https://steamcommunity.com/app/553850
All enemies of Managed Democracy are on the Naughty List again this year!
You know what that means… they all must die!
Deck the halls with limbs of Super Earth’s foes and deliver peace across the galaxy – it’s beginning to look a lot like victory.
*Enjoy your free limited-time Stratagems in the HELLDIVERS 2 Festival of Reckoning between 18-31 December. *
It’s once again time to come a’Reckonin’ o’er the hill and vale, Helldivers–the Festival of Reckoning is upon us! This is a time to reinvigorate our hearts with a commitment to spreading peace and Managed Democracy throughout the galaxy, and we’ve got a special celebration lined up to help.
The Festival of Reckoning is a celebration of love, family, peace and the pursuit of peace using any means necessary. The Reckoning Fund, which finances the yearly event, is bursting with credits, and so this year’s festival is even longer and more joyously explosive: The 2025 Festival of Reckoning begins on December 18th at 11 am CET and runs until December 31st 11:59 pm CET
We’re getting you into the spirit with holiday Major Orders that grant you limited-time access to a host of stratagems to celebrate the event in grand fashion. No stratagem is off-limits, either–meaning we will even be letting you try out some stratagems from our Premium Warbonds.
During the festival, in-game dispatches will go out to let you know which celebratory Major Order is active, and which mandatory celebration stratagems are available for temporary festive use. Let’s light up the skies with the fires of our peaceful and democratic seasonal happiness, Helldivers!
THANK YOU FOR WALKING SMOKE BARRAGE!
Merry freedommas!
THE WHAT
ARE YOU FOR REAL
There’s an in game dispatch about an experimental 120mm HE/EMS barrage that will be available. THANK MANAGED DEMOCRACY!
That thing is one shotting bile titans. It is crazy good
CHECK THE TRAILER.
The link to the YouTube video is right there.
Just watch the video linked and stop with that shitty blank "the what" comment. This is annoying every time. The open your eyes.
I'm on the shift, imagine some people do not have time to check vids. Shocking, aren't it.
ON THE WHAT?
God forbid people be expressive
Halo mains are gonna absolutely demolish bot maps, grab the spear gun and you can solo anything without being shot at
Creeping barrage with concealment. Now that is some actual tactical strategem.
I'm hoping the limited-time stratagems are a a sign they're exploring customizable stratagem upgrades, it would be a fun addition to late game advancement - in any case, merry reckoning!
Customizable orbital stratagems would be interesting, it would be pretty cool to unlock and select different payloads at the ship terminal, I imagine they'd come at the cost of longer cooldowns tho, otherwise it would be pretty OP.
If they do release it, I hope they'll only have longer cooldowns if the upgrade is substantially more powerful, given that some stratagems already have a pretty long wait time.
It would pair well with releasing a new difficulty increase, since it allows AH to increase the bullshit meter (appreciative) further at higher levels, while also allowing D5-6 regulars to play higher levels comfortably (and collect super samples). The Rapid Acquisitions mission felt like a stress test on the concept of difficulty levels, and it forced a meta on that particular mission - Stratagem upgrades would be a way to open the meta again (at the same difficulty level).
What was the meta?
I wonder if they'll ever use the back of the ship for anything that you can see but not access currently
Could be the next level of ship upgrades? People have been wanting a 6th tier for awhile now
I'm sure they've lots of things up their sleeves they are exploring!
380mm orbital hellbomb when
mother of god
Starship troopers already did this. The Q bomb. It just vaporizes the planet. Screw it let's do it
The game?
No the movie. Also Idk I said q bomb. They called it the nova bomb.
Might have been in the book too I can't remember it's been years since I read it
I just googled it. It's called nova bomb in the first book and the first RTS, but it's q bomb in ST3, the new RTS, and traitors of mars.
There ya go. My memory has yet to fail me
180mm laser barrage
Usual 380 but with a final big boom? Yeah, I'm down
Upgradable strategems were in hd1 as a matter of fact
Remindme! 6 months
Don't quote me on this! It could be AH decides to make it part of the democracy space station powers players can spend their samples to make available instead... If I'm anywhere to close to right though, I expect they'll be slowly introducing new ones until most of the arsenal has a variant. All I know is, It would be strange if stratagem variants were just a holiday/special occasion thing.
I will be messaging you in 6 months on 2026-06-18 19:26:57 UTC to remind you of this link
CLICK THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others.
I’d want to make a 380mm barrage, mostly normal, last few would be smoke. Saturate the area, then conceal it to move in and clear the rest
A backpack Strat that can be used as a Beacon por high precision strikes with arty.
Wanna use all 380mm rounds on a single hive lord? Drop the backpack near It and see it happens
People generally do not have the processing capacity to see foreshadowing
500KG Dirtybomb
A 500KG that upon exploding releases a cloud of gas
One can imagine
Bots on Commiemas Eve when Brasch Claus helldives down the fabricator vent
When the Level 6 Cadet charges into a mega nest with a Maxigun for the first time.
I'm confused and stupid: are these festive temporary new strategems. Or free regular strategems added during missions?
I'd wager that they're simply buffs to our existing ones, adding in new effects for free temporarily.
Then after the event perhaps brought in as stratagem modifiers or side grades. Maybe even stratagem customisation.
Feels like everybody is reading too much into it actually.Reread it.. it doesn't say anything about new or experimental strategems. Just includes all strategems' even those in warbonds people might not have bought for themselves and thus would be locked for them.I think it's just a couple days of free barrages and the likes. Which is cool enough for me.Egg on face
There is literally a 120 HE/EMS barrage modifier on 3 planets. I know we generally have to temper our expectations, but they are actively having us test side-grades to strategems this holiday season.
I just saw the other post. Nice to be wrong.
Very Democratic of you to admit your mistake
https://i.redd.it/andq9jrqk08g1.gif
Upgrades/side grades to exsisting stratagems sounds amazing. Imagine we can level them like we can guns.
Well duh, that's because we watched it.
No seriously, watch the youtube vid. It shows napalm gatling barrage. EMS 120mm barrage. Walking smoke barrage.
Login before you spread misinformation, like all it would take is getting on the game you supposedly play instead of complaining about it
FWIW: The above comment was edited AFTER I commented on it
Sorry I'm at work and can only read the text and not play or watch video's.
I edited my comment because I saw the other post about the variations of the barrages before you even replied. But glad you got it out of your system
Fucking finally some more red stratagems! Last one we got was napalm barrage in like sep of last year, please don't make us wait nearly a year and a half for more again
they are testing things I bet
no fucking way they made them temporary bro god why is this company like this
It's not unheard of for us to temporarily have a stratagem before permanently unlocking it later.
W.A.S.P.: temporarily tested before being given for free for the Featival of Reckoning.
Commando: was allowed to be used on the planet we had to liberate to get it.
Orbital Napalm: after failing the MO, we were allowed temporary use.
testing to see viability and how the community likes them ig
Given they're stratagems we already have with a status effect on them, I wonder if they're testing some sort of variant system for them that could become a selectable choice on loadouts. That'd be pretty cool. Load up in flameproof armour and go full incendiary in your stratagems. :D
They could give me an Orbital Dildo Strike and I'd be happy. Let me slap the enemies of managed democracy with a mach speed dong!
I mean these are just direct upgrades to existing stratagems so they aren't staying at least not how they are currently. We get 2 weeks with these modified ones n there gone
So they will never ever ever come back? What mean devs! Glad you know everything that they have planned!!
Yea God forbid they actually do something cool for an event for once 😡
Me delivering gifts to all the naughtiest enemies of managed democracy
https://i.redd.it/5fpiga2dwx7g1.gif
You Mistletoe is not match for my tow missile!
Be careful his head is built with paradox absorbing crumple zones
Ummm that image is an automaton. Please visit your nearest democracy agent for inspection
Please tell me there is an Orbital Gas Barrage, please, please!
Seems to be fire gatling barrage
120mm ems strike (seems to do dmg AND have an ems blast)
And a walking barrage smoke (same as 120, deals dmg and has lingering smoke)
iirc the 120 EMS is just the 120mm with some ems rounds tossed in as well
120mm Barrage is now 5 shots per volley plus an EMS Strike.
Also even more importantly the area it targets is tiny, so it's pretty good to throw on top of a bug breach.
The 120mm+EMS is insanely good. 6 round volleys of EMS then 5 tightly clustered HE rounds around the EMS round. It melts breaches.
120 was already my go to barrage. Now I can't see why I would bother with anything else
They tightened up the barrage area and increased the duration for the EMS version. With the ship upgrade you can stand around 25 meters from the beacon and not get hit. It's vastly better for locking down breaches and drops but significantly worse for throwing onto large bases.
It's unclear if these are all they're doing, the hope is still real!
This would make my year!
Gas Armor goes brrrr!!! 😃
Me and the boys about to drop unimaginable amount of barrages (but with cheery music in the background this time)
https://preview.redd.it/pb05g5e2zx7g1.jpeg?width=2046&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe33333d3870779d0d31c4e2ef8c37ebdbf29dc3
Feliz Navidad!
Feliz Súper Navidad amigo!
You better watch out, you better not cry, you better report dissidents you find, Super Earth is coming to town!
I hope the stratagems will be eventually free (non-premium). Since, yk, it's christmas.
Lol. They'll lock these behind the next warbond and people will keep defending that shitty practice
Defending? People just accepted it long before now lol No point in getting mad at a tree now that its been growing for more than a year. Nobody is going "Man, screw AH for locking the sterilizer behind a warbond!" its "Wow, sterlizer sucks. Buff it."
And when the stratagem is good, its not "Wow, screw arrowhead for locking the rancho relaxer behind a warbond" its "Damn this carries the warbond its in!"
Also, have they ever released a stratagem for free only to lock in behind the next warbond? I dont think thats happened. All new stratagems in warbonds are exclusively... new.
u/Yurishenko94 is gonna combust when he sees there is no gas gimmick added to one of the barrages lmao
https://preview.redd.it/ep48ai0hzy7g1.png?width=1446&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c1a45a64083b942fefdfa7ff56ab4fd8644e224
They are trying to silence our gassy friend.
Temporary Strategem idea: Christmas gift. 3min cool down. Random red Strategem is called down
Somehow the Stratagem Scrambler returned.
That’d actually be cool
Is there a way to get that banner art in high quality?
it just looks so democratic! and festive!
Merry Christmas AH.
all i want for Christmas is get everyone together to wipe out a whole ass race off the map completely like we did with the bots that one time; having all these strats available gives me hope 🙃
I want a hellbomb hellpod
good day for humanity lovers
Walking GAS barrage NEEEEEEEEEEEED
Gas mortar my beloved
Could anyone already test the stratagems? I've tried, but I've only got regular effects. It had to be already live according to their statement, or not yet?
just tested the one on Heeth, it's 120mm HE with EMS munitions thrown in
You have to be on the specific planets mentioned in the Minor Order
Walking barrage with smoke could be interesting for helping secure a line against an enemy swarm or closing in on a heavily defended objective.
Rapid acquisition, anyone? 👀
https://preview.redd.it/2byd9gh1pz7g1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d79f3f2248f4e39d14472ade1177b8d0177894ed
Would love to get a free snow angel emote
https://preview.redd.it/nckpf6l6j08g1.jpeg?width=288&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=06cb8725fbabf8ac60f22e944b06dceb02a2ff1d
What's this thing?
Guard snowman, new strategem
So no warbonds or major story missions until at least next year.
Good to know.
I don't know what they've done to the 120mm...but don't change it. Keep it that way. And I am not talking about only the EMS.
120mm EMS is so good, I hate it lmao
Watched it stun and bully a Harvester before killing it
Bon Nadal!
Oh my... is that.... NEW STRATAGEMS???
*temporarily modified currently existing strategems
Stay clear, guys. This miserable dork is patrolling the comment section.
WHAT ABOUT THE SNOWBALLS?
Can I request an orbital dropped snowball. Just 1. I can think of no finer usage for Super Earths resources.
Yo can we fix the “can’t call down Resupply” bug pls
I am yet to actually see these special stratagems in game.
Love the new (limited-time) stratagems, but I am now worried that this will add another thing for the Helldiver subreddit to beg for.
Ah the gift of Managed Democracy!
With a side of experimental explosions!
Its really lame that this game lacks any form of long term progression and would massively benefit from anything to spend things on and customize more and we get what could've been exactly that as some stupid limited time event
Let's spread the gift of Managed Democracy this Christmas.
Jump the shark moment