Five ‘Destiny 2’ Nerfs That Went Too Far, And Need To Be Reverted

Destiny 2 just had a major balance patch as of the Anniversary Event, and now, players have been using the altered sandbox long enough to see how it feels.

Generally speaking, I like most of the changes, and Bungie has been doing a lot more buffs than nerfs these days. But there are some things that I believe have been nerfed, either recently, or a long, long time ago, that need to be re-buffed in the coming Witch Queen patch. Here are the five picks I’ve made, though feel free to suggest your own.

1. Hunter Dodge

This was a change made mainly for PvP that has now made Hunters feel pretty awful in PvE. Hunters may not be huge damage dealers but their constant dodging and ability to be invisible frequently gave them some assets. But with big dodge nerfs, a bunch of their exotics no longer work as well and it’s fundamentally changed the flow of the class across every mode. Bungie has said that some of their subclass changes may make more sense once further changes are made in Witch Queen, but so far, this one feels bad.

2. Hunter Blade Barrage

How bad are things for Hunters in PvE these days? They’re starting to get banned from LFG groups because they don’t offer the utility of Titan or Warlock. Tether is weaker than it once was, Celestial is fine but worse than Thundercrash or Nova Bomb in most contexts, but what I really think Hunter needs is a return to form for Blade Barrage, not really all that great for anything except Atheon spam, maybe. Blade Barrage has had both its damage and utility nerfed over time. Shards can no longer refill it, but really, what Blade Barrage needs is a serious damage buff. I’d love to see it get the Thundercrash treatment where that Titan super got both native buffs and an exotic (Cuirass) to take it into the top tier.

3. Tier 1 Super Regen

Another casualty of PvP balancing, it seems. While I understand the idea that powerful, roaming supers shouldn’t be up as often in PvP, guess where that feels terrible? You guessed it, PvE, making those even less valuable there, where many are already not amazing. Tier 1 supers, the slowest regen, include Spectral Blades, Fist of Havoc, Hammer of Sol, Glacial Quake and Winter’s Wrath. For instance, when I was trying to use a Glacial Quake build on Titan in Gambit for the first time in a while, the new recharge time meant that I could not even get a single super in 90% of my games, win or lose. I think the Tier 1 supers have been taken a little too far down the road here under this new system.

4. Xenophage

Look, I get that Xenophage was strong before, but man it feels terrible now with the RPM changes. I’ve never had a gun go from one of my favorites to least favorites this quickly. Machine Guns are still not where they need to be in terms of boss damage, and Xenophage used to the exception to that, but no longer. I really don’t think this was a problem where it was before, so I’d just…put it back. Thanks.

5. Duskfield Grenades

Of all the items on this list, this may not seem to be the most pressing, but I’d argue it’s the worst feeling nerf of any of them in context. The entire point of the Duskfield grenade in PvE was it’s extremely great vortex effect that sucked enemies in. While that was out of control in PvP for a while, the latest nerf has meant that it no longer has any vortex effect in PvP. It’s just a little slow/freeze globe and is terrible compared to the other two options. Absolutely was the wrong call to remove the vortex in PvE and I don’t understand what that change was made in the first place.

So, those are my main five. Which ones am I missing?

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