The Clever Dragon has been a force in the crucible of Destiny in recent months. With 2.5.0.2 came the crash.
When the November Iron Banner started in 2016, the golden months of the Clever Dragon began. This beast is a fast-firing pulse rifle that could be controlled with Perfect Balance and Balance Compensation, dealing decent damage to opponents with High-Caliber Rounds. That was pretty much the “God Roll” that was eagerly chased in the November Iron Banner.
Together with the Grasp of Malok – also a fast-firing pulse rifle – the Clever Dragon occupied the primary weapon slot in PvP for a long time. As a special weapon, the Guardian also packed the Matador 64, and you had all the necessary weapons that defined the meta.
However, with the update 2.5.0.2, the wings of the Clever Dragon were significantly clipped. A look at the statistics page guardian.gg shows that the dragon is now in free fall. Hardly any Guardian relies on this former monster anymore:
2.5.0.2 hit the Clever Dragon hard
The Clever Dragon was one of the biggest victims of the many nerfs from 2.5.0.2. The rate of fire was reduced by 7.7%, the magazine was decreased by 6 shots, and the effect of High-Caliber Rounds was also weakened for pulse rifles. The optimal time-to-kill increased due to the reduced rate of fire from 0.8 to 0.87 seconds.
In short: The Clever Dragon was severely nerfed. In the upper graphic, you can see that it was consistently among the most dominant weapons (mostly in 2nd place, behind Matador 64). Since February 14, it has been on a steep decline. It no longer appears on any leaderboard.
Instead, hand cannons and sidearms are now in the spotlight.
Does the Dragon now need to gather dust in the vault?
However, the Dragon wasn’t a weapon for the trash bin. It is still a competitive weapon that can secure nice kills. The Clever Dragon is no longer feared by any means, but it can still pack a punch, as the YouTuber Unknown Player demonstrates in the video:
Nevertheless: Hand cannons and auto rifles (and NLB) have overtaken pulse rifles in the primary slot. And if pulse rifle, then players are more likely to opt for the Iron Saws archetype. The golden days of the Clever Dragon are over.
The Iron Banner starts soon in February 2017. Here are the details.
