Arrowhead has unveiled the first major update for Helldivers 2 in 2025, introducing a series of significant changes and enhancements to enrich the gameplay experience. Patch 01.002.101, available now, extends the duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons, reintroduces the ability to emote while flying or ragdolling, and includes various balance adjustments and bug fixes.
As Helldivers 2 approaches its first anniversary and welcomes the new Illuminate enemy faction, the gaming community is buzzing with anticipation about the future developments in the game's ongoing meta narrative, the Galactic War. Speculation is rife that this hefty update, weighing over 5GB, might be stealthily introducing new content alongside the announced changes and fixes.
It's worth pointing out a particularly unsettling fix in this update:
Fixed a small visual bug with the Stalker’s tongue (you don’t want to know what it took to fix it)
Here are the detailed patch notes for Helldivers 2 update 01.002.101:
Balancing
General Changes
- The duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons has been increased from 6 to 10 seconds.
- Implemented a timer for the Illuminate dropship wreckages to despawn, preventing them from obstructing paths in the colonies.
Helldiver
- The Ministry of Humanity has revised its Principles of Correct Posture for Safe Lifting, now allowing Helldivers to jog while carrying two-handed items such as barrels and SEAF Artillery Rounds.
FRV
- Helldivers can now deploy grenades and stratagems while leaning out from the FRV.
- Tuned FRV handling for an improved driving experience when cornering.
Sidearms
- Starting magazines increased from 2 to 3.
- Spare magazines increased from 4 to 5.
Stratagem Support Weapons
TX-41 Sterilizer
- Removed the crosshair drift recoil.
- Decreased the camera climb recoil.
- The duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons has been increased from 6 to 10 seconds.
Armor Passives
- Following player feedback, the bug with the Siege Ready Armor Passive, which provides more ammo to all magazine-based weapons instead of just primary weapons, has been retained. The Armory description will be updated to reflect this, but it's currently under review for potential unforeseen issues.
Backpacks
AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath
- Reworked to enhance effectiveness and maintain its unique gas-based mechanics.
- It will now conserve ammo by targeting only enemies unaffected by the gas status effect. Once an enemy is affected by gas, the drone moves on to another unaffected target.
- The targeting logic has been updated to prevent the drone from straying too far, now originating from the Helldiver's position instead of the drone itself.
- The targeting range has been extended from 10 to 20 meters.
- The duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons has been increased from 6 to 10 seconds.
Stratagems
MD-6 Anti-Personnel Minefield
- Cooldown decreased from 180 to 120 seconds.
- Damage increased from 350 to 700.
- The deployment spread of mines has been increased by 20% to minimize the risk of chain explosions.
MD-I4 Incendiary Mines
- Cooldown decreased from 180 to 120 seconds.
- Damage increased from 210 to 300.
- The deployment spread of mines has been increased by 20% to minimize the risk of chain explosions.
MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines
- Cooldown decreased from 180 to 120 seconds.
SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack
- Now blocks melee attacks until it breaks from taking enough damage.
Fixes
Resolved Top Priority issues:
- Helldivers can once again emote while falling or ragdolling without reducing fall damage, allowing for expressive moments even during perilous descents.
- Fixed Illuminate spawner ship shields not taking impact grenade damage.
- Addressed an issue with collision gaps inside the Illuminate spawner ship, ensuring grenades thrown near the door can destroy the ship.
- Health packs now fully restore all of the Helldiver's stims.
- High damage weapons will now detonate spawned Hellbombs on the map.
Crash Fixes, Hangs and Soft-locks:
- Fixed a crash when aborting missions with the Democracy Space Station effects active.
- Fixed a crash when hot-joining a mission on a planet with the Democracy Space Station present.
- Fixed a crash caused by quickly switching between different emotes before another client interacted with the emoting player.
- Reduced the chance for crashes caused by fires.
- Fixed a rare crash at the end of the drop-in sequence when hot-joining a game in session.
- Fixed a crash when the player returned to the ship while reloading their primary weapon.
- Fixed a soft-lock during drop-in when the host left or disconnected the session right after loadout.
- Fixed a crash when repeatedly changing armor pieces in the armory.
- Fixed a crash after finishing the tutorial and naming your Destroyer.
- Fixed a crash during extraction.
- Fixed a crash when returning to the ship during heavy projectile fire.
- Fixed a crash for clients when the host was holding a carryable objective and quit the game.
- Fixed a crash when a player left the game when an encounter started.
- Fixed a crash when changing text language.
- Fixed a crash when reloading the SG-20 Halt.
Social Issues & Matchmaking
- Improved matchmaking logic to better match players with those from nearby regions.
- Players are now more likely to be matched with the same difficulty lobbies as their current selection.
- Fixed an issue where the chat history was cleared when going to a mission and returning from it.
Weapons and Stratagems
- Opening and closing the text chat while in an emplacement now allows the player to remain in the emplacement instead of switching to their weapon.
- Fixed Arc weapons not reliably hitting the Impaler's tentacles when aimed at the lower parts.
- The E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement now displays the correct armor penetration tag in the ship menu.
- Stratagem turrets no longer target Illuminate Tesla Towers.
- Fixed a visual bug where heat weapons displayed numbers over the progress bar in the weapon wheel menu.
- Melee weapons no longer send civilian cars and other objects flying long distances.
- B-1 Supply Pack now provides stims to other players, promoting team cooperation.
- Fixed a bug where players could get stuck in the E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement after depleting all ammunition.
FRV
- All FRVs have been reinforced to prevent catastrophic explosions from minor parking mishaps.
- General improvements to the FRV camera, enhancing visual appeal and preventing it from getting stuck underground when driving downhill.
- Reduced the chance of FRVs being dropped on rooftops when called in.
- The FRV movement key bindings now accept non-QWERTY keyboard inputs.
- Fixed a bug where some enemies, such as the Brood Commander, were launched further than intended when hit by the FRV.
Helldiver
- Fixed an issue where player ragdolling into the FRV caused the vehicle to be launched into space.
- Fixed an issue preventing Helldivers from climbing and vaulting over civilian cars.
- Helldivers no longer slide around on the ground after ragdolling from a blast.
- Fixed an issue where ragdolling into shallow water caused a stuck prone gliding animation.
- Fixed an issue where the Helldiver was not playing the sample pick-up animations.
Enemies
- Fixed a small visual bug with the Stalker’s tongue.
- Fixed an issue where enemies wouldn’t react to missed shots from projectiles or melee attacks near them.
Miscellaneous Fixes
- Fixed an issue where clients would trigger the wrong audio when waiting for the host to join the loadout.
- Fixed an issue of Helldivers exiting the hellpod right after readying up and before transitioning to the loading screen.
- Fixed an issue of civilians being blocked from finding the shuttle door during Emergency Evacuation missions.
- Purple question marks should be encountered less frequently during Illuminate missions on Sandy and Arctic planets.
- Fixed the floating head syndrome affecting Helldivers wearing the AC-2 Obedient armor with certain helmets.
- Fixed a bug introduced in December where weapons with lower armor penetration than the target’s armor dealt one (1) damage instead of zero (0), causing misleading visual feedback and negligible extra damage.
- Enemies now start sinking into the ground when killed near terminals or the extraction point, preventing physical blockages.
Known Issues
Top Priority:
- Black box mission terminal may be unusable if it spawns clipped into the ground.
- Stratagem balls bounce unpredictably off cliffs and some spots.
- Balancing and functionality adjustments for DSS.
- Pathfinding issues in Evacuate Colonists Illuminate missions.
- Dolby Atmos does not work on PS5.
Medium Priority:
- Players can get stuck on Pelican-1’s ramp during extraction.
- Explosives can cause Helldivers hidden behind terrain to ragdoll.
- Currently equipped capes don't display properly and show a blank grey cape in the Armory tab.
- Players using the “This is Democracy” emote on their ship might unintentionally send fellow Helldivers on unauthorized unscheduled spacewalks.
- AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath does not show when it is out of ammo.
- The Barrager Tanks turret has armor 0 and no weak spots.
- Higher zoom functions do not zoom the camera in through the scope on the LAS-5 Scythe.
- Weapons with a Charge-up mechanic can exhibit unintended behavior when firing faster than the RPM (Rounds Per Minute) limit.
