by Owl Guy

November 23, 2023

Season 23: Survivability Nerf and Stasis Changes in Destiny 2

4 min read 0 comments 2 likes

Share

Bungie is finally making Destiny 2 even more balanced by making survivability nerf and Stasis changes!

Today, we have marked the release of the latest TWID in Season of the Witch, making it particularly rich in detail. Besides Bungie sharing information about Exotic armor changes in Season 23, they discussed a new artifact and significant transformations to Guardian’s abilities. We’ll briefly describe how this may significantly impact Destiny 2 gameplay in the next six months.

Season 23 Artifact

Let’s start with the Artifact, which this time focuses on Solar, Stasis, and Strand subclasses. Overall, the Artifact perks in Season of the Wish may appeal to you:

This time, the mods are extremely interesting and, most importantly, substantial. We’re most intrigued by Kindling Trigger, Flint Striker, and Rays of Precision, as all these mods synergize well with each other and provide excellent neutral play for the Solar Subclass.

Ability Changes

Since Light 3.0, Guardians have become extremely powerful due to their abilities, making almost any Endgame activity much more effortless. Bungie finally decided to address this, affecting nearly all abilities that enhance survivability. Stasis also received minor changes, with more significant ones planned for later.

Survivability Nerf

Bungie are working on the changes to prevent Guardians from surviving in any situation. To achieve this, they addressed the three most potent buffs: Woven Mail, Restoration, and Devour. They also made changes to the new Banner of War (Titan aspect), which provides excellent survivability.

• Woven Mail now offers 45% damage resistance against combatants, down from the previous 55%.
• Banner of War will require more Final Blows to level up. In exchange, the amount of time given for final blows has been increased.
• Restoration x1 now provides 35 HP/s (PvE) and 17.5 HP/s (PvP), previously 40 HP/s and 20 HP/s.
• Restoration x2 now provides 50 HP/s (PvE) and 25 HP/s (PvP), previously 65 HP/s and 32.5 HP/s.
• Devour restores 100 HP, previously full HP.
• Using Feed the Void (Warlock Aspect) will make Devour work as before. Grenade Energy regeneration has also been increased.

Now, in Endgame activities, you will have to pay more attention to your health and the number of enemies, making them correspondingly more challenging. Although the abilities and buffs will remain very powerful, you cannot simply switch off your head during gameplay.

Stasis Subclass Changes

At the beginning of Season of the Witch, the developers announced that Stasis would undergo some minor changes. In the latest TWID, they finally shared what to expect. Bungie warned that the changes to Stasis would be gradual, even after the release of The Final Shape. Here’s what you can expect in Season 23: 

• Stat bonuses and penalties for Whisper of Hedrons, Impetus, Shards, Hunger, and Bonds have been changed.
• Withering Blade (Hunter Melee) has increased projectile speed and lifetime by 10%, has more bounces, and has improved tracking. 
• Winter’s Shroud (Hunter Aspect) is going to have a radius of 9m and applies 60 slow stacks with an increased duration of 8 seconds.
• Shiver Strike (Titan Melee) will slow players on hit, and a bug with Melee Kickstart has been fixed.
• Glacial Quake (Titan Super) is going to freeze players within a 6-meter radius upon casting.
• Bug fixes were made to Howl of the Storm (Titan Aspect), making it easier to freeze enemies.
• Frostpulse (Warlock Aspect) now works better against fast-moving targets, and the freeze detonation size in PvE has been increased to 8.5m.
• Penumbral Blast (Warlock Grenade) has been made easier to use, with a 33% growth in detonation size.
• Glacier Grenade will have a cooldown of 121 seconds, previously 152 seconds.
• Coldsnap Grenade is going to pursue enemies better.
• Damage against frozen enemies from Special weapons has been increased from 5% to 10%.

Unfortunately, that’s all. The developers have saved more significant changes for later but have shared some details. As an example, a fresh Keyword will be introduced to Stasis to enhance survivability on this Subclass. Some Fragments will receive tuning changes and reworks, and Harvest Aspects are going to gain new properties!

Well of Radiance PvP Nerf

The developers noted the widespread use of Well of Radiance and Ward of Dawn in PvP, particularly in Trials, and decided to increase their base cooldown. It now stands at 455 seconds, previously 417 seconds. This change will make countering these Supers in PvP easier while not affecting PvE.

Solar Titan Nerf

And that’s not all! Solar Titans have been dominating the Subclass scene for the past year and a half, thanks to their high survivability and powerful Throwing Hammer ability. From now on, this won’t be as easy to achieve, as nerfs have affected them too. Picking up Hammer will now return Melee Energy only after 1.4 seconds, making it less effective for dealing damage to bosses. The Sol Invictus Aspect, which creates Sunspots, will now only last for 12 seconds instead of 20. Undoubtedly, Solar Titans will still have great survivability, but the changes to Restoration and Synthoceps will weaken them.

Final Words

That brings us to the end of the TWID breakdown. Although not everything may be perfect, we owe a huge thank you to the developers for their tremendous work in preparing for the next season. Moreover, let’s not forget that the LFG System release and a new Year-6 dungeon, both of which demanded even more effort from the developers, are on the horizon.

Thanks for Reading! Owl is Flying Away.