Helldivers 2's emotes can inexplicably save you from massive falls, and Arrowhead's CEO is begging for it not to be patched out: "Can we please, please keep this?"
Strike a pose
Helldivers 2 players have discovered an incredible trick to boost your survivability in the chaotic third-person shooter that Arrowhead's CEO, Shams Jorjani, is already begging the rest of the team to keep in – emoting to reduce fall damage.
In Helldivers 2, you can get killed by a plethora of different things, from the Automatons and Terminids themselves, to your own teammates, and, of course, the power of gravity. However, in a clip posted to Reddit, one player demonstrates that for some reason, if you emote in mid-air, you can stop yourself from dying to falls that definitely would have been deadly otherwise. It looks hilarious since they appear to transform into a posing action figure soaring through the sky, but lo and behold, you can see that in this instance, the player only lost a little over half of their health despite being sent up and across the map in a huge explosion.
To whoever said emoting reduces fall damage, thanks from r/Helldivers
Needless to say, this almost certainly isn't meant to be a mechanic in the game, but fans love it, and want nothing more than for it to be kept intact. "Please don't patch this. It's a mechanic now," one Reddit user writes. "One of the few bugs/glitches that's too fun to remove. This needs to stay! It looks silly but it's super funny. (And also balanced it seems. If you're not at full health, it could still be lethal)," says another.
Well, hopefully it is here to stay, since one of the people begging Arrowhead to keep it in is none other than the company's CEO. "Can we please, please keep this?" Jorjani writes on Twitter, tagging the studio in a repost of the video.
Following up in a reply, he adds: "We'll add inflatable bouncy bags that deploy from under your armpits or some shit if we have to. C'mon! We have the technology – where there's a will there's a way!"
Whether it'll be kept in in its current form remains to be seen, but for now at least, mid-air emoting is a totally viable strategy, regardless of how or why it works. So, if you're ever sent flying, don't panic – just strike a pose instead.
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I'm one of 12DOVE's news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.