The high anticipated 1,001,100 patch for Helldivers 2 released, and thank goodness it looks promising. Arrowhead has had this one in the works for a while, and it looks like they took a really healthy amount of player feedback into account. So, who are the biggest winners and losers?
Biggest changes in Helldivers 2 patch 1.001.100, explained
The Winners of Helldivers 2 patch 1.001.100 (US)
The 1,001,100 patch is essentially a balance patch. Helldivers 2 partially sold itself on overpowered weapons, that’s a fact. (It was even in the marketing material.) So cut to a few months after release, and many prize war bonds later. Those overpowered weapons aren’t so overpowered anymore, and those premium war bonds all seem to have some real wet noodles in them.
Of course, people get a little angry. The game is still fun, but the meta is getting stale, and people are asking for a change. And so, the change is here. Patch 1.001.100 (which I’ll refer to from here on as ‘the patch’, because 1001100 is binary for ‘L’, which may not mean much, but it’s still the language of the enemy) brings changes to many. weapons currently on offer, and the Helldivers themselves.
So, let’s go through some of the bigger changes.
Helldivers
Helldivers now take less bonus damage from headshots. Originally, headshots dealt 100% bonus damage, while now they do 50%. Of course, that means a rocket to the face will probably still send you to the pearly gates, but stray shots from across the field are less likely to take you down. In addition to this, the amount of damage taken to the rest of the body in general is slightly increased, and different areas come with different effects. This already existed in the game, but the numbers were changed. No exact numbers are given, but it’s safe to assume that a shot to the chest will hurt just a little more now than it did before.
weapons
First, the Liberator Concussive (which I discussed in my piece about enjoying Helldivers 2’s off-meta) got a big upgrade, as it now rocks a big looking drum magazine that holds a crisp 60 micro rockets. It had the overall mag capacity reduced, which makes sense, but now I can chug chug chug just a little bit longer.
Another major change has come to all Laser based weapons, and this is great because that really set me off in a way that I can’t quite put into words. Laser weapons shouldn’t have recoil (that’s physics, I think). And now, they don’t. The Scythe, the Dagger, and even the Laser Cannon all had their cooldowns reduced, and their recoil removed. They also all set enemies on fire faster, which means that while their initial damage may still be lacking, they offer a DOT effect that many other weapons simply don’t.
Another weapon with some major changes is the Eruptor, which had its original shrapnel effect restored but changed to match the pre-existing frag grenade shrapnel, as opposed to a unique system. Overall, its base burst damage is reduced (from 340 to 225), but the total burst radius is increased (by 33%), and it now fires. 30 pieces of shrapnelfor 110 damage. If this means every piece of shrapnel, I’ll be honest, I have no idea. If so, please, because that’s like 3110 damage.
One more change I will mention is Thermite Grenades. Their damage increased from 100 to a subtle 2000. That will do it, yes.
Outside of this, a large majority of the weapon changes are to damage, sustained damage, ammo amounts, and a few other fixes and tweaks. You can get exact figures and changes by checking the patch notes straight from Arrowhead.
Stratagems
Stratagems don’t have a whole bunch of major changes, just some nice little buffs to make some of them a little more effective. The 500KG bomb for example had its “blast radius increased to better match visuals”. This sounds amazing, because they look like hell.
Bow Towers have had a nice change in that they now cause a stack of stun effects on effected targets, which hopefully makes them much more viable in crowd control situations. I’d still like to see these have a more effective effect on Autos, for obvious reasons, but that’s just me.
The orbital gas strike also had a major change, in that gas effects now cause blindness and confuse enemies. What this confusion has to do with is not really clear, but these changes were made specifically to provide for the upcoming Chemical Agents war bond coming down soon. I imagine there will be even more changes to gas once that drops because it’s going to be a bit of a hit.
The Losers of Helldivers 2 patch 1.001.100 (Them)
And so to the other side, the enemies of democracy itself. Again, there’s a silly amount of changes here, so I’ll keep an eye out for the big ones. Now as a veteran of Malevelon Creek, I’m going to focus on the robots first, because they’re all I see when I’m trying to sleep at night.
The Boots
Automakers have had a pretty big change as they now have a health pool like any other enemy would have. This means that an unexploded command can now affect them, which is a big change in my opinion. Having to worry about these things meant I always had to worry about having an explosive option with me, and now I can spread out a bit more. They also now have multiple states to reflect their amount of damage.
Hulks across the board have been nerfed, with the Bruiser having a major change in that it now fires a laser instead of a missile barrage, and fires less often. Getting swarmed by these guys is a great high difficulty run killer, so with weapon buffs and nerfs to these guys, hopefully I’ll have some more successful Helldives.
The Berserker changes pissed me off. Reduced health, whatever. What I want to talk about is this line right here. “Abdomen is now a weak point.” I apologize? You mean the big bright red “shoot me here” sign wasn’t a weak point? That is criminal, you should be ashamed, and thank you for changing it.
Devastators are also now less evil, as now shooting them makes them worse. Who would appreciate it. Rocket Devastators also now actually have to reload between barrages, and the effective radius of their blasts has been reduced, although this was already in effect from an earlier patch. They now have too limited ammunitionwhich is a big change in my books, because if we have to manage our resources, they should too. (The ever-terrible Gunships also had this change, meaning they can only bug you for so long, instead of literally forever like they could before.)
The Bugs
And now for the bugs. Shocking absolutely no one, Chargers were the big target here.
Chargers now have less armor, lower weak health pools, become slower, charge less often, but deal more damage when they hit, whether that’s from a direct charge or side jab (50% increase to both). To call these changes anything but absolutely necessary would be ridiculous, because Chargers are the worst. They kill runs, and not in terms of skill, but in terms of ‘no but seriously what did you want me to do about it’.
The Bill Titan also received a significant hit, with reduced armor, and reworking of how the belly weak point works. The belly now effectively has two separate health pools, one for the outer layer, one for the really scaly bits. Now, if you put in a little more effort and really focus on its soft underbelly, you can guarantee the kill, unlike before when you kind of had to guess where to shoot next. Another big change here, because these guys started being a chore pretty early on.
The Impaler has also seen a change, as it can now retract its tentacles more than once. It also behaves more in line with what you’d expect, focusing on players closer to it rather than seemingly randomly like before. The range of said tentacles has also been reduced. The tentacles themselves now don’t cause instant nausea when attacked, as the screen shake reduction is considerable and appreciated.
Other Bits
While the focus has been on balances and fixes, there is some additional information in the patch notes. The most important, by far, is the introduction of an emote wheel. me love this change, because yes I want to hug my best friend, but sometimes I also want to say hello while watching 500KG Bomb turn the robots into beautiful memories. You will now be able to equip four emotes instead of the previous one, which is more than enough for me.
The way planets deal with weather conditions has also seen a noticeable change, and Extreme Heat and Extreme Cold are no longer static to planets, and are instead now dependent on the time of day, and the general climate of the planet. For example, desert planets will now only have Extreme Heat during the day, and at night will either have nothing at all, or the Extreme Cold modifier, as you would expect from a desert.
All in all, the Patch is the breath of fresh air Helldivers 2 really needed. Don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t a moment when I didn’t love this game, but I played it less just out of sheer frustration with some lingering issues, and some lame feeling weapons. I hope this patch is just the beginning, and I hope Arrowhead takes the great community response to this patch to heart when they make changes in the future.
If you enjoyed this piece and are looking for more Helldivers 2 content from us here at Pro Game Guides, check out our piece on how Helldivers 2 players get an idea of the game’s fourth faction!
