Helldivers 2 Update Nerfs Chargers, Patch Notes Revealed

Helldivers 2 just got another update on PS5 and Steam.

By Marc Deschamps

A new update is now live in Helldivers 2, bringing the PS5 and Steam versions of the game up to version 1.000.102. Players can expect to see some bug fixes and changes to the UI, but the most significant changes center around enemy spawn rates. Notably, Arrowhead Game Studios has nerfed spawns for Chargers and Bile Titans for higher level difficulties, following feedback from the game's community. However, the developer has noted that the difficulty itself has not been changed. Full patch notes from the game's official page on Steam can be found below: 

Balancing
Enemies:

  • The amount of heavily armored targets that spawn on higher difficulties, especially for Terminids, have been a big discussion point online and internally. The intent is for groups to have to bring some form of anti-tank capability but not to the degree previously needed.
  • To that end we have reduced the spawn rate of Chargers and Bile Titans on difficulties 7 and up. In addition we have reduced the risk of spawn spikes of Chargers and Bile Titans.
  • Please note that we have changed the distribution of enemy types, not reduced difficulty. Expect other enemy types to appear in greater numbers instead.
  • We are humbled by the community's ability to find things like Chargers "leg meta" in our game, however spending your heavy anti tank weapons on legs instead of the obvious weak point seems counter to expectation.
  • We are not changing anything regarding the Charger's legs, we are however lowering the health of the Charger's head. It should now be at a point where a well placed shot from a Recoilless Rifle or EAT-17 instantly kills a charger.
  • Together with the unfortunately undocumented change of last patch that increased the armor penetration ability of less well placed shots for EAT-17s and Recoilless Rifle shots, Chargers should now be easier to handle by well equipped groups.

Gameplay

  • "Electronic Countermeasures" operation modifier, which had a chance of giving you a random stratagem instead of the one you input, has been removed in order to be reworked, and will be reintroduced in a future iteration. We found that this modifier wasn't communicated clearly enough and overall caused more frustration than excitement with the way it was currently implemented. This change was made in 1.000.100 but was unintentionally omitted from the patch notes.

Related:

Fixes

  • Fixed missing text on several HUD / UI elements.
  • Fixed several subtitle / VO mismatches in the news videos.
  • Fixed various crashes that occurred mid-gameplay and when deploying to missions.

Known Issues

  • Game crashes when attempting to use a stim while inside an Exosuit.
  • Pink artifacts may appear in the sky when setting off large explosions.
  • Automaton Dropship seemingly disappears and slides in after being shot down.
  • Shots from arc-based weapons may not count towards kills in post-mission stats.
  • Players cannot unfriend other players befriended via friend code.
  • Cross-platform friend invites might not show up in the friend requests tab.
  • Players may be unable to select loadout or return to ship when joining a multiplayer game session via PS5 Activity Card.
  • The Exosuit can destroy itself with rockets if it fires while turning.
  • Text chat box display is obstructed by the cinematic letterboxing during extraction.
  • Some people are unable to accept friend requests. This is mostly an issue cross platform

It remains to be seen how players will feel about these changes, but fans have expressed a lot of happiness with the Helldivers 2 developers since launch. The team has gotten a lot of praise for their open communication with the community, and the speed with which they've been fixing problems that have cropped up. The list of known issues in today's patch shows that things still aren't perfect, but Arrowhead is working hard to keep things running as smoothly as possible. 

Are you happy with these changes? What would you like to see fixed in the game next? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

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