‘Destiny’ 2.0 Update Hits Weapons And Perks With Huge List Of Changes

The Destiny 2.0 update was released Tuesday to PlayStation and Xbox consoles by Bungie. As expected, it came with a tremendous number of changes to every weapon type and even individual weapons such as the Gjallarhorn and Thorn. How big were the buffs and nerfs? Let’s dive in and see the numbers.

Bungie patch notes for Destiny 2.0 are too massive to cover in a single article. For details on the other changes, please see the Character and Class changes or click through to Bungie’s website for the entire patch notes.

Read all about Update 2.0.0 in the Patch Notes. Welcome to Destiny Year Two, Guardians. https://t.co/0chhS5AIUg pic.twitter.com/oHzB54SIgb

— Bungie (@Bungie) September 8, 2015

One of the top questions on the minds of Destiny players is the how big of a nerd did weapons like Gjallarhorn, Thorn, and The Last Word receive. Interestingly, the change to the Gjallarhorn only affects the Wolfpack Rounds, which have had their damage output dropped by one-third. That may be made up for slightly by the slightly increased blast radius from rocket launchers. However, the greatest nerf to the weapon may be the new Light level system that puts the Gjallarhorn’s attack rating at only 170, with no chance to move up to Year Two levels that go over 300.

Meanwhile, the Thorn and The Last Word receive a double dose of nerfs. For starters, the hand cannon weapon class has had its overall accuracy, range, and magazine size all reduced. On top of that, the Thorn’s Damage Over Time (DoT) perk has its damage reduced by one-third per shot, while The Last Word has further reductions to its range and stability.

Auto Rifles do look like they will be viable to use once again in both PvE and PvP. Base damage has been increased overall, while damage against AI opponents is increased by 30 percent. Stability and damage fall off have been reduced some to emphasize the class’ role as a short to mid-range weapon, but it’s a much needed improvement after being severely nerfed earlier this year.

One of the more surprising changes is the damage Shotguns do to AI opponents in PvE. Bungie has reduced this by 45 percent. I can only suspect that this is a correction to the 100 percent buff against AI enemies the weapon class received earlier this year. It was, perhaps, too powerful.

The Year One perks have been nerfed significantly as part of Bungie’s effort to normalize weapons for Destiny Year Two and give weapon classes distinct roles. Nearly every bonus perk has been reduced in some way. The developer set out to completely reset the existing PvP metagame, and the perk changes alone will do that.

You can check out the complete list of weapon changes in the Destiny 2.0 update below. Which ones do you like or dislike? Sound off in the comments.

Weapons

Auto Rifles

• Base Damage increased across all archetypes
• Damage Falloff now starts closer to the player to emphasize its role as a close range weapon
• Base Stability reduced slightly. Landing consistent precision shots require more weapon control
• Damage done against AI combatants increased by 30%

Pulse Rifles

• All Stable (low recoil) Pulse Rifles (i.e., Hopscotch Pilgrim) now use “Medium” Rate-of-Fire base stats
• “Medium” Pulse Rifle’s Rate-of-Fire has slightly increased, but with base Damage reduced slightly (2.5%)
• PVP: Bursts-to-kill (all precision hits) is 2 or 3, depending on victim’s Armor stat
• Magazine Size increased on all base stats
• Base Stability reduced slightly. Landing consistent precision shots require more weapon control
• Damage done against AI combatants increased by 25%

Scout Rifles

• Base Damage increased slightly for “Medium” to “High” Rate-of-Fire Scout Rifles. Small adjustment, does not change shots-per-kill in PVP against another Guardian with full health
• Magazine Size increased on all base stats
• Accuracy when firing from hip is reduced
• Damage done against AI combatants increased by 5%

Hand Cannons

• Damage Falloff distance has been reduced to be closer to the player to limit long range lethality
• Accuracy while in Aim-Down-Sights reduced slightly, making long range snap-shooting less reliable
• Accuracy when firing from hip is reduced
• Magazine Size reduced on all base stat settings
• Base Optics (zoom) reduced so Aiming Down Sights grants more width (in favor for depth)

Shotguns

• Shotgun precision damage scalar grants 10% bonus damage (Was 25%)
• Shot Package perk reduces the cone spread by 20% (was 50%)
• Rangefinder perk adds a 10% base Range increase on zoom (was 20)
• Damage done against AI combatants reduced by 45% ( 2.25-> 1.15)

Sniper Rifles

• Final Round perk now buffs precision damage, not base damage. This change only affects this perk when combined with Sniper Rifles

Fusion Rifles

• Fusion Rifles now no longer get more accurate with each projectile fired
• Fusion Rifles that are slow charging, high impact now have a slightly lower base Range value, making it harder to max out
  • range for these weapons
• Accuracy increased for low range Fusion Rifles; Accuracy reduced for high range Fusion Rifles
• Max Fusion Rifle projectile speed decreased slightly
• Damage done against AI combatants increased by 15%

Sidearms

• Base Reload Speed increased
• Ammo Stats for Sidearms have been reduced to match other Secondaries, but still retain starting bonus ammo

Rocket Launchers

• Blast Radius distance slightly increased
• Grenades and Horseshoes perk proximity detonation distance reduced to 1.3 meter (was 2 meters)

Machine Guns

• Fixed an issue with all Dead Orbit Machine Guns where attached plasteel plate failed to animate properly on reloads
• Damage done against AI combatants increased by 5%

Weapon Perks

General

• Reduced Damage bonuses and penalties granted from weapon barrel upgrades
• Overpenetration perk now only works on bipeds (no longer works on environment materials)
• Mulligan perk chance increased to 20%

Year One Perks

• Accelerated Coils: Reduced charge time by 50 percent
• Accurized Ballistics: Reduced range and damage bonus by 50 percent
• Aggressive Ballistics: Reduced damage bonus by 50 percent. Increased stability and range penalties by 100 percent
• Aggressive Launch: Reduced damage bonus by 50 percent. Increased stability and projectile speed penalty by 100 percent
• Confined Launch: Increased projectile speed penalty by 25 percent. Reduced stability bonus by 33 percent
• CQB Ballistics: Reduced range bonus by 25 percent. Reduced stability bonus by 33 percent
• Enhanced Battery: Reduced magazine bonus by 60 percent
• Extended Mag: Reduced magazine bonus by 33 percent
• Field Choke: Reduced damage bonus by 50 percent. Reduced range bonus by 60 percent. Reduced stability penalty by 20 percent
• Field Scout: No longer affects magazine. Reduced inventory bonus by 37 percent
• Fitted Stock: Reduced stability bonus by 60 percent
• Flared Magwell: Reduced reload bonus by 80 percent
• Hammer Forged: Reduced range bonus by 50 percent
• Hand Loaded: Reduced range bonus by 50 percent
• Hard Launch: Reduced projectile speed bonus by 50 percent
• Heavy Payload: Reduced blast radius bonus by 50 percent
• Javelin: Reduced projectile speed bonus by 50 percent
• Linear Compensator: Reduced damage bonus by 50 percent
• Luck in the Chamber: Reduced damage bonus by 3 percent
• Perfect Balance: Reduced stability bonus by 40 percent
• Send It: Reduced by range bonus 40 percent. Inventory and equip penalties added
• Smart Drift Control: Reduced stability bonus by 40 percent. Reduced range penalty by 33 percent
• Smart Drift Control (Rocket Launcher): Reduced stability bonus by 40 percent. Reduced projectile speed penalty by 33 percent
• Smallbore: Reduced stability and range bonuses by 25 percent
• Smooth Ballistics: Stability bonus made into penalty. Range penalty is now a bonus.
• Soft Ballistics : Reduced damage penalty by 50 percent
• Soft Launch: Stability bonus made into penalty. Projectile speed penalty is now a bonus.
• Speed Reload: Reduced reload bonus by 80 percent
• Warhead Verniers: Reduced blast radius bonus by 37 percent. Reduced projectile speed bonus by 60 percent. Reduced stability penalty by 20 percent

Exotic/Legendary Weapons

Hard Light

• Base Stability increased to 80
• Hard Light projectiles now have increased bounce count
• Hard Light projectiles are now not affected by Damage Falloff
• Hard Light projectile FX updated so it is easier to track the projectile ricochets

Suros Regime

• Stability reduced
• Added a Range boost to the Focus Fire node on the Talent Grid

Necrochasm

• Base Stability increased to 60
• Magazine Size increased
• Cursebringer perk will now always trigger on a precision kill
• Cursebringer perk explosion radius increased and deals more damage
• Rangefinder perk has been replaced by Zen Moment

The Last Word

• Range reduced by 10
• Base Stability reduced by 10
• Accuracy while in hip fire is increased
• Precision Damage aim assist while in hip fire is increased
• Fixed an issue where damage bonuses while in hip fire was not applying correctly

Thorn

• Base Damage of Thorn DoT reduced by 1/3 for both PVE and PVP
• Thorn DOT now stacks up to 5x over multiple shots
  • This is a net buff, but it is now spread over multiple shots to eliminates the PVP “2-shot walk away.”
• Thorn DoT damage now correctly reports as poison

Hawkmoon

• Luck in the Chamber and Holding Aces perks now have a stacking limit of 2. Only 2 of the bonus damage perks will ever stack, which should eliminate the Hawkmoon 1-hit PVP kill to an undamaged opponent
• Holding Aces perk now increases magazine by 2 rounds

Icebreaker

• Ammo Recharge time increased to 7 seconds between rounds (was 5 seconds)

Gjallarhorn

• Reduce damage of Wolfpack Rounds by roughly 1/3

Black Hammer

• White Nail perk now fills the magazine from your ammo reserves

No Land Beyond

• Fixed an issue where there were overlap/parallax issues in Sights during aim-down-sights view
• Base Handling increased
• The Master perk has an increased base precision damage bonus scalar (2.6x -> 3x)

Lord of Wolves

• Rally perk now grants +5 Recovery to allies in close proximity

Thunderlord

• Arc detonation chance for Lightning Rounds kill increased to 50%
• Magazine size increased to offset ammo stat changes

Vex Mythoclast

• Projectile Speed increased to compensate for global Fusion Rifle changes
• Stability increased to compensate for global Fusion Rifle changes

Universal Remote

• Base Range increased by +20

Monte Carlo

• Stability increased to compensate for global Auto Rifle Changes
• Fixed an issue where the Method perk did not only trigger when killing players or combatants. Can no longer trigger when “killing” destroyable objects

Bad Juju

• Stability increased to compensate for global Pulse Rifle changes

Red Death

• Stability increased to compensate for global Pulse Rifle changes
• Fixed an issue where Rate of Fire and Impact stats were displayed incorrectly. Stat values were not changed, UI display only

Plan C

• Range increased to compensate for global Fusion Rifle changes
• Stability increased to compensate for global Fusion Rifle changes

[Images via Bungie]