We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Helldivers 2’s new Warbond would make Arnold Schwarzenegger blush

Helldivers 2 is getting up close and personal with the Terminid threat for its Viper Commandos Warbond, the best looking batch of DLC yet.

Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond: An image of the H-2 Throwing Knife in the Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond.

The outer reaches of space in Helldivers 2 aren’t just snowy wastelands or hellish battlefields. Swampy jungles await those brave to enter them, and the new Helldivers 2 Warbond will hook you up with essential gear to squash Terminid foes with ease. However, this isn’t just an ordinary cosmetic drop, as Arrowhead introduces some welcome customization tweaks and the first step toward melee combat.

I’ve been pining for the return of the Sabre Sword in Helldivers 2 for a while now, and the addition of the K-2 Throwing Knife is exactly the kind of weaponry I’ve been looking for in Arrowhead’s gory multiplayer game. This sharp addition to the game’s arsenal will come in handy during those moments where reloading just isn’t an option. Hopefully this is a catalyst for more melee weapons, but in the meantime, there’s also a fresh batch of guns to equip.

One of them in particular, though, is a massive win for the co-op game’s secondary weapons slot. We all love the power of the Breaker, and if you ever wanted to holster a shotgun as a backup firearm, then the SG-22 Bushwhacker triple-barrel, sawed-off shotgun is going to be your new best friend in battle. Not only does this bad boy pack a punch, but separate modes mean you can choose to alternate on the fly, including one mode that uses all three barrels for maximum carnage.

YouTube Thumbnail

While not nearly as impressive, the new AR-23A Liberator Carbine is a slightly tweaked version of its standard variant. This iteration offers a faster fire rate, but you’ll need to handle its high recoil in return for the extra kick. What really ties all these weapons together is the addition of the PH-9 Predator and the PH-202 Twigsnapper armor sets. The former is all about muscle-bound glory, and is the closest thing to becoming a space game Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both of these armor sets come equipped with the Peak Physique passive buff, and that will improve your weapon handling and melee damage while active.

I think more could be done in the realms of customization here, especially after creative director Johan Pilestedt previously confirmed on social media that “we are not doing transmog[s]. It doesn’t make sense, equipment looks different because it has different effects.” However, that seems to have changed somewhat with the addition of new patterns for your ship, Hellpod, and Exosuit. Let’s get some more color swatches for existing armor sets, Arrowhead.

Additionally, the studio is looking to scale back the timeline for releasing new Warbonds, as it explains in a new PlayStation blog post that “we’re slowing down the pace at which we release Warbonds to give us a little bit more time to polish these designs before they’re released. We don’t want to rush anything out of the oven before it’s fully baked.”

You can get your hands on the Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond on Thursday, June 13, 2024. However, with Summer Game Fest on the horizon, we could see more of the game before then considering the “second galactic war” is underway.

Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos: An image of the cosmetics on the Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond.

In other gaming news, upcoming PS5 shooter Concord will be as cheap as Helldivers 2 at launch, and could the new James Bond game Project 007 appear at Summer Game Fest?

For more stories like this, you can follow us on Google News to stay in the loop with the latest on all things PS5 and Xbox.