Helldivers 2 mods are still alive on PC, but the rules changed on October 20, 2026. That day Arrowhead shipped Devoid of Liberty 7.2.0 and replaced nProtect GameGuard with Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC), plus extra security aimed at cheat mods. Overnight, players found that some mods kept working, some stopped the game from booting, and nobody was sure whether running any of them could get an account banned. This guide sorts the official statements from the community reports and is current for patch 7.2.2 (October 29, 2026), with Scope of Authority as the newest Warbond.
Quick answer: The October 20, 2026 switch did not announce a ban on cosmetic mods. Arrowhead says it appreciates cosmetic and non-gameplay mods, that mods affecting other players "may no longer function", and that "Using mods is done at your own discretion." Ban risk isn't zero: back in May 2024 Johan Pilestedt warned mod users "would be at risk of Ban if anti-cheat detects it as tampering." Players report that cosmetic texture and model mods still work, UI and Lua scripting mods broke on day one and only partly came back through a community loader, and anything that changes Super Credits, damage or the Galactic War is cheating. Super Credit earn rates have been monitored since July 9, 2026.
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Are mods allowed in Helldivers 2?
Mods are tolerated, not supported. Helldivers 2 has never had official mod support, no Workshop and no mod tools, and Arrowhead won't certify any mod as safe. Before October the studio had said little, in its own words: "We haven't previously commented on modding, other than to warn that from a technical perspective, we can't guarantee their safety or usability for players." The anti-cheat switch is when it finally laid out a position.
In its official "Changing anti-cheat in HELLDIVERS 2" post, Arrowhead wrote:
"We know mods are part of the DNA of PC gaming and gaming communities as a whole. In general, we appreciate the creativity behind cosmetic and non-gameplay mods, which players can enjoy without negatively impacting those who play alongside them."
The same post draws the line clearly. The target is "modifications that create unfair advantages or negatively impact others", and Arrowhead named the behavior it wanted to stop: players "affecting pick-up rates, and even going so far as to manipulate the war itself." So the official split is simple:
- Cosmetic, client-side mods (how your Helldiver, weapons or menus look to you): accepted in spirit, but no guarantee they keep working.
- Gameplay, economy or war-altering mods (damage, pickups, currencies, mission outcomes): the explicit target of the anti-cheat change.
Mods are a PC-only topic. PS5 and Xbox Series X/S players can't install them, which is why the anti-cheat switch never touched console players.
Can you get banned for mods in Helldivers 2?
As of November 10, 2026, the EAC announcement does not announce a ban on cosmetic mods, and we found no official ban wave tied to them. But the risk was never zero. In May 2024, when a player asked whether a popular Star Wars cosmetic mod could get people banned, Johan Pilestedt replied on X: "Yes. They would be at risk of Ban if anti-cheat detects it as tampering." Arrowhead's 2026 FAQ answer to "How can I tell which mods are safe to use?" is the closest thing to a ruling: "Using mods is done at your own discretion, and so we cannot determine what's safe vs. unsafe to use."
So "no announced ban" is not the same as "mods are safe". Three things are worth knowing before you install anything:
- Banned players are sent to Sony. Arrowhead's support article on banned accounts directs suspended or banned players to Sony's PlayStation Network suspension help. There's no published ban list, ban length or appeal guide for Helldivers 2 specifically.
- Currency mods are cheating, full stop. On July 9, 2026, Arrowhead started flagging accounts that earn Super Credits "substantially higher than the highest players earning ever recorded", naming "Cheaters. Botters. People using automation and duplication exploits" as the targets (Super Credits & A Fairer Galactic War). The post says the same changes "will be rolling out" for Medals, Samples and Requisition. Any "Super Credits mod" falls squarely into that category.
- Bypassing the anti-cheat is a different risk from a cosmetic swap. A texture mod changes what you see. A loader that replaces the game's boot script or gets around EAC changes how the protected game starts. Arrowhead hasn't commented on those tools either way, so treat them as the riskiest category.
If you just want more Super Credits, earn them in missions or buy them through official stores. Our Super Credits farming guide covers the best methods, and if credits you picked up never landed in your account, see Super Credits not being awarded.
Which Helldivers 2 mods still work after Easy Anti-Cheat?
Arrowhead's own wording was cautious: mods that affect other players "may no longer function", and "some non-malicious cosmetic mods may require updates from their individual creators in order to keep working." Community testing in the first week filled in the detail. FRVR reported on October 21, 2026 that non-scripted cosmetic mods kept working, while UI changes and anything relying on scripts did not.
| Mod type | Reported status after EAC (Oct 20-23 reports) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmetic texture and model swaps (armor, helmets, capes, weapon skins) | Mostly working | Some need an update from the creator after each patch |
| Animation and visual replacements | Working for many players | An animation mod that changes how Helldivers hold pistols was a popular r/Helldivers post on Nov 10, 2026 |
| UI mods (menus, HUD, list layouts) | Broken on Oct 20, partly restored | Some came back through the same community loader |
| Lua scripting mods (Custom Galactic War, custom missions) | Broken on Oct 20, partly restored | A community loader brought back mods that use only the built-in Lua API; others need rewrites |
| ReShade, OptiScaler and similar DLL injectors | Remove if the game crashes | Arrowhead's EAC crash troubleshooting tells you to delete these files |
| Cheat, currency and trainer mods | Blocked and the explicit target | Never install these |
The biggest casualty was Custom Galactic War, a large overhaul that added multi-faction battles and custom missions. Its team said the mod "is down for the foreseeable future" after EAC arrived, according to the same FRVR report.
Within days, a community modder released a Boot Mod Loader that brings back scripting and UI mods limited to the game's built-in Lua API, with a companion settings window. Per FRVR's October 23 coverage, mods that read or write game memory or depend on LuaJIT still don't work, because the game "now runs PUC-Rio Lua 5.1, built into the game itself." Many older scripting mods need partial rewrites. Remember point 3 above: replacing the boot script is exactly the kind of change Arrowhead hasn't blessed, so that one is on you.
Why won't Helldivers 2 launch after installing mods?
If the game crashed on boot right after 7.2.0, leftover mod files are the first suspect. Arrowhead's official troubleshooting for crashes after the EAC switch starts with purging mods. In short, with one extra step of ours for script loaders:
- Delete injected DLLs from the game's bin folder: dxgi.dll, d3d9.dll, d3d11.dll, reshade32.dll and reshade64.dll, plus any OptiScaler files.
- Remove script-based mods and their loaders.
- Delete the Helldivers2 folder in %appdata%\Arrowhead.
- Run GGuninst.exe from the game's EasyAntiCheat folder and delete any leftover bin\GameGuard folder.
- Update your GPU drivers and Windows.
- Use Windows Restart (not Shut down), then verify game files in Steam.
If that doesn't do it, delete the bin and data folders and verify again, which gives you a completely clean install. Keep in mind that this also wipes your cosmetic patch files, so back them up first if you want them.
Our Easy Anti-Cheat error fix guide walks through every step, including the 0xc0000142 error and the "Please unload DBUtilDrv2.sys" message. If the game boots but performs badly after you removed ReShade or OptiScaler, our stuttering and FPS drops fix covers the vanilla settings that help most.
How do you use cosmetic mods safely after EAC?
There's no zero-risk way to mod an online game with anti-cheat, but you can cut most of the risk:
- Stick to cosmetic, client-side mods. If a mod only changes what your screen shows, it's in the category Arrowhead says it appreciates.
- Skip anything that touches numbers. Damage, ammo, cooldowns, pickups, Super Credits, Medals, Samples, mission results: all of it hits the systems EAC and the earn-rate checks were built for.
- Re-check mods after every patch. Arrowhead's FAQ says plainly that mods can stop working after an update, and the game has already had two hotfixes since EAC arrived: 7.2.1 (Oct 22) and 7.2.2 (Oct 29).
- Back up before you mod. Copy your mod files somewhere outside the game folder so a clean reinstall isn't painful.
- Report false positives. Arrowhead says: "If you feel EAC or another system is blocking a non-destructive mod or other software, we encourage you to reach out to our official support on Zendesk to let us know."
- Don't download "free Super Credits" tools. They're cheats at best and malware at worst. Legitimate Super Credits come from missions or official purchases.
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Why did Arrowhead switch to Easy Anti-Cheat?
Arrowhead gave two reasons. First, GameGuard underperformed: "The implementation of GameGuard for HELLDIVERS 2 wasn't as effective as it could have been, and in the end we decided to take another path with EAC." Second, EAC is a known quantity, which the studio says is "an industry standard used in over 200 games."
The trigger was a wave of cheat mods that affected people other than the cheater. Helldivers 2 is co-op, but it isn't single-player. Every mission feeds the shared Galactic War, so a player who fakes progress or floods a lobby with pickups changes the game for strangers. That's why Arrowhead described the move as protecting the Galactic War, not just individual matches.
The reaction on Steam was harsh. PC Gamer reported more than 1,000 negative user reviews in a single day after the switch. Destructoid's roundup found much of the anger came from players whose quality-of-life mods fixed things like stratagems bouncing off the ground when thrown. Three weeks later the debate is still live on r/Helldivers and r/helldivers2, with threads asking why anyone would object to anti-cheat and others asking whether you can get banned.
What did the EAC switch not change?
A few facts get lost in the noise:
- No new hardware requirements. Arrowhead's FAQ: "No, there are no changes in hardware requirements."
- Steam Deck and Linux still work. "Yes, you can still play. Steam Deck and Linux compatibility remains unchanged."
- Console players are unaffected. PS5 and Xbox don't run PC mods at all.
- Crossplay is unchanged. PC players still matchmake with PS5 and Xbox.
- No official mod support was added. There's still no Workshop, no mod tools, and no list of approved mods.
Is official mod support coming to Helldivers 2?
Nothing has been announced. Arrowhead's October 20 post calls the anti-cheat change "a stepping stone on this journey" toward better protection, not toward mod tools. Some players argue the popularity of quality-of-life mods shows which fixes belong in the base game. If Arrowhead ships official support or a list of approved mods, we'll update this page. Until then, assume every mod is unofficial and could break with the next patch.
FAQ
Can you get banned for using mods in Helldivers 2? It's possible but not announced. The October 2026 Easy Anti-Cheat FAQ says using mods is at your own discretion and announces no cosmetic-mod ban, while Johan Pilestedt warned in May 2024 that mod users risk a ban if the anti-cheat detects tampering. Arrowhead's support sends banned players to Sony. Cheat mods that change Super Credits, damage or the Galactic War are a different story: Super Credit earn rates have been monitored since July 9, 2026, and those mods are exactly what Easy Anti-Cheat was brought in to stop.
Do Helldivers 2 mods still work after Easy Anti-Cheat? Cosmetic texture and model mods mostly work, though some need creator updates after a patch. UI and Lua scripting mods broke on October 20, 2026; a community loader brought back the ones that only use the game's built-in Lua API, and the rest need rewrites.
Are Super Credit mods safe? No. Any mod or tool that changes your Super Credits is cheating. Arrowhead monitors accounts that earn credits far faster than any legitimate player and announced the same for Medals, Samples and Requisition. Earn them in missions or buy them through official stores.
Why does Helldivers 2 crash after I installed mods? After the EAC switch, injected DLLs (ReShade, OptiScaler, dxgi.dll and similar) and script-based mods are the usual cause. Remove them, delete %appdata%\Arrowhead\Helldivers2, clean out GameGuard leftovers, use Windows Restart and verify files in Steam.
Can I use mods on Steam Deck? The anti-cheat switch didn't change Steam Deck or Linux support, so the game itself still runs. The same mod rules apply as on Windows PC: cosmetic mods are your own risk, and scripting mods need loaders that Arrowhead hasn't endorsed.
Do mods work on PS5 or Xbox? No. Helldivers 2 mods are PC-only, and console versions have no way to load them.
More Helldivers 2 help: Our Easy Anti-Cheat error fix covers launch failures, and the Scope of Authority Warbond guide covers everything in the Warbond that shipped alongside EAC in patch 7.2.0.
