Bungie is gearing up for a massive Destiny 2 balance patch set to arrive with the 30th Anniversary update on December 7, including Exotic nerfs, Archetype changes, and plenty more. Before The Witch Queen arrives in Destiny 2, we\u2019ve got one big stop on our trek to the major expansion in February. Bungie\u2019s 30th Anniversary is fast approaching and while a lot of new content has already been revealed, it appears a huge balance update is also on the way. Classic Exotics, entire weapon categories, and even various mods are all set to change with the big patch. While full details aren\u2019t yet locked in, we do have some early intel to go off thanks to Bungie\u2019s November 11 blog post. Here\u2019s a full rundown on everything we know about the upcoming Destiny 2 balance patch set for December 7. Shotguns will feel a little weaker in PvE following the 30th Anniversary update. Destiny 2 Weapon Archetypes being tweaked Six different weapon archetypes are already being looked at for Destiny\u2019s next major patch. Shotguns, Linear Fusion Rifles, regular Fusion Rifles, Caster Swords, Bows, and Sidearms are all being targeted. For some, such as Linear Fusions, small buffs are on the way to make them slightly more viable on the PvE side. Meanwhile for others, like Shotguns, that PvE damage is going the opposite way with some small nerfs coming through. Caster Swords should be more efficient moving forward, with Heavy attacks only costing 5 ammo down from 8. While Bows now deal 10% more damage to rank-and-file enemies. The iconic Vex Mythoclast has been a little too strong for too long, Bungie admitted. 14 Destiny 2 Exotics in line for new adjustments Headlining the list of key Exotic changes in the 30th Anniversary update is none other than the Vex Mythoclast. The admittedly \u201cover buffed\u201d classic is being reeled back this December. Not only is aim assist being scaled down, but it\u2019s also going to take longer to reach a full overcharge moving forward. On the opposite side, the once-dominant Sleeper Simulant is receiving a buff in the form of increased magazine size. So too is the Suros Regime with further boosts to its Dual Mode Receiver. Even the Whisper of the Worm Exotic, a former staple of nearly any PvE activity, is also being brought back into the spotlight. Hefty damage buffs and improved perks could see this sniper reaching new heights. 14 Exotics in total have already been confirmed for sizeable changes. The full list can be found below. The meta heading into The Witch Queen era in Destiny 2 could be quite different in light of these changes. On top of all that, we\u2019ve even got some changes on the way for both weapon perks and mods to boot. With potentially dozens of further tweaks still to be locked in, we\u2019re in store for one of the biggest Destiny updates of the year. The 30th Anniversary update arrives on December 7 with this balance pass at the ready. Be sure to brush up on all the new content coming in this major patch right here. Destiny 2 30th Anniversary update all confirmed balance changes ARCHETYPES Shotguns \u2013 In Season 11 we wanted to see if slugs could be viable in PvE with a high enough reward for the risk of being close and the time it takes to aim at a head. Good news, they\u2019re viable! However, they currently outclass pellet Shotguns and many other Special ammo options (not to mention being part of a dominant boss-melt tactic), we\u2019d like to equalize this a bit. However, since pellet Shotguns are easier to use than slug Shotguns they don\u2019t need as large a bump. Reduced slug Shotgun PvE damage bonus from 30% to 20%. Gave pellet Shotguns a 10% PvE damage bonus. Linear Fusion Rifles \u2013 In Season 14 we bumped these up but believe that while their potential damage output competes numerically, and they\u2019re extra hot right now because of the sweet Particle Deconstruction artifact mod, they can\u2019t compete with the ease of use of other damage options. Last time they got a precision damage buff, this time it\u2019s a flat damage buff. Increased PvE damage by 10%. Caster Swords \u2013 We shipped this with a high Heavy attack ammo cost to offset a great melee weapon that also has a good ranged attack, but now believe it\u2019s safe to reduce the ammo cost. Reduced Heavy attack ammo cost from 8 to 5. Bows \u2013 In Season 11 we bumped Bow damage up 10% vs rank-and-file enemies, having seen this in game for a few Seasons it seems safe to nudge them up again. Increased damage vs rank-and-file enemies by ~10%. Sidearms and Fusion Rifles \u2013 Due to an ancient data entry error, Sidearm and Fusion Rifle projectiles were non-hitscan. Behind the scenes, the engine does math converting a projectile from non-hitscan to hitscan if it would cover a specific distance in one frame, so this would only occur running at 60fps or higher \u2013 shoutout to a specific community that provided us with evidence on this issue, you know who you are. Increased Sidearm and Fusion Rifle projectile speed from 999 to 9999 (which makes them hitscan regardless of framerate). EXOTICS Vex Mythoclast \u2013 Yeah we over buffed this, and while it\u2019s kept in check by the peekshot potential of Hand Cannons etc., it\u2019s definitely melting faces. In playtests we feel it\u2019s still strong enough to be desirable, without feeling free. Reduced Aim Assist stat by 25. Reduced the Linear Fusion Rifle mode Aim Assist Cone scalar from 1.1 to 1.05. Now requires 3 eliminations for full Overcharge instead of 2. Fighting Lion \u2013 This wasn\u2019t a specific problem, but given increasing frustration with breech Grenade Launchers in Crucible, it seemed like a misstep to say \u201cwe hear you\u201d and \u201chere\u2019s an infinite ammo version of that thing you\u2019re frustrated about\u201d in the same patch. It should be clear to everyone that a full nerf isn\u2019t needed, so we\u2019re adjusting it. (Note: This is not a full rollback \u2014 there\u2019s still a difference between \u201calmost infinite ammo\u201d and \u201cactually infinite ammo\u201d in how weapons are used, and in playtests where we tried to abuse infinite ammo, it was extraordinarily oppressive, much more so than we expected given that it had a ton of ammo previously.) Removed the multi-hit requirement I.e., dealing any damage will grant the buff. Increased the buff to the reload stat from +50 to +70. I.e., reload will still be slow if you miss, but if you land any damage, Fighting Lion will reload faster than it did before the nerf. Increased the buff duration to 7s. Arbalest \u2013 We always wanted this to have utility in high difficulty PvE, but its lack of Champion mods prevented that, and it\u2019s all about shield breaking already, so we\u2019re fixing that. Now has intrinsic anti-barrier. Sleeper Simulant \u2013 The delta between Sleeper and the best Legendary Linear Fusion Rifle wasn\u2019t large enough to make this a compelling option, so while it benefits from the 10% damage buff above (really, this time), we\u2019ve given it some additional love. Increased magazine size from 3 to 4, increased PvE damage by 6%. Suros Regime \u2013 Dual Mode Receiver always made Suros a worse 360 RPM auto rifle but fixing that is a straightforward stat bump. This may not make this mode dominant, but at least makes it do what was intended: turn it into a high-impact Auto Rifle. Dual Mode Receiver mode now grants the following in addition to its current effects: +30 range, +3 zoom. Cryosthesia 77K \u2013 Given the state of Stasis in PvP at the start of Season 14, we deliberately shipped this weapon in a weak state (which almost physically hurt us, but was the right decision), not wanting to contribute to the problem. Now that we\u2019ve had more time to evaluate the state of the sandbox, we\u2019ve reworked this Exotic to address its weakness in PvE. Specifically, the following pain point: Fire on release with the charge trigger, losing all ammo on firing the freezing shot. Removed Variable Trigger completely. Now fires on trigger press instead of release (this will make it feel much more responsive). Charged Shot moved to special reload. Getting a final blow with the Sidearm enables access to the special reload. Once the Charged Shot is fired, the weapon reverts back to standard Sidearm mode. This does NOT cost your entire magazine. Charged Shot now causes an AOE which freezes AI and slows players (direct hits still freeze). Leviathan\u2019s Breath \u2013 This Bow is underused, so we wanted to give it a bump, while also making its catalyst more interesting (expect this type of catalyst tweak to become more common moving forward). The catalyst now grants the Archer\u2019s Tempo perk in addition to its other effects. Whisper of the Worm \u2013 The original DPS king has fallen out of favor, with the delay before the damage buff kicking in making the weapon less usable in short damage phases, and optimal sustained damage requiring all critical hits but not sufficiently rewarding precision. Reduced delay on activating Whispered Breathing from the catalyst from 2.1s to 1.2s. White Nail magazine refill changed. Was 3 from inventory but now pulls 2 from inventory and 1 from thin air. Increased damage in PvE by 10%. D.A.R.C.I. \u2013 This Sniper Rifle\u2019s damage has fallen behind as other options have been buffed, and its damage is dependent on crits, while also requiring 100% time on target, so we\u2019ve improved its ease of use and bumped the damage up. Reduced flinch, recoil, and accuracy degradation by 50% while Personal Assistant is active. Personal Assistant now has a 1s delay before deactivating when off target (was instant). Increase damage in PvE by 20%. Malfeasance \u2013 For a weapon all about explosions, this Hand Cannon\u2019s explosions were a bit underwhelming. Increased explosion damage by 50%. Dead Man\u2019s Tale \u2013 We\u2019ve seen this Scout Rifle\u2019s usage drop dramatically on console since the recent nerf.So we spent some time tuning it in a way that benefits controller much more than mouse and keyboard (i.e. we don\u2019t believe this buff will improve the weapon much on mouse and keyboard), specifically touching hip fire with the catalyst. Note: This isn\u2019t actually branching the tuning between input devices, but the bits we touched are either only present or are much more impactful on controller: Increased reticle friction falloff distance (no effect on mouse and keyboard). Less recoil (reduced effect on mouse and keyboard). Improved accuracy (reduced effect on mouse and keyboard). Heir Apparent Catalyst \u2013 There was a data error in the Heir Apparent catalyst resulting in it granting too much damage resistance against players, this has now been corrected. No effect in PvE. Reduced damage resistance against players from 75% to 25%. Lorentz Driver \u2013 The bonus ability energy feels extraneous when the damage buff is so strong, and we\u2019re limiting certain weapon sources of ability energy. Removed ability energy regeneration on picking up a telemetry. Traveler\u2019s Chosen \u2013 The ability energy granted from the perk was on a curve that isn\u2019t intuitively understood. Similar to Lorentz Driver, it seemed appropriate to adjust this in PvP. These changes aren\u2019t noticeable in PvE. Now grants 10% ability energy per stack on activation (was previously more generous on low stacks, less generous on high stacks, the average and amount for 10 stacks are unchanged). Reduced stacks granted on a Guardian defeat from 3 to 2. PERKS Adrenaline Junkie \u2013 This perk wasn\u2019t performing as well as intended, and the path of least resistance was making it live up to its dev name (grenadebuckler). Eliminations with the weapon can add single damage stacks or extend existing ones. Grenade eliminations boost the stacks immediately to x5. Lowered the duration to compensate for weapon activation. Vorpal Weapon \u2013 A perk that grants 15% bonus damage against all targets I\u2019m going to use my Heavy weapon on? This was a non-choice and sucked the air out of the room for other damage perks. At the same time, it was failing its original role: giving players a reason to run a primary weapon against tough targets. Was 15% damage on all weapons. Now 10% on heavy weapons, 15% on special, 20% on primary. No change to damage vs players in Super. Whirlwind Blade \u2013 This was too obviously the best Sword damage perk around, so while we\u2019re fine with it being good at sustained damage, we\u2019ve pulled it back for shorter fights. Increased number of stacks needed to hit maximum damage from 5 to 10. Pulse Monitor \u2013 What if instead of activating on what feels like a fail state, this activated on a state you\u2019ll be in in almost every encounter, even if you\u2019re winning? Changed threshold for activation from 90% health to 30% shield (i.e., this now requires much less damage to trigger). MODS Quick Access Sling \u2013 The usage on this mod is very telling \u2014 it\u2019s extensively used on Bows and breech Grenade Launchers, and barely used at all on other weapons. At the same time, we\u2019ve pulled down some options players had for improving their swap speed, and wanted to make an option available for building towards that on all Legendary weapons. We\u2019ll be watching how this feels in the wild and may revisit it later. Functionality changed: Was: +100 handling, 0.9 * ready\/stow\/aim down sights time for 0.4s after running out of ammo. Now: 0.9 * ready\/stow time all the time. This change also applies to the Swap Mag perk, as they use the same perk behind the scenes. Full Auto Retrofit \u2013 We\u2019ve seen plenty of requests for an accessibility option allowing full auto fire, particularly on fast-firing semiautomatic weapons. We have a settings option in the works for a season after The Witch Queen launches but decided to put in a stopgap to help players until we are able to ship it. Please keep these types of suggestions coming! Added a Full Auto Retrofit weapon mod that enables full auto while the trigger is held, usable on Legendary Hand Cannons, Sidearms, Scout Rifles and Pulse Rifles. This is unlocked by default for all players. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bungie is gearing up for a massive Destiny 2 balance patch set to arrive with the 30th Anniversary update on December 7, including Exotic nerfs, Archetype changes, and plenty more. Before The Witch Queen arrives in Destiny 2, we\u2019ve got one big stop on our trek to the major expansion in February. Bungie\u2019s 30th Anniversary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}