Arrowhead Game Studios' 60-day action plan to reinvigorate Helldivers 2 continues this week as developers tease a new buff every single day until the next patch launches on September 17. Today brings good news for divers who squashed countless bugs with the Breaker shotgun in one mission, and then never let it leave their arsenal again.
In the ongoing BuffDiver series, creative director Johan Pilestedt and design director Niklas Malmborg explain that democracy's favorite shotgun is getting buffed. Once equally capable of long-distance snipes and close-range devastation, the Breaker had been slightly nerfed alongside controversial changes to many fan-favorite weapons.
"We've finally reverted the Breaker to what it was at launch," Pilestedt says, before explaining that its magazine size is being extended to hold 16 shells once again.
- Helldivers 2's Fallout-grade Ultimatum mini nuke has been nerfed, but maintains its "core identity as a powerhouse" because the devs are "huge fans of big booms booming big"
- Helldivers 2 update makes the shooter a "little bit harder, but hopefully in a fun way" as Automatons get smarter and weapons get buffed to help deal with them
Here goes the long awaited Breaker update! Now it comes with an extended magazine which holds 16 shells and stagger force increased from 10 to 15. #BuffDivers pic.twitter.com/J1zLAMpNmzSeptember 12, 2024
"And we've got more," Malmborg interjects. "It actually got more stagger." Pilestedt then funnily says, "Oh nice," as if he's not leading the entire ship. The Breaker's stagger force is going up from 10 to 15, so you can more easily interrupt an enemy that's barrelling toward you on all eight legs.
We can expect more details about the September 17 re-re-rework every single day this week, but we already know that the largely controversial changes to fire and the flamethrower weapon are being reversed, so bug barbequing is back on the menu.
Arrowhead has repeatedly been stuck in a cycle of nerfing popular equipment in its quest for unobtainable balance shortly before buffing them again due to fan backlash. Helldivers 2's community manager admitted that pattern had been the result of a "disconnect" between the community and the studio, which is what's prompted this in-progress turnaround.
