Helldivers 2 Guide – How to Farm XP and Level up Quickly

Helldivers 2 is a game about shooting space bugs and murderous robots when you’re unleashing payloads on their bases. To better facilitate Super Earth’s plans for conquest – er, galactic democracy, it’s best to level up as soon as possible. This unlocks new Stratagems, from orbital bombardment and Eagle Strikes to weapons like the Railgun and Flamethrower.

You’ll still need Requisition Slips to pay for them, but leveling up is arguably tougher. Fortunately, there are ways to farm XP quickly. Let’s go over a few of them quickly.

How to Quickly Farm XP

Play on Higher Difficulties

Starting at Trivial, the best way to unlock further difficulties is to complete an Operation on that difficulty. Complete an Easy Operation to unlock Medium, then a Medium Operation for Challenging, etc. The highest difficulty is Helldiver, but even if you play at Hard and above, it’s possible to garner significantly more XP than on lower difficulties.

Side Objectives and Extractions

Completing side objectives, like wiping out Automaton Factories and Bug Nests, provides additional XP. The completed side objectives count towards the total XP, and they even grant Requisition Slips for purchasing Stratagems. Extracting after mission completion is also advised – it provides a small amount of XP, but everything adds up.

Farm Quicker Missions

Missions with lower time limits, like slaying hordes of enemies and destroying Factories/Nests are also ideal for quick XP gains. They’re quick, which means they’re quickly farmable. Also, depending on the time remaining when extracting, you’ll gain an XP bonus. If you have a squad, it’s worth fanning out in destruction missions to clear out the Nests and Factories faster. Do this on the higher difficulties for even more XP.

Helldivers 2 is available for PS5 and PC. Check out our review here and additional tips and tricks here. You can also learn more about farming War Medals here.