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Everything added in the Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom update

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Now live, the Escalation of Freedom has updated Helldivers 2 with brand new gameplay

Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom
(Image credit: Sony)
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The Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom update is officially out now on all platforms, bringing in new enemies, locations, gameplay and more besides. A celebration of the game's six month anniversary, the Escalation of Freedom update is free for all to play, so it's worth understanding what's available in it. For those who want to know, we've got everything that's been added all listed below.

Everything in the Escalation of Freedom update for Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom

(Image credit: Sony)

Below we've got all the major changes that have been added to Helldivers 2 as part of the Escalation of Freedom update, though there are plenty of minor alterations too. Those who want the full details can find them at the official patch notes.

  • New Enemies: Several Helldivers 2 new enemies have been added: the Impaler, Spore Charger and Terminid Alpha Commander for the Bugs, and the Rocket Tank and "other bot surprises" for the Automatons. The Impaler in Helldivers 2 is an entirely unique enemy returning from the first game - a charger-like creature that sends aggressive tentacles into the ground to attack players - while the others are altered variants of existing foes already in the game.
  • Super Helldive Difficulty: The Helldivers 2 difficulties now go all the way to 10, with the addition of the incredibly hard "Super Helldive" option.
  • New Mission and Objective Types: A "Larva Retrieval" secondary objective allows players to capture a baby bug, while hunting Impalers is now its own mission type. On the Automatons' side, a new secondary objective has players attack Human Processing Plants - yuck.
  • Bigger Enemy Outposts: Both Bugs and Bots now have larger outposts on the map, more challenging and heavily defended, requiring high skill and coordination to take down. However, they have the high-value Super Samples within them - the motivation to break into these high-risk enemy encampments.
  • New Swamp Biome: Of the many landscapes found on different planets around the galaxy, now there's also a creepy Swamp biome in play, with dead trees and low light levels to deal with.
  • Rules to mitigate Grief-Kicking: Helldivers 2 now includes new mechanics and systems to stop players from "grief-kicking," the practice of kicking somebody out of a game just to upset them or driven by poor sportsmanship. To help alleviate the issue, Arrowhead now has kicked players "spawn into a new session as the host with all of the team’s loot from their previous session", so nobody loses loot.
  • Quality of Life Changes: Various changes to the UI and Social Menu make Helldivers 2 both easier to understand and utilize.
  • Weapon and Stratagem balances: Several weapons and Stratagems have been altered for the sake of rebalancing. Among them, the Incendiary Breaker is now weaker, and the Explosive Crossbow is now a one-handed weapon.
  • New Warbond: Though technically not a part of the update a new Warbond went live 48 hours after the Escalation of Freedom. This new Helldivers 2 Freedom's Flame Warbond adds a range of fire based weapons, armor and extras, so check out that guide for the full details.

Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom release date and time

Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom

(Image credit: Sony)

The Escalation of Freedom update is out and live now, having been made active on 6 August 2024 at 10:00 AM (BST) / 05:00 AM (ET) / 02:00 AM (PDT) / 11:00 AM (CEST) on all platforms.

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If the update isn't active for you yet, make sure you close the game completely and check for updates manually.

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Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.