Helldivers 2: Balance Overhaul, Space Cowboy Warbond

Sony's cooperative third-person shooter, Helldivers 2, has received a new update that introduces significant balance adjustments and bug fixes.

Patch 01.002.200 adjusts the power of several weapons and stratagems. Developer Arrowhead has also increased the game's capacity for AI calculations, which mainly enhances enemy responsiveness during battles with large numbers of foes. The studio noted that this improvement comes with a minor impact on overall game performance.

As a result of these gameplay tweaks, the Automaton enemies are now more challenging, as they react faster when operating in large groups. Be prepared for Helldivers 2's formidable bots to act more intelligently and make quicker decisions.

Another welcome enhancement is a reorganization of the stratagem loadout menu, which now features improved categorization for different stratagem groups.

Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice Warbond Screenshots

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Additionally, publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment has revealed Helldivers 2’s next Warbond, titled 'Borderline Justice'. This expansion introduces a 'space cowboy' theme, bringing new firearms such as the R-6 Deadeye lever-action hunting rifle, the LAS-58 Talon "revolver" sidearm, and the TED-63 Dynamite.

To match the space cowboy aesthetic, the update includes the GS-17 Frontier Marshal medium armor set and the GS-66 Lawmaker heavy armor, complete with a holster and bandolier. The Gunslinger armor passive boosts secondary weapons with faster reloading, quicker drawing and holstering, and reduced recoil. This Warbond releases on March 20.

The ongoing Galactic War in Helldivers 2 is currently centered on the Illuminate alien faction, which is gradually pushing a black hole toward Super Earth. The ultimate outcome remains uncertain, but players speculate this could lead to an assault on the Illuminate home world or a final defensive stand on Super Earth itself.

Helldivers 2 update 01.002.200 patch notes:

Balancing

Primary weapons
SMG-32 Reprimand

Spread decreased from 50 to 40

SG-8S Slugger

Spread decreased from 20 to 6Damage increased from 250 to 280

AR-23C Liberator Concussive

Fire rate increased from 320 to 400

R-63 Diligence

Magazine capacity increased from 20 to 25

MP-98 Knight

Damage increased from 65 to 70

STA-11 SMG

Damage increased from 65 to 70

SMG-37 Defender

Damage increased from 75 to 80

SMG-72 Pummeler

Damage increased from 65 to 70Now requires less shots to apply stun on applicable targets, stun value increased from 1.0 to 1.25 per bullet

AR-23 Liberator

Damage increased from 70 to 80

STA-52 Assault Rifle

Damage increased from 70 to 80

BR-14 Adjudicator

Damage increased from 90 to 95

AR-61 Tenderizer

Damage increased from 95 to 105

R-36 Eruptor

Projectile armor penetration increased from Medium (3) to Heavy (4)Projectile lifetime increased from 0.7 to 1 sec

Stratagems

Eagle 110MM Rocket Pods

Uses increased from 2 to 3

EXO-45 Patriot Exosuit

Uses increased from 2 to 3

EXO-49 Emancipator Exosuit

Uses increased from 2 to 3

TX-41 Sterilizer

Ergonomics increased from 5 to 20

M-105 Stalwart

Damage increased from 70 to 80

MG-206 Heavy Machine Gun

Improved armor penetration across a wider range of angles before transitioning to glancing shots

Enemies:

Recent software analysis uncovered an update to the Automatons' situational awareness systems. They are now less easily distracted, increasing their reaction speed when gathered in large numbers.We've increased the number of AI calculations the game can perform. This primarily enhances enemy responsiveness in scenarios where many enemies are active, though it slightly impacts game performance.According to new intelligence, the enemies of Democracy are attempting to counter Helldiver anti-air tactics. Newly-produced Automaton dropships feature reinforced hulls, allowing the main body to withstand significantly more damage.Illuminate Warp Ships have been observed deploying their protective shields while in flight.Automaton Dropships: Main body health increased from 2500 to 3500Illuminate Dropships: Now use the same shield protections as their landed counterparts

Barrager Tank Turret

Fixed an issue where the armor value was incorrectly set to 0. Now correctly has an armor value of 5The turret now also features vulnerable points at the front and rear, each with 750 HP and an armor value of 3

Gameplay

Settings:

Added new dedicated settings for inverting gyro input, separate from the general Invert Look optionsThe Stratagem loadout menu has been updated with a new categorization system for different stratagem types

Fixes

Resolved Top Priority issues:

Fixed an issue where extraction beacons could sometimes become unreachable if landing on enemiesGeneral performance optimizations implemented in planetary colony environments

Crash Fixes, Hangs and Soft-locks:

Fixed a crash that occurred when fighting Terminids under poor network conditionsFixed a rare crash during game shutdown on PC systemsFixed a crash that could occur with a high volume of on-screen particlesFixed an issue where players could be prevented from completing objectives requiring call-down equipment if the necessary stratagem became unavailable

Weapons and Stratagems

Fixed G-123 Thermite Grenades sometimes failing to armResolved a rare crash when using the LAS-17 Double-Edge SickleFixed a bug where switching weapons while reloading the CB-9 Exploding Crossbow could sometimes discard a full magazine without completing the reload

Social & Multiplayer Fixes

Fixed an issue causing players in low-activity regions to see fewer available lobbies on the planet hologram than expectedFixed an issue in low-activity regions where lobbies were not receiving join requests as frequently as beforeAddressed a problem on low-traffic planets where Quickplay would automatically join a friend's game, regardless of difficulty settingFixed a disconnection issue that could occur during Gloom missions when connected to a host with a poor connectionCorrected some interaction problems that occurred after canceling the Raise Weapon emoteFixed a display issue where adding, removing, blocking, or unblocking friends caused player cards in the friend list to show white text with missing details until the panel was refreshedFixed an issue preventing players from muting or kicking squad members who were in the loadout screen upon joiningFixed a bug causing some new Steam players' profile names to display incorrectly in the game

Miscellaneous Fixes

Addressed several memory leaks to improve overall performanceFixed old text chat messages reappearing unintendedlyCorrected an issue where the progress bars on the Democracy Space Station appeared unintentionally curvedFixed a bug that blocked menu navigation when initial language selection was set to English (US)Fixed the raise weapon emote to properly fire projectiles in the weapon's aimed directionFixed Helldivers sliding across the ground after exiting the ragdoll state (despite our previous attempts to resolve this issue)

Known Issues

Top Priority:

Black box mission terminals may become unusable if they spawn partially inside terrainStratagem deployment balls may bounce erratically off cliffs and certain surfacesBalancing and functionality adjustments needed for DSS unitsPathfinding problems in Evacuate Colonists missions against the IlluminateDolby Atmos functionality not working on PS5 consoles

Medium Priority:

Players may occasionally get stuck on Pelican-1's ramp during extractionCurrently equipped capes do not display correctly in the Armory tab, appearing as a blank gray capePlayers using the "This is Democracy" emote on their ship might unintentionally send teammates on unexpected spacewalksThe AX/TX-13 "Guard Dog" does not display an empty ammo indicator when out of ammunitionHigher magnification scopes do not properly zoom the camera when using the LAS-5 ScytheWeapons with charge-up mechanics can sometimes fire faster than their intended RPM limit