Helldivers 2 - I Tested EVERY New Weapon Change In The Latest Update!
I Tested every new Primary Weapon Change in the Latest Helldivers 2 Balancing Update. Here's what I found.
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═════════ Timestamps ════════
0:00 - Intro
2:13 - CB-9 Exploding Crossbow
5:08 - BR-14 Adjudicator
7:26 - SG-8P Punisher Plasma
10:13 - Arc-12 Blitzer
13:30 - R-36 Eruptor
17:13 - LAS-16 Sickle
18:17 - Las-5 Scythe
19:39 - R-36CS Counter Sniper
21:30 - R-63 Diligence
22:48 - Jar-5 Dominator
23:33 - Liberator Concussive
25:16 - AR-23 Liberator
27:08 - Outro
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══════════ Official Game Summary ═════════
Helldivers 2 is a third-person shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game is the sequel to 2015's Helldivers, which was a top-down shooter. It released for PlayStation 5 and Windows on 8 February 2024.
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What do you guys think of the current state of Helldivers 2? Did you like the changes that were made in the update? What is your new favorite weapon after all the balancing changes? Check our last video going over all the latest leaks here - kzhead.info/sun/lsdtpMeZqYOJqHA/bejne.html Latest Patch Notes - store.steampowered.com/news/app/553850/view/7974260991426339747?l=english Join My Discord - discord.gg/jRV9RJfqDX Follow me on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/swanyplaysgameslive Subscribe to SwanyPlaysGames - www.youtube.com/@SwanyPlaysGames?sub_confirmation=1 Subscribe to SwanyRants (My 2nd Channel) - kzhead.info/tools/PszGeh4gAG2oet_bufYGgQ.html Follow me on Twitter - twitter.com/SwanyPlaysGames ═════════ Timestamps ════════ 0:00 - Intro 2:13 - CB-9 Exploding Crossbow 5:08 - BR-14 Adjudicator 7:26 - SG-8P Punisher Plasma 10:13 - Arc-12 Blitzer 13:30 - R-36 Eruptor 17:13 - LAS-16 Sickle 18:17 - Las-5 Scythe 19:39 - R-36CS Counter Sniper 21:30 - R-63 Diligence 22:48 - Jar-5 Dominator 23:33 - Liberator Concussive 25:16 - AR-23 Liberator 27:08 - Outro
They are killing the game.
Pure garbage. Thats what I think!
Little big of clarification on the changes to patrols. Many youtubers, yourself included, are presenting it in a misleading fashion, perpetuating the misinformation about the change. Everyone is pulling the second bullet point of that section of the patch notes out of context. Its important to know what was written before it: "We unintendedly had non-linear scaling of the patrol spawns so they didn't spawn as often as they should have when less than 4 players. The intention is that 1 player has 1/4th of the patrols compared to 4 players, but it used to be that they had 1/6th." This puts the change in much better context. What the devs are saying is that they fixed the improper scaling. *Solo players were meant to have 1/4 of the spawns of a 4 player party* with that amount scaling up to 4 players. "The biggest noticeable change will be for solo players at higher difficulties." is referring this change since more enemies spawn at higher levels, but 1/4th to 1/6th is not as large of a change as the community are making it out to be. Helldiver is still very soloable and overall, with the changes to ai in general over the last few patches, the game feels much easier than it did a month ago before said changes. I've seen people hearing the information in the way that you and others are presenting it in your video and start complaining about how the devs are making the game solo unfriendly and perpetuating the idea that they dislike people soloing Helldive, which is not the case. They just fixed an issue and were 100% transparent on what change was made. Hope that clears things up!
More and more guns feel good to use after last two weeks adjudicator- its ok, before it was garbage. not my fav by any means but serviceable punisher plasma finally feels useful(yea sure you could figure it out before but didn't feel good with slow projectile) blitzer- good fun for once and a while sickle- still highish damage/rof/low recoil/infinite ammo scythe- not a paper weight now? counter snipe- absolutely love it now, good range, good damage, lower weapons mass so you can pop pop pop from one target to next one shot one kill dominator- cant tell difference, still really high damage, really high stagger, boat ancor liberator- i thought it was fine before buff, now it feels really good
Are they planning to address the infinite grenade glitch? because that just trivializes everything lol
the crossbow nerf was the funniest shit, nobody was even using it 🤣
Literally the only reason I was using it was for crowd control, now they’ve nerfed my only reason for using it lol
I used the fuck out of it, all i used against bots. Very disappointed
Only reason I was to be cool and stand out lol
Solos were 😢
I never use it so nothing changed. I’ve never even seen it on other players
The crossbow got neutered, they said they slightly reduced blast radius but it feels like they halved it, the plasma punisher is not terrible now and I've used it instead
the scout striders were also given more explosion resistance so now also AC needs to be more accurate to one shot them otherwise they can take multiple (i agree with this change not the crossbow one)
it actually is halved, the slight reduction in radius is a halve in major damage, someone in some other video did the math
Eruptor got a mayor nerf via the reduced blast radious and increased durability of the walker riders. One shot to the groin, now at least two. I really liked it, but now there almost no point to use the Erupor over the Sickle.
I really want to like the plasma punisher, but it seems to take a whole mag to kill just a few bugs. That mixed with the need to arc the shot makes me sad.
Don't use the plasma shotgun with a shield backpack unless you wanna die
The Scythe does much less damage per second than the Sickle, that's why it feels weaker. Giving it a damage buff would help but it would also make it more like the Sickle. So maybe they ought instead to give it some other effect to make it stand apart from the Sickle. Maybe add a burning effect? Or give it better armor penetration? Something like that will make it more useful while not directly competing with another weapon we already have.
I was thinking of having it one handed so it could be used with the ballistic shield. It makes sense since the lack of recoil should make a helldiver be able to hold it with one hand.
The damage against trash mobs feels decent, it’d be nice if it could fire longer before overheating to differentiate it as the “damage over time” energy weapon
@@gangsterguardsman4576 In my opinion the Sickle feels better against trash because of its greater DPS. That's why I was suggesting if the Scythe had a little more damage but an additional effect making it more useful I think it would be more popular. I was just thinking that a fire damage over time would make it more useful against Terminids and especially Shreikers.
Thats what I keep saying, ALL BEAM weapons should have Medium Armor pen, or they just ignore armor all together and its just a matter of Damage Over Time.
Scythe needs at least double the allowed fire time to give people a reason to use it as frequently as the Sickle. IMHO instead of the mag count they should have nerfed the fire time on the Sickle. Alternatively remove the spoolup on the Scythe only, this way players can feather the limited fire time between targets.
The Blitzer doesnt actually shoot arcs that chain between enemies, rather, it shoots 5 individual bolts (50 dmg each) which each randomly select a target from whatever is in range. If there's only one enemy in range, all 5 bolts will hit the same target for max damage, but if there's more than one, the bolts will choose random targets, which can lead to group staggering.
Watched a breakdown, you're 100% correct. It can pierce through small enemies as well which gives the illusion of "jumping" targets
Or, if there is one dead Scavenger in sight, all of those bolts go into that dead Scavenger, instead of the Hunter you are aiming at that is about to jump at you.
@@adriankoch964 yeah... that too.
@@adriankoch964 You'd think such a basic thing as "not having projectiles target dead enemies" would be something the devs can accomplish... but if it's an active choice on their part, then that might just be even worse.
@adriankoch964 I've literally had three shots in a row miss hitting ANY living enemy in front of me due to my shots arcing to dead enemies. It was brutal. But when it works, it absolutely shreds most units and staggers some larger ones. I'm convinced the gun is meant to be a slot machine style weapon at this point.
For the adjudicator I fully support the idea that because it was originally classified as a marksman’s rifle its reputation took a natural hit as comparably to the diligence’s, it was sub-par. If it started in the assault rifle slot from the beginning it would have been received much better. Still think it should get a magazine increase but it is…ok right now anyways.
Give us 30 shots per mag and if love it.
Yeah the 25 mag is really what kills it. You burn through ammo like nothing. I was really excited for this weapon too because I was getting tired of using shotguns.
I still use it semi, as a marksman rifle that can rapid fire when needed
I think their hesitent to do that because then itd just be an objectibly better penatrator. And so to buff that theyd have to increase the pen mag size or so.ething which would make the dtandard lib obselete. I still kinda hope they do it tho
@@chancebritain6980 30 round mag would put it on par with Penetrator, at which point it's just flat out better Penetrator.
I wish the crossbow had some kind of ability to change between bolt types in combat. An explosive one, an armour piercing one and maybe a static field or incendiary one. Not as powerful in any case to weapons dedicated to those uses, but would make the crossbow more versatile
deep rock galactic got the crossbow right
Yeah... Maybe make that a special variant in another warbond though. I doubt many people would go to the hassle of changing bolt types all the time. Most people don't even know you can change weapon fire settings by holding reload.
and bf3 @@boofe7206
I bet you a arrowhead dev is reading this and will pitch this
Or like variety of modes, like spread-shoots bolts in shotgun style Rapid fire- Like Van Helsings Machine gun crossbow xD it was cool AF Etc etc
My problem with the ammo change is that different weapon have different size magazines, so reducing the ammo for some is a greater need even with full resupply.
Even with 6 magazines on the Eruptor you run out of ammo quicker with almost any other weapon given how slow the rate of fire is.
@@brilobox2I ran out of ammo constantly with the eruptor....that and the slow fire rate was why I stopped using it.
I think the damage fall off they're talking about with the erupter is the splash damage. I'm DEFINITELY killing less small bugs per shot than before.
Yeah the fact that he didn't notice a difference on the erupter makes me wonder... It's quite obvious
Skill issue. Maybe it's just me, but I try to get em grouped up then animation cancel while hip firing at mid range. I haven't noticed much of a difference and I still feel very confident diving in with this. Even with only 6 mags.
@@piemaster310 maybe I just didn't shoot enough groups of small bugs. In the matches I played against the terminids I was using my secondary a lot and I was calling in a stalwart to deal with the bugs that got up close so maybe that's why.
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Eruptor with stalwart, thermite grenade and grenade pistol. Capable to take on most situations.
A backpack that helps energy weapons would be pretty cool.
Interesting idea... The best way I can think of off the top of my head would be overcharging stowed weapons. It could be to do more damage or fire longer or both. It'd make the weapon swapping strategy involved in heat based weapons feel a lot more fun.
A futuristic solar panel (much better tech than nowdays)
coolant system
Duffle bag with 500 AAA batteries?
If it's ammo related then why not take supply bag. Even if it helps you cooldown faster, the bonus nades, ammo for other weapons, and stims are way more valuable
We need a training mode for strategem interactions and damage testing.
and a shooting range in the destroyer
Yes, I hate having to play lower difficulty missions to learn a gun
They have one, it’s difficulty levels 1-3.
You think super earth is going to actually pay for a training area?
@@Troy211 cant practice the big guys on those
Honestly the sickle having less reloads doesn’t matter. If you care, then you’re not using the weapon right. I almost never need to reload with it, I just switch to my secondary or support when it gets close to overheating. I don’t know why everyone is going crazy about this.
Sickle is still the #1 gun in the game. I go through way more resupplies with breaker than with sickle.
Because you are suffering from stockholm syndrom. They keep abusing your weapons slowly and you keep adjusting to it so you don't realise it. There was never a single reason to reduce the mag size for the sickle, at all. The fact that they did it in a PVE game where they see its the most loved and used weapon of high level players should be a huge red flag. When they did that to the breaker, people accepted it, then the railgun, people accepted it, now the sickle and quasar.
@@ethanswimmer1287omg this game is literally nazi Germany because they reduced the amount of mags on a primary weapon that has unlimited ammo if used correctly.
@@ethanswimmer1287 A game is more fun when the results depend on your skill and understanding of the game's system. That's the primary reason behind the balance changes in this game, they're trying to make weapons that have roles and uses, that have a higher skill ceiling and are more interesting. If every gun is good in every situation... What's the point of picking one in particular?
Aesthetics.
Idk, the crossbow was already not that good, it was just inferior to the eruptor.
Did you just say to nerf the eruptor? Got it.
well both had different use cases, so to compare the is not really possible.
As an old Xbow stan, it was pretty good. The ability to pump out 16m explosions at a pretty quick fire rate meant you could clear out automaton chaff like it was NOTHING. Best part was you barely had to aim, just shoot anywhere near them and they'd fold. It was nice for berserkers too because even though it took 4 explosions to kill them, the radius was so big that you could kill a whole crowd of them with the same 4 shots. It was still a weird weapon, it really struggled with single heavy targets where you couldn't benefit from the AOE spread but I stand by that it was an underrated weapon.
Cause you compare it to the Eruptor, the Eruptor has a different role bro. The Pre nerf Crossbow was more comparable to the Stalwart then the Eruptor
@scoople6 fucking reading your comment makes me miss rhe Crossbow that I am close to tears.. That thing was the Bomb when you took the time to get skilled with it. Pre nerf if you shot at their Feet the explosion was bigger them when you hit a enemy. I miss it so much, it was perfect with the AMR and would cover its deficits.. now it's just trash
I love how you talk about not being able to get killed by the eruptor fragmentation during a clip where you almost get hit by the fragmentation. Luckily that rock protected you.
The change to the crossbow is so weird to me, because while they said they were tailoring it to function as a single, medium target killer, it's now in competition with the scorcher and plasma punisher, both of which do the same job way better than it. They both have bigger magazines, more utility, more overall ammo, and are either easier to aim or can still actually do meaningful crowd clear. What's the use case for it now? The only thing I can think of for it is that it's silent when shooting, making it still good for stealth.
The blizer does not chain. It can pierce but only on small light armored enemies The jar nurf is likely to stop people from killing mobile factory in 2 mags to the belly. Yes it could do that
now you have to use about 2 and a half mags lmao
@@meodrac going to ruin so many people's days with how much ammo people waste. The erupter lost half it's ammo and the gun's still fine. I wonder if there was something else losing 25 damage would effect?
Lol, the reaction to the liberator concussive vs. bugs was exactly the same as mine. I had to leave my match because I felt beyond useless.
I run it in helldive to keep stalkers and commanders charging with a rover killing swarms, impacts for spewers, autocannon turret, your favorite heavy killing stratagems
There's got to be some strange damage type vs armour type interaction going on, since it has higher damage than the stock Liberator. Seems like it's doing a tiny fraction of the damage it lists on paper against most targets.
it's a support weapon but yes it needs another buff from 65-70 would be ideal. and maybe a 10% increase to its stagger effect.
@@FazeParticleslol it's more of a support tool but I agree.
I'm going to confidently state without testing it that what is happening is; E.g. you have 5 a bug conga line, you shoot the front one and stagger it to the back of the line but not enough to kill it, next bug takes the front. you shoot the front one and stagger it to the back of the line but not enough to kill it, next bug takes the front. you shoot the front one and stagger it to the back of the line but not enough to kill it, next bug takes the front. you shoot the front one and stagger it to the back of the line but not enough to kill it, next bug takes the front. you shoot the front one and stagger it to the back of the line but not enough to kill it, next bug takes the front. THEN all 5 die very quickly as they all only have 1 health left.
I found the crossbow is really good for stealth, hardly ever got a bot drop on solo while I was using it and taking out higher priority enemies in a patrol like devastators or the jetpack raiders
The sound it makes is no difference than before the patch. In fact I would say it was better pre patch for stealth because it killed medium armor things faster if you were spotted.
As someone that USED the crossbow quite a bit before said change, it is a FUN weapon. Like I don't know about you, but from my on XP if you nail a Devastator in the head with it, they instantly burst into flames and drop dead. Loss of its AOE explosion aside, it makes for a decent "SILENT" mid range Sniper now. The Plasma Punisher feels ALOT better to use now that the plasma bolts don't drop like a brick. From what iv HEARD, previously Solo players where getting 1/6th the number of patrols, now its 1/4th the number of patrols as a full team would. Not gonna lie, having played several mission with only 1 friend before this change, I definitely noticed having less people meant way less patrols. So now their more enemies to Stealth by, If you could do it before you should be able to do it now. Its just harder to do.
It was only 1/6th if all 4 players were really far apart. If all 4 were grouping, then is was like 30% less. It must be basically the same now or worse, kind of a crazy change. Somebody did a super in-depth spawn rate research video a while back, they’ll have to redo it now though
Id say they should up the mags on the Eruptor to 8, it was just too good before, but halving the total ammo was a bit crass of a change. I love the adjudicator change, i have always liked heavy assault rifles, so having a Scar-H type rifle feels real nice when you want something a bit faster than the diligence. Speaking of, real happy that the Diligence Counter Sniper is now a baby AMR, as it always should have been, weak on bodyshots, but decimates with headshots.
8 mags and undo the stupid explosive drop off nerf for all explosive weapons. It was a needless change.
Personally, 6 feels like a good spot to me. Not enough to run in and use it as a main weapon, but not too little where you constantly run out of ammo. I'd also wait for the damage buff coming soon before touching the Eruptor further.
Given the other reserve ammo changes were a buff to 8 and a nerf to 8, yeah 6 is bullshit. For reference that gives you 30+6 shots on full, the senator has more ammo… a secondary. 8 should be the minimum reserve mags for primary weapons with less than 10 rounds per reload.
@@D-S-G. While i agree it serviceable, i feel 6 mags is little short for something that doesn't have vehicle kill capabilities, the AMR and the Autocannon (and the HMG as well) sacrifices ammo count for the fact it can kill everything save a bile titan. The 6x5 rounds on Eruptor feels just a little bit short of what you would need for a weapon focused on medium armor kills with a secondary horde clear ability, especially considering it cannot oneshot glyphid guards, and it's a 50/50 on whether devastators die on a single shot. If the coming changes makes it oneshot guards and devas as long as you hit a weakspot, then fair, 6 would be fine, but as long as medium targets are 2 shots, id say 8 would be enough to last you 2-3 bot drops/breaches before you can get to some more ammo.
@@Akrilloth The AMR, Autocannon, and HMG are also stratagem with their own limitations and costs. Comparing a primary weapon to them doesn't work.
Thanks for all the thorough testing! The crossbow baffles me, I used it because it did what most other primaries couldn't: huge wave clear of small enemies. The radius was so large, but now it gets outclassed by all other single target primaries.
I think the Illuminate will be venerable to explosive damage. My theory is rather than having deep HP, or heavy armor. they'll have shields. It's why they are fiddling with explosive weapons so much. People often forget balancing often includes information we're not privy too. They've stated very clearly, they do NOT want a meta. By that they mean a primary weapon that works everywhere, at all times, against all enemy types, and is a must pick. I have a feeling the crossbow, and Dominator will be busted against the Illuminate as projectile weapons. Just a theory tho.
*vulnerable, venerable means something else.
You might be onto something here, and I hope we don't have a meta too
Nope they have shields. Armor barring a barrier/shield relay unit doesn't exist for them. Shields with their own independent hp will absorb all overkill DMG. They also have annoying debuffs like control scrambler, stronger cloaking than stalkers, barrier walls as mentioned
High DMG or DoT weapons don't work well. Not to mention they recharge shields so they can be tankier than it appears
@@TheTroubleshooter You're assuming they'll be exactly the same as they were in HD1. Who knows how they'll be when they come crawling back towards us after the Helldivers whooped their ass the first time. Though I'm sure there'd definitely be some enemies that fuck with you like HD1, but they could have some new gimmicks and counters
I like the Adjudicator atm. A lot of kick so you gotta pull the mouse down, wish it had 2-4 more bullets per mag tho…
3 more and and it can competently clear small patrols with good trigger control
Yeah I was using BR-14 since it was available and it is my fav weapon fight now. I am just a sucker for slow fire rate, High Caliber Battle Rifles
@@petrhanke8644 ahhhh yahhh nice! Yah the sound of the weapon and the punch it has is epic!
Thank you for testing all of these changes and putting together such a comprehensive video. Been waiting for something like this since the patch came out.
thanks for testing the updated weapons! the Arc Blitzer is my current go to primary -- it has that balance taking out both light and medium armored bugs
I completely agree with the adjudicator. It needs just a little bit more capacity. I want the Dominator point of impact placed further right. It feels like whenever I rapid fire the Dominatore I always miss to the left.
"Let's balance the game inversely so that it gets harder when there are less players! That's how _fun_ works, right?" - A Helldivers developer after doing a fat line of coke
Thank you! Great content! Looking forward to part 2.
Thanks for taking the time to get all this information.
That scout strider buff man 😢
This was just the analysis I needed to hear. Thanks for all the painstaking research ❤
Great Video, thanks for testing all these out and giving insight!
The only nerfs i can understand are the mag capacity ones, theres enough ammo around the maps for it to be negligible. Everything else just seems like they saw we were having too much fun with things. And the crossbow one is just asinine lol.
They are clowns
Completely agree, they're making the gunplay very bland with all the needless nerfs.
@@Johnykluk Literally one bad nerf this patch which your lizard brain is hyperfixated on. When they buff crossbow to make it feel better than the unused garbage it still was pre-nerf, will you then shut it or will you be hyper fixating on another temporary problem?
@@Chronically_ChiII I voiced my opinion, I'm not hyperfixated on anything, it's literally just a game, but I'd love for the weapons there to stay fun. We ain't playing PvP here, don't we?
@@Chronically_ChiIII’ll bet you’re pretty fun at parties, huh?
the concussive liberator is my go-to again for bugs now. the idea is to use it to keep bugs busy while the guard dog melts them or to push them into groups to hit with the grenade launcher or pen them into a cluster bomb's radius. it rips, it's just more of a tool than an outright killer, but with the rest of my kit i'm almost always top frags for that sweet AOE and the backpack bugzapper. never been compelled to take it for bots, the damage is just not where it needs to be compared to the dominator, the punisher, or the counter-sniper. the full kit is: light engie armor (from demolition bond), concussive lib, redeemer smg, contacts clusters, law rockets (eats), grenade launcher, and rover. the law rocket drop pods are weapons themselves when thrown like grenades onto chargers and bile titans. then you have 2 more solutions for more, long ranging objs, or whatever else. most important is the fun-factor. dodging chargers and hitting them with support beacons will have you feeling like a rodeo clown. use it on every difficulty at level 120.
Stuff like this is something a lot of people don't consider. Figuring out synergies and making good use of your whole loadout so that each item compliments the others, is a big part of this game. People will frequently say things like "Stalwart is bad because can't pen medium armour" whilst forgetting that there's a good half dozen primaries that can fill that role. I'm still not quite sure if your loadout would work for me, but I definitely respect the thinking behind it. Maybe I'll try it out.
@@UnknownSquidit's mostly viable in coordinated teams. Interms of stalwart without eurptor or scorcher it is kind of a downgrade, the eurptor enabled the stalwart gameplay which is quite refreshing.
Have you tried out concussive with flamethrower? It is pretty knarly.
@@kls1836 I've usually paired the Stalwart with the Scorcher or Dominator. Both pretty great combo'd with it, for dealing with Hive Guard or Bile Spewers. Scorcher is a bit more versatile and handles better for the smaller bugs, whilst Dominator hits harder for the medium ones. Eruptor is obviously also a good pick. A bit slower at bringing down multiple spewers, but has that great bug hole collapsing utility. Amusingly the key thing that made me try out the Stalwart again, was getting fed up of certain team never covering my reloads when using MG or Recoiless, and always running off alone. Figured if they didn't want to stick together as a team, I'd ruthlessly chase them with a more mobile loadout, and "stick together" that way instead.
Really appreciate the thorough look, great job Swany!
Thank you for amazing video! I really need to try out some of those updated guns, specially blitzer and diligence 2. Already tried Abjusticator and it is amazing gun now and yeah, I'm constantly reloading it. 😀
Dominator is a better DMR than any marksman rifle lol
short and medium range with damage and stagger maybe, but counter snipe has better scope for med to long range, and the reduced weapon mass makes it a dream of snapping from one target to the next now. I will probably swap between the two on bot missions a lot because i enjoy them both for what they are, but accidently bringing counter snipe to bug mission doesn't feel sluggish and frantic anymore when there is a horde of trash to clear, its just bam bam bam bam 1 shot one kill each time. The dominator can do it very effectively but you always feel the heft of it target acquisition in those situations
IKR! I looove the dominator!
@@nickgrundtisch6798 I like the CS , but it lacks the head shredding power for medium bugs , I like it more for bots now , but the dominator is really versatile and feels really cool. I will admit the new CS is way more what I hoped it to be , but I still pray for a further damage buff , due to it's low capacity. The dominator makes up for its capacity in raw damage, pre patch I was taking out tanks and towers with the dominator , haven't played bots since the update much.
No cap fr
I love the dominator so much, glad the nerf didn't affect it too much
I'm loving the new concussive crossbow.
What do you love about it? I like the increased range but that's about it.
@@SwanyPlaysGames I think they’re mocking it bc it’s more like a concussive weapon rather than an explosive one
@@SwanyPlaysGames I think that's sarcasm haha
@@SwanyPlaysGames Oops sorry Swany, I was being sarcastic 😅
@@Goonman7720 haha duh... That went straight over my head. I've had a long day of editing lol
Thank you so much for the review, tests and info, really appreciated!! :D
Good video, easy to listen to. Thanks for the updates
AH did clarify on discord that the patrol changes was a bug fix because patrols were always suppose to have linear scaling of 25% increments per player in game, adding up to 100%. What really was happening was 1p=16%, 2p=40%, 3p=80% up to 100% with 4 players. So if you were playing solo you would now be seeing an increase of 8% more enemies, etc.
That probably is right but i just feel like im running into more than a 8% difference
It's so dumb. The game still has matchmaking issues and you're going to increase spawns? Just wait to make the change until the matchmaking is fixed.
@@TMB-uc1rs thats cos its an increase from 16% to 25% which is a little over 50% increase in enemy spawn when playing solo
@@MrMike4283... Um. You don't really understand game development then? The people working on the networking issues are not going to be the people working on balance issues. You wouldn't ask a welder to make wooden furniture. Don't say that a job that takes a few people specialized at that job should waste everyone in the entire studio's time.
@@MrMike4283Also, I haven't experienced any networking issues in a long while other than small bugs introduced in updates.
the adjudicator just gives the good old m4/m16 feeling man
Its literally M-14 in SPESSS.
Wish they gave it 30 shots
they should add a few more shots per reload and increase the damage by a smidge or they could also just make the reload a smidge faster
Neither the m4 nor the m16 hit that hard. The Adjudicator is more like an m14 battle rifle.
@@supremecaffeine2633 or an FN Fal or Scar-H. Very few IRL "assault rifles" use 7.62mm nato equivalent ammo, which the Mg-43 and Adjudicator seems to be using. I guess thats why they are considered DMRs in most cases.
I love the sniper playstyle and have been running the R36CS: Counter Sniper since I got it, I'm so glad it got a buff
I loved the switch up “against the bugs, I think it blows ass” 😂😂 24:14
I personally was in love with the old crossbow it felt relatively balanced for what it was with being able to shoot at a bug breech when hunters came out of I placed my shot right it get em all in one swoop and after the nerf I shot the hunter dead on and he shrugged it off and I had to fire another it feels as though the damage itself was lowered as well😔😔 idk if anyone else that had tried the crossbow felt this nerf too
From my research you are the only person in the world to have made a video about this update showing the actual changes on video, and I am extremely grateful for not being a native English speaker and not having videos in my language demonstrating the changes in the patch. Awesome job
Nope, but for the sake of not straight advertising them on someone else's channel I'll implore you to be a bit more through on your research.
@@NamyNam1170 I watched a lot of videos and none was as good as this one. What's your problem with that?
14:30 - eruptor explosive damage drop off - against patrols one shot used to take out the entire lot of small bugs / bot chaff, now it takes closer to two or three well placed shots, but i don't mind honestly the explosion fix instead of imploding into the explosion getting that repulsion is huge and helps push you out of danger - i even dive and shoot behind me at the ground to propell myself forwards and stim for a refill in stamina
Great vid man. Thanks for the research.
Honestly the patch to me just reads “hey, here’s an even shittier ammo economy than you had before, despite most encounters in this game being huge fights against shitloads of enemies.” If it wasn’t for the constant nerfing of ammo economy and magazine sizes, using each weapon would basically come down to what range it’s good at, what armor it’s good for, and whether or not it’s competent in dealing with hordes. The ammo economy is just far, FAR to restrictive for how many enemies you’ll be dealing with in each mission. They expect you to deal with Left4Dead numbers of enemies on a Call of Duty ammo budget. If they just lightened up a bit on nerfing reserve ammo and magazine capacities, it’d be fucking great.
No, must have realistic ammo capacity. :^)
fucking hate "i never run out 👆🤓" or "sickle has infinite, why complain". idiots dont see that their gun is next to be nerfed so that they're forced to use a different weapon instead of buffing different weapons for them to explore. "its not supposed to be op" "its not supposed to be good at everything" Sickle ain't good at everything but it wasn't broken, so why fix it. look at the patrols now, we need our fuckin "PRIMARY" to be a stable constant of firepower not pew pew, oh no, red, run! buffoonery surrounds us; stay vigilant, Helldiver.
I feel like nerfs aren’t needed if you just make the weapons that are just garbage actually usable
They buffed like 10 weapons, barely nerfed a few with the exception of crossbow which admittedly was a fumbled rework, but they will probably fix in a future patch. Just.... relaaax
Quasar and Dominator were fine as they were. The nerfs are indeed ridiculous, it's a PVE game and devs only want to make things harder for everyone...
@@seannyandmeBecause it’s a PvE game means the developers can’t balance the weapons so you need skill? Just because it’s a PvE game doesn’t mean weapons need to be devoid of specific roles and skill to use. Thats why they’re doing it. Maybe poorly but the intent is still rational. If every weapon is good for everything than there is no point to playing. Part of the fun is playing with roles.
@@Devin7Eleven im all for balance but it’s anything but that, cross bow is even worse, liberator pen is just useless in the ARs cat, marksman’s are getting better but still not very useful and half the shot guns are just not usable. The other weapons require more “skill” because they’re just not good in general. Weapons should have their own specialty, yes, but making an artificial skill gap instead is not fun
@@Devin7Eleven You don't need more skill, just takes more time to kill stuff. It makes things annoying. I really don't die in this game, maybe once or twice per round in Helldive, so it's not a skill issue and I really love the game. Being a PVE means it does not need the balancing a PVP game needs, and yet it seems they are treating it the same. That was my point. Many of us are angry and rightfully so. Everyone has a right to their own opinions.
Thx for your testing bro, new sub
I was glad to hear your positive take on the counter sniper, which I completely agree with. It now feels like the weapon I originally was excited to unlock. It feels so much better to use than the eruptor.
Beside the crossbow change, everything else in this patch is fine for me.
the nerfed the only remaining weapons that made you a good player in anything above level 7. Especially if you playing bugs at level 9 where they have 7 titans, 3 charges and 5 stalkers at the same time attacking you like its normal part of the game in recent weeks. Am done playing this game. No need to keep fighting this "lets nerf everything" mentality, apparently, they think it makes them cool.
All the explosive drop off nerfs were stupid and for the most part made okay weapons less okay.
@@ethanswimmer1287 if a gun "makes you a better player" youre not a good player man. skill issue
@@loganswett4010agreed. Levels 7-9 should be almost impossible to complete as they are the highest difficulty.
@@ethanswimmer1287... You know the funny part is... I was having trouble unlocking Helldive before this patch. I unlocked it the very first time playing this patch. Didn't struggle with completing a single mission. Weird, huh?
I honestly wonder why the crossbow received such a heavy handed nerf when it was an inferior eruptor. Now it's just a far inferior scorcher. As for the rest... I'm going to be honest and say that I don't really understand the whole ideology behind nerfing weapons in a PvE game. It's especially baffling with the vast increase in difficulty for solo/duo players who rely on weapons excelling at their designations. The unintended irony is that a common argument defending the difficult at higher levels was "use stealth", and now it's just degraded into "well don't play a co-op game solo". Regardless, I think a lot of the bizarre balance changes have to do with the vastly larger player count and Arrowhead reacting way to quickly to the gameplay data they're receiving. This is evident by how often the same primaries keep getting adjusted patch after patch and players claiming a weapon is OP when it really isn't.
the thing is it's not a nerf, it's a rework. it has much better CC abilities now. it's not great, but still I do think it is better, and more unique. also they nerf stuff because powercreep is definitely a real thing. and, to counter the powercreep, if you then buff the enemies to have more HP, then you are back to square one. but if you buff enemies to deal more damage, then it becomes even more of a 'get hit once and you explode' deal.
@@FinnishArsoniststop coping. The rework just made it into the eruptors and jar 5s little brother it was better off before with that larger aoe. Now that was true AOE crowd decimator.
@@FinnishArsonist “its a rework” ok? That literally changes nothing about the criticism, its still an objectively inferior option to its previous iteration.
A little to quell powercreep and a little so you have to consider the right weapon for the job and not your favourite flavour of overpowered. I Adored the eruptor pre-patch but if every primary was buffed to its level (one shot capability on almost every non-elite, hole closer, insane ammo) then a lot of the game's tension would be diluted I think.
@@PangolinPyrrhic Then add more difficulty layers... FFS some of y'all forgot that HD1 had up to difficulty 15, we only have up to 9 right now.
Played level 7 last night and we moved in pairs and fought for every inch of the way to the objective, exhausting every ammo and strategems along the way! Had to asked the 2nd team for help as it was just too much 😂 love it though!
The way you killed that berserker at 19:17 was sick.
The eruptor is my favourite but it was super strong it was basically a primary auto cannon just slower.
As long as I can still quick swap I’m cool with a 6 mag
@@PraiseDolan I'm just Gona have to use big iron more often
Majority of the changes were fantastic, and the nerfs really aren't that bad. I think it's better balanced now than it has ever been, but there's still room to improve. They did the penetrator dirty, and the knight desperately needs a buff, the machine pistol outperforms it
The crossbow was crazy good, I used it for a egg missions or mass clear. I used it heavily against bugs, I used eruptior against bots. The build I used against bugs was, Crossbow, Senator, I use high explosive grenades. My stratagems were Stalwart/Machine Gun, Cluster/Eagle Strike, Rocket Pods, 500kg. Armor perk was assisted servos. You can replace Cluster/Eagle Strike/Rocket Pods with jump pack for Egg Missions; or once you get use to the ammo count on crossbow.
If you use the Eruptor on scout striders, just shoot them on the top of the leg joint that connects to the body. It can still 1-2 tap them there as it spins the stringer around, knocking the robot off and sometimes killing them
Feels very odd that this games difficulty scales in reverse to the amount of players. In most games, enemy density is toned down for lower squads, but for some reason they’re making it so that not only do you get much fewer reinforcements but there are also more enemies solo. I get that you’re less likely to be detected solo, but that was the only thing really balancing the fact that you are definantly not winning a head on fight.
They are actively fighting the solo players that run 7+ it a losing battle that making everyone suffer because they can't get over their ego that people are good at the game.
@@black_ghost1215… that’s not how they feel at all. Gamers really can be dumb sometimes. They’re doing this because the original design for their game was to be strictly coop. They had a clear vision and they’re trying to work towards that vision. They don’t want a meta. They don’t want it too easy where solo play is possible and people don’t have to do coop. The whole purpose is community, roles, and team play.
@@black_ghost1215 How good are you really if you cry when they increase the difficulty.
@@Devin7Elevenshoe horning "THEIR VISION" leads to nothing but them actively fighting the playerbase forcing "THEIR WAY" on people is not of good game design. they nerf the railgun because people cried others were using it, it got nerfed and a week later made EAT and RR better so then they reverted the nerf meaning it was not needed. oh and if they don't want META like baby like you cry then stop nerfing things this early in the games life it created metas you melon
@@xvyperxx1 i'm guessing you, because everyone else is saying the challenge is hard just to be hard and not challenging fun.
You know in reality, the enemy is getting stronger and is adapting just like in real war. So the balances make sense from that perspective when looking at it from a GM managed perspective. So enemies evolve and there are more of them (aka the big super colony story line), supply lines get affected (ammo reduction, etc), and your damage decreases and varies due to the evolution of the enemy and their resistance / behaviors. War is hell. 🤷🏾♂️
Gotta say thanks for the heads up on the Blitzer, Holly hell does that thing chew through bugs.
I was using the Blitzer shotgun after the update pairing it with the rover drone and went on a 50 killstreak against the bugs, it's such a fun weapon to use now.
Dawg I like your videos but you need to write a script. You repeat yourself SO MUCH, this vid could have easily been 23 minutes and nothing would have been lost just from cutting out the repititom
That is something an automaton would say, i shall report you to the authorities of the mighty Super Earth
Crossbow JUST came out! They took our money and then nerfed it... That's just a low blow imo. Horrible development strategy
What money lol, I unlocked it for free just by playing and collecting super credits in maps
Dude really paid when free is so easy 😂😂😂😂😂
Smoke some weed, breathe out, use other weapons until it gets buffed again. It's okay man.
New player here. I paid to unlock the crossbow because it was so cool and I love explosions. Now I'm sadge. The betrayal is real.
@@Chronically_ChiIIWeed kills brain cells
Thank you for doing this! I've played a few bug missions since the patch and to be honest - there's not a lot that affected _my_ playstyle. I took a Quasar on one trip and while you feel that extra 5 seconds, all I really needed to do is juke a couple of chargers a little longer. I only needed it for one, as my ORC came off cooldown and I was able to dispose of one with "God's Delete Button". I think that the Senator getting a speedloader was just... perfect.
It did feel like some of the ICE based weapons overheated too fast even on colder worlds. Though in terms of the eruptor, normally it took most of the clip shooting chicken walkers in the face. Instead I would normally aim for the D&B to kill the rider. Though there were risks of shooting between their legs if I was in a rush. I actually anticipated a magazine drop in the patch, but I expected it to drop from 12 to 10, not get cut in half. Plus a lot of times I was hurting for ammo if I was off on my own while the rest of the squad was together focusing objectives. Not all minor objectives have ammo, and even running the Dominator in one mission I found this just as true after the update.
If anything, they should have buffed all the primaries. There was no reason to nerf anything.
Too much fun bro. Can’t have that.
So true@@Lewapolis
Yeah kinda feels like they want primaries to be pretty much for show on higher difficulties.
Balancing a sandbox is complicated. You want things to have both strengths and weaknesses so that you create trade-offs between different weapons.
Game felt better during the beginning of the game tbh, we were more op sure but there were also alot more titans, chargers etc walking around at once
I think the its pretty obvious the current state of Helldivers 2. If you take away an aspect players enjoy, Players will quit playing. The 60k+ loss of player base should make that pretty obviously. currently a little over 100k players left playing. I'll never understand why developers purposefully handicap themselves.
“Only 100k” go outside, clear your mind.
100k in a live service game is pretty much unheard of. Besides for like fortnite
I hope this comment thread illuminates that for you 😂😂😂 these dweebs will watch it crash and burn just like their romantic life before they admit to the developer having issues. Man just sat here said 100k is unheard of, you can’t make this shit up.
their own "community manager" in discord bans people on the spot if they say any sort of criticism to the changes they make. Plus, her bio is full of woke shit. This is the type of person that only reports what "she feels" to the devs and not what the actual community wants.
@@ethanswimmer1287 You people are so fucking annoying, lol.
I loved the Punisher Plasma pre patch against the bots but now i can confidently use it against the bugs too.
I'm surprised that more arent using it. An entite squad with punisher plasma would wreck. Definitely a must for crowd control
That charger while demonstrating the arc Blitzer was a paid actor
I don't think they meant for the crossbow changes to be a nerf, but it definitely is one. Like the increased projectile speed is nice, and technically the reduction in explosion range makes it easier to use, because you wont blow yourself or teammates up as often. To help the crossbow i would do some combination of these 3 things increase the mag from 5 to 7 , increase the impact damage or explosion damage, or increase reload speed. I used the old crossbow a lot, and i don't mind the new crossbow, i will still be using it as may main weapon. Unfortunately, it needs a little something to keep up with the other weapons. Also it will still one-shot the striders, you just have to aim for the leg joint, which will put the explosion close enough to the rider to kill it.
great breakdown. Cant wait to use the Liberator and counter diligence sniper
great video thank you! best Helldivers 2 infos here!
Somehow my algorithm showed me your video on my top feed and the answers I was seeking have come true this is how I am here now 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 you sir are the best thank you
Solid video. thanks for the info.
TBH I liked the previous crossbow projectile arc. It was fun to land and you could get the hang of it with a couple of uses.
The Arc Blitz is alot more viable now but it still suffer from the random misfire and dead body blocking your arc
wanted to drop some notes that i was sharing with HD2 disc: wrt changes in spawn rate, some of my simple math: we know that for 1p solo, the spawn changed from 1/6 of a 4p game to 1/4 of a 4p game. 1/6 is ~17% the amount of a 4p game 1/4 is 25% the amount of a 4p game. so that's an increase of 8% more patrols for 1 player, which is the "fewest" number of players - making 8% the uppermost change (when looking at the line "The fewer the players the bigger the change). so with that logic, maybe 2 players saw a 5% or 6% increase and 3 players saw a 2% or 3% increase and 4 players saw a 0% change. without their exact numbers, it's hard to say for sure, but i'd say the movement is maxed out at 8% increase in patrols. the problem is when percentage or fractions are applied to whole numbers. i.e. 8% on 10000 mobs is a lot different than 8% on 5000 mobs. Meaning higher difficulties with more mobs will have even more dramatic results wrt reticle and scope: I've found that this issue persists because the scope alignment is somehow tied to the 3rd person reticle, when it should be isolated from it. If you look at the third person reticle, you can see the circle float upper left for weapons that have a misaligned scope This is improved when you're prone with the right armor, but it's not perfect still. For weapons without an alignment issue, the circle reticle is often already dead center with the dot, if not closer to it. I think this fundamental part of the engine is why it's taking so long to detach the two and fix the problem. (based on my own tests)
Thanks for this video, I can tell it took a lot of work to do. Glad the liberator got some tlc and in the S-tier because it the most important weapon in the game for many reasons.
i do think the 12 magazine on the eruptor was pretty op, but putting it to 6 was probably too heavy handed. it already is a bolt action slow as heck reload weapon with travel time so like 8 would've been a nice spot.
I think the best way to use the liberator concussive is pairing it up with some close range support weapon like the flamethrower. I've been using it with stun grenades to make space, you push then back into the DoT flames in the ground and it gives you time to reload or just roast them all together. It's a good way to make sure your canister doesn't get wasted in single targets too, since it's very easy to group them all together with the concussive blast. Your squad will surely thank you for keeping the chargers and horde at bay with this kind of support loadout and it's a very comfy way to play.
Counter sniper DMR got a huge buff for ergonomics, previosly it was heavy as 2 AMRs but without damage and armor penetration, now it giving really nice gameplay of medium-long distance dmr that can shred small enemies and can easily deal with devastators of any type by shooting their heads off. If first Diligence was like that DMRs would really shine like they should be, but we have what we have
I liked the marksman rifles so they did jump up to my consoderation to use list and the liberator definitely has been slept on. I called it ol reliable for a reason. Either way over all i felt the weapon changes where fine.
Wish I could like this video 100 times. Thanks for putting in the work!
I main the arc weapons with the jetpack and a grenade pistol, and have been since Malevelon Creek. The Blitzer is great for flanking since it doesnt arc between enemies, and the new charge rate makes it better. It bypasses the heavy devastator shield in addition to the insane stagger. Not great for bugs but thats why I keep the arc thrower
THANK YOU! GREAT INFO 🎉
Did anyone else blow up when you used both the personal shield and Punisher Plasma? Every match I’ve tried it on, it blows up within my shield.
Thank you for your videos bro!
awesome video. looking forward to part two
As someone who has mained Adjudicator since it released, im glad im not the only one who thinks the scope is off. They just need to fix the scope and add 5 rounds per mag. I would also like if they added a burst fire mode as burst firing is very effective against devastators with it.
I'm going to start using the liberator a lot more now. I've been looking for an excuse to go back to it. It's such a great weapon in terms of looks and handling. It's nice that it can also put in the damage now.
putting in the hard work, good on you soldier.
I've been using the arc 12 for a while now so I can't wait to see the improvements
24:42 - I prefer the concussive against the terminds but only because of my support weapon - the flamethrower! If you run a flamethrower and napalm strike, the concussive works great keeping them in the fire and back while they burn.
Thanks for the great breakdown
I was so excited for the adjudicator when it first dropped, never dropped a weapon faster
Secret about the AR-23 liberator is it was always good- it was just outshone by the default support MG. Now we've seen all these niche weapons doing their thing and bread and butter still works. Same thing happened in splatoon actually. Splattershot Jr. and the Splattershot were top tier picks from the start and they're the two you get first.
sneaking options? your radar is useful even without upgrades and scout passive. scout passive is great paired with ammo packs so you can resup grenades and stims on the go. bring smokes and/or gas. could also go with a well placed turret to make noise and pull aggro while you crouch or crawl off. localization confusion is an available booster as well