Helldivers 2 gets another balance patch, this time with all good news: armored bugs nerfed and an un-fun operation modifier removed

Helldivers 2's latest patch has made sound like significant changes to the pesky, democracy-blocking Chargers and Bile Titans.

While the tweet below touts the patch as mainly altering enemy spawn rates and adding UI fixes, the changes to the Chargers, in particular, could quietly have the biggest impact on the wider game.

In short, the Chargers' health is being reduced, but only on their heads. Arrowhead writes that while it hasn't reduced the health of their legs, it has knocked down the hit points of their heads to the point where a single well-placed shot from a Recoilless Rifle or an EAT-17 instantly kills them.

"Together with the unfortunately undocumented change of last patch that increased the armor penetration ability of less well-placed shots for EAT-17s and Recoilless Rifle shots, Chargers should now be easier to handle by well-equipped groups," another entry on the patch notes reads.

This could have huge implications for Helldivers 2 players, in particular those who regularly squad up against Terminid forces. Chargers are undoubtedly some of the game's more annoying enemies, and handing players a proven method of taking them out in just one shot is big news.

Elsewhere, the spawn rates of enemies, particularly Terminids, are being altered. Players should now encounter fewer Charger and Bile Titans on difficulties seven and up, and the new patch should prevent "spawn spikes" with the two enemy classes, where hordes of the creatures are seen at once. Now we wait for Hulk changes, divers. 

Another notable change is the removal of the unpopular Electronic Countermeasures operation modifier, which could randomly screw with your Stratagems. This was actually cut in a previous update, but Arrowhead says it was "unintentionally omitted from the patch notes." It sounds like the devs agreed with the players here: "We found that this modifier wasn’t communicated clearly enough and overall caused more frustration than excitement with the way it was currently implemented."

As per usual with new Helldivers 2 patches, the new update includes a litany of bug and crash fixes. Arrowhead's shooter is definitely going from strength to strength in terms of stability and performance these days, which is a huge improvement over the launch window last month.

Read up on our Helldivers 2 meta guide for a look at all the best loadouts and gear for taking on the hardest missions.