All the biggest changes in the latest Helldivers 2 patch notes

The latest Helldivers 2 patch notes bring an end to Arrowhead’s 60-day recovery plan, adding a few nice improvements to some Stratagems, enemies, and systems. You’ll find that Super Earth’s Light and Heavy armor types have been buffed a little along with plasma weapons and several grenades. For me, the headline Helldivers 2 changes are the Autocannon and Recoilless Rifle both getting new ammo types to switch to for added versatility and the vastly improved Jump Pack. To help you digest this update and understand the big changes, I’ve explained the most important Helldivers 2 patch notes below.

Helldivers 2 patch notes for update 01.001.104

This Helldivers 2 update marks the end of Arrowhead Studios’ 60-day (actually 63-day) commitment to radically rebalancing the game based largely on community sentiment, and this last batch of changes has added some nice improvements.

Compared to the previous patch in September, this is a fair bit smaller and features fewer buffs and nerfs to weapons, Stratgems, and enemies. Although, it’s still an important one as it includes several notable changes to core systems, such as armor penetration and patrol spawning. Coupled with the previous patch’s overall power boost, this is sure to make even the hardest Helldivers 2 difficulty levels feel much easier, but Arrowhead has anticipated this and will be monitoring in case changes need to be made in a future patch.

Helldivers 2 armor changes

With many enemies still proving to be quite lethal, this Helldivers 2 patch sees buffs to both Light and Heavy armor. Specifically, Heavy armor has had its incoming damage reduction increased from 20% to 25%, while Light armor has had its incoming damage increase reduced from 33% to 25%. Overall, that means both armor types are a bit more durable, but I think it still means the best Helldivers 2 armor is almost any Light set.

Helldivers 2 weapon and Stratagem patch notes

While this update hasn’t quite adjusted over 30 Helldivers 2 weapons for your loadouts and Stratagems like the one in September, there are some changes for plasma weapons, the Liberator weapon family, and some new ammo types for the Autocannon and Recoilless Rifle, making them a little more versatile.

Loadout weapon changes

Here’s a rundown of the most noteworthy weapon balance changes for primary, secondary, and throwable weapons:

• Plas-101 Purifier can now be charged up: Fully charging a shot for one second doubles the damage, adding a lot more power to the weapon. It has also seen improvements to its projectile damage, durable damage, and explosion damage. All are welcome changes as it was previously quite an underwhelming addition in the Helldivers 2 Polar Patriots Warbond.
• The Plas-1 Scorcher and Tenderizer have new firing modes: Despite being one of the best weapons in the game already, the Scorcher has been improved a little with a new full-auto firing mode, larger magazines, and a faster fire rate, which is handy for dealing with Terminids. The Tenderizer has also gain options for firing at 600RPM or 850RPM.
• The Punisher Plasma is even easier to use: The Plasma shotty now has less recoil and can fire faster at 100 RPM. Coupled with some general changes to Plasma Projectiles, you don’t have to use it quite like a grenade launcher with a steep trajectory anymore.
• Most Liberator weapons are easier to control: The standard Liberator and its Penetrator and Carbine variants have all had their horizontal recoil reduced by 30%, making them a lot less jittery as you fire. Additionally, the Carbine now has better handling and a fast reload, while the Penetrator has a larger 45-round magazine, putting it between the Liberator and Concussive variant.
• The Adjudicator now hits quite a lot harder: Reduced horizontal recoil, a slightly larger magazine, and increased damage and durable damage for each shot means the Adjudicator is looking like a pretty hot weapon now!
• The Verdict and Senator sidearms are a lot punchier: Both have received improvements to their armor penetration and durable damage, with the Senator getting a nice damage buff and the Verdict getting improved stagger strength.
• Massive improvements to grenades and throwing knives: The High Explosive, Frag, and Incendiary grenades have all had their damage doubled, and you can now hold up to 20 throwing knives instead of eight!

Support weapon Stratagem changes

The following are the most significant changes to Support Weapon Stratagems, so you might want to try these out next time you’re picking your loadout before a mission in Helldivers 2:

• The Autocannon has a new flak mode: You can now switch between standard Autocannon shots and new flak shots which explode when in proximity to an enemy and shower the area with larger, shrapnel-filled explosions – great for swarms of bugs, particularly the flying Helldivers 2 Shriekers.
• The Recoilless Rifle is no longer just an anti-tank weapon: Like the Autocannon, the Recoilless Rifle has gained new High Explosive rockets along with the normal High Explosive Anti-Tank rockets. These new rockets have a slightly larger and more powerful explosion suited to blowing up groups of enemies rather than blasting a single large target.
• Buffs for all three machine guns: The Machine Gun has received the biggest improvements as it now starts with two spare magazines instead of one and each of those magazines is larger, holding 175 bullets instead of 150. The Heavy Machine Gun also has larger magazines (was 75, now 100 bullets), while the Stalwart now has better handling.

Stratagem patch notes

Many Helldivers 2 Stratagems, particularly the sentries and other defensive Stratagems, have received some small balancing changes and buffs in this Helldivers 2 patch to make them a bit more viable at all difficulties. These are the biggest changes:

• The Jump Pack is now excellent: With only a 15-second cooldown instead of 20 seconds, and a better thrust force for a faster and further jump, the Jump Pack is now a superb movement tool and makes you incredibly agile.
• You can manually recall and deploy any backpack drones: These drones still automatically return to your backpack to rearm or cool off, but if you want to keep your drone stowed, you can recall it and send it out later using the backpack action button. Additionally, the Guard Dog drone is now equipped with a Liberator Penetrator, meaning it can damage a greater variety of armored enemies and it can fire for longer thanks to the Penetrator’s larger magazine.
• Sentries now have shorter cooldowns but also don’t last as long: The Gatling, Rocket, and Autocannon Sentries, and the Tesla Tower, now have 150-second cooldowns instead of 180 seconds, while the Machine Gun Sentry can be called in after just 90 seconds! The Machine Gun and Gatling Sentries now have significantly larger ammo capacities too. However, all sentries and the Tesla Tower now have a 150-second lifespan.
• Some of the weakest Stratagems just got a little better: The Eagle Strafing Run has a larger explosion radius and deals more damage, while the Orbital Airburst now fires four salvoes but has a slightly longer delay between each one. Overall, that’ll make these much more effective in their “weak enemy eradication” roles at all difficulty levels.
• The Shield Generator Relay is now much bigger: Previously, it had a radius of 8m, but this has been increased to 15m. Additionally, the shield will now constantly regenerate health at an increased rate, but if it gets completely destroyed, it can’t regenerate at all, so you’ll need to call down a new one.

Helldivers 2 enemy patch notes

With the September patch addressing many issues with certain Helldivers 2 enemies, this patch makes some broader changes to enemy behaviour, as well as some tweaks to specific enemy types.  

The most notable change for all enemies is that patrol spawns have been adjusted so they’re less of a problem if you’re just trying to explore a map before extracting – once a mission has been completed, enemy patrols will spawn at an increased rate closer to the extraction site, rather than across the entire map.

Automaton changes

The Helldivers 2 Automatons got reined in significantly in the last patch, and they’ve received a few more adjustments to smooth out and rebalance some issues in this Helldivers 2 patch:

• Automatons can no longer see you through walls or smoke: Automaton targeting has been adjusted to prevent the bots being able to shoot at you without line of sight. That means you can use stealth tactics, cover, and smoke much more effectively against the Automatons.
• Hulk Bruisers have got their rockets back: The replacement laser cannon is gone!
• Devastators and Berserkers have weaker heads: Devastators now have the lowest possible armor value for their heads and Berserkers have had their head health reduced to 110, matching the slightly increased head health for Devastators.

Terminid changes

Similarly, the Helldivers 2 Terminids are in a much better spot but can still be annoying to fight, with so many of their smaller ranks leaping towards you and slowing you down. Here are the minor Terminid changes in the October patch:

• Bile Spewers and Nursing Spewers now have weaker legs: The leg health on these similar bug types has been reduced from 300 to 200, so slowing them down should be a bit easier.
• Hunters can’t all leap at you at once now: When a Hunter pounces, it applies a shared area cooldown for other nearby Hunters. Be aware that the smaller Pouncers can still leap in swarms.

© 12DOVE. Not to be reproduced without permission.