Helldivers 2 Patch 1.000.102 notes make Charger heads more receptive to anti-tank

Published March 12, 2024 9:50 AM, by TJ Denzer

Another patch has rolled out for Helldivers 2 this week, bringing changes to both the sheer overwhelming force of bugs at high difficulties and a certain meta which made little sense to the dev team. Patch 1.000.102 is out in the wild, and beyond those top topics, it also brings the latest bug fixes, changes, and balance shifts to the game. We’ve got the full notes here, so read on to find out more.

Helldivers 2 Patch 1.000.102 notes

Arrowhead Game Studios launched Helldivers 2 Patch 1.000.102 and its accompanying patch notes this week. Some of the biggest changes include the concentration of Bile and Charger Titans on high difficulties. They should spawn a bit less at the trade of having other bugs spawn more. This should ensure you aren’t being flooded with acid goo or trampled by a ridiculous group of either. Arrowhead also addressed the “leg meta,” in which players were targeting the legs on Chargers instead of what the team felt should be an obvious weakspot in the head. The legs have been left alone, but those Charger noggins have been softened so that a Recoilless Rifle or EAT-17 [Expendable Anti-Tank] should be better equipped to take them out. You can read up on the rest of the changes and balances below:

Overview

Today's patch is dealing with the spawn rate of heavily armored Terminid enemies as well as the possible play against them. It also contains some fixes to UI elements and crash fixes.

Balancing

Enemies:

• The amount of heavily armored targets that spawn on higher difficulties, especially for Terminids, have been a big discussion point online and internally. The intent is for groups to have to bring some form of anti-tank capability but not to the degree previously needed.
• To that end we have reduced the spawn rate of Chargers and Bile Titans on difficulties 7 and up. In addition we have reduced the risk of spawn spikes of Chargers and Bile Titans.
• Please note that we have changed the distribution of enemy types, not reduced difficulty. Expect other enemy types to appear in greater numbers instead.
• We are humbled by the community's ability to find things like Chargers “leg meta” in our game, however spending your heavy anti tank weapons on legs instead of the obvious weak point seems counter to expectation.
• We are not changing anything regarding the Charger’s legs, we are however lowering the health of the Charger’s head. It should now be at a point where a well placed shot from a Recoilless Rifle or EAT-17 instantly kills a charger.
• Together with the unfortunately undocumented change of last patch that increased the armor penetration ability of less well placed shots for EAT-17s and Recoilless Rifle shots, Chargers should now be easier to handle by well equipped groups.

Gameplay

"Electronic Countermeasures" operation modifier, which had a chance of giving you a random stratagem instead of the one you input, has been removed in order to be reworked, and will be reintroduced in a future iteration. We found that this modifier wasn’t communicated clearly enough and overall caused more frustration than excitement with the way it was currently implemented. This change was made in 1.000.100 but was unintentionally omitted from the patch notes.

Fixes

• Fixed missing text on several HUD / UI elements.
• Fixed several subtitle / VO mismatches in the news videos.
• Fixed various crashes that occurred mid-gameplay and when deploying to missions.

Known Issues

• Game crashes when attempting to use a stim while inside an Exosuit.
• Pink artifacts may appear in the sky when setting off large explosions.
• Automaton Dropship seemingly disappears and slides in after being shot down.
• Shots from arc-based weapons may not count towards kills in post-mission stats.
• Players cannot unfriend other players befriended via friend code.
• Cross-platform friend invites might not show up in the friend requests tab.
• Players may be unable to select loadout or return to ship when joining a multiplayer game session via PS5 Activity Card.
• The Exosuit can destroy itself with rockets if it fires while turning.
• Text chat box display is obstructed by the cinematic letterboxing during extraction.
• Some people are unable to accept friend requests. This is mostly an issue cross platform

That covers the entirety of Helldivers 2 Patch 1.000.102. Be sure to follow our Helldivers 2 topic for more news, features, and guides.