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

Arrowhead has released the first significant update of 2025 for Helldivers 2, bringing a suite of important changes to enhance the gaming experience. Patch 01.002.101, now available, extends the duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons, reintroduces the ability to emote while flying or ragdolling, and includes a variety of balance adjustments and bug fixes.

As Helldivers 2 approaches its first anniversary and with the introduction of the Illuminate enemy faction, the game continues to evolve, keeping players engaged in the dynamic Galactic War narrative. There's speculation that this hefty 5GB update not only addresses balance and fixes but also introduces new content subtly.

One particularly notable, albeit unsettling, fix is related to a visual glitch involving the Stalker's tongue. The patch notes for Helldivers 2 update 01.002.101 are detailed below:

Helldivers 2 Update 01.002.101 Patch Notes:

Balancing

General Changes

• Increased the duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons from 6 to 10 seconds.
• Implemented a timer for Illuminate dropship wreckages to despawn, preventing path obstruction in 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 like barrels and SEAF Artillery Rounds.

FRV

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

Sidearms

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

Stratagem Support Weapons

TX-41 Sterilizer

• Removed crosshair drift recoil.
• Decreased camera climb recoil.
• Increased the duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons from 6 to 10 seconds.

Armor Passives

• Decided not to fix a bug with the Siege Ready Armor Passive, which grants extra ammo to all magazine-based weapons instead of just primary weapons. The Armory description will be updated later to reflect this change.

Backpacks

AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath

• Reworked to enhance effectiveness and maintain uniqueness with its gas-based mechanics.
• Now prioritizes enemies unaffected by the gas status effect to conserve ammo.
• Targeting logic adjusted to prevent excessive roaming, with the origin point set to the Helldiver's position.
• Increased targeting range from 10 to 20 meters.
• Increased the duration of the gas status effect from spray weapons from 6 to 10 seconds.

Stratagems

MD-6 Anti-Personnel Minefield

• Cooldown reduced from 180 to 120 seconds.
• Damage increased from 350 to 700.
• Increased mine deployment spread by 20% to minimize chain explosions.

MD-I4 Incendiary Mines

• Cooldown reduced from 180 to 120 seconds.
• Damage increased from 210 to 300.
• Increased mine deployment spread by 20% to minimize chain explosions.

MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines

• Cooldown reduced from 180 to 120 seconds.

SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack

• Now blocks melee attacks until it breaks from sustained damage.

Fixes

Resolved Top Priority Issues:

• Restored the ability to emote while falling or ragdolling, without reducing fall damage.
• Fixed Illuminate spawner ship shields not taking impact grenade damage.
• Addressed 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 various crashes related to mission aborting, hot-joining, emote switching, fire, drop-in sequences, weapon reloading, session disconnections, armor changes, tutorial completion, extraction, heavy projectile fire, carryable objectives, encounters, text language changes, and reloading the SG-20 Halt.
• Addressed soft-locks during drop-in when the host leaves or disconnects.

Social Issues & Matchmaking

• Improved matchmaking to connect players with others from nearby regions and similar difficulty settings.
• Fixed chat history clearing when entering and leaving missions.

Weapons and Stratagems

• Addressed various issues with emplacements, Arc weapons, E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement, stratagem turrets, heat weapons, melee weapons, B-1 Supply Pack, and E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement ammo depletion.

FRV

• Reinforced FRVs to prevent catastrophic explosions from minor mishaps.
• Improved FRV camera and reduced the chance of getting stuck underground.
• Reduced instances of FRVs dropping onto rooftops.
• Fixed FRV movement key bindings for non-QWERTY keyboards.
• Corrected a bug where certain enemies were launched too far when hit by the FRV.

Helldiver

• Fixed issues with ragdolling into the FRV, climbing over civilian cars, sliding after ragdolling, and stuck prone animations in shallow water.
• Corrected missing sample pick-up animations.

Enemies

• Fixed a visual bug with the Stalker’s tongue.
• Addressed enemy reaction to missed shots from projectiles or melee attacks.

Miscellaneous Fixes

• Fixed various issues with audio triggers, hellpod exits, civilian pathfinding, encounter rates, floating head syndrome with AC-2 Obedient armor, weapon damage calculation, and enemy sinking near terminals or extraction points.

Known Issues

Top Priority:

• Black box mission terminal may be unusable if it spawns in the ground.
• Stratagem balls bounce unpredictably off cliffs and some spots.
• Balancing and functionality adjustments needed 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 may send players on unauthorized spacewalks.
• AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath does not show when out of ammo.
• 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 comprehensive update ensures that Helldivers 2 continues to offer a robust and enjoyable experience for all players.