As you may or may not be aware by now, Helldivers 2 plays host to a pretty hefty number of guns. Big guns, small guns, laser guns... The funny thing is that they all share various attachments and doodads, so is there a customization system hiding somewhere in the background?

The answer to that question should be obvious to anyone who's ever taken a second glance at about two-thirds of Helldivers 2's armory: yes. Gear standardization doesn't only make sense from an in-universe Super Earth point of view in this game, after all. It's a perfectly sensible decision to run the same kind of optics on virtually all of your gear from a development viewpoint, too, as it shortens dev time and introduces interoperability for all the guns you create. Heck, we do it in the real world, too, with STANAGs and standardized railing systems.

Weapon customization is a crucial aspect of modern shooters. It adds an extra layer of personalization and allows players to fine-tune their gear however they see fit. It should be no surprise at all that Arrowhead Games had, at the very least, considered adding it to Helldivers 2 at some point in time. The bit that may come as a surprise, though, is that Arrowhead appears to have half-implemented it already.

To begin with, Arrowhead CCO Johan Pilestedt himself mentioned subsonic ammunition and suppressors early after the game came out. A statement that was subsequently lionized in the leak/datamine community with a massive list of weapon attachments already present in the game. Not long ago, a different dataminer even posted a simple Liberator getting kitted out with various sights, barrel attachments, grips, magazines, skins, and so on, though the post got taken down. Datamining is like that sometimes. Crucially, it's all in there, fully supported by Helldivers 2 as it currently stands.

None of this is surprising or a secret if you've kept an ear close to the ground, but the curious bit is that you don't even need to look outside of the game to get a sense of how Helldivers 2's weapons actually work. Many of them are the same baseline gun with different thingamabobs attached. Same as it is in Destiny 2!

Of course, all the different Liberators are obvious examples of this, but all the SG pump-action shotguns are built on the same platform, and the same can be said about the Breaker shotguns as well. This goes beyond standardized weapon classes, to boot: the Eruptor bolt-action rifle is just a customized JAR-5 Dominator. The list goes on and on.

I'm not criticizing Arrowhead's choice to handle Helldivers 2's weapons this way. I'm thrilled with it beacuse there's evidently a backend weapon customization framework that the team may choose to share with the community at some point in time—hopefully soon, because it would add a huge amount of variability to the experience. Customization is always a good thing, and Arrowhead has proven that it's got the moxie to handle some pretty wild crossover content. What's a new scope compared to something like that?

Obviously, then, Helldivers 2 has everything it needs to support the usual suspects: a framework for weapon mods (specifically, ammo types, aiming modules, grips, magazines, stocks, optics, and barrel assemblies that we've seen so far) to fit onto most guns' basic railing systems. Skins, too, are clearly implemented, but this is where we come to the first problem with Helldivers 2's potential guncrafting feature. Specifically, if you can switch everything from optics to ammo loads on any given gun, what is left in place to differentiate between, say, a basic Liberator Carbine and a Concussive Liberator? Because the latter is just a skinned-up Liberator Carbine with a drum mag, explosive ammo, and a few other bits and bobs.

This may be one of the main reasons why Arrowhead may be reticent to release weapon customization in Helldivers 2. Many Premium Warbonds have simply featured revamped, customized variants of base weapons, and allowing players to tweak and tune attachments however they wish would make it impossible for Arrowhead to keep doing that in the backend.

Regardless of that, I do think Arrowhead is going to give us gun attachments, skins, and all the other related greeblies sooner or later. It is one of the last missing aspects of the original Helldivers in the sequel, after all, and that has a been a pretty good signifier of what's to come.

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Yee-haw, pardners, Helldivers 2 is going to the Wild West with the Borderline Justice Warbond, and here's everything it includes and their cost. Saddle up for a trip across the great space frontier.

Despite the clear Western themes, the biggest draw (heh) of the new Warbond is likely the Hover Pack. The device allows you to float as gently as a dandelion seed in a desert breeze while raining down hell from above. Helldivers 2 - Borderline Justice goes for 1,000 Super Credits, the in-game currency, or $10 in real-life gold cash.

Everything in Helldivers 2 - Borderline Justice Warbond

The Borderline Justice Warbond is saddled up with two weapons, a Stratagem, a Booster, a new throwable, two armor sets, an emote, and a Player Title. Both the new Booster and Armor Passive sound rather great and should end up proving to be quite popular.

Weapons

Throwable

Stratagem

Armor

Borderline Justice includes two new armor sets: the armor, cape, and helmet. The new Armor Passive is called Gunslinger, and it buffs sidearms.

• Armor Passive: Gunslinger
  • Increases sidearms reload speed by 40%
  • Sidearm draw/holster speed increased by 50%
  • Sidearm recoil reduced by 70%

Capes

• Reaper of Bounties (Page 1) - 8 Warbond Medals
• Way of the Bandolier (Page 2) - 25 Warbond Medals

Helmets

• GS-17 Frontier Marshal (Page 1) - 30 Warbond Medals
• GS-66 Lawmaker (Page 2) - 45 Warbond Medals

Emote

• Tip Hat (Page 3) - 55 Warbond Medals

Player Cards

• Reaper of Bounties (Page 1) - 2 Warbond Medals
• Way of the Bandolier (Page 2) - 7 Warbond Medals

Title

• Super Sheriff (Page 3) - 25 Warbond Medals

Super Credits

• 100 SC (Page 1) - 7 Warbond Medals
• 100 SC (Page 2) - 12 Warbond Medals
• 100 SC (Page 3) - 32 Warbond Medals

That just about wraps up everything you can unlock in the Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice Warbond and their cost. Dust off your hat and mosey on over to the Acquisitions menu if it's something you feel worth the price. See you on the wild frontier.

The post Everything in the Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice Warbond and their cost appeared first on Destructoid.

If there is one set of weapons in Helldivers 2 that players seem to shy away from, it's the SMGs. But that might change with the latest patch, which rebalances weapons like SMGs and rifles. It also sneaks in some big changes — this time for the Automaton forces.

But first, let's talk upgrades. Five SMGs have been buffed, with all receiving a modest boost to damage. Each gun has been given five more points of damage, though the SMG-72 Pummeler now needs fewer shots to apply a stun. Said stun value has also been tweaked from 1.0 to 1.25 per round. The patch also buffs some Stratagems, increases the use amount from 2 to 3 for the Exosuits, and more.

Helldivers 2 patch brings buffs and unleashes the Incineration Corps

The rebalancing doesn't stop there, mind. Several rifles, such as the BR-14 Adjudicator, AR-61 Tenderizer, and AR-23 Liberator have received increased damage. The trusty Slugger shotgun is even stronger, with a decreased spread from 20 to 6 and a damage increase from 250 to 280. To some surprise, the team at Arrowhead also buffed my sweet baby, the R-36 Eruptor. The rifle's armor penetration has been raised from Medium (3) to Heavy (4), and its projectile shot life was increased from 0.7 to 1 second. Looks like I'm tenderizing some bug meat tonight.

But I will probably focus on the Automaton forces, which the patch has significantly upgraded — though you won't see it in the patch notes. Arrowhead has introduced a new sub-class to the game in the form of The Incineration Corps, Automaton machines that, unsurprisingly, are decked out with flaming weaponry. And there's nothing quite like getting slapped in the face from across the map by a Devastator rocking an Incendiary Shotgun.

The Automatons have also been granted a new fabricator type and objective. Do you like fighting Striders? How about five? Strider convoys are now marching across some maps, which you can wipe out to complete a Secondary Objective called Intercept Convoy. There are also Bulk Fabricators, massive factories that pump out Automaton elites.

Frankly, I'm glad the Automatons are finally getting some more threatening units. As someone who plays high-difficulty missions before breakfast, having overpowered sub-classes is a treat. The Predator bugs made fights against Terminids feel like a real threat again, and I'm sensing the same here with the Incineration Corps. Hopefully, the Illuminate get the same treatment — before they turn Super Earth into a black hole.

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Get ready to saddle up for some high-flying, high-tech hoedowns and embrace your inner space cowboy with the Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice. The popular multiplayer game will let players take justice into their own hands with the Western-themed Warbond. It also gives me the excuse to make these lame cowboy puns!

Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice will mosey over to the in-game store on March 20, bringing new weapons, armor sets, and more. But the most important addition to Helldivers 2 is a new jet pack stratagem — of sorts. The LIFT-860 Hover Pack lives up to its name, allowing you to take the high ground no matter where you're at, lifting you into the sky for some real shootin' action.

Those Automatons have yee'd their last haw

The new armor sets look quite nice, even through the brown haze of swirling dust clouds. Borderline Justice is arriving with a medium and a heavy armor set, both equipped with a new armor passive that buffs secondary weapons. The heavy GS-66 Lawmaker looks like a cross between Iron Man and the Mandalorian, sporting thick metal draped with a bandolier. On the other hand, the GS-17 Frontier Marshal, which looks like it held the dynamite stick a little too long.

Borderline Justice is also bringing new weapons and more. It'll include a new marksman rifle, the R-6 Deadeye, and a laser revolver, the LAS-58 Talon, which fires as fast as you can pull the trigger — but watch for overheating. Speaking of dynamite, the Warbond comes with a bundle of the volatile stuff with a timer that can be set before being tossed.

There's plenty more where that comes from, such Tip Hat emote, a new player title, and more. The Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice Warbond arrives on March 20, going for 1,000 Super Credits ($10 in real-life money, not fool's gold).

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When Super Earth asks you to sacrifice everything in the name of Democracy, it means it. The Servants of Freedom Premium Warbond offers (at least) two options to take out enemy scum whenever you fall. Here's everything in Helldivers 2's Servants of Freedom and their cost.

Unlike the prior Premium Warbond, Servants of Freedom doesn't include new vehicle patterns. It attempts to compensate for the loss by giving you a Hellbomb you can strap to your back and a grenade launcher that does a whopping 4,500 points of damage. You can unlock the Warbond by spending 1,000 Super Credits (SC), $10 in real-world moolah.

Everything in Helldivers 2's Servants of Freedom Warbond

The Servants of Freedom Warbond comes with two weapons, two armor sets, two player banners, a stratagem, a throwable, an emote, a Player Title, and 300 Super Credits. Be warned that several items in the Warbond can hurt you just as much as they hurt the enemies of justice.

Weapons

Throwable

Stratagem

Armor

The Warbond adds two new armor sets, which include the armor, helmet, and cape. Integrated Explosives is the Armor Passive.

• Armor Passive: Integrated Explosives
  • Armor explodes 1.5s after the wearer dies.

Capes

• Fre Liberam (Page 1) - 8 Warbond Medals
• Per Democrasum (Page 2) - 25 Warbond Medals

Helmets

• IE-3 Martyr (Page 1) - 30 Warbond Medals
• IE-12 Righteous (Page 2) - 45 Warbond Medals

Emote

• Raise Weapon (Page 3) - 55 Warbond Medals

Player Cards

• Fre Liberam (Page 1) - 2 Warbond Medals
• Per Democrasum (Page 2) - 7 Warbond Medals

Title

• Servant of Freedom (Page 3) - 25 Warbond Medals

Super Credits

• 100 SC (Page 1) - 7 Warbond Medals
• 100 SC (Page 2) - 12 Warbond Medals
• 100 SC (Page 3) - 32 Warbond Medals

That about covers everything in the Helldivers 2 - Servants of Freedom Warbond and their cost. Remember: if your fallen friend's armor starts beeping (or something), maybe give it some space.

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Arrowhead Games has delivered the first big patch for Helldivers 2, which reintroduces emoting while flying, addresses the Dog Breath stratagem, and fixes bugs. The patch also secretly added new undocumented items to Helldivers 2, such as a shovel and a bug hole for Bile Titan spawns.

Helldivers 2 patch 01.002.101 brings a host of changes to the game. It increases the amount of starting and spare magazines by one, lets you toss grenades and stratagems from the FRV, and introduces several fixes to the maligned "Guard Dog" Dog Breath stratagem. Arrowhead announced in the patch notes that it's leaving the Siege Ready Armor Passive bug alone, and will merely change the description for it later.

You can check out the entire patch notes for more, but there are some items the update adds that didn't make the list.

Helldivers 2 players are digging the new shovel, but maybe not the Bile Titan bug holes

Following the patch, Helldivers 2 now includes what appears to be a folding shovel you can locate, equip, and definitely use as a weapon. But what else can it do? Why, dig holes, of course! The shovel in Helldivers 2 can be used to unearth buried samples. You can also just dig a hole if the need strikes you. At least one clever diver is already using the shovel to make their own defensive position. Trench warfare has arrived to Helldivers 2.

The patch also added bug holes from which Bile Titans can spawn. As shared by Reddit user KekKeanuReddit100, the new bug holes are massive, large enough for a mighty Bile Titan to crawl out from. Closing them off should be the number one priority for any diver not keen to get stomped on by several freshly spawned titans.

Helldivers 2 certainly isn't new to undocumented patch notes. Arrowhead has surprised players before by shadow-dropping things like flying Terminids and drivable Exosuits before the latter became available as a stratagem. Arrowhead likely won't stop with the latest patch, and there may be even more to discover. If you're keen on helping, there hasn't been a better time to grab a shovel and start digging.

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Do you love spreading Managed Democracy so much that you'd sacrifice anything to achieve it? Well, friend, the Servants of Freedom Warbond for Helldivers 2 is what you need. And as you secure freedom for everyone on Super Earth, you can take as many of those undemocratic bastards with you.

The Helldivers 2: Servants of Freedom Warbond is coming this week on February 6, and it should provide plenty of bang for your buck. For the first time, you can choose what strategic target should be dusted by a Hellbomb. The Premium Warbond introduces the B-100 Portable Hellbomb backpack, which you or an ally can activate. Once you do, you have a 10-second countdown before the fireworks begin. You can drop the bomb at any objective or wade into a horde of enemies for one last send-off.

The Integrated Explosives armor passive also grants you one last, ear-splitting goodbye. When equipped with one of the two armors that come in the Warbond, death will cause your body to explode. Remember to practice social distancing with allies.

Everything in the Servants of Freedom Warbond

The Servants of Freedom Warbond comes with two new weapons, two new armor sets, a Raise Weapon victory pose, a new player title, and a seeker grenade. Both armors come with a helmet that mimics a stoic face.

The weapons coming with the Warbond are certainly interesting. The LAS-17 Double-Edge Sickle sounds like it lives up to its name: it's a Sickle that can harm its user. There's a charge meter on the side of the weapon, so I imagine the hotter it gets, the more it hurts to use. The GP-20 Ultimatum is a new secondary grenade pistol that launches a much more powerful shell at close range. Finally, you have the G-50 Seeker, a drone that follows you until an enemy gets close enough for an explosive hug.

Overall, the Helldivers 2: Servants of Freedom Warbond looks like it should really pop off. Look for it to arrive on February 6.

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Through all of its many ups and downs, Helldivers 2 has remained steadfast in its insistence on being the go-to tactical horde shooter. That's in no small part due to its singular vision, which the former CEO and CCO Johan Pilestedt maintained. Now, though, he's off the project.

The silver lining is that Pilestedt isn't suddenly the centerpiece of a workplace drama. Instead, he's simply decided to take a sabbatical and do his own thing for a while. This may come as a big surprise to Pilestedt's many fans, as the CCO had grown very popular with the game's community, even when the going was tough. With that in mind, while it's plainly obvious that Helldivers 2 has been a team project from the very start, it was people such as Johan Pilestedt who brought the player base together, helping them weather whatever storm might've been cooking at any given time.

Johan Pilestedt is leaving Helldivers 2 for a sabbatical, moving onto other projects

"11 years of working "around the clock" on the same IP has made me set aside family, friends, and my lovely wife... and myself," said Pilestedt in his recent Tweet. "I am going to take some time now to redeem what was lost from all of those that supported me over a decade."

Pilestedt hasn't revealed how long his sabbatical might take, but he has confirmed in no uncertain terms that his work on Helldivers 2, specifically, is done: "When I'm back - I will start working on the next Arrowhead game," he said. If you were hoping he'd take over from whoever the acting CCO might be in the interim, it doesn't seem this will be the case at all.

Considering just how eventful things have been for Arrowhead from the day of Helldivers 2's release, it shouldn't come as too big of a surprise that Pilestedt might wish to leave the project behind. And on that note, while it's certainly easy to forget that Arrowhead's got a bunch of other IPs in tow, that is very much the case. I myself am hoping to see a revival of Magicka, for one, though the title itself is probably going to be a no-go, as it's now under Paradox Interactive's control.

It should come as no surprise that there's some uncertainty in the Helldivers 2 community over this decision:

Pilestedt has been very clear in his post that he's got no intention of coming back to Helldivers 2, and so the community is bound to be particularly mindful of that fact moving forward. Arrowhead might be hard-pressed to find someone else to fill Pilestedt's shoes as far as how personable the man's been, but it is what it is.

For what it's worth, after Pilestedt left the position of Arrowhead CEO to take the reigns as Helldivers 2 CCO, specifically, the new CEO Shams Jorjani found his footing reasonably quickly. He's not quite as popular with the community as Pilestedt has been, of course, but it's entirely possible he might choose to position himself as the next public Arrowhead personality that players can rally behind.

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As you may be aware, Helldivers 2 went through an extremely tumultuous period in May of 2024, thanks mostly to Sony on the technical side of things. This entire mess resulted in Helldivers 2 being taken off sale in over 130 territories worldwide, but that may be changing now.

More specifically, Helldivers 2 players have caught wind of the fact that the game's Steam backend is actively being updated with new information about which countries the game is restricted in. As per an update from January 21, someone has been mucking about with regional availability in Helldivers 2's Steam backend, which may suggest that big changes are afoot. The reason why I'd still recommend keeping a pinch of salt at hand is that almost all of the referenced territories are rather small regions of entire countries, and there may still be something else going on, instead.

Is Helldivers 2 about to be available worldwide (again)?

For those who lack the context, Helldivers 2 was heavily review-bombed back in May 2024, when Sony announced that it was going to enforce its PlayStation Network linking policy. The original plan was for Helldivers 2 to enforce PSN linking from launch-day onwards, but this fell through due to network instability and other assorted problems. Instead, the "feature" was postponed, only for the community to push back against the late enforcement of the policy in the end.

Now, Helldivers 2 obviously doesn't enforce its planned PSN linking at this time, as Sony and Arrowhead caved in to the community's request at the time. However, the flip side of the equation is that Sony also took Helldivers 2 off sale in all the territories PSN did not officially support at the time. The tricky bit is that Helldivers 2, an always-online live-service multiplayer game, was being sold in countries and regions where Sony didn't have the regulatory support for continued operations. To alleviate this issue ahead of potential legal blowback, Sony simply took the steps that it did, and that left us with a grand total of 176 countries (and territories) blocked worldwide.

Of those 176 territories, the list that's being edited over on SteamDB includes only 43 of them, and they're mostly fairly minor regions at this time. Territories such as Gibraltar, Greenland, British Virgin Islands, and Norfolk (Island), just to list very few of them. Still, the reason why I think this is exciting is that there's something happening on this front at all, and it may well be a sign of things to come at a later date.

Once again, none of this should be taken as an official confirmation that something's happening with Helldivers 2's spotty regional coverage, it's just that someone is clearly fiddling about with it. Another thing to keep in mind is that Helldivers 2 was simply taken off sale in the 176 mentioned territories worldwide: if you live in one of the affected regions and purchased the game before the unlisting, you've been able to play Helldivers 2 just fine all along.

It's a complicated and tiring topic, for sure, and hopefully Sony and Arrowhead will be able to resolve it as soon as possible.

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It's plain as day by now that Helldivers 2 is a cornerstone release for both Sony as its publisher and Arrowhead as its developer, but the buck doesn't stop at crossover content. Sony has just announced that there's a Helldivers film in production, alongside an adaptation of Horizon: Zero Dawn.

You read that right: Sony Pictures is now working on an honest-to-goodness Helldivers film, as shared by none other than Geoff Keighley on Twitter. Further, IGN has reported on an upcoming collaboration between PlayStation Studios and Columbia Pictures to produce a re-telling of Horizon: Zero Dawn, which is in a category all of its own. These announcements kind of overshadowed the smaller one that Crunchyroll will host the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima anime, which is set to release sometime in 2027. A massive assortment of high-grade media, then, but what does it all mean?

Expect Horizon: Zero Dawn, Helldivers 2, and Ghost of Tsushima films and series in the future

For the most part, both the Horizon and Ghost of Tsushima adaptations are fairly straightforward offerings in the grand scheme of things. "Just imagine, Aloy's beloved origin story set in a vibrant, far future world filled with giant machines, brought to you for the first time on the big screen," said the head of PlayStation Productions Asad Quizilbash, plainly telling us what to expect out of this particular movie. The president of Crunchyroll, Rahul Purini, said "The Ghost of Tsushima anime will offer fans an exciting new way to experience the game in an anime style that will be bold and groundbreaking."

In other words, even though these projects are interesting, anyone who's played Horizon: Zero Dawn or Ghost of Tsushima will know what to expect from them. That's fair, of course, just somewhat unexciting compared to the total, absolute unknown that is the Helldivers film.

For starters, both Horizon and Ghost of Tsushima are character-driven and story-heavy games that should lend themselves very well to their respective movie adaptations. Helldivers is not that at all. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the sheer chaos of combat and disassociation from the characterization of this series makes it very difficult to adapt for the silver screen.

Further, note that the featured image doesn't say Helldivers 2, but just Helldivers. It's clear that this is going to be a standalone story of some sort that's presumably going to establish the franchise universe in some way, shape, or form. Heck, it might even be a re-telling of sorts of the original Helldivers' broad narrative beats, which might work well.

Since we've got absolutely no specifics to work with, we'll just have to wait and see what comes of it all. It's going to be particularly interesting to see how involved Arrowhead Games ends up being, and if the project can elevate itself from retreading the likes of Starship Troopers, for example. Exciting news all around, however, though it'll take a while before we hear more about any of these projects.

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As soon as crossover content was brought up in the context of Helldivers 2, players started getting concerned over what it might entail. Judging by what Arrowhead Games' CCO Johan Pilestedt has just shared, however, Helldivers 2 crossovers should be fairly innocuous in the grand scheme of things.

More specifically, even though Power Rangers were mentioned as one of the potential Helldivers 2 crossover opportunities, that doesn't seem to be on the docket. Not yet, at least. This has unsurprisingly been one of the hot topics on the Helldivers 2 subreddit, with one of the more popular recent threads asking where the "crossover line in the sand" ought to be drawn. The surprising bit came about when Pilestedt himself chimed in on the matter. According to him, the line is drawn right here:

Pilestedt's Helldivers 2 collaboration diagram is rather telling

In other words, grunts from all manner of other intellectual properties are all possible inclusions. Or, rather, options that Arrowhead would be happy to include in Helldivers 2 if the IPs' respective owners would agree to it. Highlighted options include:

• Killzone's Helghast
• Starship Troopers' Grunts
• Halo's ODSTs
• Warhammer 40K's Imperial Infantry

The buck stops at Halo's Master Chief, however, and we shouldn't expect to see the Doom Slayer, Astartes, or Ninja Turtles in Helldivers 2 anytime soon. Or Snoop Dogg, for that matter. Curiously, the Clone Troopers from Star Wars have also been excluded from the mix, though the Truth Enforcers Warbond kind of pays homage to those armor designs.

Back on track, Pilestedt has also explained that there's some nuance to how Arrowhead thinks of content crossover. From the look of things, crossovers are going to be a serious consideration for Helldivers 2 in the future, and we should definitely expect lots more as time goes on. These will, presumably, build upon the precedent set by the Killzone crossover. Mind that Arrowhead is still figuring out how to best handle this type of content, however.

Arrowhead intends to avoid IP dilution by creating authentic and believable crossovers that still somehow fit into the grander lore of Helldivers 2. This is particularly important, it seems, as crossover lore will "become canon" in some way, shape, or form. In the case of Killzone 2's Helghast grunts, for example, this franchise's Ståhl Arms has been canonized in Helldivers 2 as one of the active weapon and armor manufacturers. It's a neat enough system, I'll give them that.

The potentially problematic bit comes about when you consider Arrowhead's authenticity tenet: the team will "strive to modify as little as possible from the original inspiration." This sounds admirable at face value, but video games' design languages rarely fit with one another all that well. This could lead to clashing assets, though that's a problem for some other day.

So, if you too were concerned about Helldivers 2 turning into Fortnite in a few months, that's entirely unfounded. It'll still take some time for Arrowhead to figure out what's what when it comes to crossovers, of course. Heck, we might go for a long while before the next crossover drops into Helldivers 2. But, when it finally does happen, there's no reason to expect Nicki Minaj on the side of Super Earth.

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It's been months since Helldivers turned the bug-addled planet of Meridia into a gaping black hole. I nearly forgot about it. But something is amiss... and possibly undemocratic. The Meridia black hole in Helldivers 2 is different, and the Illuminate invasion is making a beeline straight to it.

That's bad, right? I mean, having a yawning black hole where a colonized planet used to be isn't fantastic for myriad reasons, but the returning alien force's interest in it can't be positive. At least, it certainly seems like Illuminate forces are heading its way. The faction's mysterious movements haven't avoided the community's notice, as some are raising the alarm.

The image above is from yesterday and it's already out of date. Today, the Illuminate is occupying a planet in the Ursa Sector, which is even closer to Meridia's location:

The Meridia black hole in Helldivers 2 has gotten even weirder

As the invasion moves at a steady clip toward the Terminid sectors, the Meridia black hole has clearly undergone some changes. The black hole is surrounded by new particle effects, making it look a bit more pissed off than usual.

Super Earth High Command has since shared a message stating things regarding the Meridia hole are probably okay.

Many speculate the Illuminate's invasion and the black hole are connected, and it's tough to disagree. Hell, the relationship between the Squids and the hole was made clear in the Omens of Tyranny announcement.

"The Illuminate have seemingly emerged from the singularity created by the destruction of Meridia," the announcement explained. "Even though we don’t know the true origin of the invasion, we have no choice now but to suppress three factions in the Galactic War."

Of course, the issue with the announcement is that the new Illuminate invasion began on the planet Calypso and in the Saleria Sector, far from Meridia. Perhaps the message was leftover from an older plan, or we missed something. Regardless, the Illuminate is making its way to the black hole now for reasons that likely are quite bad.

Some believe the true Illuminate forces are waiting beyond the black hole and will be revealed when the smaller invasion fleet reaches it. Others think the aliens will use their slimy tendrils to take over the bodies of Terminids, creating a zombified army that'll make the Voteless seem like annoying gnats. Both may end up true, and the thought of it is both terrifying and exciting.

C'mon and catch a ride

Either way, the community should be prepared now that they've spilled blue blood. The Fast Recon Vehicle is available today as a Stratagem. You can purchase it via the Ship Management menu on your Super Destroyer ship. It costs 25,000 Requisition Slips to unlock and comes with unlimited uses.

The latest Warbond includes a vehicle pattern, allowing you to deck out the FRV in urban camo. Be sure to check out our guide on the Urban Legends Warbond, which covers everything it brings and how much it'll all cost.

The post Uh oh: The Meridia black hole has changed in Helldivers 2, and the Illuminate is seemingly moving to it appeared first on Destructoid.

If you were excited about the ongoing Helldivers 2 and Killzone crossover items but couldn't afford to splurge on them willy-nilly, I've got some excellent news for you. Arrowhead has just announced that it's giving away a bunch of these items totally for free, and you can claim them now.

That's right, folks: Arrowhead Games has seemingly taken the recent outburst of criticism over the Killzone crossover items to heart. Virtually every community member was up in arms recently after it became clear that the planned price for the sum of all Killzone crossover items would be about $40 in total. In other words, the price of Helldivers 2.

In what may be the fastest turnover Helldivers 2 has ever had from bad to good, as far as the community is concerned, Arrowhead is now looking to correct its approach to crossover content. This means the planned second batch of Killzone items has been pushed ahead of its scheduled release as a free content drop for all players. If that's not the holiday cheer at work, I don't know what else it could be.

Log in to claim your fancy batch of Helldivers 2 x Killzone crossover items

You can log into Helldivers 2 right now to get a frankly phenomenal selection of Killzone items at no additional charge. Here's the full list:

• AC-2 Obedient light armor set
• PLAS-39 Accelerator sniper rifle
• StA-11 SMG
• Defender of Our Dream cape
• Defender of Our Dream player banner

If you haven't been keeping track, that's a meaningfully larger content drop than we received as part of this year's Liberty Day. It's also about $20's worth of Super Credit value, which is nothing to scoff at. This entire roundup of items will be free to claim for every player, even if they never logged into the game up until now. There's been no mention of how long this promotion will last, but that's no problem. As per Arrowhead's Reddit post featured above, Killzone items won't be relegated to Super Store rotations forever: "We’re also investigating solutions for how we can bring these items back permanently in the future," they said.

The original batch of Helldivers 2 and Killzone crossover items (namely the AC-1 Dutiful armor set, the StA-52 rifle, and other assorted cosmetics) will stay in the Super Store for five more days than it was initially planned. The FOMO around them is thus somewhat reduced, though you obviously won't be able to claim these for free, too.

It's a solid showing, all in all, and not something I expected to see from Arrowhead at this time. Whereas StA-52 is a side-grade to the base Liberator at most, the explosive sniper rifle and the Bizon SMG expy are far more interesting in practice, so I'm thrilled to see everyone getting access to those for free. It still remains to be seen how Arrowhead intends to permanently incorporate such crossovers into the game's Super Store, however. Clearly, more crossover promotions are on the way, but it's likely they will be handled with a tad more grace than what the Killzone promo was initially afforded.

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Helldivers 2's recent Omens of Tyranny update was a phenomenally executed content drop. With a whole new faction to fight against urban environments and vehicles in tow, Helldivers 2 is now looking to continue this streak with delightful cosmetics as well. Specifically, Killzone-inspired cosmetics, which is a surprise.

Obviously, since Helldivers 2 is a full-blooded live-service endeavor with everything that this type of development entails, there's a catch. It's the price, as you'd expect. Helldivers 2's new Killzone 2 cosmetic pack (which may or may not have been designed as a Warbond at some point) is going to set you back almost as much as two full Premium Warbonds. Further, this is only the first batch of Killzone-themed goodies, with a whole new round of items set to go live in a few days.

A problematic precedent for the future of Helldivers 2's monetization? It could be, but it also is reminiscent of a certain Destiny 2 development from a while back.

Helldivers 2's new Killzone cosmetics and rifle cost almost as much as two full Premium Warbonds

First things first, I have to admit I am very happy with how Arrowhead Games' designers are handling the Killzone crossover as far as its content goes. This development comes exactly a month following Arrowhead's interview discussing potential crossovers and how the team does not wish to dilute Helldivers 2's established aesthetic. The good news is that they aren't, and the Killzone 2 items not only harken back to Guerilla Games' legacy IP in the best way possible, but they also fit in just fine with Helldivers 2 proper.

It's the best-case scenario in that regard, really. The problem is that these items are all very expensive compared to most everything else we have in Helldivers 2. Here are the exact prices:

• StA-52 bullpup rifle - 615 SC
• AC-1 Dutiful armor set - 500 SC
• AC-1 Dutiful helmet - 310 SC
• Cape - 310 SC
• Emblem/Title - 150 SC
• Profile Background - 90 SC

In total, you will spend 1975 SC if you wish to purchase all of these items, which comes out to just about $20 or your regional equivalent. Almost two full Premium Warbonds, as they've been established so far. The reason why I think this sets a bad precedent for Helldivers 2's future comes from the CEO Shams Jorjani, who has already stated that there's more of this stuff to come.

Now, I don't mean to be overly negative about a pack of admittedly awesome cosmetics, but veteran Destiny 2 players will remember that Bungie said something very similar about Eververse at one point: "Whisper of the Worm's ornaments were successful enough that it paid [dev cost-wise] for the Zero Hour mission/rewards to be constructed," said Bungie's developer blog back in 2019.

Of course, Jorjani's comment is very sensible from a pragmatic point of view. A live-service game cannot continue trucking along if players aren't actively spending money on it. Yet, it can come off as a tad insensitive, depending on how you read it. The community is predictably unhappy about it, as one might expect.

There's other stuff to note about Helldivers 2's Killzone promo, too. Firstly, it is functionally a Premium Warbond-sized content drop that's been enhanced with a layer of FOMO. Arrowhead is well aware of this, and the official announcement promises a semi-solution is on the way: "Right now, many of you feel the items are in rotation for too short a time, and that you sometimes miss out on that killer look you had your eyes on. At the same time, the more things we add to the store, the longer it takes to come back into rotation," says the blog. "As we’re not quite ready to roll out a full redesign, we’re going to temporarily test longer rotations with Killzone, which will stick around for 5 days per page instead (there will be two pages of items to explore)."

That's right: spending roughly $20's worth of currency only nets about half of the grand total of items that will be available as part of the Killzone content pack. Presumably, the second page of content will be priced about the same, which gets us to a rough grand total of $40 just to unlock all the fancy new Helldivers 2 cosmetics.

The big question that posits itself is simple: why are Killzone items not handled in the same way other Premium Warbonds have been? Arrowhead says that this is "a new tier of special Premium content reserved for collaborations and other uniquely-themed work," which is fair, but I don't see any reason why it should be bound with FOMO. So far, then, it's a toss-up, no matter how you spin it. But hey, the items do look cool; I'll give Arrowhead that.

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More than 100K players returned to Helldivers 2 to bring a swift, democratic ass-kicking to the Illuminate, and somehow clawed back a victory in their first defense campaign. The faction has left the galactic map, where they'll never be seen again. Right?

After months of teases, rumors, and community-led scuttlebutt surrounding it, the Illuminate faction finally appeared in Helldivers 2 and was just as quickly shown the door. The weekend saw 150K Helldivers 2 players on Steam fighting the Illuminate campaign on Calypso. After three days, Helldivers won the campaign with a margin of only 0.1%.

After reclaiming the planet, the Illuminate disappeared. Granted, it wasn't exactly easy to kick the squids back to the void. The fight was a bit too close, claiming the lives of millions of divers. Regardless, Super Earth made one hell of a statement.

Welcome to Super Erf

Helldivers 2 players are gluttons for punishment, and many are asking about the next deadly wave. I mean, Calypso was liberated so quickly that some were a bit disappointed. By that, I don't mean they weren't fun to fight. They were. But it just happened so fast. I hoped to get more games in this weekend, but the campaign was over before I realized it. I know I'm not the only one.

Of course, the Illuminate will stage a comeback. The first battle certainly feels like the alien faction was testing the waters. Helldivers 2 players will certainly see the Illuminate return for a bigger swing, but next time they'll have fresh wheels. Fast Recon Vehicles will be available to purchase as a new Stratagem within the next few days. The latest Warbond, Urban Legends, comes with a new vehicle pattern (skin) for when that happens.

Until then, Helldivers 2 players will have to be patient some more. We've finished the appetizer; the main course is on the way.

The post Over 100K Helldivers 2 players returned to the game to fight the Illuminate invasion, and barely won the first defense appeared first on Destructoid.

THE ILLUMINATE HAVE RETURNED! Helldivers 2 has entered a new chapter with the Omens of Tyranny update, introducing the alien tyrants known as the Illuminate. But divers are not defenseless. Here's everything in the new Helldivers 2 Warbond Urban Legends and their cost.

The items in the Urban Legends Warbond live up to their name. Take to the streets in urban-themed armor and defend freedom with a new shield Stratagem and a melee weapon. Helldivers 2 - Urban Legends is a Premium Warbond, which means you can only unlock it using the premium currency Super Credits. It takes 1,000 Super Credits (SC) to get the Warbond — $10 in real-life cash.

Everything in Helldivers 2 - Urban Legends Warbond

Things are a bit different in Urban Legends. The Warbond has fewer weapons than typical, offering more Stratagems to balance things out. It introduces the game's first melee-only weapon: the CQC-19 Stun Lance.

Weapon

Stratagems

Armor Sets

Urban Legends has two new armor sets, which include the armor, helmet, and cape. The Armor Passive is Siege-Ready, which enhances your reload and ammunition stats.

• Armor Passive: Siege-Ready
  • Increases reload speed of primary weapons by 30%.
  • Increases ammo capacity of primary weapons by 20%.

Capes

• Greatcloak of Rebar Resolve (Page 1) - 2 Warbond Medals
• Holder of the Yellow Line (Page 2) - 20 Warbond Medals

Helmets

• SR-24 Street Scout (Page 1) - 30 Warbond Medals
• SR-18 Roadblock (Page 2) - 35 Warbond Medals

Emote

• This Is Democracy (Page 3) - 50 Warbond Medals

Super Credits

• 100 SC (Page 1) - 7 Warbond Medals
• 100 SC (Page 2) - 12 Warbond Medals
• 100 SC (Page 3) - 32 Warbond Medals

Booster

• Armed Resupply Pods (Page 2) - 55 Warbond Medals

Player Cards

• Rebar Resolve (Page 1) - 2 Warbond Medals
• Holder of the Yellow Line (Page 2) - 5 Warbond Medals

Title

• Super Pedestrian (Page 3) - 20 Warbond Medals

Patterns (Skins)

• Concrete Jungle Hellpod Pattern (Page 1) - 20 Warbond Medals
• Concrete Jungle Shuttle Pattern (Page 2) - 50 Warbond Medals
• Concrete Jungle Exosuit Pattern (Page 3) - 50 Warbond Medals
• Concrete Jungle Vehicle Pattern (Page 3) - 55 Warbond Medals

That just about wraps up everything in the Urban Legends Warbond for Helldivers 2. Now, go out there and make the vile Illuminate communists taste the boot of freedom.

The post Helldivers 2: Everything in the Urban Legends Warbond and their cost appeared first on Destructoid.

It's taken the better part of the year, but Arrowhead Games has finally released the long-anticipated third enemy faction for Helldivers 2. That's right, folks: the Illuminate forces are here as part of the Omens of Tyranny update, and they're a menace.

We've been waiting for the Illuminate to make themselves known for quite a while now. Teasers have been coming in thick for months, and since the third faction is the last major piece of content from the original Helldivers that we hadn't yet seen, there was a lot of excitement and mystery surrounding it. To that end, the Omens of Tyranny update's sudden release shouldn't necessarily come as a huge surprise. It launched as part of the ongoing TGA celebrations (which is appropriate, seeing how Helldivers 2 won the "Best Multiplayer Title" award), and you can go fight the Illuminate right this instant. Should you, though?

Take the fight to Illuminate forces in Helldivers 2: Omens of Tyranny

Following the annoyances of August's Escalation of Freedom update, I was skeptical of the new Omens of Tyranny release for Helldivers 2. Quite simply, Arrowhead has a track record of successfully mucking about things that work, and though I was quite happy with the state of the game back in October, the road to getting there did make me suspicious of any huge revamps, releases, and changes.

With that in mind, things seem to be in order. Even though the return of the Illuminate is the biggest draw of this update, Omens of Tyranny is substantially larger than just that. As per the official blog post over on Steam, you can expect all of the following features in Helldivers 2's latest build:

• The Illuminate faction.
• Urban mission areas (!).
• The Fast Recon Vehicle for entire squads of Helldivers to drive, shoot, and generally enjoy using.

Great stuff, right? But wait, the good news doesn't stop here because Omens of Tyranny is positively loaded with excellent balancing changes, too:

• Exploding barrels are far more potent.
• Helldivers are more difficult to set ablaze.
• Airburst Rocket Launcher now has an additional ammunition type: timer-based cluster rounds.
• LIFT-850 Jetpack is now far more useful, allowing users to aim and heal while they're airborne.
• All Sentry Stratagems are now more durable and resistant to fire.
• All Exosuit Stratagems are now more durable.

Further, you can now rejoin your last match if the game crashes. Arrowhead has also delivered a whole host of bugfixes and other assorted balancing improvements as part of the update. There are just too many of those to be able to shove them into a sensible list in such a small article.

All in all, then, Helldivers 2's huge Omens of Tyranny update is an excellent showing. The availability of a new faction, multi-user vehicle, or the urban biome each would've been a huge upgrade to Helldivers 2's longevity on its own. With all three of these features included in one update, we've got a heck of a holiday season ahead of us.

The post Helldivers 2’s Illuminate faction is finally here, alongside urban maps, vehicles, and more in Omens of Tyranny update appeared first on Destructoid.

The Omens of Tyranny update is now live in Helldivers 2, and it introduces a host of new content, including Fast Recon Vehicles. You and your squad will no longer need to run across zones to defeat your enemy or get to the exfil. Here's how you can find it on your adventures.

Helldivers 2 Fast Recon vehicle location

The Omens of Tyranny update hasn't been out for long, but so far, you can only get the vehicle in the new urban districts called colonies that were also added as part of the upate. To reach this location, look out for Illuminate missions on Calypso.

The car is a 4-seater utility unit with a mounted gun on the top. Its exact location will be completely random, and you'll have to observe your mini-map. It will be marked with a car and machine gun symbol. In the future, FRVs will be available in more locations, and you can deploy them as stratagems. To do so, you'll have to complete a Major Order which is yet to be revealed.

Additionally, you'll also need points to unlock it (just like all other stratagems). Once we have more information about the quest and the required points, we will update this piece.

How to use the Fast Recon vehicle in Helldivers 2

Driving in Helldivers 2 is surprisingly easy, but you'll have to master the controls. It won't be a cakewalk but it will let you escape near-death situations if you do it right.

• Press the W or RT button to accelerate.
• Press the S or LT button to apply the brakes.
• Use the Arrow keys/LS to control the direction.
• Use the Control and Shift/L2 and R2 buttons to switch between different gears: Reverse, Neutral, Drive, 1, or 2.

That's pretty much all of it when it comes to vehicles and using them strategically in Helldivers 2. It will be interesting to find out how they work as stratagems, and they might become a meta-choice on certain types of maps and missions.

The post How to get a vehicle in Helldivers 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

The Game Awards 2024 is happening today, December 12, at 4:30 p.m. PT, and expectations are high following the report that there'll be some major reveals. Leading up to the event, some nominations for The Game Awards 2024 are being highlighted on Steam with discounts and an elusive Helldivers 2 armor making a comeback.

The Game Awards Steam page consists of discounted games that have earned nominations for the 2024 show. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Animal Well, Black Myth: Wukong, Helldivers 2, and many more are on sale ahead of the show. The page also highlights some winners from prior events, although not all of them are discounted.

The page is not too hard to navigate. Tabs at the top quickly take you to Featured, Past Winners, and 2024 Nominated Titles categories. There are tabs for 2024 Winners and Just Announced, but those won't point to anything until after the show concludes.

The Game Awards 2024 Steam sale brings back an exclusive Helldivers 2 armor

The highlight page also announces the return of an armor set for Helldivers 2: the TR-117 Alpha Commander. This set was given away as a free Twitch reward back in February. Those who missed out have asked if it'll ever be seen again.

You can grab the set starting now by visiting the Helldivers 2 events page. It's only available for a week, so you better get on it before it's gone again. The green light armor comes with the Med-Kit passive, adding two more Stims with effects that last two seconds longer. Helldivers 2 has been nominated for four awards, including Best Multiplayer Game.

Helldivers 2 isn't alone with the free in-game items. No Man's Sky owners can grab the Starborn Phoenix Ship for free right now. Hit this link and click on "Add to Account" to get a new ride.

The Game Awards 2024 begins later today. Be sure to stay locked on Destructoid for all of our TGA coverage.

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If you're already over the ongoing problems with the new Democracy Space Station in Helldivers 2, I've got good news: there's other stuff on the horizon, too. The developer Arrowhead Games recently spoke at G-Star, the ongoing Korean gaming conference, discussing crossovers with other IPs, vehicles, and lots more.

This information comes from Redditor Creepy_Ad3991, who was kind enough to provide translated dialogue that's been adapted from the original source. The interview features the Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani and the CCO Johan Pilestedt as they go over some fairly spicy topics. For example, we now know that cross-overs are seemingly being considered (though the extent is very much unclear), with IPs such as Warhammer, Aliens, StarCraft, and Starship Troopers apparently being at the forefront of such discussions. Whether these were thrown out as a tongue-in-cheek reference or something more concrete, it's not yet clear, but I do hope we won't be looking at one-to-one transitions but full-fledged adaptations, as Destiny 2's been doing.

Vehicles are definitely coming to Helldivers 2, cross-overs with other IPs may happen

On to the more concrete answers provided by Pilestedt and Jorjani, the Democracy Space Station isn't done just yet: "As of [November 14], the [DSS] has been activated, and gamers with overflowing resources can now [invest them]. More features will be enabled next week," they said, which may give some hope to those that have been underwhelmed by the station's current performance.

Though the pair did joke around with the concept of vehicles in Helldivers 2, with Pilestedt saying that he wasn't even sure "if Helldivers are old enough to drive," the feature is coming to the game. "On a more serious note," he said, "vehicle updates are in the plans. [They] will be added soon, but I don't think I can go into more detail than that."

Pilestedt also said that he is "thinking about how to incorporate these 'Chaos Divers' into [Helldivers 2]," which may come as a surprise at first. Yet, it's worth remembering that the Truth Enforcers warbond already kind-of-sort-of responded to the problem, suggesting that Super Earth already has all the tools it needs to deal with dissenters.

Now, the majority of topics that Arrowhead discussed here aren't new in and of itself. Heck, I myself brought up the inevitable introduction of vehicles into Helldivers 2 back when the game came out, but this is the first time Arrowhead referenced the feature directly. The big question is definitely the crossovers/collaborations with other IPs, as this has the potential of watering down the game's fairly strong design language.

Jorjani said that "[Arrowhead] don't want to do too many crossovers, but we are fully considering appropriate collaboration to suit the game's atmosphere." It's a good take, right? "For example," Jorjani continued, "collaboration with 'Power Rangers' would be difficult in concept, but wouldn't it be possible to do something like Black Ranger? That's what I want." It's a somewhat worrisome context when he puts it that way.

Regardless, I'd like to highlight that as interesting as this information may be, it does come via an unofficial translation. Arrowhead is probably going to offer similar communications to global users soon enough, and we'll just have to wait and see how things pan out in the interim.

The post Surprise Helldivers 2 interview reveals cross-over hopes, planned vehicles, and more appeared first on Destructoid.

The Democracy Space Station was one of the most exciting new developments in Helldivers 2's ongoing galactic war. A potent semi-mobile enhancement platform that can buff Helldivers wherever they go sure sounds great, but it's a bit of a wet noodle in practice. Worse, even, as it's downright punishing.

As the DSS was slowly ramping up its engines and the community invested heaps of resources into it, the expectation was that it would massively improve our combat efforts on whichever front it was deployed on. Well... the truth is a tad more complicated than that. Not only is using the DSS a heck of an effort in its own right, but the effects are also substantially less useful than we hoped they would be. From the look of things, the DSS doesn't add bonus Stratagem deployments or some manner of passive buffs to the players' stats. Instead, it effectively carpet-bombs the entire map all at once.

The Democracy Space Station is going to need a rework, stat

Now, we'll obviously have to wait and see how the remainder of the Democracy Space Station's Actions work out, but the Orbital Barrage is genuinely problematic in practice. It looks like the effect of the Orbital Barrage is roughly equivalent to that of an omnipresent 380MM explosive Stratagem, except it's applied to a whole level, leading to unpredictable ragdolling and, indeed, deaths.

The bit that is wholly predictable is the players' response to this fumble: they are deeply unhappy with what's been delivered. The DSS has been the single focal point of every Major Order for weeks now, and to have the feature be downright detrimental to the players' efforts is demoralizing, to say the least.

Also predictable is the fact that Helldivers 2 is coping with this development via some delightfully spicy memes. Certainly, Arrowhead Games has managed to successfully turn things around and bring the game back to its launch-day glory. Yet, if the DSS doesn't get massively recalibrated to become a potent tool in the Super Earth's arsenal, this whole thing will become yet another mar on what could otherwise be a wonderful live-service experience.

For what it's worth, I've got no doubt that Arrowhead will somehow revamp the DSS at some point in the near future. As it currently stands, playing missions with a DSS Action running is almost impossible unless you're really lucky with how the 380MM bombardment is dished out, and that's no way to play the game. We'll just have to stick with the darned thing until appropriate calibrations are made.

And, on that note, I do have to praise Arrowhead for no longer making the same kinds of mistakes the team's been making since the Magicka days. Something like the DSS could never have been shipped in its current form back in the day, not even in the original Helldivers, so the effort is certainly praiseworthy. It's just going to take a bit more time for it to be anything less than actively detrimental to the playerbase.

The post Helldivers 2’s new DSS isn’t working out appeared first on Destructoid.

The Democracy Space Station, or DSS for short, is a massive orbiting platform in Helldivers 2 that players can use in the fight for democracy. Players can spend resources to activate a handful of Stratagems that the DSS can deploy, and vote on where to send the space station next.

The DSS activates every 24 hours on a countdown timer. Once it reaches zero, the station will move to the location voted on by Helldivers 2 players where it'll unleash its unlocked Stratagems.

How to open and navigate the DSS menu in Helldivers 2

The DSS menu is accessible via the Super Destroyer ship. To enter it, navigate to the bridge and open the Galactic War map. You should see a button prompt to enter the DSS menu at the top of the map. For PlayStation 5 users, press the touchpad button. PC players can enter the menu using the B key.

The menu includes three tabs you can select to view the main functions of the DSS:

• Summary
  • Provides you with information detailing the current situation of the DSS, including its location, current action, and Stratagem activation progress.
• Actions
  • The Actions tab shows you a list of DSS Stratagems you can spend resources on to activate.
• Location
  • Allows you to vote on which system to send the DSS next.

How to activate DSS Tactical Action Stratagems

The DSS is capable of supporting divers on the field with a handful of Stratagems, but they must be activated first. To do so, navigate to the Actions tab, where you'll see a short list of Tactical Actions for which you can spend resources. Unlocked Tactical Actions will be deployed during a campaign for one planet at a time. Each Stratagem requires a certain amount of resources, which include Common and Rare Samples, and Requisition Slips.

Here are the Tactical Actions you can unlock and the resources required:

• Planetary Bombardment
  • Fires periodic Orbital Barrages during missions and accelerates the progression of Liberation Campaigns.
  • Requires: Rare Samples
• Eagle Storm
  • Deploys periodic Eagle Airstrikes during missions and slows enemy progress in Defense Campaigns.
  • Requires: Common Samples
• Orbital Blockade
  • Prevents Defense Campaigns on a planet and automatically activates the Hellpod Space Optimization Booster for all missions.
  • Requires: Requisition Slips

You can only donate resources up to a certain point. Once you reach the maximum amount of donated resources, you cannot donate again for another 24 hours. To see how many resources you can donate, highlight an Action and check the maximum amount to the left of the Donate button.

How to move the DSS

The DSS can be deployed to any planet in Helldivers 2 with an ongoing campaign. To move the station, navigate to the Location tab and pick from the list of planets. Every player gets one vote per Location change. You cannot change your vote.

Once the countdown finishes, the DSS will warp to the location with the highest number of votes. The DSS will remain in that system until players vote for it to move elsewhere. As the DSS is a tool, the best places to send it would be planets with challenging campaigns or as a way to cut off critical supply lines.

Should you spend resources on the DSS?

The DSS exists for two reasons: To assist Helldivers liberate or defend a planet during a campaign, and give players a place to dump excess resources. If you haven't spent your cash and samples unlocking every Stratagem and Ship Module, it's best to save your resources on those first. Using the DSS is a community effort, and there are plenty of maxed-out players who will gladly dump their cash and Samples into the platform.

The post How to use the DSS in Helldivers 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

With this year's Liberty Day now behind us, it was only a matter of time before Helldivers 2 played host to a fancy new event of some sort. Enter the DSS: the Democracy Space Station, which has slowly been getting built up over the past few months.

The Democracy Space Station is, for all intents and purposes, now fully up and running. The kicker is that it's functionally useless for the time being, until the community can rack up a significant enough resource pool to unlock new goodies. A highlight is the Planetary Bombardment perk, which is right about halfway done at the time of writing and will give us bonus Orbital Barrage Stratagems on missions and should improve liberation efforts in the future.

Check out Helldivers 2's Democracy Space Station if you've got Samples to spare

The DSS is functionally a wide-sweeping buff platform that will assist players in various ways, should they be able to field its Tactical Actions. The investments that need to be made for these Actions to work are downright immense, however. Planetary Bombardment calls for Orange Samples, while Eagle Storm necessitates Green Samples. Orbital Blockade, on the other hand, will require a Requisition investment, which isn't too hard to stack up over time.

Regardless, unless you're in a position where you've already got everything unlocked and have your Super Destroyer fully built up, I would advise against spending Samples and Requisition on the DSS. Somewhat predictably, the results of the DSS building campaign (which consisted of several large-scale Major Order operations) aren't all that interesting to some players.

The DSS also allows players to vote on where it should move next. While it has been built in the Gaellivare system, it would seem that the current Majority Vote is to move it to Mastia, which may well protect it from the ongoing Automaton Jet Brigade onslaught. Fun stuff, that.

Some players have an issue with the Democracy Space Station so far because it seems to be a fairly passive and unengaging bonus UI that might not make a big difference in the pace of Galactic War at large. While Arrowhead Games definitely didn't suggest this would be the case, some were hoping that the DSS would also serve as a social hub of some sort.

If you're still intent on spending Samples at the DSS (which I am, too, just to see what comes of it in a practical sense), I'd suggest looking into our various Helldivers 2 farming guides:

• Common Samples
• Super Samples
• Difficulty Overview

However, it hasn't taken the community long to get many of the DSS's starter perks half-way done. To that end, I expect the first batch of Tactical Actions to be available soon enough, and then we'll see whether all of our efforts have been for naught.

The post Helldivers 2’s long-awaited DSS Stratagem station is now active, ready for donations appeared first on Destructoid.

Arrowhead Games' CCO Johan Pilestedt doesn't want Helldivers 2 to crossover with other IPs, but he sure has a nice list of IPs prepared — just in case.

Replying to a post on X about potential crossovers, Pilestedt wrote that doing one with Helldivers 2 would "dilute the IP" and make it a "not helldivers" experience. In the same breath, he dropped a list of 11 IPs he'd want to crossover with the game.

"Yeah, but these are just musings, if we were to do all of them, it would dilute the IP and make it a 'not helldivers experience'," Pilestedt wrote on X before revealing his secret headcanon ideas.

0 Days have passed since referencing The Predator in a Helldivers 2 post

Some IPs in the list, like Warhammer 40K and Starship Troopers, are obvious picks. A few of his choices are a bit out of left field, but I can see them work. I mean, I'd pay any amount of money to watch Korben Dallas and Leeloo take on a horde of Automatons. Wouldn't anyone?

Helldivers 2 is already rich in references. Its clearest influence is Starship Troopers, but the game also nods to Warhammer 40K and Star Wars with its armor designs. As far as crossovers go, those are a shoo-in. But some have wondered about game crossovers, such as with Deep Rock Galactic. It hasn't been too long since the Helldivers 2 X account dropped a cryptic message that seemed to reference the intergalactic dwarf game. Both communities share a sense of goodwill; it could be a welcome crossover.

Pilestedt's other picks include Terminator, The Predator, Blade Runner, Mutant Chronicles, The Fifth Element, and more. I can certainly see The Predator working since we already have to deal with invisible hunters that stalk divers on Terminid planets — I hate those bastards. A fan already mashed up Helldivers 2 with The Predator in a video, and it all blended quite nicely. So long as the crossover gifts us with a minigun Stratagem at last, I'll be there.

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Do you know those broadcasts from Super Earth? They're 100% true. I mean, why would the Ministry of Truth lie? The Helldivers 2 - Truth Enforcers Warbond celebrates these arbiters of accuracy, allowing you to spread the truth far and wide — likely with a flamethrower.

Truth Enforcers is a Premium Warbond for Helldivers 2. You can unlock it by spending 1,000 Super Credits (SC), roughly $10 in real-life money. Super Credits is a premium currency that can be discovered while playing the game, but you can make up for what's lacking by purchasing some in the in-game store if that's what you want. Keep in mind that Premium Warbonds are optional, supplying buyers with new guns, gear, and more.

Everything in Helldivers 2 - Truth Enforcers Warbond and their cost

Truth Enforcers delivers two new armor sets, a title, an emote, a Booster, weapons, and more. One of the weapons is the first of its kind: A plasma pistol, which hopefully packs the kind of punch needed to spill much oil.

Weapons

There is no new grenade in Truth Enforcers.

Armor Sets

Truth Enforcers includes two armor sets comprised of armor, helmets, and capes. The armor is equipped with the Unflinching passive.

Armor Passive: Unflinching

• Helps prevent Helldivers from flinching when hit.

Capes

• Pride of the Whistleblower (Page 2) - 20 Warbond Medals
• Proof of Faultless Virtue (Page 3) - 30 Warbond Medals

Helmets

• UF-50 Bloodhound (Page 2) - 35 Warbond Medals
• UF-16 Inspector (Page 3) - 45 Warbond Medals

Emote

• At Ease (Page 3) - 50 Warbond Medals

Super Credits

• 100 SC (Page 1) - 7 Warbond Medals
• 100 SC (Page 2) -
• 100 SC (Page 3) - 32 Warbond Medals

Booster

• Dead Sprint
  • Allows Helldivers to keep sprinting even when they are out of stamina, draining their health instead.

Player Cards

• Pride of the Whistleblower (Page 2) - 5 Warbond Medals
• Proof of Faultless Virtue (Page 3) - 15 Warbond Medals

Title

• Free of Thought (Page 3) - 20 Warbond Medals

Vehicle Patterns (Skins)

• Inconspicuous Black Hellpod Pattern (Page 1) - 10 Warbond Medals
• Inconspicuous Black Exosuit Pattern (Page 1) - 50 Warbond Medals
• Inconspicuous Black Shuttle Pattern (Page 2) - 50 Warbond Medals

That about wraps up everything you can get in the Helldivers 2 - Truth Enforcers Warbond and their cost. Hopefully, when you wear the armor of the Ministry of Truth, you'll run into fewer dissidents and more heroes willing to die for Liberty, Democracy, and Super Earth. If not, they can always face the wall.

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There's no point in spreading Managed Democracy throughout the galaxy if you can't be fashionable while doing it. Okay, all the armor sets in Helldivers 2 do have an intended purpose. But with that gear and cape, you can't argue that Helldivers have an immaculate drip.

Helldivers 2 has dozens armor sets to mix and match. They're separated into three types — Heavy, Medium, and Light — and come equipped with an Armor Passive that gives you a small boon. Developer Arrowhead Games is constantly delivering more armor sets via Warbonds and the Superstore, so be sure to keep an eye out for more ways to increase your style points.

All Armor Passives in Helldivers 2 and what they do

There are eleven Armor Passives in Helldivers 2 and each offers different buffs. Knowing what they do can help you survive longer on the battlefield.

All armor sets in Helldivers 2, their passives, and how to get them

Here are all the currently available armor sets in Helldivers 2. Keep in mind that some are locked behind Warbonds or need to be purchased in the Superstore, while others are no longer available.

Aspects such as Armor Rating, Speed, Stamina Regen can differ among sets in the same type. In those occasions, you'll see all three aspects are balanced to compensate for any difference. For example, the SC-34 Infiltrator has a higher Armor Rating than other Light sets, but that is matched with lower Speed and Stamina Regen. Keep the differences in mind when choosing your equipment.

Every helmet in the game comes with the standard-issue stats of 100 Armor Rating, 100 Speed, and 100 Stamina Regen.

Related: Helldivers 2 Wiki: All Armor Sets List

Arrowhead adds more armor sets all the time. The developer also tweaks armor values from time to time. We'll keep updating the list whenever the Armory changes.

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Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead Games is once more preparing to celebrate Liberty Day, the fictional in-game holiday where the whole family can get together, eat hotdogs, and watch traitors be executed. Arrowhead brings Liberty Day home for Helldivers 2 players with free armor and a weapon from the original game.

That's right. Arrowhead is gifting Helldivers 2 fans the most-requested armor set: The DP-00 Tactical, inspired by the original armor from Helldivers 1. The armor is paired with the R-2124 Constitution, a modernized take on the classic. In case you were wondering, the rifle comes equipped with a bayonet — for close encounters.

Liberty Day 2024 starts on October 26, and all are invited to join. Or else.

Time to salute and execute: Liberty Day 2024 is coming

Arrowhead Games shared a list of highlights coming to Liberty Day as part of the faux celebrations. The day starts with a Strohmann News 24-hour livestream followed by the reciting of the Super Earth Anthem. For your entertainment, Dissident Executions are scheduled for 0700. Don't worry if you miss out because there will be another set of surprise executions starting at 20:00. You better hope you weren't doing anything treasonous lately.

For those new to Helldivers, Liberty Day is a fake holiday taking place every October 26. It's the day the Starship Troopers novel was released in 1959 and also coincides with the birthday of the studio head Johan Pilestedt (it can't be a coincidence). The first Liberty Day was celebrated on October 26, 2016, for the original Helldivers. Players were rewarded three new capes and the M2016 Constitution rifle, based on the 1903 Springfield.

How to get the classic HD1 armor and Constitution rifle in Helldivers 2

The video may suggest you have to play Helldivers 2 on October 26 to get the armor and weapon, but that's not the case. All you need to do to get the rewards is... nothing. As confirmed by Arrowhead on its Discord, all players will be gifted the items on October 27 regardless of participation.

Beyond Liberty Day 2024

Helldivers 2 players have more to look forward to after Liberty Day. Another Warbond is coming next week, just in time for the spooky season. Helldivers 2: Truth Enforcers launches on October 31, bringing two new armor sets and more weapons. It'll finally add another SMG to the mix with the SMG-32 Reprimand, paired with a new shotgun and a plasma pistol. There's also a new 'At Ease' emote that's ripe for meme-ing.

It's going to be a long week for Helldivers 2 players, and it all starts on October 26.

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I've been highly skeptical of Arrowhead Games' ability to "fix" Helldivers 2 in just two months' time. Seeing how the game's balancing was handled early on put me off of the game and I was not expecting the 60-day patch to do much.

Imagine my surprise, then, upon seeing not one but two incredible balancing updates pushed out to re-develop the meta to an enjoyable level. And, honestly, there are no two ways to describe the state Helldivers 2 is currently in: the game is gosh darn fun. There's no telling what might be the next step for Arrowhead Games' flagship shooter, and there are some caveats, but the game is now in a renaissance, and I'm thrilled to have regained some trust in the developers.

Helldivers 2 is now more fun than ever before, but can it stay that way?

I don't play Helldivers 2 the way it's meant to be played. There's a small sub-community of people playing Helldivers 2 solo, but we do so with the full expectation that we won't be taking on the highest difficulties or progressing efficiently.

It's fine, really.

What wasn't fine was how egregiously punishing the game got, even at low difficulties, if you took a slightly suboptimal loadout into a mission. Certain enemies, such as the Charger, essentially mandated that your fireteam had to take dedicated anti-armor weapons, no matter what. This, in turn, defined your primary and secondary kit as well. Remember: there's a long history of nerfs to Helldivers 2, and though not all were unwarranted, players were still left in a situation where the vast majority of gear was wholly unviable.

All of this was before Arrowhead substantially powered up both the Automatons and the Bugs via the Escalation of Freedom, on top of locking the cool new content behind the new, highest difficulty mode.

None of this was necessarily rolled back. Instead, Arrowhead delivered an incredible roster of buffs to player weapons and armor, making more kit viable than the game had even on launch day. As it stands, the odds are good that you could take anything into a mission and still be a force to be reckoned with. This is a huge shift in how matches play out, both in solo and in fireteam modes.

What has actually changed in Helldivers 2 after the 60-day patches?

In the broadest sense possible, Arrowhead Games has done three things with the last couple of balancing patches for Helldivers 2:

• Retrofitted the vast majority of the game's arsenal into relevance via buffs.
• Made enemy resistances, AI behavior, and spawning setups far more reasonable and sensible.
• Stopped leaving inflammatory comments willy-nilly.

Balancing a game isn't a zero-sum consideration, and while you might expect Helldivers 2 to be exceedingly easy now, that's not quite the case. Helldiver troops still get cut down at a moment's notice. Bad positioning will result in mission losses and unnecessary deaths, and though enemy forces did get some nerfs, they are no pushovers unless you're playing on the lowest possible difficulty.

The key thing that's changed is that you're no longer beholden to one or two specific loadouts for every single use case. As long as you keep a balanced arsenal where one of your weapons deals with chaff, one takes on heavy enemies, and one serves a gadget-like niche (i.e. the Stim Pistol), you'll be able to do some serious damage.

Loadout variety is a huge consideration in a game where we regularly get awesome guns and gadgets. Having new flamethrowers only for them to feel like spruced-up matchsticks was a bad look, and I'm thrilled that Arrowhead managed to come back from that.

Honestly, Helldivers 2 is now fun, not because it's easy, but because it lets you interact with its sandbox in more ways than ever before. The "experience shift" that Arrowhead promised worked, almost ridiculously well.

Can Arrowhead maintain the balance that's now been struck?

This truly is the ultimate question we need to keep asking over and over again as we proceed into Helldivers 2's hopefully years-long live-service setup. Helldivers 2 was released to immediate acclaim, only to then be ground into something less interesting and exciting by subsequent balancing attempts.

These balancing attempts came from a good place, but they showed the community that Arrowhead doesn't necessarily know how to make players happy and the game fun. Even after two massive buff-oriented patches, I can't shake off the feeling that we're just riding a high that won't last long.

Potential hidden nerfs aside for a bit, there's another big consideration: can there be too much of a good thing in this context? And the answer is yes, certainly. The original Helldivers was balanced on a knife's edge (not always perfectly, mind), where both the enemies and the players were extremely powerful and capable. The challenge was knowing how to best use these powerful tools you had at your disposal and how to avoid the enemies' strongest weapons.

I dare say that we're in a similarly precarious golden era for Helldivers 2, too. The enemies are challenging, but the players have the potential of being every bit as punishing as the full brunt of the Automaton and/or Bug forces. How long will Arrowhead Games be able to maintain this balance? Are we just one Warbond away from completely dismantling everything the 60-day patch(es) delivered?

Given Arrowhead's track record, I'm not yet convinced this isn't a fluke. I want to believe Helldivers 2 will now keep up its balancing act to stay the game it is now. But it will take a handful of other balancing updates before I can be sure that I'm happy with what Arrowhead's offering. And I know I'm not the only one who's still on the fence.

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The prophecy has been fulfilled: Arrowhead Games has dropped the notes for the Helldivers 2 day-60 patch, which brings even more buffs and changes to the table. Oh, and it apparently canonizes community meme John Helldiver. But let's briefly forget about that and dive into the notes.

It may have come out a few days later than expected, but the Helldivers 2 day-60 patch has arrived. The Arrowhead team found many more buffs and changes to apply to the game's weapons and stratagems. Gameplay changes run the gamut from enemy health to patrol spawn behavior. The patch targets the Automaton forces more directly, decreasing the armor for some enemies while making it harder for them to target you through smoke and fog.

Helldivers 2 day-60 patch notes is full of welcome changes

More than 70 weapons and stratagems got tweaked or reworked following Helldivers 2 patch 01.001.104. For the guns, the Liberator, Scorcher, Purifier, Punisher Plasma, and others have been buffed to be even more viable in the field. Among the big buffs, few are bigger than the one for the fan-favorite P-4 Senator, which has been upgraded with heavy armor penetration and increased projectile damage. But can it actually ground Chargers? Oh, yes. And not just Chargers.

The patch also addresses many of the support weapons. The Recoilless Rifle now has programmable ammunition, allowing you to switch between the regular rockets and High-Explosive rounds. Arrowhead extended the same love to the Autocannon, which can fire normal or flak projectiles. Other affected Stratagems include the Machine Guns and the Stalwart, the Jump Pack, the AR-23 "Guard Dog," and more.

The Automatons got a right bruising with the patch. Devastators, Berserkers, and Tanks have received decreased armor or head health. Tank weak spots now have a health pool separate from the vehicle's total health, and damaging it "150% damage to the Tank's main health." Recently equipped with laser cannons, the Hulk Bruiser had said weapon reverted to the standard rocket launcher. And you have John Helldiver to thank, according to the team.

"In response to their disapproval of a newly installed cannon on the Automaton Hulk Bruisers, Super Earth High Command sent a crack commando to sabotage their production facilities," read the patch notes. "The skilled operative promptly escaped into the shadows after completing their mission. Today, still wanted by the Automatons, they survive as a soldier of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can enlist… John Helldiver"

John isn't the only one having fun. According to the notes, the famous General Brasch is coming home from his "holiday retreat in foggy hillside town." I suddenly feel a bit sorry for Pyramid Head. But only a little.

The 60-day patch notes for Helldivers 2 are extensive, so be sure to give it a good read before your next drop.

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In August, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Games announced a 60-day plan to improve the game and win back the hearts and minds of its community. Sadly, the planned 60-day patch is getting pushed until next week, but it's for a good reason.

Creative director Johan Pilestedt and design director Niklas Malmborg announced that the 60-day patch will now be the 63-day patch, releasing on Tuesday, October 15. Why the delay? Well, apparently, someone at Arrowhead forgot to check what day the deadline would fall on.

It's a Saturday, and, as Pilestedt and Malmborg explained in a short video clip, Arrowhead doesn't release patches on the weekend. The reason? They "don't want to break the game while you're playing the game." The patch has been delayed to avoid a scenario where would-be weekend divers are stuck doing something else, like playing another game or visiting family (shudders).

But the good news is that the duo have teased what the patch is bringing next week.

Arrowhead teases what's inside the 60-day 63-day patch

To whet your appetite, Pilestedt and Malmborg took a few moments in the clip to tease what the 63-day patch will contain. Yes, just like the massive patch we got last month, the next one buffs even more weapons.

• Flak is coming to the Autocannon
• The Recoilless Rifle is getting programmable ammo
• The Scorcher will receive "automatic fire"
• A change is coming to the Stalwart
• You'll be able to retrieve and activate your backpack drones manually

It's a nice list, even though at least one tease feels like a tease. I mean, what change is coming to the Stalwart? Don't hold out on me, Arrowhead. You know I love the Stalwart.

Among the changes, being able to recall and send out your backpack drone is something I never knew I wanted until now. It'll certainly help when I'm playing Helldive missions and I need my drone to not shoot the nearby bug patrol, thank you very much.

The full patch notes will arrive on October 15. Until then, happy weekend diving.

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