This March, a new Destiny 2 update will bring a lengthy list of ability changes as Bungie prepares the in-game sandbox for the launch of The Final Shape in June. The changes will target overperforming abilities, including Threaded Specter, while balancing and fixing other abilities for various subclasses in Destiny 2.

Destiny 2's most recent update launched on February 14 with a major fix to the Stormcaller Warlock's Ball Lightning melee ability. Before update 7.4.3.2 arrived, a bug was preventing Warlocks from using Ball Lightning after a slide cancel, leaving them open to an opposing player's attack. The update also allows Destiny 2 players to reacquire the Chivalric Fire legendary sword from the Collections menu. However, it may be ideal to reacquire the ritual weapon after the launch of update 7.3.5, since Bungie confirmed the masterworked version will be available in Collections after the update's release. This new update will also bring a slew of ability changes that Destiny 2 players may want to prepare for.

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Destiny 2's March Update May Be One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Destiny 2's upcoming March update is making some good changes, but it feels like a massive step back compared to what the game needs.

Launching on March 5, Destiny 2 update 7.3.5 brings several ability changes for Strand's Threaded Specter and Threadlings and major buffs to Solar subclass abilities. Firstly, Bungie's latest "This Week at Destiny" post explains that the development team plans to reduce the uptime for the Threading Specter Strand Aspect due to its overperformance in the Crucible. With update 7.3.5, Threaded Specter will have the same class ability regeneration penalty as Ensnaring Slam. To compensate for this change, Bungie is reducing the Ensnaring Slam's class ability regeneration penalty by 50% and buffing Threaded Specter detonation damage by 25% against PvE combatants.

Destiny 2 Update Targets Strand and Solar Abilities

• Strand's Threading Specter gets a class ability regeneration penalty
• Damage nerfs to Threadlings
• Arcane Needle aim assist and tracking buffs
• Solar Restoration and Radiant duration fixes
• Buffs to Ember of Mercy, Solace, and Empyrean effects

Bungie notes that Threaded Specter's overperformance can be linked to Threadlings, so Threadlings will receive damage nerfs within Destiny 2's PvP activities. Specifically, the base damage of Threadlings will be reduced from 40 to 35 against enemy players, and the ability's damage while Thread of Evolution is equipped will be reduced from 45 to 38.5. The aim assist size for Threadlings will be increased from 0.41m to 0.5m, making them easier to shoot and destroy in PvP. Bungie will also compensate for the nerfs to Threadlings by buffing Arcane Needle's aim assist angle, maximum falloff distance, tracking angular velocity, and overall projectile length. These aim assist and tracking buffs to Arcane Needle will ensure that Threadrunners and Broodweavers still have a powerful kit heading into The Final Shape, according to Bungie.

Update 7.3.5 will apply critical fixes to Destiny 2's Restoration and Radiant Solar abilities, allowing the maximum duration of Restoration and Radiant buffs to be stored correctly and reactivated when the buffs are reapplied in combat. Ember of Mercy will extend Restoration by two seconds, and Restoration will be extended by three seconds if Ember of Solace is also equipped. Further, the Restoration and Radiant buff extensions granted by Ember of Empyrean have been increased. After the update's launch, Ember of Empyrean's maximum duration extension will be 15 seconds instead of 12. Solar defeats and the types of enemies defeated will determine the extension given to Restoration and Radiant in combat.

Destiny 2 players using the Sunbreaker Titan subclass will be pleased to know that Consecration will receive multiple buffs regarding the Solar ability's slam travel distance and speed. The buffs will improve the overall consistency of Consecration, making it easier for players to land hits on enemies that jumped too late. Lastly, Gunpowder Gamble's maximum self-damage has been reduced from 144 to 80 to reduce the risk of an untimely death or mistake in combat.

Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5 Ability Changes

• Ensnaring Slam
  • Reduced class ability regeneration penalty duration by 50% in PvE activities.

• Threaded Specter
  • Now applies the same class ability regeneration penalty used by Ensnaring Slam when the player creates a Threaded Specter.
  • Increased Threaded Specter detonation damage by 25% vs. PvE combatants.

• Threadlings
  • Increased aim assist shape size from 0.41m to 0.5m (this makes aim assist more effective against them, making them easier to shoot)
  • Reduced base damage vs. enemy players from 40 to 35.
    • Damage with Thread of Evolution equipped reduced vs. enemy players from 45 to 38.5.

  • Fixed an issue where groups of Threadlings were not reliably chain detonating when one was destroyed.
  • Fixed an issue where Threadlings sometimes did not play their (non-damaging) destruction performance when destroyed by enemy fire, resulting in them appearing to blip out of existence.

• Arcane Needle
  • Increased aim assist angle (the size of the cone that the aim assist system uses to bend the projectile’s initial direction) by about 50%.
  • Increased aim assist falloff distance (the distance at which aim assist begins to decay) from 30 to 45 meters.
  • Increased tracking angular velocity (how quickly the projectile can bend towards its target) by about 5%.
  • Increased the length of the projectile's tracking shape (the shape in front of the projectile that it uses to find targets).
  • Fixed an issue where uncharged melees while Arcane Needle is equipped resulted in the player appearing to freeze in a melee pose.

• Restoration and Radiant
  • Fixed an issue where the maximum duration of Restoration and Radiant buffs was being incorrectly stored, resulting in their buff timers resetting to their initial duration instead of their maximum when the buff was reapplied.
  • This also resolves similar issues with shorter Restoration sources like Sunspots with the Sol Invictus Aspect.

• Ember of Mercy
  • Now extends your current Restoration duration by 2 seconds when a Firesprite is collected. If you don’t already have Restoration active, collecting a Firesprite grants Restoration with a 2-second duration.
  • This Restoration extension is increased to 3 seconds while Ember of Solace is equipped.

• Ember of Empyrean
  • Increased the maximum duration extension from 12 to 15 seconds.
  • Reworked the duration extension granted with each Solar defeat.
    • Previously, it always granted a 4-second duration extension, regardless of the type of target defeated.
    • Now the duration extension varies based on the strength of the defeated target. Defeating an Elite or weaker combatant will result in less time added than in the game currently, but defeating Champion or stronger combatants results in a greater extension.

• Consecration
  • Increased the travel distance of the initial ground follow (a projectile that travels along a surface like Thermite Grenade’s wave or the Coldsnap Grenade seeker) from 18 to 20 meters.
  • Increased the height of the slam ground follow detonation by about 1 meter.
  • Increased the travel distance of the slam ground follow from 16 to 20 meters.
  • Increased the travel speed of the slam ground follow (including the Pyrogale Gauntlets’ enhanced version) from 16 to 24 meters per second.

• Gunpowder Gamble
  • Reduced the maximum self-damage from 144 to 80.

Destiny 2

Bungie's Destiny 2 is an online FPS that blends single-player and multiplayer content. Constantly evolving, the shooter has established a strong following since its 2017 debut.

Platform(s)

PS5 , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One , PC , Stadia

Released

August 28, 2017

Developer(s)

Bungie

Expansions

Destiny 2: Forsaken , Destiny 2: Shadowkeep , Destiny 2: Beyond Light , Destiny 2: The Witch Queen , Destiny 2: Lightfall

Metascore

85

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