Table of Contents

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HELLDIVERS 2 is an awesome game, without a doubt, but it does have some limitations on the Steam Deck. To play, you will need to settle for lower visual quality and 30 FPS, which does still experience some drops. It is worth it, as the game is a ton of fun, but it does put us at a bit of a disadvantage. But, thanks to Steam Input, we have a new way of quickly choosing and implementing the commands for Strategems to make things a bit more streamlined when playing on Deck!

And if you haven't bought the game yet, you can get it now on Fanatical for 17% off using the coupon code OMEN17.

Discovered and set up by Reddit user u/iA2K10, who also helped me troubleshoot my issues in setting it up for myself, this new way of utilizing Strategems is quick, efficient, and saved me a lot of time. I was also able to continue moving around while implementing the commands, which I really liked! I enjoyed it so much that I felt compelled to make a quick guide on how to set it up for yourself.

iA2K10 does have a community controller configuration posted, though I couldn't find it. However, I wanted to show how since everyone selects their own Strategems going into missions, they may want to customize. This guide is for those who want that option and decide to input their own personal most-used Strategem commands into the menu.

HELLDIVERS 2 Trackpad Strategems Guide:

Step 1:

Go into your controller settings for Helldivers and click on "Edit Layout."

HELLDIVERS2EditLayout

Step 2:

Scroll down to the "Virtual Menus" tab and add a menu. You can name it whatever you want, but for the guide, I will be naming it "Strategems."

HELLDIVERS2StrategemName

Step 3:

You can choose whatever type of menu you want, but I will be using a Touch Menu as I like how it looks for this purpose.

ChooseTouchMenu

Step 4:

Next, choose which Strategems you want to map to the menu. You can have up to 16, but I stuck with the 4-5 that I used most of the time. You can look up the codes from IGN's Helldivers 2 guide, or just find them in-game.

Step 5:

Now, to set the commands. I will be using the "Resupply" Strategem (Down, Down, Up, Right) for this guide. So, set your first command by clicking on "Add Command," swap over to the "Gamepad" tab, and use the Dpad section in the bottom left.

DPadDownHELLDIVERS2

Step 6:

Click on the settings wheel next to it and click "Add Extra Command." This will bring up a new command underneath it. Set this one to the second command for the Strategem. Repeat this until you have input for all of the commands. For me, this was four total commands, and it will look something like this.

Step 7:

To make the commands recognized in the game, you need to add a slight delay to them. So, go into each of the extra commands and adjust the "Fire Start Delay." You will change each one in increments of 200. The first command should be 0, the second command at 200, the third command at 400, the fourth command at 600, and so on.

Step 8 (Optional):

With that, the functionality is now implemented, and it should work, but we can make it a bit easier to use and more appealing to look at. I would rename the entire button to whatever Strategem you are using and change the icon to something more appealing with a similar theme. You can also change the foreground and background color, so if you want to match it with the color of the Strategem in-game, you can.

HELLDIVERS2Icon

Step 9:

Finally, once you have input all of the commands, you will need to scroll all the way down and change the touch option to "Left Bumper." The Left Bumper command can be found in the Gamepad tab.

HELLDIVERS2LeftBumper

Step 10:

Now, before we go play, we have to assign the menu to a trackpad. Go to the "Trackpads" tab in the controller settings. Then, choose a trackpad and change the behavior to "Strategems" by using the drop-down menu. I chose the right trackpad since that way, I can easily move while deciding on the strategy to use.

HELLDIVERS2Trackpad

And that's it! Like I said before, you do need to hold the trackpad down after selecting an option so it doesn't close the menu, but it will automatically close once the Strategem command is implemented. Now, you have a quick way to implement the Strategem codes, which will give you a leg up in your next HELLDIVERS 2 mission! And again, thank you to u/iA2K10 for your help and for discovering this method.

You can currently purchase HELLDIVERS 2 on Steam for $39.99 or go to Fanatical and use the code OMEN17 to purchase it for $33.19.

The Fanatical links above are using an affiliate link, which gives us a little back from sales at no extra charge to you. All proceeds go back into SDHQ and its development.

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Noah Kupetsky
A lover of gaming since 4, Noah has grown up with a love and passion for the industry. From there, he started to travel a lot and develop a joy for handheld and PC gaming. When the Steam Deck released, it just all clicked.
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