Hello Games has dropped No Man's Sky version 6.4, titled The Swarm, and it's one of the more combat-focused updates the game has seen in a while. A new eight-week expedition, two fresh enemy types, a formidable boss ship, and a pile of space combat improvements all land at once. Here's everything you need to know to hit the ground running.
What is the Swarm expedition?
Expedition Twenty-Two, titled The Swarm, runs for approximately eight weeks from launch. Unlike solo expeditions, this one is structured as a team competition. Every player gets assigned to one of three factions: the Royal, the Sage, or the Weaver. Your ship and uniform are set to your team's colours automatically, so there's no choice to agonise over.
The core goal is collective: all three teams must cooperate to unlock the final battle, even while competing against each other for glory. Progress is tracked through the construction of the Prismatic Core in the Space Anomaly, and you can also follow it in your Mission Log or on the Galactic Atlas website.
Prismatic Core build progress
How does Prismatic Core construction work?
Three mission categories drive construction: Purge, Restoration, and Sabotage. Each category affects the rate and balance of building differently, so the team that focuses on the most impactful category gains a strategic edge. After testing the mission types early, Purge missions tend to feel the most combat-intensive, while Restoration leans into planet cleanup work.
Check the Galactic Atlas website regularly to see which mission category is currently having the biggest impact on construction. Shifting your focus there can swing your team's standing.
At the end of the expedition, the team that contributed the most will be permanently commemorated in the Space Anomaly.
What rewards can you earn from The Swarm?
The expedition reward list is solid. Here's a breakdown of what's up for grabs:
The six-piece Direwasp customisation set is the headline cosmetic. The Direwasp Flightpack is the jetpack to chase if you care about standing out in multiplayer. None of these appear to be available outside the expedition window, so completing it before the eight weeks are up matters.
Expedition rewards are time-limited. If you miss the eight-week window, there's no confirmed way to obtain the Direwasp cosmetics afterward.
What are the new enemies in The Swarm update?
Swarmer ships and the Hive of Glass boss
Two new enemy types arrive with this update. The first are swarmer ships: small, fast, and designed to overwhelm you in numbers during the expedition. The second is the Hive of Glass, a massive boss ship with a deadly laser. Staying at range and targeting weak points is the practical approach here. The update now guarantees a critical hit when you strike a weak point, and non-weak-point hits on weak-point enemies will never crit, so precision matters more than ever.
Hive of Glass boss encounter
Planetary swarmers and crash sites
Outside the expedition, the update adds content to the open world too. Crashed swarmer ships now appear on dissonant planets in all game modes, and those crash sites are actively defended by planetary swarmers: small but dangerous ground enemies. Dissonant planets that also contain salvageable scrap can yield buried debris from these crashed ships, which is worth hunting if you're after materials.
You can also dismantle bodies of fallen swarmers to gain new intelligence, adding a loot incentive to every ground skirmish.
Crashed swarmer sites and buried debris are permanent additions to all game modes, not just the expedition. You'll keep finding them after Expedition Twenty-Two ends.
What space combat improvements came with update 6.4?
The Swarm update includes the most substantial space combat tuning in recent memory. The full list of changes:
- Enemy ship visibility in third-person has been improved, making it much easier to track targets during chaotic fights
- Weapon aiming in third-person combat is more responsive
- Auto-follow navigation is smoother and can now activate boost
- Enemy ship flight patterns and navigation have been reworked
- Weak point hits now always crit; non-weak-point hits on those enemies never crit
- Speedline appearance on the starship has been polished
- Sentinel interceptors can no longer spawn when space combat is disabled in difficulty settings
- Pulse engine re-enable notifications now display the correct pulse technology name for your current ship
The weak point change is the one that'll actually affect how you play. Spamming shots and hoping for crits no longer works on these enemies. You either hit the weak point or you're doing sub-optimal damage.
What quality-of-life fixes are in The Swarm update?
Beyond the new content, version 6.4 addresses a long list of bugs and quality-of-life issues. The most notable fixes:
- Teleporter endpoints from previous galaxies were being wiped when passing through the galactic core. That's fixed.
- Corvettes can now land in Space Stations and the Anomaly again
- The Analysis Visor now shows the specific module name when scanning a corvette
- Retroviral pellets can no longer be duplicated (this was a known exploit)
- Arena League Challenger's Invitations now push you toward planets you haven't visited and require multiple planet battles before offering a Champion's Invitation
- Champion's Invitations work correctly in Outlaw systems
- Companion experience balance in Holo-Arena battles against much higher-level opponents has been adjusted
The retroviral pellet duplication fix is worth flagging for anyone who'd been using that method to speed up Xeno Arena progression. If you want to understand how creature battles work without exploits, the No Man's Sky Xeno Arena creature battles guide covers the legitimate system in full.
Performance and platform improvements
Switch and older console players get meaningful gains here. Wheeled Exocraft performance on Switch, Xbox One, and PS4 has been improved specifically. Freighter battles received a significant optimisation pass, and object visibility handling in complex scenes is faster across the board. Memory usage around ship trails and speedlines has also been reduced.
For Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, a flickering issue with Corrupted Sentinels has been resolved, which was a particularly distracting visual bug in combat.
How does The Swarm update fit into No Man's Sky's recent content run?
The Swarm lands alongside a stretch of content that's been steadily expanding the game's systems. If you're catching up on recent additions, the No Man's Sky guides collection covers everything from the Gravitino Coil mechanics to S-Class Xeno pet recruitment. The industrial waste farming guide is particularly useful if you're running the Colossus truck setup and want to maximise resource output between expedition missions.
The Swarm is a time-limited event, so prioritise the expedition content first and use the new crash sites and swarmer enemies for open-world farming once you've locked in your rewards.