Quick answer: Yes — the RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher is one of the best anti-chaff stratagems in Helldivers 2 as of Patch 7.1.1. One well-placed rocket wipes an entire swarm of light and medium enemies, which makes it a monster against Terminid bugs and the Illuminate Voteless tide. The catch is its proximity fuse: it detonates near anything, including your teammates, so it rewards discipline and punishes panic. It is not an anti-tank weapon — it cannot punch through heavy armor. Learn the Flak-versus-Cluster rule below and it goes from "the thing that teamkilled me" to a staple pick.
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Is the Airburst Rocket Launcher good in Helldivers 2?
For its actual job — deleting crowds — the RL-77 is excellent. It fires a single rocket that airbursts into a radial spray of submunitions, shredding packs of chaff and medium units in one trigger pull. Against a Terminid breach or a wall of Illuminate Voteless, nothing else in the support-weapon slot clears that many bodies per shot.
Where it is not good is anything armored. The rocket and its submunitions cannot penetrate heavy armor, so trying to kill a Charger, a Hulk, a Bile Titan, or a Harvester with it is a waste of ammunition. Treat it as a crowd eraser that frees your anti-tank teammate to focus on the big threats, not as a do-everything launcher.
That split is exactly why the community keeps arguing about it. On the support-weapon tier list at u.gg (snapshotted at Patch 7.0.2), the RL-77 sits around A-tier against Automatons and B-tier against Terminids, with players rating it far higher in situations where chaff density is the problem. If you are weighing it against the rest of the slot, our best support weapons ranked by role and faction breakdown puts it in context. One veteran on r/Helldivers put the case for the default mode bluntly: "Proximity detonation is the superior setting; the other thing is just a gimmick. Maybe ok for bugs, or if you're otherwise forced into close-quarters." That is the whole weapon in one sentence — a precision crowd-killer that most of its bad reputation comes from misuse.
Key takeaways
- Role: anti-chaff / anti-swarm support weapon — not anti-tank.
- Best targets: Terminid patrols and breaches, Illuminate Voteless and Wretch swarms, Automaton Trooper/Devastator packs.
- Two modes: Flak (default, proximity airburst) and Cluster (lands then spreads).
- Biggest risk: the proximity fuse triggers on your own squad — mind your lanes.
- Destroys structures: Bug Holes, Bot Fabricators, and Illuminate Warp Ships.
- Cannot penetrate heavy armor. Leave the Chargers and Hulks to your teammate.
How to unlock the Airburst Rocket Launcher
The RL-77 is not locked behind a premium Warbond — it is a standard Support Stratagem you buy with Requisition Slips, the free in-mission currency. You unlock it from Ship Management (the Stratagems list on your Super Destroyer) once you hit the level and cost requirement:
- Required level: 15
- Cost: 8,000 Requisition Slips
Because it costs Requisition and not Super Credits, every player earns it through normal play — there is no paywall and no reason to buy anything. If you are short on Requisition Slips, run a few higher-difficulty operations; Slips come from Points of Interest, mission objectives, and the extraction bonus, and cap at 50,000. If grinding currency is what's slowing you down, our Super Credits farming guide covers the fastest routes, and timesaver.gg's Helldivers 2 leveling and carry services exist for divers who would rather skip the grind entirely.
RL-77 stats and loadout basics
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Support Stratagem (comes with a backpack) |
| Rockets loaded | 1 in the tube |
| Spare rockets | 5 in the backpack (6 total) |
| Armor penetration | Light / medium only — no heavy pen |
| Firing modes | Flak (default) and Cluster |
| Restock | POI ammo boxes, Supply Pod, or re-call after cooldown |
A few loadout notes that matter in practice:
- It uses your backpack slot. You cannot run the Airburst and a Shield Generator Pack or a Jump Pack at the same time, so build the rest of your kit around that.
- The reload is backpack-fed and slow by default, but you can shorten it dramatically — down to roughly 0.8 seconds — by weapon-swapping the instant the HUD shows the launcher as loaded in the bottom-left. This animation-cancel is the single biggest skill jump with the weapon.
- Ammo is tight. Six rockets total is not many for how fast you will want to fire into crowds, so make each one count and top up at every POI you pass. A roadside ammo box refills one rocket, while a called-in Supply Pod drops four per box by default — so a single Supply Stratagem can nearly top you back off. Factor that into how aggressively you fire early in a mission.
- Call-in and cooldown. Like other support stratagems the RL-77 has a roughly 3-second call-in and a 480-second (8-minute) cooldown before you can re-call the weapon, with unlimited uses per mission. Losing the launcher on death is a long walk back to full firepower, so treat the backpack as something to protect, not something to throw away.
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Flak vs Cluster: the mode rule that stops teamkills
The RL-77 has two firing modes, and picking the right one is the difference between a squad wipe and a swarm wipe.
Flak (default mode) uses a proximity fuse: the rocket detonates roughly 0.2 seconds after it detects a target or obstacle within about 2 meters, then airbursts a spray of submunitions downward. This is the long-range mode. Fire it into or just above a distant group and it rains fragments across the whole pack.
Cluster mode swaps the proximity fuse for a timed/impact fuse: the rocket flies farther and deploys its submunitions closer to the point of impact (players report it detonating out around 65 meters), giving you a tighter, more deliberate hit on the center of a group. Because it is not proximity-armed, it is the safer choice when enemies — or teammates — are near you.
The community consensus on when to switch is clean. As one r/Helldivers player summarized it: "Shoot on Cluster if an enemy is too close and on Flak if there are enemies far away." Follow that and the weapon stops eating your own squad.
The hard part is the proximity fuse's trigger list. It does not only react to enemies — it also arms off friendly Helldivers, Civilians, SEAF Soldiers, and both the Patriot and Emancipator Exosuits. That is why the Airburst has a reputation for accidental teamkills: fire it down a lane where a squadmate is sprinting and the rocket detonates on them, not the bugs behind them. Earlier in the game's life it also triggered freely on terrain like trees and rocks; a patch reduced that, so it now keys mostly off enemies and Helldivers (a hit on the ground still detonates it). The takeaway hasn't changed: check your firing lane before you pull the trigger.
Best way to use the Airburst against each faction
Against Terminids (bugs)
This is the RL-77's bread and butter. Bug breaches vomit huge numbers of low-armor Scavengers, Hunters, and Warriors, and a single Flak rocket arcing into the breach clears most of them before they close. Aim slightly above and into the swarm so the airburst catches the densest part of the pack. Keep an anti-tank option — a Recoilless Rifle teammate or your own Expendable Anti-Tank calls — for the Chargers and Bile Titans the Airburst can't scratch. Slot it into a wider kit with our best Terminid loadout guide.
Against the Illuminate
The Illuminate Void front is where the Airburst shines right now. The Voteless come in dense, fast-moving tides, and the Wretch — a mutated Super Earth citizen with massive claw arms and highly agile movement, part of the Vote Snatchers subfaction — is light enough to die to the fragments too. A Flak rocket into an incoming Voteless horde is one of the fastest ways to reset a fight. Save it for the swarm and use a different tool for Harvesters and the heavier Illuminate constructs, which shrug off the submunitions. For the full kit, see our best Illuminate loadout for the Void front.
Against the Automatons (bots)
Still strong, but with a caveat: bot packs mix in armored Devastators and the occasional Hulk. The Airburst melts Troopers and the softer Devastator variants and can pop Gunships caught in the burst, but it will not deal with Hulks or Tanks. Use it to thin the trash while your squad's dedicated anti-tank handles the heavies.
Clearing structures
Do not forget the RL-77 can destroy Bug Holes, Bot Fabricators, and Illuminate Warp Ships. A direct rocket into the opening closes them, which is handy when you are low on grenades and need to shut down reinforcements.
FAQ
Is the Airburst Rocket Launcher good in Helldivers 2? Yes, for crowd control. It is one of the strongest anti-chaff support weapons in the game, capable of wiping a swarm of light and medium enemies with one rocket. It is weak against heavily armored targets, so judge it as a crowd eraser rather than an all-rounder.
How do you unlock the Airburst Rocket Launcher? Buy it from Ship Management with Requisition Slips once you reach the required level. It is a standard Support Stratagem, not a Warbond item, so it costs Requisition (the free currency) rather than Super Credits.
Why does the Airburst keep killing my teammates? Its Flak mode uses a proximity fuse that detonates near anything it detects within about 2 meters — including friendly Helldivers, Civilians, SEAF Soldiers, and Exosuits. If a squadmate crosses your firing lane, the rocket arms on them. Switch to Cluster mode when enemies are close, and always check your lane before firing.
What is the difference between Flak and Cluster mode? Flak is the default proximity-fuse mode for hitting distant groups with an airburst spray. Cluster deploys the munitions closer to impact for a tighter, more direct hit and is safer in close quarters. Use Flak for far groups, Cluster for near ones.
Can the Airburst Rocket Launcher kill Chargers or Bile Titans? No. Neither the rocket nor its submunitions penetrate heavy armor, so firing it at Chargers, Hulks, Bile Titans, or Harvesters wastes ammo. Pair it with a dedicated anti-tank weapon and let the Airburst handle the swarm.
What patch is this guide for? Devoid of Liberty 7.1.1 (released September 24, 2026), the current live patch. 7.1.1 was a crash hotfix with no weapon balance changes, so the RL-77's behavior is unchanged from 7.1.0.
