Movement

Learn how to effectively move, run, dive, and crawl in Helldivers. Master controls for snow, water, and dry ground to outmaneuver enemies and survive.

Controls and moving are not complicated. You move slowly on snow, more slowly still in water. On dry ground, your normal pace will equal or outdistance many enemies if running away. If you try to run around enemies that are focused on you, some of them will respond by playing cornerback and moving to contain you. If you want to get to the other side of weak enemies without shooting, it's better to go straight through with melee attacks. Small bugs die in 1 hit; the weakest Cyborgs die fast, too, especially to a bayonet. If you're faced with big enemies you don't want to fight, take an angle away from them; don't try to loop around.

If you push the right stick while moving, you will walk slowly in the direction of the left stick while aiming or firing in the direction of the right stick. This nudges the screen slightly in the direction you aim. Certain heavy weapons will fix you in place while firing until upgraded; submachine guns allow faster movement. When you first start out, you may find yourself using the left stick to aim at enemies; because you are only walking toward them slowly, using the left stick and R2 can feel right. It is wrong. You almost never want to be walking toward enemies as you attack them. Break this bad habit and aim with the right stick.

To run, press L3 while moving. No need to hold it, just click it. Stopping or shooting breaks your run. You will also eventually get tired and return to normal speed.

To take cover, hit square. You dive forward and enter a prone state where you can crawl slowly. You will not be able to attack or call stratagems. You are much less visible to enemy patrols. Direct fire will pass over your head, allowing your teammates to hose nearby enemies with bullets without fear of harming you. Explosions do reduced damage, including nuclear blasts. Melee attacks still hurt. The DLC backpack drones continue to attack or heal while you are prone. You can also acquire a jump pack to replace your "dive" move with a rocket jump.

If critically wounded, you will be knocked down on your back and begin to bleed out. You can crawl around slowly and mash X to get back up; the MD-99 autoinjector perk greatly speeds up this process. Direct fire will pass over you. A teammate can help you up much faster than you can recover by yourself.

IMPORTANT: While voluntarily prone, you give up all ability to attack. If wounded and downed (blood spurting, groaning, X prompt over your Helldiver), you can still fire and reload your pistol or another 1-handed weapon. You can throw grenades. Most important of all: you can call in stratagems while downed. If you die, you drop the stratagem marker, and it activates. If you are your team's last survivor, and you are bleeding out and doomed, you can still call in the reinforce stratagem and bring back your team as your last act of heroism. There's even a trophy for it!