It’s been a tumultuous week in the world of Helldivers 2, which saw the game’s first balance patch nerf its best loadout, an associated backlash, and, most recently, a call-to-arms to unlock mechs. Now, developer Arrowhead has addressed the backlash in particular, and signaled plans to change the game as a result.
First, some background. This week’s patch 01.000.100 nerfed the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack, three items considered essential to higher difficulty play and Helldivers 2’s best loadouts. But it also buffed weaker weapons and stratagems, including the Flamethrower, Laser Cannon, Punisher, and the 380mm and 120mm Orbital Barrages.
It was the nerfs to the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack that sparked the most vociferous discussion within the Helldivers 2 community, given their popularity. On higher difficulties, Helldivers 2 throws an often overwhelming number of powerful enemies at you, many of which require hard-hitting weapons and stratagems to deal with. The Railgun in particular was a popular option for taking on Helldivers 2’s toughest enemies, such as the heavily armored Bile Titan and Charger.
Since the release of the patch, players have complained about struggling to deal with these heavy enemies and their apparent increased spawn rate on harder difficulties (it’s worth noting some of Helldivers 2’s most valuable resources are locked behind the harder difficulties). Social media and the Helldivers subreddit and Discord have seen a number of screenshots and videos showing a quite ridiculous number of Titans and Chargers on-screen at once, with players expressing their disbelief.
In response, Arrowhead issued a post on the Helldivers Discord to say it plans to make heavy enemies easier to deal with, both in terms of their spawn rate and health, in a hotfix. The hope is players will be able to kill these enemies “with a single well-placed shot”, Arrowhead said.
Here’s the statement in full, from Arrowhead community manager Spitz.
“Hell-o, Divers! I wanted to take a moment this afternoon to let you all know that we've heard your concerns over the last few days regarding enemy spawns, enemy armor, and the ability to kill these enemies. As we've said before, our teams are always taking in player feedback and looking at how we can tweak the game to ensure that it is fair, enjoyable and provides the best experience for everyone.
“I can confirm that we're currently looking at changes to the spawn rates and health pools of heavy enemies, and will be attempting to spread them out more to prevent large spikes of tougher mobs appearing at the same time, as well as making them a bit easier to bring down. This change should go out in a future hotfix - no date as of yet.”
Arrowhead added that it forgot to mention a buff to the EAT-17 and Recoilless Rifle Stratagems in the update 01.000.100 patch notes.
“In addition, we forgot to mention (oops) that the EAT-17 and Recoilless Rifle no longer suffer from a 50% damage decrease when hitting an armored enemy at a 'glance angle' that deflects the shot,” Spitz continued.
“Combined with the upcoming adjustment to health and spawn rates, this should make the larger enemies a bit less common, instead spawning more 'chaff' enemies to support them, and should allow players to bring these enemies down with a single well-placed shot. Hopefully this leads to less instances of endless kiting and players being left without any effective weaponry to kill harder enemies.
“Thanks as always for your patience!”
While the community waits for this hotfix, some players have found the recently buffed Flamethrower an effective weapon against the pesky Chargers in particular, although the super tough Terminid remains a brutal opponent on harder difficulties. Face off against multiple Chargers and, well, you'd better hope the group has a 500KG bomb or three handy.
Meanwhile, Arrowhead just unveiled Helldivers 2’s upcoming premium Warbond, dubbed Cutting Edge. It includes new weapons, new armor sets, new capes, and new emotes.
Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it's still growing. Check out IGN's Helldivers 2 review to find out why it's going down so well, as well as the best loadouts.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
