Destiny 2 update patch 1.1.4 brings final 4v4 Iron Banner, Crucible changes and boosted PvE damage

News by James Billcliffe Guides Editor

Published on March 9, 2018

In their “This Week at Bungie” blog post, Bungie outlined a number of changes coming to Destiny 2 in the coming weeks with the arrival of patch 1.1.4.

The laundry list of changes include an increase in the player count of some Crucible modes and events, updates to the Crucible formula in general, as well as tweaks to damage and abilities in sandbox.

The majority of the Crucible changes seem to be aimed at trying to smooth out the downtime across all game modes, with more consistent action and less running towards the battle.

Iron Banner has had its player count increased from 4v4 to 6v6, and Rumble - which is equivalent to something like the free-for-all game type in Call of Duty - is adding two more players to the current six.

“When we looked at the core feedback on “Time to Kill” in the Crucible, we saw that it mostly stemmed from a lack of excitement or spikes of intensity you all came to expect from a Destiny experience. This came in the form of feedback that stated the game was too slow, or the core loop was too stale,” said Kevin Yanes, senior Crucible designer, in the blog post.

“We agree, and have worked with Sandbox to increase the pace of the Crucible as a whole.”

To shake up the Destiny 2 competitive Crucible scene, Bungie are removing the tracker from both the competitive playlist and Trials events.

“During development of 1.1.4, we realized that while we’d reduced the ‘Team Shotting’ in Quickplay and Iron Banner effectively, we hadn’t quite done the same to Competitive. Knowing this, we looked for a change that reinforced the following goals: reduce team clumping, reward individual plays, and incentivize flanks,” Yanes said.

“With those goals in mind we looked to take a big step in shifting the gameplay in Competitive and Trials: starting in 1.1.4 we’ve opted to remove the Tracker from all Competitive and Trials game modes.

“This means more communication is required to secure victories in Competitive and Trials matches. It also means that a crispy flank with Power Ammo is all the more powerful.”

The full list of Crucible changes coming with Destiny 2 patch 1.1.4 is as follows:

Respawn and Revive were tuned in all game modes
Player respawn timers for all Quickplay modes have been reduced to 2s.
Player respawn timers for Survival have been reduced to 7s
Revive lockout time in Countdown has been reduced to 7s
Players no longer lose Revive Tokens on death
Power Ammo respawn timers were adjusted across the board
Power Ammo respawn timers in Iron Banner have been reduced ~50%
Power Ammo respawn timers for all Quickplay modes have been reduced ~30%.
Power Ammo respawn timers in Survival have been reduced ~40%.
Power Ammo respawn timers in Countdown have been reduced ~25%
Ammo counts have been adjusted in relation to these timers, and in relation to weapon type.
In almost all cases weapons either retained the same ammo count or received a buff. Swords and rockets were brought down to stay in line with the rest of the weapon offering.
Enemy players now drop their Power Ammo on death.

Sandbox

As for sandbox, Bungie are trying to address concerns that the player character didn’t feel powerful enough in the base PvE Destiny 2 experience. Along with the already announced buffs to movement speed, range, jump mobility and attack speed, many weapons and abilities are having their power levels increased.

The full list of new changes is as follows:

Dawnblade has been improved:

Reduced cost for throwing swords, allowing for one additional throw
Increased super duration extension gained from "Everlasting Fire"
Removed all in-air accuracy penalties while "Swift Strike" is active
Reduced the Icarus Dash cooldown
Increased the Grenade and Melee energy "Heat Rises" gives you per kill

Invisibility on Dodge / Smoke Updates:

Invisibility on Dodge no longer breaks Aim Assist or Projectile Tracking in PvP (unchanged in PvE)
Dodging still breaks both Aim Assist and Projectile Tracking, but only for the duration of the actual dodge
Increased the duration of Invisibility on Dodge by 1 second
Increased the duration of Smoke Bomb Invisibility by 1 second

Misc.

Supers now recharge 1:40 faster, a cooldown reduction of 25%.

Mods that reduce Grenade, Melee and Class Ability cooldowns have been buffed to allow for up to 2x faster cooldowns.

Pulse Rifles

Increased PvE damage for all pulses
Increased rate of fire for adaptive and high-impact pulses
Increased base damage for adaptive, high-impact, and rapid-fire Pulses
Increased precision multiplier for lightweight pulses
Decreased precision multiplier for adaptive pulses
This keeps precision damage close to where it is now, putting most of the buff into body shots, though it is still an increase in precision damage overall.

Scout Rifles