Summary
Helldivers 2has a long way to go before the playing field between players and the enemies of managed democracy would ever be leveled. Still, one specific change could be a great step in this direction forHelldivers 2without tipping the scales too much in the players’ favor.
By rebalancing the amount of damage that players take from headshots,Helldivers 2could eliminate a lot of the frustration from undeserved player deaths. While entirely removing the possibility of headshots being able to one-shot players might be a little overkill, there are ultimately several ways to go about this balancing change toHelldivers 2in future updatesthat could do away with the controversial nature of those pesky headshots.
The Case for Helldivers 2 to Remove Insta-Kill Headshots
Headshots Provide an Unlevel Playing Field Between Players and AI in Helldivers 2
While it’s justified that high-caliber weapons, explosives, and bladed melee attacks can take down players with a single headshot, in the right conditions, even the smallest of Automaton and Terminidenemies inHelldivers 2can often kill players with a lucky headshot, all the same. Not to mention, players also take increased damage while landing on their heads after falling and/or ragdolling.
The main reason behind headshots being such acontroversial feature ofHelldivers 2is that they are seemingly random and unavoidable. Planets inHelldivers 2very rarely have flat terrain, and even the slightest difference in verticality between players and enemies can increase the player’s likeliness of receiving a headshot, regardless of how accurate the enemy AI is. Between this and the variety of weapons that Automaton and Terminid enemies have access to, insta-kill headshots inHelldivers 2are practically inevitable. This can be frustrating since headshots don’t go both ways, meaning most enemies can’t be killed with a single, precise bullet or melee attack, unlike what happens to players.
Not even Heavy armor inHelldivers 2can withstand headshots from certain enemies/weapons. Seemingly, one of the most reliable ways to survive headshots is to wear armor that has the Democracy Protects perk, which provides a 50% chance to survive lethal instances of damage, but even with this armor, it’s all up to random chance whether players survive. Otherwise, players can run with theSH-32 Shield Generator Pack, but since this takes up the player’s backpack slot, this method of mitigating headshots restricts the kind ofsupport weapon Stratagemsthat players can utilize.
Players can obtain two medium armor sets with the Democracy Protects perk,DP-40 Hero Of The Federation Armorand theDP-11 Champion Of The People Armor, from the Helldivers Mobilize! Warbond.
How Helldivers 2 Could Solve Its Headshot Controversy
Ultimately, there is no consistent way to avoid incoming headshots without players sacrificing part of their preferredloadout inHelldivers 2. So, one way of addressing this controversial feature is by universally reducing the amount of damage players take from headshots to the point where players can no longer be killed by any one instance of damage. While this might seem like a drastic change for the game, there are a few ways thatHelldivers 2could incorporate this balancing change via new gear that could justify such a sudden change.
The player’s armor inHelldivers 2consists of three pieces, body armor, a helmet, and a cape. In the case of body armor, each body armor provides varying amounts of armor rating, speed, and stamina recovery stats. However, for helmets and capes, despite displaying these same stats, all helmets and capes share the same armor values, only differing in their appearance. So, in light ofHelldivers 2’s headshot controversy, it might be time for helmets – and capes – to finally have their own impactful armor stats, which could in turn reduce the amount of damage players take from headshots, among other useful benefits. Otherwise, headshot damage could also be reduced byadding a new Booster inHelldivers 2, or a new body armor perk.
