Helldivers 2 Just Got Two New Stratagems, And One Is A Giant Laser Cannon

Helldivers 2 just received two new stratagems for players to employ against the enemies of managed democracy, and they look to pack quite a punch.

The two stratagems are support weapons: the MG-101 Heavy Machine Gun and the LAS-99 Quasar Cannon. Both weapons have a three-second call-in time by default and a 480-second cooldown timer on call-ins, but can technically be called into battle as many times during a mission as needed (as long as they aren’t on cooldown). The Heavy Machine Gun costs 6,000 Requisition to unlock while the Quasar Cannon costs 7,500.

In-game, the MG-101 Heavy Machine Gun is described as a “very powerful but difficult-to-wield” weapon, and joins the ranks of two other similar weapons, the Machine Gun and the Stalwart. It’s the Quasar Cannon that definitely looks to be the more interesting of the two, as it’s a massive shoulder-mounted weapon that after a charge-up time “fires a powerful, explosive energy burst” but features a long cooldown before it can be fired again. The Quasar Cannon looks to be particularly useful against the heavily armored Automatons, and is even capable of shooting Automaton dropships out of the sky.

Developer Arrowhead Studios has continued to keep Helldivers 2 fresh with the introduction of new Major Orders, Stratagems, and weapons following the game’s launch in early February 2024. Players recently unlocked pilotable mechs after liberating important factories from the Automaton threat, and some players are convinced that the arrival of a third enemy faction is imminent. Arrowhead recently introduced the new Cutting Edge Warbond (battle pass) to the game, which features new weapons, armor, and cosmetics for players to earn.

Helldivers 2 was the best-selling game of February in the US, dethroning Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, according to Circana. It has continually been among the top-selling and top-played games on Steam since launch, making it the biggest launch ever for a Sony-published game on PC. In GameSpot’s Helldivers 2 review, we said Arrowhead’s shooter manages to carve out a space for itself in a crowded live-service landscape thanks to its “fun narrative tone, punchy combat, intense firefights, and rewarding progression track,” calling it “just a really good time.”