Helldivers 2's Major Patch Hide Controversial Flamethrower Nerf

Hell Divers 2 accepted big new patch today Ahead of this weekend’s Freedom’s Flame Warbond, players are feeling burned and betrayed. The update brought major changes to the existing flamethrower, which no longer melts heavily armored Charger enemies so easily, and the community is already openly revolting over the unexpected crackdown on intergalactic arson.

The August 6th patch It brought some great features that helped refresh the 2024 hit co-op shooter, including new difficulty modes, new mission objectives, and fixes for some notorious bugs. But buried deep in the update are some miscellaneous notes that seem to be causing all this trouble. The changes don't directly concern the flamethrower itself, but rather the flame effects and how they're handled by the game's systems. Here's how they read:

  • Flame effects have been adjusted to work more realistically.
  • It does not pass through various bodies/objects where the expected behavior would be to bounce, such as armors and static objects.

It's a seemingly innocuous fix that turned many players into bug dinner. Earlier this year, Players discovered that the flamethrower is basically Charger-bane for Hell Divers 2 enemies could otherwise easily deflect bullets. While not a meta-breaker, it did make the situational tool much more useful than it would have otherwise been. After today's changes, the flames no longer seem to be able to reach Chargers' soft underbellies or easily inflict burn damage on other weak points.

It's also not that fun to use. “The flamethrower can no longer kill chargers,” Wrote “No longer penetrates leg armor. Also feels awful to use, weirdly high recoil,” wrote one player on the subreddit. “I love it when they take my favorite weapon and render it useless.”

The screenshot shows players complaining on the Helldivers Reddit.

Screenshot: Reddit / Kotaku

The timing of the changes is particularly controversial. The Flame of Freedom War Bond, Hell Divers 2's next battle pass brings new fire-based weapons on August 8. It's possible that these hidden changes to the flame effects are part of developer Arrowhead Studios' attempt to make sure everything works as intended when the new weapons are released. However, many players are this is a sneaky way Potentially nerfing existing flamethrowers, forcing them to pay for new battle passes.

Such changes have long been a sensitive issue Hell Divers 2But while Arrowhead has rebalanced the game at various points to keep it challenging and allow players to explore alternative ways to play, it also feels like the studio is constantly taking away fan-favorite toys. Players discover a weapon is really good at something, use it religiously for months, it becomes a cornerstone of community culture, and then it gets killed off in a new update. For some, this keeps the game evolving, for others, it's a pause.

“I'm level 140, been playing since launch. I have the nerfs too, man. At least it makes sense!” Wrote “I used to think people complaining were crazy, but I've been here a long time and I see the patterns now: Weak one weapon, force everyone into the new meta. AH sees the meta, nerf it, make the enemy ridiculously 10x stronger.”

Not everyone is against the nerf. Some players have discovered new ways to use the flamethrower that still make it an effective bug-killing machine, but it requires much better positioning and execution. One theory is that the new behavior will more closely mimic the way the new fire-based weapons move, keeping them all in sync. Still, it's easy to see why casual players might be exhausted by the constant lashing of weapon balancing. We'll have to wait until the new Warbond drops this weekend to see how it all plays out.

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