Helldivers 2's first balance patch is coming, dev responds to meta-weary fans tired of "underperforming" guns and stratagems

Helldivers 2
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

To the dismay of bugs and bots everywhere, it sounds like the weakest weapons in Helldivers 2 are due for a buff in an upcoming balance patch.

As the Helldivers 2 meta settles around the likes of the railgun and 500kg bomb, community manager Baskinator of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead recently fielded requests for a balance patch that can inject some more variety into endgame arsenals. 

Over on the game's official Discord, one user asked: "Hey, do you know when we will get a balance patch or if the team is working on it currently? Most weapons and many stratagems are very underperforming and need a big buff." 

It's a fair question, and one that's being asked more and more as players unlock higher-level gear and take on higher-difficulty operations. As the screws tighten, for-funsies weapon picks can start to feel less viable. Several weapons have been called outright unusable, with the SG-225SP Breaker Spray & Pray deemed about as effective as hurling harsh language at the enemy. 

Fortunately, Baskinator was quick to respond with good news: "We are working on that for an update, yes." 

The scope and arrival time for this impending balance patch remains to be seen, but if I were a gambling man, I'd wager it'll be pretty sizable as Helldivers 2's first real swing at post-launch tuning. Arrowhead will have a lot more user data to work with, for one, providing a holistic picture of what players are using and why (read: the railgun, and as for why, because it rails). Players aren't exactly steamrolling the hardest missions even with top loadouts, so let's hope for a focus on big buffs to the weakest weapons and, at the absolute most, minor nerfs to the current best-performing options. 

After several weeks of patches focusing on bugs and stability out of necessity, which have now gotten the game to a pretty good spot on a technical level, a new lease on life for overlooked but cool equipment would be welcome. In the meantime, here are our picks for Helldivers 2's best weapons.  

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Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.