Destiny 2 weapon balance changes in Episode Revenant
Bungie revealed exotic weapon changes, including archetypes, but that’s not all!
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Bungie released a significant TWID (This Week in Destiny) featuring reworked Garden of Salvation weapons, upcoming exotic armor changes in Episode Revenant, and some great Iron Banner loot! Surprisingly, that’s not all, as we also got significant weapon balance changes and new weapon mods in Destiny 2. Let’s take a look at what you can expect in Revenant!
Weapon archetypes changes in Episode Revenant
Bungie didn’t touch PvE weapon balance in this episode too much, but a few changes may shake up the established meta. For example, they decided to increase critical hit damage for primary weapons (Auto Rifles, Scout Rifles, Pulse Rifles, Submachine Guns, Sidearms, Hand Cannons) by 5-7% while reducing body shot damage by similar amounts. For players with good aim, this is a decent buff.
While becoming a solid choice for boss DPS, Sniper Rifles still struggle with damage against other enemies, especially Minibosses and Champions. To make this weapon type more useful in PvE, Bungie increased damage against almost all kinds of enemies (Minors +60%, Majors +75%, Minibosses +35%, Champions +25%) and reduced flinch to make them easier to use.
Of course, there were nerfs as well, this time affecting meta leaders like Rocket-Assisted Sidearms and Heavy Burst Pulse Rifles. For the former, reserve ammo was reduced by 25%, greatly affecting the ammo economy and making Double Special loadouts less reliable. Heavy Burst Pulse Rifles got an increased RPM, but their damage was reduced by 18%, leading to a 10% overall DPS drop. They’ll still be strong but no longer the top primary weapon.
Here are a few other minor changes:
- Shotguns in PvE will now deal 40% minimum damage at long range instead of 0%.
- High Impact Machine Guns got a 4% increase in critical damage.
- Heavy Ammo Grenade Launchers were slightly buffed in PvP, and the Rapid Fire Archetype will deal 7% more damage in all modes.
- Numerous small PvP changes in Revenant were made, which we covered earlier.
Exotic changes in Episode Revenant
This time, almost all exotic weapon changes are buffs, except for one weapon: Choir of One. This special auto rifle turned out to be very strong in PvE, prompting the developers to make the following adjustments:
Now, let’s move on to the exciting part: exotic buffs. Most of the work was done on Ex Diris, which received a ton of changes. Direct hit damage against combatants was increased by 33%, projectile velocity was improved, reserve ammo increased by 5, and you’ll now spawn a moth on two direct hits.
The second most changed weapon is the Prospector, which has been almost completely reworked. It now creates three powerful cluster bombs on detonation, increasing damage and area of effect. Due to this change, sticky grenades, flame grenades, and the remote detonation function were removed, and the magazine size was reduced to six. The catalyst was also changed. Instead of bonus ammo reserves, it now gives +50 reload speed.
Here are some smaller but still significant changes:
- Huckleberry’s catalyst now has the Kinetic Tremors trait, and the “fully reloads on final blows” trait was moved to the base weapon.
- Tarrabah’s Ravenous Beast now provides Solar Damage Resistance (50% vs. combatants, 15% vs. players).
- Symmetry gains one stack of Dynamic Charge on final blows.
- Duality’s Black Wings stacks have been reduced to 3, and their duration is 10 seconds.
- The String of Curses buff from Bad Juju now lasts 5.5 seconds, or 7.5 seconds with the Catalyst. The magazine size was also increased to 36.
- Fighting Lion now creates a Volatile Explosion on direct hits.
- Chaperone’s Roadborn trait activates after two rapid precision hits and provides +20 stability and 0.75x reload speed with this buff active. Base ammo reserves were also increased.
- Lumina’s hip fire projectiles will work similarly to the healing shots of support auto rifles.
Bad Juju and Fighting Lion are the most intriguing of all the changes listed, as they open up new buildcrafting opportunities.
Weapon perks changes in Episode Revenant
There aren’t many perk changes, but almost all of them are significant. For example, the Slideways trait will no longer have a cooldown, allowing you to reload your weapon after every slide. Remember, Apex Predator and the new Double Fire GL have this perk. Master of Arms also received a major change and is now getting a second stack. It provides a 25% damage bonus and lasts only 4 seconds, but after it expires, the buff reverts to Master of Arms x1.
Unfortunately, Auto-Loading Holster and Reconstruction received substantial nerfs after being so long in the meta. These perks were popular for a long time because they provided a strong effect without much effort. Now, ALH will trigger one second later, and Reconstruction will start its effect 2 seconds later.
New weapon mods in Destiny 2
As Bungie promised, Episode: Revenant brings 14 new mods, each of which seems quite useful:
Each of these mods looks valuable and will make buildcrafting more interesting. For example, the Synergy Mod allows for more frequent Stasis Shard generation in PvE Stasis builds, and CQC Optics will make low-zoom weapons (like Adjudicator SMG from Prophecy) feel much better.
Final words
So, what do you think about these changes? Are you interested in trying new mods or checking old weapons that are getting buffs? Tell us in the comments! Also, we recommend checking out the Episode Revenant overview article, in which we tell you everything you should know about the upcoming season.
Thanks for reading! Owl is flying away.
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