Destiny 2’s season 17 will improve glaives and Exotics

Bungie launched one of its biggest Destiny 2-focused blogs in recent memory on Thursday. In nearly 9,000 words, the studio described some major weapon updates coming to its MMO on May 24, with the start of the currently unnamed season 17.

There are too many minute Destiny 2 changes to describe here, so we’re going to break down two of the biggest changes that will have the biggest impacts on players: glaive and Exotic changes.

Glaives have been weak since Bungie released them with its Witch Queen expansion in February. While exciting, they just don’t perform well in any difficult content. So Bungie is fixing that with some major updates.

First, Bungie clarified its intent. Glaive melees should contribute to damage perks and act as a standard melee. So a melee kill with the glaive should trigger the Swashbuckler perk, but only the ranged attack will get damage increases from perks. That’s the current plan, at least.

As for concrete improvements, next season PvE enemies will take 25% more damage from glaive melees, and shielding will cost 30% less energy than before. All glaive projectile speeds will also scale with the range stat, moving much faster than before. This should help them perform better in high end content, allowing players to use them as defensive tools that still pack a decent punch.

Moving onto Exotics, Bungie is giving major improvements to the Exotic glaives. The Edge of Action Titan glaive mini-bubble will give all players inside a Void overshield and will benefit from the Helm of Saint-14 Exotic effect, which blinds targets inside the shield. The Edge of Intent Warlock Exotic glaive’s healing turret will gain increased speed and acceleration. The Edge of Concurrence Exotic Hunter glaive’s damage is being tripled and it can now chain to eight enemies instead of four.

Image: Bungie

In terms of non-glaive Exotics, Bungie is making changes to:

• Fighting Lion
• Eyes of Tomorrow
• Leviathan’s Breath
• The Huckleberry
• Xenophage
• Le Monarque
• Lorentz Driver
• Skyburner’s Oath
• The Last Word
• Arbalest
• Graviton Lance
• Grand Overture
• Coldheart
• Prometheus Lens
• Wavesplitter
• Osteo Striga
• Lord of Wolves

Many of these changes are simple buffs or nerfs to damage, but a few of them are getting sizable reworks.

Leviathan’s Breath, one of the worst Exotics in the game, is getting a 50% damage buff. It now also splits damage on detonation and impact, which will allow it to stun an Unstoppable Champion and then deal damage to it during the stun. The goal is for it to destroy Unstoppable Champions in high-end content, and this update is looking promising.

Eyes of Tomorrow, the raid Exotic from Deep Stone Crypt, is getting a 30% increase to boss and Champion damage. Arbalest, on the other hand, will deal 25% less to Champions due to how powerful it is in Grandmaster Nightfalls. Graviton Lance’s Catalyst will now give players Vorpal Weapon and Turnabout instead of Hidden Hand. Grand Overture will be able to fire a full missile barrage again by holding the trigger down, or shoot in five rocket bursts with a tap of the trigger.

The Skyburner’s Oath scout rifle is getting some significant improvements as well. The aimed shot is now hitscan (meaning it hits the enemy instantly) and both modes of the gun fire at 150 rounds per-minute. The hip-fire attack won’t track enemies anymore, but the shots will detonate in a wider radius and apply a burn to enemies. The gun also has increased range now, and the Masterwork grants increased reload speed.

The game’s first three Exotic trace rifles will also see some reworks — in addition to 20% increased trace rifle damage against non-red bar enemies. Coldheart now spawns Ionic Traces when dealing damage, which gives ability energy. Prometheus Lens will apply a “more useful burn,” which is a bit confusing, but might make more sense when Bungie eventually updates the Solar subclasses. Wavesplitter no longer oscillates between three power levels, and instead sits at the medium setting at all times. However, picking up an Orb of Power grants 10s (up to 20) turns it to the “max power” setting of old, which also suppresses targets.

This is just a fraction of Bungie’s blog, which focuses heavily on in-air combat for PvP, perks, and some ability changes. Bungie also revealed a host of Iron Banner, Trials, and Grandmaster Nightfall weapons that are going away in the next two seasons, and a system that will cause some playlist weapons to drop with additional perks the more players level up in playlists.

Of course, all of these changes will be present in what already promises to be a giant list of patch notes on May 24.