This Week at Bungie: Huge Destiny 2 weapon and Trials changes are coming

Bungie, the development studio behind the popular live service Sci-fi FPS Destiny 2, has announced via a new blog post that a considerable number of balance changes are coming to the title ahead of the studio’s 30th anniversary event. Don’t fall asleep just yet! There’s also a new twist coming to the Trials of Osiris PvP mode.

This all is set to come to the game early in December ahead of the introduction of the new Loot Cave dungeon and the beloved Gjallahorn rocket launcher being brought in from the original Destiny. The aim appears to be smoothing out many of the rough edges the game currently has ahead of upcoming major updates, especially the Witch Queen expansion coming February 2022.

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen - Reveal Trailer

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Let's start with the guns! You can read all the updates in full via the blog post, but we’ve listed out the major pointers below:

• Slug shotgun - PvE bonus damage is being reduced from 30% to 20%. Pellet shotguns are gaining a 10% PvE damage boost.
• Linear Fusion Rifles - This weapon type is gaining a 10% damage boost in PvE.
• Caster Swords - Getting a buff! Gains a reduction in Heavy Ammo cost from eight to five.
• Bows - Has roughly 10% increased damage against non-boss enemies.
• Sidearms and Fusion Rifles - Now are hitscan weapons! Previously they weren’t due to a bug, but with this being fixed, both weapon types are now working as intended.

Now for Exotics, we’re getting a lot of changes to balance out the playing field. There are a lot of changes to look over, so we’ll highlight the major ones that are the most impactful.

• Vex Mythoclast - Was incredibly busted. Now has nerfs hitting its aim assist and three eliminations to trigger Full Overcharge instead of two. Apparently it’s still super strong, as you’d hope considering the requirements to own one, but isn’t quite the monster it used to be.
• Fighting Lion - Has had it’s reload on-hit buffs reduced as a result of growing frustration with on-hit grenade launchers in Crucible playlists. If you hit post these changes, the reload will be as fast as ever, but missing will make it far slower.
• Arbalest - Gains anti-barrier as a built-in feature. Makes the weapon way more useful in higher-end PvE when you need to take champions down.
• Cryosthesia 77K - Getting huge changes as to make it more viable in PvE. Variable trigger has been removed, the charged shot has been moved to special reload that is triggered by getting a final blow. This charged shot also doesn’t cost the entire magazine anymore.
• Heir Apparent - The catalyst previously had a bug that caused it to grant far too much damage resistance to players. This boon has been chopped down from 75% to 25% (ouch).

Some of the juicier changes coming are aimed at perks. Not as sexy as exotics, but anyone who’s played the endgame knows that good perks make or break gear in Destiny 2. We’re seeing Adrenaline Junkie get a big rework, eliminations provide single damage stacks, while grenade kills bump it all the way to five stacks. Vorpal Weapon - previously an obvious choice for heavy weapons - has the damage bonus split between all weapon types rather than just your heavy weapon.

Whirlwind Blade was also obviously a fantastic sword perk, so that’s been hit with a major nerf as the hit requirement to trigger the effect has been doubled. Finally, Pulse Monitor is now triggered at 90% health, so it doesn’t feel like you’re dead before you get more use out of it.

Let's wrap up with Trials! Trials of Osiris is getting changes to the Capture Zone version of the mode, marking the capture point at the start of rounds and making sure it spawns in neutral areas so as to not bias a round towards a certain team. To help achieve this, the Trials of Osiris map is being changed to Endless Vale - which features a large central space that both teams can access at similar speeds.

As we’re nearing the end of Transgender Awareness week on November 19, the free pride emblem is also nearly gone! If you haven’t redeemed it yet, be sure to use the code ML3-FD4-ND9 at the code redemption website.

We’re at a bit of a quiet moment in Destiny 2 at the moment, but that’s soon to come to a close. The Witch Queen is nearly here and looks like it’ll play around with the game’s light vs dark narrative, having you fight against light wielders in the new content.