Helldivers 2 Patch 7.2.0 Notes: Easy Anti-Cheat, Scope of Authority Warbond and Shotgun Buffs

Helldivers 2 swaps GameGuard for Easy Anti-Cheat, adds the sniper-themed Scope of Authority Warbond and buffs shotguns, the Sickle and the Maxigun.

Arrowhead's latest Helldivers 2 update is a mixed bag of good news and controversy. Patch 7.2.0 (version 1.007.200, part of the ongoing "Devoid of Liberty" update cycle) went live on October 20, 2026. It swaps the game's anti-cheat, adds the Scope of Authority Premium Warbond and runs a balance pass that hands out buffs to shotguns, the Sickle, several stratagems and the crossover weapons from the Killzone and Halo Legendary Warbonds. Two follow-up patches, 7.2.1 and 7.2.2, have landed since.

Video: Scope of Authority Warbond trailer (by PlayStation)

TL;DR

Easy Anti-Cheat replaces GameGuard, with extra security tools on top. Some mods, including purely cosmetic ones, may stop working.
Scope of Authority Warbond adds a bolt-action sniper, a machine pistol, an anti-materiel rifle, a charged laser rifle, a new throwable and two sniper-themed armor sets.
Buffs for the Punisher, Breaker, Breaker Spray&Pray, Bushwhacker, both Sickles, the Accelerator Rifle and four Killzone/Halo weapons.
Stratagem changes for the Maxigun, Breaching Hammer, Orbital Airburst Strike, Gas Airstrike and heavy flamethrowers.
Lots of crash fixes and performance work, especially for low core-count CPUs and Xbox Series S.

The biggest change: Easy Anti-Cheat

The headline isn't a weapon. With 7.2.0, Arrowhead moved Helldivers 2 from nProtect GameGuard to Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC). In its announcement on Steam, the studio said it had seen a rise in cheat mods and that GameGuard wasn't as effective as it could be. It also added unnamed "additional security tools" alongside EAC.

The catch is mods. Arrowhead warned that some mods may break, including cosmetic ones that don't affect gameplay, and that using mods is at your own discretion. The fix, it said, is for mod authors to update their work. The studio's FAQ says hardware requirements haven't changed and that Steam Deck and Linux compatibility is unaffected.

The reaction on Steam was loud. PC Gamer counted more than 800 negative user reviews on launch day alone. If the game won't start after the update, Arrowhead points players to its support desk, and removing mods is the obvious first step.

Scope of Authority Warbond

The new Premium Warbond is built around long-range play. Arrowhead hasn't put a Super Credit price in its announcement, but community trackers list it at the usual 1,000 Super Credits for a Premium Warbond.

Item	Type	What it does
R-40 Sightliner	Primary	Bolt-action sniper rifle with armor-piercing rounds
P-44 Mist	Secondary	One-handed machine pistol
AMW-20 Apex	Support weapon	Backpack-fed anti-materiel rifle with assisted reload
LAS-44 Nova	Support weapon	Laser rifle with infinite ammo; fires a non-explosive thermal shot after a short charge
G-11 Caltrops	Throwable	Scatters proximity-detonated submunitions that slow and stun
SS-33 Mimetic Marshal	Light armor	Ghillie-style set with matching cape and player card
SS-15 Focal Point	Medium armor	Camouflage set with an asymmetrical visor, matching cape and player card

Both armor sets carry the new Stationary Shroud passive, which reduces weapon sway and the range at which enemies detect you while you're crouched or prone. Rounding things out are the Manual Ballistic Projection emote and the "Longshot" title.

Balance changes

Killzone and Halo weapons

Legendary Warbond weapons can't be customized, so Arrowhead buffed them to compensate:

Weapon	Change
M90A Shotgun	Damage 605 → 726, durable damage 220 → 264
MA5C Assault Rifle	Much less recoil, durable damage 16 → 20
StA-52 Assault Rifle	Spare magazines 6 → 7, recoil roughly halved
StA-11 SMG	Damage 90 → 100, durable damage 18 → 20, less recoil, ergonomics 80 → 90

Shotguns, Sickle and Accelerator

Weapon	Change
SG-8 Punisher	Damage 405 → 486, durable damage 108 → 135
SG-225 Breaker	Damage 330 → 396, durable damage 66 → 88
SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray	Damage 240 → 288, durable damage 64 → 80
SG-22 Bushwhacker	Damage and durable damage increased (values corrected in 7.2.2)
LAS-16 Sickle	Fires after 0.33 s instead of 0.5 s, cools down after 0.66 s instead of 1.33 s, less heat per shot
LAS-17 Double-Edge Sickle	Same faster firing and cooldown start as the Sickle
PLAS-39 Accelerator Rifle	Reload 3.3 s → 2.7 s, less stagger so follow-up shots land on weak spots

Stratagems

M-1000 Maxigun: you can move immediately after firing (previously 0.5 s), and it staggers harder.
CQC-20 Breaching Hammer: spare charges 7 → 10.
Orbital Airburst Strike: cooldown 100 → 90 seconds and a tighter shrapnel cone.
EXO-51 Lumberer Exosuit and A/FLAM-40 Flame Sentry: damage per flame particle 3 → 8.
Eagle Airstrike Gas: demolition strength 50 → 40, so it now only destroys structures other Eagle bombs can.

The Evacuate High-Value Assets mission also got small, unspecified combat tweaks.

Notable fixes and enemy changes

Bile strain: the bug variant that spawns Bile Warriors, Spewers and Scavengers is now its own strain, controlled by the Game Masters and marked with its own indicator, like Rupture and Spore Burst.
The Crescent Overseer's backpack can now be destroyed, which kills it.
The Hive Lord leaves combat sooner if nobody damages it for a while.
Hulk Scorchers no longer damage or stagger themselves with their saw.
The 40-K Meltagun now destroys the sides of Command Bunkers properly.
Support weapon settings, such as fire mode, now persist between uses and sessions.
Explosions inside shield bubbles now damage what's inside.
Several crashes are fixed, including ones tied to SEAF shuttles, vehicle customization and upscalers, along with better DirectX 12 stability.

Performance gets attention too: better multithreading and frame pacing, less stutter in heavy fights, faster level loading and less shader-compilation hitching on PC. There are also three new SEAF emotes, including Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Hotfixes 7.2.1 and 7.2.2

7.2.1 (October 22) fixed a major crash when a player joined or left the squad. 7.2.2 followed with more tuning for the new Warbond. The AMW-20 Apex gets a smaller caliber to reduce damage drop-off at range, plus a demolition boost that lets it break cover and container doors. The Armory now correctly shows Anti-Tank armor penetration for both the Apex and the LAS-44 Nova. The patch also corrects the Bushwhacker's damage values and fixes two rare crashes.

What it means for players

On the battlefield, 7.2.0 is a generous patch. The light-penetration shotguns finally hit hard enough to justify the slot, the Sickle feels far snappier, and the Maxigun no longer locks you in place after firing. Scope of Authority gives snipers a full kit, and the Apex looks like the standout after its 7.2.2 tune-up.

The anti-cheat switch is the part to watch. If you play on PC with mods, expect to wait for updates before everything works again. Console players won't notice anything except the balance changes and fixes.

This article was written by AI (Claude) and checked against the sources above. Games are updated regularly, so details may change.