Helldivers 2 Patch Improves Weapons, Changes Enemy Detection, and Lets You Stim Mid-Dive

The Unflinching and Integrated Explosives armor passives have also improved, and Illuminate Harvesters become easier to kill.

One day before the Force of Law Warbond launches for Helldivers 2, Arrowhead Game Studios released a new patch with bug fixes and balance changes. These include the ability to administer Stims mid-dive and enemies not immediately detecting you when near Terminid or flying enemy spawners.

Several weapons have also received improvements, like the R-2 Amendment’s improved ergonomics and the P-2 Peacemaker’s additional starting magazines and damage. The Integrated Explosives passive also increases initial inventory and grenade capacity by +2. Unflinching, meanwhile, increases armor rating by 25 while causing markers to scan every two seconds on the map.

If that wasn’t enough, Illuminate Harvesters are now easier to destroy with anti-tank weapons. Elevated Overseers will also spawn less frequently in the Prevent Invasion Foothold missions.

Helldivers 2 is available for PS5 and PC. It crossed 15 million players last November, with creative director Johan Pilestedt noting about 2.5 million weekly players before the Heart of Democracy update.

Patch 01.003.101

Balancing

General

The Ministry of Humanity has issued an amendment to its Combat Mobility Safety Guidelines, now permitting Helldivers to self-administer stims while in mid-dive, an act previously categorized in the same risk zone as “running with scissors” and “juggling live grenades”

Primary weapons

R-2 Amendment

Increased ergonomics from 35 to 50

Sidearms

P-2 Peacemaker

Increased starting magazines from 4 to 5
Increased max spare magazines from 6 to 8
Increased damage from 75 to 85
Increased durable damage from 15 to 25

Armor Passives

Integrated Explosives

Now also increases initial inventory and holding capacity of grenades by +2

Unflinching

This passive has been adjusted to better reflect the core doctrine of the Truth Enforcers Warbond—relentless pursuit, battlefield awareness, and overwhelming presence

Now also increases armor rating by 25
Markers placed on the map will generate a radar scan every 2.0s, revealing nearby hostiles

Enemies

General

Stealth Detection Update:

Enemies will no longer automatically detect you when you’re near Terminid spawners or spawners that generate flying enemies. Instead, these spawners will now only activate if an enemy has already identified you as a target.

Previously, simply being within 200 meters of certain spawner types—such as flying enemy spawners, Stalker lairs, or inside Terminid locations—would trigger immediate enemy spawns and reveal your location. This update shifts detection to a more logical, line-of-sight or alert-based system, reducing arbitrary auto-detection mechanics and improving stealth gameplay

As a result of these changes, Automaton Fabricators now spawn enemies more consistently, ensuring smoother pacing and engagement balance

Objectives

Take Down Overship

The Planetary Defense Cannon now causes an appropriate amount of damage when shooting at Leviathans

Illuminate

Harvester

Their health has been rebalanced to make them easier to destroy using anti-tank weapons, particularly when aiming at their head

Overseers

Reduced the frequency of Elevated Overseers spawning during Prevent Invasion Foothold missions
Overseers can now occasionally spawn from landed dropships at outposts, adding variety to their battlefield presence

Leviathan

Projectile damage was reduced from 1500 to 350. The intent is to ensure Helldivers are still eliminated on direct impact, while preventing instant destruction of Exosuits and FRVs
Explosion damage and radius from turret shots have been increased to maintain lethality through area denial

Automatons

Factory Strider

Slightly increased the health of its feet. It should no longer be destroyed by a single GR-8 Recoilless Rifle shot to the legs

Fixes

Crash Fixes, Hangs and Soft-locks:

Fixed a crash that could happen after any player disconnects
Fixed some crashes that were caused by browsing different weapon attachments

Weapons and Stratagems

Fixed RS-422 Railgun scope’s screen not displaying the heat level correctly
Entrenchment tool’s stamina cost now properly matches other melee weapons
Fixed an issue where melee attacks inside shield relays were not registering properly