Destiny 2 Weapon Changes for Next Season Will Be Major

Destiny 2 has just undergone some serious weapon changes, according to the latest blog post from Bungie. While we knew...
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Destiny 2 has just undergone some serious weapon changes, according to the latest blog post from Bungie. While we knew about some upcoming sword improvements the developer would be making for the next season, we weren’t prepared to receive so much more information this early. Additionally, there is a new Nightfall level on the way to give some of you more seasoned veterans some PvE action to be excited about. We boil it all down here for you.

Destiny 2 Weapon Changes and New Activities to Come

Grandmaster

In the next season, there will be a new Nightfall level that surpasses the 980 Light level of the Master difficulty. It’ll be called “Grandmaster,” and Bungie states that it “will test even the most proficient Guardians” and that the dev team is hard at work to ensure the rewards are worth the challenge.

Izanagi’s Burden

While Bungie has not yet released all of the weapons changes that we will be seeing in the next season, they did give us a lot to work with. For example, the developer states that the famed sniper rifle, Izanagi’s Burden, will have its Outlaw trait replaced with the No Distractions trait in order “to be more in-line with the fantasy of the weapon and to ensure the trait on the weapon [will] still work with Honed Edge.” Additionally, Honed Edge’s animation speed will no longer be affected by the reload stat.

Sniper Rifles

Sniper rifles will largely be nerfed for PvE activities. Bungie claims:

  • Damage to Major enemies and above have been reduced to pre Shadowkeep values (~-20%).
  • Adaptive Snipers precision multiplier has been reduced from 3.25x to 2.95x.
  • Rapid-Fire Snipers base impact has been reduced from 100 damage to 90 damage.

Grenade Launchers

Aggressive Frame grenade launchers will be facing a slight nerfing as well, as Bungie reports:

  • Aggressive Frame grenade launchers are now Rapid-Fire Frame Grenade Launchers.
    • Rapid-Fire Frame Grenade Launchers have had their damage reduced to account for their Rate of Fire (0.8x), but now also have increased reserves.
    • Previously, Aggressive Frame Grenade Launchers fired faster than Adaptive but had the same damage.
  • Damage to Major enemies and above by Power weapon Grenade Launchers reduced by ~10%.

Lord of Wolves

Release the Wolves, the exclusive perk of the Lord of Wolves Exotic shotgun, increases the weapon’s burst fire from five to ten shots, as well as increasing the damage of these shots. The developers have nerfed the perk to ensure it is better balanced. When players use this perk, the weapon’s accuracy will be significantly reduced. Bungie states that “Release the Wolves should be used at extremely close ranges against large targets instead of just being a better version of the default behavior.”

The Last Word

This Exotic hand cannon will go back to being a more hip-fire focused weapon, but with improvements that were lacking in its pre-Season-of-the-Forge version. Players will also have to work harder on their aim with it, and Bungie additionally asserts the following:

  • Fan Fire now adjusts the precision scalar while hip-firing.
  • Fan Fire impact values have been adjusted.
    • Precision Hip/ADS adjusted from 67.95/67.95 to 68.27/52.2.
    • Non-Precision Hip/ADS adjusted from 50.01/50.01 to 38/38.
  • Aiming down sights no longer provides additional effective range (damage falloff).
  • Reduced stability for Mouse and Keyboard input.
  • Reduced the effective range.
  • To improve the experience, adjusted the way target acquisition is handled while hip-firing.

Shotguns

For weapons that don’t rely on precision damage, the aim assist system has been more of a detriment than a help to the players who employ them, sometimes causing the weapon to aim at the enemy’s head rather than their center, effectively making shotgun wielding players miss kills. The developer states that this will be resolved in addition to these other improvements:

  • Cone angle is now adjusted on a per sub-archetype basis and is no longer adjusted by the range stat.
  • Aiming down sights no longer adjusts effective range for this weapon archetype.

Fusion Rifles

Fusion Rifles have faced a similar issue to the shotgun precision problem mentioned above, so Bungie has made adjustments to these weapons that focus on the High Impact sub-archetype. The developer notes the following changes:

  • Target acquisition for Fusion Rifles has been adjusted to no longer account for precision locations.
    • Previously, target acquisition could actually cause the player’s volley to deviate from the intended aim vector, causing most of the volley to miss.
  • Damage falloff for this weapon archetype can now floor at 0.5x (Previously 0.75x).
  • Effective range and the impact of the optics stat for this weapon archetype has been reduced across the board.
  • Backup Plan
    • Backup Plan now adjusts impact to match the Rapid-Fire sub-archetype while active.
    • Charge time is now set to match the Rapid-Fire’s sub-archetype * 0.85 while active.

Auto Rifles

Auto rifles will have small improvements to increase their efficacy in the Crucible, and PvE function will naturally be boosted as a result. Bungie suggests that these changes are more minor than those we will see in many of the other weapons, and reporting the following tweaks in impact values:

    • High-Impact Frame
        • 22/35.2 Default/Precision (Previously 22/33)
    • Precision Frame
        • 17/27.2 Default/Precision (Previously 17/25.5)
    • Adaptive Frame
        • 15.75/25.2 Default/Precision (Previously 13.75/22)
    • Rapid-Fire Frame
        • 13.4/20.1 Default/Precision (Previously 12.5/18.75)

Those are all of the modifications that Bungie has mentioned in their latest weekly post, but they do not encompass all of the changes we will be seeing in the coming season, which include alterations in Exotic armor, Supers, and abilities. We will keep an eye out for more patch notes and report them as they are released by the developer.

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