Helldivers 2 Armor Penetration: AP vs AV and 100/65/0

The core rule: AP versus AV

Every attack compares two values: your weapon’s Armor Penetration (AP) and the enemy body part’s Armor Value (AV). The comparison sets your damage:

• AP > AV → 100 percent damage (red hit marker).
• AP = AV → 65 percent damage (white hit marker). This was raised from 50 percent in Patch 01.001.100 on 17 September 2024.
• AP < AV → 0 percent damage; the shot ricochets (blue flash). This check runs on every hit, on every body part. Hitting a weaker spot can multiply your damage, which is why the same rifle kills a Hulk from its unarmored back vent but does nothing to its faceplate.

In-game labels versus real tiers

The four in-game labels map to hidden numeric levels:

• Light → AP 2
• Medium → AP 3
• Heavy → AP 4
• Anti-Tank → AP 5 and above Enemy parts run from Unarmored (0) up through Very Light (1), Light (2), Medium (3), Heavy (4), Tank I (5), and higher. No enemy unit exceeds AV 6; only structures and super-heavy objectives climb toward AV 10. So a Heavy-penetration weapon (AP 4) already handles every organic enemy weak point, and Anti-Tank (AP 5+) exists for front plates and bosses.

Reading the hit markers

The color is the only feedback the game gives you:

• Blue means your AP is below the part’s AV — stop shooting there, find the weak point.
• White means you matched the AV exactly and are taking the 65 percent penalty; fine in a pinch, wasteful if you have a better tool.
• Red means you are penetrating fully.

Angle barely matters now

Earlier versions punished shallow impact angles. The system was later standardized: only extreme grazing angles between 81 and 90 degrees reduce penetration. For almost every shot you can treat penetration as constant and just aim for the right part. The enemy armor values page lists the AV of every common unit, and the durable damage page covers the second layer that decides how much of your landed hit actually sticks.