In Destiny 2, the cult exotic “Hawkmoon” is so broken that players are now fearing its nerf in Season 15. A glitch gives the weapon immense damage infinitely, leading to instant kills with one shot in PvP.
This exotic is causing problems: The exotic hand cannon Hawkmoon has been cult among guardians since Destiny 1 and made its way to Destiny 2 with a rework at the end of 2020. Now, in Season 15, the stylish revolver is causing nasty issues.
A glitch now allows you to deal infinite massive damage with the weapon. The annoying part: it all works without the usual requirements that balance Hawkmoon. Players are already expecting the exotic to be disabled since the glitch works in PvP as well.
Hawkmoon is unfairly bugged in Season 15 in PvP and PvE
Normally, you need to land precise hits or defeat opponents to collect so-called Paracausal Charges with Hawkmoon. This is a bizarre term for a stackable damage buff that gives astronomical power only to the last shot in the magazine.
- In PvE, the damage with full Paracausal Charge is nearly 20 times higher than normal
- In PvP, Hawkmoon becomes a one-shot kill with maximum buff, even with body shots
- The complete damage calculation and more information about the exotic can be found here: How good is Hawkmoon? God Rolls, Catalyst, Practical Test
This is what the new glitch is about: The bug now allows you to keep your Paracausal Charges after firing the last shot from Hawkmoon. It works effortlessly thanks to the new mod “Hand Cannon Holster” and your ghost – we won’t go into further detail on that.
You thus have infinite access to the super shot and don’t have to painstakingly build up the buff beforehand.
Remember, if the last shot from Hawkmoon doesn’t hit the mark or you miss while stacking the charges, the immense extra damage for the entire magazine is voided, and you’ll have to prove your precision again. The glitch bypasses all these necessary balance constraints for Hawkmoon.
In PvE, no opponent is complaining that you deal much higher damage with Hawkmoon than expected. In PvP, however, continuously and instantly killing with one shot seems much unfairer.
How strong is the glitch really? Hawkmoon is definitely broken, no doubt about it. But the glitch isn’t as powerful as it first seems.
Because to get the super shot back, you stand defenseless for 3-4 seconds. For many players, it’s already impossible to build up the 7 Paracausal Charges for a one-shot body kill in PvP. Being completely powerless for a few seconds during heated battles isn’t that powerful in practice.
Nevertheless, guardians like ZkMushroom show how unfair the glitch with Hawkmoon can be in practice:
Will Bungie soon disable the exotic?
Since the issue with Hawkmoon also affects other players in PvP, it is quite likely that Bungie will take action. A similar situation occurred at the start of Season 15 with other exotics that were disabled due to bugs.
These 3 scenarios are conceivable:
- Completely disabling Hawkmoon – or only blocking it specifically for the Crucible (and Gambit). That’s how Bungie handled the recently disabled exotic “Radiant Dance Machines”.
- Disabling the Hand Cannon Holster mod – but that would probably be overkill.
- A hotfix that completely resolves the issue comes (soon), and until then the glitch remains active.
What does Bungie say about it? The Destiny developer has not yet commented on the issues surrounding Hawkmoon and the Holster mod (as of 09/08/21 – 9:00 AM).
Neither on Twitter channels nor on the known issues page is there a comment concerning the Hawkmoon glitch (via Bungie.help). Also, in the official help forum, where the glitch was addressed on September 7, there has been no reaction from the developer (via Bungie.net).
However, we can assume that Bungie is aware of the problem and will likely respond soon.
Do you always find it interesting what crazy bugs guardians find in Destiny 2, or do such discoveries just frustrate you? Have you encountered Hawkmoon with infinite super shots yourself and say that the glitch is currently a serious problem in PvP? Let us know in the comments.
