Helldivers 2’s Crucial 01.001.100 Update Completely Reworks Weapons, Adds New Galactic War Feature, and Changes Much More in Bid to Make the Game Easier – IGN

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released the long-awaited update 01.001.100, which tweaks the game balance, weapons, and stratagems as part of a significant overhaul that aims to bring lapsed fans back into the game by making it easier.

The PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter has changed anti-tank, armor penetration, health, and armor values, rebalanced weapons and stratagems, reworked enemies, tweaked Helldiver health and damage mechanics, reworked gas, added a new Galactic War feature and emote wheel feature, and fixed a long list of bugs.

The Galactic War map can now display the location of strategically important assets. Arrowhead said this will make it much easier for players to take them into consideration when deciding their next move. The new emote wheel feature lets players equip up to four emotes in the armory and access them using the new emote wheel feature by holding the emote button.

Patch 01.001.100 arrives two days before the next Premium Warbond, dubbed Chemical Agents, launches on September 19. While Chemical Agents does not include any new weapons, it adds two stratagem variants — the TX-41 Sterilizer, which lets you spray a gas at the Terminids and Automatons, and the Guard Dog’s ‘Dog Breath,’ which is a corrosive gas sprayer — and, in keeping with the alien exterminator theme, the G-4 Gas grenade, which covers the whole area in a cloud of noxious fumes.

“Thank you for your valuable feedback,” Arrowhead said in the patch notes, below. “Many players have expressed feeling constrained in how they approach challenges, often relying on a limited set of tools while other options seem less effective. This has impacted your ability to play the game in a way that suits your preferences.

“So, what’s changing? For all the bugdivers out there, many situations were previously either resolved with your primary weapon or anti-tank weapons, which haven’t always performed as expected. With the overwhelming presence of Bile Titans and Chargers, many weapon choices therefore became invalid.

“To address this, we’ve reworked armor penetration, anti-tank weapons, enemy armor and health values. Our goal is to improve the effectiveness of weapons such as the Autocannon, Heavy Machine Gun, Flamethrower, and Anti-Materiel Rifle against heavily armored enemies. Although they may not be as effective as specialized anti-tank weapons, they are now more viable choices making your loadouts more versatile, fostering better team collaboration and planning.

“On the Bot front, Hulks have also had their armor reduced, making them more vulnerable to a wider range of weapons. Additionally, to improve the gameplay experience, the Devastator and Gunship will now have a limited supply of rockets, and those rockets won’t hit as frequently as before. This comes alongside the previously updated smaller impact radius for rockets, reducing excessive ragdolling.

“We’ve also made improvements to many primary weapons, bringing them closer in effectiveness to the most popular choices. This should offer more variety and flavor during your play sessions.

“We are adjusting damage mechanics to make the damage Helldivers receive more consistent over time by reducing 100% extra headshot damage to 50%. To maintain the overall challenge of the game, we’ve slightly increased the damage taken to other parts of the body. Our intent is to preserve the intensity of the gameplay while minimizing frustrating situations where sudden headshots cause large damage spikes.

“With these changes, along with an upgraded Helldiver arsenal, enemy adjustments, and more consistent damage, the overall difficulty may slightly decrease. We’ll be monitoring this closely and will listen to the community on how you think it feels.

“We want to assure you that your feedback remains essential to us. Please share your thoughts on these updates, as we are actively listening. We plan to conduct another balance pass by Day 60 of our commitment to ensure we’re aligning with what you need for the best possible experience and to address any concerns or adjustments required. Your insights will be invaluable in refining these changes and making sure the game remains engaging and enjoyable for everyone.”

Helldivers 2 update 01.001.100 patch notes in full:

Balancing

General

• Previously, partial damage dealt 50% of full damage, which we found to be overly punishing and reduced effectiveness too much, leading to an excessive reliance on high armor penetration weapons. We’ve now increased partial damage to 65% of full damage to address this issue.
• The Helldiver now takes less damage from headshots, which previously dealt 100% extra damage but now inflict only 50% extra damage. Damage from hits to other body parts has been slightly increased depending on the area hit. This adjustment aims to normalize overall damage while maintaining detailed damage zones, reducing spike damage.

Primary Weapons

Liberator & Liberator Carbine

• Damage is increased from 60 to 70
• Durable damage increased from 14 to 17
• Stagger force increased from 10 to 15
• Max spare magazines increased from 7 to 8
• Starting spare magazines increased from 5 to 6

Knight

• Damage is increased from 50 to 65
• Durable damage increased from 5 to 7
• Magazines now fully refill when picking up resupply
• Reduced recoil

Liberator Concussive

• Now comes with a drum magazine which holds 60 rounds
• Number of mags reduced from 10 to 6. The number of mags have been reduced due to larger magazine capacity

Tenderizer

• Number of rounds in its magazine increased from 30 to 35
• Starting magazines increased from 4 to 5

Breaker

• Now comes with an extended magazine which holds 16 shells
• Stagger force increased from 10 to 15

Spray and Pray

• Now has a duckbill muzzle making its spread very horizontal but less vertical
• Total Damage increased from 192 to 240

Scythe

• Cooldown is faster
• Adjustments to the heat VFX
• Scope changed to a low powered scope
• Removed recoil
• Sets enemies on fire faster

Crossbow

• Explosion radius increased by 50%
• Explosion damage increased from 150 to 350

Eruptor

Shrapnel is back! We heard your feedback and re-introduced the shrapnel. We have replaced the original shrapnel with the Frag Grenade shrapnel to no longer instantly one-shot Helldivers with the exception of the occasional unlucky headshot.

• Shrapnel projectiles amount are set to 30
• Shrapnel damage is set to 110
• Explosion damage decreased from 340 to 225
• We also increased the amount of shrapnel
• Explosion radius increased by 33% (17% for inner radius and 50% for outer radius)

Defender

• Damage increased from 70 to 75
• Durable damage increased from 7 to 8

Liberator Penetrator

• Damage increased from 45 to 60

Diligence

• Damage increased from 125 to 165
• Durable damage increased from 32 to 42

Counter Sniper

• Damage increased from 140 to 200
• Durable damage increased from 14 to 50
• Stagger force increased from 15 to 20

Blitzer

• Now has a weak stun effect that builds up per shot on its targets

Torcher

• Damage increased by 50%
• Flamer mechanics reverted to before the Escalation of Freedom update
• Increased AP from 3 to 4

Sidearms

Peacemaker

• Increased max spare magazines from 5 to 6

Dagger

• Gains heat more slowly
• Removed recoil
• Damage increased from 200 to 250
• Sets enemies on fire faster
• Adjustments to the heat VFX

Crisper

• Damage increased by 50%
• Flamer mechanics reverted to before the Escalation of Freedom update
• Increased AP from 3 to 4

Support Weapons

Dedicated anti-tank weapons like the Recoilless Rifle, Quasar, Commando, Expendable Anti-Tank, SPEAR, and Patriot Exosuit rockets have all received significant damage boosts to enhance their effectiveness.

These weapons generally fall into three categories:

Strong and Reliable: The Recoilless Rifle and SPEAR can afford to be less accurate when firing at armored targets since most hits will eliminate enemies the size of a Charger

Strong: The Expendable Anti-Tank and Quasar are highly effective, often killing targets with a single hit to a weak spot; otherwise, two solid shots will handle a Charger, or one shot for a Hulk

Less Strong: The Commando and Patriot Exosuit Rockets typically require 1-3 shots to take down a Charger or Hulk, depending on your aim

Grenade Launcher

• Starting spare magazines increased from 1 to 2
• Max spare magazines increased from 2 to 3
• Explosion radius slightly increased

Laser Cannon

• Cooldown is slightly faster
• Removed recoil
• Sets enemies on fire faster
• Can now damage heavier enemies like Chargers, Bile Titans, Impalers, Hulks
• Adjustments to the heat VFX

Arc Thrower

• Range increased from 35 to 55
• Now has a moderate stun effect that builds up on its targets
• Jumps additional times
• Durable damage increased from 50 to 100

Railgun

• Durable damage increased from 60 to 225
• Fully overcharging damage increased from 150% to 250%

Stalwart

• Damage is increased from 60 to 70
• Durable damage increased from 14 to 17
• Stagger force increased from 10 to 15

Machine Gun

• Stagger force increased from 15 to 20

Anti-Materiel Rifle

• Durable damage increased from 135 to 180
• Can now damage heavier enemies like Chargers, Bile Titans, Impalers, Hulks
• Stagger force increased from 20 to 25

Heavy Machine Gun

• Stagger force increased from 20 to 25
• Can now damage heavier enemies like Chargers, Bile Titans, Impalers, Hulks

Commando

• Demolition strength against structures has been reduced; it can no longer destroy Automaton Fabricators in a single shot. However, since the fabricators now have health, it can still take them out with two shots

Flamethrower

• Damage increased by 33%
• Flamer mechanics reverted to before the Escalation of Freedom update
• Increased armor penetration from 3 to 4
• Can now damage heavier enemies like Chargers, Bile Titans, Impalers, Hulks

Autocannon

• Can now damage heavier enemies like Chargers, Bile Titans, Impalers, Hulks

Grenades

Frag Grenade

• Shrapnel damage increased by roughly 50%
• Max amount increased from 4 to 5
• Refill increased from 2 to 3
• Explosion radius increased

Thermite Grenade

• Explosion damage increased from 100 to 2000
• Shorter time until it ignites the thermite
• Time until it explodes slightly reduced
• Max number decreased from 4 to 3

Stratagems

Every Stratagem capable of damaging heavily armored enemies has had their damage increased to account for the increased health of heavier enemies. The goal with this change is to have the Stratagems on a similar or higher power level than before. In addition to that, we have made the following changes as well.

Eagle 500kg bomb

• Explosion radius increased to match visuals better

Eagle Rockets

• Damage slightly increased

Gatling Sentry

• Stagger force increased from 15 to 20

Machine Gun Sentry

• Stagger force increased from 15 to 20

Tesla Tower

• Increased stagger force to match other Arc weapons
• Now has a moderate stun effect that builds up per hit on its targets

Heavy Machine Gun Emplacement

• Stagger force increased from 20 to 25
• Can now damage heavier enemies like Chargers, Bile Titans, Impalers, Hulks

Patriot Exosuit

• Gatling stagger force increased from 15 to 20

Emancipator Exosuit

• Autocannon durable damage increased from 60 to 150
• Rate of fire on its weapons increased from 125 to 175
• Ammo increased from 75 to 100 per arm

Orbital Laser

• Damage slightly increased

Orbital Railcannon

• Damage slightly increased

Orbital Gas Strike

• We are reworking the gas gameplay mechanics to become more crowd control focused in preparation for the Chemical Agents Warbond
• The gas effect has been reworked to cause blindness and confuse enemies and Helldivers alike at the expense of reduced damage over time

Gameplay

General

New Galactic War Feature

• The Galactic War map can now display the location of strategically important assets. This will make it much easier for the Helldivers to take them into consideration when deciding on their next move.

Emote Wheel feature

• Players can now equip up to four emotes in the armory and access them using the new Emote Wheel feature by holding the Emote button. Additional separate key binding options are available for the Emote Wheel in the settings.
• Added Dolby Atmos support on PS5

Enemies

Automaton Fabricators

• Automaton Fabricators now have health and armor in addition to their existing destruction system. This means that while many high armor penetration weapons can still destroy them, it may take multiple hits to do so, depending on the weapon used
• Added effects to clearer showcase their health state

Hulks (All versions)

• Armor reduced from 5 to 4
• Back weak spot slightly more durable
• Back weak spot health decreased from 1000 to 800

Hulk Bruiser

• Replaced the rocket launcher for an energy based cannon
• Increased how frequently the Hulk Bruiser shoots

Tank

• Front armor increased from 5 to 6

Berserker

• Head health reduced from 150 to 125
• Main health reduced from 1000 to 750
• Abdomen is now a weak spot
• Chainsaw damage increased

Devastators (All versions)

• Main health reduced from 800 to 750
• Devastators now flinch when hit, causing their aim to worsen, similar to the Conscripts. The intent is to make them easier to manage if you keep applying damage

Rocket Devastators

• Now has a limited number of rockets, and you can see them disappear when they are spent
• Added a reload mechanic from their backpack to replenish their rockets once
• Rocket physics collision is smaller, making them easier to avoid

Gunships

• Gunships now have a limited amount of rockets
• Rocket physics collision is smaller, making them easier to avoid

Charger (All versions)

• Armor reduced from 5 to 4
• The butt weak spot health is decreased from 1100 to 950
• The butt weak spot is slightly less durable
• The belly armor reduced from 4 to 2
• A damage multiplier has been added to the Charger’s exposed flesh of the main body, now dealing 300% damage
• Now turn slightly slower, when charging and moving normally
• Now charge less often
• Charge damage increased by 50%
• Sideattack damage increased by 50%

Charger Behemoth

• The butt weak spot health is decreased from 1200 to 950

Hunter

• Health is reduced from 175 to 160

Scavengers

• Health is reduced from 80 to 60

Bile Titan

• Armor reduced from 5 to 4
• We have reworked the Bile Titan’s belly gameplay
• Belly armor reduced from 4 to 2
• Introduced a separate belly health pool once the outer belly layer has been destroyed
• Destroying the exposed belly health pool kills the Bile Titan

Impaler

• Armor reduced from 5 to 4
• Previously the Impaler could only retract its tentacles once during its entire lifetime when threatened, now it can do it several times
• Its tentacles pursue you over a shorter distance from the impaler and prioritize players nearer to the impaler
• If the impaler can’t see an enemy it will retract its tentacles after a brief period

Impaler Tentacles

• Tentacle damage is increased
• Reduced camera shake of the tentacle attack
• The tentacles require less damage inflicted on them to retract

Planets and Modifiers

• The Intense Heat and Extreme Cold modifiers are no longer static throughout the entire mission, and may now change based on time of day or different weather conditions
• Some desert planets will now only have the Intense Heat modifier active during the day. This means that during night the planet will either have no modifier, or in some cases have the Extreme Cold modifier
• Arid planets (similar to the Hellmire planet) will now only have the Intense Heat modifier active during fire tornado storms

Fixes

• Fixed per weapon aim mode not saving correctly – NOTE: This patch will clear all the saved aim modes but everything should work correctly afterwards

Crash Fixes and Soft-locks:

• Fixed a crash that could occur if shutting down the game during boot
• Fixed a crash caused by players with unique skins timing out
• Fixed a crash when vehicle skins are not properly synced
• Fixed a crash caused by players leaving the game shortly after being reinforced while using unique hellpod skins
• Fixed a rare crash produced by Bile Spewers attacks
• Fixed a crash when interacting with the galactic war hologram
• Fixed a crash when joining another super destroyer
• Fixed a crash that could happen when you were participating in a secondary objective
• Fixes crash when booting the game on PS5 with an unsupported systems language (such as French-Canadian)
• Fixed a potential crash when new players hotjoin
• Fixed a potential crash when other players were leaving the game
• Fixed a rare crash when using the Hologram map and looking at the operations
• You should no longer crash when interacting with the Galactic War Map when an update is required
• Fixed a rare crash which could occur when joining a game session which has cycled through at least 32 unique players
• Fixed an issue where objective stratagems cannot be completed if host migration happens
• Fixed an issue where already joined players would be getting kicked when other players join the game
• Fixed a bug where closing Steam overlay in the middle of the super credits purchase would stay in a broken state for any purchase after that (it previously needed a game restart to work again)
• Fixed inaccessible shuttles after hosts leaving the game right before its landing
• Fixed soft-lock during mission summary if the host left the game
• Fixed an issue where emotes would not exit properly if you canceled them using sprint

Social Menu Fixes

• Fixes to PS5 friends list

Miscellaneous fixes:
Evacuate High-Value Assets Objective

• Fixed issue where enemies would spawn on top of the extraction
• Enemies can no longer shoot generators from spawn points or from far away
• Fixed enemy pathing where they would sometimes try to enter the base from the mountain on the side
• Added more protection for the generators to prevent enemies shooting them from far away
• Heavy and flying enemies now prioritize attacking the player before the generators and the gates
• Fixed an issue where enemies would stop spawning for a period of time when the host leaves the mission

Conduct Geological Survey Objective

• Fixed issue in “Conduct Geological Survey” mission in which the Seismic Probe could become inoperable if a player called it in and left the game or disconnected
• Tweaked enemy spawns

Impaler

• Fixed a bug where Impalers didn’t receive explosive damage in their exposed weak areas
• Fixed Impaler’s tentacles not being pingable

The three following instances have been largely resolved, and the issues are now mostly fixed. Although rare occurrences may still happen with the Impaler in exceptional cases, they should be significantly less common.

• Fixed a bug where standing near the Impaler’s head during the tentacle retraction could cause Helldivers to be launched high into the air
• Fixed a bug where tentacles spawning beneath players could occasionally launch Helldivers into the air
• Fixed a bug where the Impaler’s tentacles could sometimes launch the Exosuits into the air when the player was inside

• Fixed enemies not receiving damage properly when more than 10m away from the player
• Fixed issue where Bile Titans may sometimes not take damage to the head
• Fixed issue causing most weapons to shoot below the crosshair when using aim down sight
• Fixed cases where the Hive Breaker drill might become inaccessible after being called in
• Fixed issue where first-person view was misaligned with weapon sights when using the Ballistics Shield Stratagem
• HMG scope is no longer misaligned
• Fixed lens cutting issues in scopes
• Fixed bug where multiple confidential data pickups could spawn in the same stronghold when only one is intended
• Fixed two-person emotes getting players stuck in an animation lock
• Fixed intro cinematic missing audio in German
• Fixed an instance of Automatons shooting through walls
• Fixed a bug where sometimes prerequisite objectives would be shown above the primary objective in the HUD
• Fixed broken menus when opening the main menu right before entering the Hellpod (when the Loadout menu opens)
• Fixed weapon preview in loadout not being visible right after inspecting armors/helmets/capes
• Fixed Eagle payloads sometimes not blowing up in swamp biome
• Fixed stronghold outposts giving (only visually) 0 rewards on the mission summary objectives screen
• Fixed time-outed players still visible on the UI with the white player color
• Fixed long player title names text now scrolling instead of overlapping with other texts
• Fixed Reinforced Scout Strider showing the wrong name
• Removed the deprecated Orbital Flare Stratagem from Stratagem hero
• Fixed a bug where some of the stratagems did not have data being shown in the Loadout
• Fixed reinforcements called and stratagems used numbers on mission end
• Fixed issue of drill objective floating in air when hot joining an ongoing ‘Nuke Nursery’ mission
• Disabled invite/join functionality when players are playing in a different game version
• Fixed player names not showing on ship after a mission
• Fixed a desync issue in how many civilians have been extracted in “Emergency Evacuation” mission
• Fixed unexploded Hellbombs on the terrain not being pingable
• Fixed not seeing teammates equipment when hot-joining a mission
• Fixed ‘Failed to Extract’ text incorrectly shown when extracting with the shuttle scene
• Solved the issue where the player will not unlock the new difficulties after fulfilling the requirements for it
• Binding Stratagem inputs to other buttons should not block terminal inputs
• Fixed other players helldivers showing over the weapons/armors when they are joining and the player is selecting equipment selection in Loadout
• Fixed a bug when starting the mission even if exiting loadout. Going back to the briefing screen will now unready the player
• Fixed the issue where the players can click on entries through the tabs on the bindings menu
• Pinged enemies and objects now display correctly after changing language
• Fixed stratagem canceling purchase experience where moving mouse up and releasing the mouse button would not stop filling the button and the purchase process
• Fixed an issue in our ragdoll optimizations where the wrong collision filters were used for some physics actors, leading to queries hitting unintended shapes
• Fixed a bug in our ragdoll optimization code which caused some explosion types to deal incorrect damage
• An incorrect message about removing a friend will no longer be displayed in the player information popup
• Fixed multiline text sometimes being misaligned
• Fixed issue where it scrolled down/up 2 Warbonds in the Acquisitions menu when scrolling with the left controller stick
• Fixed motion controls while aiming when the “Motion Sensor Enable Mode” option is set to “Aiming” regardless of Aim input type
• Fixed a bug where the player can change tabs while changing the ship’s name
• Fixed no final ready up sound played when rejoining a mission
• Map markers on objectives will follow the objective if it changes position, as in the case of SSSD drives
• Fixed issue where the player can throw an unlimited amount of grenades/throwing knives after diving into shallow water while holding and then throwing the last throwable
• Fixed another issue where players could be stuck holding the stratagem ball if they open the stratagem menu directly after the previous action
• Now the game client displays a proper error message with useful information when the PlayFab login fails
• Fixed ADS projectile misalignments
• Fixed aim block raycast issues in ADS
• Fixed aim position misalignments that happen from repeatedly entering and exiting ADS
• Fixed displayed incendiary mines icon and anti-tank mine label when the mine racks for these stratagems were marked/pinged
• Fixed issue when changing tab in Armory while scrolling clears the scroll view
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to bypass heat build-up for both the Scythe and Sickle when switching weapons during their reload animations
• Fixed an issue where the 500kg bomb impact explosion was not being triggered
• Fixed an issue where you could find several Confidential Data assets in Fortress locations
• Increased the red zone size during drop select for Fortress locations
• Improved error reporting on the splash screen to provide better support
• Enemies now spawn during “Spread Democracy” objectives
• Added another visual effect to the orbital cannon
• Fixed Automaton projectiles clipping through assets
• Fixed an issue where the Combat Walker bumping into a big building would destroy it
• Fixed some assets bouncing flamethrower flames back
• Fixed an issue where incorrect SFX audio for weapons with custom fire modes were being played
• Fixed extraction timer not showing in landing beacon when mission time is over
• Fixed health not synced correctly after the duration of stim heal (especially in friendly fire situations)
• Fixed audio SFX cutouts when switching between weapons

Known Issues

These are the highest priority issues that were either introduced by this patch and are being worked on, or are from a previous version and have not yet been fixed. This is not a comprehensive list.

Top Priority:

• Players may not receive Friend Requests sent from another platform
• Large units have no audio cues, allowing them to sneak up on players
• Enemies will try to shoot the generators through walls in the Rescue High-Value Assets mission
• Enemies are sometimes capable of shooting through walls
• Social menu is stuck on ‘Please Wait Democratically’ for some players
• Dead bodies of Chargers can launch the Helldiver into the air
• Stratagem balls bounce unpredictably off cliffs and some spots
• Players may sometimes be unable to join specific friends, or are returned to ship when joined

Medium Priority:

• Reinforcement may not be available for players who join a game in progress
• Mines may become invisible or may disappear in Multiplayer lobbies
• Pelican-1 may sometimes be launched away if hit with an impaler tentacle
• Supply packs may be incorrectly used if pressing down on a controller while calling in a stratagem
• Friends “Invite only” games can still be seen on the Galactic War Map but cannot be joined
• High damage weapons will not detonate hellbombs
• Some enemies that bleed out do not progress Personal Orders and Eradicate missions

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.