Here are the Destiny 2 season 20 midseason patch notes (Update 7.0.5)

Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion fell short of players’ expectations, but Bungie is addressing some of the most prevalent pain points in the highly anticipated midseason patch, officially called Update 7.0.5.

The highlight of Update 7.0.5 is a comprehensive buff to some weapon types, which helps boost their firepower against sturdier enemies. The shortcomings of these weapon types became clearer with Bungie’s push for more difficult content starting with Lightfall, which turned Neomuna enemies and enemies in Legend+ content into bullet sponges.

Related: Bungie reassess Destiny 2’s primary weapon damage after player backlash

While submachine guns in general were already the monarchs of add clear before Lightfall, the increase in difficulty only made the discrepancy between them and other archetypes feel even more palpable. With Update 7.0.5, Bungie is closing the gap between the meta weapon classes and other underpowered substitutes. These include pulse rifles, hand cannons, sidearms, and auto rifles.

A few Exotic weapons will also go under the knife in the season 20 midseason patch, with changes to “more than a dozen” Exotics slated for Season of the Deep (season 21), according to an official blog post. Here’s what you can expect from the season 20 midseason patch.

The midseason patch also brought in a myriad of changes and bug fixes to different activities. Here’s what’s new, according to the patch notes.

Patch notes for Destiny 2‘s season 20 midseason patch (Update 7.0.5)

In addition to a comprehensive set of weapon balance changes, Update 7.0.5 also added several new additions to the Crucible (including a six-vs-six node with connection-based matchmaking)

Primary weapon balance per weapon class: PvE Primary weapon buffs

These Primary weapon types had their base damage increased against red- and orange-bar enemies in PvE:

• Auto rifles: 25 percent more damage against red- and orange-bar enemies.
  • “Auto Rifles face steep competition from Submachine Guns (SMGs) within parts of their range, and having a longer possible engagement distance wasn’t doing enough to offset it,” Bungie wrote. “We don’t want Auto Rifles to defeat combatants faster than SMGs, as that would flip the script and invalidate the lower range options instead, but we did feel like we could close the gap substantially.”

• Pulse rifles, hand cannons, sidearms: 20 percent more damage against red- and orange-bar enemies.
  • “Pulse Rifles and Hand Cannons have been considered weaker in harder PvE content for some time, so we wanted to make sure the buff we gave them was substantial, while at the same time keeping them below the lower ranged options in terms of pure lethality,” Bungie said. Sidearms also entered the comparison since they have a similar hurdle to overcome against SMGs with a higher range.
  • “At these values, Pulse Rifles should be in a more reasonable spot, Hand Cannons should feel like they pack more of a punch, and Sidearms should fall much better into the ‘high risk, high reward’ category,” according to the patch notes.

• Scout rifles: 10 percent more damage against red- and orange-bar enemies.
  • The buff to scout rifles isn’t necessarily because there is anything wrong with scout rifles themselves, but after the changes to pulse rifles, scouts would trail behind if left untouched, according to Bungie. “We need to be careful tuning Scout Rifles up too much, because they offer the benefits of very safe engagement ranges paired with unlimited ammo, so making them too strong instantly turns most endgame PvE content into ‘sit as far away as possible and plink,’ which we want to avoid.”

Weapon archetype changes

• IKELOS SMG nerf: The IKELOS SMG had a custom tuning in its scope, which “was like having an effect nearly equivalent to Zen Moment at max strength, and always active,” according to Bungie. This effect has been removed. Aggressive Frame SMGs will also see further changes in season 21 and possibly beyond.

• Rapid-Fire sniper rifle (140rpm) buffs: Reduced recoil by 50 percent, increased inventory size by 30 percent.
  • “Rapid-Fire Frame Sniper Rifles have long struggled to find a place in both the PvP and PvE meta. In PvP, their inability to kill with two body shots puts them on uneven footing with other Snipers, and in PvE their fast RPM but standard inventory sizes mean you constantly feel low on ammo.”
  • The changes should make it easier to land critical hits on Champions in PvE, as well as to follow up with further shots in PvP.
  • Sniper rifles will also receive a 10-percent buff to damage in season 21, according to an official blog post.
• Rapid-Fire fusion rifles buff (PvP only): Increased burst damage by 15 (damage per burst goes from 245 to 260, damage per bolt goes from 27.2 to 28.9). PvE damage is unchanged.
• Trace rifles: increased base damage by four percent (12.5, up from 12), reduced precision hit multiplier from 1.4x to 1.35x, and increased the effectiveness of stability at reducing flinch by 10 percent at 100 stat.

Exotic weapon balance buffs, nerfs, and changes

• Revision Zero: Increased PvE damage for Hunter’s Trace rounds by 25 percent, PvE damage of Häkke Heavy Burst rounds by 75 percent, and Fourth Time’s the Charm will now be reset when entering Hunter’s Trace to prevent being forcibly returned to Pulse Rifle mode when it activates,.
  • “This will now make it more of a tradeoff when choosing between the origin perks, either dealing more damage in the primary mode but charging Hunter’s Trace more slowly or dealing less damage but charging the bonus shots more quickly,” Bungie said.

• Tarrabah: Reduced the amount of Ravenous Beast energy generated when taking damage from three percent to one percent and reduced zoom from 16 to 15.
  • Tarrabah is getting some mighty nerfs to offset its potential for dominating the Crucible. “This weapon is something we have been keeping an eye on for a while, and with the spotlight being shown on Aggressive Frame SMGs, it felt like Tarrabah has had its time in the sun,” Bungie wrote. The increase in survivability since the weapon’s release has made it easier to activate the hard-hitting Ravenous Beast perk in PvP, so Bungie is toning it down to bring the weapon more in line with what it was meant to be upon release.
• Final Warning: Can no longer mark targets through Titan Barricades.

Activity changes and bug fixes

Here are the changes and bug fixes to activities, abilities, weapons, and armor, as seen in the patch notes.

Crucible

• Added a new six-vs-six connection-based matchmaking (CBMM) Weekly Rotator, which includes Clash, Zone Control, and Rift.
• The existing six-vs-six Party Rotator is now Mayhem, Momentum Control, and Scorched.
• Updated tutorial Crucible quest to reflect changes to available playlists.
• Added a metric showing off your Competitive Division rank.
• Ascendant Competitive Division players can now purchase an emblem from Shaxx.
• Fixed errant Glorious and Dredgen awarding/gilding. All players must reclaim/regild their titles if they have completed the requisite Triumphs.
• Increased the strength of the respawn overshield in Crucible.
• In Rift, activating Grapple no longer drops the Spark.
• In Rift, players can no longer dunk the Spark while moving faster than 15 meters per second or while using a Grapple ability.

Vanguard Ops, Seasonal Battlegrounds, and seasonal Exotic mission

• Legend difficulty Defiant Battlegrounds now rotate their weapon overcharge weekly.
• Defeating Tormentors now provides revive tokens like Champions and Hive Guardians in some activities.
• Fixed Hive door locks in Heist Battlegrounds to behave the same in all versions of the activity.
• Tuned difficulty in Heist Battlegrounds present in Vanguard and Nightfall playlists.
  • The difficulty in Heist Battlegrounds: Mars (the first Heist Battleground to make it into the Nightfall rotation) has been a common complaint from players since it evolved from a seasonal activity in season 19 to a Nightfall in season 20 onward.
• Fixed an issue where a crash could rarely occur shortly after picking up the first Solar Cell in The Arms Dealer.
• Fixed an issue where The Arms Dealer enemies, which continually respawn to drop required Solar Cells, could be farmed limitlessly for points.
• Fixed an issue where the Consecrated Essence could appear duplicated in Defiant Battlegrounds.
• Exotic Mission
• Fixed an issue where players could sometimes get pushed through walls by Vex traps and then get stuck there.

Raids and Dungeons

• Added the capability to upgrade Root of Nightmares Adept weapons with enhanced traits. If you have unlocked Deepsight on weapons, an enhancement socket will be available to perform this upgrade in the weapon details screen.
• Fixed tooltips for Master dungeons to properly list Artifice Armor as rewards.
• Fixed an issue in the Duality dungeon where Nightmare of Gahlran could not teleport back to the encounter space after falling out of the environment.
• Fixed an issue where checkpoints were shared between Legend and Master mode for raids and dungeons.
• Fixed an issue in Root of Nightmares where the Scission encounter would sometimes soft lock preventing progress.
• Fixed an issue in Root of Nightmares where sometimes the intended screen VFX did not play when players failed the encounter.
• Fixed an issue in Root of Nightmares where Nezarec will sometimes not cast a wipe when intended.

Bug fixes for weapons and armor

• Fixed an issue where the Peacekeepers’ reload perk wouldn´t activate after you stowed an energy slot SMG.
• Fixed an issue where Phoenix Cradle was not consistently extending the duration of the Sol Invictus buff while Burning Maul was equipped.
• Fixed an issue where certain Gambit weapons were not contributing to the Dark Age Arsenal Triumph.

Ability changes and bug fixes

• Rally Barricade
  • The area of effect now extends slightly further behind and above the Rally Barricade to make staying in the buff area more achievable, especially on uneven terrain.
• Fixed an issue where Stasis Shards created by the Glacial Harvest aspect would not grant melee ability energy to Penumbral Blast if the player had a Sword or Glaive readied.
• Fixed an issue where Jolt chain lightning was unable to target some types of PvE combatants.
• Fixed an issue where trying to throw rapidly while carrying a Tangle could result in an uncharged melee attack.

General additions and bug fixes

• Added the Best Dressed Commendation.
  • Fashion-related Commendations have been a request from fans since Lightfall launched, and Bungie is finally adding a new Commendation to reflect it. This Commendation is available only in “low-trust” activities, which are “matchmade activities that don’t rely on significant communication or teamplay.” This excludes, for instance, raids and Trials of Osiris.
• Fixed an issue where players couldn’t interact with the Evidence Board after the Exotic Glaive pursuit is completed.
• Fixed an issue where the objective to complete a dungeon solo Solo Spelunker does not count completions from before the player is Guardian Rank 10.
• Fixed an issue where the objective to complete the raid on Master difficulty does not count completions from before the player is Guardian Rank 10.
• Players who have crafted their first Exotic glaive from The Witch Queen can now claim the Patterns for their other characters from the Evidence Board.
  • This will trim down a good chunk of time for players who want to collect all three glaives since the drop chance on the two glaives after finishing the related quest is random and related to the Wellspring activity.
• Veteran players now receive the correct amount of lore books when they reach Guardian Rank seven for the first time.
• Fixed an issue where players are blocked from progressing past Guardian Rank three if they previously bought all available subclass Aspects.