Destiny 2's Season of the Haunted is almost over, and in less than two weeks Bungie will launch Season 18 and reveal more information about the Lightfall expansion in a special August showcase, much like the one from last year. Because Bungie is keeping its cards close to the chest when it comes to the Arc 3.0 update, details about Season 18, and the reprised Raid that will launch three days into the Season, the company's latest TWAB addressed some other hot topics within the community. In fact, many Destiny 2 players have been calling for nerfs to Omnioculus and Lord of Wolves in PvP due to how meta-defining they have been for a while, and Bungie delivered.
Alongside the various nerfs, multiple buffs also stood out, especially so for PvE players. An example comes from Destiny 2's Le Monarque, which was provided a huge buff that now makes its poisonous arrows come with intrinsic anti-Overload rounds, possibly making this Exotic one of the best in the entire game in terms of high-end content. Because endgame content in Destiny 2 is often filled with Champions, with an example being Grandmaster Nightfall Strikes, another major buff that will likely matter a lot is that made to Thunderlord.
Why Thunderlord Could Become a Meta Weapon in Destiny 2
Thunderlord is an Exotic machine gun that is normally great at dealing with adds in any situation, making short work of weaker enemies. While this is not always seen as a valuable trait due to machine guns using Heavy ammo and due to add-clearing becoming exponentially easier over time thanks to power creep, making Thunderlord have intrinsic anti-Overload rounds in Season 18 may very well turn the tables here. This is because Overload Champions are among the most annoying enemies to deal with in Destiny 2, and a dedicated weapon to stun them at every turn is always a good addition.
This buff is pretty significant, and the reason is threefold. For starters, machine guns got a decent damage buff in Season of the Haunted, which means that defeating Champions with Thunderlord will be extremely easy. In fact, the 40% damage boost given to machine guns applies to every enemy in Destiny 2, whereas this bonus is halved against bosses not to make machine guns mandatory against them. In this case, Thunderlord can stun the Champions with a few bullets and then shred through them with its Exotic perk.
The second reason why this buff is so important is that Thunderlord is a Power weapon, and as such it uses Heavy ammo, meaning that players can safely use this machine gun to deal with Champions and only dedicate another slot between Kinetic and Energy to anti-Champion weapons. What this means is that having Thunderlord as the very first Exotic with intrinsic anti-Overload rounds can free up a slot for players to use other guns, increasing build diversity. For example, Destiny 2 players could use a slot for a free sniper rifle, fusion rifle, or grenade launcher without sacrificing utility.
Lastly, Thunderlord is an Arc weapon that's being buffed ahead of a Season where the Arc 3.0 update is coming, meaning that it could be even more powerful depending on how Bungie handles the reworks. It has been theorized multiple times that one of the keywords for Arc 3.0 could be "Chaining," as many Arc effects allow players to chain lightning between enemies, dealing damage in a decent area. Overall, the buffs made to Thunderlord are very exciting and could make this weapon much more powerful than it already is, especially with a renewed focus on Arc damage and Arc subclasses.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.