Later in February, patch 1.1.1 will dropping across platforms for Destiny, and with it comes a variety of weapon tweaks that might affect the way you play the game. Bungie went to exhaustive lengths to detail this on their blog, but if you’re just looking for an overview of what’s happening, we’ve got you covered below.
They began with the auto rifle, noting that it’s by far the most heavily used weapon in the game across all game types, but they’re reducing its core damage output by 2.5%. The auto rifle, according to Bungie, was always meant to be a close-to-medium range weapon, so they’re hoping this change reflects that vision, and puts a premium on the distance between you and your opponent.
Next up is the pulse rifle, which is the least-used weapon in the game, a trait Bungie hopes to address in this update. The base damage for pulse rifles is being increased by 9.7%, which should bring it in line with the damage-per-second output of the other primary weapons. Bungie intended this gun to be used primarily at medium range, but they still want players to be able to effectively use it in close or long-range scenarios if need be.
Hand cannons were next in their lineup and they’re receiving a bit of a nerf, depending on how you use them. This is a weapon that’s meant to reward players with a calm trigger finger, but it’s also primarily meant for close-to-medium range fights. With that in mind, its initial accuracy is receiving a small reduction, as is its effective range, and damage for follow up rounds after the initial shot.
Fusion rifles are also seeing some change, as Bungie are making their burst cone a little bit wider, but they’re also making it slightly less effective at longer ranges. They’ve also been paying close attention to how controversial this weapon is in the Crucible, and starting ammo will now be limited across all ammo stats.
Finally we have the shotguns, which Bungie says are used by almost everyone in Crucible, but by almost no one in the main world. With that in mind, they now do twice the damage to all enemies other than your fellow guardians, and both the range and starting ammo for the Crucible have been decreased.
The scout rifle, sniper rifle, heavy machine gun, and rocket launcher have been largely left alone in this update, but Bungie were quick to point out that stats may comparatively change when stacking them against other weapons, thanks to the changes made the armaments listed above.
Finally, it seems like Bungie can already sense the rage coming from the players who use weapons that will be negatively affected by these changes, and they’ve prepared the following response.
We pay close attention to kill times in all game modes against all combatant types. If we brought up all the other weapons to account for lethality spikes that occur in specific situations, then our TTK (time to kill) would get faster with every patch. It is important to us to keep TTK values such that your arsenal feels lethal, but also both allows for some drama while you fight, and creates opportunities for counter-play when you’re being attacked.
Source: Bungie
Tuffcub
Yay! Nerfed shotguns in the cruicble, about bloody time.
Takyu
Second this! I can take a one shot kill at point blank range, but being one-shot killed from several paces away with the likes of Invective and Found Verdict is infuriating. I favour using The Last Word myself, and the nerf to the range is fair enough, as I find myself taking out snipers at a distance with only a few shots.
Forrest_01
This is all good news to me – I have been rocking a pulse rifle as my primary for the crucible since back in the day & I really like the way that they handle for that sort of situation.
Means that I often lose out at comparable distances (on a 1:1 basis) to autorifles & that damn vex mythoclast (still need that gun!), but I find the fact that they are generally known as underpowered more rewarding when you actually do get a kill with one. That of course may well subside with this patch, but my k/d may also go up, so every cloud! :)
Outside of the crucible I will be sticking with my scout rifle that blows enemies up. Mainly because it blows enemies up.
Seriously people, if you haven’t tried a scout rifle with the firefly perk, you are really missing out. Get one asap & enjoy decimating groups of thralls with one bullet!
theberzerka
That all seems good to me. Might actually pull the universal remote and invective out of retirement in my vault.
Forrest_01
Dude, why??? You saw that shotguns are getting nerfed, not buffed right?
Unless of course you intend to get some use out of them before the patch hits, then that makes complete sense! :)
Either way though, have to admit to not being a massive fan of Universal remote. Like No Land Beyond, at first its nice to have a primary that is usually a special, but you then realise that it has a very specific application. Of course if you like getting up close & personal with shotties in the crucible then having two at your disposal at any time can be pretty good.
Alternatively, I suppose you could run with a shottie/fusion rifle combo, which could in fact be pretty devastating. Having no ranged weapons is not great for some maps though.
Nate
Some interesting changes here. As someone who uses an auto rifle/hand cannon primary and fusion secondary these may encourage me to branch out to some different weapon types.