Helldivers 2 is a great multiplayer experience, and fighting for democracy and protecting Super Earth is often better with friends. Today I’m going to cover how to unlock multiplayer, how to add and invite friends, how to fix the ‘Failed to join lobby error’ plus how to join public games, so you can team up with other players in Helldivers 2.
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Helldivers 2 is all about protecting Super Earth and taking the fight to our alient enemies whether they are bugs or robots, and teaming up with friends can make the experience a lot more fun. But it’s not immediately obvious for how to do this, so today I’m going to cover the basics so you can team up with other players.
How to unlock multiplayer
To unlock multiplayer you have to finish up the main tutorial in the game, which is going to take around 20 mins. This will cover the basics of Helldivers 2. After you’ve doen this you’ll be able to add / invite friends to take them on missions. Unlocking multiplayer is simple, just complete the tutorial and you’re good to go.
How to add friends
Enter the social menu
Find the search function
Enter your friend’s code
Add your friend
You can also generate a friend code, and share that with other players so they can add you to their friends list. You can accept or reject friend requests from the same menu.
How to invite friends
Once you have added your friends, then you’ll want to invite them to your squad.
Enter the social menu
Go to friends, and check out who is online
Select the player you want to add, and then ‘Invite to squad’. If you want to join another player then select ‘Join squad’ (their matchmaking preferences have to be set to ‘Open to friends’ which can be changed in the settings menu)
How to fix ‘Failed to join lobby’ error
You may have come across the ‘Failed to join lobby’ error while trying to play Helldivers 2. There are a few things you can do to help fix this.
Go to options and select gameplay
Look for the crossplay settings
Turn it off
Save settings
You can also try restarting the game, this has been known to fix the error.
If neither of those otpions work, then it’s a good idea to play with friends, check out the instructions previously on how to add and invite friends.
How to use quickplay
You get access to quickplay very early in the game, and you’ll see this option when your standing next to the war table selecting missions. Selecting quickplay will attempt to join you with a random lobby, this may be a mission in progress or waiting to start. Quickplay doesn’t take into account the enemies you want to fight, so you maybe fighting bugs or robots. Crossplay is enabled by default, but this has been known to affect matchmaking, so it’s worth trying this setting on and off to see if it helps, you can change these settings in the main options.
Use SOS beacons
If you are hosting a lobby, and no one joins your ship before you start, you can use a SOS beacon when you’re fighting down on the planet. This is a specific Stratagem, and you’ll need to open up the menu and input the Stratagem code to throw down a beacon. It’s worth checking your matchmaking settings in your privacy menu to open it up to Public so people can join your matches.
SOS beacons are a good way to work around the ‘failed to join lobby’ error. You can start a mission solo, throw down a beacon, then teammates should join you. If they still aren’t joining then try quitting the mission and restarting the same one, and often you’ll find people have joined. It’s a messy fix, but it works.
The developers have been battling connectivity and matchmaking issues since launch. They have been putting out patches on a regular cadence, so try these suggested methods of playing with other people, and this should get you into a game nice and quickly with other players.
Let me know in the comments what you think.