Hot on the heels of promising action and communication after players had delivered “fair” and “painful” criticism, Arrowhead has released yet another patch for Helldivers 2, this time making significant balance changes and adding two new biomes.

Helldivers 2 Machinery of Oppression update 6.2.2 (patch notes, courtesy of Steam, are below), goes live alongside the new Exo Experts Warbond, which comes with new exosuit designs well-suited for close combat and fire-based offense.

Patch highlights include two new biomes, one new enemy variant, a major Exo Suit rebalance, an enemy rebalance, sidearm and stratagem rebalances, and — always fitting for Helldivers 2 — bug fixes. Of the big fixes, a few stand out:

• Enthusiastic Mirth emote sound has been fixed, laughter is once again permitted on the battlefield.
• We have restocked the fireworks for the celebration when players have completed the tutorial (good job, you have earned them)

One of the new biomes is a lush forest planet — a first for Helldivers 2. “The beauty of our most Democratic galaxy is truly unparalleled,” Arrowhead’s in-universe description revealed. “As we push into new territories, we have discovered planets with lush, tranquil forests with winding paths and shade from massive trees. Underneath the peaceful tree canopies, our Citizens can take time to unwind and reflect on the glory of Managed Democracy and the good, achieved by Super Earth’s most illustrious heroes.

“However, not everything on these planets is what it seems. We have detected several of our Un-Democratic foes on the perimeter and there have also been some alarming signals on Gloom-infested planets — larger than the typical Terminid convoys, bearing a striking resemblance to some of the Bile Titan signals detected in other regions.”

Digging into the patch, Arrowhead said it agreed with the feeling that Exosuits can take too little damage and break too easily, especially against the Automatons, and so had made a bigger balance pass to increase its durability. Not only has the main health pool increased, but the Exo suit will only die if the main healthpool is depleted. Before it could die if specific healthzones were depleted.

Also of note, the Heavy Devastators’ shield is now destructible and is dropped when destroyed. And, on the War Strider, leg hip joints have decreased armor from Heavy to Medium (4 to 3).

These balance changes sound like they’ll make Helldivers 2 slightly easier, but there’s also an increase in durable damage for a long list of enemies — a change that has already upset some within the community who enjoy using vehicles. Explaining the decision, Arrowhead said: “we think automatons and illuminates do damage reasonably well against the vehicles especially now with the changes to the Exo suits, the Terminids however have fallen behind a bit in their ability to deal with vehicles so we have made some buffs to their damage against durable targets.”

While Helldivers 2 remains one of the most-played games on Steam (Sony does not make console player numbers public), there have been a number of community complaints recently. Johan Pilestedt, who previously served as studio CEO before switching to chief creative officer in May 2024, held a Reddit AMA to address some of the growing dissatisfaction, although it didn’t seem to have a net positive effect.

“I did this AMA because I saw the disappointment, criticism and mistrust in this subreddit,” Pilestedt explained. “And it got to me, I wanted to get a better sense and understanding of what was at the heart of it. A lot of the points that you make are fair. Some are very painful to read. But I know that it comes from a group of players that care deeply about Helldivers and wants it to remain special.”

He continued by acknowledging pleas for things like old systems, gear, progression, resources, and the Galactic War to receive more attention from Arrowhead. The message also highlighted those who believe Arrowhead has prioritized Warbonds instead of long-asked-for fixes to the core Helldivers 2 experience.

Lots to chew on, then, as fans and Arrowhead itself ponder the future of Helldivers 2 over two years since its launch. Check out IGN’s recent interview with game director Mikael Eriksson for more on what to expect.

Helldivers 2 Machinery of Oppression update 6.2.2 patch notes:

Resolved known issues:

• Defend city events appear Super Earth controlled again
• Destroying the Air Base Control Tower with a portable Hellbomb no longer blocks objective progression.
• Enthusiastic Mirth emote sound has been fixed, laughter is once again permitted on the battlefield.
• Fleshmobs are no longer able to clip through various objects when charging.
• We have restocked the fireworks for the celebration when players have completed the tutorial (good job, you have earned them)
• Gunships and Shriekers are now spawning during operations with the appropriate effect present.
• The Double-Edged Sickle no longer emits a high-pitched drone when firing.
• Players will no longer be redirected to the Python Commandos Warbond instead of Redacted Regiment and vice versa when selecting ‘Acquisitions’ in the Ship Management menu.
• Sparks and bug spawner smoke now have higher material resolution.

Balancing

Exo suits rebalance

We agree with the community that the Exosuits can take too little damage and break too easily, especially against the Automaton faction. Therefore we have made a bigger balance pass to increase its durability.

• Increased main health pool from 850 to 1600
• The Exo suit will only die if the main healthpool is depleted. Before it could die if specific healthzones were depleted.
• Increased vulnerability to acid attacks by 50%
• Fixed so parts of the cockpit healthzones are not blocked by the ragdoll actor. Now the cockpit zones will be damageable in the right way.
• Increased Exo suit arms health from 350 to 600
• Exo suit arms now also have a 50% explosion resistance (just like the main body)
• Removed constitution and bleedout on the Exo suit arms.
• Exo suits no longer lose all mobility when both legs are broken.
• Can now be staggered, have stagger strength 45. Stagger does not affect the ability to shoot.
• Removed most health zones that do not affect the main health and are mainly visual effects. The reason is to improve performance. For example tow cables and similar items can not be damaged or destroyed anymore.

Enemy damage against vehicles

• We think automatons and illuminates do damage reasonably well against the vehicles especially now with the changes to the Exo suits, the Terminids however have fallen behind a bit in their ability to deal with vehicles so we have made some buffs to their damage against durable targets.

Gas effects

• Now it also slows the enemies with 25% when they are confused by the gas, the slow of course also affects you. Larger enemies like the Bile Titan and factory strider that do not become confused also are therefore not slowed.

Items changes

Sidearms weapons

CQC-30 Stun Baton

• Decreased stamina cost from 5% to 3%
• Increased damage from 75 to 120
• Increased durable damage from 38 to 60

CQC-19 Stun Lance

• Decreased stamina cost from 5% to 3%

CQC-2 Saber

• Decreased stamina cost from 5% to 3%

CQC-5 Combat Hatchet

• Decreased stamina cost from 5% to 4%

CQC-73 Entrenchment Tool

• Decreased stamina cost from 5% to 3%

Stratagems

CQC-9 Defoliation Tool

• Increased and moved damage hit box to make it easier to hit the enemy
• Longer window for when damage hit box is active
• Armor penetration increases twice as fast
• Moves slower when it does damage to an enemy
• Decreased stamina cost from 10% to 5%

CQC-1 One True Flag

• Decreased stamina cost from 5% to 3%

SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack

• Increased health from 600 to 1000

FAF-14 Spear

• Increased amount of missiles in the backpack from 3 to 4

A/FLAM-40 Flame Sentry

• Increased range from 20m to 34m
• Increased damage by 50%
• Increased how fast it panics enemies

A/LAS-98 Laser Sentry

• Increased heat capacity from 200 to 250

TX-41 Sterilizer

• Updated gas spray VFX
• The Gas lingers for longer and has longer range

Enemies

Terminids

Bile Titan

• Spew explosions are smaller to match the visuals better
• Decreased Explosion inner radius from 2.25 to 1
• Decreased Explosion outer radius from 3.5 to 2.2

Hive guard

• Increased armor on head and front legs from Medium to Heavy (3 to 4)
• Decreased armor on body and claws from Light to Unarmored (2 to 1)
• Decreased health on body from 500 to 375

Bile Spewers

• Increased durable damage on melee attack

Stalkers & Prowlers

• Increased durable damage

Shriekers

• Increased durable damage

Scavengers

• Increased durable damage

Hunters

• Increased durable damage

All Warrior variants

• Increased durable damage

Charger

• Slight increase in durable damage of its melee and charge attack

Hive Lord

• Increased durable damage on many of its physical attacks

Dragon Roach

• Increased durable damage on its flame attack

Impaler

• Increased stagger force needed from 45 to 50
• Slight increase in durable damage on its melee attack

Automatons

Raiders

• increased durable damage of the melee attacks
• Small arms fire from raiders, turrets, devastators, slight increase in durable damage

Berserkers

• increased durable damage

Devastators

• increased durable damage on melee attack

Heavy Devastators

• Shield is destructible and dropped when destroyed
• Armor heavy (4)
• Health 800
• Durable 0.7

Rocket Devastator

• Decreased stagger strength on rockets projectile from 50 to 35

Hulk

• Increased durable damage on flamer attack

War Strider

• Leg hip joints decreased armor from Heavy to Medium (4 to 3)

All Tanks main body (bottom part)

• Increased health on Main health pool from 3000 to 4000
• Increased health on back vents from 750 to 1500
• Increased armor on back vents from Medium to Heavy (3 to 4)
• Remove tracks damage zone when the zone is dead
• Removed damage cap to carry through from tracks to main health (so if you overkill it more damage goes to main health)
• Reduced durable resistance on tracks (1.0 to 0.8)
• Reduce overlap damage zones when its driving to match visuals better and do less damage

Shredder Tank turret

• Reduced turn speed

Barrager tank turret

• Increased health on weak spot on front and back from 750 to 1500

Illuminates

Fleshmobs

• Increased durable damage

Tesla tower

• Lower destruction strength needed to destroy it from 30 to 20
• Added health function with 200 health and armor 2

Fixes

Crash Fixes

• Fixed a rare AI crash
• Fixed a crash which could occur when using under barrel firing modes
• Fixed a rare crash that was happening whilst fighting enemies, predominantly against the Illuminates

Weapons & Stratagem Fixes

• Added missing haptics feedback when firing the Automaton MG Emplacement
• SEAF Artillery will no longer let you insert a shell and then immediately remove it, thus softlocking the gun
• Destroying the Air Base Control Tower with a portable Hellbomb in a multiplayer session, no longer blocks objective progression

Enemies

• Fleshmobs now can deal damage to vehicles
• Destroying a Terminid egg while standing against it, can no longer send the Helldiver flying
• Shooting marks on the Exomech will now appear on the correct body part that was being shot at
• Fixed bug where certain enemy kills would not count towards order progression
• Factory Striders will no longer count as Fabricators in the Destroy Automaton Fabricators mission
• Stratagem hellpods can no longer land on the Air Control Tower during the Evacuate Priority Citizens missions

Miscellaneous Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the Helldiver could get soft-locked in the loadout menu, if they had less than 4 total stratagems, where one or more was temporarily disabled
• Fixed squares sometimes appearing in the minimap if Terrain Quality was set to low
• Extraction shuttle now flies straight upon extracting from cities
• Fixed an instance where the Helldiver head twitched when leaving the Hellpod
• Fire should now more consistently scorch the terrain under it. Note: This has no changes to gameplay
• Fixed several floating items on a magma planet
• Fixed a gap in the terrain in the tutorial area
• Optimized performance of Strafing Run particles for DSS Eagle Storm and Air Support stratagems
• A message will be displayed in the stratagem HUD when stratagems fail to be called in
• Tutorial: Flag celebration now has been fixed with proper fireworks timing and lighting
• Players can no longer fall through the ship roof in Illuminate invasion missions
• Fixed a bug where the Helldivers head twitched in the end screen, before and after using Victory Poses
• Tremor ambient sound now fades out properly
• The Burier of Heads title has been thoroughly investigated, and since no signs of alleged dissident connections could be discovered, the title has been reintroduced. Helldivers who have unlocked this title through the Dust Devils Warbond should now find it among the other titles in the customization menu
• Fixed issue where the player could interact with the Hive Core Drill terminal from behind
• Enemy visibility and hearing should now be affected more by different weathers. This means enemies should generally have a harder time spotting and hearing helldivers in more intense weather scenarios

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].