Helldivers 2 should feel more responsive to play than ever before, as the game’s latest update brings major improvements to reloading.
Patch 6.3.0, which is live now, brought a smorgasbord of balance changes, features, and bug fixes. Among them are some major tweaks to how reloading works. At long last, players can reload while diving, and starting a reload animation, only to be ragdolled or staggered, will now continue the animation once you regain control. It also adds “delayed reloads,” where, if you try to reload but are unable to do so, the reload animation will be delayed for a short window until it can be started.
It’s a fairly substantial change that should make spreading Managed Democracy even easier, but better reloads aren’t all the update added. Patch 6.3.0 also introduced the Control Center, taking the place of the previously inactive terminal across from the armory on the deck of each player’s Super Destroyer.
The Control Center lets you learn more about ongoing campaigns, major orders, rewards. It also lets you read up on previous campaigns, making it easier for new or returning players can get up to speed. Each campaign will now have a unique reward players can earn should the Helldivers community emerge victorious in the majority that campaign’s major orders.
The first campaign under this new system is called Census Thunder, and currently tasks Helldivers with taking control of two planets from hordes of Illuminate Voteless. Should the Helldivers emerge victorious, they’ll have a new FRV (Fast-Recon Vehicle, basically Helldiver’s version of Halo’s Warthog) to play with.
Those additions alone would make for a major update, but developer Arrowhead Studios has sweetened the deal with a long list of balance changes as well, with significant adjustments to vehicles, throwables, and Orbital Stratagems.
On the vehicle front, Arrowhead outlined that one of its goals with the update was to make vehicles tankier, following a previous update that technically buffed vehicles like Exo Suits but also made enemies more effective against them. In patch 6.3.0, the Bastion tank “should feel tankier” and be able to “ignore small attacks, withstand more medium attacks, and its survivability against heavy attacks should be unchanged,” according to Arrowhead.
As for Exo Suits, they are now able to withstand small and medium attacks, and an increase in their total health should make them feel sturdier overall. Exo Suits can additionally be called in more frequently, with their cooldown reduced from 10 minutes to eight. The FRV also received a health buff that will help it better withstand medium and heavy attacks.
For turret fans, all of the game’s sentries have had their health increased by 100% to compensate for previous changes that allowed enemies to more easily damage vehicles. Many of the game’s grenades have received a buff in the number of starting ammo and max ammo.
Orbital Stratagem enjoyers have reason to rejoice, because nearly every Orbital in the game has seen its projectile damage, durable damage, and explosion damage increased. Rocket Pods should be more reliable and deal more damage now, and the Railcannon’s huge damage buff should make it so it’s deadlier against enemies like Vox Engines (though it will still be unable to one-shot massive enemies like Factory Striders or Hive Lords).
This latest update is just a small part of Arrowhead’s near-future plans for its co-op shooter, plans Helldivers 2 game director Mikael Eriksson outlined in a blog post earlier this month. Those future additions include new features like Planet Warfronts, additional Super Destroyer progression and customization, and an increase of the game’s level cap to 300 from the current 150. In May, Arrowhead called an update mostly focused on improving Helldivers 2’s technical performance just the “opening salvo,” with more updates to come.
You can check out the full Helldivers 2 update 6.3.0 patch notes below.
Helldivers 2 Update 6.3.0 Patch Notes
Introducing the CONTROL CENTER terminal
Super Earth High Command has completed fleet-wide upgrades to the previously unused terminal opposite the armory. Now Helldivers will be able to get more context to the ongoing Campaigns and their subsequent Major Orders. Each Campaign will come with its own potential reward, should the Helldivers be victorious in a majority of the Major Orders within it. The terminal will also feature an archive (to be populated as the first campaign concludes) so that new and returning Helldivers can read up on the twists and turns of previous campaigns.
Balancing
General balance changes
Vehicle armor and enemies AP rebalance
- Super Earth vehicles now have more accurate Armor values (Bastion gets heavy armor, exosuits a mix of heavy and medium armor, ballistic shield heavy armor).
- Some enemies have received increased armor penetration values so they can deal with the vehicles, but not all. There will be a lot of smaller enemies and explosions that won’t be able to hurt something like the Bastion or the Exo Suits (scavengers, Automatons small arms fire, hunters, small to medium obstacle explosions, cyborg small arms etc).
- But there are still a lot in the enemies arsenal that can hurt you (and also important is that a lot of YOUR arsenal now has a harder time hurting your own vehicles).
- Some enemies have had their durable damage reduced
- There are too many changes to properly list, so we ask you to play and tell us how it feels. The intent is the following
- The Bastion tank should feel “tankier” and ignore small attacks, withstand more medium attacks and its survivability against heavy attacks should be unchanged
- The Exo Suits have a similar change as the Bastion tank in terms of ignoring more small attacks and withstanding medium attacks better. The increase in health should overall make it feel a bit more tanky even against heavy attacks.
- The FRV has received an increase in health that will make it handle medium attacks similar to before, but be able to withstand heavy attacks better granting better survivability.
- The Ballistic Shield should feel like it can ignore small attacks and handle medium attacks better.
Sentry health rebalance
- Increased the health of all sentries by 100% to compensate for the general damage increase of enemies vs vehicles.
- We have previously increased durable damage on a lot of enemies and since sentries are durable they have lost some of their utility. We didn’t want them to become squishier, this change should improve their versatility on the battlefield.
Reloading improvements
- Improvements to make reloading more responsive, part of this is allowing reloading while dodge diving, also remembering the reload state better so if you’re ragdolled while reloading you will continue it when regaining control.
- Introduced the concept of delayed reloads. If you try to trigger a reload while the player is not allowed to do so, the reload will be delayed until the player is able to reload with a maximum of 1.2s delay from when the reload input was pressed.
Bastion Pattern Customization
- If you own the vehicle patterns from a Premium Warbond, they can now also be applied to the Bastion Tank! It does not apply to Legendary Warbonds retroactively at this time.
Decreased Exo Suit cooldown
- Reduce the cooldown of mechs from 10 minutes down to 8. The intent is to find a better balance with mechs and allow more time with fun stratagems
Throwables amounts rebalance
- Intent is to make some of the less used throwables more available and viable options
Orbitals damage rebalance
- Intent is to make the larger orbitals feel more like the large projectiles from orbit as they are so the projectile and explosion damage should better match that.
- Larger projectiles explosions like the 380mm and 120mm are increased to make close hits more effective vs larger enemies like Chargers.
- Compared to explosions like the Ultimatum these will have less damage at the center, but also less damage fall off so it will have a more consistent damage over its total area.
- The Railcannon also got more damage to be more effective vs some of the largest enemies like the Vox engines. It will still not one shot the largest enemies like Factory strider, Hive lord and similar.
Primary weapons
M7S SMG
- Moved scope offset closer to the scope so it will be easier to use in ADS mode.
Throwables
G-48 Giga Grenade
- Increased refill from 1 to 2
TED-63 Dynamite
- Increased max amount from 3 to 4
G-50 Seeker
- Increased Start amount from 3 to 4
- Increased refill from 2 to 3
- Increased max amount from 4 to 5
G-12 High Explosive
- Increased Start amount from 3 to 4
- Increased refill from 2 to 3
- Increased max amount from 4 to 5
G-16 Impact
- Increased Start amount from 3 to 4
- Increased refill from 2 to 3
- Increased max amount from 4 to 5
G-7 Pineapple
- Increased start amount from 3 to 4
- Increased refill from 2 to 3
- Increased max amount from 4 to 5
G-23 Stun
- Increased start amount from 3 to 4
- Increased refill from 2 to 3
- Increased max amount from 4 to 5
G-109 Urchin
- Increased start amount from 2 to 4
- Increased refill from 2 to 3
- Increased max amount from 4 to 5
G-10 Incendiary
- Increased start amount from 3 to 4
- Increased refill from 2 to 3
- Increased max amount from 4 to 5
G-13 Incendiary Impact
- Increased start amount from 3 to 4
- Increased refill from 2 to 3
- Increased max amount from 4 to 5
Stratagems
Eagle 110mm Rocket Pods
Intent: Make it better at one shotting smaller heavies like Chargers, Hulks, Harvesters (without shields). It can also kill some larger enemies like Tanks well. It is still not a 100% guaranteed kill, but it will be more reliable.
- Increased explosion damage 200 to 300
- Increased explosion durable damage 200 to 300
- Increased explosion armor penetration Medium to Heavy
- Rockets are fired in a closer pattern to each other to make it easier to hit smaller targets.
- Lower force impulse on explosion from 40 to 10 (This is to make enemies not fly away to much when they die, because we increased the armor penetration of the explosion)
Orbital Precision Strike
- Increased projectile damage 3500 to 4000
- Increased projectile durable damage 3500 to 4000
- Increased explosion damage 1000 to 1500
- Increased explosion durable damage 1000 to 1500
Orbital 380mm HE Barrage
- Increased projectile damage 3500 to 4000
- Increased projectile durable damage 3500 to 4000
- Increased explosion damage 1000 to 1500
- Increased explosion durable damage 1000 to 1500
Orbital Walking Barrage
- Increased projectile damage 3500 to 4000
- Increased projectile durable damage 3500 to 4000
- Increased explosion damage 1000 to 1500
- Increased explosion durable damage 1000 to 1500
SEAF Artillery Explosive/High Yield Explosive
- Increased projectile damage 3500 to 4000
- Increased projectile durable damage 3500 to 4000
- Increased explosion damage 1000 to 1500
- Increased explosion durable damage 1000 to 1500
Orbital 120mm HE Barrage
- Increased projectile damage 2500 to 3500
- Increased projectile damage 2500 to 3500
- Increased explosion damage 750 to 1200
- Increased explosion damage 750 to 1200
Orbital Railcannon Strike
- Increased projectile damage 7500 to 10 000
- Increased projectile durable damage 7500 to 10 000
S-11 Speargun
The projectile was negated by the Gas resistance armor which did not make much sense. The explosion of the projectile is still gas elemental.
- Change the projectile damage type from gas to none
TX-41 Sterilizer
- Increased ammo capacity from 100 to 125
- Increased starting amount of magazines from 2 to 3
- Will be affected less by wind by 60%
All Exosuits
- Increased health from 1600 to 1800
- Increased health of arms from 600 to 800
- Increased health of legs from 400 to 550
- Cooldown reduced from 10 minutes down to 8 minutes
M-102 Fast Recon Vehicle
- Increased health from 2000 to 2400
- Increased health of doors by 50%
- Increased health of tires from 300 to 350
Enemies
Terminids
Charger
- Adjusted the chargers turning arc to make them easier to avoid
- Increase their recovery time after the charge to create a window of opportunity (+1 second). The charger basically keeps running and struggle to stop if it misses its target
- To compensate for this, charge speed has been slightly increased (8->9m/s)
Alpha commander
- Removed cowardly behavior, it will now be more aggressive.
Hunters
- Reduced durable damage of normal attack from 50 to 40
- Reduced durable damage of tongue attack from 45 to 30
- Reduced durable damage of pounce attack from 50 to 35
Warriors and spewers
- Reduced durable damage of normal attack from 80 to 65
Stalkers
- Reduced durable damage of tongue attack from 50 to 35
Automatons
Vox Engine
- Reduced health from 11 000 down to 9000
- Reduced max turn angle of its upper body so it cannot turn as far as it could previously (from 180 degrees down to 140)
- Amount of vox engines allowed to be active at the same time limited to 3
- Reduced health of their cannon turrets from 8000 down to 3500
- Reduced the armor of their cannon turrets from 5 to 4
- Reduced durable on cannon turrets from 1 to 0.7
- Increased damage of cannon turrets explosion to significantly hurt the vox engine when it dies
Illuminate
Elevated Overseer
- Added one attack pattern (short attack burst followed by a longer one)
- Reduced the current attack duration
- Reduced accuracy on moving targets
🔧 Fixes
Special Shoutout
- Stimming is no longer interrupted by stagger
Crash Fixes
- Fixed a rare crash that would happen when a player joined a game
- Fixed a rare crash which would occur when causing an excessive amount of explosions in a single frame
Weapons & Stratagem Fixes
- Fixed a bug where several weapon customizations weren’t properly saved when the option was ticked in the player settings
- B/FLAM-80 Cremator no longer shows the ‘Heavy Armour Penetrating’ stratagem trait, following similar incendiary weaponry
- A/FLAM-40 Flame Sentry and EXO-51 Lumberer Exosuits flamethrower can now damage targets within 3 meters of the sentry
- P-33 Missile Pistol weapon now shows the right trait tags in the menu
- The R-2 Amendment reload now continues correctly if interrupted – if reload is interrupted early, it will not lose magazines
- The secondary weapon’s chosen customization correctly persists after death if the menu option is selected
- Orbital Gatling Barrage will play the correct audio
- The StA-X3 W.A.S.P. Launcher can target illegal broadcast transmitter towers
- Part of the Bastion Tank’s barrel can be damaged with a light penetration weapon
- Phalanx divers rejoice! Laser beams, explosion damage, electrical arcs and melee attacks no longer collide with the directional shields of your team-mates when hit from behind.
- SG-97 Sweeper should now reliably eject shells when slamfiring
- The WASP launcher can target the Illegal Broadcast transmitter tower
Enemies
- Fixed physics to allow more representative shooting on the Dragonroach abdomen
- Veracitor will not trigger its charge within a narrow path, reducing instances where they’ll clip though destructible obstacles
Miscellaneous Fixes
- A hidden broadcast terminal was relocated to its correct spot so that the Helldivers can once again access it
- Players are no longer removed from terminals when switching between controller and Keyboard and Mouse
- D-pad/arrow keys navigation can come up and down when viewing teammates’ equipment loadout
- Traversing through foliage such as bushes will no longer interrupt sprinting, which should result in less momentum loss
- Fixed several issues with some mission assets animation being out of sync for joining players
- Fixed issue where the map marker for “Retrieve Mutant Larva” objective always displayed in a radius
- Hints have better placements for the reinforcement Hellpods in commando missions
- SEAF SAM site missiles now have better software to detect and detonate near enemy air units
- Fixed a bug where certain Automaton mines turned invisible when a nearby mine exploded
- Fixed a case where the Helldiver head twitched when leaving the Hellpod
- M-102 Fast Recon Vehicle no longer plays audio for doors if they have been removed from the vehicle
- Parts of the TD-220 Bastion MK XVI barrel base can no longer be damaged with a light penetration weapon
- Fix issues with certain physics collisions having no audio
- Fixed Automaton mines getting under ground after a nearby mine explodes
- Fixed an issue where an Eradicate Automaton Forces level could generate underwater
- Fixed a traversal issue where enemies could not reach the player in one of the levels in the E-710 Extraction mission
- Fixed a traversal issue where enemies could not reach the player in one of the levels in the Annex Untapped Mineral Site mission