Folks, it’s finally happening: Arrowhead Games issued aHelldivers 2update that is, from the look of things,notall about nerfing fan-favorite gear. This hotly anticipated “experience shift” comes as part of patch 1.001.100, which buffsmostthings players wanted to return to relevancy again, and it’s a hoot.
From day one onwards, balance has beenone of the biggest problemstheHelldivers 2studio has contended with. After subsequent updates have repeatedly included nerfs after nerfs, players expected the first part ofthe ominous-sounding 60-day resolution planto come up short, at the very least. The idea thathidden nerfs may sour things furtherwas thrown around, too, and nobody really knew what to expect until very recently, when Arrowhead finally pushed out the patch notesandthe update. And, honestly, it’s a joy to behold.
Helldivers 2update 1.001.100 delivers the major overhaul the game needed
If you’re an experiencedHelldivers 2player, I highly recommend reading up on theofficial patch notes posted on Steam. They’re appropriately hefty, but they go into substantial detail on what’s changed and what hasn’t. In short, though, the gist of it is that we’re looking at nothing short of a huge balancing revamp that has so far been nothing but awesome.I’ve played through a bunch of matches both soloand with a small fireteam of others, and virtually every single item we’ve tested is now most excellent. Aside from Liberator Penetrator, mind, which remains underwhelming still.
Here’s an extremely truncated list of some of the most important changes included as part ofHelldivers 2‘s patch 1.001.100:
This is, once again, inexhaustive. The end result, though, is a meta in which way,waymore weapons are viable virtually across the board. Of course, the Eruptor, the Railgun, and the Flamethrower are at last every bit as efficient and satisfying to use as they were before, but I fully expect the playerbase to end up finding new favorites, too. For example, the Thermite Grenade has been buffed from dealing 100 damage to 2000 (!) with its explosion alone. In practice, this means it can one-shot Chargers and even Behemoths if you attach it to one’s head.
As for the weapons, Arrowhead hasn’t been shy this time around. Many of them have even received fancy new attachments. The Liberator Concussive, for example, now comes with a 60-round drum magazine that fires rounds with improved stun effects. It is basically a lightweight support weapon now, and it’s an absolute joy to use against the bugs.
I’m particularly thrilled by the fact that Arrowhead hasn’t just buffed weapons themselves and called it a day. Instead, the enemies on both fronts are now more satisfying to engage across the board, and though theywillrun you over quite easily, you’ve got way more tools at your disposal to deal with them.
If this is how Arrowhead intends to balance the game moving forward, I’m all for it, though I worry that there may be some amount of overtuning present here just to pull players back into the game. We’ll see how this pans out but, for the time being, it seems the developers have done an excellent job across the board.
