Halo Wars 2's First DLC Is Available Now Alongside A New Patch, Here's What They Add

Exactly a month after its February 21 launch, Halo Wars 2 has received its first add-on content. The Kinsano pack adds a new leader and a bunch of new units, while a new patch released today brings a whole load of bug fixes and overall improvements.

Lt. Colonel Morgan Kinsano is the first of many new leaders to be added in the months after Halo Wars 2's launch--more will drop every month, says developer 343 Industries. The Lt. Colonel's abilities include Helldrop, which brings in friendly reinforcements from the sky; Hellcharge, which buffs friendly units' speed and damage stats; and Inferno, a huge blast of fire that's expensive to use but lethal to everything in its area of effect.

Kinsano pilots a personalized Flame Cyclops, whose dual flamethrowers make it deadly at close range. Accompanying units--the Flame Warthog, Veteran Flame Hog, and Veteran Hellbringers--continue the fire theme and are particularly suited to short-range combat against enemy infantry.

The DLC, which is out now, costs US $5.99 / £4.79 / AU $9.95, and it's included in the season pass.

Halo Wars 2 was also updated for all players today, and the patch mostly fixes bugs and brings minor performance enhancements--check out all the details below.

Halo Wars 2 March Patch Notes

Crashes / Errors / Performance

• Fixed a crash that occurred in Skirmish against AI opponents
• Fixed some error handling with Xbox live service messages
• Fixed a crash that can occur in a LASO play through
• Fixed a hardlock that could occur when loading into "Lights Out"
• Fixed a desync that could be hit in Firefight
• Fixed a crash that could occur while watching the prologue cinematic
• Fixed a crash that could occur while a user signs out while loading into a certain game mode
• Fixed a crash that could occur when transporting newly deployed units
• Fixed an Windows 10-specific issue with the game hanging sometimes when restarting a mission
• Fixed some suspend/idle issues that caused infinite loads
• Fixed some Intel Iris Graphics 520 issues that could cause a crash
• Improved performance when running on various Intel integrated GPUs
• Fixed some improper localization strings in controller layout while playing the Basic Tutorial
• Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when a Wolverine is destroyed by a Lightbridge toggling off while it was on it
• Improved stability by fixing a large variety of one-off crashes
• Fixed some performance hitches in Campaign that were caused by scripted events triggering

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where players were sometimes able to quickly assign one Leader Power point to two different Leader Powers
• AI now garrisons a bit more often in Legendary when low on health
• Nightingale Smoke bombs now stop Turrets shooting outside of the smoke, identical to how units behave
• Damage against Bases show as soon as it happens
• Fixed an issue with Hornets sometimes not responding to Banished unit attacks
• Fixed an issue with pressing the 'Q' key twice did not select all units, if there were no units on the screen
• Fixed an issue with Challenges sometimes not progressing in Solo/Team War or Team Objective Playlists
• Fixed Shift-Right-clicking to set multiple waypoints not working in some cases
• Fixed an issue with AI ignoring Sentinel recaptured Control Points
• Fixed some units getting stuck on the campaign mission The Halo
• Fixed a bug where the enemy AI retreats too often on Normal
• Fixed an issue where the AI would sometimes kill its own units by toggling a Lightbridge
• Fixed an issue with units doing no damage in a specific scenario
• Fixed an issue with Departures video being unlocked after completing The Halo
• Fixed a bug with Just the Facts and The Full Story achievements not triggering properly
• Fixed an issue where players would get their Favorite Leader instead of the one picked
• Various unit animation fixes
• Added three new achievements unique to the upcoming Kinsano leader DLC

Cosmetic

• Fixed some text truncation that could occur in some Campaign missions
• Fixed some text in a few Phoenix logs
• Fixed some UI callouts for failed objectives in a previously played mission showing in a different mission

Audio

• Fixed some cases of audio corruption when multiple sound effects were played at the same time
• Fixed an issue with vehicle engine audio stuttering when on the edge of battle
• Fixed an issue with clipping/corruption occurring in higher waves of Blitz Firefight

Design & Balance Changes

Note: Balance changes affect units in standard and Blitz multiplayer modes unless otherwise noted.

For Halo Wars 2 game designer notes and context surrounding these changes, please check out the March 16 Community Update blog.

Leader Powers

• Shipmaster's Scout mines cannot be dropped on buildings anymore
• The Banished Cleansing Beam speed slightly reduced
• ODSTs cost increased from 600 to 800, HP slightly decreased

Economy

• Adjusted the Supply income curve to give less of a bonus income on the first few Supply Pads/Warehouses, but less limiting as player’s build additional pads.

Leaders:

• Sgt. Forge: Removed the discount on Supply Pads and Reactors in the Rolling Economy leader power
• Sgt. Forge: Accelerated Assembly and Lotus mines swapped places

Units

Jump Pack Brutes

• Increased HP
• Incased basic DPS
• Slight increase to move speed

Hellbringers

• Significant increase to HP
• Significant increase to fire damage dealt to basic infantry units
• Move speed slightly increased
• Cost reduced from 80/50 to 80/40
• Reduced pre-attack and post-attack cooldown to improve responsiveness

Suicide Grunts (NOT Blitz Suicide Grunts)

• Increased HP
• Base damage decreased
• Base AOE range increased
• Move speed slightly increased
• Charge distance increased
• Charge speed decreased
• Cost reduced from 100/25 to 100/20

Elite Rangers

• Significantly increased HP
• Armor type changed to be more resistant to small arms fire from Marine & Grunt squads
• Cost reworked from 80/110 to 125/90
• DPS increased

Jackrabbit

• Cost reduced from 220/15 to 200/12

Ghost

• Cost reduced from 265/20 to 230/15

Chopper

• Cost reduced from 280/20 to 245/15

Hunters

• Cost reduced from 150/200 to 160/160
• DPS reduced

Cyclops

• Cost reduced from 120/150 to 120/120
• DPS reduced

Wraiths

• HP significantly increased
• Shields significantly increased
• Build time reduced
• Cost changed from 550/40 to 525/70
• Plasma Cannon DPS increased
• Plasma Mortar DPS increased
• Plasma Mortar Fire rate increased
• Y ability initial damage increased significantly
• Incoming healing reduced

Scorpion

• HP increased
• Cost changed from 650/50 to 600/90
• Machinegun DPS increased
• Cannon DPS increased
• Cannon AOE size decreased
• Canister shell DPS increased
• Canister shell AOE size increased
• Incoming healing reduced

Grizzly

• HP increased
• Machinegun DPS increased
• Missile pod DPS increased
• Cannon DPS increased
• Missile Barrage ability damage increased

Grunts

• Grunt squad build time reduced
• Overall DPS increased for basic and mine-upgrade squads
• Overall DPS increased for pack brother upgrade squads

Marines

• Grenade DPS decreased significantly
• Grenade large AOE size reduced

Anders’ Sentinels

• Move speed decreased
• No longer has a huge damage bonus vs. buildings
• General DPS decreased
• Lockdown Bolt damage decreased significantly

Banshees

• Banshee Plasma Torpedo damage reduced

Locusts

• Basic DPS slightly reduced
• Line of sight range reduced
• Weapon range reduced

Base Turrets

• UNSC and Banished upgraded turrets DPS increased
• Banished turrets HP increased
• UNSC turrets build time reduced
• Banished turret build time reduced

Strongholds

• UNSC and Banished HQ HP increased to a constant, high HP amount across all tech tiers