Third-person co-op shooter Helldivers 2 not only wants you to spread democracy across the galaxy, it also wants you to protect it. And having the right armor is necessary to protect yourself, so you’re not just saving yourself by equipping the right armor for your needs, you’re saving Super Earth.

Read More: The Best Stratagems To Get Early In Helldivers 2
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Enough propaganda. Helldivers 2 lets you equip yourself with body armor, a helmet, and a cape before a firefight. But not all of these armor sets are built equally. With unique stats and passive abilities, what you equip before heading out into battle might mean the difference between a worthless sacrifice and a job well done.

General armor types and stats in Helldivers 2

On the surface, armor in Helldivers is rather straightforward. You have Light, Medium, and Heavy armor types. Among these armor types, all three have the same stat categories:

• Armor Rating
• Speed
• Stamina Regen

Armor Rating refers to the overall toughness of your armor and how much damage you’ll take, Speed refers to how fast you can move, andStamina Regen governs how quickly you’ll regenerate your Stamina. It’s all pretty self-explanatory stuff. When you’re looking at any given piece of armor in the shop or warbond battle passes, you can hit Triangle/Y/Tab to view a given piece of body armor’s stats. You’ll see color indicators to let you know whether that armor’s stat will be higher or lower than what you currently have equipped. For example:If you’re viewing a piece of armor that has better Speed than the one you have currently equipped, you’ll see the meter show green with an arrow pointing up to indicate that it’s better in that given area.

Helldivers 2 is not an RPG, so don’t fear needing to memorize specific stats, but having a general understanding of them will help. Capes and helmets, for now, don’t seem to augment your Armor Rating, Speed, or Stamina Regen in unique ways (they all give a 100 rating across each category and none seem to have any Passive abilities). But when it comes to passive stats, however, you’ll want to pay attention to what each suit will give you.

Armor Passive abilities

Body armor also comes with an Armor Passive ability. Not every piece of armor has a unique passive ability. For example, TR-9 Cavalier of Democracy and Savior of the Free both have the same one: Democracy Protects, which grants a 50% chance to not get killed instantly from lethal damage while also preventing bleeding.

Another example of an Armor Passive ability is Scout, which comes with the SC-34 Infiltrator armor. For this one, you’ll get a radar scan on any marker placed on the map in two-second increments, revealing enemy positions in an area you’ve marked. Scout also makes it harder for enemies to track you. Here are all the Armor Passives currently in Helldivers 2:

• Democracy Protects: 50% less chance of getting killed by lethal damage and prevents bleeding from chest hemorrhages
• Engineering Kit: Reduces recoil while crouching or laying down by 30% and increases grenade capacity by 2
• Extra Padding: Increases Armor Rating (note that it isn’t reflected in the Armor Rating stat)
• Fortified: Reduces recoil while crouching or laying down by 30% while granting 50% resistance to explosions
• Med Kit: Increases Stim capacity by 2 and increases their duration by two seconds
• Servo-Assisted: Increases grenade throwing range by 30% and adds 50% bonus to limb health
• Scout: Markers placed on maps scan the area every two seconds, reduces enemy detection by 30%

Different Armor Passive abilities will benefit certain playstyles and missions over others. Overall, it’s a good idea to start memorizing the ones you prefer to have equipped so you can make the most of what you have. Equipping an Armor with the Scout passive and then never marking map areas or constantly rushing to the enemy will make its bonuses pointless on the field.

With a regularly updated storefront, and more content on the way, we expect Helldivers 2’s meta to only grow with time. As such, we’ll be sure to update this guide with any new additions to the game. Until then, what armor is your go-to for spreading democracy?