Helldivers 2 – Control Group Warbond Arrives on July 17th, Adds Experimental Weapons

Helldivers 2 is officially dropping on Xbox Series X/S next month, but before that, PC and PS5 players can avail of a new Warbond known as Control Group. It goes live on July 17th and adds experimental new weapons based on “alien” tech. Check out the reveal trailer below.
The first new addition is the VG-70 Variable with seven barrels. You can fire it in full auto with three RPM settings or shotgun-style, with each barrel firing at once. However, there’s also the Total setting, which fires all your ammo in one barrage and presents the risk of self-harm if there are too many bullets.
Then there’s the PLAS-45 Epoch, a support weapon which unleashes plasma into a “focused sphere” on charging. But, as you can guess, there’s a catch. Charge it for too long, and it explodes. Unlike the Railgun, there’s no safe mode.
Other items include the G-31 Arc grenade, which bounces and electrocutes enemies, though it can also hit allies; the A/LAS-98 Laser Sentry, which can overheat and explode if it fires continuously for too long; and the LIFT-182 Warp Pack stratagem. The latter can create a wormhole for short-range teleports, but jump too many times and you can die.
You also have two new armor sets – the AD-26 Bleeding Edge (Medium) and AD-49 Apollonian (Heavy). They come with the new Adreno-Defibrillator, which auto-revives the player from death. However – and you knew this was coming – you’ll start losing health immediately after.
Stay tuned for more details when the Control Group Warbond goes live, including potential balance changes.