Destiny 2 continues to be in a tough spot right now in the wake of The Final Shape, but Bungie just laid out a very long list of changes coming to the game for its upcoming episode, Heresy, including sweeping buffs to exotic weapons and armor that may make some more viable than they used to be.
I always like when these kinds of large-scale changes happen, as it can mix up your build when in conjunction with new weapon additions and the artifact, can result in a lot of fun. This is the aspect of Destiny 2 I still like the most. So, what’s changing?
EXOTIC ARMOR BUFFS
- Sealed Ahamkara Grasps (Hunter Arms) – Powered melee and finisher final blows now grant “Nightmare Fuel” which increase your weapons’ handling and airborne effectiveness. Freshly drawn weapons then deal additional damage and grant more Nightmare Fuel on final blows. Then, getting Nightmare Fuel reloads all holstered weapons. Tons of gun buffs for one exotic.
- Gwisin Vest (Hunter Chest) – Super returns count on Super hits as well as just kills. Max Super energy gains are increased with the amount of progression needed for max gains increased. You emit a cloud of weakening smoke when you exit invisibility near an enemy. Also works when you’re not supering.
- Renewal Grasps (Hunter Arms) – Now doubled the rate of Frost Armor gain inside the Duskfield grenade.
- Foetracter (Hunter Helmet) – Now get bonus damage of 15 seconds up from 10 seconds.
- Radiant Dance Machines (Hunter Legs) – Improved AE, hip fire mobility, range and accuracy for primary ammo weapons. Multikills with primary ammo weapons refund dodge energy. Full dodge energy can get extra charges with more kills. Now dodges count as “real” dodges to trigger perks and aspects as well.
- Citan’s Ramparts (Titan Arms) – Barricade up to 500 health from 400, doesn’t increase Barricade cooldown, doesn’t increase Barricade duration. But in PvP Guardians do 160% more damage to this Barricade.
- Eternal Warrior (Titan Helmet) – Final blows with Fist of Havoc now extend duration.
- Kherpri’s Horn (Titan Helmet) – Sends out three fire waves, not just one. They do not return to you. Combatants hit by the waves are engulfed in a sunspot. If they die, you get a sunspot on you. On Prismatic, a jet dodge blasts out the fire waves in an X shape.
- Insurmountable Skullfort (Titan Helmet) – Grants energy to Arc melee abilities when hitting targets with any melee attack, though some do more than others based on their ease of use (powered melees grant more than glaive hits, unpowered melees, etc).
- Stormdancer’s Brace (Warlock Chest) – Doubled the stack damage of Ascending Amplitude up to 20% per stack from 10%. Now reduces Ionic Blink cost by 50%. Max energy refund down to 30% from 50%.
- Geomag Stabilizers (Warlock Legs) – Sprinting near max Bolt Charge will top it off, starts when you have six Bolt Charge (new Arc ability as of next episode). Ionic Traces now grant 7% super energy up from 2%.
- Secant Filaments (Warlock Arms) – Now gives class ability energy per kill while Devour is active.
- Speaker’s Sight (Warlock Helmet) – The turret won’t uselessly target full health allies.
- Verity’s Brow – Now has a meter to track Death Thrones with shorter durations per stack. Same with bonus grenade recharge, which now has tiers.
WEAPON BUFFS
Lorentz Driver – Bounty Tags now give one ammo to mag. Triggering Lagrangian Sight through a bounty tag grants six ammo to mag when first triggered. Returns one ammo per tag while buff active.
Delicate Tomb – Chance to generate Ionic Trace up to 10% from 4%. PvE bonus damage from Tempest Cascade shot from 30% to 100%. No timer for Tempest Cascade now, lasts until fired.
DARCI – Hits with Personal Assistant active grant improved recoil, target acquisition, flinch, handling and precision damage to allies with non-Exotic snipers. DARCI user gets 15% damage bonus when granting five stacks to teammates.
Edge of Action, Concurrence, Intent Glaives – Special shot no longer tied to Glaive energy, special reload triggers on six weapon hits, both shots and melee. Jolting Feedback, Destabilizing Rounds, Incandescent, Cure added to each’s intrinsic perk per damage type. This joins a number of other more general glaive buffs this season.
Centrifuge – Increased magazine size and you can keep charge longer before needing to reload.
Dead Messenger, Hard Light and Borealis – 30% damage buff to weapon for 10 seconds when you apply or receive an elemental keyword that matches the current damage type of the weapon. No longer has different stats based on element.
Telesto – Just refills ammo from its reserves. Triggers with a Void final blow. Requirement increased from two to three but Telesto kills count as double. Catalyst now allows for a special reload that rains projectiles on next hit, after three activations of Harbinger’s Pulse.
Vexcalibur – Triggering Perpetual Loophole to refresh overshield now gives full Glaive energy. Increased Overshield trickle rate while guarding. Bonus damage with projectiles against Vex increased from 10% to 25%. It now disorients bosses with its melee attack. Also joins the host of glaive buffs this season.
Wardcliff Coil – Grants one stack of Bolt Charge to you and all nearby allies for every two rockets fired, which is four stacks per trigger pull.
The Queenbreaker – Can special reload any time to swap scopes. Chaining blinds is now easier with increased range from 8 meters to 10 meters. Combat Charge now lets you fire a three round burst, sustained fire drops to 300 charge time from 533.
The Colony – Detonation damage up 40%, increased bots per spawn by one based on enemy tier.
Quicksilver Storm – Reduced shows to trigger a rocket by 17%
Legend of Acrius – Reduced spread angle by 33%, max projectile range up from 12 to 18 meters.
The Fourth Horseman – Reduced rate of fire to avoid wasting shots, loads ammo from reserves to magazine on kill.
Lord of Wolves – Better range, less base damage. No accuracy penalties in standard fire. Release the Wolves triggers on hip fire, not special reload. Full auto, more damage and rate of fire, reduced accuracy and range. The Catalyst now has reload speed and stability boosts built-in. Scorch damage on Release the Wolves. When ADS, scorch spreads to nearby enemies.
Cloudstrike – Rapid precision hits create lighting storm and grant a charge of Bolt Charge. Precision final blows generate lightning bolts and grant moderate amount of Bolt Charge.
Thunderlord – Final blows with weapon generate lightning strikes and they grant a Bolt Charge.
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