"Helldivers 2's 2025 Update: Emote While Ragdolling, Balance Tweaks"

Arrowhead has rolled out the first major update for Helldivers 2 in 2025, introducing a suite of significant enhancements to enrich your gameplay. Patch 01.002.101, now live, extends the duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons, reintroduces emoting while flying or ragdolling, and includes a range of balance adjustments and bug fixes.

As Helldivers 2 approaches its first anniversary, the addition of the Illuminate enemy faction has injected fresh energy into the game. Players are buzzing with anticipation about the next developments in the Galactic War's evolving storyline. The hefty 5GB size of this update has sparked speculation among fans that it might contain hidden new content alongside the announced changes.

One particularly notable tweak, intriguing for its peculiar nature, is the fix for a visual glitch involving the Stalker’s tongue – a fix that's perhaps best left unexplained.

Helldivers 2 Update 01.002.101 Patch Notes:

Balancing

General Changes

• The duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons has been increased from 6 to 10 seconds.
• Implemented a timer for the Illuminate dropship wreckages to despawn to prevent them from obstructing paths in the colonies.

Helldiver

• The Ministry of Humanity has updated its Principles of Correct Posture for Safe Lifting, allowing Helldivers to jog while carrying two-handed items such as barrels and SEAF Artillery Rounds.

FRV

• Helldivers can now deploy grenades and stratagems while leaning out from the FRV.
• Enhanced FRV handling for smoother cornering.

Sidearms

• Starting magazines increased from 2 to 3.
• Spare magazines increased from 4 to 5.

Stratagem Support Weapons

• TX-41 Sterilizer
  • Removed the crosshair drift recoil.
  • Decreased the camera climb recoil.
  • The duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons has been increased from 6 to 10 seconds.

Armor Passives

• Following player feedback, the bug with the Siege Ready Armor Passive, which gives more ammo to all magazine-based weapons, remains unfixed. The Armory description will be updated to reflect this change, but the team is monitoring for any unforeseen issues.

Backpacks

• AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath
  • Reworked to enhance effectiveness and maintain uniqueness through gas-based mechanics.
  • Will now conserve ammo by targeting only enemies unaffected by the gas status effect.
  • Targeting logic updated to prevent excessive roaming, now based on the Helldiver’s position.
  • Targeting range increased from 10 to 20 meters.
  • The duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons has been increased from 6 to 10 seconds.

Stratagems

• MD-6 Anti-Personnel Minefield
  • Cooldown decreased from 180 to 120 seconds.
  • Damage increased from 350 to 700.
  • Deployment spread of mines increased by 20% to minimize chain explosion risks.
• MD-I4 Incendiary Mines
  • Cooldown decreased from 180 to 120 seconds.
  • Damage increased from 210 to 300.
  • Deployment spread of mines increased by 20% to minimize chain explosion risks.
• MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines
  • Cooldown decreased from 180 to 120 seconds.
• SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack
  • Now blocks melee attacks until it breaks from sufficient damage.

Fixes

Resolved Top Priority Issues:

• You can once again emote while falling or ragdolling! It won't reduce fall damage, but you can express yourself freely as you plummet.
• Fixed Illuminate spawner ship shields not taking impact grenade damage.
• Resolved an issue with collision gaps inside the Illuminate spawner ship, allowing grenades to destroy the ships when thrown near the door.
• Health packs now fully restore all of the Helldiver's stims.
• High damage weapons now detonate spawned Hellbombs on the map.

Crash Fixes, Hangs, and Soft-locks:

• Fixed a crash when aborting missions with the Democracy Space Station effects active.
• Fixed a crash when hot-joining a mission on a planet with the Democracy Space Station present.
• Fixed a crash caused by quickly switching between different emotes before another client interacted with the emoting player.
• Reduced the chance for crashes caused by fires.
• Fixed a rare crash during the drop-in sequence when hot-joining a game in session.
• Fixed a crash when returning to the ship while reloading the primary weapon.
• Fixed a soft-lock during drop-in when the host left or disconnected the session right after loadout.
• Fixed a crash when repeatedly changing armor pieces in the armory.
• Fixed a crash after finishing the tutorial and naming your Destroyer.
• Fixed a crash during extraction.
• Fixed a crash when returning to the ship during heavy projectile fire.
• Fixed a crash for clients when the host was holding a carryable objective and quit the game.
• Fixed a crash when a player left the game when an encounter started.
• Fixed a crash when changing text language.
• Fixed a crash when reloading the SG-20 Halt.

Social Issues & Matchmaking

• Improved matchmaking logic to better match players with nearby regions.
• Players are now more likely to join lobbies with the same difficulty as selected.
• Fixed an issue where the chat history was cleared upon entering and exiting a mission.

Weapons and Stratagems

• Opening and closing the text chat while in an emplacement now keeps you in the emplacement instead of switching to your weapon.
• Fixed Arc weapons not reliably hitting the Impaler's tentacles when aimed at the lower parts.
• The E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement now correctly displays armor penetration in the ship menu.
• Stratagem turrets no longer target Illuminate Tesla Towers.
• Fixed a visual bug where heat weapons showed numbers over the progress bar in the weapon wheel menu.
• Melee weapons no longer send civilian cars and other objects flying long distances.
• The B-1 Supply Pack now provides stims to other players. Remember, sharing is caring!
• Fixed a bug where players could get stuck in the E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement after depleting all ammunition.

FRV

• Reinforced all FRVs following survivorship bias issues during impact testing, preventing minor mishaps from causing explosions.
• Improved the FRV camera to prevent it from getting stuck underground when driving downhill.
• Reduced the chance of FRVs being dropped on rooftops when called in.
• FRV movement key bindings now accept non-QWERTY keyboard inputs.
• Fixed a bug where some enemies like the Brood Commander were launched further than intended when hit by the FRV.

Helldiver

• Fixed an issue where player ragdolling into the FRV caused the vehicle to be launched into space.
• Fixed an issue preventing Helldivers from climbing and vaulting over civilian cars.
• Helldivers no longer slide on the ground after ragdolling from a blast.
• Fixed an issue where ragdolling into shallow water caused a stuck prone gliding animation.
• Fixed an issue where the Helldiver did not play the sample pick-up animations.

Enemies

• Fixed a small visual bug with the Stalker’s tongue.
• Fixed an issue where enemies did not react to missed shots from projectiles or melee attacks near them.

Miscellaneous Fixes

• Fixed an issue where clients triggered the wrong audio when waiting for the host to join the loadout.
• Fixed an issue of Helldivers exiting the hellpod right after readying up and before transitioning to the loading screen.
• Fixed an issue where civilians were blocked from finding the shuttle door during Emergency Evacuation missions.
• Purple question marks are now encountered less frequently during Illuminate missions on Sandy and Arctic planets.
• Fixed the floating head syndrome affecting Helldivers wearing the AC-2 Obedient armor with certain helmets.
• Fixed a bug introduced in December where weapons with lower armor penetration than the target’s armor incorrectly dealt one damage instead of zero, resulting in misleading visual feedback.
• Enemies now start sinking into the ground when killed near terminals or the extraction point, preventing players from being physically blocked.

Known Issues

Top Priority:

• Black box mission terminal may be unusable if it spawns clipped into the ground.
• Stratagem balls bounce unpredictably off cliffs and some spots.
• Balancing and functionality adjustments for DSS.
• Pathfinding issues in Evacuate Colonists Illuminate missions.
• Dolby Atmos does not work on PS5.

Medium Priority:

• Players can get stuck on Pelican-1’s ramp during extraction.
• Explosives can cause Helldivers hidden behind terrain to ragdoll.
• Currently equipped capes don't display properly and show a blank grey cape in the Armory tab.
• Players using the “This is Democracy” emote on their ship might unintentionally send fellow Helldivers on unscheduled spacewalks.
• AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath does not show when it is out of ammo.
• The Barrager Tanks turret has armor 0 and no weak spots.
• Higher zoom functions do not zoom the camera in through the scope on the LAS-5 Scythe.
• Weapons with a Charge-up mechanic can exhibit unintended behavior when fired faster than the RPM limit.