Arrowhead Games has responded to community requests for flamethrower buffs in Helldivers 2 by providing a significant boost to their effectiveness, following the nerfs introduced alongside the Escalation of Freedom update. The studio aimed to rebalance the weapons’ role in combat without significantly altering gameplay experience.
The studio offered a brief preview of its plans for the update, now officially named Patch 01.001.007, in its final announcement last week. While initial details were limited to a single statement – “We’re additionally working in the direction of extra enhancements for the flamethrower weapons” – further information has been made available regarding the nature of these improvements.
“We’ve taken note of your concerns and are pleased to announce a 33% increase in Flamethrower injury,” Arrowhead stated in an initial post providing additional details ahead of the patch’s September 17 release. “Flamer mechanics will revert to their pre-Escalation of Freedom state, while flame-based weapons can now damage heavier enemies like Chargers, Bile Titans, Impalers, and Hulks.”
Developer Niklas Malmborg succinctly described the upcoming change during a brief video chat with Arrowhead’s Chief Creative Officer Johan Pilestedt: “We just went again. There was some stuff to go through, but it was definitely the right thing to do.” The pair then discussed unleashing flames at massive insects with enhanced armour penetration in the update, drawing an analogy between battles with hulks and a “cooking showdown”.
As previously mentioned, it seems this feature will likely be removed in the forthcoming update, as indicated by Arrowhead’s tweet: “A bug-free day keeps the buffs at bay.”
We’re thrilled to announce that an upcoming update for Helldivers 2 will bring significant improvements to further enhance your gameplay experience. As of September 17, our days will gradually grow shorter.
After this revelation on Discord, Pilestedt encouraged gamers to stay tuned for further information while offering additional context on the reasoning behind the alteration. The developer emphasized that while individual changes may seem time-consuming, our new system represents a more comprehensive overhaul of game mechanics.
“The reason many players found enjoyment in using weapons like flamethrowers, railguns, and eruptors was that they could effectively eliminate closely armored enemies, which wasn’t always apparent from their depiction in game lore.” Given the magnitude of the changes we sought, our adjustments went beyond simply reverting the flamethrower to its original state; instead, we aimed to rectify the situation by introducing additional weapons to the extent that we both felt they should have been available from the outset.
“As he summarized, the replacement’s sporting prowess would have a profound impact on gameplay; it could be that additional tools are vastly superior in terms of performance and specialization, yielding significant advantages in pursuit of specific objectives.”
Are you eagerly anticipating the opportunity to wield your trusted flamethrower again with the impending release of the next major Helldivers 2 update? Tell us under!
