Helldivers 2 dev plans to tone down heavy enemy spawn rates and health following balance patch response

It appears Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Games is preparing even more nerfs, but not for your favorite weapons — this time. No, according to a post on Discord, the Helldivers 2 team is planning to reduce the spawn rate and health pools of heavy enemies like the infamous Charger soon.

The news recently came out of the official Helldivers 2 Discord channel. According to the community manager, who goes by Spitz on the channel, Arrowhead has listened to “concerns over the last few days regarding enemy spawns, enemy armor, and the ability to kill these enemies.” In response, the dev is preparing to make changes in a “future hotfix” so that the high-level fights feel a bit more manageable.

“I can confirm that we’re currently looking at changes to the spawn rates and health pools of heavy enemies, and will be attempting to spread them out more to prevent large spikes of tougher mobs appearing at the same time, as well as making them a bit easier to bring down,” Spitz explained on Discord. “This change should go out in a future hotfix – no date as of yet. Thanks as always for your patience!”

Helldivers 2 heavy enemies will get lower spawn rates soon

The news follows the recent backlash regarding a balance patch that went down harder than an Eagle 500kg Bomb. Some weapons earned much-needed buffs, but the update also nerfed the fan-favorite Railgun. Not only do you have to charge it in Unsafe mode to dish out the same armor-shredding damage, but you also need to aim for weak points more often.

The nerf doesn’t seem so bad so long as you haven’t experienced the madness that is ‘Suicide Mission’ difficulty and beyond. A single Charger enemy isn’t too challenging to take down, even solo. But once you’re faced with five at once while also avoiding several Bile Titans, things can get a bit heated. And frustrating.

The Railgun paired with a Shield Generator Pack felt like the best answer. But now players are looking to face the horde feeling truly outmatched. Luckily for divers, that may change soon.

Two Support Weapons got a secret buff in the Helldivers 2 balance patch

Spitz continued, noting that the balance patch included changes to a couple of Support Weapons that weren’t listed in the notes.

“In addition, we forgot to mention (oops) that the EAT-17 and Recoilless Rifle no longer suffer from a 50% damage decrease when hitting an armored enemy at a ‘glance angle’ that deflects the shot,” Spitz wrote. “Combined with the upcoming adjustment to health and spawn rates, this should make the larger enemies a bit less common, instead spawning more ‘chaff’ enemies to support them, and should allow players to bring these enemies down with a single well-placed shot. Hopefully, this leads to fewer instances of endless kiting and players being left without any effective weaponry to kill harder enemies.”

As time goes on, expect Helldivers 2 to change even more. The news of the changing spawn rates feels like a positive step in the right direction. With mechs now available and more weapons on the way, Helldivers may soon get the firepower they need to put Chargers and other heavies back in their place.