Samples are the crucial currency in Helldivers 2 for upgrading your ship modules, but farming them efficiently requires strategy. This guide covers the best planets, difficulty tiers, loadouts, and mission types to maximize your sample yield—helping you collect up to 40 samples in just 10 minutes.
Table of Contents
Sample Types & Difficulty Tiers
Knowing where each sample type spawns is the first step to efficient farming:
- Common Samples (Green): Found everywhere—objectives, Points of Interest (POIs), nests, and crates. Available at all difficulty levels.
- Rare Samples (Orange): Begin appearing from Difficulty 4 (Challenging) and above. Found in POIs, bug nests, and special crates.
- Super Samples (Pink): Exclusively spawn on Difficulty 7+ (Suicide Mission, Impossible, Helldive). Typically found at the base of distinctive silver-veined rock formations.
Difficulty Sweet Spot: For balanced farming of Rares and Commons, play on Challenging–Hard (Difficulty 4-5). For all three types, you must tackle Suicide Mission or higher.
Best Planets & Biomes for Sample Farming
Your choice of planet dramatically affects efficiency:
- Sandy/Arctic Biomes (BEST): Prioritize these. They offer clear visibility with little vegetation, making samples and POIs easy to spot from a distance.
- Moor Biomes (OKAY): Plains, Tundra, and Deadlands are decent but may have some visual or terrain obstructions.
- Swamp Biomes & Cities (AVOID): Hard-to-navigate terrain and poor visibility make these the worst options for farming.
Optimal Loadout for Efficient Farming
Speed and mobility are key. Your goal is to loot quickly and extract without engaging enemies unnecessarily.
- Booster: Sample Scanner Booster (from the Masters of Ceremony Premium Warbond) is #1, as it gives a chance to double samples on pickup. If unavailable, use Stamina Enhancement or Expert Extraction Pilot.
- Armor: Any Light Armor with high speed and stamina regeneration. Scout armor passive can help reveal POIs on the map.
- Weapons: For higher difficulties, bring high-penetration weapons to handle armored enemies. For lower difficulties, a crossbow and impact grenades are efficient for quickly opening doors and containers.
- Stratagems:
- M-102 Fast Recon Vehicle: For rapid map traversal.
- LIFT-850 Jump Pack / LIFT-182 Warp Pack: For vertical mobility and escaping terrain.
- EXO-45 Patriot Exosuit: For firepower and mobility on higher difficulties.
- Smokescreen/Gas Strikes: For disengaging from fights.
- 500KG Bomb: For quickly eliminating major threats like Bile Titans.
The Best Farming Method
1. Choose the Right Mission Type
- Blitz: Search & Destroy Missions: Small maps packed with POIs. Perfect for quick 10-15 minute runs that yield all sample types.
- Eradication Missions: Focused, small maps ideal for farming Common Samples. Can yield 7-15 samples in ~10 minutes, and up to 40 on higher difficulties.
- Extraction Missions: Offer guaranteed sample cache secondaries.
- High-Value Target Missions: Elite enemies drop guaranteed sample caches, and the area is usually littered with samples. Higher risk but high reward.
2. Locate Samples Quickly
- Map Scanning: Drag your cursor over the map to reveal POIs. This works best with scout armor passive.
- Compass Question Marks: When within 50-100m of a POI, a “?” icon will appear on your compass. Increase the compass size in HUD settings for better visibility.
- Radar Towers: If your mission has a Radar Tower objective, complete it. It will instantly reveal all POIs on the map, saving massive amounts of time.
3. Loot and Extract Efficiently
- Grab and Go: Don’t overstay your welcome. Focus on looting POIs quickly and moving on.
- Extract Early: The goal is to complete the mission and extract with your samples. If you die, teammates must recover your dropped sample bag.
- Avoid Unnecessary Fights: Use smoke stratagems and mobility tools to bypass enemies rather than engaging in prolonged fights.
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