Helldivers 2’s massive rebalance is here, and the patch notes are promising indeed

Folks, it’s finally happening: Arrowhead Games issued a Helldivers 2 update that is, from the look of things, not all about nerfing fan-favorite gear. This hotly anticipated “experience shift” comes as part of patch 1.001.100, which buffs most things players wanted to return to relevancy again, and it’s a hoot.

From day one onwards, balance has been one of the biggest problems the Helldivers 2 studio has contended with. After subsequent updates have repeatedly included nerfs after nerfs, players expected the first part of the ominous-sounding 60-day resolution plan to come up short, at the very least. The idea that hidden nerfs may sour things further was thrown around, too, and nobody really knew what to expect until very recently, when Arrowhead finally pushed out the patch notes and the update. And, honestly, it’s a joy to behold.

Helldivers 2 update 1.001.100 delivers the major overhaul the game needed

If you’re an experienced Helldivers 2 player, I highly recommend reading up on the official 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 solo and 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 of Helldivers 2‘s patch 1.001.100:

• Buffs for Liberator, Liberator Carbine, Knight SMG, Liberator Concussive, Tenderizer, Breaker, Spray & Pray, Scythe, Crossbow, Eruptor, Defender SMG, Liberator Penetrator, Diligence, Counter-Sniper, Blitzer, Torcher, Peacemaker, Dagger, Crisper weapons.
• Various Support item buffs and reworks for the Grenade Launcher, Laser Cannon, Arc Thrower, Railgun, Stalwart, Anti-Materiel Rifle, Machine Gun, Heavy Machine Gun, Commando Launcher, Flamethrower, and Autocannon.
• Substantial improvements for the Frag and Thermite Grenades.
• Long list of Stratagem buffs (including the Eagle 500KG bomb).
• Strategically important assets now appear on the Galactic War display, making it easier for players to organize onslaughts and operations.
• Various enemies have been rebalanced in a sensible way (e.g. Rocket Devastators now have a limited number of rockets, which they also need to reload).
• 14 different crashes have been resolved.

This is, once again, inexhaustive. The end result, though, is a meta in which way, way more 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 they will run 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.