Destiny 2 finally nerfing Hand Cannons, Quickdraw in Season 14 update
With the next season of Destiny 2 right around the corner, Bungie has locked in a few sandbox changes including Hand Cannon nerfs and a few Exotic tweaks.
While the last few updates has primarily focused on Stasis abilities, Bungie’s next big patch has something else in focus. Various weapons and weapon archetypes are being adjusted in the upcoming season, with select Hand Cannon nerfs already locked in,
An in-depth blog post will soon cover perk and weapon changes more intricately, the devs confirmed. For now, however, we do have some early information to go off.
Destiny 2 Weapons Feature Lead Chris Proctor outlined a number of balance changes in the pipeline through an April 8blog post. Here’s everything we know about the next big update.
Weapon Archetypes changing in future Destiny 2 patch
For starters, a few different archetypes are being scaled back in the next season. This will impact every weapon that falls under the archetypes in focus.
Aggressive (120 rpm) Hand Cannons are first up on the list of incoming changes. After dominating in PVP for a number of weeks, Bungie is looking to “rein them in a bit.”
All weapons under that category will see reduced damage while aim assist falloff will trigger at a shorter distance. This means you’ll be less impactful from afar, “roughly halving” buffs from the Beyond Light release.
Next up, Vortex Frame Swords have one key change on the way. While damage output is still considerably high, its ammo cost has been targeted instead. A full energy Heavy attack will not cost six ammo instead of four.
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Chip damage weapons are the final archetype being changed in the next season. Swords and Bastion will see this feature outright removed in the upcoming patch.
Perk nerfs in next Destiny 2 season
Alongside the three archetype changes, three perks are being adjusted as well. Quickdraw, Frenzy, and Reservoir Burst are all being changed in unique ways.
For Quickdraw, Bungie no longer wants to encourage quick-swapping between low-handling weapons. From a Hand Cannon to a powerful Shotgun, this perk provided a major handling buff upon swapping. Moving forward, this handling buff will be wiped just one second after changing your gun.
Meanwhile, the Frenzy perk is having its damage bonus scaled back by five percent. Reservoir Burst also has an eight percent damage reduction but now comes with an increase to magazine size to balance things out.
Exotic changes on the horizon
Last but not least, two exotics are in focus for the next big Destiny 2 update. The Lament has reigned supreme as the strongest Sword for quite some time. In order to keep things fresh, Bungie is scaling it back somewhat in the next season.
The only considerable buff in the patch notes is for Bastion. Given the removal of chip damage, this weapon will now intrinsically stagger Unstoppable Champions and comes with an increased spread to boot.
An exact date isn’t quite locked in for these changes just yet. However, with plenty more patch notes teased for future blog posts, we’ve still got plenty to look forward to.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated as new information comes to light. In the meantime, you can stay ahead of the curve with the current changes listed out below.
