Helldivers 2: Machinery of Oppression: 6.1.0

Arrowhead Game Studios announced the release of Machinery of Oppression: 6.1.0 today via their Discord and Steam page. You can dive on over to their Steam page for a look at the official patch message, here.

Technically speaking, the content will not unlock until Friday, March 20th, 2026. But it looks like we get at least some insight on the changes to come!

Aim with care, dive with reckless intent, and stay safe out there, Helldivers!

-Hobbit

Machinery of Oppression: 6.1.0

Release Captain Morris here with a small update this fine Tuesday!

The Galactic War never rests, and neither can you. While you lick the wounds caused by the Automatons on Cyberstan, Super Earth’s other numerous enemies seek opportunities to rob us of our Democracy. It’s time to rally.

On Friday, March 20, 2186, we are mobilizing our divers based on new intelligence gathered by High Command.

This time, the Illuminate have put new pieces on the board. Illuminate Appropriators have made themselves known–shielded, powerful, and arriving in Illuminate Fleets, as well as hordes of Fleshmobs and Voteless.

But that’s not all. New planetary conditions have been detected, and the squids have commanded nature itself to work against us in the form of the Illuminate Exostorms with intense wind and lightning strikes. You will have to destroy their Exospires to calm the storm.

We have already authorized the launch of new tools to help you: the Entrenched Division Premium Warbond should aid in tackling this new mission: flame, gas, or the safe haven of a freshly-dug trench are the new tactics.

As you weather the storms of Illuminate space, never forget: the squids are no match for Managed Democracy.

Please note: The PC large build has now been removed. In order to access this update and future updates, please switch to the default (previously slim) build.

Patch Highlights

*** This content will unlock on Friday, March 20. ***

New enemies

• Illuminate Piloted Constructs 
  • VERACITOR: capable of fighting at close quarters.
  • GATEKEEPER: engages targets at ranged distance.
• A new variant of the Watcher:
  • OBTRUDER: inserts itself where it is not wanted.
• New Sub-Faction: Illuminate Appropriators

Introducing the Illuminate Fleets

• The Mindless Masses are set on taking over swaths of territory, with fewer Illuminates units deploying vast hordes of voteless and fleshmobs.
• The Appropriators field only Illuminate units, supported by a variety of constructs—piloted and otherwise.

Illuminate Exostorms

Planets in Illuminate space have been sieged by powerful Illuminate Exostorms, with high-intensity wind and lightning strikes.

• Planets experiencing Exostorms will be visible on the Galactic Map, but the danger will ramp up when you dive to the planet’s surface.
• The strength of the storms can vary, with higher class storms presenting greater risk.

In order to contain these planetwide storms, you must complete the new “Destroy Exospire” mission.

New Mission – Destroy Exospire

The powerful storms seem to originate from Illuminate technology in the form of Exospires. Work with your squad to destroy the Exospires and clear the storm looming over the region.

• Sub-objective: The Exospire is protected by a force shield. The squad will first have to locate the access nodes that connect to the subterranean shield generators, and overload them with an electrical surge of liberating force.
• Primary Objective: Once the force shield has been deactivated, the squad will enter the Exospire’s chamber and destroy its core by eliminating the Dark Fluid cells that maintain it.

Balancing

General changes overview

Flamethrowers

• Some enemies now thinks its very inconvenient to be flamed in the face
  • smaller to medium sized enemies will in general be slower while getting flamed with a flamethrower
  • small to medium automatons, small to large terminids and small to medium illuminates will be confused and panic when getting flamed in the face. which leads to them attacking randomly

Primary weapons

AR/GL-21 One-Two

• Moved the underbarrel weapon function from down to left

Sidearms

PLAS-15 Loyalist

• Increased magazine capacity from 7 to 8
• Shorter charger-up time on full charge up from 1 sec to 0.75 sec

P-11 Stim Pistol

• Increase Heal effect with 100%
• Increase Muzzle velocity from 200 to 300

Stratagems

Resupply

• You can now climb it again! But the autoclimb will not climb it. It’s literally the best of both worlds!

GL-21 Grenade Launcher

• Reverted the change made in the previous patch – the launcher has medium armor penetration again

CQC-1 One True Flag

• Moved and increased the size of the melee ability
• The One True Flag is DESPISED by the enemies of Democracy. They will attempt to target anyone waving it

CQC-20 Breaching Hammer

• Increased damage from 2100 to 2200

M-1000 Maxigun

• Increased ammo capacity from 750 to 1000

LAS-98 Laser Cannon

• Increased beam length from 200m to 1000m

GL-28 Belt-Fed Grenade Launcher

• Increased ammo from 100 to 120.

GL-52 De-Escalator

• Faster reload
• Full reload around 2 second faster from around 7.5 to 5.5 sec
• One reload around 1 sec faster from around 3.5 to 2.5 sec

AC-8 Autocannon

• Faster reload
• Full reload around 1 second faster from around 5.5 sec to 4.5 sec
• Half reload around 0.5 sec faster from around  2.3 sec → 1.8 sec

B/MD C4 Pack

• Moved the switch from  weapon function from right to left

Exosuits Step damage zone

• Made the damage zone closer to the size of the legs.
• Helldivers and enemies were killed when not in close proximity
• This effects EXO-45 Patriot Exosuit and EXO-49 Emancipator Exosuit

Enemies

General

• Small to medium automatons, small to large terminids, and small to medium illuminates will be confused and panic when getting flamed in the face, which leads them to randomly attack anyone in their vicinity

Fixes

Crash Fixes

• Fixed a crash that would occur during the Hellpod drop
• Fixed a rare crash that occurred when a grenade entered a Vox Engines weakpoint
• Fixed a rare crash caused by Cyborgs taking cover

Weapons & Stratagem Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Cyborg Agitator and Radicals armor did not break properly when attacked by laser weaponry
• Fixed B-1 Supply Pack being usable by Helldivers that are already full on ammo on Xbox
• Orbital lasers will no longer target enemies in caves
• Fixed stratagems bouncing on fuel depots in factory cities
• Guard dog drones will no longer obscure your view while interacting with terminals or other mission items
• Helldivers will now start with 4 Arc Grenades instead of 3
• Fixed an issue where the G-50 seeker grenade would not deal damage
• Fixed “low ammo” and other notifications showing on weapons with infinite ammo
• Stats for melee weapons are now more accurate. Showing damage, weapon attack speed and stamina drain per attack
• Fixed a glitch that would let a player take multiples of the same stratagem

Enemies

• Fixed an issue where Brood Commanders would not summon reinforcements when detecting a client player
• Overseers will now stagger when their armour and shields are destroyed
• Enemies will now be alerted to the sound of the CQC-20 Breaching Hammer exploding
• The unarmored limbs attached to the Hiveguard’s protective front legs now have lower armor
• Fixed an issue where surge modifiers spawned more enemies than intended
• Vox engine changes:
  • Reduced spawn rate
  • Reduced upper body turn rate
  • Increased the spread of main cannon shots
  • MG turrets on the side will now die instantly when the Vox Engine dies
  • Vox Engine now tries to avoid shooting targets with its main cannons on targets that are too close
• Fixed an issue where enemies could walk through the Vox Engines tracks to attack the player
• Fixed a bug that would cause Bastion Tanks to be launched into the upper atmosphere when running over cars on colonies.
• Fixed an issue where scout walkers with rockets would not die when those rockets were shot, stealth divers rejoice
• Fixed a bug where Levers on Cyborg Assembly unit would not work if you were killed/ragdolled while interacting with them

Miscellaneous Fixes

• Sending an invite via the social menu on PS5 will now also send a system invite
• Fixed an issue where login error messages would go out of bounds, making them difficult to read
• Fixed red lighting occurring on the super destroyer after leaving a Magma planet/Cyberstan
• Fixed a minor issue where UI would go out of bounds when dying with 3 types of Samples
• Removed the redundant “Compare” option when equipping stratagems
• Fixed an issue where foliage that slowed a Helldiver would also slow projectiles passing through them
• Added the correct “Stun” and “Arc” tags to items that were missing the tags from their descriptions
• Purge Illuminate mission has been renamed to Eliminate Overseers to be more accurate
• Helldivers can now melee while falling or using the LIFT-850 Jump Pack
• Fixed weapons with stationary reload being reloadable while using LIFT-850 Jump Pack
• Illuminate Overships can now only be destroyed by the Planetary Defense Cannon