The Helldivers 2 patch notes for 01.000.300 feature an array of nerfs and buffs to a large number of weapons in the game. The balance patch is indicating a huge meta shift, here are the update’s patch notes in full.
Table of Contents
Major Balance Changes Detailed in Helldivers 2 Patch Notes
The Helldivers 2 Patch 01.000.300 is extremely expansive in it’s range of changes. Further down below we have a full list of the Helldivers 2 Nerfs, Buffs and other changes to the in-game weapons and stratagems, however the first focus is on the more general balance changes brought in with the new patch.
Last month, Arrowhead studios acknowledged that they believed the way fire damage worked was “ridiculous” and needed reworking as a whole. In the latest Helldivers 2 balance patch, they’ve endeavoured to fix this. Burning damage has now been reduced by 15%, which will be very pleasing to players that have gotten frustrated by being chased by fire tornados on Hellmire.
Players can now choose to disable automatic climbing, which is excellent for stopping accidental movements as a result of automatic climbing such as accidentally jumping on top of supply drops while trying to grab an item.
Armor has also been changed in the new balance patch. In a slight buff to the way armor works, a rating of more than 100 will now reduce damage received from headshots. However, despite this buff we’re likely to see more player deaths with the new armor balance. One of the changes from Arrowhead in this patch includes richochets. From now on, shots fired at heavily armored enemies suck as Bile Titans, Hulks and Chargers will ricochet back at the Helldiver that fired.
New Spawn Rates Will Now Make Enemy Patrols Spawn More When There Are Fewer Players
Probably the biggest change to Helldivers 2 in the new 01.000.300 balance patch affects the spawn rates of enemy patrols and has been causing a wave of player outrage. In the official Patch Notes, Arrowhead states:
“Patrol spawning has been increased when there are fewer than 4 players. The fewer the players the bigger the change. For 4 player missions there will be no change compared to before.The biggest noticeable change will be for solo players at higher difficulties”
This has featured a very negative response from the playerbase. With it’s large community, there’s been an immense amount of discussion of the Helldivers 2 Patch on Reddit.
On the official Reddit thread for the latest Patch Notes, several comments are immensely negative regarding the enemy patrol updates. Many players feel that it punishes them for playing the game in off-peak hours, where it can be difficult to get an SOS filled. As well, it has upset many players who simply don’t want to match with randoms, preferring instead to play with a tight group of friends, as they will now have a harder game for having less than 4 players.
Despite the negative response, Arrowhead so far has firmly stuck with it’s changes to enemy patrols. A post was made by an official member of the Helldivers 2 team, quoting the game’s design director’s defense of the changes.
The design director is quoted in defense of the increased patrols statement with:
“We unintendedly had non-linear scaling of the patrol spawns so they didn’t spawn as often as they should have when less than 4 players. The intention is that 1 player has 1/4th of the patrols compared to 4 players, but it used to be that they had 1/6th.
Scaling of patrol spawns was exponential before, and that felt good on 4 player lobbies but a bit too empty when playing with fewer players, especially when playing solo. So now we made the scaling of patrols to be linear, which means if you play solo you will get 25% of the patrols compared to a 4 player lobby instead of having about 17% of the patrols.”
Another negatively perceived change in the new patch is perhaps the most surprising of the Helldivers 2 Nerfs. Lots of players are extremely unhappy with the change to the Explosive Crossbow. Evidently from the patch notes thread discussions, many felt it was underpowered and deserved a buff. However, instead the explosive crossbow now finds itself with a smaller blast radius, a reduced ammo count and harder ergonomics, much to player’s dismay. Below is the full table of all the weapon and stratagem nerfs and buffs.
Helldivers 2 Nerfs, Buffs and Changes to Weapons and Stratagems:
| Weapon/Stratagem | Buff | Nerf | Neutral Change |
| CB-9 Exploding Crossbow | Muzzle velocity increased, increased number of magazines received from resupply from 6 to 8 | Slightly smaller explosion, increased stagger, decreased number of maximum mags from 12 to 8 | N/A |
| LAS-99 Quasar Cannon | N/A | Increased recharge time by 5 seconds | N/A |
| BR-14 Adjudicator | Reduced recoil, increased maximum mags from 6 to 8, increased number of magazines received from resupply from 6 to 8 | N/A | Full auto is now the default fire mode |
| LAS-98 Laser Cannon | Slightly increased damage | Slightly reduced damage versus large volume bodies | N/A |
| SG-8P Punisher Plasma | Increased amount of magazines received from resupply from 6 to 8, increased projectile speed, but will still keep a similar range, decreased damage falloff on the explosion | Decreased maximum mags from 12 to 8 | Now placed in the energy weapons category |
| ARC-12 Blitzer | Increased shots per minute from 30 to 45 | N/A | Now placed in the energy weapons category |
| R-36 Eruptor | N/A | Decreased number of maximum mags from 12 to 6, explosion damage drops off slightly faster | N/A |
| LAS-16 Sickle | N/A | Decreased amount of magazines from 6 down to 3 | N/A |
| LAS-5 Scythe | Increased damage from 300 to 350 | Decreased max number of magazines from 6 down to 4 | N/A |
| RS-422 Railgun | Increased armor penetration in both safe mode and unsafe mode, stagger force slightly reduced | N/A | N/A |
| MG-101 Heavy Machine Gun | N/A | N/A | Third person crosshair enabled |
| 63CS Diligence Counter Sniper | Damage increased from 128 to 140 | N/A | Ergonomics improved |
| R-63 Diligence | Damaged increased from 112 to 125 | N/A | N/A |
| P-19 Redeemer | N/A | Slight increase in recoil | N/A |
| P-2 Peacemaker | Increased damage from 60 to 75 | N/A | N/A |
| P-8 Senator | Increased damage from 150 to 175, speedloader added when reloading on an empty cylinder – speeds up reload on empty considerably | N/A | N/A |
| LAS-7 Dagger | Increased damage from 150 to 200 | N/A | N/A |
| AR-19 Liberator | Damage increased from 55 to 60 | N/A | N/A |
| AR-23C Liberator Consussive | Damage increased from 55 to 65 | N/A | N/A |
| JAR-5 Dominator | N/A | Damage decreased from 300 to 275 | N/A |
| AX/AR Guard Dog | N/A | Decreased damage by 30% | N/A |
| RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher | Airburst Rocket Launcher will no longer detonate when shot near stratagems (HMG turret, Sentries, Resupplies) and other Helldivers | N/A | Reduced proximity radius |
| A/MG-43 Machinegun Sentry | Increased health to match other Sentries | N/A | N/A |
| A/ARC-3 Tesla Tower | Increased health by 33% | N/A | N/A |
| FAF-14 Spear | N/A | N/A | Added reload stage reload after the spent missile had been discarded |
With such a vast array of changes in the latest Helldivers 2 Patch Notes, it will be very interesting to see how all of the balance updates play out in the Helldivers 2 new meta.
