Helldivers 2's buff-happy patch is here, and I'm already feeling the flames of liberty burn bright once again

Patch 01.001.100 for Helldivers 2—which forms part of the game's 60 day update plan to completely overhaul its approach to weapon variety and enemy heavies—is finally here, and it's a doozy.

To keep it short, basically anything with heavy armour has been made more vulnerable, old favourites like the flamethrower and railgun can now damage them, and the strength of specialised anti-tank weapons has been upped to keep them ahead of the newly-versatile competition.

This is a huge change from how Arrowhead Studios has been handling things up until now, with vast swathes of the game's many weapons feeling like pea shooters against the enemies of democracy. Given it dropped a couple hours ago by the time this post goes up, I won't speak as to the bugs, glitches, and crashes we'll probably see coming out of the woodwork—but having hopped into a couple of games this morning, I'm already noticing a difference.

My primary weapons felt stronger on average, too—far more able to punch through enemy armour, which is good for the weapon you're ostensibly meant to be using as, well, your primary. I'm not just imagining things—the patch notes have a ream of primary weapon buffs, for example, the much-maligned Counter Sniper has had its damage increased from 140 to 200 and its durable damage from 14 to 50.

My favourite note by far is the Thermite Grenade, which has had its «explosion damage increased from 100 to 2000». That is not a typo.

All this to say, Helldivers 2 is a slightly easier game now. But it's also a heck of a lot more fun. Instead of feeling hemmed into a set of specific stratagems and weapons, Arrowhead seems committed to letting its weapons be versatile—while specialised stuff should be, as the CCO remarked recently, a "delete key" for tanky threats. You can read the full patch notes here.

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