Destiny 2 May 6 Update Shakes Up Exotics—Nerfs, Buffs, and Expansion Reveal Incoming!

Summary

May 6 unveils upcoming sandbox changes to Destiny 2, including exotic armor and weapons updates.
Significant adjustments to weapons like Lord of Wolves and exotic armor like Hunter’s Radiant Dance Machines.
The new Edge of Fate expansion for Destiny 2 is also being revealed on the same day as the May 6 update.

Bungie hints at a fresh sandbox in Destiny 2 arriving on May 6, disclosing some modifications planned for exotic armor and weapons, such as Lord of Wolves. It’s an exhilarating period for Destiny 2 enthusiasts, as May 6 looks set to be a significant date worth watching closely, with a game reset and now a substantial update in store.

6th May holds significance for players as Bungie plans to disclose initial insights about Project Frontiers, the upcoming chapter of the series. The ball will be set rolling with the Edge of Fate expansion in Destiny 2, and Bungie is expected to unveil details about this forthcoming expansion, possibly including a release date next week. This week, gamers concluded a community event within the game, unveiling a cinematic starring The Drifter and hinting at additional narrative elements. As anticipation mounts, Bungie’s latest blog post previews significant gameplay adjustments coming to Destiny 2 next week.

On May 6th, there’s a major update coming for the sandbox in Destiny 2, and Bungie has given us a sneak peek with their weekly blog post. As anticipated, it seems that a multitude of weapon and gear adjustments are on the horizon, including enhancements to several exotics such as Alethryon’s Vow, Truth, Two-Tailed Fox, and Riskrunner. The Lord of Wolves will experience a reduction in its hip fire damage in PvE activities, while Finality’s Auger, Sundered Doctrine’s unique exotic, should be much easier to handle after some quality-of-life improvements have been made.

Regarding the Hunter’s Radiant Dance Machines (RDM), there have been further alterations following previous adjustments. Notably, the RDM behaves distinctly for players using Mouse and Keyboard compared to those using controllers, an issue that Bungie intends to rectify. Additionally, modifications are being made to Lunafaction Boots, while the Lion Rampant is receiving a boost to make it less specialized or rare than at present.

Alongside these unique modifications, this update also focuses on modifying another weapon that has undergone multiple transformations before. Despite previous alterations to Redrix’s Estoc pulse rifle in Destiny 2, Bungie is planning further tweaks as the weapon remains a concern in mid-tier and lower skill groups. Rather than solely focusing on Redrix’s Estoc, Bungie has declared changes affecting all weapons with the Legacy Frame Origin Trait, specifically decreasing the ADS damage falloff scalar by 0.1, making them consistent with High Impact pulse rifles in terms of damage.

Destiny 2 Update 8.2.6 Exotic Gear Changes Preview

Lord of Wolves

For quite some time now, the Master of Wolves has proven to be a formidable force in PvE realms. Even fearsome figures like Atheon and Templar tremble at the sight of Guardians preparing for damage phases, knowing full well that they’re dealing with an unstoppable powerhouse.

Initially, Lord of Wolves was performing much better than our desired expectations during Heresy. So, we chose to keep things as they were for a while, enjoying an amusing “meta” phase. However, with Rite of the Nine approaching, it’s time to bring its performance back in line.

Reduced hip fire damage in PvE by 30%.

Riskrunner

We aimed to make Riskrunner more similar to other Submachine Guns, not only by providing it with a buff on its range, but also by bringing it closer to other available choices within the category, according to the adaptive changes for SMGs mentioned earlier.

Increased zoom from 13 to 14

Truth and Two Tailed Fox

In the Crucible arena, it’s uncommon for Rocket Launchers to be strong Heavy weapon alternatives against LFRs and LMGs. However, increasing their ammunition from heavy supply crates isn’t a decision we take lightly. To gauge player reaction, we’ve chosen two Exotic Rocket Launchers that will receive extra ammo from PvP heavy ammo crates.

Increased the amount of ammo picked up from ammo crates in Crucible from 1 to 2.

Alethonym

As a passionate gamer, using up an entire ammo brick depleted all my weapon’s energy, leaving me unable to craft two special ammo bricks when my energy was fully charged. To give players like me more flexibility in their gameplay, we’ve decided to lower the cost of creating a special ammo brick by half, enabling us to produce another one if we choose to do so.

Creating a special ammo brick now only costs 50% energy.
Reworded the Vestigial Alchemy trait description to be a little less confusing.

Finality’s Auger

As a gamer, I’ve made some tweaks to this weapon for a more seamless gameplay. You’ll notice the difference right away!

Increased the duration that a target is painted to match the duration of the turret.
The environmental target marker now marks additional targets that enter the zone after its initial creation.
Now grants an automatic reload from reserves after deploying a turret.
Reduced the turret’s self-damage by 85%.
Increased the turret’s damage by 10%.

Hunter

Radiant Dance Machines

The objective behind revising RDM’s approach was to infuse PvP combat with an aggressive, up-close gameplay style using Primary weapons as the primary focus. While this shift has occurred in actual gameplay and we’ve received positive feedback about the playstyle being enjoyable, it’s crucial that at its best, it remains balanced with other playstyles prevalent in top-tier Crucible action.

Despite variations in input devices, it’s challenging to fine-tune Rapid Damage Multiplier (RDM) consistently for both mouse and keyboard (MnK) and controller. The disparity is evident in usage statistics, with RDMs being 45% more frequently used on MnK. It’s worth noting that MnK already advantages from superior aim assist, precision, and stability during hip firing compared to controllers. When combined with the benefits of RDM, it enables some weapons to surpass their intended performance limits. (The Last Word is an exception, as its tuning has been specifically adjusted below for controller use.)

In the future, our goal is to balance out the two inputs so they have roughly the same effectiveness for firing from the hip. However, in the short term, we’re going to decrease the advantages provided by Rapid-Fire Mods (RDMs). We think that these adjustments will still enable players to participate in close-quarters combat, though they may need to use more perks or modifications to reach a comparable level of power, and their effective range might be slightly reduced.

As a fellow enthusiast, let me share some exciting news: To ensure that Hunters aren’t hogging all the hip-firing fun, we’re planning to extend the hip fire range and accuracy benefits from Primary weapons (after reduction) to unique Exotic weapons for Warlocks and Titans. More details on these Exotics will follow shortly!

Reduced the bonuses granted to Primary weapons when hip firing. Aligned the hip fire bonuses to range and accuracy with the values granted by the Hip Fire Grip perk, instead of the Legacy Frame intrinsic perk.
- Reduced accuracy bonus for standard weapons by 60%.
- Reduced aim assist falloff distance bonus by 60%.
- Further reduced the accuracy bonus for the custom tuned Exotic weapons (including The Last Word) by an additional 25%.
  - As a note, based on the feedback we have received from mouse and keyboard players using The Last Word with RDMs, we are looking into tuning the specific penalties for that input device down a bit in a future patch to make the weapon more usable without requiring an Exotic.
Although dodge uptime is already lower on RDMs than it is with some other Hunter Exotics, we want to reduce the class ability refund benefit just a bit in PvP to make it less of a focal point of the Exotic.
- Reduced the amount of energy refunded for defeats against players when you do not have full class ability energy from 33% to 20% to align it with the upper tier of the Strategist perk.

Titan

Lion Rampant

Lion Rampant, being a unique exotic weapon with a focus on hip-firing efficiency, seemed an ideal choice for this enhancement. To further boost its capabilities, we’ve decided to let the Airborne Effectiveness bonus from the exotic apply even when aiming down sights (ADS), eliminating the restriction that it only benefits hip firing while in mid-air.

Added the accuracy and range hip fire bonuses from RDMs to Lion Rampant for Primary ammo weapons only. These hip fire benefits are always active, not just when airborne.
The +50 Airborne Effectiveness bonus is now always active, not just when you are hip firing while airborne.

Note: The description will be updated to reflect the new functionality in a future patch.

Warlock

Lunafaction Boots

In the game Crucible, Lunafaction Boots aren’t commonly used, and when they are, it’s usually to demonstrate a very long-range kill with a Slug Precision Shotgun or Fusion Rifle. While these moments can be amusing, we don’t consider them suitable for PvP gameplay. To address this, we’ve decreased the range advantages when standing in an Empowering Rift specifically for Crucible, and instead, we’ve granted benefits to firing Primary ammo weapons at close range, which are always active.

Added the accuracy and range hip fire bonuses from RDMs to Lunafaction Boots for Primary ammo weapons only. These hip fire benefits are always active, not just when in a rift.
Decreased the range bonus granted by the Empowering Rift by 50% in PvP only to reduce occurrences of extremely long-range kills with short range weapons like Fusions and Slug Shotguns