Destiny 2 nerfs the improved perk “Bold Blade” and therefore the fastest players must now give up their strongest movement advantage. MeinMMO tells you what has changed and how players are reacting to it.
What has Bungie nerfed? Destiny 2 nerfed the improved perk “Bold Blade” in the last Hotfix 6.2.0.7, which could be used multiple times with a single activation.
This is a sword perk that could give players an enormous speed boost. If you were skilled enough to trigger it, you could perform the so-called “sword surfing” in Destiny 2.
What does the term “sword surfing” mean in Destiny 2?
Sword surfing is considered in Destiny 2 to be the fastest movement method by far. It is excellent for causing frustration and confusion in enemy ranks or “flying” over long distances in no time.
With this technique, players can position themselves within seconds for sword attacks and eliminate their opponents or entire groups with ease.
With the perk “Bold Blade,” you could even move faster than with a Sparrow.
- The normal perk “Bold Blade” gave you an immediate increase in jump height when switching to the sword equipped with it. You had 1 second to activate it and another 1 second of usage time to perform up to 2 sword strikes.
- From Season 18 onward, you could still obtain the perk as an improved version through weapon crafting. The improved perk “Bold Blade” increased activation time to 1.5 seconds and usage duration to 2 seconds. This allowed for a third strike or 2 comfortable strikes with much skill.
Now, “Bold Blade” is not even worth the materials required to craft an improved version of the perk for the sword “Half-Truths.”
What has specifically changed? With Hotfix 6.2.0.7, Bungie implemented a strict deactivation of the improved perk “Bold Blade.”
- The 4-second cooldown is now enforced, and only one strike can now be executed.
- The cooldown is not triggered by the sword strike, but by the speed. This means you can still perform multiple sword strikes if you have no ammo in the sword and do not reach maximum speed.
- Conversely, it can also happen that you cannot activate the perk “Bold Blade” if you are, for example, falling and have already reached or exceeded the maximum perk speed.
“Problem fixed where players were having too much fun!”
The perk “Bold Blade” was absolutely popular, and the nerf accordingly dampens the spirits of the players. In the forums and on Twitter, many openly shared their frustration and explained that Bungie has fixed another problem that players were apparently having too much fun with.
- The player Jaquelan writes on reddit: “So we basically wasted the upgrade materials because Bungie decided that an improved perk that supposedly was better – should no longer be better – and now literally does the same thing as the standard perk…”
- Another Guardian named Awiodja finds: “This technique [sword surfing] had zero impact on sandbox balance and a great positive impact on player skill expression and overall fun. I am honestly baffled as to why [Bungie] decided to nerf this.”
Even streamers and pro players like Saltagreppo, who recently made headlines with his call for a nerf of the raid exotic “Divinity”, also cannot understand this.
On Twitter, he posts shortly after the nerf was announced:
And why? It was a small, fun, skillful technique that caused no damage. The only thing that came to mind was that it might have been a bit annoying in PvP? But again, why? Is someone firing a Wardcliff Coil at you not worse than a fast sword?
said streamer Saltagreppo about the adjustment via Twitter
Then, the Destiny 2 PvP pro and streamer Frostbolt responds via Twitter: “[…] You won’t be passing me in strikes anymore; now you have to go to the end, just like the rest of us.”
A little hint that many PvE players often used the sword with the improved perk “Bold Blade” just to shorten or skip everything.
The perk was simply exploited too often: For the players, especially speedrunners, this change is fatal. The perk “Bold Blade” has been a strong option for simply skipping long distances since its release.
However, the Guardians did not use it just for more speed but also to skip basic game mechanics. And it seems that this was precisely the reason for the nerf.
The community manager of Bungie explained it on Twitter:
There was no rush from the developers. It was randomly assigned to Hotfix 6.2.0.7, received the corresponding test run, and went out the door. […] The team found numerous problems where the perk could be used to skip encounters, interrupt mechanics, and generally cause problems with the game. […]
informed Bungie’s Senior Community Manager dmg04 to the players via Twitter
What he means becomes clear when you look at corresponding player videos where a sword with the perk “Bold Blade” is used.
Here, a player, for example, skips the entire jumping passage in the raid “Garden of Salvation.”
Other jumping passages, like the one in the current raid “Kingsfall,” were also a piece of cake with it. Even the speed record in the latest dungeon “Duality” only happened because players shortened so many long distances using the sword perk “Bold Blade” that they finished in under 9 minutes.
Did you use the perk “Bold Blade” to cut through everything and therefore invested in the improved version of the sword perk? Or are you among the Guardians who rarely managed to trigger the perk at all? Feel free to let us know in the comments what you think about the adjustment of the perk.
