As Helldivers 2 prepares an onslaught of buffs to make the game more fun, one dev preps players for the inevitable: "Will there be more nerfs? Of course there will"

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"Anytime you balance a ton of things, others will need looking over as well"

Two Helldivers pull a classic fart gag
(Image credit: Arrowhead)

Helldivers 2 is currently in the midst of a 60-day plan to put the fun back into the game following a slew of poorly received balance passes, but don't think that means the idea of nerfs are going out the window.

Speaking to a fan worried about stealth nerfs following a string of weapon buff reveals, community manager Thomas 'Twinbeard' Petersson sets expectations straight. Yes, the team wants to preserve the fun better than it has done, but that doesn't mean nerfs are forever off the table.

"Will there be more nerfs? Of course there will," he says on Discord. "Anytime you balance a ton of things, others will need looking over as well. That being said, this patch will see a lot more buffing in general, it will focus on making guns and equipment feeling more 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."

So there you have it. Over the past few days, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has teased a few buffs ahead of a September 17 patch – the popular Breaker shotgun will return to old levels of power and Flamethrowers are back, among other things. Funnily enough, the developer has also just revealed that one of the game's most maligned enemies, the Rocket Devastator, is getting a nerf.

Helldivers 2 dev admits "there's been a disconnect" between Arrowhead and "what players want": "We want to make the game more fun."

Iain Harris
Iain Harris
News Editor, Games

I joined GamesRadar+ in May 2022 following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When I'm not running the news team on the games side, you'll find me putting News Editor duties to one side to play the hottest JRPG of 20 years ago or pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new cloak – the more colourful, the better.