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Helldivers 2 CEO assures divers he doesn't "have any say in AR balancing" over their beloved Coyote as they suffer through the Oshaune meat grinder

News
By Issy van der Velde published 8 September 2025

The people are afraid of their glorious leader

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Helldivers 2
(Image credit: Sony)
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If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that nerfs suck, especially in PvE games. Helldivers 2 has dealt with its fair share of rebalancing complaints, and players are already worried Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani is going to make their new favorite assault rifle, the Coyote, worse.

The Coyote is a new assault rifle introduced in the Into the Unjust update, unlockable in the Dust Devils premium Warbond. In the face of a new and improved Terminid menace to fight, it's proved a great weapon, especially on Oshaune, which has killed 156 million Divers so far with one of the worst mission failure rates in the game's history.

On paper, it's decent but not amazing. It deals 75 damage, has a 45-round magazine, and medium armor penetration. That's more damage than the Liberator Penetrator or Pacifier, but it's the incendiary rounds that make it a cut above the rest. Any bugs that don't die from a gunshot wound soon succumb to the flames, making this the perfect crowd control weapon. The medium armor penetration also means it can take out anything smaller than a Charger.

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  • Cropped Helldivers 2 art from the official 'Save Cyberstan' poster. Helldivers 2 devs "underinvested" in the game's engine, Arrowhead CEO admits, who pledges "things can/will get better"

But players are already afraid Arrowhead is going to nerf it after Jorjani was chatting in the game's official Discord server. One player asked about medium and light penetration assault rifles, which prompted another to write, "The new AR is shit (Shams is here)."

"It's not like I have any say in AR balancing," Jorani writes, trying to reassure everyone. "So don't fear my presence." As reported by our friends at PC Gamer, players have already cried out begging for it to be left alone. One Reddit post details how it's not the Coyote that's great, but the other assault rifles that are mediocre.

Arrowhead has previously made weaker stratagems better rather than making the good ones worse, so hopefully we don't need to worry and everything else will actually be getting buffs.

Only time will tell. For now, get to Oshaune and prepare to lay down your life for Managed Democracy.

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Issy van der Velde
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I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.

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