Helldivers 2's new Ground Breaker armor suffers a wardrobe malfunction—it launched with the wrong passives

helldivers 2 democratic detonation warbond
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios has confirmed that there was a bit of a mixup with the Democratic Detonation warbond that went live yesterday: Somehow, the CE-27 Ground Breaker medium armor rolled off the line with the wrong passive.

We noted when the warbond was released that the Ground Breaker armor has the Servo-Assisted passive, which increases throwing range and provides a bonus to limb health. Players on Reddit (via GamesRadar), however, pointed out that it was originally advertised as having the Engineering Kit, which reduces recoil when crouching or prone and, more importantly, increases the grenade capacity by two. By just about any measure, that's a better option: More grenades means more explosions, and let's be honest, you can never have too many explosions.

Earlier today on the Helldivers Discord, Arrowhead confirmed that the confusion was indeed a wardrobe malfunction, and that a fix is on the way.

"Regarding the CE-27 Ground Breaker armor, we're aware of a slight mixup that resulted in it going live with the Servo-Assisted passive instead of the Engineering Kit passive as advertised," community manager Spitz wrote. "This should be changed back in an upcoming hotfix—please keep this in mind if this armor is one of the reasons you're thinking of purchasing the new warbond!"

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios (Discord))

Ironically, that led some players to say they actually bought the armor because of the Servo-Assist passive, and they'd prefer it be left alone. Others expressed hope for some kind of transmog system that will let them adjust their look while retaining their passives of choice—something that, to some, now seems like it shouldn't be a big deal, since the Ground Breaker armor went out with the wrong passives attached anyway. If it can happen by accident, it shouldn't be too hard to let it happen on purpose, right? (I do not actually know if that's right, but it seems reasonable.)

Those who have dove since the game's launch on February 8 will recall that the abilities of certain armor and helmets haven't always worked as stated or as intended since launch.

A time frame for the Ground Breaker armor fix wasn't announced, but Arrowhead also said that a problem with the new Superior Packing Methodology, which enables resupply boxes to fill support weapons with the maximum number of carriable magazines, is also being looked into. For now, community manager Twinbeard said restarting the game seems to clear up the issue.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.