Fret not patriots, the latest Helldivers 2 patch has nerfed chargers and bile titans
A thorn in Super Earth's side has been hit with the nerf hammer, while community strategies have been given a salute by the devs.
A new Helldivers 2 patch has been implemented into the game which nerfs heavy enemies, with an emphasis on Terminids like Chargers and Bile Titans. This includes spawn rates at difficulty seven and higher, as well as the chances of charger and bile titan spawn spikes - which had been resulting in multiple foes attacking all at once and overwhelming players.
The patch notes make clear that this isn't strictly a difficulty decrease, as these changes in enemy distribution will result in other enemy types coming in higher numbers. So while you may not see three chargers rushing you at once, expect to see other bugs and robots take their place.
It's also now easier to take down chargers in particular. In the patch notes, the devs make note of the community's efforts to tackle these enemies by focusing the backs of their legs with certain heavy weapons. This was a slightly tricky - if effective - way of taking them out quickly, but the team at Arrowhead have made adjustments, stating: "spending your heavy anti tank weapons on legs instead of the obvious weak point seems counter to expectation".
As such, while the legs will remain unchanged, the health of the charger's head will be reduced so that a well-placed shot from a recoilless rifle or EAT-17 will instantly kill it. This could very well reduce the number of flamethrowers you're seeing in lower difficulty missions - a weapon beloved due to its ability to bypass charger armour altogether.
This patch was previously teased by the Helldivers 2 devs and was much-requested by the community at large. While bile titans were a monsterous threat at the game's higher difficulties, we were seeing chargers wreck havoc among even intermediate players doing their best to beat challenging and hard campaigns. Hopefully this patch remedies the situation, and allows Helldivers to experiment with more diverse builds.
The team at Arrowhead has been extremely open and communicative with its wider community as of late, with the CEO reaching out online to ask how people would approach the game's toxic host problem and considering mech changes sourced from players on Twitter. If you're a Helldivers 2 fan that keeps tab on the devs' online presence, it's a trait that's great to see.