Huge Destiny 2 Weapon Balance Changes in The Final Shape
Get ready for new Destiny 2 weapon balance changes in The Final Shape with various buffs and nerfs!
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Today, Bungie delighted us with a huge amount of news regarding weapons in Destiny 2. Previously, developers revealed three new Exotic armor pieces, and we will get even more new info in the coming week. However, in The Final Shape, we can expect numerous weapon changes in Destiny 2 that will reshape the meta so drastically that you’ll have to abandon your favorite guns. So, let’s take a look at what Bungie has prepared for us.
Khvostov is Back
Let’s start with the announcement that Bungie is bringing back the beloved Khvostov Auto Rifle in its Exotic form! In The Final Shape, you can obtain this weapon with a perk that causes every seven bullets to ricochet off enemies. We’ll see how this weapon performs in The Final Shape, but for now, let’s move on to the article’s main topic.
Global Weapon Changes in Destiny 2
With the release of TFS, weapon mods like Boss Spec, Taken Spec, Minor Spec, Major Spec, and Adept Big Ones Spec will be deleted from the game, but almost every weapon received damage changes. As a result, the bonus damage that Exotic weapons deal against red bars will be reduced from 40% to 30%. Overall, however, the damage of these weapons remains the same.
Bungie recognizes that many weapon archetypes, particularly Pulse Rifles, are less effective than others. Therefore, they decided to further increase the damage output of many guns:
- Pulse Rifles will deal 20% more damage to Majors, Bosses, and Mini-Bosses (except for Graviton Lance and Revision Zero’s Heavy Burst mode) and 38% more damage to Red Bar combatants.
- Pellet and Slug Shotguns received a 9-10% bonus damage for PvE (except for Legend of Acrius, Tractor Cannon, Conditional Finality, and The Fourth Horseman).
- Glaive Projectiles, Fusion, and Sniper Rifles obtained a 7% increase in damage in PvE (except for One Thousand Voices, Izanagi’s Burden’s Honed Edge shots, and Cloudstrike’s storm).
- Linear Fusion Rifles received a modest 5% Damage Buff in PvE.
- Sidearms, Scout Rifles, and Bows will deal 20% more damage to Red Bars.
- Trace Rifles received a 20% damage buff against red and orange bar foes.
- The damage against Red Bars was also boosted for three weapon types: Auto Rifles — 15%, Submachine Guns — 10%, and Hand Cannons — 5%.
- Machine Guns and Swords will cause 7% more damage across the board, even in Crucible.
- Sunshot, Trinity Ghoul, Polaris Lance, and Graviton Lance splash damage nerfed by 10%.
- Kinetic damage-type weapons no longer deal bonus damage to bosses, so Supremacy or Warden’s Law will deal the same damage as Stasis and Strand alternatives.
Bungie didn’t stop at damage number changes and made a few more pleasant (and not-so-pleasant) changes:
- Improved minimum Sniper Rifle reserves from 14 to 17 shots.
- Decreased firing animation and recoil for Adaptive Linear Fusion Rifles.
- Reduced the length of the Wave Frame Grenade Launcher’s waves from 22 meters to 15 meters. The size of the wave is now affected by the blast radius stat.
That’s all for the global changes. The most notable is the Pulse Rifles, which will finally become a solid primary weapon on par with Hand Cannons. We recommend preparing Outbreak Perfected or Graviton Lance for TFS, as they may be very useful.
The Final Shape Exotic Weapon Changes
Now let’s talk about the Exotic weapons that will receive significant changes in The Final Shape. There have been many adjustments, but we’ve chosen the most important ones from the list.
- Divinity: Received a serious nerf, which will cause the weapon’s popularity to drop in the coming months. Now, you’ll have to spend larger amount of ammo (75% more) to create the cage.
- Symmetry: The developers decided to improve its reload speed and handling, giving it a +10 point buff in these areas. Additionally, the Eddy Current perk, which accelerates reload speed, should also improve this gun.
- Osteo Striga: The favorite weapon for laziest players won’t be as effective as before. Now, Osteo Striga has a 4-second cooldown on poison bursts after final blows, significantly reducing its effectiveness.
- Necrochasm: Meanwhile, Necrochasm will receive a significant buff. Your weapon now passively gains increased reload speed after precision takedowns. Moreover, Cursed Thrall holds the burning effect for one and a half seconds longer. Finally, the catalyst has been rebuilt to increase damage, range, and aim assist after damaging three combatants.
- The Lament: This Exotic sword has long outperformed legendary alternatives, so the developers decided to nerf it slightly. They reduced the healing effect and damage of chained heavy attacks by 20%. Don’t forget that the 7% buff will also be applied to The Lament.
- Dead Man’s Tale: DMT has undergone many changes, and this time, it is getting buff. Cranial Spikes now provide bonus stability and increased reload speed. In addition, Dead Man’s Tale slightly reduces its hip-fire accuracy. Still, it also increases the magnetic field’s falloff with the rate of fire and provides a 15% bonus damage when hip-firing with maximum stacks of Cranial Spines.
- The Colony: Insectoid robots now create even more insectoid robots on final blows! You can create up to five robots if you kill tougher combatants.
- Bastion: The Saint’s Fist perk has been reworked, and its properties now resemble a combination of Trench Barrel and One-Two Punch. Specifically, melee damage increases charge rate, damage, and reload speed for a short duration. Landing a majority of pellets in a burst also increases your melee damage.
- Eriana’s Vow: This gun has been sitting in Guardians’ Vaults since the Arbalest Buff, so Bungie decided to buff it. Now, breaking a solar shield or piercing a Champion’s Barrier will cause the target to ignite, making it fun to use.
- Deterministic Chaos: This machine gun is one of the weakest exotic weapons in the game, so it was slightly reworked. Now, this weapon has anti-barrier rounds, with every fourth bullet making targets volatile, and every sixteenth bullet also weakens them.
The Final Shape Perk Changes
Next, we will discuss some of the new features in The Final Shape. While some of them are significant, let’s not waste any time and get right into it.
- Chill Clip: Applies slow stacks based on the weapon’s properties. Rapid-Fire Fusions will still require three shots to freeze, while other archetypes will require only 2.
- Chain Reaction: Some guns were made extremely strong for Add-clear, so in TFS, it will have a 15% smaller AoE size and 20% less damage on Special ammo weapons. This perk has been improved on Heavy Guns and will now deal 30% more damage.
- Grave Robber: It’ll activate when dealing damage with a powered melee, in addition to standard melee takedowns.
- Archer’s Gambit: Will be added to new Bows, so it had to be slightly nerfed. It will have a 60% draw time buff and a 4-second buff duration (it can now stack up to 8 seconds).
- Alacrity Origin Trait: Dominated too much in Rumble Crucible Mode, so it has been disabled there.
- Deconstruct: Using this perk as ammo generator on some weapons was too easy, so it’ll now refill the magazine from reserves instead of from the air.
- High Ground: It was a rather mediocre perk, so it has been completely reworked. Its operation principle now resembles Rampage, and you can get max damage stacks on airborne final blow. The maximum damage in PvE has been increased to 25% and in PvP to 15%.
- Osmosis and Tessellation Exotic Weapon: Now, match the damage type of your currently equipped Grenade.
- Permeability and Elemental Capacitor: Now, match the damage type of your equipped Super.
Final Words
That’s all we’ve been told about the weapon changes in The Final Shape. In exactly one week, we’ll get news about abilities and exotic armor, so prepare for even more nerfs! What do you think about these changes? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Thanks for Reading! Owl is Flying Away.
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