Destiny 2 is making huge changes to guns ahead of Beyond Light
BungieWe’re just weeks away from the launch of Destiny 2’s Beyond Light expansion but before we get there, Bungie has revealed an assortment of key weapon changes on the horizon.
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While Guardians around the world eagerly await the next big adventure in Destiny, there’s plenty to get caught up on. From new storyline teasers to fresh information on the upcoming raid, you’ve got a lot to be aware of before we reached Beyond Light on November 10.
Alongside incoming content, Destiny’s core gameplay will also be changing a great deal with the next major expansion. Tons of weapons are being modified in the game’s sandbox, meaning that they’ll function differently, deal adjusted damage, and even come with unique effects.
From Hand Cannons to Sniper Rifles and plenty more, there’s a good chance your favorite weapons will feel different in Beyond Light. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming changes.
Hand Cannon changes in Destiny 2 Beyond Light
BungieFirst and foremost, the three distinct types of Hand Cannons will be evolving in the Beyond Light update. The Aggressive frame will come boasting an improved rate of fire. The Adaptive and Precision frame comes with slightly less damage falloff from afar and a 37 percent larger magazine size.
Lastly, the Lightweight frame – to be labeled as ‘Adaptive’ moving forward – will have a slight reduction to its rate of fire. This pertains to Luna’s Howl, Not Forgotten, though Sunshot is being excluded.
The latter of the bunch may seem severe, though Bungie assured the rate of fire changes are for good reason. “Lightweight Hand Cannons represent the majority of Hand Cannon usage in the Crucible,” they revealed. As a result, this led to a faster time to kill than any other frame. This should be balanced out in Beyond Light with a slower fire rate.
Sniper Rifle changes in Destiny 2 Beyond Light
BungieNext up is a more unique change to Sniper Rifles. Aim assist is what Bungie targeted for the next major patch. Moving forward, it’ll now be different depending on your scope. For Snipers with lower zoom scopes, you’ll have less aim assist. For those with higher zoom scope, you’ll have more aim assist.
“We want Sniper Rifles to feel powerful,” Bungie reassured. However, this comes with a tradeoff. The developers no longer want snipers to be “so easy to use that they dominate.”
Auto Rifle and Scout Rifle changes in Destiny 2 Beyond Light
BungieThe most notable Auto Rifle change coming with Beyond Light is merely an attempt to scale back. With Season of the Worthy, Adaptive frame rifles were buffed, but that’ll soon be adjusted once again. Overall damage will be reduced from 15.75 to 14.25 damage per bullet.
Regarding Scouts, the weapons themselves won’t be buffed per se. Though Bungie aims to make them “a little easier to use.” Similar to the Sniper changes, Scouts will benefit from improved aim assist moving forward.
BungieRocket Launcher fiends will also be happy to know that your reserve ammo will be increasing by one or two explosives depending on the particular weapon. Beyond that, Bungie provided a full list of specific perks that will be changing alongside the weapon frame adjustments.
A ton of Exotics and Legendary weapons are also being overhauled in unique ways with the next expansion. It’s clear Bungie is eager to hit the reset button and create an entirely new state of balance in Destiny 2.
You can read up on the full list of changes below.
All Destiny 2 gun changes coming in Beyond Light update
Hand Cannons
Aggressive
- Increased RoF from 110 to 120.
- Broke out Aggressive Hand Cannons, allowing custom tuning of stats (e.g. damage falloff for 100 range in this subfamily now starts at 32m).
Adaptive and Precision
- Range stat now has more impact on minimum damage falloff range for both archetypes.
- Damage falloff for 100 range now starts at 25m, was 20m.
- Precision Hand Cannon
- (180 RoF) magazine scaled up by 37 percent.
- Note: This also affects Exotics with that rate of fire.
Lightweight (folded in to Adaptive)
- Moved all Lightweight Hand Cannons (150 RoF) to the Adaptive subfamily (140 RoF).
- This includes Luna’s Howl and Not Forgotten.
- One Exotic Hand Cannon will retain 150 ROF.
- We aren’t going to leave it to speculation.
- It’s beautiful.
- It does solar damage.
- It makes enemies explode.
- It’s Sunshot.
Sniper Rifles
- Adjusted how aim assist (AA) is affected by Sniper Rifle zoom level. Lower zoom scopes have less AA, higher zoom scopes have more, scopes with around 50 zoom are unchanged.
- Lowest-zoom scopes have a large reduction in AA cone angle.
- Highest-zoom scopes have a small increase.
Auto Rifles
Adaptive
- Damage per bullet reduced from 15.75 to 14.25.
- Note: Prior to Season of the Worthy, damage per bullet was 13.75.
Scout Rifles
- Increased how much each point of the AA stat widens the AA cone.
- At maximum, the AA cone is now 15 percent wider.
Rocket Launchers
- Increased reserves by 1 or 2 rockets depending on Inventory stat.
General
Perks
- Outlaw
- The reload speed increase felt insufficient with certain subfamilies and combinations of rolls (e.g. Aggressive Hand Cannons).
- Increased reload stat bonus from +50 to +70.
- Merciless
- Increased inventory stat from 36 to 55 (this increases reserve ammo).
Mountaintop
- We’ve had a ton of feedback that Mountaintop feels a bit over the top in Crucible modes. This Pinnacle weapon has had ample time to shine, so we’re taking it down a notch.
- Specific pain points:
- A one-shot body shot with infinite range.
- Quick and easy cleanup of wounded Guardians, even around corners.
- Deals high splash damage, rewarding players for inaccuracy.
- Perfect in-air accuracy allows airborne Guardians to rain down death, and there’s not much grounded Guardians can do to respond.
- Here are the changes intended to address those points:
- Reduced splash damage by 33 percent, increased impact damage such that total damage is 5 percent lower than before.
- Reduced projectile velocity multiplier from the Micro-Missile perk from 1.4 to 1.2. (i.e., now 20 percent faster than other breech Grenade Launchers instead of 40 percent).
- Reduced in-air accuracy. Now has significant projectile error while in-air (around 7 degrees without the Icarus Grip mod, substantially less with).
Falling Guillotine
- Reduced heavy attack damage by ~24 percent to bring in line with other Swords.
- Note: Falling Guillotine will continue to be slightly above average, just not to the extent that it is now.
MIDA Multi-Tool and MIDA Mini-Tool
- MIDA Mini-Tool
- Moved the “Mida Synergy” trait to the intrinsic, similar to how the (Baroque) version works
- Added the following perks:
- Hip-Fire Grip
- Kill Clip
- NOTE: There is an issue with the masterwork on this weapon that prevents it from being upgraded. This will be fixed in a later update.
- NOTE: The Gunsmith will begin selling a version of this weapon on November 10 with no infusion cap.
Sturm and Drang
- Drang
- Moved the “Together Forever” trait to the intrinsic, similar to how the (Baroque) version works
- Added the following perks:
- Accurized Rounds
- Moving Target
- NOTE: There is an issue with the masterwork on this weapon that prevents it from being upgraded. This will be fixed in a later update.
- NOTE: The Gunsmith will begin selling a version of this weapon on November 10 with no infusion cap.
Ruinous Effigy
- Transmutation Spheres
- Reduced the damage of the aerial melee attack by 25%
- Significantly reduced the damage of the drain effect on enemy combatants
Arbalest
- No longer strikes shields multiple times, but its efficacy against shielded targets has been increased.
Jade Rabbit
- Armor Piercing Rounds swapped to High Caliber Rounds.
- This fixes an issue that could prevent the exotic perk from triggering.