Bungie reveals how they want to optimize your exotic weapons in Destiny 2 with the release of Shadowkeep. There are also updates on the general weapon types.
Where do the information come from? The developers showed in the current “This Week at Bungie” blog not only a new roadmap for Season 8, but also addressed the planned weapon changes in a sandbox update.
In addition to adjustments to exotic weapons, there will be some general changes to the weapon types with Shadowkeep that will affect your PvP and PvE experience.
Finally a buff for scout rifles
Numerous weapon types will receive buffs and adjustments. What will particularly please many Guardians: Scout rifles will soon deal more damage in PvE and should become relevant in the game again. The scout rifle buff is greater here than, for example, with automatic rifles.
The Guardian community has been discussing scout rifles for a long time. In Destiny 1, they were the favorite weapon category for many Guardians, whereas in Destiny 2 they have been overshadowed by other weapons like hand cannons or pulse rifles for some time. With Shadowkeep, scout rifles may be pushed to the forefront again.
Changes to weapon types
Automatic rifles
- The PvE damage is increased by 30% to 25% depending on the enemy’s rank
Bows
- The PvE damage against smaller enemies is increased by 31% and against larger enemies by 26%
- A problem has been fixed where the time to draw the bow was displayed incorrectly
Hand cannons
- PvE damage against smaller enemies is increased by 30%
- Light and adaptive hand cannons use a new firing animation while aiming at targets
- Higher accuracy of the weapons at maximum trigger speed
- The range value now has less influence on the effective range. This means hand cannons will experience a higher damage range falloff – a range nerf.
Machine guns
- PvE damage against smaller enemies is increased by 25%
Pulse rifles
- PvE damage against smaller enemies is increased by 28%
- The effects of damage range falloff are increased
- Rapid-fire pulse rifles now deal 14 base and 23.8 precision damage (previously 13 / 21.4) in PvP
- Pulse rifles with higher impact deal 21 base and 33.6 precision damage (previously 20 / 32) in PvP
Scout rifles
- The PvE damage is increased by 36% to 18% depending on the enemy’s rank
The buff for scout rifles and the range nerf for hand cannons and pulse rifles will likely make scout rifles significantly better – especially at long ranges.
Pistols
- PvE damage against smaller and larger enemies has been increased by 16%
Sniper rifles
- The PvE damage against smaller enemies has been increased by 47%, for others by 20%
SMGs
- The PvE damage against small and large enemies is increased by 22.5%.
Old exotic weapons become powerful again
Some of the exotic weapons will be revised. They will shine in a new light.
The magazine of the Sunshot hand cannon will be increased from 8 to 12 bullets. This will likely please most players who have been requesting a buff for years. This makes it more important for the game and should be noticed by many Guardians again.
The exotic hand cannon Crimson is also making a comeback. The base and precision damage has been drastically increased, and the weapon no longer wobbles as much while shooting (flinch is reduced). This makes it useful again in both PvE and PvP.
The perk “In the Service of the Colony” will soon function like the trait “Auto-Loading Holster” and will ensure that the Colony will automatically reload after some time.
But those were not all the exotic weapons receiving changes. There will soon be many reasons to get these old, dusty weapons out of the vault again.
Workhorse
- Magazine increased from 100 to 150
- PvE damage increased by 15%
- Damage changed to 15 base and 21.2 precision damage (previously 13.21 / 21.14)
- You no longer need to shoot to automatically reload when picking up ammo
- High-caliber rounds are replaced by armor-piercing rounds
Graviton Lance
- 30% more PvE damage
Sunshot
- Magazine increased to 12
Wings of Sacred Dawn
- PvE damage increased by 25%
Crimson
- Damage changed to 19 base damage and 30.5 precision damage (previously 13.76 / 24.75). It also causes less flinch, as there was a problem before.
Merciless
- The missing aim assist stat for this weapon has been fixed
Pallas
- The damage bonus from Memento Mori is now influenced by range falloff
Lumina
- The buff effect of Noble Rounds on allies should now function more reliably
The Colony
- The perk “In the Service of the Colony” will soon function like the trait “Auto-Loading Holster”
Additionally, there are these general changes: weapon modifications will be reusable. They will no longer count as consumables. All mods you have in your inventory will be converted on October 1st, and you can switch them as often as you want. This aims to give players the freedom to experiment more with multiple weapon mods.
Additionally, small enemies will no longer take more precision damage than other enemies. Until now, they had taken double the precision damage compared to others.
More changes are already in planning. Bungie wants to reveal more in the coming weeks. They will use the “This Week at Bungie” blog posts before the release of Shadowkeep.
Are you excited about the return of exotic weapons and which ones will you retrieve from the vault first?
