Helldivers 2 claims massive balance changes are meant to make players “glass cannons”

Though a buff-filled update sits on the horizon, Helldivers 2 developers note that more nerfs will eventually hit the game as well.

Helldivers 2’s popularity has waned in part because of controversial balance updates. Arrowhead deployed one such patch in August, nerfing the Flamethrower and the SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary. Even Stratagems like the Orbital Walking Barrage were dealt a mighty blow.

The studio means to right some of these wrongs by issuing a new update on September 17, which will buff the Flamethrower, Breaker shotgun, and more.

While Helldivers 2 players look forward to the forthcoming changes, one developer has made it clear that more nerfs will inevitably go live.

On Discord, Community Manager Thomas ‘Twinbeard’ Petersson made sure to clear the air, writing, “Will there be more nerfs? Of course, there will. Anytime you balance a ton of things, others will need looking over as well.”

Twinbeard/Discord

Petersson reiterated that the September 17 patch will involve lots of buffing to ensure guns and equipment feel viable, “making you vulnerable if you mess up while letting you do more damage and be more effective when you have the right tools for the job. Better dynamics and, we hope, more fun.”

In a subsequent Discord response, Petersson said the idea is to get the game to feel “more as HD2 [did] before.” So even though Divers are “glass cannons,” they should still have the power to “destroy a lot of sh** if [players] are doing it right.”

The Community Manager’s comments note eventual Helldivers 2 nerfs will be in response to the upcoming balance update. As such, there’s no way of knowing what weapons and Stratagems will receive additional tweaks after the mid-September patch.

Sony

Fans can only hope future nerfs won’t overcorrect as they have in the past. For example, the aforementioned Flamethrower tweaks were designed to make the weapon “work more realistically.” Players instead found its functionality less than favorable.

In addition to increasing the Flamethrower’s damage by 33 percent, the next major update will also nerf enemies such as Rocket Devastators. Players can expect these foes to only possess a limited number of rocket projectiles once the update hits PC and PS5.