After a long two-month wait since the last series of gameplay unlocks for Arrowhead Game Studios’ popular Windows PC and PS5 co-op shooter Helldivers 2 were released, we’ve finally gotten an official look at what’s coming next in this month’s new Warbond battle pass. Honestly, though? I was expecting a lot more.
The Warbond — officially titled Masters of Ceremony — is scheduled to come out May 15, and is themed around a celebration of the Helldivers’ forebears that fought in past generations. Like all past Warbonds, it will cost 1,000 Super Credits ($10 worth, if buying them from the store), and you’ll be able to get a new primary and secondary weapon, a grenade, a stratagem, and a booster from it, along with two armor sets, two capes, two player banners, an emote, and a player title. You can watch the trailer for it here or below.
From a gameplay-focused perspective, the R-2 Amendment marksman rifle, CQC-2 Saber melee secondary, and G-142 Pyrotech grenade all look like they’ll be having the largest impact; the Amendment seems like a cross between the R-2124 Constitution and the R-6 Deadeye, as it has the former’s bayonet and a scope like the latter’s. Meanwhile, the Saber will provide a high-damage melee option (and can be used with the Ballistic Shield Backpack stratagem for some true sword-and-board action), and the way the Pyrotech grenade sprays fire in a wide area around it will come in handy when you’re trying to torch Terminids or Illuminate forces.
As cool as these unlocks and the others in the Warbond look, though, I can’t help but feel like nearly all of them seem redundant at best, and useless at worst. I really don’t think Helldivers 2 needed yet another semi-automatic marksman rifle after we just got the Deadeye, and while the sword certainly fills a niche, I don’t really see why the Pyrotech grenade needs to exist when we already have the incendiaries from the Freedom’s Flame pass.
The light and medium armor sets, too, have an incredibly underwhelming Reinforced Epaulettes perk that reduces the chance of your limbs breaking during combat; the Servo Assisted perk from older armors gives you 50% more limb health and boosts your range with throwables by 30%, making this new trait glaringly superfluous.
There’s also the CQC-1 One True Flag, a carriable Super Earth flag spear that takes up a stratagem slot. In terms of vibes, this is a definite 10/10 — after all, who doesn’t want to live out their fantasy of charging into the jaws of Lady Liberty’s deadliest enemies while carrying the ultimate symbol of Managed Democracy? — but in both the trailer and the flag’s description on social media, it hasn’t been said if it comes with any area-of-effect buffs or anything like that that would make it more than just a gimmicky melee. And while a silly and ultimately pointless weapon is fairly on-brand for Helldivers 2’s comedy, getting it in a paid Warbond — and in one that’s already pretty bland as it is — is frustrating.
For these reasons, my excitement to unlock and progress through a new Warbond has been deflated quite a bit — and I’m far from the only Helldiver that’s feeling let down. A huge number of comments across YouTube, Reddit, and other social media sites are expressing the same sentiment, with many finding most of the new unlocks unimaginative, dull, or irrelevant.
“This warbond feels so underwhelming it’s not even funny anymore,” wrote one player on the r/Helldivers subreddit. “What the f*** is going on here?” Another chimed in: “Hype and aesthetics aside, this may be the lowest value warbond yet. We’re yet to see stars of course – but we’re getting a rifle (that likely sits between Diligence CS and Deadeye), a melee weapon, two armors with a (seemingly) irrelevant passive, a grenade that likely isn’t doing something others already do very well, and a ‘meme’ flag stratagem.”
Again, everything in the pass looks great — I really dig the trench warfare-style kit that looks like futuristic World War 1 gear or something you’d see on a Warhammer: 40,000 Kriegsman. The problem is that nearly all of it seems like it’s just bloating the Helldivers 2 sandbox instead of adding things actually worth using, and that’s not what we need when all signs point to a massive and imminent invasion by the Illuminate.
Helldivers 2 stands tall as one of the best PC games and best PS5 games to play if you’re into co-op shooters, intense sci-fi action, goofy physics antics, and goofy satirical writing. It’s typically $40, though you can often get it for less if you shop around for discounts. Right now, the best one is CDKeys’ sale that shaves almost $10 off the price, allowing you to get the bombastic title for just over $30.
