Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2
Developer(s):	Arrowhead Game Studios
Publisher(s):	Sony
Platform(s):	Playstation 5; Steam; Xbox Series X/S;
Release date(s):	February 8, 2024 (Steam, PS5); August 26, 2025 (Xbox Series X/S);
Genre(s):	Third-person shooter

There is more information available on this subject at Helldivers 2 (crossover) on the English Wikipedia.

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Helldivers 2 is a multiplayer co-op third-person shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony. At launch the game was exclusive to Playstation 5 and Steam, though on August 26, 2025 was launched on Xbox Series X/S. To mark the Xbox release, the game set to cross over with Halo in the form of the Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST Legendary Warbond - a collection of weapons, armour, and cosmetic items that can be bought in-game for Super Credits (themselves either purchasable as a microtransaction or earnable in-game).^[1]^[2]^[3]

Halo ODST Legendary Warbond[edit]

Announcement and marketing[edit]

The Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST Legendary Warbond trailer.

The crossover was first teased at the end of Helldivers 2's Xbox launch trailer, which featured a short snippet of a city in the rain at night with the track Deference for Darkness from the Halo 3: ODST Original Soundtrack playing, intended to evoke the feel of the Mombasa Streets mission from Halo 3: ODST.^[4] This was followed-up with a garbled sound clip posted in the Helldivers Discord server which, when reversed, played the Superintendent's chirp from ODST.^[5] The crossover itself was officially announced on August 19, 2025 (coincidentally a week after the announcement of an ODST-themed expansion for Halo: Flashpoint), and is set to launch on the same day as the game on Xbox. The collaboration marks the first Halo content to be playable on a Playstation.

The announcement trailer for the crossover parodies several elements of Halo 3: ODST, beginning with an opening crawl parodying ODST's opening scroll;

Opening Scroll
The year is 2185. Super Earth is at war with 3 alien aggressors. Teams of highly-trained Helldivers are freedom's only defense. They are the best of the best. Of the best.

The trailer then cuts to a recreation of the Keep It Clean announce trailer for Halo 3: ODST, recreated using Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST assets, before cutting into gameplay to show off the new items, set to the track Skyline from the ODST original soundtrack.

In-game information[edit]

The Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST Legendary Warbond is a Warbond (akin to a Battle Pass in other games) which can be bought in-game for 1,500 Super Credits; for comparison, a normal Warbond costs 1,000 SC. When acquired, players can unlock the various items in the Warbond by spending Medals, which are earnt in-game for completing missions and can not be bought for real-world currency.

The items included in the Warbond include:

Two sets of ODST armor:
- "A-9 Helljumper" (themed after the Rookie's armour in Halo 3: ODST, named after the Rookie's squad Alpha-Nine)
- "A-35 Recon" (themed after Veronica Dare's armour in Halo 3: ODST, named after the Recon helmet she wears, being a reference to the "035" printed on her helmet in Halo 3: ODST.)
A passive perk included on the two armours, "Feet First"; the perk improves stealth gameplay by reducing player movement noise, makes the player discover points of interest on the map from 30% further away, and makes players immune to leg injuries.
Four weapons:
- M7S SMG
- M6C/SOCOM pistol
- MA5C assault rifle
- M90A shotgun
Two new capes
- "Honored Heirloom" - a cape displaying the logo of the ODSTs
- "Eye of the Clandestine" - a cape displaying the logo of the Office of Naval Intelligence
"Rookie" player title and emblem
"Mean Green" camouflage for the FRV, mech, Pelican dropship,^{[Note 1]} and Hellpod

Universe and lore[edit]

As noted by Helldivers game director Johan Pilestedt, any and all crossovers done in Helldivers become canon to the Helldivers universe.^[6] As such, the ODSTs in Helldivers have been given new lore to match Helldivers' tongue-in-cheek parody. In the Helldivers universe, the ODSTs are not Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, but instead "Obedient Democracy Support Troopers",^[1] with armour modelled on in-universe fictional characters enjoyed by the children of Super Earth.^[2]

Other references[edit]

Main article: List of outside references to Halo

Helldivers is a game that was massively inspired by Halo, due to many in its development team having grown up on the series.^[7] As such, even outside of the official Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST crossover, Helldivers 2 contains many unofficial nods to the Halo series.

Prior to the Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST crossover, the game had another unofficial nod to Halo in the form of the "TR-117 Alpha Commander" armour set, a nod to "John-117 Master Chief".
A megacity named New Alexandria can be found on the planet Seyshel Beach; a reference to the similarly-named city in Halo lore and a campaign level in Halo: Reach. New Alexandria in Helldivers first became playable on August 26, the same day as the launch of the crossover Warbond. The choice of an Illuminate planet was likely done due to the Illuminate most closely resembling Halo's Covenant.
The AR-61 Tenderizer rifle available in the Polar Patriots Warbond is extremely similar to Halo's BR55 battle rifle; a burst-fire bullpup rifle with an optical sight mounted atop a carry rail.

Gallery[edit]

The Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST Warbond keyart.
The Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST Warbond contents.

Screenshots[edit]

A Helldiver recreating the Halo 3: ODST box art.
An ODST firing the MA5C assault rifle.
A first-person screenshot of the assault rifle - the only weapon in the game to be fired from the hip in first-person viewmode.
An ODST using the M7S SMG.
An ODST reloading the MA5C Assault Rifle.
An ODST and a Recon-clad Helldiver shaking hands.
Two ODSTs running to extraction.
An ODST and a Recon-clad Helldiver defending extraction.
A Pelican dropship with the "Mean Green" camo.^{[Note 1]}
Two ODST-clad players running away from a Bile Titan.