Destiny 2 Update Makes Big Changes to Weapons and Exotic Gear

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Summary

  • Bungie addresses major bugs & balance changes in Destiny 2 with Update 8.1.5.3, fixing weapon damage & exotic armor issues.
  • A lingering damage bug with Ballidorse Wrathweavers is finally fixed, bringing the exotic item back to the game.
  • Certain weapon archetypes have gotten a slight damage buff, while Graviton Lance had its RPM nerfed back down to 300.

In a recent development, Bungie rolls out a fresh update for the game ‘Destiny 2’, tackling persistent issues and fine-tuning weapon and armor balances. Despite Episode Revenant nearing its conclusion, Bungie remains committed to refining and enhancing the gaming experience in ‘Destiny 2’.

Over the past while, Destiny 2 players have faced numerous problems and glitches, some quite significant. In fact, two such bugs were uncovered by the community, with players finding a major imbalance in weapon perks and certain crafted Tonics failing to function as intended. With the holiday season now over, Bungie is releasing an update to address many of these lingering issues affecting Episode Revenant.

This week, Bungie rolled out an update primarily focused on equipment adjustments in Destiny 2. Notably, it resolved the significant Ballidorse Wrathweavers damage issue that players had pointed out in November. As a result, the exotic item is functional again and no longer amplifies its damage at an excessive rate. Moreover, various other exotics received tweaks, such as the Hunter’s Celestial Nighthawk, Titan’s Stoicism, Mantle of Battle Harmony, and Stormdancer’s Brace for the Warlock.

In this update, not only did Bungie introduce new exotic armor, but they also tweaked several weapon categories. For instance, Sidearms, Lightweight Scout Rifles, Rapid Fire Auto Rifles, among others, received a damage increase. However, High-Impact Pulse Rifles experienced a slight decrease in power. As Bungie had earlier mentioned, the Graviton Lance pulse rifle was adjusted within Destiny 2, with its rate of fire lowered to 300 to prevent it from ruling the current Crucible meta. Furthermore, Whisper of the Worm and Ace of Spades underwent a couple of bug repairs.

For numerous gamers, these modifications were much needed, even as excitement builds about how this update might affect the game’s overall condition. Lately, it appears that Bungie has been battling against a tough challenge, given the significant drop in player engagement for Destiny 2. Issues like bugs and disputes within Episode Revenant have left many dissatisfied with the present state of the game. With another episode still to come, which includes the popular Dreadnaught location, all attention will be on Codename Frontiers this summer to determine if Bungie can reverse the trend.

Destiny 2 Update 8.1.5.3 Patch Notes

Crucible

General

  • Fixed an issue where some ability kills could generate a Special ammo brick.

Dungeons & Raids

Vesper’s Host

  • Raneiks Unified
    • Fixed an issue where using Hunter’s Shadowshot Super ability on Raneiks Unified could result in the encounter crashing.
    • Reduced the number of active servitors that appear when splitting the boss during DPS.
      • Rebalanced boss health values to compensate for the reduced number of servitors.
    • Re-enabled Hunter’s Shadowshot Super ability in the activity.
  • Infiltration
    • Fixed an issue that allowed nuclear cores from the traversal to be used outside of the encounter.

Gameplay and Investment

Exotic Armor

Titan

  • Stoicism
    • Spirit of Alpha Lupi
      • Reduced heal impulse when using Thruster to 30 HP.
    • Crest of Alpha Lupi
      • Reduced heal impulse when using Thruster to 60 HP.

Warlock

  • Ballidorse Wrathweavers
    • Fixed an issue where Ballidorse Wrathweavers could increase the damage dealt by shattering targets frozen with Winter’s Wrath far more than intended.
  • Mantle of Battle Harmony
    • Fixed an issue where Mantle of Battle Harmony’s perk could be activated during Song of Flame to extend its duration.
  • Stormdancer’s Brace
    • Fixed an issue where Stormdancer’s Brace would not refund energy if the player was in Transcendence during their Stormtrance Super.

Hunter

  • Celestial Nighthawk
    • Fixed an issue where Golden Gun incorrectly was receiving the boosted roaming Super recharge benefits while Celestial Nighthawk was equipped.

General

  • Fixed an issue where the “Iron Intent” armor set was missing the “Iron Lord’s Pride” intrinsic perk.
  • Fixed an issue where Solar Weapon Boost x4 was unable to be applied via Exotics such as Mantle of Battle Harmony, Foetracer, or Path of Burning Steps to weapons besides Two-Tailed Fox.
    • The Daito manufacturer extends a heartfelt apology to all Guardians for this error.

Weapons

Weapon Archetypes

  • Sidearms
    • Heavy Burst
      • Increased body shot damage from 30 to 33.
      • Increased critical hit damage from 48 to 52.8.
  • Submachine Guns
    • General
      • Increased magazine size by 10-15% depending on magazine stat and rate of fire.
  • Pulse Rifles
    • High-Impact – Now requires six crits on all resilience levels above 1.
      • Reduced body shot damage from 22 to 21.5.
      • Reduced critical hit damage from 39.6 to 38.7.
      • Reduced Aim Down Sights (ADS) damage falloff scalar from 1.7 to 1.6.
    • Lightweights
      • Increased body shot damage from 17 to 20.4.
      • Increased critical hit damage from 31.45 to 31.6.
  • Scout Rifles
    • Lightweights
      • Increased body shot damage from 32 to 38.
      • Increased critical hit damage from 64 to 64.6.
  • Auto Rifles
    • Rapid Fires
      • Increased body shot damage from 13.5 to 13.6.
      • Increased critical hit damage from 23 to 23.1.
  • Hand Cannons
    • Precisions
      • The intrinsic Hand Cannon Precision Frame now reduces your ADS movement speed penalty by 10%.
  • Sniper Rifles
    • Reduced the camera roll component of flinch against players by 20%.
  • Heavy Ammo Grenade Launchers
    • Reduced self-damage by 50%.

Perks

  • Skulking Wolf (Iron Banner Origin Trait)
    • Now activates in PvE and, when active, makes enemies slightly less accurate when targeting you.
  • Target Lock
    • Reverted the Update 7.3.5 specific tuning for Sub Machine Guns.

Exotics

  • Graviton Lance
    • Reverted its RPM to 300.
  • Whisper of the Worm
    • Reduced the camera roll component of flinch against players by 50%.
  • Ace of Spades
    • Fixed an issue where the Firefly perk on Ace of Spades was dealing Kinetic damage instead of Solar damage.

General

  • Fixed an issue where the Scavenger’s Fate Shotgun unintentionally received Demolitionist. This perk will be replaced with Slideshot, with enhanced versions of Demolitionist being replaced with Enhanced Slideshot.
  • Fixed an issue where the Omniscient Eye Sniper Rifle did not have access to Enhanced Precision Instrument at the Relic Crafting table.
  • Fixed an issue where the Season of Arrival’s version of Crimil’s Dagger had incorrect stats.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed the Harmony and Discord perks to be activated by using certain abilities or getting onto vehicles.

Platforms and Systems

  • Fixed an issue where audio could cut out during some cinematics.
  • Fixed a server crash that caused a high frequency of #Guitar errors across many activities and destinations.

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2025-01-15 17:13