Helldivers 2’s latest patch notes include big balance update

The Helldivers 2 01.000.100 update is a big one and makes some key changes to many of the shooter’s biggest gameplay mechanics, and we’ve got all the latest on the update.

Weapons are at the core of Helldivers 2—after all, it is a shooter. Helldivers 2’s armory of handheld alien zappers has been refined and tweaked in the latest update.

Along with weapon balancing, new environmental additions will make visiting planets even more dangerous, the visuals have improved for a better gaming experience, and so much more is happening in the latest update.

Everything included in Helldivers 2’s 01.000.100 update (March 6)

Major planet updates

Arrowhead Game Studios’ first big announcement in this patch concerns “Planetary Hazards,” which will make planets even more active when you arrive. According to the devious dev, you can expect to encounter “fire tornadoes to meteor showers and many more.”

As if Helldivers 2 wasn’t dangerous enough. Eep.

Widespread weapon and Stratagem balancing

Next is a buffet of weapon tweaks, a shuffling of Strategem stats, and a change to Eradicate Missions.

The SG-225 Breaker, SG-8 Punisher, SG-225SP Breaker Spray & Pray, RS-422 Railgun, FLAM-40 Flamethrower, and LAS-98 Laser Cannon have all received balancing adjustments.

The Breaker, Railgun, and the Energy Shield Backpack are the worst affected, with all three popular gadgets and gizmos nerfed. Increased recoil, reduced Magazine Capacity, and Damage Per Second reductions represent the majority of the downgrades. Weapons like the Flamethrower, Laser Cannon, Punisher, and Stratagem,s including the 380mm and 120mm Orbital Barrages are now greatly improved and more viable thanks to buffs.

Finally, “Eradicate Missions now require more kills and enemies spawn more often.” So, expect these activities to take you a teeny bit longer than normal.

Countless key fixes to visuals and gameplay

Now that you’ve had a chance to breathe and take all the balancing information in, you can read about some positive improvements to the look of Helldivers 2 and how it plays.

Graphically, general lighting and visibility have been improved, particularly under certain conditions such as “Sand Rain” weather. Better textures, physical assets behaving themself the way they’re supposed to, and the player camera is “no longer locked on the player’s own corpse and blocking spectator mode.”

Known issues continue to linger

As with every update, there are negatives. The developer acknowledges that other issues still plague Helldivers 2, like a swarm of infested aliens.

Picking up items can cause weird errors, issues with befriending and unfriending other users keep happening, the mission reward multiplier not being applied is still a thing, and problems linked to logging in are a continuous scourge.

You can check out every key weapon balance change and the accurate number values here via the official announcements page on the Helldivers 2 Discord. For a full outline of every change made in the 01.000.100 update, here’s the full Helldivers 2 March 6 patch notes.