¶ Overview
The most important thing is that you wear armor with a rating of 50 (or 100 with extra padding). Heavier armor has a slower movement speed, less stamina, and less stamina regen, limiting your ability to get places quickly and clear the map. Even a small armor rating difference like the trailblazer scout (50) vs trench paramedic (64) will add up over time and hurt your speed overall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQheTvxKo3s
In contrast to the booster system, armor passives are all pretty balanced. Scout passive is a good general purpose armor for bots, while extra padding can assist with survivability vs. hunters for terminids. But neither are strictly needed and you might find that different armor helps you more depending on your run and route.
These armor passives are available at 50 rating
These armor passives are not available at 50 armor rating
If you choose to run a passive not available at 50 it will limit your mobility, be wary of the cost.
¶ Passives
¶ Peak Physique
What it does: increases melee damage by 50%, weapon handling improved by 30%
Good for: weapons with lots of drag
¶ Extra Padding
What it does: damage reduction (except headshot damage)
Good for: surviving combat with the enemy
¶ Fortified
What it does: reduced explosion damage, recoil reduction (even when standing, contrary to the official description)
Good for: surviving explosive attacks (rocket AoE damage, contact mine, tank blast AoE), increased weapon performance. Does not protect against rocket direct hits!
¶ Scout
What it does: Detection range reduced (10 less meters standing or crouching, 5 less meters prone), radar pings generate from map markers placed by user
Good for: getting close to enemies without fighting, ambushing, getting away, sneaking, map and enemy knowledge
¶ Engineering Kit
What it does: +2 nades, recoil reduction (even when standing, contrary to the official description)
Good for: having 2 more nades, better weapon performance
¶ Electrical Conduit
What it does: 95% arc weapon damage reduction
Good for: sending a message to your TKing lightning using teammates when you equip it in the preps screen
¶ Inflammable
What it does: 75% resistance to fire damage (both direct and burn damage over time)
Good for: resisting fire tornadoes, hulk scorchers, exploding fire barrels, and setting yourself or teammates on fire with weapons/stratagems
¶ Advanced Filtration
What it does: 80% resistance to gas damage & other effects
Good for: Standing in gas clouds? They barely do any damage though and you can tank it pretty easy with a stim so this passive isn't very useful.
¶ Unflinching
What it does: reduces flinch aim punch (recoil) by a factor of 95%
Good for: Nothing, you still miss your shots when you get flinched even with this passive. Lets you recover a little faster and has cool drip though.
¶ Med-Kit (🚫 not available at 50 armor)
What it does: +2 stims, stims heal you for 2 more seconds
Good for: tanking lots of damage. Synergizes well with heart and crack booster. Sadly slows you down compared to other passives
¶ Democracy Protects (🚫 not available at 50 armor)
What it does: lol
Good for: RNG gambling. Also it slows you down
¶ Credits
Helldivers wiki for icons and info
https://helldivers.wiki.gg/wiki/Armor_Passives