After initially having a lukewarm opinion on it, I now think the R-36 Eruptor is the best primary weapon in last year's mega buff patch, but I'm actually a little surprised developer Arrowhead Game Studios has made the Eruptor so powerful. It's not game-breaking by any means, but its latest buff has sent it to the upper echelon of primaries, and it's actually introduced me to new and exciting strategies.

Ahead of the significant buff to the R-36 Eruptor. The bolt-action rifle was introduced with the Democratic Detonation Warbond, taking full advantage of the theme to give the Helldivers a new toy that fires explosive rounds. Almost a year later, though, there's a new best gun after the March 2025 update.

The R-36 Eruptor Is The Most Versatile Primary Weapon In Helldivers 2

Anti-Infantry & Anti-Tank

According to the March 2025 update patch notes on Steam, the Eruptor was changed in two significant ways. First, the armor penetration of its projectiles was increased from the third tier, medium armor penetration, to the fourth, heavy armor penetration. This makes the R-36 Eruptor the first and only primary weapon in the game to have heavy armor penetration, a classification usually reserved for weapons.

The second major change to the Eruptor's behavior is its projectile lifetime value, which was increased from 0.7 to one second. This means when you fire the weapon, the explosive round can travel roughly 43% further than it could prior to the March 2025 update before it's forced to detonate. Increasing this distance alone ensures the Eruptor is even better at what it was designed for: long-range engagements.

These two changes combined make it incredibly lethal from a distance, able to not only take down medium-armored enemies like Devastators, but simultaneously clear out the surrounding light-armored chaff enemies thanks to its explosive rounds. Part of this crowd control effectiveness comes down to RNG, since the Eruptor's explosions use shrapnel projectiles, but it's largely negligible, since taking down a patrol from distance will take a few shots anyway, increasing the likelihood of splash damage.

Heavy armor penetration also makes the Eruptor a serviceable anti-tank weapon. Well-placed shots will let you destroy an Automaton Shredder Tank (through the top of its turret if it's facing you) or an Illuminate Harvester (directly into the eye) in a single shot. The Eruptor will also by Terminid Charger and Charger Behemoth armor, and even damage many parts of a Bile Titan or a Hulk.

Although they're the hardest area to hit, aim for the heads on Bile Titans and Hulks when using the Eruptor.

If that isn't enough to prove its versatility, the Eruptor can also destroy Bug Holes and Fabricators, provided you aim for the vents on the latter. Despite its many uses, though, the Eruptor does not guarantee success, and can be tricky to use, especially at a very long range. Its projectile speed is quite slow, so hitting a specific weak point from far away requires you to lead your targets by a significant margin.

Don't Try To Use The Eruptor At Close Range

Its Fatal Flaw, Literally

No Helldivers 2 weapon is perfect in every situation, though, and the Eruptor's greatest shortcoming is fighting at close quarters. While its slow rate of fire and poor handling will ensure you get swarmed, the real kicker is its explosive ammo. Accidentals are par for the course in the Second Galactic War, but you'll be wasting perfectly capable Helldivers by blowing yourself up shooting at close-range hostiles.

If your own shrapnel doesn't shred you, the explosion itself will knock you down, making it easy for surviving melee attackers to close in. This may get you in a sticky situation on the Terminid and Illuminate fronts, but loadout crafting is a huge part of succeeding at higher difficulty levels in Helldivers 2, so choosing the right strategems and making sure you have good team synergy should pick up the slack. When playing the Eruptor, expect to fulfill a sniper role on the team.

Best Stratagems To Run With The R-36 Eruptor

It's Practically A Weapon

Prior to the March 2025 update, I was partial to the primary weapons that largely let me disregard refilling ammo. Depending on which faction you're fighting, the Sickle and the Blitzer both pair well with the Arc Thrower, my favorite weapon, so for a long time I focused on crowd control. This is not the Eruptor's strength, though, so I've had to re-tool my approach following the update.

Regardless of your individual goal in any given mission, though, you first have to solve the aforementioned close-quarters conundrum. Sidearms can take out individual stragglers, but will likely let you down in a swarm, so I figured the best options to pair with the Eruptor are the Stalwart and the Flamethrower. I was already a fan of the Stalwart, so I elected to bring it on most missions with the Eruptor. Its light armor penetration isn't exceptional, but it's easy to handle, has plenty of ammo, and deals with crowds of chaff enemies quickly.

Next, I looked at completing objectives. I was on the bot front fighting off invasions for the Major Order, and settled on the following three stratagems to go with my Stalwart: Eagle Strafing Run, Eagle Airstrike, and Machine Gun Sentry. They're all low-level stratagems, and don't appear to be particularly ferocious, but they're great for keeping a low profile and remaining nimble. When upgraded, you've got a total of eight Eagle strikes with these stratagems before you need to rearm, and both the Strafing Run and the Airstrike can destroy fabricators.

The Eruptor can take care of fabricators from the right angle, but it's often pretty easy to sneak up to an outpost and destroy it with Eagle strikes before the enemies can find you.

The Machine Gun Sentry could easily be swapped out – the Gatling Sentry has a bit more firepower, and the Autocannon Sentry can calm any anti-tank worries you might have – but I chose it largely because of its short cooldown. If you're strictly going for objectives, there's no need to waste your time finishing firefights, and the Machine Gun Sentry is great at getting the enemy's attention so you can break line of sight and move on.

The Eagle Cluster Bomb is also a good substitute for the Strafing Run if you want to quickly take out patrols.

All that said, the Eruptor being so versatile allows for a lot of variation in your strategy. Use more sentries if you want to your teammates, or bring the Recoilless Rifle or Expendable Anti-Tank if you're worried about the big fellas. With the EAT in particular (or the Railgun), a Guard Dog might help keep the swarm at bay since you won't have a close-range weapon.

Regardless of your loadout, the most important thing when running the Eruptor is to be aware of your surroundings; you always want to engage at a distance, and kill enemies before they can get too close. I find it best to stick with teammates, but stay on the periphery of firefights, and always look for high ground, since the Eruptor's scope has three levels of zoom. With everyone else firing bigger guns, it's easy to take out a lot of medium-sized enemies with well-placed shots from the Eruptor while remaining inconspicuous in Helldivers 2.