Biggest winners and losers of Helldivers 2 patch 1.001.100

The highly anticipated 1.001.100 patch for Helldivers 2 released, and thank God, it's looking promising. Arrowhead have had this one in the works for a while, and it seems they've taken the really healthy amount of player feedback into consideration. So, who are the biggest winners and losers?

Biggest changes in Helldivers 2 patch 1.001.100, explained

The Winners of Helldivers 2 patch 1.001.100 (Us)

The 1.001.100 patch is fundamentally a balance patch. Helldivers 2 partly sold itself on overpowered weapons, that's a fact. (It was even in the marketing material.) So cut to a few months post release, and many premium warbonds later. Those overpowered weapons aren't so overpowered anymore, and those premium warbonds all seem to have some real wet noodles in 'em.

Understandably, people are a little irked. The game is still fun, but the meta is growing stale, and people are asking for change. And so, the change is here. Patch 1.001.100 (which I will be referring to as 'the patch' from here on, because 1001100 is binary for 'L', which might not mean much, but it's still the language of the enemy) brings changes to a great many weapons currently on offer, and the Helldivers themselves.

So, let's go through some of the bigger changes.

Helldivers

Helldivers now take less extra damage from headshots. Originally, headshots dealt 100% extra damage, whereas now they do 50%. Of course, that means a rocket to the face is likely still gonna send you to the pearly gates, but stray shots from across the field are less likely to put you straight down. In addition to this, the amount of damage taken to the rest of the body at large is slightly increased, with different areas coming with varying impacts. This already existed in game, but the numbers have been switched around. No exact figures are given, but it's safe to assume a shot to the chest is gonna hurt just a bit more now than it did before.

Weapons

Firstly, the Liberator Concussive (which I discussed in my piece about enjoying the off-meta of Helldivers 2) got a big upgrade, in that it now rocks a big mean looking drum magazine that holds a crisp 60 micro rockets. It had the overall mag capacity reduced, which makes sense, but now I can chug chug chug just a little bit longer.

Another major change came to all the Laser based weapons, and this is great because this really set me off in a way I can't quite express. Laser weapons should not have recoil (that's physics, I think). And now, they don't. The Scythe, the Dagger, and even the Laser Cannon have all had their cooldowns reduced, and their recoil removed. They also all set enemies on fire faster, which means whilst their initial damage might still be lacking, they offer a D.O.T effect that a lot of other weapons simply don't.

Another weapon with some major changes is the Eruptor, which had its original shrapnel effect restored but changed to match the pre-existing frag grenade shrapnel, as opposed to a unique system. Overall, its base explosive damage is reduced (from 340 to 225), but had the overall explosive radius increased (by 33%), and it now fires 30 pieces of shrapnel, for 110 damage. If this means per piece of shrapnel, I'll be honest, I've not a clue. If it does, cool, because that's like, 3110 damage.

One more change I'll mention is Thermite Grenades. Their damage has been increased from 100 to a subtle 2000. That'll do it, yeah.

Outside of this, a vast majority of the weapons changes are to damage, durable damage, ammo amounts, and a few other fixes and tweaks. You can get exact figures and changes by checking out the patch notes straight from Arrowhead.

Stratagems

Stratagems don't have a whole host of major changes, just some nice little buffs to make some of them a bit more impactful. The 500KG bomb for example has had it's 'explosion radius increased to match visuals better'. This sounds wonderful, because they look like hell.

Arc Towers had a nice change in that they now cause a buildup of a stun effect on effected targets, which hopefully makes them way more viable in crowd control situations. I would still like to see these have a more impactful effect on Automatons, for obvious reasons, but that's just me.

The orbital gas strike also had a major change, in that gas effects now cause blindness and confuse enemies. What this confusion refers to isn't really clear, but these changes have been made specifically to cater to the upcoming Chemical Agents warbond dropping soon. I imagine there'll be even more changes to gas once that drops, seeing as it'll be somewhat pertinent.

The Losers of Helldivers 2 patch 1.001.100 (Them)

And so to the other side, the enemies of democracy itself. Once again, there's a silly amount of changes here, so I'll be keeping focus on the big ones. Now as a Malevelon Creek veteran, I'll be focusing on the bots first, because they're all I see when I try to sleep at night.

The Bots

Automaton fabricators have had quite a big change, in that they now have a health pool like any other enemy would. This means that non-explosive ordinance can now have an impact on them, which is a great change in my opinion. Having to worry about these things meant I always had to worry about having an explosive option on me, and now I can branch out a little more. They also now have multiple states to reflect their amount of damage.

Hulks across the board have been nerfed, with the Bruiser having a major change in that it now fires a laser instead of a rocket barrage, and fires less frequently. Getting swarmed by these guys is a big high difficulty run killer, so with weapon buffs and nerfs to these guys, hopefully I'll have a few more successful Helldives.

The Berserker changes have upset me. Reduced health, whatever. What I want to talk about is this line right here. "Abdomen is now a weak spot." I beg your pardon? You mean the great big glowing red 'shoot me here' sign wasn't a weak spot? That's criminal, you should be ashamed, and thanks for changing it.

Devastators are also now less of a bane, because now shooting them makes them shoot worse. Who'da thunk it. Rocket Devastators also now actually have to reload between barrages, and the effective radius of their blasts has been reduced, although this was already in effect from an earlier patch. They now also have limited ammo, which is a great change in my books, because if we've gotta manage our resources, so should they. (The ever terrible Gunships have also had this change, which means they can only bug you for so long now, instead of literally forever like they could prior.)

The Bugs

And now for the bugs. Shocking absolutely nobody, Chargers were the big target here.

Chargers now have less armor, lower weak spot health pools, turn slower, charge less often, but do more damage when they do hit, whether that's from a direct charge or a side nudge (an increase of 50% to both). To call these changes anything but absolutely necessary would be ridiculous, because Chargers are the absolute worst. They kill runs, and not in a skill issue way, but in a 'no but seriously what did you want me to do about that' way.

The Bile Titan has also taken a significant hit, with reduced armor, and a rework of how the belly weak spot works. The belly now effectively has two separate health pools, one for the outer layer, one for the really squishy bits. Now, if you put in a little more effort and really focus up on its soft underbelly, you can guarantee the kill, as opposed to before when you sort of had to guess where to shoot next. Another great change here, because these guys started being a chore pretty early on.

The Impaler too saw a change, in that it can now retract its tentacles more than once. It also behaves more in line with what you'd expect, focusing on players closer to it rather than seemingly at random like it was before. The range of said tentacles has also been reduced. The tentacles themselves now don't cause instant nausea when attacked, as the screen shake reduction is considerable and appreciated.

Other Bits

Whilst the focus was on balances and fixes, there are a few extra tidbits in the patch notes. The most important one, by far, is the introduction of an emote wheel. I love this change, because yes I want to hug my best friend, but sometimes I also want to salute as I watch a 500KG Bomb turn the bots into fond memories. You'll now be able to equip four emotes instead of the prior one, which is more than enough for me.

The way planets deal with weather conditions also saw a notable change, and Extreme Heat and Extreme Cold are no longer static to planets, and are instead now dependent on the time of day, and the general climate of the planet. For example, desert planets will now only have Extreme Heat during the day, and at night will either have nothing at all, or the Extreme Cold modifier, as you'd expect from a desert.

All in all, the Patch is the breath of fresh air Helldivers 2 really needed. Don't get me wrong, there hasn't been a moment I haven't loved this game, but I've been playing it less just out of sheer frustration with some long-standing issues, and some lame feeling weapons. I hope this patch is just the start, and I hope Arrowhead take the great community response to this patch to heart when they go about making changes in the future.

If you've enjoyed this piece and are looking for some more Helldivers 2 content from us here at Pro Game Guides, check out our piece on how Helldivers 2 players have an idea for the game's fourth faction!