Destiny 2 nerfs some of the best weapons in Beyond Light – This is what will change

We explain which buffs, nerfs, new features, and changes await you with the launch of Destiny 2: Beyond Light and Season 12 concerning weapons.

What are the changes about? The autumn expansion Beyond Light is about to start in Destiny 2 along with Season 12. Traditionally, Bungie also tweaks the sandbox at the start of new content.

Now that the studio has already opened up what will change, for example, with the mods, it’s now time for the weapon changes. There are some nerfs, buffs, and general adjustments waiting for you. Additionally, there are finally new details about the upcoming adept weapons for the Trials.

Buffs and Nerfs For Weapons

According to Bungie, some surgical changes will be made to selected weapons for Season 12 – based on player feedback. There have been some buffs to increase the effectiveness of certain firearms, but also nerfs to bring overpowered weapons in line with other options. Here’s what to expect starting November 10:

Outlaw weapon perk: The increase in reload speed felt insufficient at times, so the reload value bonus was increased from +50 to +70. 

Merciless – exotic fusion rifle: The inventory value was increased from 36 to 55. This increases the weapon’s reserve ammunition.

The Mountaintop  – legendary grenade launcher: This weapon received particularly much feedback. Many Guardians say this top weapon is too strong in PvP. Consequently, it received a nerf: 

• The explosion damage was reduced by 33%, and the impact damage was increased so that the total damage is 5% lower than before. 
• The projectile speed multiplier of the “Micro-Missile” perk was reduced from 1.4 to 1.2. Specifically, this means: The grenades are then 20% and no longer 40% faster than other breech-loading grenade launchers.
• Decreased precision in the air. The Mountaintop has significant projectile deviation while in the air (about 7 degrees without the “Icarus Grip” mod, significantly less with the mod). 

Falling Guillotine – legendary sword: Swords are generally very strong in Season 11, and this example is probably the best sword currently available. However, the dominance of the Guillotine was apparently too much for Bungie. There is a nerf:

• The damage of heavy attacks was reduced by about 24% to balance it with other swords. 
• The Falling Guillotine will still be slightly above the average of swords after this nerf but not as much as it is now. 

MIDA Multi-Tool (exotic scout rifle) and MIDA Mini-Tool (legendary SMG):

• For the MIDA Mini-Tool, the trait “MIDA Synergy” becomes intrinsic
• Additionally, the following perks will be added: Hip-Fire Grip and Kill Clip

By the way, there is a problem with the masterwork upgrade for this weapon, which will be corrected in a later patch.

Sturm (exotic hand cannon) and Drang (legendary pistol):

• For the Drang pistol, the trait “Unbreakable” becomes intrinsic
• Additionally, the following perks will be added: Improved Rounds and Moving Target

There is also a problem with the masterwork upgrade here, which will be fixed in a later update.

Fallen Image – exotic trace rifle: There will be a change regarding the transmutation spheres. The damage of the air melee attack was reduced by 25%. Also, the damage of the energy drain effect on enemy fighters was significantly reduced.

Arbalest – exotic linear fusion rifle: This weapon, especially popular in PvP, will no longer hit shields multiple times, but its efficiency against enemies shielded by a shield has been increased.

The Jade Rabbit – exotic scout rifle: Armor-piercing rounds will be replaced with large-caliber rounds. This solves a problem where sometimes the exotic perk could not be triggered.

Changes to Weapons

Hand Cannons:  There will be profound changes here to create more diversity among the various archetypes and give each of them more reasons to be used. 

• Aggressive:
  • Rate of fire will be increased from 110 to 120. 
  • Aggressive hand cannons have been split up to tune their values (e.g., damage drop for 100 range in this subfamily now starts at 32 m). 

• Adaptive and Precision: 
  • Range now has a greater impact on the minimum damage drop range for both archetypes. 
    • Damage drop for 100 range now starts at 25 m (previously 20 m). 
  • Precision hand cannon  
    • (Rate of fire 180) magazine was increased by 37 percent.  
    • Note: This also applies to exotics with this rate of fire. 

• Light Frame (added to Adaptive): 
  • All hand cannons with light frames (rate of fire 150) have been moved into the adaptive subfamily (rate of fire 140). 
    • This also includes “Luna’s Howl” and “Not Forgotten”. 
    • An exotic hand cannon retains the rate of fire of 150 – the Sunshot

Currently, lightweight hand cannons (rate of fire 150) are the most used hand cannons in the Crucible. After many experiments with 150s and 140s, Bungie ultimately decided to equalize their rate of fire – to 140, as this is quite balanced in the PvP sandbox. This also gives other weapon archetypes more breathing room between shots, avoids an abundance of hand cannons with a faster TTK than other firearms, and harmonizes well with other upcoming weapon changes.

Sniper Rifles: Snipers are to continue feeling powerful without dominating. Therefore, there will also be some changes to this weapon class in the new season. 

• Aim assistance will then be influenced by the zoom level of the respective sniper rifle. Lower zoom ranges have less aim assistance, higher zoom ranges have more, and ranges around 50 zoom remain unchanged. 
• The lowest zoom ranges will have a significant reduction in aim assistance cone angle. The highest zoom ranges will have a slight increase in the angle.

Auto Rifles: In the Season of Worthy, auto rifles with the adaptive archetype (rate of fire 600) such as Grumbling had a buff and have since been very dominant – especially in PvP. This will change with the new season to allow other auto rifles to shine.

• The damage per bullet will be reduced from 15.75 to 14.25. Before the Season of Worthy, it was still at 13.75. So it doesn’t return completely to the old value.

Scout Rifles: In Bungie’s eyes, scout rifles already have a reasonable time to kill (TTK) and cannot be adjusted too much; otherwise, they would become too dominant. Therefore, only minor changes were made to make the use of this weapon class a bit easier:

• The extent to which a higher aim assist value widens the aim assist cone has been increased.
• At maximum values, the aim assist cone will be 15% wider.

Rocket Launchers: Bungie believes that the reserves here are too low, so adjustments will first be made here.

• The reserves will then be increased by 1 or 2 rockets. This ultimately depends on the inventory value of each rocket launcher. 

By the way, Bungie states that it will likely take another look at this weapon class in a future season. Currently, rocket launchers play almost no role in the power weapon slot; perhaps something will finally change there.

The New Adept Weapons for the Trials of Osiris

Bungie announced a few months ago that they wanted to bring the beloved adept weapons from Destiny 1 back to the PvP pinnacle activity Trials of Osiris in part 2 – but with some new elements. Now there are finally more details about these special weapons. Here’s the most important overview:

General:

• All Trials weapons will receive a master version in the future.
• The infusion cap will correspond to the season in which they were introduced.
• For the first set of master weapons, the infusion cap will correspond to the Season of Worthy (Season 10).
• With Beyond Light, special master weapon mods will also be introduced that can only be used on master weapons. 

How master weapons differ from base weapons: When leveling up a master weapon to masterwork, it grants additional values:

• +10 for the primary value, which is the specific masterwork of the weapon 
• +3 for all other values

Additionally, for master weapons, you can use either a standard weapon mod or a new master weapon mod. A unique master shader for these weapons has also been designed, which cannot be applied to other weapons or gear.

This is what master weapon mods are about: These mods come in two types: 

• As weapon stat boosts, each granting +10 to a specific value – similar to the masterwork values. For example, range +10
• As versions of existing mods that grant an improved bonus but also have a downside. For example, +40 to magazine, -20 to handling 

How to get the master weapons and mods: You can only obtain these master items at the Lighthouse – meaning you need to complete a flawless run and open the Flawless chest at the Lighthouse. 

• Every week, a different master mod can drop from the Flawless chest. Master weapon mods rotate, and certain mods may only appear later in the season.
• The mod will be permanently unlocked for all master weapons upon dropping.
• Master weapons will be available from the Flawless chest in a two-week rhythm, rotating in a fixed order. During the other week, there will instead be an armor drop.
• The first master weapon of a week will be top loot.  

What do you think of these changes? Is there anything you are particularly looking forward to or something you absolutely cannot live with? By the way, weapons are not the only thing that changes with Beyond Light. Therefore, we have summarized everything important for you in a comprehensive overview article:

All about Destiny 2: Beyond Light – Release, pre-order and features