Destiny 2 nerfs your favorite boss weapons in Lightfall and updates Exotics

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Only a few weeks left and Destiny 2 will reveal the new DLC “Lightfall”. So that everything is consistent there, Bungie is now tackling the heavy weapon meta after the abilities of the Guardians. Popular DPS monsters get a nerf because from season 20 other weapons are supposed to cause damage and variety. MeinMMO tells you what the hottest boss damage candidates will be.

Bungie is planning these changes: Starting in Season 20, the weapon meta will shift again in Destiny 2. With the upcoming new Lightfall campaign and a new raid, you want to rebalance the heavy weapon slot in particular. Additionally, skill traits will be added to well-known exotic weapons so they can be more relevant again.

Chris Proctor, Bungie’s Senior Design Lead, informed players via Bungie’s website what changes will soon go live as part of the Season 20 balance update.

  • Linear Fusion Rifles have been the most popular DPS option for over a year. Now the nerf is coming, so that other weapons finally have a chance to assert themselves again.
  • Machine guns and heavy grenade launchers are buffed, making them favorites to succeed the old DPS kings.
  • Plus: increased bonus damage for kinetic weapons, subclass verbs for more exotic weapons, and some tuning on various perks.

    • For players, these changes mean new weapon options will open up to try in the Lightfall DLC. There is definitely plenty of room for testing at the Neptun location “Neomuna”. Plus many new skill options, which you can see in this trailer:

    Destiny 2: Lightfall – Trailer for new weapons and equipment

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    It’s been clear for some time that Bungie would bring Linear Fusion Rifles back to earth. They’ve outperformed heavy weapons in terms of boss damage for too long. Nothing could compete with them. Now this is likely to change soon.

    Bungie specifically adjusts this for the linear fusion rifles:

  • LFG damage against champions, mini-bosses, bosses, and vehicles is reduced by 15%.
  • Only the exotics “Sleeper Simulant” and “Queenbreaker” are unaffected.

    • So it’s time for players to think about new boss damage options. Looking at the buffs, the best candidates in Season 20 seem to be machine guns and grenade launchers. Both the already strong and craftable Season 19 MG “Retrofit Escapade” and the grenade launcher “Wendigo” as a master version could soon shine with it.

    In Destiny 2, a machine gun is the new star in PvE – “To say the least: overwhelming”

    Bungie is giving these buffs to machine guns and heavy grenade launchers:

  • Machine guns gain a ~10% PvP damage buff and PvE ammo buff. The latter means machine guns with low reserves get a large boost while machine guns with high reserves get a smaller boost.
  • Heavy grenade launchers also get a substantial 20% damage buff against champions, mini-bosses, bosses, and vehicles. Damage against normal enemies is even increased by 40%. Almost a bit of anarchy.
  • Additionally, Grenade Launchers are getting an increase in blast radius and improved projectile collision, making it slightly easier to land hits with them.
  • Only the exotic grenade launcher “Parasite” is not included because it can already dish out enough damage.

    • Our assessment: This machine gun damage buff is “general in PvE”. This means that one can probably also assume that exotic machine guns such as “Xenophage”, “Great Overture” or even the “Donnerlord” will benefit from this. The more profitable PvE ammo buff would certainly also be helpful.

    The exotic machine gun “Xenophage” is especially popular in Gambit.

    This changes in the Kinetic Weapons slot: From Season 20 it should also be more rewarding to use a kinetic weapon. Previously, kinetic slot weapons in PvE always did 5% more damage against unprotected targets. This meant that Stasis weapons were consistently better in the kinetic slot, with added functionality and no downside.

    In order for players to use a kinetic weapon again more often, Bungie will adjust the following:

  • Kinetic primary and special weapons receive a damage boost.
  • To make it easier to differentiate, Stasis weapons in the Kinetic slot no longer receive the same damage bonus as their true Kinetic counterparts.
  • In addition, Season 20 will introduce a new “kinetic damage type”.

    • Our assessment: The kinetics adjustment could have a particularly positive effect on an Exotic. Since Bungie increases the damage of kinetic weapons with special ammunition, this could indirectly make the “Izanagi’s Burden” exo a good option again in Season 20.
    Additionally, the change in damage could give Drought Collector a boost, even though it’s still doing decent damage since its nerf.

    Other exotics, on the other hand, will be actively adjusted in Season 20 to fit the new subclass system 3.0. The changes will bring them in line with the revised skills. That could make them more exciting again and give them additional functionality.

  • Starting in Season 20, the shots of the Queenbreaker exotic will chain to nearby enemies and apply the Arc 3.0 blinding effect.
  • Attacking with Transmutation Orbs from the Decayed Image Trace Rifle now suppresses enemies.
  • The Leviathan Breath Exo-Bow applies rogue missiles on a perfect move, dealing increased damage while also dealing additional damage to champions.
  • The Thousand Voices raid exo now applies a stack of scorch with each mini-explosion.
  • The exotic hand cannon “Sunshot” can also scorch from Season 20.
  • The Exo-Scout Polaris Lance applies scorch instead of the well-known unique burn effect.
    • The Double-Tailed Fox Exo-rocket launcher is getting a catalyst
  • The Exotic Rocket Launcher Double-Tailed Fox will soon be able to scorch with its solar rocket and suppress with its void rocket. Here Bungie also announced that there will probably be a catalyst for the weapon, which then “completes the trifecta”. So he may soon be able to trigger the Arkus 3.0 effect with it.
  • The catalyst of the Exotic Trace Rifle “Prometheus Lens” will be able to bestow the “Radiant” perk on its wearer from Season 20.
  • The Great Overture exo machine gun’s catalyst will also apply the Arkus 3.0 blinding effect in the future.

    • In addition, there are still a few tunings for perks. Here’s a look at the popular Origin Trait of Veist weapons, among other things:

  • The Veist Spike origin trait is so popular with Wardens that non-Veist weapons are finding it difficult to keep up. In the future, the perk will no longer fully reload your weapon, but only 25% of the magazine.
  • The Rewind Bullets perk will appear on more weapons in Lightfall. It will therefore be adjusted a bit so that it not only scores in the Vault of Glass but is more universal.
  • The Bold Blade perk is bugged. In the future, it should no longer deactivate when you move quickly and should also be deactivated correctly after a single melee hit.

    • When are these changes going live? The changes mentioned here will go live with the new Lightfall DLC on February 28, 2023.

    Do you think it’s good that the linear fusion rifles will finally be replaced after more than a year? Or will you miss landing pinpoint hits on bosses with it? Feel free to let us know in the comments which of these changes have the greatest potential for you.

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