Helldivers 2 adds explosive crossbow, grenade pistol and other ways to blow up friends by "accident" next week

Helldivers 2 is getting a new premium warbond next week, offering some explosive new options to take into battle, aim at an enemy bug or robot, and then accidentally kill your entire squad by mistake. Or maybe that’ll just be me.

The fittingly-titled Democratic Detonation warbond packs in three new weapons to play with: the armour-piercing BR-14 Adjudicator Rifle, bolt-action R-36 Eruptor Rifle - which fires shells that explode into shrapnel on impact - and, most excitingly, the CB-9 Exploding Crossbow which is, uh, an exploding crossbow. And yes, devs Arrowhead have already noted that the exploding bolts will be subject to gravity when you fire, so remember to aim up!

Alongside the new primaries will be a couple of fresh sidearms with equal squad-killing potential. The G-123 Thermite Grenade is a sticky and burn-y throwable, but if you can’t be arsed to lob grenades with your arm, there’s also the GP-31 Grenade Pistol, another explosive-firing armament that ominously warns “don’t forget to reload between shots”.

There’s a new booster to take into battle too, giving you the option to speed up the wait time for the extraction shuttle at the end of a mission.

Along with the guns, there’ll be gear: one new set in the light, medium and heavy tiers of equipment. You’ll be able to accessorise them with three new capes christened with extremely Helldivers names: Harbinger of True Equality, Eagle’s Fury, Freedom’s Tapestry.

The Democratic Detonation premium warbond will arrive on April 11th - next Thursday. If you haven’t dropped down to a planet in need of managed democracy in a while, the “co-op” shooter recently introduced blizzard and sandstorm weather effects in its latest patch, as well as continuing to tweak things in the endless war against bugs/bots/the patience of your friends as you drop another orbital strike on their head.