Helldivers 2's massive 7.0 update, Devoid of Liberty, is live now, and it brings some huge changes to the game's loveable SEAF soldiers.These NPCs are basically the equivalent of UNSC marines in Halo--fun to have around, but not particularly good at their job. Previously in Helldivers 2, SEAF soldiers could be recruited to follow players around and occasionally shoot at enemies, but were mostly good at being accidentally (or maybe not?) blown to bits by friendly fire.In the Devoid of Liberty update, the SEAF soldiers can now appear as a planet modifier, joining Helldivers in their battles. Dropships will routinely deliver SEAF soldiers into the fray, and they are more equipped for battle than ever before. Each SEAF squad will have a squad leader, a rifleman, a heavy weapon-wielding specialist, and a medic capable of stimming wounded Helldivers.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLTltwbS4KYBetter yet, SEAF soldiers will now interact with players in new ways. They're now capable of interacting with emotes, meaning they can shake hands, play rock, paper, scissors, or even give a hug to a Helldiver in need.The SEAF changes are just one piece of the latest Helldivers 2 update. Devoid of Liberty additionally adds two new terrifying Illuminate enemy types. One, the Wretch, looks to have been ripped straight out of EA's Dead Space franchise, with developer Arrowhead Studios advising players to aim for its limbs in order to stop its relentless pursuit. Another new enemy, the Crusher, is a walking giant capable of regenerating rapidly, meaning Helldivers will need to focus their fire and keep up the pressure in order to keep them down. On the quality-of-life front, the update massively increased Helldivers 2's level cap (from 150 to 300, with new ranks and rewards to earn). There's also plenty of balance changes, including making stims more responsive, faster recovery time after a heavy landing, and buffs to short magazines and secondary weapons. To coincide with new Void-based horrors, the game's long-awaited Warhammer 40K crossover Warbond is also available now. You can find the full Helldivers 2 Devoid of Liberty patch notes below.For those who haven't yet made the call to defend Super Earth and spread Managed Democracy, Helldivers 2 is one of this month's free PlayStation Plus Extra/Premium games.Helldivers 2 Devoid Of Liberty Update Patch NotesNew Illuminate EnemiesA new biome full of fresh horrors awaits, the void warps everything it touches and your foes have taken new hideous forms.The Crusher is on a deathmarch capable of regenerating while taking heavy damage and needs to be worn down quickly and consistently without a moment of pause.The Wretch is a relentless and nimble enemy that requires quick trigger fingers and focused aim as they are able to dodge and leap at the player while advancing to quickly dismantle its weapons along with their will to live.SEAF Support SEAF have entered the battle! Super Earth Armed Forces (SEAF) can now appear as a planet modifier, joining you in battle in your missions and enhancing your combat capabilities with a range of new tools (Stim pistols, Heavy Machine guns and more)The SEAF take to the stars. Super Earth High Command has mandated the SEAF be deployed directly to the frontlines of the Galactic Campaign for Democracy. Helldivers will be able to be supported by friendly SEAF NPC troops, with new and improved behavior, weaponry and updated visualsLevel Cap IncreasedWe've expanded the Helldiver rank system beyond Level 150, adding 15 new ranks and titles that carry Helldivers all the way up to Level 300. Each new rank comes with its own unique title and icon to recognize the most dedicated defenders of Managed Democracy. Super Earth thanks you for your continued service, the fight never ends, and neither does your potential.Expanded Emote SlotsHelldivers, you now have twice as many ways to express yourself on the battlefield! The emote wheel capacity has been raised from 4 to 8 emotes.CASTELLAN'S CREED WarbondChannel the formidable battle prowess of the Astra Militarum’s finest in the HELLDIVERS™ 2 x Warhammer 40,000: Castellan’s Creed Legendary Warbond.Community Feedback ChangesWe’re trying out a new section to shout out some of the fixes and changes that are high up on the community’s wishlist!GATER UpgradesSuper Earth engineers have replaced the engine and transmission in the GATER in favor of a much more powerful Super V48 Interceptor engine, this has improved its speed and handling.The Constitution… has stripper clips!Assisted Reload ReworkProblem we want to solve: The original intent was a tactical action that needed collaboration with a designated reloader that carries the backpackWe have reevaluated how this works and with how the game has evolved since launch we got to the conclusion that the assisted reload action require too much coordination which lead to it rarely happeningIntent and expectation with the change:We want to reduce the complexity with assisted reloading to promote using it more.Allow players to keep their backpack and reload whenever you need, while also allows a teammate to easily help you if the opportunity arises. The change we made:Helldivers can now assist reload as long as one of the wielder and/or reloader of the weapon has the correct backpackBalancing Updated icons for backpack weapons and expendable weaponsProblem we want to solve: Find a specific weapon in the loadout can be hard to do with all the new weapons added to the arsenalIt can be hard to know if a support weapon needs a backpack or can not be reloaded when only looking at the icon.Intent and expectation with the change:We want to make it easier to find specific weapons and to plan your loadout. It should be easier to know when a weapon needs a backpack or can not be reloaded when only looking at the icon.The change we made:Stratagem Weapons that require a backpack now have a backpack icon included on their loadout icons Stratagem Weapons that can not be reloaded now have a drop weapon icon included on their loadout icons .Decreased heavy landing durationProblem we want to solve: The original intent was to make the heavy landing to feel like you recovered from a high fall.The player lost control for a long time when landing on the feet from a higher fall.Intent and expectation with the change:We wanted to make it smoother to recover from the heavy landing state and not remove the control for too long.While still make it feel like a heavy landing recoveryThe change we made:Decreased the duration for the heavy landing animation with around 40%Stim action input smoothingProblem we want to solve: Players can experience dead input when trying to stim when the stim action was not allowed.Intent and expectation with the change:We want to lessen the feeling of dead input when using the stim action.The change we made:We changed so the stim input is remembered for a short duration when the action is not allowed and will be executed if the stim action is allowed within that duration. This works similar to how the reload input action changes from the last patch.Ammo re-balance for Short magazines attachments and Secondaries Problem we want to solve: The benefits of the short magazines are too few compared to drum magazines.The benefits of some of the anti personnel side arms do not have enough benefits compared to other side arm options.Intent and expectation with the change:Give more benefits to short magazines to make the items more useful compared to drum magazines for the same weapon.Give more benefits to some of the lesser used anti personnel side arms to make the items more usefulThe change we made:Short magazines got more max spare and starting magazines.Some of the anti personnel sidearms got more max spare and starting magazines.PrimariesR-2124 ConstitutionAdded a full stripper clip reload when reloading if the magazine is empty.Primaries attachmentsShort magazines for:AR-23 LiberatorAR-23P Liberator PenetratorAR-23C Liberator ConcussiveAR-23A Liberator Carbine AR-59 SuppressorIncreased spare magazines 12 to 16Increased starting magazines 7 to 9Short magazines for:SMG-37 Defender SMG-72 PummelerIncreased spare magazines 9 to 12Increased starting magazines 6 to 8Short magazines for:SMG/FLAM-34 Stoker Increased spare magazines 10 to 13Increased starting magazines 6 to 7Decreased reload duration 2.8 sec to 2.3 sec Short magazines for:SG-225 BreakerSG-225IE Breaker IncendiaryIncreased magazines spare magazines 9 to 11Increased magazines starting magazines 6 to 7Short magazines for:SG-225SP Breaker Spray&PrayIncreased spare magazines 16 to 20Increased starting magazines 11 to 12SecondariesP-113 VerdictIncreased max spare magazines from 8 to 10Increased starting magazines from 4 to 6M6C/SOCOM PistolIncreased max spare magazines from 8 to 10Increased starting magazines from 5 to 6P-19 RedeemerIncreased spare magazines from 4 to 6Stratagems Eagle Napalm AirstrikeProblem we want to solve: The Eagle napalm did not feel as effective compared to other Eagle stratagems and napalm stratagemsIntent and expectation with the change:Create a larger area of effect for the napalms fireMake it more effective compared to other napalm stratagemsThe change we made:Increased explosion radius 8 to 10mMore spread out bomb pattern to cover a larger areaMD-17 Anti-Tank MinesProblem we want to solve: The explosion of the mines looks like they can destroy larger thingsIntent and expectation with the change:The effect of the explosion match should match the visuals betterMake the mines work in more situations like destroying colony walls and bug holes from the outsideThe change we made:Increased Demolition strength from 30 to 40EnemiesTerminidsHuntersProblem we want to solve: Hunters and their variants were unable to attack FRVs consistently They could only use their tongue to attack, and struggle to find a proper position to launch itIntent and expectation with the change:When Helldivers enter a FRV, Hunters should be able to attack the vehicle more naturally The change we made:We allowed one melee attack to be correctly triggered against FRVs IlluminateVeracitor Problem we want to solve: When the Helldiver got attacked by a Veracitor while holding a ballistic shield it could created clipping issue where the arm of the Veracitor could merge with the body of the Helldiver and sometime resulting in sending the Helldiver at high speed in the airIntent and expectation with the change:Fighting an exomech with a ballistic shield still protects against damage, but Helldivers will now ragdoll when blocking an attackHelldivers won’t be sent to low orbit anymore after blocking an attack with ballistic shield.Ballistic shield will break after around 15 direct hitsThe change we made:Increased Exomech melee’s force strength from 25 to 40Conformed Exomech melee’s attack armor penetration to all correctly be Anti tankFixesCrash FixesFixed rare crash that could happen when dropping down the core drillFixed a crash which could occur when spreading fireFixed a very rare crash which could occur when mortar sentries update their targeting aimFixed a crash that could happen sometimes when dropping in on CR7+ missions on CyberstanFixed a rare UI crash on shutdownFixed a crash when using multiple monitors with different DPI scales in Windows Weapons & Stratagem FixesSway and reload weapon stats now display decimals for better accuracyStratagem Weapons that require a backpack now have a backpack icon included on their loadout icons Stratagem Weapons that cannot be reloaded now have a drop weapon icon included on their loadout icons You can now assist reload a Helldiver, using ammo from their backpackFixed glitch where Veto pistol would receive one extra round (translating to one extra 6 bullet reload!) from the Siege-Ready armor passive.Also corrects a few other weapons which also received one erroneous extra round, magazine or heat-coil. We continue to round partial bonus rounds/mags/coils up in favor of the player. Fixed a bug where the camera clipped through the R-36 Eruptor with 2x Tube Red Dot equipped when inserting the next bullet in ADS at max FoVEnemies will no longer spontaneously attack the GATER unless the Helldiver is inside it or unless they are drilling. Enemies famously hate the democratic extraction of natural resources.Weapons will no longer lock onto the tank of the GATERIncreased GATER ammo capacity, health, knockback and impact damage. Also made it harder to roll sidewaysIncreased the speed and responsiveness of the GATERFixed an issue where the first person animation of the LAS-58 Talon overloading would make the weapon clip with the SH-20 Ballistic Shield BackpackFixed an issue where the Helldiver would cancel draw animations if they tried to enter the aim state while switching weapons. This would cause the Helldiver to look ready to fire, while still preparing the weaponThe Ministry of Defence user experience department have made improvements to the TD-220 Bastion Mk.XVI munitions system Heads Up Display. This should make it clearer the main canon can be reloaded manually.Orbital Laser will no longer occasionally get stuck after targeting a flying enemyExosuits will no longer get stuck in trees when being dropped offThrowable items are now being visible to other players when the Helldiver is carrying themFixed a bug where the EXO-55 Breakthrough Exosuit would sometimes have the shield arm damage zones protrude through the shield, resulting in the arm taking damage that the shield should have protectedFixed case where the Breaker Drill could get stuck on the roof in certain hive world missionsM-104 Incinerator FRV's mounted flamethrower now shows the correct icon and nameEnemiesFixed an issue where the Gatekeeper's weapons clipped into each other when their target was too closeFixed an issue where visually removing the armor of the Impaler didn't match the gameplay experienceImpaler close melee attack now has a damage shockwaveHunters are now able to attack FRVs more consistentlyFixed a bug where enemies would disappear when the Helldiver died, thus not being able to know what just killed the HelldiverFixed enemy navigation issues in one of the Take Down Overship locationsFixed a bug where the Veracitor's melee attack could clip through Helldivers holding a SH-20 Ballistic Shield BackpackFixed issue where Watchers and Obtruders were not attacking players while mounted behind a Grenadier BattlementFixed an issue where sometimes the Hive Lord scales would not visually break properly (did not affect gameplay behavior)Obtruder will now collide correctly with HelldiversReduced clipping between Obtruder and Helldivers' vehiclesVeracitors now guard outpostsFixed an issue where the Veracitor clipped through buildings and obstacles while charging. It should now destroy anything in its path and stop when hitting a wallFixed an issue where the Veracitor clipped through buildings and obstacles while charging. It should now destroy anything in its path and stop when hitting a wallGatekeeper spawnrate has been increased to closely match Veracitor in EncountersFixed a bug for Gatekeeper sometimes appearing to turn in place without moving their legsFixed bug which would on rare occasions cause enemies to not be able to move into the correct attack rangeSEAFs can destroy enemy spawnersEnemies have learned how to climb stairs during the Establish Communication Uplink missionsMiscellaneous FixesFixed several mission HUD inconsistencies on certain Hiveworld missionsFixed visible holes in the terrain in one of the Disrupt Shield Generator locationsFixed a bug where the factory building facade was invertedUpdated the sounds for picking up medals, requisition slips and super credits one of the missionsFixed a bug where the Recoil Simulator was showing all ammo being fired at onceVehicle delivery shuttles will no longer get stuck endlessly looking for a place to drop off their deliveries when deployed in dense cities between tall buildingsHelldivers will no longer ride the victory elevator with their hands in the air like some kind of rollercoasterHelldivers how have a chance to find super credits in Factory WorldsFixed an issue in the tutorial where the incoming timer for the Orbital Precision Strike could display an incorrect durationOptimized various gameplay VFX across the gamePrevented hit-markers being displayed for hits from indirect explosive damage, damage from your sentries and damage from your orbitals/airstrikes. Melee weapons, laser weapons and flame weapons will now display their hit markers correctlyFixed an issue with ragdolling causing invisible collision issuesExo Storms of class 2 and 3 will now spawn tornadoes of varying sizes, depending on the intensity of the storm.If your Helldiver cannot stim at the exact moment when the stim button is pressed, they will automatically stim as soon as they are able to (up to 2 seconds later)Fixed a bug where planting the CQC-1 One True Flag would break animations for other melee weapons.Fixed a bug where the CQC-1 One True Flag would be planted at the Helldivers feet instead of being planted in front of the HelldiverFixed an issue where the player could see through the Destroyer ship while in a cutsceneDecreased the Helldivers heavy land animation from 1.32 sec to 0.8 secScrolling to the bottom of the Bindings menu with a controller now correctly stops at the last available option instead of disappearingFixed possible graphical artifacts in the Control CenterFixed a bug where Network Desync can cause SEAF Artillery shells to not be inserted properly, causing a soft lockFixed a visual bug where the Oil Rig was displaying both destroyed and non-destroyed visual statesClothes on the upper body of civilian industrial corpses in cities now have the correct texturesOptimized tree VFX materialsFixed an issue where network problems caused collision errors with enemy corpses.Fixed an issue that prevented Super Credits from spawning in Factory CitiesAdditional improvements to image quality when using upscalingReduced ghosting around the edges of the screen when using NVIDIA DLSS upscalingFixed blocky artifacts on nebula effects, especially visible on lower render scales