Damage
[1]Calculating Damage in Helldivers 2 takes a large number of variables into consideration. The Damage page explains how different Enemies, Weapons, and Stratagems handle damage.
Damage Calculation
All damage calculation information in this section of the document has been confirmed to be accurate as of Game Version 1.000.203]
Enemy Parts
An enemy's hitbox is not as simple as a single value of health or one of armor. An enemy is made up of many different enemy parts, each part with its own armor value and health value. Parts can also be considered "Durable" parts, which take damage in a completely different way.
Enemy parts can be destroyed, but that does not always mean the enemy dies. An enemy will die if one of the following conditions are satisfied:
- Enemy overall health is reduced to 0
- A fatal enemy part is destroyed, such as their head.
Damage done to an enemy body part may transfer full or in part to their main HP, although not all parts do this. Destruction of a body part can also initiate a bleed out.
- Some enemy parts have explosion immunity which means that the part ignores explosion damage. Damage will still transfer to main, if the part transfers damage to main.
Falloff
Many damage sources can suffer from reduction independently of their target. Two commons factors are velocity-based falloff (ballistics) and range-based falloff (explosions).
- If a projectile is slower than its muzzle velocity, damage is lost.
- If a projectile is faster than its muzzle velocity, damage is gained.
- Projectiles can lose velocity mainly from air friction. Damage increase can occur when firing at a target at a lower elevation using, for instance, JAR-5 Dominator which has no drag but is affected by gravity. Reduction in speed and gravity is otherwise typical for most weapons no matter the elevation..
- Upon impact, damage has falloff calculated and then rounded down to the nearest integer. For instance, an AR-23 Liberator hitting an enemy 1m away, damage is reduced to 59.9 which is further reduced to 59 damage before other damage calculations apply.
- The explosion from projectiles is not affected by this system, only the direct hit, such as the 650 direct damage from EAT-17 Expendable Anti-Tank.
Explosions have different radii from the center of impact where the following rules apply:
- Explosions have an inner radius in which no damage is lot.
- Explosions have middle radius that suffers decreasing damage.
- Explosions have an outermost radius that might have no damage at all, but can still knock units back or possibly stagger them.
- It is not yet understood if, how, or by how much these radii are affected by terrain obstruction or going prone.
Armor Penetration
Every part of every Enemy has a specific Armor Value, with a range of 0 to 10. This number indicates how armored that part is, and how strong a Weapon needs to be to deal any damage to it.
Similar to enemies, every weapon has a set of Armor Penetration Values that indicate how much armor the weapon can pierce.
- If the specified weapons Armor Penetration Value is more than the enemy part's Armor Value, the weapon deals 100% damage (Red Hit marker)
- If the specified weapons Armor Penetration Value is equal to the enemy part's Armor Value, the weapon deals 50% damage (White Hit marker)
- If the specified weapons Armor Penetration Value is less than the enemy part's Armor Value, the weapon deals 0% damage (Ricochet)
Each weapon may have a total of four penetration values:
- One penetration value for a direct hit, looking straight at the enemy part with (almost) no angle of attack (less than 25°).
- One penetration value for hits at a slight angle (less than 60°)
- One penetration value for hits at a large angle (less than 80°)
- One penetration value for hits at an extreme value (+80°)
The first three penetration values are often identical, resulting in a general penetration value and a bouncing angle.
For explosions, only one armor penetration value is used. It decreases in the outer radius.
Weapon Damage
Each weapon, stratagem, etc. has two different damage values assigned to them
- Standard damage is the normal damage the weapon does to anything it shoots.
- Durable damage, also known as Massive damage, is the damage done to durable enemy parts[2], massive enemy parts[3], and large volume bodies[4], all of which have a durability level greater than zero.
One important thing to note, these damage values are the damage done at point blank range. Damage decreases as the distance traveled increases.
Enemy Part Durability Level
Enemy parts also have a Durability level. This level is a variable between 0 and 100.
- A value of 0 means the enemy part is not durable at all, and will take full standard damage
- A value of 100 means the enemy part is 100% durable, and will take full durable damage.
Each weapon has a specific value defined for the amount of damage it can do to standard enemy parts, and a separate value defined for the amount of "durable" damage it can do to enemy parts. The part durability level value defines the ratio of standard damage vs. durable damage applied.
Durability Example
For this example it will be assumed that the weapon used has a standard damage of 1000, and a durable damage of 100.
Assume a single shot is being fired at a specific Enemy Part, and that the shot pierces the enemies armor completely.
- If the enemy part has a durability value of 0 (0% durable), the part will take 1000 damage.
- If the enemy part has a durability value of 100 (100% durable), the part will take 100 damage.
- If the enemy part has a durability value of 50 (50% durable), the part will take 550 damage.
- 50% standard damage: 500
- 50% durable damage: 50
- If the enemy part getting shot by this weapon has a durability value of 60 (60% durable), the part will take 460 damage.
- 40% standard damage: 400
- 60% durable damage: 60
Squishy Enemy Parts
Squishy parts have an Armor Value of 0 but have extremely high Durability (e.g. Charger butt).
- This means that all guns damage the part, but the damage done is almost entirely related to the guns durable damage, not its standard damage.
- Weapons, Stratagems, etc. with explosion damage such as the GL-21 Grenade Launcher are most effective against squishy enemy parts
Damaging Structures
All destructible structures in the game have a Demolition Threshold associated with them between 0 and 100.
In order to destroy a structure, the user needs to be using a weapon/stratagem that has enough Demolition Force. Armor penetration is irrelevant to this check, as is damage and whether or not the attack is explosive. When the threshold is met, the structure will be destroyed.
Note: Some structures, such as Spore Spewers and Shrieker Nests, are not labeled as structures. These entities are considered non-moving enemy units with a high Armor Value and Durability.
Armor Damage Modifiers
Armor will lower the damage the helldiver takes when hit, depending on its armor rating. The following tables explain the effect armor has on each part of the Helldiver Factors
| Modifier | Factor |
|---|---|
| Head | 200% |
| Chest | 85% |
| Leg | 80% |
| Arm | 70% |
| Explosion | 50% |
| Fortified | 50% |
| Vitality Booster | 80% |
Armor Rating Factors
| Armor | Factor |
|---|---|
| 50 | 133% |
| 64 | 123.54% |
| 70 | 119.8% |
| 79 | 114.14% |
| 100 | 100% |
| 129 | 88.57% |
| 150 | 80% |
| 200 | 67% |
Full Armor Table
| Armor | Head | Chest | Leg | Arm | Explosion | Fortified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 200% | 113.05% | 106.4% | 93.1% | 66.5% | 33.25% |
| 64 | 200% | 105.01% | 98.83% | 86.47% | 61.77% | 30.88% |
| 70 | 200% | 101.83% | 95.84% | 83.86% | 59.9% | 29.95% |
| 79 | 200% | 97.02% | 91.31% | 79.9% | 57.07% | 28.54% |
| 100 | 200% | 85% | 80% | 70% | 50% | 25% |
| 129 | 177.14% | 75.29% | 70.86% | 62% | 44.29% | 22.14% |
| 150 | 160% | 68% | 64% | 56% | 40% | 20% |
| 200 | 134% | 56.95% | 53.6% | 46.9% | 33.5% | 16.75% |
With Vitality Booster
| Armor | Head | Chest | Leg | Arm | Explosion | Fortified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 160% | 90.44% | 85.12% | 74.48% | 53.2% | 26.6% |
| 64 | 160% | 84% | 79.06% | 69.18% | 49.41% | 24.71% |
| 70 | 160% | 81.46% | 76.67% | 67.09% | 47.92% | 23.96% |
| 79 | 160% | 77.62% | 73.05% | 63.92% | 45.66% | 22.83% |
| 100 | 160% | 68% | 64% | 56% | 40% | 20% |
| 129 | 141.71% | 60.23% | 56.69% | 49.6% | 35.43% | 17.71% |
| 150 | 128% | 54.4% | 51.2% | 44.8% | 32% | 16% |
| 200 | 107.2% | 45.56% | 42.88% | 37.52% | 26.8% | 13.4% |
Damage Types
Different Stratagems, weapons and enemies deal different types of damage to Helldivers and Enemies.
List of Damage Types
| Type | Description | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Arc Damage | ARC-12 Blitzer • ARC-3 Arc Thrower • A/ARC-3 Tesla Tower | |
| Fire Damage | All sources that deal this damage, will ignite helldivers, making them burn for a couple of seconds. Helldivers are advised to dive to extinguish the flames and use stims when on fire. | Fire Tornados • Hulks • Orbital Laser |
| Impact Damage | This damage is caused by sources impacting with the helldiver. | Falling Shriekers • Bile Titan Stomps • High Speed Terrain Collision |
| Fall Damage | This damage is caused by falling from high places. | Falling |
| Ammo Based Damage | ||
| Laser Damage | ||
| Energy Damage | ||
| Poison Damage | ||
| Explosion Damage | Most sources of this damage, will launch helldivers into the air, possibly causing Impact Damage. | G-16 Impact • G-12 High Explosive • Bile Spewer Spit Attack • Nursing Spewer Spit Attack |