Destiny 2‘s first saga is about to enter its endgame with the launch ofThe Final Shapeexpansion on June 4. In the build-up to the game’s next chapter, Bungie has been taking the time to showcase sneak peeks at certain content, like thenew Dread enemiesandunique Exotic armor. Now, the studio is diving into the nitty gritty, explaining how weapons and their Perks are due to change inThe Final Shape.
Typically, Bungie rebalances weapons and Perks twice an expansion, with one overhaul coming just before launch and another happening around the mid-way point. While these changes may see a powerful gun or Perk combination fall out of favor, the alterations are made in the spirit of keepingDestiny 2‘s meta fresh. Not only are most weapons seeing some kind of change withThe Final Shape, but Bungie’s also taking a swing at some over-relied-upon strategies.
Weapon changes
In aDev Insights post, Bungie detailed how weapons would be tuned inThe Final Shape. The studio kicked things off with changes to weapon mods, mentioning that Boss Spec, Taken Spec, Minor Spec, Major Spec, and Adept Big Ones Spec would be absent for the expansion. However, Bungie noted that all weapon base damage has increased to offset this. Conversely, the damage bonus for Exotic primary weapons and trace rifles has been decreased from 40% to 30%.
Additionally, Bungie will remove the damage bonus Kinetic weapons have against bosses, and burst weapons will shoot a number of shots reflective of their burst type. Here’s how weapon archetypes are specifically changing:
Exotic weapon changes
Alongside the more general weapon tuning, Bungie also targeted a few specific Exotic weapons. Before the studio got into specifics weapon by weapon, it did note that certain Exotic primary weapons proved too powerful with the above buffs, so Sunshot, Trinity Ghoul, Polaris Lance, and Graviton Lance will each see a 10% decrease in splash damage.
Additionally, Borealis, Hard Light, and Dead Messenger’s The Fundamentals Perk will see alterations persist through death. Here’s how other Exotic weapons are changing:
Perk changes
Much like weapons, Perks need a refresh from time to time, too. Here are the Perks changing in The Final Shape and how they’ll be different:
