Helldivers 2 Smoke and EMS: The Utility Strats Nobody Takes

Two tools with opposite logic

Smoke removes information. EMS removes agency. Both are cheap to call, both are low damage, and both are routinely skipped because players measure stratagems by kills. Against factions that shoot, removing information is a weapon. Against factions that swarm, it is a waste of a slot.

Smoke against Automatons

Automatons acquire targets visually and shoot from range. A smoke screen between you and a firing line turns a lethal open field into a walk. This is the single most underused trick in the game: pop smoke on the approach, cross, and let the Devastator line empty its magazines into fog. Smoke also covers a retreat, which matters more than covering an advance. When the squad is down two players and needs to break contact, smoke is the difference between a fighting withdrawal and a wipe.

Smoke against Terminids

Bugs do not need to see you. They follow sound and proximity, and a swarm already moving toward you does not stop because the air is grey. Smoke buys almost nothing here, and the slot is better spent on area denial. The exception is extraction: smoke on the pad hides you from a distant Bile Titan’s line, and that is a narrow case.

EMS is the stun that works on both

EMS fields slow and stun everything caught inside them. Against bugs, an EMS on a breach freezes the first wave long enough to clear it with sustained fire. Against bots, an EMS on a patrol locks a firing line in place while you flank it. The important property is that EMS does not damage. It is a multiplier on whatever else the squad is doing, which means it is close to worthless in a squad that is already losing and excellent in one that is only outnumbered.

Placing them so they work

Smoke wants to be between the enemy and the squad, not on the squad. A screen you are standing inside hides your teammates’ targets and does nothing to the incoming fire that curves around it. EMS wants to land where the enemy will be in two seconds, not where it is now. It has a deployment delay and a fixed radius, so aim at the choke point rather than the front rank.

When to bring one instead of a third damage stratagem

Bring smoke when the mission is a run past a fixed gun line: gunship fabricators, stratagem jammers, entrenched objectives. Bring EMS when the squad already has enough damage and keeps dying to being surrounded. Do not bring both. Two utility stratagems on one Helldiver is usually one too many, and the squad still needs a way to kill armor.

Related guides

• Helldivers 2 Automatons Guide
• Helldivers 2 Stealth Guide
• Helldivers 2 Stratagem Loadout