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 extends the gas duration from spray weapons, reinstates emoting during flight or ragdoll states, and implements numerous balance changes.

Approaching its first anniversary, Helldivers 2 continues its Galactic War narrative with the recent addition of the Illuminate faction. The update's considerable size hints at potential unannounced content beyond the documented changes.

A noteworthy, albeit bizarre, fix is the resolution of a visual glitch affecting the Stalker's tongue (the developers remain discreet about the fix's complexity).

Helldivers 2 Update 01.002.101 Patch Notes:

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 while carrying two-handed items (barrels, SEAF Artillery Rounds) is now permitted.
• FRV: Grenade and stratagem deployment while leaning from the FRV is now possible. FRV handling is improved, particularly during cornering.
• Sidearms: Increased starting magazines to 3 (from 2) and spare magazines to 5 (from 4).
• Stratagem Support Weapons (TX-41 Sterilizer): Removed crosshair drift recoil and decreased camera climb recoil. Increased gas duration to 10 seconds.
• Armor Passives (Siege Ready): A bug granting extra ammo to all weapons (not just primaries as intended) remains unfixed for further evaluation. The Armory description will be updated later.
• Backpacks (AX/TX-13 “Guard Dog” Dog Breath): Reworked for improved effectiveness, prioritizing gas-unaffected enemies. Targeting logic refined, range increased to 20m (from 10m). Gas duration increased to 10 seconds.
• Stratagems (MD-6, MD-I4, MD-17 Anti-Personnel/Incendiary/Tank Mines): Cooldown reduced to 120 seconds (from 180), damage increased, and deployment spread widened to reduce chain explosions.
• SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack: Now blocks melee attacks until destroyed.

Fixes:

• Top Priority: Emoting is re-enabled during falls/ragdolls (without affecting fall damage). Illuminate spawner ship shields now take impact grenade damage. Collision gaps in Illuminate ships are fixed. Health packs fully restore stims. High-damage weapons now detonate Hellbombs.
• Crash Fixes: Numerous crash fixes addressing various scenarios, including mission aborts, hot-joining, emote switching, fires, drop-in sequences, reloading, armory interactions, tutorial completion, extraction, projectile fire, and host disconnections.
• Social/Matchmaking: Improved matchmaking for regional proximity. Difficulty lobby matching is enhanced. Chat history persistence is fixed.
• Weapons/Stratagems: Emplacement retention during text chat is fixed. Arc weapon accuracy against Impaler tentacles is improved. E/AT-12 Anti-Tank Emplacement armor penetration tag is corrected. Stratagem turrets no longer target Illuminate Tesla Towers. Melee weapon physics are adjusted. B-1 Supply Pack stim sharing is restored. Various visual and functional weapon fixes.
• FRV: FRV reinforcement prevents minor impact explosions. Camera improvements enhance visuals and prevent underground sticking. Rooftop drops are reduced. Non-QWERTY keyboard support is added. Various FRV-related fixes.
• Helldiver: Ragdolling into FRV no longer causes vehicle ejection. Civilian car traversal is improved. Ragdoll ground sliding is fixed. Stuck prone gliding animation is fixed. Missing pickup animations are added.
• Enemies: Stalker tongue visual bug is fixed. Enemy reaction to missed shots is improved.
• Miscellaneous: Various audio, civilian pathing, visual, and other miscellaneous fixes.

Known Issues:

• Top Priority: Black box terminal clipping, DSSPathfinding, Evacuate Colonists mission pathfinding, Dolby Atmos on PS5.
• Medium Priority: Pelican-1 extraction issues, explosive ragdolls, cape display, “This is Democracy” emote issue, AX/TX-13 ammo display, Barrager Tank stats, LAS-5 Scythe zoom, charge-up weapon firing behavior.

This update significantly enhances Helldivers 2's gameplay and stability. Players are encouraged to check the official patch notes for complete details.