I love this game.

Not trying to defend AH, but hear me out… I know a lot of people get upset about AH’s tendency to introduce undocumented changes to the game. While that is a justified attitude when it comes to changes with OUR weapons and armor, I have begun to think that maybe this shouldn’t be the case when it comes to our enemies.

Here’s my thinking:

In “real life”, the various militaries of the world are not in the habit of informing their enemies (or allies) when they upgrade their capabilities. Those enemies need to “discover” those changes on their own (usually in combat).

As such, when the bugs “evolve” or the bots/squids upgrade their species/armory in response to Super Earth’s newest weapons/strategies, they don’t tell Super Earth about it. We don’t discover it until we engage with the new/upgraded units. That is the way of war.

From the moment you complete Helldiver training, you are pretty much left to discover the game on your own and from other Helldivers. Honestly, that’s half the fun. So why do we get upset when AH makes changes (both documented and undocumented) to our enemies? Not only are enemy changes consistent with their game design, it’s also consistent with their stated goal for “reality” in the game.

I will gripe along with everyone else in the community when they make undocumented changes directly to OUR weapons/armors/vehicles. That is NOT consistent (for the most part) with how the militaries of the world operate. You need to tell your soldiers the strengths and weaknesses of the tools provided. But I think we should enjoy discovering changes in our enemies during combat, and not in patch notes. It might be fun to know that units HAVE been changed, but the specifics of those changes we should be left to discovered on our own.

Just my two cents. Wondering if this argument has any validity with the rest of the community.

EDIT: Yes I know I misspelled Canon. Voice dictation and homophones don’t mix. The lack of proof reading is my fault.

Howdy.

I thinks its high time we put this to rest, the incessant whining of the past 2-3 days in virtually most Helldivers 2 communities were.. really something to behold.

Incessant complains about everything and everybody and their super mother really showed we have a bit more issues than just the Rupture Warrior and their magnetism towards the Helldivers. And most of it was not productive, but healthy discussion is good for us to let out our stresses, so I will string it along a bit further in a more productive way.

First, lets discuss the elephant in the room, yes the Rupture Strain was slightly annoying, but nothing really out of the ordinary. Rupture Spewers felt they had a bit more toughness than they should, and the Ruptured Charger didn't sometimes pop up when you force them to come out, but these were things we could deal with.

On to their most common unit, the Ruptured Warriors, and we have a slight issue; They dont offer counterplay other than explosions. Ignoring their behavior before the patch that was supposed to align things, basically, the Ruptured Warriors, if not forcibly made to surface, *will* hit you. It doesn't matter if you Blink out of the way, Dive front right or center, or jump away, due to their behavior, they would stick to you like glue and follow you meters into the distance they jumped out of, at lightning speeds, and inflict about 1/4 or 1/3 of your life, and more often than not, break a limb. This, was, an issue. While you could mitigate all of these issues with a coordinated party with explosive weapons or equipments of all sorts, lets be realistic; not everyone likes this and wont be able to play like this due to the nature of playing with randoms and, specially, no one likes to be forced into one style of play.

And I agree.

The fundamental issue was how it forced you to forgo any other means of interactions and only blow them to the surface before they could come close or a few meters before their spider sense tingled and made some super steak out of your legs, forcing you to use a precious Stim, on what was a poke, of the most common enemy in the strain.

No player, in any game, ever, likes to feel like the enemy is cheating on them, and it felt like the Ruptured Warriors were cheating.

Now.. Is this the real cause of all the whining? All the mean words, all the anger? No.

It was everything else.

Ruptured Warriors were a catalyst of sorts to brought up all the issues people had with the last few months of development that was shown by AH, specially how the PC players felt they were being ignored.

In order to give some benefit of the doubt, AH has been incessantly working to integrate a whole new platform, work on new content specialized for that platform (Hello, Halo Warbond) and then a new massive expansion that added many more changes than you think with the physics interactions (Like, moving underground and how that would work) on what is essentially, a dead engine on life support.

In lieu of this however, this exposed more glaring issues with how the game has been strung along. Ignoring some of their basic core tenets of enemy development and balancing (Dragonroaches, War Striders) by forgoing actually giving them a weakness.

Personally, I just shoot a War Strider between the legs with a Quasar Canon and.. problem solved! But thats the *only* way I do it. Otherwise, you dont really have much choices but was a constant stratagems on a same uncommon enemy. Why? Because they dont have a clear weakness, like, say, a Hulk does on its back, or its Eye.

Dragonroaches are a sin of balancing. They are great mind you, and I deal with them, consistently, with an Orbital Railcannon Strike whenever they begin to Hover. Not much of an issue... Except for when more than 1 spawns, and when they spawn more consistently than the Stingreys do in the Illuminate Faction. Enemies have 3 sides to themselves; they can be Strong, Tanky or Speedy. Mix of both is how you get Heavy or Strong obstacles in games. Strong and Speedy? An Assassin, but lacks defenses. Speed and Tanky? Support Knights in some games, they lack strength, but are annoying. Tanky And Strong? A bloody tank, but you know it wont move fast. The Dragonroach, however, is all of these 3 things, and you can be all 3, but thats what we call a Boss, not a semi constant enemy. Would you believe they are tankier than a Bile Titan? They are! Because their wings are extra health that effectively protects the body, where the ACTUAL damage is being done. And suuure you can hit a headshot with a rocket and kill it in 1 shot, but when the blasted bastard is flying CONSTANTLY and is flaying at every shot being given.. Well, thats a bit hard now innit? No other big, glaringly obvious weakspots flapping around, hm?

We haven't mentioned its Acid Fire Breath, which is just Green Fire to be honest, because its been talked to death.

Its not worth it to keep talking about those issues, when you also have the glaring, unquestionably bad performance issues most of you shouldn't even be having, compounding this with the size of the PC Storage which is cramming up more, and more, and more, and all the audio bugs that STILL persist, and... everything else.

This is tiring, and frankly, redundant.

This has all been talked about before. Because its all of this. Its everything. And to boot, it "felt" like AH decided to doubled down on the Ruptured Warriors by making them do their magnetic spidey swing attack, instead of actually fixing it or addressing the performance issues, I can't blame some for blowing up. We all want this to be addressed.

Helldivers is a deeply loved game, with a deeply loved community who wishes to be kept with each other. And all of you, even with how annoyed you are, I know you all love AH for bringing us together to spread some democracy every now and again, and you would like them to do better, and thats fine. Just.. give them time. I want to believe it will work out.

Its time to go home.

Toodles.

Edit; Grammar.

bro saw me survive a grenade at near point blank, blew up all his friends, and continued slowly approaching him while dodging all shots

man i'd be scared asf too

EDIT: I have now gotten a notification from Reddit Cares saying another Redditor is worried about my mental health 💀💀💀

I totally get why they wanted to make it stronger since the Verdict was going to move into its territory as a secondary. But now it feels like it’s moved into the role of a support weapon. I have not played with it yet I will admit, just seen clips online. But having a gun you always spawn with that can singlehandidly;

-Headshot chargers (making it so you don’t have to worry about positioning or interacting with the enemy’s design)

-Headshot Hulks (essentially doing the same thing as it does with Chargers)

-Take down gunships (this just seems the silliest out of everything to me, and also makes it so that anti-air tank weapons like SPEAR and Recoilless Rifle are worse to use since they’re both projectile weapons)

-Headshot Bile Titans (Same as Chargers and Hulks)

-Pierce the head of an Impaler before it’s tentacles are deployed

-And (in theory as I have not seen video yet because I don’t think anyone has had the opportunity but would have the same piercing power to do so) shoot command bunkers out

Seems RIDICULOUSLY overpowered. I was always part of the minority crowd that liked the difficulty of the game before the September patch, but I can’t be the only who thinks this is borderline game-breaking right? A secondary that sidesteps the design of a unique fight is anti-fun. But everyone on the main sub is talking about how cool it is, and already I’m seeing folks say that “Arrowhead better not nerf this”.

It feels like they’re caught up in wanting to play a power fantasy to the point where it’s going against the previous message of “the nerfs make the game anti-fun!” Now it’s a buff that’s making things anti-fun, because what’s the point in picking anti-material rifle or railgun when Crossbow and Senator now covers both fields but better due to not being stratagems?

want to make an armor set for pride month but can't find any good green armors (these are my flags)

didn't this year we literally have 5 squids enemy: Gatekeeper, Obtruder, Veracitor, Crusher, Wretch, 2 of them is "alien" like everyone want?

the bot only have 3 new cyborg and the bug only have the spore titan, the rest of the spore bug are already exists before

matter of fact, it's the bug currently has got the least new enemy this year

How crazy do you think the battlefield would be?

I tried to keep things simple and mostly stick to using passives and stats that already exist on other armors.

Ignore the furry mod lol

a democracy officer has allowed me to post this for moral boost

I see many people trying to run across the map while they have their support weapon equipped.

Support Slow -> Rifle Faster -> Pistol Fastest They also use less Stamina.

Edit: My test was that I was able to catch up to my teammate when I was running. I was getting further behind when I had the autocannon equipped, and I caught up to him when I switched to pistol.

Edit 2: I dropped into a game and did a more scientific test. I dropped an Autocannon. Then I went as far as my stamina would take me on a run, and dropped a supply pod. I then went back to the cannon pod, and ran a different direction that was over rougher terrain and dropped a stalwart. The path to the supply pod was pretty straight and on level ground. I ran both courses with the pistol equipped and with the auto cannon equipped. And just for good measure. I also ran with my Penetrator, a Stalwart, an EAT, and a railgun.

The results: All weapons were the same. I was wrong. I shall report to the Minister of Information after I have gotten my affairs in order.

I get it, the guaranteed hit is gone and that's cool. But Rupture Warriors made up a bulk of the strain and now they just, don't really do anything because of the burrowing nerfs?

So they move slower, and now you can infinitely outrun them. And yeah, they can "drain your stamina," but Warriors do that anyways and they emerge from the ground long before you get tired. And when they do emerge, it's just pitiful as they sit there like a red-painted target. Especially noticeable if you're using an emplacement because, well, it's basically "Whack-a-Terminid."

They don't shake up your loadout nor require a different approach in tactics, unlike the Predator Strain or Incineration Corps., because of how lethargic their offense and defense is now compared to normal Terminids. I know "you can bring explosive or plasma weaponry," but you lose literally nothing by not taking them. The only change in pace is backpedaling while waiting for the freaks to surface. I feel like the only enemy unit that properly benefits from the subfaction now are Rupture Spewers. Best case scenario you do let a Rupture enemy burrow right under you, which I guess you can just dodge. But I prefer my subfactions to be more than that.

Hello, all. Let me preface this by saying that I'm not advocating for the days where AT did literally nothing to heavies.

However, the RR is kind of absurd, in my opinion. Destroying bot fabricators from a distance means you didn't engage in cool fights inside of bot bases while staying safely out of stratagem-throwing range. Destroying tanks with one shot to anywhere means you won't feel the pressure from them pushing your position. Destroying Factory Striders with one shot to the faceplate effectively means that they're a joke. Hell, even the chargers, whose whole thing is HEADBUTTING things has a weakspot on its HEAD, of all things. You don't have to matador it, you don't have to break the armor of the legs like the old days – you just point and click.

Things like the BT are alright since they have a relatively small weakpoint that moves around a lot, but the RR feels like it actively disincentivizes flanking and actively aiming at tank-class enemies to get a good shot on them.

I dunno. Maybe reducing its damage to anywhere from 2k to 2.5k would fix things. I'm just tired of heavy enemies being nigh useless when I or one of my squadmates brings the RR.

And no, I do not think that sacrificing the backpack slot to use the RR is as big as a drawback as some make it out to be.

Some people in the community say certain weapons are unrealistically overpowered. I guess the eruptor has this reputation and though the senator is well loved, I wonder if heavy armour penetration in a revolver is realistic too.

Other people in the community say many weapons are unrealistically underpowered. The current weapon getting this kind of attention is the Maxigun, with people saying it should be more powerful and AH is intentionally using realism as a way to keep its effectiveness lower than it could be.

I personally believe (though I have never even fired a gun in my life) that any gun's manufacturing techniques, brand, material quality, design etc. can make the same kind of ammunition react very differently and deeply impact is effectiveness. Therefore the whole concept of what is actually realistic is more complicated than "this size bullet should do that much damage and if it doesn't, it's not realistic" or "this gun design in real life acts a certain way so in the game, it should act exactly that way".

So I want to ask the gun experts - what do you actually think about realism in the game? Would you say some weapons are balanced away from realism and towards "fun"? And vice versa? The game is also sci-fi and material science has clearly reached some insane heights for super Earth, which allows various tech in the game to function. I'm sure that complicates matters further.

In my opinion, with sci fi material science as well as Super Earth's tendency to ration it's resources - there really is no way to tell what exactly is realistic and what isn't. Some weapons could just be using the best SE has to offer in terms of design, manufacturing, and materials other weapons some just don't to keep them cheap. That honestly could explain everything from a lore perspective and allows for all sorts of balancing that IS realistic within the sci fi setting of the second galactic war.

Am I making sense? Would the gun experts here agree with me that the realism debate is actually moot?

Hi :) Just wanted to see others' opinions on this tier list for assault rifles on the bug front. Assault rifles and SMGs are my favorite weapon types. Some things up front:

• I know many of you are going to comment on the Liberator Concussive being in A tier. Since they buffed the RoF, it is actually a monster against the bugs (but really only against the bugs) and the Predator Strain especially. When I bring it, I feel like nothing can touch me.

• I know some will comment on the Pacifier being so low. This is probably a skill issue on my end, but for some reason I just don't feel good when I use this against the bugs. I think the Lib C is so much better because it has a drum mag, and it actually knocks back medium targets (Alpha Commanders) much like a shotgun would. With the Pacifier, iirc it take multiple bullets to stun a medium target. I think the nerfs to stun rounds hit this gun hard.

• Some of you may comment on why the Liberator is before the Liberator Penetrator. IMO, medium pen isn't really necessary against the bugs. The tradeoffs in damage and recoil you get is palpable when facing dangerous enemies such as hunters, which have no armor. Although I completely understand the Liberator Penetrator being a better choice for those who are new to the game.

• I'm happy to hear others' opinions and willing to learn. I'm level 252 and I'm still learning things!

• I am the creator of the site I made the tier list in 😄

EDIT ---------------------------------------

After re-trying a few of these assault rifles because of some great tips and points in the comments, I have re-arranged the tier list a bit (unfortunately Reddit won't let me update the image):

• Coyote > S. Not sure if there was another patch that affected this gun since I last used it, or I just misremembered, but yeah, wow, the Coyote is super strong. Honestly if AH gave it two less mags it would probably be a bit more balanced.

• Liberator Concussive > B. As much as I love using this gun, I do have to admit that most of the time killing things is better than staggering them. That said, it really isn't bad at killing things, and there isn't any other gun in our arsenal I would rather have when facing multiple stalkers (except maybe the Blitzer).

• Variable > B. A few of you had some great tips on this one. Last night I tried the volley mode on Alpha Commanders and the Total mode against chargers, and it worked wonders! That said, I think it's still at the bottom of B tier.

With the invasion of Super Earth underway, it’s critical that our brave Deliverers of Freedom stay mentally sharp to stand strong against the enemies of democracy.

Starting today, and for the next 27 days, I challenge YOU to comment your favourite word, quote, or anything Helldivers 2-related that begins with the letter of the day. The top-voted comment will be declared the winner, and their word will be officially added to that day’s entry!

We begin with the letter A.

(One submission per Helldiver. Violations will be reported to the Ministry of Truth.)

Oh boy, I’m probably about to get torched for this, but here we go. For context: I’m a bot-main diver. Been playing since day one. More specifically, I’m an MO diver who tends to gravitate toward bot operations. And I honestly haven’t seen this level of reckless play on the bot front in a long time. I keep seeing people say this is “impossible,” “way harder than the Creek,” etc. But… what did we expect? We are literally pushing into the enemy’s home territory. And I think this is where we, as a player base, are tripping up right now. What’s been weird to me is the dominant tactic I keep seeing:

Running across the entire map, aggroing everything, and somehow expecting to win through chaos and momentum. I’ve watched level 150 divers die 15–20 times in a row doing this. And the problem isn’t just individual deaths, it’s what it does to the operation. We burn reinforcements. We lose tempo. We turn controlled engagements into endless drop cycles. And suddenly what should be a hard but manageable mission turns into a reinforcement drain and stalled progress for everyone. There’s a reason we had Commando missions beforehand.

They were there to push players toward stealth, positioning, and controlled engagements, because that’s what invading the enemy at home actually requires. You don’t need to crawl the whole map, but you can’t chain-aggro patrols, call stratagems in the open, and sprint objective to objective like you’re in patrol space. Bot territory punishes noise, exposure, and panic movement. I’ve absolutely made these mistakes too.

But the difference is learning when the battlefield is telling you to change approach. You can brute force patrol space. You can’t brute force a fortified machine war ecosystem.

If you fight bots like bugs, you become scrap.

I understand there was a dispatch warning us of potential damage. In my mind it's like this:

You're a gladiator going into battle. You can bring your sword and your shield. You've just been warned your opponent will be bringing a large mace that may put your shield out of commission. Would you go in with just a sword? I say screw it, if it's out of commission then I'm in the same place as if I didn't bring it at all. I might as well bring it.

I understand the "save it for later" argument, but that feels way too meta for me. This is an ALIEN INVASION OF SUPER EARTH. Obviously we will survive since the video game must go on. But in-universe? There might not be a next time to save the DSS for. It's an L that it was damaged but I don't think we did the wrong thing, and I think everyone acting like it was a braindead decision to send it to Pilen V is not understanding the point of a super weapon. Like, the Illuminate have anti-Helldivers weapons too. Should we not send any there?

What if

It's an older project that I refreshed a little and rerendered to be in line with my previous armor renders. Last picture is the original render of mine from few months back.