Hi everyone! We have been hard at work all day implementing all of the changes and new categories and the update is finally complete! Below is a summary of everything that was changed:

New Requirement Added to Show Game Version in Recordings

Due to downpatching being accesible we have added a requirement to show which version you are playing on by opening the pause menu. You can do this while you are choosing equipment by opening the social menu ("O" by default usually).

The requirement will be waived for runs done before the update, and runs done after will receive a warning for the first submission.

No Major Glitches 100% added to CE and Main Board

The name was changed to better reflect the purpose of the category (banning intentional major glitches, as well as certain downpatch mechanics). It was renamed from Glitchless to reduce ambiguity because what is and isn't a glitch is often a grey area, especially in a game as buggy as Helldivers 2.

A version was added for Operation runs, All Factions, and the ILs.

You may dual submit older runs there so long as they meet the requirements about glitches and downpatch mechanics.

Un-Scouted 100% (and NMG version) added to CE

Following the previous poll we decided to add this since it seemed that there was some interest in it despite it being contentious. We were redesigning the boards anyway, so it was easy to add as an additional change. It has the same requirements for un-scouted proof as the full game runs. The only difference is the category is for individual levels, and is diff 10 only due to being present only on CE.

Difficulties Reorganized

The new system of a global Max Difficulty and Min Difficulty variable has solved the old issue where difficulties appeared to be grouped together for ranking in the level view. Diff 9 runs were moved to Legacy, and orphaned middle difficulty runs were moved to a new "Any Difficulty" Legacy category.

The mod team continues our fight against the limitations of SRC site software and we hope this new view is much less misleading!

Default View Changed

Levels are now the default view for the main board as well as CE, since it is the main form of speedrunning Helldivers 2. In addition, 100% was made the default to reflect the fact that it is the main category for most of the community. For the full game runs, Operation 100% is now the default category for viewing purposes.

New Guides Added

How to Downpatch Your Game

https://www.speedrun.com/Helldivers2/guides/zf9n8

Min Difficulty and Max Difficulty Table for Missions

https://www.speedrun.com/Helldivers2/guides/y5pu3

To address the fact that downpatching is now a known possibility for runs, the mod team has drafted a new major leaderboard update. Below are the proposed changes:

New Glitchless Category Split for 100%

This category will ban any glitch/skip/exploit that can't happen unintentionally, as well as useful game mechanics for speedrunning not present in the current patch (such as Ultimatum demo force). The new category should essentially eliminate any of the benefits from downpatching while not explicitly disallowing old patches. This is because if we banned old patches we would have to routinely move runs whenever the game is patched.

You can find a draft of the new rules for glitchless and normal 100% attached. To clarify, host transfer will still be banned in the game rules and applied to both categories due to how it messes with the timer.

Reorganization of difficulties

Currently there is an issue where all difficulties are grouped together in the global level view. This generally results in min diff runs appearing on the 1st place spot, even though min diff and max diff are separate categories. To fix this we will be moving min diff and max diff into their own separate categories, and moving diff 9 runs into a "legacy max diff" category. You can see what the new view will look like attached.

No difficulties will be added or removed, it's simply a reorganization for display purposes. This will be a big project requiring us to move hundreds of runs, but it will finally put an end to the misleading display.

Also big thank you to @IEATZOMB13Z for allowing access to a testboard to workshop these changes!!

Poll on the Proposed Update

Let us know if you're happy with these changes over in #poll !

As always, if you want access to the poll and have a verifed run up please let us know in #verifed-voters so we can grant you the role for access.

If you are unhappy with the proposed changes for any reason please let us know over in #changes-and-suggestions so we can discuss what you want changed.

The new missions from the Heart of Democracy major update have been added to both main and CE under a new "Limited Time Only" section in the level categories. We have added them there for now because it is unclear whether Repel Invasion Fleet and Take Down Overship will be available beyond the invasion of Super Earth. They will be moved to the main section if it turns out they are permanent.

You can find this new section by scrolling down to the bottom of any of the level categories where they can be found below "Upload Escape Pod Data" on main and "Spread Democracy" on CE. Some of the old missions which were removed from the game have also been moved to this section (Deactivate TCS and Retrieve Essential Personnel).

If Gloom missions return we will also add them under this section, as they weren't added at the time due to concerns about how permanent they would be. They can also be added so people can submit their old runs if there is demand for it. Please let me or any of the other mods know if you have an old run on a Gloom mission you would like to submit.

That's all!

For Super Earth, -canis

Dear speedrunners, two changes have been made to the rules:

Addition of HUD visibility rule

The visibility of the following HUD elements must be enabled in your settings (Options > HUD) and must not be covered in the recording (e.g. by a camera overlay):

• Primary Objective Visibility: visible.
• Mission Info Visibility: visible.
• Stratagem Visibility: visible.
• Health Visibility: visible.
• Weapon Visibility: visible.
• Stamina Visibility: dynamic OR visible.
• Info Feed Visibility: visible.

First time submitters will be given a single instance of leniency regarding the HUD visibility rule. Runners will receive a warning and all future submissions not complying with this rule will be rejected.

Un-Scouted proof no longer valid

The following proof Record the ship stationary over empty planet space. Afterwards, the host selects the operation you'll go for. The selected operation has to be on the same planet, on the same difficulty. is no longer valid. It has recently been discovered that you can rarely and randomly find yourself in this situation after having scouted a seed.

This change is not retroactive. However, any new run submitted with this proof will either be labelled as Scouted or rejected. If you are on the same planet as the operation/mission you want to run, the best un-scouted proof to provide is Back and forth (cf. Game rules).

Summary of the recent poll about un-scouted ILs

Both categories were voted down by the community, however due to extraordinary circumstances surrounding the poll it is likely we will re-poll on the categories after enough time has passed. As time went on, discussion surrounding the poll became less about the categories itself and went in a very negative direction meaning that many were not able to vote on how they truly felt about adding the categories.

No tolerance for bad actors

The mods of this community will not tolerate those who would attempt to bully, intimidate, and subvert the community present here to serve their own ends. Those who have crossed the line and refused warnings to correct their behavior have been removed from the discord and been explained in detail why along with all evidence pointing towards their removal. Those associated with them but who have not done anything to warrant a ban at this time have been warned but not removed.

Moving forward, those removed and those who were allowed to stay will both still be allowed to submit to the leaderboards so long as they follow rules there. Ideally we want everyone to be normal and allowed to compete and add to discourse moving forward if they are capable of respecting this space. But again, I would like to reiterate that we will not tolerate slander, harassment, or insults directed towards user or moderators of this community either on-site or in the discord.

Reminder regarding future polls

Lastly, with future polls we would like to remind the community to stay on topic with any discussion, keep discussion civil and constructive, and generally not make the polls about something else besides the question at hand. Polls are not meant for shows of force where whoever shouts or brigades the most wins, and there have been issues regarding polls in the past as well as present. So, its important that we all stay focused with any future decisions regarding the leaderboards, as we would all like any future polls not to result in issues for the community.

New poll about adding un-scouted individual level categories to Category Extensions

New polls going up today on whether or not to add two new major categories to CE: 100% Un-Scouted and 100% Deathless Un-Scouted. The categories will apply to all diff 10 ILs currently available on CE, and will have the same proof requirements as the current un-scouted full game categories.

When voting in the poll please consider if you would meaningfully engage with the categories, not just whether you would be "ok" with them being added. Meaningfully engaging with the category includes:

• Submitting runs for the category
• Developing strats for the category
• Coaching runs for the category
• Planning runs/routes for the category

Nobody in the community wants to contribute to category bloat, meaning categories with few or no submissions. So please consider whether you would actually want to contribute to these categories when you make your vote!

New polling system implemented

We have also implemented a new system for polls going forward where only those with a verified run on the Helldivers 2 speedrun.com board or on CE will be able to vote. We tried hard to make sure everyone with a verified run has the role which enables them to vote, but we may have missed a few, so please send a message in #verified-voters if you have a run up and still need the role. The new system has been implemented because the purpose of the poll is to gauge opinion among those who submit speedruns to speedrun.com, not just the general public. To clarify, your run can be any run, not necessarily a first place time.

Requests for other un-scouted IL major categories

If there is desire among the community for other unscouted IL categories such as Any% Un-Scouted or Extract% Un-Scouted please say so in #changes-and-suggestions. At this time we are only polling on 100% since that is what has been most requested recently.

Hey there Helldivers,

You are now allowed to swap super destroyers between operations for All Factions Any% and All Factions 100% on the main board. The new updated rules are as follows:

You may change to a different super destroyer in the same squad in between operations, so long as you do not substitute players. Each new host must prove un-scouted, the most simple method being the "back and forth method", which is listed below.

Back and forth: "Select a mission in an operation, then back out and select a mission in a different operation."

The change is being done to make the category more accessible and cut down on time spent seed farming for optimal operations, as you can now line up several optimal operations in advance across multiple hosts in the squad.

Swapping super destroyers is still banned on All Factions Deathless (category extensions) as it would allow players to potentially disconnect off-screen, and disconnecting is banned for deathless categories.

That's all! Happy speedrunning (on all fronts!) -canis_xo

First time submitters will be given a single instance of leniency regarding the timer visibility rule and the run will be manually retimed for validity. Runner will be given a warning and all future submissions without timer set to always visible will be rejected.

The hope is that the new policy will weed out those who don't know from those who don't care moving forward and give new runners a chance to submit while still maintaining integrity and proof standards across the boards.

This server and a few other sub communities within the Helldivers 2 Speedrunning community will be participating in a competition starting at March 14th 0000 UTC.

In summary, its going to be a competition to see which of two teams can reach 500 points by completing operations the fastest. Extraction and optional objectives are not required, so its basically an any% ruleset. The proof of operation completion will be provided via screenshot submission to the competition discord.

A few of the speedrun teams from here have already registered on their own (Blitz Divers, HAC, FAS) but we also registered a team for this server called the HSC (Helldivers Speedrun Community).

We're all going to be competing together on the side of Team Shell vs. the non-speedrunner RP "Blitz Divers"

Following the recent DSS changes, a minor edit has been made to the new DSS submission rules;

You may submit a run with DSS on your planet if it is inactive (show on video), or if all POVs are shown, and no stratagems or other benefits provided by the DSS are used.

Hopes this clears things up! Happy Diving!

Happy 1 year anniversary for Helldivers speedrunning! Here are all the updates:

Free Stratagems and DSS Support banned in all Categories

Since the community decided to ban these instead of adding the DSS as an annotation, we will be adding this to the game rules:

Use of the DSS and free stratagems is banned. You can still submit a run with a free stratagem as long as no runner uses it. You can still submit a run done on a planet with the DSS, as long as no action is active

Increased Standards of Proof across the Leaderboards

A lot of categories have gotten quite a bit more competitive in the last few months. This is a good thing and a direct result of how much growth we've had as a community! However with increased competition comes increased standards of proof by necessity of deterring foul play. As a result of this and the outcome of the recent poll we will be adding several new requirements:

• In game audio must be recorded and set to an audible level, in game music and voice chat is optional
• Mission timer must be set to always visible. To do so, go to options > HUD > Mission info visibility and set it to visible. Note that this is not the default setting
• The loadout and stratagem screen must be shown before the run starts and all POV’s must be submitted if a free stratagem is active

While we will not be requiring all POVs to be present at this time, we would like to reiterate the following rule added recently:

• Verifiers may ask for additional POVs before verifying in certain circumstances (competitive times in competitive categories, Illuminate missions, abnormalities etc.)

New Rule added to the Discord

7. Given that we are officially associated with speedrun.com, you must also follow the speedrun.com code of conduct in this discord.

New Poll in the Discord

With the majority of people voting to ban the DSS/Free Stratagems in Helldivers speedruns, we will need to address how to handle old runs which used them.

First, for context: no runners or any members of the mod team have identified any unbeatable runs using the DSS or Free Stratagems.

The first choice is to simply leave them up and only ban future runs which feature them. This is the most simple solution.

The second is to go through and reject them based on the new rule change. This is more complicated and would result in a lot of rejection from before the rule change was made, but it's an option in case the community feels it is warranted.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINISTRY OF SPEEDRUNNING

UNDIVIDED ATTENTION IS MANDATORY