HELLDIVERS 2 Stratagem Macro guide for keyboards and Stream Deck

HELLDIVERS 2 has been released with levels of success that no one could have anticipated. Perhaps it’s the chaotic gameplay or maybe the Starship Troopers-inspired vibe. Anyway, those who’ve played it will have realised that a crucial part of the game is the use of “Stratagems.” These are basically things like airstrikes and ammo resupplies. However, unlike these sorts of mechanics in normal games, you can’t open a wheel and just pick the one you want.

In this game you need to remember the specific code, which is a string of inputs that have to be entered correctly. Basically, like remembering a cheat code. This can be difficult to learn and almost impossible when space bugs are clawing at your ankles while the rest of your squadron has been eaten. If thousands of idealistic young patriots must die in order to spread managed democracy, so be it.

However, if you’ve got a CORSAIR keyboard, mouse, or an Elgato Stream Deck. You can create macros to automatically input the Stratagem codes for you. This will eliminate the possibility of mistakes and allow you to call in any given Stratagem faster than you ever could manually. Here’s how to create Stratagem macros in Helldivers 2.

First up: There are a lot of Stratagems in Helldivers 2, so the larger your keyboard, the easier it will be as you won’t be encroaching on keys you might need for other actions. A full size keyboard like the K70 MAX is the ideal candidate here, as the number pad is a great location for these. Those of you who’d prefer to keep these on the mouse will have an easier time with an MMO mouse like the SCIMITAR ELITE WIRELESS due to the side button grid.

Regardless, the process remains the same within iCUE. So, let’s get started. The very first Stratagem you use in the tutorial is the Orbital Precision Strike. So, this will be our example.

Start by creating a new profile in iCUE and link it to the Helldivers 2.exe file. This way the macros will only be active when you’re playing the game. You don’t have to do this, but seeing as the Stratagem codes all start with holding [CTRL] by default, having these macros active constantly could 100% cause issues if you accidentally activate them while you’re using other applications.

(Program files x86 > Steam > Steamapps > Common > helldivers2 > bin > helldivers2.exe)

OK, now that’s sorted, we can start recording macros. At the bottom of this page, you’ll find a list of the Stratagem codes in Helldivers 2 at the time of writing. For now, though, let’s get back to our Orbital Precision Strike example.

Click on your keyboard (or mouse) within iCUE and follow these steps:

1. Click “Key Assignments”.
2. Press the + button under Assignments in the bottom left-hand corner and select the “Macro” assignment type.
3. Select the key that you want to bind this macro to.
4. Go the Macro panel and make sure that “Delays” and “Keyboard Events” are both active under the General tab. This will make sure the macro is recording exactly how you’d do it manually. Without the realistic delays, the macro can be buggy.
5. Now, press the red record button under the Recording tab, enter the Stratagem code in question – In this case, hold [CTRL] then tap D, D, W, then releasing [CTRL]. Once done press the stop button.

If you’ve followed all these steps correctly, then you’ll only have to hit the key that you’ve assigned to this macro and boom! You’ve called in the Stratagem. Remember that these steps are applicable to CORSAIR mice, too.

Bear in mind that this will take a while if you want every stratagem as a macro. Also, it’s worth mentioning that if you end up rebinding anything to do with Stratagems in the game settings, these macros won’t work anymore.

So, that’s how you create macros for Stratagems in Helldivers 2 with iCUE, but what if you’ve got a Stream Deck? In this case you’re lucky, as you can customise the image on the button to make it clear what the macro does. So, let’s make some Helldivers 2 macros with Stream Deck.

Happily, this is a pretty similar process to making them for a keyboard. This works best on the Stream Deck XL, as there are 32 buttons so you can have a frankly huge amount of Stratagem macros at your fingertips. That being said, it might take a bit longer as you need to input each keystroke individually instead of just recording yourself doing it.

Just like we did for iCUE, create a new profile specifically for Helldivers 2 and link it to the .exe so that these commands will only be active when you’re playing the game. Now follow the steps below:

1. Go into the actual in-game settings in Helldivers 2 and set the keybind for “Open Stratagem List” to “Tap”.
2. Open the Stream Deck software and add a “Multi Action” to your chosen button on the Stream Deck.
3. Find the “Hotkey” option in the “System” tab of the Stream Deck software and drag it into the Mult Action area you just created.
4. Set the Hotkey to “Ctrl” (it's near the bottom of the list). Then add another Hotkey in the same area and set this one to “D”.
5. Rinse and repeat that last step for another "D" and then "W" to complete the entire Stratagem code. How this works is that when you press the button on the Stream Deck, it will input these hotkeys one after the other from the top.

(Make sure that you have your normal Stream Deck profile set as "default". This way it will always revert to that one when the game closes)

Repeat this process starting at Step 2 for any other Stratagems you want to have on hand. Remember if you don’t have the gigantic Stream Deck XL, you can add additional pages to a smaller Stream Deck. Though you’ll have to get used to going from page to page to find the stratagem you need in the moment. It’s a bit smoother on the Stream Deck + as you can use the touch bar to swipe between the pages much like your phone.

It's worth mentioning that some people have actually created Helldivers 2 Stratagem macro profiles on the Elgato Marketplace. However, it's worth learning how to do it yourself anyway, otherwise you must rely on these people updating these profiles if things change. Additionally, if you use difference keybinds in-game, other people's profiles won't work for you.

The marketplace, by the way is full of really handy profiles and plugins, many of which are completely free. Games with a lot of keybinds like Elite Dangerous can be totally different experiences with the right Stream Deck profiles.

Seeing as you’re going to spend the next hour or so adding all the Stratagems to your macros, here’s a full list of the Helldivers 2 Stratagem codes (At time of writing). Note that these are the default keybinds: Up = W, Left = A, Down = S, and Right = D

Edit: We now have a dedicated Helldivers 2 Stratagems Codes page. Check that out for a page purely dedicated to the codes. As it doesn't explain the macros, it's an easier format to quickly read on a second screen.