With the start of Season 21, Destiny 2 adjusts 24 Exotics. One of the currently strongest and very popular Warlock Exotics, the “Starfire Protocol,” will finally be nerfed. This marks the end of grenade spamming, and Guardians will have to adapt to a new meta.
What exotic changes are coming? In Season 21, the “Season of Depths”, Destiny 2 sends a first wave of changes for a total of 24 exotic armors into the game.
- Some Exotics were simply too weak and therefore saw little use. They will receive buffs in Season 21 to make them more competitive.
- Other Exotics, however, were far too strong and dominated everything. They will receive nerfs to make the game fairer.
Since the introduction of Solar 3.0 in Season 17, the Warlock Exotic “Starfire Protocol” stood out far beyond a balanced exotic balance. Bungie was long aware of this fact, as revealed in the latest blog post. But it has only now been time to smooth out these rough edges for better balance.
This means for Warlocks in Destiny 2 that their fusion grenade spam, which was possible with the Solar Exotic, will soon come to an end.
The most relevant exotic adjustments for Season 21
Bungie has now informed players about upcoming adjustments to the armor Exotics in a detailed blog post. The changes affect not just the “Starfire Protocol” – even if these are the most drastic.
- A total of 24 Exotics will be adjusted to balance the game and change the meta.
MeinMMO gives you a quick overview of the most important and relevant exotic changes that you should know about in Season 21. You can find the complete list of changes on bungie.net.
“Starfire Protocol” – Warlock
In recent months, the Warlock’s “Starfire Protocol” has been one of the best Solar Exotics capable of increasing single-target damage.
Combining this with the grenade launcher “Witherhoard”, the pack shots of the “Gjallarhorn”, or a rocket launcher with “Demolisher”, like “The Hot Head” (Master), essentially allowed for an endless loop of rocket and solar fusion grenade spamming. According to Bungie, “this combo also sucked all the air out of the room”.
- This will change: The amount of energy gained per damage instance is reduced from 20% to a minimum of 2.5%. Kills with powerful weapons grant 20% grenade energy.
This Exotic is not dead. However, Warlocks who still want to use the “Starfire Protocol” in Season 21 should focus more on damage over time and the 20% grenade energy on kills with powerful weapons. Alternatively, one might quickly switch and include the Exotic “Sun braces” in their Warlock build.
These Warlock Exotics will also be changed: The Warlock Exotics “Cloak of Harmonious Combat”, “Dusk Concert”, and “Chromatic Fire” have never really gained significance. So Bungie is boosting their attractiveness a bit so that they have a chance in your builds again.
- “Cloak of Harmonious Combat”: The weapon bonus damage has been adjusted to level 4 when the super is fully charged, increasing the damage bonus in PvE from 20% to 25% and reducing the damage bonus in PvP from 15% to 6%.
- “Dusk Concert”: The projectile damage bonus of Dawnblade has been increased and no longer depends on the enemy being scorched.
- “Chromatic Fire”: The radius and damage of the explosion caused by precise kinetic takedowns have been increased and the explosion also applies a status effect to the damaged targets depending on which subclass you have equipped. This means weakening effects will be exceptionally strong for ability building in Season 21.
- “Blood Alchemy”: An equally old Exotic that has seen little use also looks promising. In Season 21, standing in a Rift with equipped “Blood Alchemy” will grant a non-stacking bonus to weapon damage that corresponds to the damage type of your subclass. This could be a great option for solo players or those who enjoy playing the Healing Rift.
- “Evening Prayer of Radius”: Rifts emit an Arc shockwave every 5 seconds that deals damage (200 in PvE and 70 in PvP). Enemies defeated by these shockwaves explode and cause an additional 100 damage. If you have an Arc subclass equipped, this also blinds nearby enemies.
- “Ophidian Aspect”: This will hurt quite a bit in PvP, as the extended melee range will be removed because the extended melee range led to some strange situations where a player’s melee attack flickered in high-latency scenarios.
“St0mp-EE5” – Hunter
One of the popular Hunter Exotics, the “Stomp-EE5”, will be freed from its imposed efficiency losses in the air in Season 21.
- This will change: The air efficiency losses have been removed. Only when your dodge energy is full do Hunters gain increased speed, slide distance, and improved jumping.
Hunters can now use the Exotic based on situational circumstances, to utilize the effect either for an ambush or escape from a fight, but no longer both.
These Hunter Exotics will also be changed: In addition to others, the Exotics “Oathkeeper”, “Mask of Bakris”, and “Shining Dance Machines” will receive relevant adjustments.
- “Shining Dance Machines”: The “Shining Dance Machines” will receive a time extension for kills that harmonize excellently with the sniper dodge, the “Reaper” armor mod, and the new armor mod “Powerful Attraction” in Season 21. The latter allows players to pick up Orbs of Power from a distance.
- “Oathkeeper”: When the bow is fully drawn, you gain a damage bonus against combatants, which increases while you hold the bow drawn. Although this will deactivate after a few seconds, this change will perfectly support aggressive bow gameplay in Season 21 and work wonderfully with Wishender and particularly nasty with Le Monarque.
- “Mask of Bakris”: The damage bonus of the Exotic Mask will be increased from 10% to 25% in PvE and now grants a bonus of 6% to weapon damage in PvP. The Stasis Hunter has always been strong, but the added 25% will be extraordinarily dangerous from Season 21 onwards – especially with Arc and Stasis waves.
“Point Contact Cannon Stand” – Titan
Now let’s talk about the Titans. Here, especially the exotic armament “Point Contact Cannon Stand” will notably improve.
- This will change: Lightning strikes now shake targets. The PvE damage per lightning will be increased from a paltry 50 to a whopping 200 in Season 21. With this boost, the damage of lightning strikes will be increased by 50%, instead of increasing their range as before.
These Titan Exotics will also be changed: Titans will also receive noteworthy adjustments for “Eternal Warrior” and “No Plan B”.
- “Eternal Warrior”: Here Bungie is providing an escalating bonus to Arc weapon damage that should be taken into account.
- “No Plan B”: This Exotic will receive a moderate advantage for air effectiveness and the reload speed of shotguns starting in Season 21. Using a Void subclass also provides additional benefits, such as extra shotgun damage and a Void overshield when powerful enemies are defeated. Additionally, there will be health regeneration.
The changes in Season 21 are another step towards a meta where every exotic should be worth considering for the Guardians, and everything is balanced. While some players may be dissatisfied with the changes, others Guardians believe they are necessary to balance the game in all aspects so that no Exotic stands out too much.
Even though the era of grenade spamming with the “Perfect Fusion” for Warlocks will likely be over in Season 21, the Destiny community is known for its ability to adapt to new challenges. We are therefore eager to see what new playstyles and strategies will emerge in Season 21, starting May 23.
What do you think about the upcoming changes to the Exotics in Season 21 and specifically the nerf of the popular Warlock Exotic Starfire Protocol? How will you adjust to the new meta, and which Exotics will you prefer or take a closer look at? As always, we look forward to your comments.
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