Helldivers 2 players are begging devs to revert ‘weird’ and ‘spiteful’ ricochet buffs

Helldivers 2‘s most recent patch brought numerous balance changes and new mechanics to the game, but some have been poorly received. One such change was to ricochets, which now bounce into players instead of at an angle, and players are calling the devs to revert the change. 

An April 29 Reddit thread showed how the new ricochets work, with the thread’s creator posting a video of them firing at the Spore Spewer mushroom, and the bullets immediately came back to bite them in the head, killing them on the spot. The intention of the new ricochets was to help Automatons as the update aimed to buff several robot enemies, particularly the Hulks whose thick armor was not as effective as the devs would’ve liked. Instead, the change has caused bugs and unintentional interactions, such as players being unable to use the Punisher Plasma while carrying a Shield generator due to ricochet issues. 

Players replying to the thread mostly agree these ricochet changes should be reverted. Whether intentional or not, the ricochet now appears to function way worse by targeting the shooter at a direct 180-degree bounce. Bullets would previously bounce off of thick armor at an angle and most likely hit either other enemies or your allies, depending on who was in the way. 

“I understand the ricochets, but them literally 180ing off the armor and back into you seems weird, rather than bouncing at a realistic angle,” one player said. Another claimed that the only change in the patch was that shooters are no longer immune to their own ricochets, which may be the root of the problem. Even so, with the bugged-out weapon interactions and Spore Spewers able to ricochet bullets with nothing but sheer willpower, the updated ricochets seem to be malfunctioning at least on some level. 

The latest Helldivers 2 update changed and updated a lot of things, such as buffing Automaton units, nerfing some Bugs and weapons, and adding a new mission to the higher difficulties. Check out our full Helldivers 2 patch notes here to learn why the update has been so divisive.