Bungie has released its weapon tuning preview for Destiny 2 Season 23, and it’s looking like a lot of weapons will be getting minor buffs. The preview has also revealed more details on the upcoming Thorn Catalyst, which will be coming in Season 23.
As revealed in Bungie’s latest deep dive on weapons, the Thorn Catalyst that players will be able to unlock in Season 23 will add the following buffs that will help up the weapon’s strength in PvP:
- +20 range
- +10 stability
- Getting kills or picking up a Remnant grants additional range, handling, and mobility.
Thorn is also getting a base change designed to make the weapon more fun to use in PvE, where picking up a Remnant will be able to overflow the magazine up to a max of 40 rounds.
In terms of changes made to general weapon archetypes, Auto Rifles, Pulse Rifles, and Sniper Rifles are all getting minor buffs in PvE. However it’s Glaives that are in line for a larger overhaul this season, with a number of improvements aimed at both melee and ranged use.
Because the Impulse Amplifier perk was seen by players as vital to Glaive useage, Bungie has now added a similar buff as a base improvement, as well as bumping up damage in PvE to make up for ammo limitations. Projectile speed has been increased by 30%, while projectile damage in PvP has been decreased very slightly to make up for the improvement in speed.
To make melee use feel smoother, the delay between firing and melee has been decreased, while the Glaive’s shield has also been tweaked to be more effective and easier to use. Some of Destiny 2’s exotic Glaives have also received individual buffs to make them more fun to use, including the three class Glaives introduced in The Witch Queen, as well as Winterbite, which has become a little stronger and a little less dangerous to the user.
Vex Mythoclast will receive additional buffs for PvE play, while Revision Zero has had its damage against Champions bumped up. Salvation’s Grip has also been slightly tuned to avoid a bug that could potentially launch players into orbit after shattering too many Stasis crystals.
The only weapon in line for a nerf in this preview is Osteo Striga, which Bungie says “has been, quite frankly, far too powerful for the ease of use it provides when it comes to add clear in PvE.” The nerf is only a small one for now, removing the SMG damage bonus scalar that pushed Osteo Striga’s poison damage to extreme levels, but the weapon still should remain quite powerful even with this tweak.
Check out all the details of the Season 23 weapons preview here, including some of Bungie’s future plans for weapons in the mid-season patch and beyond.
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