Helldivers 2 has a new enemy strain called the Noxious Terminids: fast bugs whose bites poison Helldivers, plus Terminid caves that can now show up on more planet types. Arrowhead Game Studios announced the update on November 3, 2026, in a post on the PlayStation Blog, and it applies to the game on PS5 and PC.
Helldivers 2 is developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, and it first launched on November 8, 2023. The new content adds two enemy types, a poison status effect with its own HUD icon, and a wider spread of underground bug nests.
What are the Noxious Terminids?
The studio describes the Noxious strain as “fast, venomous, and fundamentally opposed to Managed Democracy.” It arrives with two new enemy types:
- Noxious Scavenger: looks like a regular Scavenger but moves noticeably faster, poisons with every bite and can bite again almost at once.
- Noxious Spewer: a large enemy that moves faster than its size suggests. Its Web Spit hits at medium range and removes sprint from anyone it touches. Its bite reaches further than the Scavenger’s and carries stronger venom.
Arrowhead says the Scavenger is fragile, so shotguns, flamethrowers and grenades are the recommended answers. The Spewer has medium armor on its head and none on its abdomen. Bursting that abdomen triggers a Web Explosion that snares every Helldiver and bug nearby, which means the same attack that kills it can trap your own squad.
How does poison work in Helldivers 2?
Poison is a new status with its own icon on the HUD. According to the PlayStation Blog post, there are two stages.
- Lightly poisoned: vision hazes and health slowly erodes.
- Heavily poisoned: damage over time increases, sprint is disabled and vision stays hazy.
Stims cure poisoning. That matters because a Spewer can strip your sprint with Web Spit and a Scavenger can keep biting, so the usual habit of running away from a fight gets harder once the status stacks up.
Where do the bug caves appear?
Terminid cave networks now have a chance to appear on more biomes on the Galactic map, from scorched deserts to frozen tundras, according to the studio. Push Square, summarizing the same post, reports that the bugs burrow under the surface and build toxic cave systems on various planets.
Caves have short sightlines and blind corners. Gameleap, citing the developer’s Steam post, notes that close range weapons and keeping squadmates together are the suggested approach. The post does not list which biomes get caves, so expect the exact mix to show up in play rather than in a patch note.
What weapons does the studio suggest?
The short answer is high damage at close range. Arrowhead points to shotguns, flamethrowers and grenades for the fragile Noxious Scavenger, and Push Square repeats the advice to favor powerful, less precise weapons against the faster bugs. Because poison and webbing both punish a slow retreat, loadouts built for crowd control and short fights suit the new caves better than long range options.
Prices
None of the sources lists a price for this update. The PlayStation Blog post, Push Square and Gameleap describe it as new content for Helldivers 2 and do not mention an extra charge, but none of them says outright that it is free, so check the game’s PlayStation Store or Steam page for current pricing and any new paid items. No country or currency figures were published with the announcement.
Who it suits
Squad players. The caves are described as tight spaces with blind corners, and the Spewer’s web explosion snares everyone nearby, so coordination is what the update rewards.
Veterans of the Terminid front. The Noxious strain adds faster enemies and a poison system on top of existing bug fights, which gives long time players a reason to revisit familiar planets.
Players who like flamethrowers and shotguns. Those are the weapons the studio itself recommends against the fragile Scavenger.
Who should wait. Anyone who prefers open, long range fights may want to see how often caves actually appear before changing their loadout, since the post does not say how common they are.
What is still unknown
The post does not give a patch number, a download size, how long the Noxious strain will stay in rotation or the list of biomes that can spawn caves. It also has no numbers for enemy health or damage. One outlet lists additional platforms beyond PS5 and PC, while the studio’s post and Push Square name those two, so check your own platform’s store page before assuming the update is live for you.
For the full wording and the trailer, read the official post on the PlayStation Blog, and watch the game’s Steam and PlayStation Store pages for patch notes.
