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  1. Games
  2. Third Person Shooters
  3. Helldivers 2

Huge Helldivers 2 balance patch nerfs some of the shooter's most popular weapons, including the Quasar Canon

News
By Hirun Cryer published 29 April 2024

And no one's particularly happy

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Helldivers 2 weapons
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)
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The latest Helldivers 2 patch is wall to wall nerfs, and no one's particularly happy with the weapon changes.

The latest balance patch for Helldivers 2 went live today, April 29, and it's one beefy update. There are a lot of weapon nerfs in the new patch, including the mega-popular Quasar Canon, Exploding Crossbow, Laser Canon, Eruptor, Sickle, Dominator, and the Guard Dog, in addition to other tweaks, adjustments, and bug fixes.

🛠 Support incoming! ⚙We have issued a patch for players that includes balance changes to weapons, stratagems, and enemies, as well as general fixes and other updates.🔗 Read more here: https://t.co/YmlIK6JNUs pic.twitter.com/HuaoulhhMJApril 29, 2024

For example, the Exploding Crossbow now has a smaller explosion and number of magazines, while the Quasar Canon has had its recharge time increased, and the Laser Canon has reduced damage versus a large number of enemies. The Eruptor's explosion damage now drops off faster over its radius, the Sickle has a decreased number of maximum magazines, and the Guard Dog has seen its damage decrease by a huge 30%.

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That's a lot of weapon nerfs, and players aren't necessarily pleased. "Oh no, they decreased the amount of democracy I can spread with the Quasar Cannon," responded one Twitter user to the post above. "Literally just nerfs. This is a joke, right?" wrote another user. That's not entirely true - fire damage has been decreased by 15%, for example, and the Blitzer weapon now has increased shots per minute.

Plenty of players are mourning the Quasar Canon, though. The Quasar Canon was a fan-favorite among Helldivers 2 players earlier this month due to its ability to one-shot enemies like Automaton dropships, but players aren't pleased about the five-second increase for the Stratagem weapon's reload time. Yes, the five seconds really can make a huge difference.

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  • A Helldivers 2 Cyborg cries out in despair Arrowhead takes another swing at Helldivers 2's long-standing performance issues
  • Helldivers 2 Helldivers 2's Steam rating drops as players accuse devs of favoring new Warbonds over fixing issues

Finally, in noteworthy changes, enemy patrol spawns have now increased for when there are less than four players in a squad. The lower the player count, the bigger the change in enemy patrol frequency will be, but four-player squads will effectively be unchanged. That could have major consequences for Helldivers 2 players who choose to go it alone.

In other news, Helldivers 2 devs are adjusting Automaton citizen evac missions "in the near future" because they're "$€@!£X@&! impossible on higher difficulty levels."

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CATEGORIES
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Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
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Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

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