Eyes up, democracy spreaders – a brand new Helldivers 2 update just dropped on PS5, and it’s a big one. With the new Helldivers 2 patch notes containing buffs, nerfs, and alterations to 26 weapons and Stratagems, there’s a high likelihood that some elements of your favorite loadout have been changed.
With Arrowhead today confirming that the planet of Penta has been liberated (and, as a result, the Airburst Rocket Launcher has been added to brave Helldivers’ arsenals), you’d think that would be the biggest piece of Super Earth-related news today. But oh no, this new update for the co-op game is the real headline-grabber. It’s one of the largest updates in terms of the number of gameplay changes we’ve seen in a while, and there are some popular, powerful weapons that have been included.
One of the changes that has really piqued our interest actually involves a secondary, rather than a primary weapon. The Senator sidearm has always felt quite satisfying to use in one of this year’s best PS5 games, but it’s hardly been a meta pick. Well, maybe that’s about to change, as it’s just received two spicy little buffs. The first is a general damage increase from 150 to 175. The second is the addition of a Speedloader, which allows you to very quickly reload it when your magazine is completely empty. If you want to live out your very own space cowboy fantasy in Helldivers 2, that Speedloader definitely makes things more rootin’ and tootin’.
Elsewhere in the buffs department, there are healthy damage increases for the Scythe, the Diligence, the Diligence Counter Sniper, the Liberator, and the Liberator Concussive. The Tesla Tower and Machinegun Sentry Stratagems have both been given health boosts, so they’ll be much more durable in the space game‘s battles.
When it comes to the weapons getting nerfed, the big one for us is the Quasar Cannon. While its enormous damage remains intact, its charge time has now been increased by a whole five seconds – that’ll feel like a lifetime when a Bile Titan is charging at you. The Sickle and Eruptor have both also been given nerfs to their magazine sizes.
That’s just an overview of the massive changes Arrowhead is making in this new update, but you can check out the full patch notes here.
Although some Stratagems are tweaked in this new update, the focus certainly seems to be largely on your primary and secondary weapons. Either Arrowhead feels confident in the current balance of its D-pad delights, or there will be another big update arriving in the near future that puts them front and centre. With the next Warbond likely less than two weeks away, at the time of writing, it’s clear Arrowhead is keen for a meta refresh before more new weaponry, new Stratagems, and potentially new enemies like the Illuminate make their way into the multiplayer game.
If Helldivers 2 isn’t giving you enough of a democratic hit right now, then you can always pick up its excellent predecessor, which is 60% off right now on the PS Store. And if you fancy a chuckle, check out Arrowhead’s not-so-subtle dig at extraction shooter Escape From Tarkov, which is currently giving a masterclass in how to piss off your fanbase.
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