Destiny 2 Season 10 to Start with Patch 2.8.0 Update

Bungie has unveiled patch notes for Destiny 2‘s 2.8.0 update, which will be implemented just in time for the start of the Season of the Worthy on March 10th. The game will be taken down that day around 8:45am PDT (1545 UTC) to roll out the update across all platforms. Players should be able to log back in at 10:01am PDT (1701 UTC) for the commencement of the Season of the Worthy, and maintenance is expected to conclude by 12pm PDT (1900 UTC). Here’s what the 2.8.0 patch will affect.

Exotic Armor Balancing

Hunter Nerfs & Buffs

• Assassin’s Cowl
  • Powered melee and finishers will trigger the invisibility and healing effect
  • Duration of invisibility will increase, with scale of duration dependent on the tier of the defeated enemy
  • Kills made using Arc Staff will no longer activate invisibility
• FROST-EE5
  • Ability regeneration will no longer stack to increase other class ability perks that generate energy
• Khepri’s Sting
  • Smoke bombs will deal 150% damage
• Orpheus Rig
  • A single use of Shadowshot will only regain up to 50% of the player’s Super
• Young Ahamkara’s Spine
  • The explosion radius for Tripmines will increase by 14%

Warlock Nerfs & Buffs

• Apotheosis Veil
  • Will drop with a guaranteed minimum Intellect increase of 16 points
• Contraverse Hold
  • Damage reduction will be decreased from 40% to 20%
• Ophidian Aspects
  • The lunge of all Warlock melee attacks will increase, even during melee ability cooldown
• Sanguine Alchemy
  • Will be redesigned with Blood Magic, a perk that allows the player to extend the duration of a Rift they are standing in by getting weapon kills, which will pause the countdown timer
• Verity’s Brow
  • Grenade damage will increase by 10% per stack
  • The grenade recharge rate of a player’s allies will increase when the player throws a grenade
  • The number of allies who benefit from this buff will be shown in a text notification to the player

Titan Nerfs & Buffs

• Ashen Wake
  • Fusion Grenade kills will refund grenade energy, with the scale of the amount of this refunded energy dependent on the tier of the defeated enemy
• Anteus Wards
  • Chip damage through a slide-generated shield will no longer occur
• Doomfang Pauldrons
  • A bug that sometimes causes the armor to grant Super energy from melee kills while the Super is in use will be fixed
• Dunemarchers
  • Static charge radius will increase from 12 to 20 meters
• Mk.44 Stand Asides
  • The time between the start of a sprint and overshield activation will be decreased from 1.25 to 0.5 seconds
• One-Eyed Mask
  • The target marker will be replaced with a target highlighter to prevent players from detecting targets through walls
  • There will no longer be a damage bonus when a marked target is defeated
  • The previous overshield that would occur upon the defeat of a marked target will be restored, but will last 6 seconds instead of the previous 8
• Severance Enclosure
  • Powered melee and finishers will trigger the explosion
  • The damage and radius of the explosion will increase in proportion to the tier of the defeated enemy

RNG Outcomes

Legendary Engrams

• The number of armor sets available from world drops will be increased from 3 to 11 and will include Faction Rally armor
• Various armor sets that were either difficult to obtain or previously inaccessible will be available as world drops

Armor Stats

• Prime Engrams will more dependably drop armor with greater variance in distributions and higher stat rolls
• Exotic armor will more dependably drop with higher stat rolls
• Legendary armor will have a greater chance of possessing higher stat rolls

User Interface

• Consoles will receive a UI layout for the Settings screen that matches the PC experience to allow for future updates
• Console players will be able to change the reticle color to one of seven different colors, matching the PC experience
• Hints will be added to loading screens
• The Glimmer count will have comma separators in the loot stream
• The Quest screen will add the following categories: New Light, All Quests, Shadowkeep, Seasonal, Playlists, Exotics, and The Past
  • If there are no active New Light quests in a character’s inventory, this category will be hidden

Performance Fixes

• UI stuttering and drops in framerate when loading or applying mods will be fixed
• Gambit and Gambit Prime will have an improved framerate
• Framerate issues that occur during the Garden of Salvation raid’s Sanctified Mind encounter will be fixed
• Framerate issues that occur in the Pit of Heresy dungeon will be fixed
• Stutter at high framerate on PC will be fixed
• PC players will experience performance improvements in debris-heavy areas

Additional Resolved Issues

• PC players will be able to perform the Hunter melee ability, Tempest Strike, with Sprint control set to “Hold”
• Ranged melee abilities granted through character subclasses will progress Melee Kill bounties and Triumphs
  • Includes: Hunter Throwing Knives and Corrosive Smoke Bomb, Warlock Celestial Fire and Ball Lightning, and Titan Hammer Throw
• Weekly Vanguard Strike bounties for Vex and Hive boss kills will award progress for defeating Xol, Dendron the Root Mind, and Savathûn’s Song
• The Fastidious Miser Triumph will progress correctly, completing for players who have found all 30 Ascendant Chests in the Dreaming City during the three Curse Weeks and claimed the corresponding Triumphs

Keep in mind that while this list is extensive, it omits the subclass changes and other major updates for Season 10 that were announced by Bungie at previous dates. In addition, even more patch notes will be released next Tuesday just before the start of the season, so stay tuned for the details.