Destiny 2 Reveals Exotic Weapon Balance Changes in The Final Shape (2024)

Bungie releases a lengthy blog post detailing all of the big weapon adjustments and exotic balance changes being made when Destiny 2's The Final Shape launches in June. After a period of uncertainty due to things like layoffs, delays to upcoming content and other player discontent, Destiny 2 has managed a significant turnaround thanks in large part of its Into the Light update. Players have been enjoying new content like the wave-defense PvE mode Onslaught, earning newly revamped weapons like The Mountaintop and Luna's Howl, while also being able to experience the returning exotic missions The Whisper and Zero Hour.

The resurgence in popularity can also be attributed to recent announcements regarding Destiny 2: The Final Shape. With the expansion's release date now right around the corner, Bungie has continued to show off more features and content coming to the game, including the customizable Prismatic subclass. Alongside new content, The Final Shape is also bringing change to Destiny 2, as many expansions typically do. Adjustments, including various buffs and nerfs, are coming to things like abilities, perks, armor, and weapons, to attempt to better balance the game. In a recent Bungie blog, the developer revealed the substantial changes coming to weapons when The FInal Shape launches.

The latest Developer Insights blog from Bungie pulls the curtain back on the long list of changes the Destiny 2 weapons team at Bungie is planning to make once The Final Shape arrives. Most Pulse Rifles are seeing a huge 20% damage buff, while Pellet and Slug shotguns, Fusion Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Glaive projectiles, and Linear Fusion rifles are also getting damage boosts against all PvE enemies. Alongside the expansion, the final remaining weapon spec mods are being retired, with that functionality being rolled into the gear themselves, including weapon damage. So players will no longer see the following mods when The Final Shape officially launches:

• Boss Spec
• Taken Spec
• Minor Spec
• Major Spec
• Adept Big Ones Spec

Destiny 2 Exotic Weapon Nerfs and Buffs

For many players, the big news revolves around which exotic weapons are getting adjusted, especially due to how popular some are in the game's current meta.

• Divinity - While it is unchanged for PvP, the number of shots needed to generate the cage against enemies has been increased by 75%.
• Rat King - Firing Animation has been changed to make it slightly easier to control at higher rates of fire.
• Devil's Ruin - Fixed a fire animation bug that could appear if the player swapped to another equipped sidearm.
• Symmetry - In addition to its current bonuses, the Catalyst now also provides +10 reload speed, +10 handling, and the Eddy Current perk.
• Gjallarhorn - Wolfpack Rounds now appear to use solar effects. The Royal Entry Void Rocket Launcher also now uses Void effects when it is buffed by Gjallarhorn.
• Touch of Malice - Darkness Ball burn effect now lasts 1.5 seconds longer.
• Osteo Striga - The poison burst effect on kills has a 4-second cooldown, so Bungie felt this weapon was too good at spreading poison.
• Necrochasm - Precision kills now also grant faster reload speed and the burn duration has been increased by 1.5 seconds. The catalyst has also been overhauled: Damaging 3 combatants in quick succession provides a period of increased damage, range, and aim assist.
• The Lament - Healing effect and the high-end heavy chain attack damage have been reduced by 20%. It's worth noting that combos at lower stacks aren't as impacted as heavily and the weapon still inherits a 7% global buff to swords.
• Dead Man's Tale - Cranial SPike stacks grant bonus stability (in addition to aim assist and range) and better reload speed. With the catalyst applied, slightly reduced accuracy, slightly increased magnetism falloff scale and baseline rate of fire. This update also removes PvE-only damage buff that is scaled with Cranial Spike stacks, and replaces it with a flat 15% damage bonus at max stacks.
• The Colony - Spawns additional insectoid robots on final blows, with more robots spawning depending on tougher enemies.
• Truth - Increased area-of-effect damage and total reserves by 3. Bungie also notes that this is also on top of the reserve change to high impact Rocket Launchers inside of the Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5 update.
• Cerberus+1 - Focus fire activates on Special reloads following a kill and no longer reduces range or rate of fire.
• The Queenbreaker - 12% damage buff against bosses, minibosses, Champions, and vehicles. Reserve ammo also increased by 3. Bungie also indicated that more changes are coming to this weapon in a future update.
• Bastion - Saint's Fist perk has been reworked. When dealing damage with melee, the charge rate, damage, and reload speed increases for a short duration. Landing most of the pellets in a burst also increases melee damage.
• Eriana's Vow - Breaking a matched shield or piercing a Champion's Barrier causes the enemy to also ignite.
• Deterministic Chaos - Has gained the anti-barrier champion intrinsic trait, while Heavy Metal now causes every 4th bullet to make targets volatile and Vexadecimal causes the 16th bullet to weaken enemies.
• Borealis/Hard Light/Dead Messenger - These three utilize the perk known as The Fundamentals, which will now maintain the currently equipped elemental damage current applied even after death or respawn. Players will no longer have to rapidly change ammo when respawning.

In addition, Sunshot, Trinity Ghoul, Polaris Lance, and Graviton Lance are all seeing their splash damage potential reduced by 10% as Bungie felt these weapons were suddenly overperforming with the other damage buff changes being made.

In addition to exotics, Bungie has also made a pass and given quality of life updates for most weapons and available perks. With Destiny 2 sunsetting being reversed, Bungie has adjusted a wide variety of perks, even removing any remaining traces of Underdog in favor of Pulse Monitor. Chain Reaction, Archer's Gambit, and Alacrity have all seen nerfs in some capacity, while Grave Robber, Eddy Current, Chill Clip, High Ground, Osmosis, and Permeability have been buffed.

Destiny 2

Bungie's Destiny 2 is an online FPS that blends single-player and multiplayer content. Constantly evolving, the shooter has established a strong following since its 2017 debut.

Platform(s)

PS5 , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One , PC , Stadia

Released

August 28, 2017

Developer(s)

Bungie

Publisher(s)

Bungie

Genre(s)

FPS

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer , Online Co-Op

ESRB

T For TEEN for Blood, Language, and Violence

Expansions

Destiny 2: Forsaken , Destiny 2: Shadowkeep , Destiny 2: Beyond Light , Destiny 2: The Witch Queen , Destiny 2: Lightfall

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