In the latest “This Week at Bungie,” Bungie announced massive sandbox changes for Destiny 2 in update 6.2.0.1 when Season 18 launches later this month, Aug.23, shortly after the 2022 Destiny 2 Showcase premiere. Multiple archetypes of weapons and exotics are getting buffed and nerfed across the board in both PVE and PVP activities, including unique weapon perks. We’ve already covered all of the Weapon and Perks getting buffed, so today, we’ll be going over all of the Destiny 2 exotic Buffs and nerfs coming in Update 6.2.01.
Destiny 2 Exotic Weapon Buffs Update 6.2.01
Let’s first discuss which Exotic Weapons are getting upgraded.
Anti-Champion Functionality
- Le-Monarque will now have intrinsic overload to poison arrows.
- Thunderlord will now have intrinsic overload rounds.
- Malfeasance will have unstoppable explosions.
- Wish-Ender will receive intrinsic Anti-Barrier rounds.
Malfeasance
- On top of receiving unstoppable explosions, Malfeasance will receive an additional +25 stat boost to airborne effectiveness.
Wish-Ender
- In addition to getting Anti-Barrier rounds, Wish-Ender will have increased damage vs. Champions, majors, and minibosses by 10%.
- Draw time decreased from 828ms to 820ms.
Ticuu’s Divination
- As part of the Lightweight Bow archetype changes, Ticuu’s will now have a raw time decrease from 612 to 580.
Legend of Acrius–
- The first ever raid Exotic weapon in Destiny 2, Legend of Acrius, has had a hard life in the ever-changing sandbox.
- Catalyst now grants the Trench Barrel perk in addition to its other effects.
Sweet Business
- Increased airborne effectiveness from 27 to 32.
Fighting Lion
- Increased damage buff from 5% to 8%
- Increased the grace time for the instant reload effect of Thin the Herd from 5 to 6s.
Collective Obligation
- The latest Exotic raid weapon has seen less play time than Bungie originally wanted. With these changes, they are looking to amend that.
- Increased Void Leech timer to 15 seconds in PVE activities. PVP remains at 10 seconds.
- Removed cooldown for Void Leech
- Receiving a 20% damage bonus against PVE combatants only while Void Leech is active.
- Takes less hits to fully charge Void Leech.
- Kills against debuffed targets instantly charge Void Leech.
- Void Leech is also instantly charged when your character is affected by Void debuffs. Does not work if hitting yourself with your own Suppressor Grenade.
Destiny 2 Update Reworks/Nerfs
Now let’s discuss which Exotics are being brought down to size with the buffs out of the way.
Lord of Wolves
- Lord of Wolves has been laying waste to the crucible for multiple seasons. Judgment day has finally arrived for it.
- Decreased starting ammo in PVP from 15 to 10 (PVE is unchanged).
- Reduced the burst size (shots fired per trigger pull) from 10 to 5 shots when Release the Wolves is active.
- Reduced the burst delay (the time between bursts) by 60% when Release the Wolves is active.
- Decreased Lord of Wolves base damage by ~20% (now deals 35 per shot to the body in PVP, 44 with Release the Wolves active).
- Despite receiving all of these Nerfs in PVP, it will receive a 20% damage buff against PVE enemies as compensation.
- Bungie states, “This is part one of a larger rework aimed at making it a more viable PVE Exotic without increasing its effectiveness in PVP.”
Dead Man’s Tale
- Dead Man’s Tale had gotten a substantial Nerf in a previous season, but since it has felt un-predictable to both use and fight against. Bungie is looking to change that.
- Changed Cranial Spike’s effects:
- Cranial Spike no longer buffs damage vs. players; instead, it grants increased reload, aims assist, and range per stack.
- Upon reaching max stacks of Cranial Spike, the catalyst will now increase hip-fire RPM by 50 (i.e., it will fire at 180 RPM) but will deal reduced damage per bullet (20% decrease).
- Technically this is both a Nerf and Buff for the weapon, as it will no longer deal increased damage against players but will have increased effectiveness in all other stats. But how potent it will become after these changes remains to be seen.
Omnioculus
- Currently, the only Exotic armor piece to receive a nerf, only one change is being made. However, this will also affect the Stasis Fragment, Whisper of Chains.
- Reduced Damage Resistance in PVP
Tier 1: 10% to 2.5%
Tier 2: 15% to 5%
Tier 3: 20% to 7.5%
Tier 4: 25% to 10%
Future Updates
Bungie has also listed topics they’re looking to address in future updates, such as the mid-season update or even as far off as Season 19.
- Reducing Shotgun spread randomness.
- Reducing Bow-swapping effectiveness.
- Increasing Trace Rifle ease of use.
- Introducing the full-auto setting.
- Reducing the ability of Snipers to shoot through flinch in PVP.
- Examining some small, targeted balance changes to certain PVP outliers.
- Pulse Rifles with out-of-band effectiveness.
- High Impact Scout Rifle ease of use.
- Precision Fusion Rifle ease of use.
- Allowing Glaive interactions with some Exotic armors that buff melees.
- Fixing Glaive hit detection.
- Reworking some enhanced perks.
- Folding Spec mods into the base perks.
And that’s it (finally)! Out of all the changes listed above, the most note-worthy ones would have to be the Nerf towards Lord of Wolves, the buff for Collective Obligation, and the addition of Anti-Champion Functionality for the Exotics mentioned earlier.
There’s only one more TWAB until the launch of Season 18, and Bungie has hinted we might finally see the reveal of the Arc 3.0 details in the next one. Until then, that’s everything you need to know about all of the Destiny 2 exotic Buffs and nerfs coming in Update 6.2.01. For more related info and other Destiny 2 news, including frequent updates of what’s coming in the universe, check our related articles below.
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