Huge Helldivers 2 Patch Adds New Illuminate Enemies, a New Biome 'Full of Fresh Horrors,' a Level Cap Increase and Much More

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released a major patch for the game, adding new Illuminate enemies, a new biome, and raising the level cap.

Update 7.0.0 is about players’ fight toward the Void, which will see the cannon fodder of Super Earth run into “new, hideously mutated organisms.” The patch notes, courtesy of Steam, are below.

“We have received intelligence reports that indicate these metamorphosed creatures are emerging from the heart of the Void – they are ghoulish diversions wrought into existence by the Illuminate scourge to threaten our freedom,” reads the in-universe description.

The patch adds a new SEAF planet modifier that will see Super Earth Armed Forces join players in battle in your missions with a range of new tools (Stim pistols, Heavy Machine guns, and more). These friendly SEAF NPC troops have new and improved behavior, weaponry, and updated visuals. Also with the patch are expanded emote slots (the emote wheel capacity has been raised from 4-8 emotes) and assisted reload improvements.

On the new enemies, the Crusher “is on a deathmarch capable of regenerating while taking heavy damage and needs to be worn down quickly and consistently without a moment of pause.” Elsewhere, the Wretch “is a relentless and nimble enemy that requires quick trigger fingers and focused aim as they are able to dodge and leap at the player while advancing to quickly dismantle its weapons along with their will to live.”

The Helldiver rank system is expanded beyond level 150, adding 15 new ranks and titles that go all the way up to level 300. Each new rank comes with its own unique title and icon. Today is also the day the Helldivers 2 x Warhammer 40,000 crossover launches via the Castellan’s Creed Legendary Warbond.

Helldivers 2 update 7.0.0 patch notes:

Community Feedback Changes

We’re trying out a new section to shout out some of the fixes and changes that are high up on the community’s wishlist!

GATER UpgradesSuper Earth engineers have replaced the engine and transmission in the GATER in favor of a much more powerful Super V48 Interceptor engine, this has improved its speed and handling.

The Constitution

… has stripper clips!

Assisted Reload Rework

Problem we want to solve:

• The original intent was a tactical action that needed collaboration with a designated reloader that carries the backpack
• We have reevaluated how this works and with how the game has evolved since launch we got to the conclusion that the assisted reload action require too much coordination which lead to it rarely happening

Intent and expectation with the change:

• We want to reduce the complexity with assisted reloading to promote using it more.
• Allow players to keep their backpack and reload whenever you need, while also allows a teammate to easily help you if the opportunity arises.

The change we made:

• Helldivers can now assist reload as long as one of the wielder and/or reloader of the weapon has the correct backpack

Updated icons for backpack weapons and expendable weapons

Problem we want to solve:

• Find a specific weapon in the loadout can be hard to do with all the new weapons added to the arsenal
• It can be hard to know if a support weapon needs a backpack or can not be reloaded when only looking at the icon.

Intent and expectation with the change:

• We want to make it easier to find specific weapons and to plan your loadout.
• It should be easier to know when a weapon needs a backpack or can not be reloaded when only looking at the icon.

The change we made:

• Stratagem Weapons that require a backpack now have a backpack icon included on their loadout icons
• Stratagem Weapons that can not be reloaded now have a drop weapon icon included on their loadout icons.

Decreased heavy landing duration

Problem we want to solve:

• The original intent was to make the heavy landing to feel like you recovered from a high fall.
• The player lost control for a long time when landing on the feet from a higher fall.

Intent and expectation with the change:

• We wanted to make it smoother to recover from the heavy landing state and not remove the control for too long.
• While still make it feel like a heavy landing recovery

The change we made:

• Decreased the duration for the heavy landing animation with around 40%

Stim action input smoothing

Problem we want to solve:

• Players can experience dead input when trying to stim when the stim action was not allowed.

Intent and expectation with the change:

• We want to lessen the feeling of dead input when using the stim action.

The change we made:

• We changed so the stim input is remembered for a short duration when the action is not allowed and will be executed if the stim action is allowed within that duration.
• This works similar to how the reload input action changes from the last patch.

Ammo re-balance for Short magazines attachments and Secondaries

Problem we want to solve:

• The benefits of the short magazines are too few compared to drum magazines.
• The benefits of some of the anti personnel side arms do not have enough benefits compared to other side arm options.

Intent and expectation with the change:

• Give more benefits to short magazines to make the items more useful compared to drum magazines for the same weapon.
• Give more benefits to some of the lesser used anti personnel side arms to make the items more useful

The change we made:

• Short magazines got more max spare and starting magazines.
• Some of the anti personnel sidearms got more max spare and starting magazines.

Primaries

R-2124 Constitution

Added a full stripper clip reload when reloading if the magazine is empty.

Primaries attachments

Short magazines for:

AR-23 Liberator

AR-23P Liberator Penetrator

AR-23C Liberator Concussive

AR-23A Liberator Carbine

AR-59 Suppressor

Increased spare magazines 12 to 16

Increased starting magazines 7 to 9

Short magazines for:

SMG-37 Defender

SMG-72 Pummeler

Increased spare magazines 9 to 12

Increased starting magazines 6 to 8

Short magazines for:

SMG/FLAM-34 Stoker

Increased spare magazines 10 to 13

Increased starting magazines 6 to 7

Decreased reload duration 2.8 sec to 2.3 sec

Short magazines for:

SG-225 Breaker

SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary

Increased magazines spare magazines 9 to 11

Increased magazines starting magazines 6 to 7

Short magazines for:

SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray

Increased spare magazines 16 to 20

Increased starting magazines 11 to 12

Secondaries

P-113 Verdict

Increased max spare magazines from 8 to 10

Increased starting magazines from 4 to 6

M6C/SOCOM Pistol

Increased max spare magazines from 8 to 10

Increased starting magazines from 5 to 6

P-19 Redeemer

Increased spare magazines from 4 to 6

Stratagems

Eagle Napalm Airstrike

Problem we want to solve:

• The Eagle napalm did not feel as effective compared to other Eagle stratagems and napalm stratagems

Intent and expectation with the change:

• Create a larger area of effect for the napalms fire
• Make it more effective compared to other napalm stratagems

The change we made:

• Increased explosion radius 8 to 10m
• More spread out bomb pattern to cover a larger area

MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines

Problem we want to solve:

• The explosion of the mines looks like they can destroy larger things

Intent and expectation with the change:

• The effect of the explosion match should match the visuals better
• Make the mines work in more situations like destroying colony walls and bug holes from the outside

The change we made:

• Increased Demolition strength from 30 to 40

Terminids

Hunters

Problem we want to solve:

• Hunters and their variants were unable to attack FRVs consistently
• They could only use their tongue to attack, and struggle to find a proper position to launch it

Intent and expectation with the change:

• When Helldivers enter a FRV, Hunters should be able to attack the vehicle more naturally

The change we made:

• We allowed one melee attack to be correctly triggered against FRVs

Illuminate

Veracitor

Problem we want to solve:

• When the Helldiver got attacked by a Veracitor while holding a ballistic shield it could created clipping issue where the arm of the Veracitor could merge with the body of the Helldiver and sometime resulting in sending the Helldiver at high speed in the air

Intent and expectation with the change:

• Fighting an exomech with a ballistic shield still protects against damage, but Helldivers will now ragdoll when blocking an attack
• Helldivers won’t be sent to low orbit anymore after blocking an attack with ballistic shield.

Ballistic shield will break after around 15 direct hits

The change we made:

• Increased Exomech melee’s force strength from 25 to 40
• Conformed Exomech melee’s attack armor penetration to all correctly be Anti tank

Fixes

Crash Fixes

• Fixed rare crash that could happen when dropping down the core drill
• Fixed a crash which could occur when spreading fire
• Fixed a very rare crash which could occur when mortar sentries update their targeting aim
• Fixed a crash that could happen sometimes when dropping in on CR7+ missions on Cyberstan
• [PS5][Xbox]Fixed a crash-on-boot that would occur after going into the settings menu with no prior saves, restoring settings to default and restarting
• Fixed a rare UI crash on shutdown
• Fixed a crash when using multiple monitors with different DPI scales in Windows

Weapons & Stratagem Fixes

• Sway and reload weapon stats now display decimals for better accuracy
• Stratagem Weapons that require a backpack now have a backpack icon included on their loadout icons
• Stratagem Weapons that cannot be reloaded now have a drop weapon icon included on their loadout icons
• You can now assist reload a Helldiver, using ammo from their backpack
• Fixed glitch where Veto pistol would receive one extra round (translating to one extra 6 bullet reload!) from the Siege-Ready armor passive. Also corrects a few other weapons which also received one erroneous extra round, magazine or heat-coil. We continue to round partial bonus rounds/mags/coils up in favor of the player.
• Fixed a bug where the camera clipped through the R-36 Eruptor with 2x Tube Red Dot equipped when inserting the next bullet in ADS at max FoV
• Enemies will no longer spontaneously attack the GATER unless the Helldiver is inside it or unless they are drilling. Enemies famously hate the democratic extraction of natural resources.
• Weapons will no longer lock onto the tank of the GATER
• Increased GATER ammo capacity, health, knockback and impact damage. Also made it harder to roll sideways
• Increased the speed and responsiveness of the GATER
• Fixed an issue where the first person animation of the LAS-58 Talon overloading would make the weapon clip with the SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack
• Fixed an issue where the Helldiver would cancel draw animations if they tried to enter the aim state while switching weapons. This would cause the Helldiver to look ready to fire, while still preparing the weapon
• The Ministry of Defence user experience department have made improvements to the TD-220 Bastion Mk.XVI munitions system Heads Up Display. This should make it clearer the main canon can be reloaded manually.
• Orbital Laser will no longer occasionally get stuck after targeting a flying enemy
• Exosuits will no longer get stuck in trees when being dropped off
• Throwable items are now being visible to other players when the Helldiver is carrying them
• Fixed a bug where the EXO-55 Breakthrough Exosuit would sometimes have the shield arm damage zones protrude through the shield, resulting in the arm taking damage that the shield should have protected
• Fixed case where the Breaker Drill could get stuck on the roof in certain hive world missions
• M-104 Incinerator FRV's mounted flamethrower now shows the correct icon and name

• Also corrects a few other weapons which also received one erroneous extra round, magazine or heat-coil. We continue to round partial bonus rounds/mags/coils up in favor of the player.

Enemies

• Fixed an issue where the Gatekeeper's weapons clipped into each other when their target was too close
• Fixed an issue where visually removing the armor of the Impaler didn't match the gameplay experience
• Impaler close melee attack now has a damage shockwave
• Hunters are now able to attack FRVs more consistently
• Fixed a bug where enemies would disappear when the Helldiver died, thus not being able to know what just killed the Helldiver
• Fixed enemy navigation issues in one of the Take Down Overship locations
• Fixed a bug where the Veracitor's melee attack could clip through Helldivers holding a SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack
• Fixed issue where Watchers and Obtruders were not attacking players while mounted behind a Grenadier Battlement
• Fixed an issue where sometimes the Hive Lord scales would not visually break properly (did not affect gameplay behavior)
• Obtruder will now collide correctly with Helldivers
• Reduced clipping between Obtruder and Helldivers' vehicles
• Veracitors now guard outposts
• Fixed an issue where the Veracitor clipped through buildings and obstacles while charging. It should now destroy anything in its path and stop when hitting a wall
• Fixed an issue where the Veracitor clipped through buildings and obstacles while charging. It should now destroy anything in its path and stop when hitting a wall
• Gatekeeper spawnrate has been increased to closely match Veracitor in Encounters
• Fixed a bug for Gatekeeper sometimes appearing to turn in place without moving their legs
• Fixed bug which would on rare occasions cause enemies to not be able to move into the correct attack range
• SEAFs can destroy enemy spawners
• Enemies have learned how to climb stairs during the Establish Communication Uplink missions

Miscellaneous Fixes

• Fixed several mission HUD inconsistencies on certain Hiveworld missions
• Fixed visible holes in the terrain in one of the Disrupt Shield Generator locations
• [Xbox Only] Helldivers can now look at a User's Gamecard when joining an ongoing game
• Fixed a bug where the factory building facade was inverted
• Updated the sounds for picking up medals, requisition slips and super credits one of the missions
• Fixed a bug where the Recoil Simulator was showing all ammo being fired at once
• Vehicle delivery shuttles will no longer get stuck endlessly looking for a place to drop off their deliveries when deployed in dense cities between tall buildings
• Helldivers will no longer ride the victory elevator with their hands in the air like some kind of rollercoaster
• Helldivers how have a chance to find super credits in Factory Worlds
• Fixed an issue in the tutorial where the incoming timer for the Orbital Precision Strike could display an incorrect duration
• Optimized various gameplay VFX across the game
• Prevented hit-markers being displayed for hits from indirect explosive damage, damage from your sentries and damage from your orbitals/airstrikes. Melee weapons, laser weapons and flame weapons will now display their hit markers correctly
• Fixed an issue with ragdolling causing invisible collision issues
• Exo Storms of class 2 and 3 will now spawn tornadoes of varying sizes, depending on the intensity of the storm.
• If your Helldiver cannot stim at the exact moment when the stim button is pressed, they will automatically stim as soon as they are able to (up to 2 seconds later)
• Fixed a bug where planting the CQC-1 One True Flag would break animations for other melee weapons.
• Fixed a bug where the CQC-1 One True Flag would be planted at the Helldivers feet instead of being planted in front of the Helldiver
• Fixed an issue where the player could see through the Destroyer ship while in a cutscene
• Decreased the Helldivers heavy land animation from 1.32 sec to 0.8 sec
• Scrolling to the bottom of the Bindings menu with a controller now correctly stops at the last available option instead of disappearing
• Fixed possible graphical artifacts in the Control Center
• Fixed a bug where Network Desync can cause SEAF Artillery shells to not be inserted properly, causing a soft lock
• Fixed a visual bug where the Oil Rig was displaying both destroyed and non-destroyed visual states
• Clothes on the upper body of civilian industrial corpses in cities now have the correct textures
• Optimized tree VFX materials
• Fixed an issue where network problems caused collision errors with enemy corpses.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Super Credits from spawning in Factory Cities
• [PS5 Pro] Added support for the upgraded PSSR upscaler

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.