Today's Helldivers 2 patch notes: Fewer Bile Titans, you can one-shot Chargers now, and the worst modifier? Gone [UPDATED]

Helldivers 2.

What you need to know

• Update: It wasn't in the patch notes, but Helldivers 2's new patch also added Shrieker Terminid bugs to the game! These flying bat-like creatures dive at players from above, and are nimble but have low health. Like Stalkers, they come from nests that occasionally appear in missions as side objectives.
• Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released a new patch for the game. The patch is available to download now on both PC and PS5.
• The update reduces the spawn rate of Bile Titans and Chargers at high difficulties, while simultaneously increasing the number of other units that spawn in swarms alongside these elite threats.
• Additionally, the health of Charger heads has been reduced, and it's now possible to kill them in one shot by hitting them there with an Expendable Anti-Tank or Recoilless Rifle rocket.
• Also, the Electronic Countermeasures modifier that scrambled stratagem code inputs has been removed while Arrowhead reworks it. The studio says it "found that this modifier wasn’t communicated clearly enough and overall caused more frustration than excitement with the way it was currently implemented."

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Update 3/12/2024 at 1:30 p.m. PT / 4:30 p.m. ET: So, some news for you fellow Helldivers: they weren't put in the patch notes, but players have discovered that flying Shrieker bugs were also added to the Terminid faction with this update. These bat-like creatures swoop down from above and attempt to cut players to ribbons.

You can read more about Shriekers here, but in brief: they're nimble, but have low health, so using automatic weapons and automated drones or sentries is a great way to take them out. Like Stalkers, Shriekers come from nests you can destroy with stratagems or a Hellbomb. Their nests are mushroom-shaped structures that look similar to Spore Towers.

Many Helldivers 2 players have felt that the spawn rate of large, tough-armored enemies like Chargers and Bile Titans at higher difficulties has been overtuned for a while now, and that problem was exacerbated by some nerfs that came to the meta-defining Railgun in last week's balance patch. A few days later, though, developer Arrowhead promised to address the issue in a future update — and now, that update is here.

Patch 1.000.102 arrived early on Tuesday morning, reducing the spawn rate of Chargers and Bile Titans as well as the "risk of spawn spikes" for these units on Tier 7-9 difficulty. This means that there's now less pressure on everyone in your team to bring anti-tank weapons in their loadout, with anti-personnel options such as the Stalwart machine gun raising in viability as a consequence. Bringing one of these along will definitely be a good idea; Arrowhead notes that Helldivers should "expect other enemy types to appear in greater numbers," so while there'll be fewer big boys, you'll have to deal with larger swarms of weaker foes.

Interestingly, the health of the Charger's head has been nerfed as well, to the point where players can now one-shot the tanky Terminid brawler to the head with a well-aimed Expendable Anti-Tank or Recoilless Rifle rocket. This will likely replace the "leg meta" — previously, the fastest way to kill Chargers was to use anti-tank weapons to crack off their leg armor and then shoot the exposed flesh with some small arms fire — and makes both of these rocket launchers some of the best stratagems to bring against the bugs.

Thanks to this patch, you can pow Chargers right in the kissers for a one-shot if you're using a rocket launcher. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Both of these changes are great, and this next one is fantastic, too: the Electronic Countermeasures operation modifier has been removed (apparently, it was actually removed in last week's update, but this was omitted from the patch notes) so the developers can rework it. This is the modifier that scrambled your stratagem inputs so you couldn't reliably call down support weapons or airstrikes when you needed them, and as I wrote last week, it was one of the biggest reasons why stratagems often feel underwhelming in high-difficulty missions.

More Helldivers 2

(Image credit: PlayStation Studios)

- Helldivers 2 review
- Helldivers 2 FAQ
- 7 must-know Helldivers 2 tips
- The best Helldivers 2 weapons
- The best Helldivers 2 stratagems
- The best helldivers 2 loadouts

"We found that this modifier wasn’t communicated clearly enough and overall caused more frustration than excitement with the way it was currently implemented," writes the devs. And, yeah. Desperately trying to call in an Orbital Laser while legions of Automatons closed in only for RNG to decide over and over that you actually wanted a new shield backpack was quite unfair and never fun, so I'm glad Arrowhead has axed it while it works on an overhaul.

It's a bummer that some of the nastiest bugs with Helldivers 2's new Exosuit mechs still persist — the crash that occurs when attempting to use a stim while piloting one is still in the game, and so is the glitch that causes mechs to blow themselves up when you fire one of their rockets while turning — but overall, this is an excellent update that features the exact changes I was hoping for in the aftermath of the game's first balance patch. Make sure you check out the section below for the full patch notes.

Helldivers 2 patch notes today (Patch 1.000.102)

You can expect to see fewer Bile Titans in Tier 7-9 difficulty after this update. (Image credit: Windows Central)

In this section, you'll find the complete patch notes for the March 12 update. The notes have been taken directly from Arrowhead's official news page for Patch 1.000.102 on Steam.

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Good day citizens of Super Earth. A new patch to aid you in your efforts is coming in. May Super Earth give you courage.

Overview

Today's patch is dealing with the spawn rate of heavily armored Terminid enemies as well as the possible play against them. It also contains some fixes to UI elements and crash fixes.

Balancing

Enemies:

• The amount of heavily armored targets that spawn on higher difficulties, especially for Terminids, have been a big discussion point online and internally. The intent is for groups to have to bring some form of anti-tank capability but not to the degree previously needed.
• To that end we have reduced the spawn rate of Chargers and Bile Titans on difficulties 7 and up. In addition we have reduced the risk of spawn spikes of Chargers and Bile Titans.
• Please note that we have changed the distribution of enemy types, not reduced difficulty. Expect other enemy types to appear in greater numbers instead.
• We are humbled by the community's ability to find things like Chargers “leg meta” in our game, however spending your heavy anti tank weapons on legs instead of the obvious weak point seems counter to expectation.
• We are not changing anything regarding the Charger’s legs, we are however lowering the health of the Charger’s head. It should now be at a point where a well placed shot from a Recoilless Rifle or EAT-17 instantly kills a charger.
• Together with the unfortunately undocumented change of last patch that increased the armor penetration ability of less well placed shots for EAT-17s and Recoilless Rifle shots, Chargers should now be easier to handle by well equipped groups.

Gameplay

• "Electronic Countermeasures" operation modifier, which had a chance of giving you a random stratagem instead of the one you input, has been removed in order to be reworked, and will be reintroduced in a future iteration. We found that this modifier wasn’t communicated clearly enough and overall caused more frustration than excitement with the way it was currently implemented. This change was made in 1.000.100 but was unintentionally omitted from the patch notes.

Fixes

• Fixed missing text on several HUD / UI elements.
• Fixed several subtitle / VO mismatches in the news videos.
• Fixed various crashes that occurred mid-gameplay and when deploying to missions.

Known Issues

• Game crashes when attempting to use a stim while inside an Exosuit.
• Pink artifacts may appear in the sky when setting off large explosions.
• Automaton Dropship seemingly disappears and slides in after being shot down.
• Shots from arc-based weapons may not count towards kills in post-mission stats.
• Players cannot unfriend other players befriended via friend code.
• Cross-platform friend invites might not show up in the friend requests tab.
• Players may be unable to select loadout or return to ship when joining a multiplayer game session via PS5 Activity Card.
• The Exosuit can destroy itself with rockets if it fires while turning.
• Text chat box display is obstructed by the cinematic letterboxing during extraction.
• Some people are unable to accept friend requests. This is mostly an issue cross platform

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Helldivers 2 is available now for $39.99 on both PS5 and PC, and so far, it's one of the best PC games of the year. Notably, the game also supports cross-platform play between PS5 and PC.