What Are Medals Actually Used For?

Medals are mainly used to unlock rewards in Warbonds, which function like progression pages. Each page has weapons, armor, boosters, cosmetics, and sometimes utility items that change how you play.

In practice, medals are your “build progression currency.” Requisition buys stratagems, samples upgrade your ship, but medals unlock the gear you bring into missions. That makes them one of the most important resources early and mid-game.

The key point: medals aren’t about immediate power spikes every time. They’re about slowly improving your options.

How Do You Earn Medals in Normal Gameplay?

Most medals come from:

• Mission completion rewards

• Side objectives and optional tasks

• Major Orders and Personal Orders

• Warbond rewards that contain extra medals

In regular play, medals are tied to finishing missions successfully. This means players who consistently extract will earn medals much faster than players who fail high-difficulty missions.

A lot of newer players make the mistake of thinking higher difficulty always equals better medal farming. It doesn’t. If your squad wipes or fails the main objective, your medal gain becomes inconsistent.

A reliable clear on difficulty 5–7 often earns more medals over time than repeated failed runs on 8–9.

Do Medals Change How Players Choose Mission Difficulty?

Yes, and it happens naturally.

Most players pick difficulty based on what they’re farming:

• Samples: higher difficulty becomes more tempting

• Medals: players often settle into the highest difficulty they can clear consistently

• XP: players push harder difficulties for faster leveling

If you’re focused on medals, consistency matters more than challenge. Many veteran players grind medals on mid-high difficulties where extraction success stays high, especially when playing with random teammates.

If you want a practical rule: play the highest difficulty where you can finish missions with minimal deaths and without running out of reinforcement budget.

Should You Prioritize Main Objectives or Side Objectives for Medals?

If your goal is medals, you should almost always prioritize mission completion first.

Side objectives are useful, but they are also where squads get dragged into long fights, especially on Automaton planets where patrols escalate fast.

A common experienced approach is:

1. Rush main objective

2. Stabilize the map after objective is complete

3. Clean up side objectives if time and reinforcements allow

4. Extract early if the situation is getting messy

This strategy works because medals are not worth much if the squad wipes and fails extraction. A mission completed with fewer side tasks still pays better than a mission that collapses during the last 5 minutes.

Why Do Medals Push Players Toward Faster, Safer Playstyles?

Because medals reward completion, not hero moments.

Once you’ve played enough Helldivers 2, you start noticing that a “clean run” is usually the fastest way to progress. That affects behavior:

• Less unnecessary fighting

• More objective focus

• More disengaging instead of holding ground

• More reliance on airstrikes and quick clears

Players farming medals tend to avoid long drawn-out battles unless they are required. This is why squads grinding Warbonds often bring stratagems like Eagle Airstrike, Orbital Precision Strike, and EMS tools—things that end fights quickly.

How Do Medals Influence Squad Loadouts Over Time?

Medals indirectly shape the average squad loadout because Warbond unlocks determine what gear becomes popular.

When a new weapon or booster becomes available, players will grind medals to unlock it, then you suddenly see it everywhere in matchmaking.

In practice, medals create a “meta wave.” Not necessarily because the new unlock is always better, but because people want to test what they paid medals for.

This is why you’ll sometimes join a mission and see three players using the same new rifle. They’re not coordinated—they’re just progressing through the same Warbond page.

Which Warbond Unlocks Actually Affect Mission Strategy the Most?

Cosmetics don’t matter, but certain unlock types strongly affect mission planning:

Boosters

Boosters change the whole mission rhythm. Some reduce reinforcement costs or improve stamina and mobility. Once a squad has good boosters, they can move faster and survive longer, which makes higher difficulties easier to clear.

Weapons with consistent armor penetration

Armor becomes a bigger issue at higher difficulty. Unlocking weapons that deal with medium or heavy targets makes your squad less dependent on stratagem cooldowns.

Utility grenades and sidearms

These are underrated. A better grenade option can completely change how you handle bug holes, bot drops, and choke points.

So while medals don’t directly make you “stronger,” they unlock tools that let you solve mission problems more efficiently.

Is It Better to Spend Medals Immediately or Save Them?

Most players should spend medals as soon as they have enough for a meaningful unlock.

Saving medals is only useful when:

• You are close to unlocking the next Warbond page

• You are aiming for a specific weapon or booster

• You don’t want to waste medals on filler items you’ll never use

But for most players, early progression is more valuable than waiting. Even small upgrades give you flexibility. Flexibility matters more than raw strength in Helldivers 2, because missions often go wrong in unpredictable ways.

How Do Experienced Players Farm Medals Efficiently?

Medal farming usually becomes a routine. Common habits include:

• Running missions on the same difficulty range (usually 6–8)

• Picking planets with easier terrain and visibility

• Avoiding mission types that drag out fights

• Using fast objective builds instead of “fun builds”

• Extracting early instead of staying for full map clears

Veteran squads also often split tasks: two players push objective, one player clears a side objective, and one player watches for patrols. This saves time and reduces the chance of getting surrounded.

Efficiency is not about speedrunning. It’s about avoiding bad situations that waste reinforcements.

Do Medals Affect Player Behavior in Public Matchmaking?

Yes, and you can see it clearly.

When medals are the goal, random squads usually become more objective-focused. Players are less likely to:

• chase fights across the map

• defend pointless positions

• risk extraction for extra loot

This is also why some players leave missions early if things go badly. If the squad is down to low reinforcements and the objective isn’t complete, they assume the medal payout won’t be worth the time.

It’s not good teamwork, but it’s common behavior.

You’ll also notice players searching for faster progression paths outside the game, including discussions about Helldivers 2 items for sale now, which usually comes up when people want to skip grind-related unlocks. Whether you agree with that approach or not, it shows how strongly medals influence progression pressure.

Do Medals Matter Less Once You Unlock Everything?

Yes and no.

Once you’ve unlocked the gear you care about, medals lose urgency. But they still matter because:

• New Warbonds release and require medals again

• Players experiment with different builds later

• Some unlocks that seemed useless early become valuable at higher difficulty

Late-game Helldivers often start spending medals differently. Instead of rushing “best” items, they unlock gear for variety and situational loadouts.

So medals don’t become useless—they just stop being stressful.

What’s the Biggest Mistake Players Make When Grinding Medals?

The most common mistake is overcommitting to fights.

Helldivers 2 punishes squads that stay in one place too long. Patrols stack, reinforcements drop in, and suddenly you’re fighting an endless wave. That’s how missions fail.

If you want medals consistently, the mindset should be:

• fight only when needed

• move constantly

• finish objectives first

• extract before the map becomes unmanageable

Most medal progress comes from finishing missions, not from kill counts.

How Should You Think About Medals Strategically?

Medals are not just a currency. They are the reason players optimize their mission choices, squad pacing, and risk tolerance.

If you treat medals as a long-term progression tool, your mission strategy becomes clearer:

• pick a difficulty you can reliably win

• focus on completion, not chaos

• unlock boosters and utility first

• experiment later once your core loadout is stable

That approach is what most experienced players settle into. It’s not flashy, but it’s the most consistent way to keep progressing without burning out.