Often spoken of in whispers and with the same air as “trust me, my uncle works at Nintendo,” there has been a longstanding playground rumour within Helldivers 2.
In simple terms, people claimed that using an emote mid-air – often after an enemy or explosion had sent your poor Helldiver flying – would actually reduce your incoming fall damage. For some, it was thought to simply be a placebo effect – the act of seeing your Diver soaring while in a salute pose would just be too humorous to get upset, and surviving was obviously just a happenstance.
But some community members decided to go full Mythbusters-mode, and have thoroughly tested the effects of gravity on those who are showboating while yeeted. The results? Good lord, it actually works.
It is desperately funny to watch a soldier basically salute the ground as it rushes to meet them – almost as if the act of respecting gravity granted them mercy.
Now the response has shifted from wonder, to an abject fear that this amazing feature will be fixed by the developers at Arrowhead Game Studios. It’s obvious that this is a big deal for people who are desperate to survive unexpected air-time, but it’s also super obvious that it is likely unintended, and ripe for ‘fixing’. As such, members are begging to keep it as an intended behaviour.
With the ball in Arrowhead’s court, what do you think? Should a tactical salute save you from splattering? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views.
