Helldivers 2’s most freedom-hating enemies will soon be brought down a peg, as developer Arrowhead Studios has confirmed it’s looking at changes that would adjust both the spawn rates and health pools of enemies like Chargers and Hulks.
In a post on the official Helldivers 2 Discord server (via Gamesradar), community manager Spitz stated the team has heard player concerns and complaints over armored enemies, their spawn rates, and players’ ability to deal with such threats.
“I can confirm that we’re currently looking at changes to the spawn rates and health pools of heavy enemies, and will be attempting to spread them out more to prevent large spikes of tougher mobs appearing at the same time, as well as making them a bit easier to bring down,” Spitz confirmed.
In an update following up their original post, Spitz added that the EAT-17 and Recoilless Rifle would no longer deal 50% less damage after a glancing shot, which should make armored enemies easier to bring down.
“Combined with the upcoming adjustment to health and spawn rates, this should make the larger enemies a bit less common, instead spawning more ‘chaff’ enemies to support them, and should allow players to bring these enemies down with a single well-placed shot,” Spitz stated. “Hopefully this leads to less instances of endless kiting and players being left without any effective weaponry to kill harder enemies.”
The changes will go live in an upcoming hotfix, though no release date for the update was given.
The announcement of upcoming changes to heavy enemies comes hot off the heels of Helldivers 2’s first balance patch. The update introduced lethal new planetary conditions while also nerfing popular weapons like the Breaker and Railgun, making fighting the hordes of democracy-hating Termanids and Automatons even more challenging. It did, however, buff some lesser-used weapons and stratagems, such as the Flamethrower and 380mm and 180mm Orbital Barrages.
In a post on the official Discord, an Arrowhead developer by the name of Alex K admitted that having a favorite weapon nerfed “absolutely sucks,” but asked players to give the changes a chance.
“I implore you not to compare a changed item with its older version, but to evaluate the existing one as it is and see if it still has a place in your heart,” they said.
They additionally noted that this first balance patch is just the first of a “never-ending series of balance changes,” and that the goal will always be to give players a wide-range of weapon choices. Powerful weapons like the Railgun shouldn’t be so versatile, they said, while very versatile weapons like the Grenade Launcher shouldn’t be overly-powerful. That way, “each gun has its purpose and none is strictly better than another.”
Helldivers 2 continues to be one of the top-played games on Steam and is currently tasking players with liberating a factory-filled planet from the evil Automatons in order to (hopefully) earn the right to deploy playable mechs. Arrowhead’s creative director recently denied rumors Sony is looking to acquire the independent studio after publishing Helldivers and its sequel.
