Helldivers 2 Disables Team-Killing DSS Eagle Storm

Arrowhead Game Studios has temporarily deactivated the DSS Eagle Storm buff after months of friendly fire complaints, promising a rework.

Ever called in an Eagle Storm in Helldivers 2, only to watch it wipe out your entire squad? You're not alone. Arrowhead Game Studios has finally hit the off switch on the DSS Eagle Storm, a buff that's been torching friend and foe alike for months.

The announcement came via social media, as these things often do. "Attention, Helldivers," the post began. "High Command has made the decision to deactivate the DSS Eagle Storm due to an unquantifiable situation with serious impacts on resource budgets for the next financial quarter." Classic Arrowhead – even a balance change comes wrapped in Super Earth bureaucracy. The post even includes a rubber-stamped proposal for that official touch.

For the uninitiated, the Eagle Storm targets enemies across the entire map, raining explosives from multiple aerial runs for the duration of your mission. Sounds amazing, right? The catch: the targeting is indiscriminate, and the bombs are hefty. That means you and your teammates are just as likely to get vaporized as the bugs or bots you're fighting.

Players have been complaining about this since June last year. Reddit threads are full of stories of missions where the only deaths were self-inflicted, courtesy of this "cursed bit of tactical pyrotechnics." One commenter noted they'd had runs where every single casualty came from their own Eagle Storm. Ouch.

So why not just fix it? Well, that's exactly what Arrowhead plans to do. The community's immediate response suggests most would prefer a rework rather than losing the Eagle Storm entirely – and honestly, we agree. It's a great concept and can be incredibly useful when it works. It just needs some fine-tuning so it stops killing the very Helldivers it's supposed to protect.

For now, there's palpable relief. "My god they finally did it," one player wrote. The DSS Eagle Storm is benched, and the skies are (temporarily) a little safer for democracy's finest.

While you wait for the rework, why not check out our guide to everything in the Helldivers 2 Ironclad Democracy Warbond? And let us know: are you glad to see the Eagle Storm go, or will you miss the chaos?