Helldivers 2 patch stops a deadly situation where troopers would "randomly one-shot themselves" with explosive shrapnel

A new Helldivers 2 patch finally stops players killing themselves with shrapnel from the Eruptor.

Last month, Helldivers 2 players were being slaughtered by what they suspected were rebounding rockets from Automaton enemies. Developer Arrowhead explained that no, players weren't being killed by rebounding rockets, but rather explosive shrapnel, which was just introduced earlier that very same week via a brand new patch for the shooter.

Now, Arrowhead is taking out that feature entirely. In the new patch for Helldivers 2, which launched today on May 7, the developer writes in the patch notes for the Eruptor that it has "Increased explosion damage by 40 and removed shrapnel from the explosion," adding that "This is to avoid cases in which players would randomly one-shot themselves or their teammates in a huge radius around the explosion."

The entire case has been laid to rest: Players never were being killed by their own rockets rebounding from Automaton shields, even though the bots were buffed to repel certain firearms. The real culprit was a feature that, apparently, wasn't really working as intended, and causing players and their squad mates to get outright killed immediately.

Although the 'Overview' section of the patch notes indicates that multiple weapons were tweaked in the update, it's seemingly only the Eruptor that's been changed whatsoever. The Helldivers 2 patch notes don't highlight any other altered weapons, so perhaps there are some changes going on behind the scenes that Arrowhead isn't sharing right now.

Helldivers 2 players triumph as Sony walks back PSN account linking decision and studio CEO says he's "impressed by the willpower of the community."