Helldivers 2’s latest patch was delivered earlier this week and brought with it a bunch of buffs to in-game stratagems. These deployable skills or equipment drops were broadly swept under the rug as Helldivers 2’s balance was thrown out of whack by frequent patches, much to the chagrin of the community. Iit seems like Arrowhead’s first priority as part of its new approach to fixes was to make stratagems viable again, and it might’ve accomplished that.
According to Arrowhead, it “wanted to buff up some of the weaker stratagems to make them more viable and add more possibility for variety in the loadouts.” To that end, most of the stratagems that have fallen to the wayside in the last several months have received some sort of buff or series of balance changes to increase their usage. For example, countless sentry stratagems received buffs to their durability, which was previously shit, and made them impossible to justify bringing into higher-level missions where they’d be wiped out immediately.
Some Eagle stratagems also received damage buffs, as well as a few mines, and a number of them even got reduced cooldown timers. Several weapons either do more damage, like the Eruptor, or do a much better job at their function, like the explosive crossbow, which now more effectively plugs bug holes. Arrowhead also stated that it isn’t done looking at stratagems to tune up, but this first pass at some underappreciated ones is a good first step.
Moreover, the patch is also tweaking things to make Helldivers 2 a touch friendlier than it has been in the past. This includes introducing super samples, a collectible resource in the game, on a lower difficulty level so as to not dem and too much of players, as well as removing a controversial modifier that reduced stratagem slots. Even planetary hazards are being adjusted, such as fire tornadoes becoming less reactionary to player movement so that divers don’t feel like they’re being uniquely spited by the elements. Changes are also being made to enemy behaviors and players should expect there to be fewer armored enemies on higher difficulty levels.
The patch, which has gone over pretty well with Helldivers 2’s recovering community, does come with some issues, but the problems seem much more contained than has been typical, and the community has reacted accordingly. Anecdotally, the patch seems to be doing well enough that Helldivers 2’s Steam numbers have trended upwards, breaking 100,000 for the first time in two months.
This latest patch is the first since Arrowhead reconsidered its approach to balancing Helldivers 2. After an extended period of constant upheaval, which was upsetting fans and working the team to the bone, Arrowhead eventually announced that it would slow down on the delivery of patches to better consider and test the changes it implemented into the live game so as to cause as few frustrations and bugs as possible.
If the reception to this patch is any indication, this might just be the move as Arrowhead continues to polish the game moving forward and slow the constant additions that have upset its balance since the start. Maybe, just maybe, things are finally looking up again for everyone’s favorite bug-killing simulator.