Bungie recently released a Developer Insights article discussing the Destiny 2 Exotic Weapon Balancing for Season 22. With some buffs, nerfs, and some adjustments, this is sure to shake things up.
Exotic Weapon Balancing in Season 22
Below is a list of all the changes announced to Exotic weapons in Destiny 2, on the launch of Season 22:
- Monte Carlo
- Quicksilver Storm
- Dead Man’s Tale
- Two-Tailed Fox
- Verglas Curve
- Le Monarque
- Vex Mythoclast
- Tommy’s Matchbook
- Touch of Malice
- Malfeasance
- Cloudstrike
- Wicked Implement
Exotic Weapon changes are often massive shakeups in the meta equipment that are desired for all levels of gameplay. Some changes are outright nerfs to overly potent armor or specific builds while some are massive buffs to increase the usage in an otherwise lack luster exotic. Regardless, its sure to bring more builds to light and decrease usage of certain overpowered builds.
Monte Carlo Balancing
After years of being in the game, Monte Carlo is finally getting a catalyst.
- Monte Carlo’s Catalyst will now allow you to use the bayonet on the front of the weapon to deal massive damage to enemies.
Quicksilver Storm Balancing
Slight tweak to Quicksilver Storm because of reload animation issues.
- Fixed an issue where ammo was loading into Quicksilver Storm slightly too late in the reload animation.
Dead Man’s Tale Balancing
Strictly a visual change to the stats of Dead Man’s Tale.
- Fixed the displayed impact stat. This is cosmetic only. Damage per bullet is unchanged.
Two-Tailed Fox Balancing
Adjusting the burst fire of the rockets of Two-Tailed Fox.
- Two-Tailed Fox now fires a three-shot burst with the catalyst, instead of firing three rockets in a two-shot burst.
Verglas Curve Balancing
An already fantastic bow, Verglas Curve, gets some fixes and buffs to its freeze potential against players.
- Whisper of Fissures detonations now generate Hail Barrage stacks if the Stasis crystal was created by this weapon.
- Shiver Quiver now activates when slowing enemies.
- We increased the slow stacks from 40 to 60 when hitting players directly with Hail Barrage arrows. This allows for a freeze if two Hail Barrage arrows hit the same player.
Le Monarque Balancing
Poison tick damage and timer adjustments, as well as overall damage changes to the infamous, Le Monarque.
- Reduced draw time from 684ms to 612ms.
- Reduced body shot damage from 100 to 85.
- Increased critical hit multiplier from 1.5x to 1.6x (crit damage against players goes from 150 to 136).
- Changed the poison DoT effect.
- Reduced poison DoT duration from 3 seconds to 1.75 seconds.
- Moved from 8 damage ticks to 6, but poison deals the same total damage to players.
- Poison damage increased in PvE by 50%.
Vex Mythoclast Balancing
Small reduction in RPM but small buff in damage versus minor combatants for this vex fusion rifle, Vex Mythoclast.
- RPM reduced from 390 to 360 to match other high-impact Auto Rifles.
- Increased damage against minor combatants (red bars) and major combatants (orange bars) by 25%.
Tommy’s Matchbook Balancing
Adjusted scorch values to Tommy’s Matchbook.
- Updated Scorch value
- It was previously 14 + 7 (with the Ember of Ashes fragment equipped). Now it’s 15 + 5.
Touch of Malice Balancing
Massive overhaul to the exotic perk of Touch of Malice which will now deal more damage, inflict less self-damage, and all around easier to use in all levels of content.
- Increased final round damage in PvE by 20%.
- Decreased the self-damage from the final round from 10 to 7.
- Final round damage can no longer kill the user.
- Increased the health awarded by the Touch of Mercy perk from 30 to 75.
- Set up Touch of Mercy to work like Unrelenting. (Guardians and major combatants give more points towards activation, and we increased the time allowed between kills.)
- Ball of Darkness now appropriately deals Arc damage and will blind combatants and stun Unstoppable Champions.
Malfeasance Balancing
Small visual change for Malfeasance.
- Fixed an issue where the Vorpal Weapon catalyst wasn’t displaying the status buff text.
Cloudstrike Balancing
Reduction in the lightning kill range effectiveness versus players on Cloudstrike.
- Reduced the lethal kill distance of the lightning strike against players.
Wicked Implement Balancing
Some quality of life changes to the exotic perk of Wicked Implement and an extra perk added to its catalyst.
- The timing window for Creeping Attrition has been increased from 3.5 seconds to 4.5 seconds.
- You can now also active Tithing Harvest by destroying Stasis crystals.
- The Wicked Implement Exotic catalyst now also includes the Headstone perk.
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