Helldivers 2: Evacuate High-Value Assets 7.1.0 Changes

Patch 7.1.0, live since 22 September 2026, makes Evacuate High-Value Assets harder and gives you new ways to track the generators you’re protecting. Arrowhead Game Studios laid it all out in its “Devoid of Liberty: 7.1.0” notes on Steam. This guide covers the before and after numbers, why Arrowhead made the change, what’s new inside the mission, how the new rhythm affects holding the generators, and which parts the notes leave out.

Evacuate High-Value Assets is the mission where your squad defends a position while rockets launch. The community wiki‘s pre-7.1 description has you defending 2 generators until 8 rockets are away. Patch 7.1.0 changed the timing and the size of the waves. Here are the values as printed in the official 7.1.0 patch notes on Steam.

Arrowhead defines the 2-second figure as the “time between waves when finished the previous wave”. It is a maximum, not a timer: the notes don’t describe the full wave algorithm, so the next wave won’t necessarily arrive exactly 2 seconds later. What changes is that clearing fast no longer buys the old breather.

Arrowhead’s stated problem is that these missions “have fallen behind in difficulty” and feel boring and easy for players with good tools. Its stated intent is that they “should feel more intense and be more difficult to complete, especially in lobbies with 3-4 players.” The mechanism behind that is the line “Increased encounter points when more players are present”. The patch explicitly increases encounter points when more players are present, but gives no values or full-squad-versus-duo difficulty comparison. That’s on top of whatever difficulty you pick on the official 1 – 10 ladder, where Super Helldive is 10. If you usually run this mission short-handed, our Helldivers 2 solo play guide covers what a small group can realistically finish.

Besides the wave changes, 7.1.0 adds new things to the mission itself, spread across the notes’ enemy, level design and objective sections.

Shriekers and SEAF troops

Under the bug (Terminid) changes, the mission now has a “Chance to spawn Shriekers.” SEAF troops can also spawn “when included”. The notes don’t say what “when included” means.

Loot groups and 10 common samples

Loot locations and weapons are now randomised. There are 3 random loot groups containing things like ammo, health kits, grenades and weapons. The mission also has 10 common samples to collect.

Generator HP and minimap state

Each generator now shows its health percentage in the objective UI. A separate fix line adds the number of generators you have to defend to the objective UI. Another line makes the power generators show their state on the minimap.

The 7.1.0 notes give no tactics for this mission. What follows is our reading of the printed changes, not official advice and not a tested loadout. For general squad habits that carry over, see our Helldivers 2 hidden mechanics guide.

Two lines in the same patch touch tools squads often bring to a wave defence. Arrowhead doesn’t tie either to this mission. The AR/GL-21 One-Two now carries more underbarrel grenades — Arrowhead’s stated intent is that it “can use the underbarrel grenade launcher more often” — and the Orbital Precision Strike comes back 10 seconds sooner. The rest of the balance list is in the full 7.1.0 notes.

The 7.1.0 notes don’t give the new maximum number of waves, any enemies-per-wave or encounter-point values, or any differences between difficulty levels. They also don’t say whether the SEAF, loot and sample additions apply on every front, or only where they’re listed. We haven’t checked the new generator UI in-game. This guide covers 7.1.0. If a later hotfix changes the wave timers, the numbers above no longer apply.

Sources and Confidence

This table separates what the studio has confirmed from what comes out of press previews, and what is still just circulating. Each claim below is tied to the post and the game version it describes.