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

Arrowhead Studios has kicked off 2025 with a significant update for Helldivers 2, introducing a variety of changes and enhancements to the gameplay experience. Patch 01.002.101 is now live, bringing with it an increase in the duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons, the return of emoting capabilities during flight or ragdolling, and numerous other balance adjustments and fixes.

As Helldivers 2 approaches its first anniversary, the game continues to evolve with the introduction of the Illuminate enemy faction, adding fresh challenges and dynamics to the ongoing Galactic War narrative. The substantial size of this update, over 5GB, has led players to speculate about the inclusion of new content alongside the announced changes and fixes.

One particularly intriguing fix in this update is the correction of a visual bug involving the Stalker's tongue, humorously noted for the unusual efforts required to resolve it.

Here are the detailed patch notes for Helldivers 2 update 01.002.101:

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, preventing them from obstructing paths in the colonies.

Helldiver

• The Ministry of Humanity has updated its Principles of Correct Posture for Safe Lifting, now permitting 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.
• Improved FRV handling for a smoother driving experience, especially when 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 provides more ammo to all magazine-based weapons instead of just primary weapons, will not be fixed. The Armory description will be updated to reflect this, but the team is monitoring for any additional unforeseen issues.

Backpacks

• AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath
  • Reworked to enhance effectiveness and maintain its unique gas-based mechanics.
  • Now preserves ammo by targeting only enemies unaffected by the gas status effect, moving on to another unaffected enemy once the current target is affected.
  • Targeting logic has been updated to prevent the drone from roaming too far, with the origin of targeting now based on the Helldiver's position rather than the drone itself.
  • 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 the risk of chain explosions.
• 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 the risk of chain explosions.
• 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 taking enough damage.

Fixes

Resolved Top Priority Issues:

• Helldivers can once again emote while falling or ragdolling without reducing fall damage, allowing for expressive moments during descent.
• Fixed Illuminate spawner ship shields not taking impact grenade damage.
• Addressed collision gaps inside the Illuminate spawner ship, ensuring grenades thrown near the door can destroy the ships.
• 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 crashes related to aborting missions with active Democracy Space Station effects, hot-joining missions on planets with the Democracy Space Station, quickly switching emotes, fires, the end of the drop-in sequence, returning to the ship while reloading, soft-locking during drop-in, changing armor pieces, finishing the tutorial, during extraction, under heavy projectile fire, when a player leaves during an encounter, changing text language, and reloading the SG-20 Halt.

Social Issues & Matchmaking

• Improved matchmaking logic to better match players with those from nearby regions and similar difficulty settings.
• Fixed chat history clearing when going to and returning from missions.

Weapons and Stratagems

• Addressed issues with emplacements, Arc weapons, the E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement, stratagem turrets, heat weapons, melee weapons, the B-1 Supply Pack, and the E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement's ammunition.

FRV

• Reinforced FRVs to prevent catastrophic explosions from minor parking mishaps.
• Improved FRV camera and movement to prevent getting stuck underground and enhance overall driving experience.
• Reduced the chance of FRVs being dropped on rooftops.
• Fixed non-QWERTY keyboard input issues and corrected the behavior of some enemies when hit by the FRV.

Helldiver

• Fixed issues with ragdolling into the FRV, climbing and vaulting over civilian cars, sliding after ragdolling, stuck prone gliding animations, and sample pick-up animations.

Enemies

• Fixed a visual bug with the Stalker’s tongue and an issue where enemies wouldn’t react to missed shots.

Miscellaneous Fixes

• Addressed various issues including audio triggers, exiting the hellpod, civilian pathfinding, purple question marks, floating head syndrome, weapon damage calculations, and enemy sinking into the ground.

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 in the Armory tab.
• The "This is Democracy" emote on the ship might send fellow Helldivers on unauthorized spacewalks.
• AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath does not show when 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 firing faster than the RPM limit.

This update marks a significant step forward for Helldivers 2, enhancing gameplay and addressing community feedback as the game continues to evolve.