Helldivers 2's new balance update softens those annoying civilian defences and stratagem cooldown modifiers, buffs heavy armour, and increases the level cap to 150

Helldivers 2 just had its second major balance patch, and this time there are—on average—more winners than losers. There've been nerfs, sure, but they're far less controversial than the recentrailgun fiasco. 

First up, those civilian defence missions where you have to herd a bunch of fragile strangers through a battlefield that makes Warhammer 40k look like a walk in the park should be a smidge easier, moving enemy spawn locations «further away from the objective.» Same amount of bots, you'll just have some extra breathing room. Also, higher difficulties should require fewer lemmings—I mean, priority civilians—to make it to the shuttle.

In another huge win for democracy, Arrowhead has «halved the negative effect of operation modifiers that increase stratagem cooldowns or call in times». These modifiers were a pain in the rear for any patriot, and while I still personally think additive modifiers (ramping up the spawns of a certain enemy type, for example) are better, this brings us one klick further towards solving the issue.

As for weapons, the arc thrower (which is a bit more viable now, specially since it's not crashing games anymore) has had its range reduced and stagger force improved. The anti-materiel rifle's damage has had a bump, fire damage is up against the board, and the diligence counter sniper's had its armour penetration bumped from light to medium—which is huge, since that gun had been consigned to the waste bin for a while. 

Unfortunately, our new favourite gadget, the mechs, have had a nerf. Their missiles will «now penetrate armour only on direct hit», which seems like a bit of an overcorrection out of nowhere. Mechs are powerful, yeah, but they're slow, cumbersome, prone to blowing up, and have a pretty limited salvo of missiles in the first place. I already wasn't using them on bot missions because all that ranged chip damage was a nightmare, I'm extra not going to use them now.

On the plus side, armour should be even more effective. Both heavy