Helldivers 2's new patch goes weapons-free on buffing and nerfing Stratagems, plus improving the Galactic War table with new supply lines

The big new Helldivers 2 patch is here, and it focuses on improving the Galactic War table, rebalancing weapons and Stratagems, and finally introduces invite-only lobbies for players, just in time for the launch of the latest Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond.

Chiefly, a lot of Stratagems have been tweaked in the new Helldivers 2 patch. The rocket, machine gun, autocannon, gatling, and mortar sentries have all seen changes, including durability being boosted by 80%, and decreased spread with larger targets prioritized for the rocket sentry. The machine gun sentry has also had its cooldown reduced from 180 to 120 seconds.

Additionally, the orbital gatling, orbital precision, and orbital airburst have all seen their cooldown times decreased. The anti-personnel and incendiary mines have also had their damage boosted, and the rocket pods now have improved targeting and armor penetration. Thankfully, the Eruptor has seen a damage buff, going from 420 to 570 damage per shot.

"With these balance changes we wanted to buff up some of the weaker stratagems to make them more viable and add more possibility for variety in the loadouts," Arrowhead writes on Steam. "We also changed a few to make them more consistent, but the goal was to keep a similar or higher power level. We are looking into the stratagems more to see if there are any other stratagems that might need some buffs or changes to make them more viable."

Similarly, there's been a ton of gameplay tweaks and changes in Helldivers 2's new patch. Specifically, the AA-Defenses modifier, which reduced player's Stratagem count by one, is now gone, and the 'Retrieve Essential Personnel' mission is now out of the game. Super Samples now mercifully spawn on difficulty six and above instead of difficulty level seven, and first-person crosshairs have been updated to "improve readability."

Fire Tornadoes will now no longer actively hunt players, but move in more random directions, and Tremors have also had their spawning adjusted to feel more randomized. Plenty of planets have also seen their fog tweaked to "be a bit less harsh and dense," and not wear players down as much with continual fighting. It's also worth mentioning that unexploded Hellbombs will now immediately explode without delay if hit with a strong enough weapon.

In terms of the Galactic War table, supply lines will now be visible for players. "Supply lines were previously not shown on the Galactic War map to reduce clutter and improve readability. However based on the feedback from our community we have made an implementation showing them on the map. This solution tries to maintain the general readability while still exposing the system to players in game," Arrowhead states.

As Helldivers 2 makes players choose between saving children and a new Stratagem, Arrowhead looks to give "alive and scheming" GM Joel an equally nefarious partner.