In the past weeks, it has been the biggest and hottest discussion in Destiny 2, when streamer and PvE pro player Saltagreppo called for a nerf of the raid exotic Divinity. For many players, it is unacceptable. Now the nerf is actually coming, and 26 more exotics are also under review. This is what developer Bungie says.
What has Bungie communicated? This week, Bungie addressed many questions from the Guardians in the current TWaB (“This Week at Bungie” blog) and answered them. There was information on upcoming weapon and balance changes that Bungie is currently planning, as well as a nerf announcement for exotics like Divinity.
When the topic was discussed in the community about a month ago, most Guardians were not excited about this nerf proposal at all. It seems that nothing has changed.
Divinity divided the Destiny 2 community: Many Guardians were disappointed by this proposal from pro player Saltagreppo. He completely forgets that not every player in Destiny 2 is doing a raid with links and is glad about the damage buff and critical option of Divinity.
For many traditional Destiny players, the exotic weapon is a practical option they do not want to miss and whose charming advantages outweigh any downsides. It has always provided players with security and comfort.
- Divinity is considered an honorable support exotic that Guardians use to help other players hit better and deal 30% more damage.
- As a raid exotic, it is certainly hard to earn, but it is also class-independent and is often the first choice for almost all endgame content.
- Unlike the Tractor Cannon, its debuff through special ammo has almost always been available.
- The main reason for its use is certainly the massive critical bubble it creates, which makes precision hits easier for everyone.
However, these very advantages are also the biggest problem of the raid exotic, and it seems Bungie has been thinking about this for a while. Bungie shared in the blog:
We do not believe that Divinity in its current form is actually a balance problem, meaning it is not necessarily too strong on its own. Aside from that, it is incredibly dominant in endgame PvE because it trivializes aiming with precision weapons and has an extremely high uptime for a weakening. The main problem is that Divinity grants a 30% weakening, thus taking the breath out of all other sources of weakening (like the Shadowshot and Tractor Cannon).
In this context, we have been looking at Divinity for some time and have tested a series of changes in Season 19, until we eventually reduced the [Debuff] weakness of Divinity from 30% to 15%.
explained Bungie in the TWaB blog
The nerf has been planned for a long time: Community Manager Cozmo emphasized via Twitter in this context that the adjustment of Divinity was already planned by the studio before the lively debates in social media and the community began.
Other debuff options are hardly used
Why the nerf is coming now seems basically logical.
- When Divinity was involved, you didn’t need a Tractor Cannon, which carries the risk of running out of power ammo.
- Grenades and smoke bombs could not measure up to Divinity either, as it simply provided 15% more.
- Even the Shadowshot of a Hunter with Mobius Quiver, which, just like Divinity, provides a 30% debuff for weakening enemies, lost in most cases against the practical exotic option.
And this, despite the fact that using Divinity means that a player is completely out of the DPS phases because he must continuously maintain the heavenly debuff.
Since the Shadowkeep DLC, Divinity has thus been indispensable in almost every world-first raid or grandmaster raid. It has been used exclusively in the endgame for years, aside from a few outstanding seasonal mod options.
The nerf will not harm Divinity: When Bungie introduces the nerf of Divinity in Season 19, it will lose its significant damage boost. Nonetheless, it remains an exotic worth using, as Bungie does not want to tamper with the critical bubble.
Divinity might thus withstand the nerf better than the once top raid exotic Anarchy, which is hardly relevant in the endgame anymore.
Due to its strong critical option, for example in the raid Deep Stone Crypt, it remains a practical choice and only leaves space for well-known but neglected alternatives when it comes to damage debuffing. Additionally, it also does a great job against overload due to its intrinsic champion option.
Thus, it could very well be that it can shine more in the Nightfalls going forward and be less present in the raids.
26 additional exotics are also under review
What else has Bungie announced? In addition to the confirmed nerf for Divinity, Bungie has also announced that 26 more exotics are being reviewed for possible nerf and debuffs. They plan to revise a large portion of them in Season 19.
- They will look for ways to check more exotics for the addition of champion functions.
- Some exotics may also be expanded to include ability descriptions related to the new subclass revisions for Void, Arc, and Solar 3.0.
However, Bungie wants to go into the exact adjustments in more detail in future releases.
What do you think of the confirmed nerf of Divinity? Do you find it appropriate? Or does it really rub you the wrong way? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
You can find out how far the discussion about Divinity escalated in this article:
