Bungie is Nerfing some of the most used Exotics.
Published: May 19, 2019
Bungie is Nerfing some of the most used Exotics. Last month, Bungie announced that Luna’s Howl and Not Forgotten are getting nerfed in Destiny 2’s Season of Opulence, which begins this June. Last Week , the studio added several of the most-used Exotics to the season’s of the nerf list, including Whisper of the Worm, Ace of Spades, the Skull of Dire Ahamkara, and many more.
Here are all the Exotic nerfs coming in the Season of Opulence.
Whisper of the Worm: The White Nail perk now pulls ammo from your reserves rather than out of thin air. In other words, no more infinite ammo. To compensate, Whisper’s previous reserve nerf will be walked back, letting it hold 18 shots without reserve perks. This is the exact nerf Black Hammer and Black Spindle received in the original Destiny, So why did Bungie released Whisper of the Worm in its original state to begin with? As Bungie said, “an Exotic that can generate an infinite amount of Heavy ammo is still a gigantic outlier and renders many weapons irrelevant for certain encounters.”
Ace of Spades: Memento Mori will now grant six bonus damage shots (up from five), but you’ll lose your bonus shots if you swap weapons. The PvP damage on those shots is also getting reduced slightly to prevent two-tapping while under the Vengeance effect of Titan’s One-Eyed Mask. Ace should have a 12-round mag and grant six Memento Mori shots.. Ace of Spades will still have a many perks even after these nerfs, and it’ll still reliably three-tap from absurd range in the Crucible. These changes are fairly minor. You have to think a little more carefully about when to swap to your secondary weapon while using Ace.
Skull of Dire Ahamkara, Orpheus Rigs, Phoenix Protocol, and Gwisin Vest: All of these Exotics refund Super energy, and all of them are getting the same nerf: diminishing returns on Super refunds. Bungie says these changes will make it “rarer to get a full Super back,” and in the case of Gwisin Vest – which will now refund less energy after two or fewer kills in the Crucible – it’ll make the average Super shorter.
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Bungie is nerfing some of the most used exotics
Along with these nerfs, Shards of Galanor and Ursa Furiosa – two other Super-refunding Exotics which were previously nerfed – will have their “Super gain caps reduced to be in parity with other Super Exotic changes.”
“We’re sympathetic about the fact that the changes we make in the interest of balancing combat and game design can be jarring,” Bungie said. “It was important that we have this conversation before you read the patch notes. We know many of you have a lot riding on day one of Season of Opulence. Hopefully, this Intel will assist you in building the perfect monster-killing machines for the next Season of play.”
Disappointing, but probably not devastating
Over the past two years, Bungie’s given several subclasses a way to maintain functionally infinite Supers, either by extending their Super duration or refunding their Super energy. However, the studio’s also dutifully dismantled infinite Supers over the past few months, so again, these changes aren’t too surprising – at least, most of them. Bungie doesn’t want us to have infinite Supers in PvE, You simply can’t balance for infinite Nova Bombs.
Bungie is nerfing some of the most used exotics. The Skull of Dire Ahamkara and other Super-refunding Exotics will still be relevant going forward. Well hopefully. If we make good use of our Super, maybe give us half of our energy back, that maybe OK? That way we basically get twice as many Supers as long as we play well.
Destiny Community is angry over the nerfs.
To the surprise of no one, the Destiny 2 community exploded in response to these nerfs, and I get why. Stuff that was fun in May will be less fun in June. This is a lot of nerfs to get at one time, and that’s on top of Luna’s Howl and Not Forgotten. Everything on this list is considered a top-ranking Exotic, so of course lots of people are going to be concerned and frustrated.
Bungie is nerfing some of the most used exotics. All that being said, it’s important to remember that many of these Exotics may still be viable after their nerfs. Whisper is pretty much dead at this point, but Ace of Spades will still be strong in PvP, Lord of Wolves’ new firing mode may offset its damage nerf, and Sleeper should still perform in the corner-cases where it’s currently used. It’s also unclear just how much energy Super-refunding Exotics will grant going forward. As is the case with Luna’s Howl and Not Forgotten, It’s also worth remembering that plenty of strong Exotics are unaffected by these nerfs. Here’s a quick list in case you’re looking for an alternative to your Exotic of choice:
Some other items that Bungie is not nerfing yet.
- Nezarec’s Sin
- Crown of Tempests
- Geomag Stabilizers
- Lunafaction Boots
- An Insurmountable Skullfort
- Hallowfire Heart
- Doom Fang Pauldron
- Heart of Inmost Light
- One-Eyed Mask
- Synthoceps
- The Dragon’s Shadow
- Raiden Flux
- Celestial Nighthawk
- Wormhusk Crown
- Liar’s Handshake
- Ophidia Spathe
- One Thousand Voices
- Thunderlord
- Legend of Acrius
- Two-Tailed Fox
