Helldivers 2 devs revert controversial Hive Guard changes in brand-new patch

Published:

6 May 2026

Last Updated: 6 May 2026

By:

Arrowhead has officially reverted the controversial Hive Guard buff in Helldivers 2. Following the game’s latest update, which launched alongside the Exo Experts Warbond, fans noticed a major buff to the game’s Hive Guard enemy type.

When the game’s last update launched, the Helldivers 2 community pushed back against the buff for the Hive Guard. The change, which changed how players fought the foe, essentially punished players with medium penetration builds, pushing more towards the explosive-weapon meta that is already prominent within the game.

With the release of the game’s 6.2.3 update, the changes to the Hive Guard have been completely reverted back to their previous values. Due to the community’s backlash, Arrowhead has changed the enemy’s stats back to their original form, and also fixed incorrect armour values for the foe’s legs and claws.

The enemy nerf is the only change included in the new Helldivers 2 patch. While there are quite a few issues with the game right now, this is just a small patch to address fan complaints.

You can see the full changes here:

Updated Hive Guard stats:

Main Body

Armor increased from 1 → 2
Health increased from 375 → 500

Head

Armor decreased from 4 → 3

Front Legs

Armor increased from 2 → 3

Claws

Armor decreased from 3 → 1

For more Helldivers 2 coverage, read about the developer’s promise of meaningful progression improvements. While there’s no planned release as of yet, Arrowhead is hard at work on major progression systems that will be added in the future.

Additionally, the studio is also looking to make samples more useful in the game and improve the in-game SuperStore. While the studio works on upcoming gameplay features, Arrowhead is also working on improving its internal game engine as well after years of underinvestment.

Helldivers 2 is currently in another controversial state, but Arrowhead is still hard at work on future content. While the studio hasn’t revealed exactly what is coming to the game in the future, there are certainly some major plans behind-the-scene.

About The Author

Lewis White

Lewis White is a veteran games journalist with over a decade in the field. Starting with beloved Xbox website ICXM/XboxMAD, Lewis became the Gaming Editor at MSPoweruser before becoming the Editor in Chief of StealthOptional and Gfinityesports. Lewis later jumped to By Gamers For Gamers where he jumped to become EIC of VideoGamer and the host of the New VideoGamer Podcast prior to the website’s acquisition.

Over the years, Lewis has also seen long-form investigative pieces published in outlets such as Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, Retro Gamer, Nintendo Life, and EDGE. Now, as the Editor in Chief of FRVR Blog, Lewis strives to bring the same level of quality journalism with interview-led content to the site in both written and audio form with the FRVR Podcast.

With a First Degree BA Hons in Games Journalism and Public Relations, Lewis has been a stable part of the British games press for over a decade, and has frequently displayed his love of Halo, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and other games pretty much everywhere he’s worked. And FRVR is no different.

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