Destiny 2 Announces Sandbox Changes for Season of the Witch, Season 23
Highlights Bungie is introducing sandbox changes in Destiny 2 during Season of the Witch, including tweaks to Exotics like Antaeus Wars and Young Ahamkara’s Spine to balance their effects. Season 23 will bring a wider range of sandbox changes, such as boosting SMG recoil and sniper rifle damage in PvE, while decreasing sniper rifle body shots in the Crucible. Other changes include nerfs to fusion rifles’ Kickstart damage bonus and effective range, as well as buffing the Airborne Effectiveness stat of slug shotguns and sniper rifles. Peregrine Greaves will also receive modifications.
Bungie shared a preview of Destiny 2 sandbox changes that will start going live during the ongoing Season of the Witch and extend into Season 23. Destiny 2’s Season of the Witch started on August 22 and will run through November 28.
Apart from several new activities and a plethora of additional equipment, Season 22 also introduced some meaningful changes that even made niche playstyles like support tank Titans a viable option for Destiny 2 players. And while Bungie is already hard at work developing more seasonal content for its hit competitive shooter, the developer is also planning to introduce more sandbox changes—weapon and armor tweaks—in the meantime.
The newly revealed Destiny 2 balancing changes planned to debut during Season of the Witch are aimed at two older Exotics, Antaeus Wars and Young Ahamkara’s Spine. The former pair of Titan boots will soon become less useful for reflecting damage, as triggering that perk will require full class ability energy, whereas the effect itself will deplete it. Bungie said that the goal of the change was to make Antaeus Wars more difficult to stack with Juggernaut’s shield, while also reducing its total effect duration. A seemingly similar train of thought informed the incoming changes to Young Ahamkara’s Spine, which will curb the armor’s effect on grenade uptime by having it grant energy instead of damage on final blows.
Bungie is planning an even wider array of Destiny 2 sandbox changes in Season 23, including a boost to SMG recoil and increased sniper rifle damage in PvE. The latter buff isn’t arriving in a vacuum, but is instead meant to counterbalance the developer’s plans to nerf sniper rifle body shots in the Crucible. Meanwhile, fusion rifles are slated to receive two nerfs aimed at their Kickstart damage bonus and effective range, with their DPS being intended to have a sharper drop-off over longer distances. Season 23 will also up the Airborne Effectiveness stat of slug shotguns and sniper rifles.
Furthermore, Peregrine Greaves will receive a double-edged pair of changes, starting with the requirement for players to stay airborne “for a short time” before benefiting from their bonus shoulder charge damage. However, that damage increase will now be significantly higher in PvE, while the Exotic will also start refunding melee charges used against mini-bosses, Tormentors, and Champions.
Finally, Season 23 will see Bungie revert part of the Glaive melee damage nerf that recently reached Destiny 2’s Synthoceps. And though the Exotic gauntlets are also set to lose their extra lunge range during the upcoming season, they will boost the user’s reload speed and weapon handling when surrounded to compensate for that change. The developer confirmed that additional Exotic armor tweaks for Season 23 are in the works and will be revealed at a later date.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Bungie