Helldivers 2: How to Unlock Stratagems and Weapons

Gate one: level

Stratagems have level requirements. Reach the level and the item becomes purchasable — not owned. This gate is the one that clears itself; you cannot accelerate it and you do not need to.

Gate two: requisition slips

Purchasing unlocked stratagems costs requisition slips, and slips cap at 50,000. This is the gate new players actually hit, because they spend slips on ship modules and then find a stratagem they want behind a price they cannot pay. The fix is order of spending: buy the stratagem you will call every mission first, then modules. Modules are permanently useful but they are multipliers on stratagems you have not bought yet. The slip page covers the cap behaviour and the civilian penalty.

Gate three: medals in Warbonds

Weapons, armor and boosters do not come from slips. They come from Warbond pages, and Warbond pages open with medals. Medals cap at 250, which means a player who does not spend down will stop earning. This is why the answer to “how do I unlock the good gun” is usually “finish an operation, not a mission” — the sequence bonus is where medal income comes from. The medal page explains the operation bonus in detail.

Gate four: events

Some stratagems arrive as Major Order rewards or as part of a content drop, and those apply to every player whether or not they were online. Nothing to grind; you either have it or the community has not earned it yet. The major order page covers how that payout works.

The unlock order that wastes least

1. Buy the anti-armor answer you will actually use, as soon as its level gate opens.
2. Buy the Eagle strike and the orbital you will pair with it.
3. Buy one sentry or one defensive piece.
4. Then start on ship modules, beginning with the cheap first-tier ones in each section.
5. Open a Warbond only when you have 250 medals banked, so the cap does not eat the payout.

One thing that is not gated

Difficulty is gated by completion, not by unlocks: you must clear a mission on tier N before tier N+1 opens. If you feel stuck behind gear, the difficulty breakdown will usually show that the wall is tier 4 armor, not a missing purchase.