Helldivers 2 is already in a much more favorable spot after its latest major update, according to players, but something was snuck into the last patch that made it even better. The SH-32 Shield Generator Pack was already a favorite among players, but the 1.001.100 update accidently made it so that the backpack stratagem granted players invincibility against Terminid melee attacks, so it was essentially an anti-bug bug. Arrowhead Game Studios was made aware of this exploit, however, and removed it in a new hotfix that went out this week with some very on-brand patch notes that addressed the issue.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The patch notes for the latest Helldivers 2 hotfix were pretty brief since they really only dealt with two issues: a crashing situation which was affecting players who had to migrate hosts during matches, and the Terminid stratagem exploit. Helldivers 2 is very big on explaining its in-game lore, missions, and more with some authoritarian banter instead of just plainly stating things in patch notes, however, so players were happy to see that even if the invincibility exploit was taken away, its removal was softened with a bit of in-universe humor.
“Helldivers were accidentally granted the SH-32 Shield Generator Packs from General Braschยดs personal stash. These are reserved for 10 star generals only,” the patch notes for the latest Helldivers 2 update said. “The workers at the distribution center have been sent to re-education camps and regular shields will resume distribution.”
Videos like the one above were shared online after the last big Helldivers 2 update was released as players quickly found out that they were invincible against melee attacks when fighting the Terminids. Other effects like acid and explosions still caused damage to players who had the Shield Generator Pack equipped and in use, but since Terminids are so prone to swarming players and overwhelming them with melee attacks, this exploit trivialized many Terminid missions even on the higher difficulties.
Exploits aside, the Helldivers 2 pendulum seems to have swung in the “we are so back” direction following the 1.001.100 update. Helldivers 2 players have long lamented the fact that weapons kept getting nerfed to the point that not only did the meta dictate what should be used, but other options just felt plain bad to use against Terminids and Automatons. Arrowhead seems to have done a lot to rectify those issues in the last Helldivers 2 patch, so for now, Helldivers are satisfied even if they’re not invincible against Terminid hordes.
