After weeks and waves of complaints from players, the Rupture Warriors in Helldivers 2 have been substantially nerfed. The latest patch makes them weaker, easier to hit, and less strategic, to ensure they're as fun as any other enemy.
Arriving in early September, these burrowing insects have been a real bugbear within the community. Between spending ages underground and their incredible accuracy, Rupture Warriors prematurely ended many a squad's mission, leading to a lot of angry feedback toward developer Arrowhead.
Change was promised, with the Rupture Strain deactivated for five weeks to re-evaluate the whole thing. Now, the Warriors are being re-shaped. In a breakdown of the current patch notes, Niklas Malmborg, the design director at Arrowhead, discusses all the changes they've made.
"We disabled them for a reason; they were not that fun. So, let's make them fun," he starts. "We decreased the movement speed when moving underground, because it was very fast before, and it needs to surface more often. So they have a time that they can dig, then they need to resurface, and then they can burrow again. It gives you a window."
The Warrior's bird attack has been down-tuned pretty drastically. It doesn't do as much damage, nor does it hone right onto you, making it more directional. "It won't adjust to you, so it basically always hits you. If you keep moving, most of the time it will just miss you," Malmborg states. "If you dive to the side, it will miss you; if you run, it will probably miss you."
Its larger-than-usual damage box has been refined down - the largest annoyance I encountered - and it now comes at turrets differently. Instead of destroying them from below the ground, the Warrior pops up for air and hits the turret, letting you take a few shots while they’re attracted to the stationary fire.
This comes packaged in a larger patch made to address deeper issues Helldivers 2 has been facing. There might be 99 problems, but now the Rupture Warrior isn't one.
