How to get and use Boosters in Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 Boosters - A squad of divers
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Equipping a Booster in Helldivers 2 is just one of the many ways you can up your game while dropping into planets to face down an endless tide of enemies. You can slot these easy upgrades into your loadout to provide a team-wide buff, ranging from boosted radar range, to slightly more useful stuff like less chance to get your legs broken by enemies.

If you've spent any time with Helldivers 2 so far, or the original Helldivers in fact, you'll know it's a pretty terminal profession—trying to retake planets hopelessly infested with giant bugs and robots never goes well. That said, Boosters are one of the many upgrades that'll buff your chances of survival, so here's how to get and equip them.

How to get Boosters

The first Booster you can buy is on page three of the Helldivers Mobilise Warbond store (Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

You can buy boosters in Acquisitions on your ship, specifically by spending medals in the two Warbond stores. These are all the ones that are available in the Helldivers Mobilise store in the order that you'll unlock them for purchase:

  • Hellpod Space Optimisation (15 medals): Helldivers come out of the Hellpod fully stocked on ammo, grenades, and stims
  • Vitality Enhancement (20 medals): Allows Helldivers to resist injury.
  • UAV Recon Booster (40 medals): Increases all Helldivers' effective radar range.
  • Stamina Enhancement (75 medals): Increases all Helldivers' stamina capacity and recovery.
  • Muscle Enhancement (70 medals): Allows Helldivers to traverse difficult terrain with ease.
  • Increased Reinforcement Budget (150 medals): Increases the number of available reinforcements.

And this one is available in the Steeled Veterans store:

  • Flexible Reinforcement Budget (75 medals): Reduces time until new reinforcements are granted once they've been depleted.

Some of these are very strong, such as the Increased Reinforcement Budget, which literally gives you more available lives for your team. Though I can see Stamina and Muscle Enhancement both being very good, too, considering how often you're hotfooting it away from hordes of enemies. 

Since the Warbond stores have a tiered structure that requires you to spend a certain number of medals before you unlock the next, you won't be able to purchase them right away. The first pretty useful one you'll be able to get is Hellpod Space Optimisation on page three. If you're wondering about how to get medals, you can earn them by completing operations, but you can also sometimes find them in item caches during those missions.

How to equip Boosters

There are two ways to equip Boosters in Helldivers 2. You can do it in the armoury on your ship at any time, where you'll find a tab specifically labelled "Booster", or you can equip your Booster when you're sorting your Stratagems in the pre-mission Hellpod screen. It's important to note that Booster effects don't stack, so this second option is probably best. You'll be able to see what Boosters your other squad members equip and so make sure that none are overlapping with each other. 

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Sean Martin
Guides Writer

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.