tier |
Acclimated |
The three factions in Helldivers 2 each specialize in specific elemental damage types. You will never encounter all four types—acid, electrical, fire, and gas—in a single mission. |
|
Advanced Filtration |
It gives zero value if you are not running a gas build, and if you are, the overall benefits are not that much. |
|
|
Electrical Conduit |
This armor passive is only worth considering against the Illuminate, and even then, there are better options. However, it’s worth using when teams decide to use Arc weapons, as Electrical Conduit wearers can be used to extend the range of friendly lightning bolts. |
|
|
Integrated Explosives |
This is an extremely situational armor passive that’s only truly useful for very specific (and often dangerous) tactics. |
