The next Helldivers 2 Warbond will almost certainly violate international humanitarian law

The next Helldivers 2 Warbond will be released later this month. It will include new stratagems and cosmetics as well as capes. This would cause international outrage if Super Earth adopted anything similar to the Geneva Conventions. The official PlayStation blog revealed today that "Chemical Agents" will bring a new Helldiver weaponry set aimed at spraying poisonous gases. This would be horrific in any other context. But against the Terminids it's just fumigation, right?

Helldivers are allowed to feel guilty?

Chemical Agents doesn't bring any new primary weapons but it does add two new offensive stratagems, a first for Warbonds. Chemical Agents introduces a new Warbonds stratagem. Our designers felt that gas was a crowd control weapon, so it made sense to release stratagems while letting Helldivers select the primary weapons they liked the most.

The TX-41 Sterilizer is a high-pressure handheld sprayer that delivers corrosive gases for tactical bug elimination. If you don't feel like spraying the poison yourself, Warbond offers the AX/TX-13 Dog Breath drone. This "gassy pal" is a poison-spraying alternate to the existing Guard Dog versions.

Not all of the additions, however, are indefensible crimes. The P-11 Stim Pistol is one of two new utility options available in the Warbond. It lets you fire healing stims at fellow Helldivers who haven't yet realized they're dying. The other is a gas grenade. We have a poor ratio here, people.

As always, Warbond adds two additional armor sets. In Chemical Agents they have a new Advanced filtering passive that adds resistance to gas clouds. I'm curious if it will also offer a defensive benefit against Terminids own caustic gases. There are also the new capes and a few fluorescent yellow patterns for shuttles and hellpods as well as exosuit mechs. And an emote which makes you wave your hands in front of your faces like someone farted. It's because of the gas. You get it.

The Chemical Agents Warbond is scheduled to be released on September 19, 2024.