Helldivers 2 players seem pretty cool with Arrowhead sticking stratagems in a Warbond for the first time, provided plenty of free firepower keeps coming

Yesterday, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead revealed the next Warbond that’ll be arriving in the game, Chemical Agents, which is set to kick up a stink when it drops on September 19.

Part of this latest Warbond are a couple of stratagem variants – the TX-41 Sterilizer and the AX/TX-13 ‘Guard Dog’ Dog Breath – with this being the first time Arrowhead’s elected to include some in a Warbond, rather than offering the usual couple of new primary weapons. How are players feeling about it? Well, pretty ok, it seems.

As we reported yesterday, Arrowhead acknowledged this change in the blog detailing Chemical Agents by writing: “Adding stratagem variants to Warbonds is new with Chemical Agents, but our designers felt that since gas is a crowd control tool, it made more sense to release stratagems and let Helldivers choose the primary weapons they love the most. Not only that, but this is bringing some serious variety to Chemical Agents that we hope players will enjoy.”

Given how contentious things have been between Arrowhead and a lot of Helldivers 2’s hardcore players over balancing updates to different weapons and stratagems in the game, this looked like it might be the kind of thing that could cause another rift, but, so long as it doesn’t mark the start of wider changes, Super Earth Soldiers on Reddit generally seem cool with it.

“I don’t want EVERY new stratagem to be in a warbond, but one or two new ones themed to the bond is alright, maybe not every time a warbond drops but I’m also not gonna complain about new toys unless they don’t work or crash my game,” reads one of the highest upvoted comments in a popular thread discussing the issue, with another player having added: “As long as they don’t start putting in generic strats them I’m happy with them having some extra levers to pull.”

“Every stratagem being in a warbond is not good for the game’s health,” wrote another diver, “HOWEVER having themed stratagems that are essentially variants of existing ones for a themed warbond like this seems not only fitting, but a much better option since its not always easy to balance a flashy warbond for non-stratagem weapons. It really sells the power.”

A number of players pointed out that this is similar to what was done with the original Helldivers, and worked out in a fashion that players appreciated in that game.

On the other hand, there were a few players with more mixed emotions, with one writing: “Feels weird. But maybe it’s better then just giving us new primary [weapons] with no identity. If its weapon call-in like these then I guess it’s ok and not like a carpet bombing stratagem that we have to pay for.”

Are you cool with Arrowhead adding some strategem variants into Helldivers 2’s Warbonds? Let us know below!