Helldivers 2 Major Update Introduces New Hive World Levels And Fixes The Halo ODST Gun Bug

On: September 2, 2025

The next big chapter in the Helldivers 2 saga is now live–with detailed patch notes to boot–and with the armies of Super Earth being joined by new Xbox recruits, it’s time to explore uncharted territory. Into the Unjust will see Helldivers venture into subterranean Terminid lairs, hostile territory that cuts troopers off from their usual Super Destroyer support unless they find a gap in the structures. Just what secrets lie behind the mysterious Gloom shroud that has been seen on several Hive Worlds? You’ll have to find out for yourself, but at least there’s some neat new armor and weapons you can equip to help you in your fight.

As for the update, this will include the usual selection of gameplay tweaks, bug fixes, and new content. Hive Worlds with randomly generated cave systems will be introduced here, giving players a chance to discover “disgusting flora and fauna” amidst advanced Terminid species. These planets also feature acid lakes that you don’t want to take a swim in, destructible walls in the cave systems, and dark zones where multi-legged horrors will be hiding.

One of the new gameplay modes will also task you with taking control of a mobile oil rig to siphon the mysterious oily substance from these worlds, and for the new enemy types, developer Arrowhead is teasing four new Terminid breeds. Rupture Spewers can vomit a lethal substance on players, Rupture Warriors hide in the dark away to protect their organs from UV radiation, and Rupture Chargers can burrow through the ground to ambush Helldivers. Finally, Dragonroaches attack from the sky with an acid bombing run.

For the tweaks and fixes, Arrowhead has resolved the issue with one of the iconic Halo weapons in the ODST Warbond. The MA5C Assault Rifle was causing the game to crash if a party leader had it equipped while on the bridge of their super destroyer, but this has now been patched. You can see the full list of patch notes below.

Helldivers 2 PATCH 01.004.000 Notes

Hive Worlds

Randomly-generated giant cave systems
A new tactical challenge
Discover disgusting flora and fauna and advanced Terminid life
Hive World surface – acid lakes and advanced bug spires
Holes in the cave roof will allow stratagems to be called down
Destructible walls within the caves to navigate
Bring a flashlight!

Missions

Delve deep into the caves to destroy the Spore Lung and stop its infectious Gloom spread
Take control of the GATER mobile oil rig and siphon the mysterious oily substance from the surface of Hive Worlds
Undertake more missions to extract resources and destroy the enemy threat on Hive Worlds
Have Super Earth approved levels of fun!

New Enemies

Rupture Spewer; The foul Rupture Spewer bursts from the ground only to spew its undemocratic pestilence on the innocent. Upon returning to its dark warrens, it is believed to consume its own dead in order to generate more of its corrosive acid.
Rupture Warrior; A product of Gloom-induced mutation, the Rupture Warrior has lost the UV-insulating chitin layer that would protect its internal organs from solar radiation damage. Captured specimens prefer burrowing to open-air movement, a pattern indicative of subconscious shame at their own undemocratic ways.
Rupture Charger; When this armored beast senses the presence of Liberty, it buries itself underground to escape its light. Its Charger instincts compel it to tunnel through the ground at high speeds, emerging only to attack those who represent the Liberty that blinds it so.
Dragonroach; This oversized affront to Free skies everywhere circles its would-be prey, swooping down intermittently to bespew them with air-combustible acid. A spineless tactic befitting an exoskeletal monstrosity.

Balancing

Unified “non-explosive Orbitals” so they have the same projectile damage and destruction values as the Orbital gas.

Orbital smoke

Increased Projectile Damage from 0 to 300
Increased Projectile AP from 0 to 7
Increased Projectile Demolition strength from 30 to 50

Orbital EMS

Increased Projectile Damage from 250 to 300
Increased Projectile AP from 3 to 7
Increased Projectile Demolition strength from 30 to 50

Unified Stun explosions work. They all apply the stun effect on the explosion and not only on the status effect volume. This effects:

Orbital EMS
Mortar EMS
Changed how all stun explosions work in that they now initially stagger the enemy they stun but also without ragdolling the player if hit by such an explosion

Throwables

Stun grenade

Increased stagger strength from 0 to 50

Urchin

Decreased stagger impulse from 15 to 0

Stratagems

Orbital EMS

Increased stagger strength from 10 to 50
Decreased stagger impulse from 40 to 0

Mortar EMS

Increased stagger strength from 10 to 50
Decreased stagger impulse from 40 to 0

Booster

Stun Hellpod

Increased stagger strength from 10 to 50
Decreased stagger impulse from 20 to 0

Fixes

Crash Fixes and Softlocks

Fixed a rare crash caused by multiple players having the MA5C AR equipped on the super destroyer
Fixed crash that could occur during hot-joining
Fixed a rare crash that could occur when dropping backpacks

Weapons and Stratagem Fixes

Fixes for mute AX/LAS-5 ‘GUARD DOG’ ROVER audio
Audio fixes for multiple weapons not having reverb applied to them
Fixed Hellpod payloads being targetable by guidance system
GL-52 De-Escalator stratagem input code now begins with a down arrow, inline with other support weapon stratagems
Motivational Shocks Booster no longer applies to enemies
Fixed the StA X3 WASP Launcher firemode – it will no longer fire in Semi-Auto mode after switching from Artillery firing mode
Fixed guidance system targeting Tanks incorrectly

Enemies

Installed additional hydraulic leg supports on dropship Automaton units (they will no longer take damage when dropped from the dropships).
Updated automaton city outpost to prevent broken pathing on the bridge
Illuminate enemies are now less likely to warp on top of destroyed outpost ship rubble

Missions

Updated the design of city evacuation objectives that will allow brave citizens to evacuate correctly
Fixed a missions issue that caused ghost objectives to appear during the mission complete screen
Fixed issue where the landed Automaton dropships in the Sabotage Airbase objective could be destroyed with LIFT-182 Warp Pack
Fixed occasional Charger pathing issues around certain bug rocks

Miscellaneous Fixes

Fix flickering VFX shadows in some areas.
Fixed strange movement after falling while marching
Fixed chat typing animations – Helldivers no longer suffer from fat fingers and will use their writing pads when typing chat messages.
Fixed the Adreno-Defibrillator status effect not affecting Helldivers inside combat walkers
Fixed an issue where the planetary hazard damaged Hellbombs will visually appear to explode twice when shot by GL-21 Grenade Launcher, from the shooter’s POV

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How To Get The 24 Karat Badge In Peak

In: Gaming, News

Getting the 24 Karat Badge achievement in Peak is one of the most elusive tasks currently in the game. If you’re hunting for new badges, you might have noticed that this is literally the bottom of the achievements earned percentage globally.

Generally speaking, Peak’s achievements provide helpful hints in their descriptions, but not this one. Aside from knowing that you have to offer something to The Kiln, which is the last biome, there’s little else to know. But don’t fret, as we’ll explain how to get the 24 Karat Badge in Peak and what the worthy sacrifice is.

Did Bing Bong have a glow-up recently?

How to Get the 24 Karat Badge in Peak

If you’re looking to get the 24 Karat Badge in Peak, here’s the gist. The achievement involves finding the secret entrance–this is easier said than done, as the daily map rotation and other permutations can get in the way. If you want more details, we have a dedicated guide with everything you should know.

The key puzzle piece to solve the 24 Karat Badge mystery is the Ancient Idol, which is one of Peak’s items introduced in the Mesa update in August. The idol grants you invulnerability to everything, as long as you hold it in your arms. The problem is that it’s quite heavy, which leads to the difficulty of this challenge.

In short, to unlock the badge, Peak tasks you with offering The Kiln a worthy sacrifice. This translates to taking the Ancient Idol through Mesa and Caldera, making it to The Kiln, and then dropping the item into the lava inside the volcano.

Due to the item’s weight, this trip is a tall order. That being said, if you want some pointers on how to tackle this, make sure to read our section below.

How to Offer The Kiln a Worthy Sacrifice in Peak Using the Ancient Idol

Now, assuming that you know about the secret entrance, make your way through the Tomb. It’s a fairly straightforward path. There’s a maze-like set of corridors at the beginning that’s fairly easy to follow, as well as a room with a big gap before the door. For the latter, hold onto the walls as much as possible–it’s the perfect time to use all of those stamina-boost items you’ve probably been hoarding this whole time.

No Caption Provided

Then, the corridor will take you to the room with the Ancient Idol. At the time of writing, picking up the object won’t trigger any traps, so don’t worry about activating an Indiana Jones-like sequence here. If you have a backpack, you’ll reduce the item’s weight, but only slightly. The penalty is still quite high.

Now, prepare to leave. The Tomb’s exit is underneath the long path that you use to get into the Ancient Idol chamber. It’ll take you to another corridor and then a set of stairs. Even with the idol on you, just go ahead and jump all the way back to the surface.

Getting through Mesa is by far way harder than surviving through Caldera with the idol. In short, there’s a lot of climbing to do. Keep your inventory and backpack as light as possible, and if you find any items that give you additional stamina, there’s no better time to use them.

It’s a long way to the top.

The Ancient Idol is a great help, but I recommend using it sporadically. After all, you won’t be able to do much climbing while holding it, only some fairly limited jumps. In Mesa, the item works best when you’re about to be hit by sunlight, which normally adds a burn penalization. Be patient while making the way to the summit, keeping an eye out for scorpions and any dynamite lying around.

One upside of the climbing section that happens right underneath the summit is that there’s no shortage of briefcases to open. Not all of them will give you something very useful, but I was able to replenish my stamina quite often by just keeping an eye out for them. Even if getting to one means backtracking slightly.

This is fine.

Once you eventually get to Caldera, you’ll be relying on the Ancient Idol much more often. Drop down carefully, and then plan a route. When you have it, go ahead and equip the idol. From this point on, you can be in touch with fire and even the actual lava without suffering burning or direct damage. And yes, don’t worry if the Ancient Idol gets incinerated or burnt, as it’ll still count for the achievement.

There are some intricacies, however. It’s quite easy to press the wrong button and change to a different inventory item, leaving you vulnerable to any nearby hazards. This can also happen when you’re jumping, so to be absolutely sure of any maneuvers, wait until the lava’s “tide” is decreased. Ideally, you want to get close to rocks and surfaces that can inflict some burning but not outright incinerate you. If you have the burn status, just wait for a few seconds until it’s gone, and re-equip the idol so you’re safe.

Overall, it’s way more straightforward than the Mesa section. You can literally be in the lava “pools” without getting engulfed in flames and losing the run. When you approach the final segment of the area, which requires you to gain some height in order to climb to the checkpoint, there are two options. You can either find a safe vantage point and just tackle one or two pillars as you’d normally do without the idol, or you can get close to the left side of the structure. You’ll notice a few “steps” on the outer wall, which are perfect to climb onto, restore stamina, and then finish climbing until you get to the staircase. Just remember to wait until the lava tide is low enough so you don’t get hurt.

It’s nothing personal.

Almost there. When you make it to safety, rest at the checkpoint, grab everything you need, and start the long walk toward The Kiln. From here, it’s fairly self-explanatory. Get to the inside of the volcano–so, after you get the Control-style message on screen saying that you’re in The Kiln–and approach the surface in the middle. Before you begin the last climb to the summit, equip the Ancient Idol and drop it into the lava surrounding the surface. You should see the achievement appear shortly afterward.

That’s the worthy sacrifice for The Kiln. Now, once the run is over, you’ll obtain the badge to proudly show off to others online. Getting the 24 Karat Badge also gives you a Bing Bong beanie for your character, which is quite cute.

If you’re looking for additional help around Peak, we have guides covering how to do the Scout Cannon Glitch and where to find the Scoutmaster to get yet another tough badge in the game.