Helldivers 2’s First Big Update of 2025 Lets You Emote While Ragdolling Once Again, Tweaks Balance, and More

Arrowhead has unveiled the first major update of 2025 for Helldivers 2, introducing a suite of significant changes and enhancements to the game. Patch 01.002.101, which is now available, extends the duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons, reintroduces the ability to emote while flying or ragdolling, and includes numerous balance adjustments and bug fixes.

As Helldivers 2 approaches its first anniversary, the addition of the Illuminate enemy faction has reinvigorated the game, sparking curiosity about the next developments in the Galactic War's evolving storyline. Given the update's hefty 5GB size, players are speculating that it might also include new content alongside the announced balance changes and fixes.

One particularly notable fix is worth mentioning due to its intriguing nature:

• Fixed a small visual bug with the Stalker’s tongue (you don’t want to know what it took to fix it)

Below 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 the Principles of Correct Posture for Safe Lifting, now 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.
• Improved 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 provides extra ammo to all magazine-based weapons instead of just primary weapons, will remain unfixed. The Armory description will be updated to reflect this change, and the team is monitoring for any unforeseen bugs.

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. Once an enemy is affected, the drone moves to another unaffected enemy.
  • Targeting logic has been updated to prevent excessive roaming. The targeting originates from 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 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 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 sufficient damage.

Fixes

Resolved Top Priority Issues:

• Helldivers can now emote while falling or ragdolling without reducing fall damage, allowing for expressive gameplay.
• 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 a crash when aborting missions with active Democracy Space Station effects.
• Resolved a crash when hot-joining a mission on a planet with the Democracy Space Station.
• Fixed a crash caused by quickly switching emotes before another client interacted.
• Reduced the chance for crashes caused by fires.
• Fixed a rare crash at the end of the drop-in sequence when hot-joining a game in session.
• Addressed 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 right after loadout.
• Resolved crashes when repeatedly changing armor pieces in the armory, after finishing the tutorial, during extraction, during heavy projectile fire, when a player left during an encounter, when changing text language, and when reloading the SG-20 Halt.
• Fixed a crash for clients when the host was holding a carryable objective and quit the game.

Social Issues & Matchmaking

• Improved matchmaking logic to better match players from nearby regions and with the same difficulty settings.
• Fixed an issue where chat history was cleared when going to and returning from a mission.

Weapons and Stratagems

• Players can remain in an emplacement when opening and closing text chat.
• Fixed Arc weapons not reliably hitting the Impaler's tentacles when aimed at 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 with heat weapons displaying 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.
• Fixed a bug where players could get stuck in the E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement after depleting all ammunition.

FRV

• All FRVs have been reinforced following an investigation into survivorship bias during impact testing, preventing minor parking mishaps from causing catastrophic explosions.
• Improved FRV camera to prevent it from getting stuck underground when driving downhill.
• Reduced the chance FRVs get 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 ragdolling into the FRV caused the vehicle to be launched into space.
• Addressed an issue preventing Helldivers from climbing and vaulting over civilian cars.
• Helldivers no longer slide around on the ground after ragdolling from a blast.
• Fixed an issue where ragdolling into shallow water caused a stuck prone gliding animation.
• Corrected an issue where the Helldiver did not play the sample pick-up animations.

Enemies

• Fixed a small visual bug with the Stalker’s tongue.
• Enemies now 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.
• Addressed an issue of Helldivers exiting the hellpod prematurely before transitioning to the loading screen.
• Fixed an issue of civilians being blocked from finding the shuttle door during Emergency Evacuation missions.
• Reduced the frequency of encountering purple question marks during Illuminate missions on Sandy and Arctic planets.
• Fixed the floating head issue with the AC-2 Obedient armor and certain helmets.
• Addressed a bug introduced in December where weapons with lower armor penetration than the target’s armor incorrectly dealt one damage instead of zero, leading to misleading visual feedback.
• Enemies now sink into the ground when killed near terminals or the extraction point, preventing physical blockages.

Known Issues

Top Priority:

• The black box mission terminal may be unusable if it spawns clipped into the ground.
• Stratagem balls bounce unpredictably off cliffs and certain spots.
• Balancing and functionality adjustments are needed for the DSS.
• Pathfinding issues occur 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.
• The 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 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.