Helldivers 2’s First Big Update of 2025 Lets You Emote While Ragdolling Once Again, Tweaks Balance, and More

Helldivers 2's substantial 2025 update, patch 01.002.101, is now live, introducing significant gameplay adjustments and bug fixes. This over 5GB patch boasts a range of improvements, fueling speculation about potential hidden additions beyond the documented changes.

Key improvements include extended gas duration from spray weapons and the restoration of emoting while airborne or ragdolling. The patch also addresses numerous balance issues and critical bugs.

A particularly noteworthy, and slightly unsettling, fix involves a visual glitch with the Stalker's tongue (the developers remain tight-lipped on the specifics of this repair).

Patch 01.002.101 Highlights:

Balancing:

• General: Increased spray weapon gas duration to 10 seconds (from 6); implemented a despawn timer for Illuminate dropship wreckage to prevent path obstructions.
• Helldiver: Jogging now permitted while carrying two-handed items.
• FRV: Grenade and stratagem deployment enabled while leaning; improved cornering handling.
• Sidearms: Increased starting magazines to 3 (from 2) and spare magazines to 5 (from 4).
• TX-41 Sterilizer (Stratagem Support Weapon): Removed crosshair drift and camera climb recoil; increased gas duration to 10 seconds.
• Siege Ready Armor Passive: A bug granting extra ammo to all weapons (not just primaries as intended) remains unfixed, pending further evaluation.
• AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath (Backpack): Reworked for improved effectiveness, prioritizing gas-unaffected enemies; targeting logic refined for closer proximity to the Helldiver; increased targeting range to 20m (from 10m); increased gas duration to 10 seconds.
• MD-6, MD-I4, and MD-17 Mines (Stratagems): Cooldown reduced to 120 seconds (from 180); damage increased; deployment spread widened to reduce chain explosions.
• SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack: Now blocks melee attacks until destroyed.

Fixes:

• Top Priority: Restored emoting during falls/ragdolling; fixed Illuminate spawner ship shields' invulnerability to impact grenades; resolved collision issues within the spawner ship; health packs now fully replenish stims; high-damage weapons now detonate Hellbombs.
• Crash Fixes: Numerous crash and soft-lock fixes related to mission aborts, hot-joining, emotes, reloading, armor changes, tutorial completion, extraction, projectile fire, and various other scenarios.
• Social & Matchmaking: Improved matchmaking for regional proximity; fixed chat history clearing.
• Weapons & Stratagems: Resolved issues with emplacement usage, Arc weapon accuracy, E/AT-12 armor penetration tag, stratagem turret targeting, heat weapon visual indicators, melee weapon physics, B-1 Supply Pack stim distribution.
• FRV: Increased FRV durability; improved camera visuals and prevented underground camera sticking; reduced rooftop drops; enabled non-QWERTY keyboard input.
• Helldiver: Fixed ragdolling issues affecting FRV interaction, car vaulting, ground sliding, and water animations.
• Enemies: Fixed Stalker tongue visual bug; resolved enemy non-reaction to missed shots.
• Miscellaneous: Addressed various audio, civilian pathing, visual glitches (floating heads), and damage calculation issues.

Known Issues:

• Top Priority: Black box mission terminal clipping; stratagem ball unpredictable bounces; DSSP pathfinding; Dolby Atmos issues on PS5.
• Medium Priority: Player getting stuck on Pelican-1 ramp; explosives causing ragdolling; cape display issues; "This is Democracy" emote causing unintended spacewalks; AX/TX-13 ammo indicator; Barrager Tank armor and weak points; LAS-5 Scythe scope zoom; charge-up weapon firing inconsistencies.

This update represents a significant step towards improving the Helldivers 2 experience. While some issues remain, the extensive list of fixes and balance adjustments promises a more refined and enjoyable gameplay experience.