What happens when you die in Helldivers 2

Is death permanent in Helldivers 2?

Helldivers 2 satirizes military propaganda which often sends its recruits into deadly missions. Though being part of the military seems like a heroic action, it can result in human lives being treated like disposable tools.

The gameplay in Helldivers 2 sticks to this theme, and when you die, it doesn’t spell the end of a mission. A new Helldiver is simply deployed. Is it the same individual respawned, or is it a new person altogether? Arrowhead’s answer to this question is rather morbid: “If a Helldiver dies, whether by bug or by bullet, another Helldiver can be called down in their place.”

Essentially, your Helldiver died permanently but it doesn’t matter from a gameplay perspective because the replacement recruit can “pick up the discarded weapons of the previous corpse, and jump right back into the action.”

This can be used to your advantage when you’re in a sticky situation. For example, if there are too many enemies surrounding you and you’re low on ammo, using a stratagem for an orbital strike can kill your foes, but you can also die in the process if you’re in the blast zone. It’s not much of a sacrifice because unlike them, you’ll be back in a few seconds.

If you’re lucky, you can land your Hellpod on your enemies when you’re thrown back into the game. Sometimes, it’s enough to kill a small horde of Terminids or a single large one.

When playing with a team, respawn beacons can be used to get you back in action, and you can request a respawn from your fellow fighters. If all four Helldivers die simultaneously, they’ll be automatically replaced.

How many times can you die in Helldivers 2?

A 4-player team has 20 respawns. If all respawns are used up, there’ll be a 2-minute cooldown timer for respawning. When playing solo, dying during the cooldown results in a failed mission.

Do you lose anything when you die in Helldivers 2?

Perhaps the worst consequence of dying is that you may drop your weapons and samples. Fortunately, these can be picked up again. The location of your samples is indicated by a test tube icon on your map.

You can even pick up samples from other teammates who have died. This is not considered poor etiquette, as samples are shared amongst the whole team.

Don’t worry too much about dying in Helldivers 2. It’s pretty much impossible to avoid it given how action-packed the title is. Nevertheless, with some practice, you can lessen the odds of the Automatons and Terminids getting the best of you.