Ever since Destiny 2 launched in 2017, a multitude of Exotic weapons and armor have been added to the arsenals of its players. Over the years, many of the Exotic weapons have fallen out of the meta or have been surpassed thanks to the encroaching issue of power creep.
Bungie wants to fix that, as shown in a lengthy preview released today that covers weapon tuning and balance changes heading into the Lightfall expansion coming out later this month. As part of this tuning, nine different Exotic weapons will be updated to use subclass 3.0 keywords, which results in some significant buffs to each of them.
“Just like many players, we’ve wanted Exotic weapons that have a strong theming around their damage type to use the real subclass 3.0 verbs,” said Chris Proctor, Destiny 2’s senior design lead, as he broke down what to expect from Exotics in Lightfall. “Lightfall’s longer development and playtest cycle gave us the opportunity to add subclass verbs to many of the top picks.”
These top picks include Exotic weapons that have long sat stowed away in player vaults, collecting dust due to a lack of power and potency in the current sandbox such as the Queenbreaker linear fusion rifle or the Leviathan’s Breath Heavy slot bow.
“Our goal with adding subclass 3.0 verbs is to this grant these weapons additional functionality, and let them tie into subclass builds in a more meaningful way,” Proctor continued before cheekily adding: “In most cases, this is also (or is paired with) a hefty buff.”
First on the agenda is Queenbreaker, which has previously had a blinding effect that Proctor admits is “underwhelming” for a Heavy weapon. With Queenbreaker and Sleeper Simulant avoiding the damage nerf hitting linear fusion rifles in Lightfall, it already has a chance to stand out from the crowd. But Bungie wants to give it a few additional tools for some greater impact.
- Queenbreaker shots now chain to nearby enemies and use the Arc 3.0 Blind verb.
Next is Ruinous Effigy, an Exotic trace rifle first added to Destiny 2 in Season of Arrivals. The changes to this weapon are less grand in their intentions and more about playing further into the fantasy provided by the void transmutation sphere that the weapon generates on kills.
- Performing the slam attack with the transmutation sphere now debuffs enemies with the Void 3.0 Suppress verb.
Leviathan’s Breath is an Exotic bow that has always struggled to find its place against the rest of the options in the Heavy slot, so Bungie is applying both subclass 3.0 verbs and some flat buffs to it to give it more value as a pick in the right environment.
- The impact of an arrow fired from a perfect draw will now apply Volatile to enemies.
- The damage has been increased from 396 to 442, allowing it to one-hit kill all supers in PvP with a headshot.
- Damage against Champions has been increased by 30 percent.
One Thousand Voices, the raid Exotic from Last Wish, recently celebrated a period at the top of the meta in season 14—as noted by Proctor—but is otherwise “eclipsed” by other options. With the gun already creating Solar explosions of a kind when it fires, Bungie plans to lean into that by providing it with some appropriate Solar 3.0 verbs.
- Each explosion now applies Scorch stacks to targets.
- When Ember of Ashes is also equipped, a full burst on a single target will cause it to Ignite.
Two-Tailed Fox is a rocket launcher that has always struggled to compete, especially now with the likes of Gjallarhorn as an alternative option. Bungie hopes that by making it the only weapon that can apply multiple subclass 3.0 verbs of different damage types without extra steps, Two-Tailed Fox can find its spot in inventories again regularly.
- The Solar rocket now applies Scorch stacks, while the Void rocket can Suppress enemies and a new Catalyst for the weapon is teased to “complete the trifecta,” hinting at an additional Arc rocket.
Sunshot, in a similar fashion to One Thousand Voices, already created Solar explosions of a kind with its intrinsic Exotic effects. By making the explosions it creates function with Solar 3.0 appropriately, they can synergize with the subclass for players that want to invest hard into their Aspects and Fragments.
- The explosion after a kill now applies Scorch stacks to targets.
Prometheus Lens technically already got some buffs related to Solar 3.0, but Bungie felt that the Exotic trace rifle could do with a little extra love on its Catalyst to make it a really impressive tool in PvE encounters with large groups of enemies.
- The Prometheus Lens Catalyst now also gives the weapon the Incandescent perk.
Polaris Lance and Grand Overture are both getting updates to their respective effects to tie them into the subclass 3.0 verbs, allowing both Exotics to synergize appropriately with their associated subclasses.
- Polaris Lance’s Perfect Fifth shot now applies Scorch stacks to targets.
- Grand Overture’s Catalyst effect is being switched to use Arc 3.0’s Blind verb.
All of these changes will go live when Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion launches later this month on Feb. 28. Proctor also teased that even more tuning passes await the Exotic weapon category in the future, including hip-fire reticles, charge meters, and Exotic perk counters.
