This Week In Destiny - 05/01/2025

This Week in Destiny, the community gathered to finish a puzzle and get a sneak peek of what's to come. What is going on here exactly, Drifter? Guess you'll have to find out next Tuesday, in our The Edge of Fate reveal stream. But before that, how about you find out about the topics for this week?

• You solved the puzzle!
• May 6 is upon us
• Heavy Metal tournament and emblem
• Update 8.2.6 is almost here
• Three new weapons added soon
• Celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month

Of Course You Solved It

Last week, the Guardians with the keenest eyes noticed something weird. What were those chess pieces scattered all along the Sol System? Pawns, knights, bishops, rooks... What was this all about? It didn't take you much time to understand what was going on and to put the pieces of our latest community puzzle together in quite a literal sense. Your reward, some exclusive rewards and a very cryptic cinematic.

We hope you enjoyed solving Chesstiny as much as we did creating it. To all the players that took part in it, to the community leaders that rose above to organize them, and to the first team to find the answer: you are awesome. And now, let's watch that cinematic together, shall we?

May 6 Is Next Week!

You got a sneak peek already, but there's only five more days to go until we reveal The Edge of Fate. We will cover many of the changes coming to Destiny 2 this summer: the new expansion and its campaign, major changes coming to many core and structural systems throughout the game, some of the new rewards you will be earning... So, let's repeat this one last time, then: join us on May 6, 9am PT, as we reveal not only the next expansion for Destiny 2, but also the beginning of a new year of content. Tune in to the stream for 15 minutes with your Bungie account connected to Twitch and you can receive the Theoxenia emblem:

Heavy Metal Tournament and Emblem

Brigs and tanks go boom! We're pitting eight content creator teams against each other in a high-octane tournament during Heavy Metal week to see which team can become the lords of heavy machinery. Because we don't yet know who is going to advance to the semis and finals, here is the full schedule accounting for all scenarios. Stay tuned to socials for updates on which teams end up in the finals! We'll also announce the creator team members and brackets in next week's TWID.

May 9 PT - Qualifiers

• Bracket A, NA and EMEA (4 teams): 8-10pm CET/11am-1pm PDT
• Bracket B, NA and APAC (4 teams): 6-8pm PDT/11am-1pm AEST/10am-12pm JST (May 10)

May 10 PT - Semifinals

• NA+EMEA (2 teams): 8-10pm CET/11am-1pm PDT
• NA+APAC (2 teams): 6-8pm PDT/11am-1pm AEST (May 11)/10am-12pm JST (May 11)

May 11 PT - Finals

• Scenario A) NA+EMEA: 8-10pm CET/11am-1pm PDT
• Scenario B) NA+APAC: 6-8pm PDT/11am-1pm AEST (May 12)/10am-12pm JST (May 12)
• Scenario C) EMEA+APAC: 7-9pm AEST/6-8pm JST (May 12)/11am-1pm CET (May 12)

The winning team will receive a unique reward inspired by an in-game item... Stay tuned for details next TWID. Those of you watching can grab a cool emblem by tuning in to the tournament! Watch any opted-in Destiny 2 streamer on Twitch for one hour between May 9 at 10AM PT and May 16 at 10AM PT to receive the Mad Dog emblem. Alternatively, our participating creators from the eight selected teams will also have limited quantities of the emblem to give out during their tournament streams.

Update 8.2.6 Sandbox Preview

When Update 8.2.6 arrives on May 6, we are making a few changes to some weapons, Exotic armor pieces, and abilities. Consider this like a second mid-season update, not as big as a new expansion update, but still impactful. The changes we are making aim to take some outliers down a notch, fix some issues, and give a push to certain archetypes with the goal of making the PvE and PvP metas more balanced and varied.

With that said, let's offer the floor to our sandbox team.

Abilities

Crucible Only

Prismatic Supers

The recent penalty to the Super cooldown time while on Prismatic feels just a bit too strong, so we have walked that back partially to make it more likely Prismatic subclasses will be able to get their Supers in longer Trials and Competitive matches.

• Reduced Prismatic-specific Super cooldown penalty from 10% to 5%.

Scatter Grenade

This grenade has been a bit of a power outlier in PvP for a while, so we are bringing it in line.

• Reduced scatter grenade damage vs. players by 15%.

Hunter

On the Prowl (Void Aspect) is too strong in PvP, and the utility needs some more limitations to force more deliberate usage.

• Reduced PvP prey-finding range from 45m to 25m.
• Reduced PvP hunt time from infinite to 15 seconds.

Warlock

Lightning Surge (Arc Aspect) can feel frustrating to play both with and against, as it feels like the damage against players can be highly variable.

• Clamped the variability of Lightning Surge damage against players.
• Slightly increased the minimum damage dealt and reduced the maximum damage dealt.

Global

Hunter

Withering Blade (Stasis and Prismatic melee)

This melee was underperforming in PvP and needed a PvE consistency bump.

• Increased tracking strength by 20%.
• Increased damage by 10%.

All Throwing Knife melees

Thanks to player feedback, we identified an issue that was causing the Hunter's throwing-knife melees to track targets inconsistently. On top of that, we further improved the tracking of Lightweight Knife and Fan of Knives to make them a more attractive option.

• Fixed an issue where throwing knives were not tracking correctly. They should now track more consistently.
• Lightweight Knife (Solar melee)
  • Increased tracking shape size by 10%.
  • Increased tracking strength by 20%.
• Fan of Knives (Solar and Prismatic melee)
  • Increase tracking shape size by 15%.

On the Prowl (Void Aspect)

On the Prowl assassinations now provide an instant bump of ability energy instead of doling it out over time. This makes eliminating a target more immediately satisfying and makes for easier looping in PvE.

• Reduced prey-finding cooldown from 0.5s to 0.1s.
• Ability energy is now granted instantly instead of over time.

Warlock

Lightning Surge (Arc Aspect)

• Slightly increased the follow-up-melee suppression time after Lightning Surge to match Shoulder Charge and other similar abilities.

Weapon Updates

Pulse Rifles

Legacy Frame

When we look at our high-skill lobbies since the most recent nerf to 450 RPM Pulse Rifle damage, Redrix's Estoc has fallen more in line in terms of effectiveness. While usage remains high, it is generally in line with where Rose and Aggressive Hand Cannons have been near their peaks, as shown in the charts below, with slightly higher usage but lower effectiveness.

However, in our middle and lower skill lobbies, Redrix's Estoc continues to be an issue. We believe this problem is twofold: A lack of competition from Auto Rifles and other Pulse Rifles in terms of forgiving mid-range options, and the Legacy frame offering slightly too much for the "jack of all trades" playstyle.

Similarly, our solution will be two parts: Reduce the ADS range of the Legacy frame Pulse Rifles to match the damage falloff scale currently used for High Impact Pulses, and buff a handful of other weapon types (Rapid-Fire Pulses, High Impact and Precision Auto Rifles, and Heavy Burst Hand Cannons) to provide more competition in our mid-range engagements.

• The Legacy Frame Origin Trait now reduces ADS Damage Falloff Scalar by 0.1.
  • This reduces Battler and Estoc's ADS Damage Falloff Scalars from 1.7 to 1.6, matching High Impact Pulses.
  • Increased BxR Battler's Airborne Effectiveness stat - 10 to 21.

Kills Over Expected - High Skill Lobbies, Primary Weapons April 2025

Kills Over Expected - High Skill Lobbies, Primary Weapons January 2025

Kills Over Expected - High Skill Lobbies, Primary Weapons September 2024

Rapid-Fire

We wanted to bring another Pulse Rifle family up to compete with Lightweights in terms of forgiveness without buffing their optimal time to kill (TTK), and Rapid Fires were a prime candidate.

• Increased base damage from 14.5 to 15.
• Increased precision damage from 27.6 to 27.8.

Hand Cannons

Heavy Burst

When we initially released Heavy Burst Hand Cannons, we were concerned their faster time to kill, and increased forgiveness would be too strong when paired with a longer-range profile like that of Aggressives. In practice, that has not proven to be the case, so we are increasing their damage falloff scalar when ADS to allow them to push out into the mid-range more effectively.

• Increased ADS damage falloff scalar from 1.5x to 1.6x.

Adaptive - Judgment

Judgement will be returning (with some Holofoil treatment) during Rite of the Nine. We are taking this opportunity to adjust Judgement's stats to be more competitive with other Adaptive Hand Cannons (all versions of this weapon have been updated).

• Magazine size increased from 9 to 11.
• Reload increased from 40 to 45.
• Handling increased from 42 to 55.

Auto Rifles

High Impact

High Impact Auto Rifles have struggled to find their footing in PvP when facing weapons that do not require line of sight, so we have upped base damage to make them more forgiving and to allow better interactions with smaller damage boosts in terms of reducing time to kill.

• Increased base damage by 4%.
  • Body shot goes from 23 to 24.
  • Critical hit goes from 41.4 to 43.2.

Precision

This is a second partial reduction of the damage reduction given to them several seasons ago, though this is focused just on the body shot damage to increase forgiveness and does not bring their critical hit damage back to where it was before that change.

• Increased base damage 3%, reduced the precision damage scalar slightly to offset this.
  • Body shot goes from 19.4 to 20.
  • Critical hit goes from 33.95 to 34.

Submachine Guns

Adaptive Submachine Guns

We wanted to give Adaptive SMGs more of a unique role in the CQB sandbox outside of their slightly increased forgiveness, and we believe the additional range will help to differentiate them and allow them to compete against other weapons more effectively.

• Increased ADS damage falloff scalar from 1.4x to 1.5x.

Shotguns

Heavy Burst Slug

Heavy Burst damage is not high enough compared to normal Slug Shotguns to make it worth the additional control required to utilize them effectively, so we have further buffed their damage.

• Increased damage by 8%.

Weapon perks

One Quiet Moment

This perk often runs counter to expected behavior in the Crucible, so we have split the buff into two separate stacks and allowed the first to activate much more quickly.

• Now has two stacks, one that activates after 1s of being out of combat for 50% of the bonus, and the other at 2s.

Alacrity

While incredibly strong when active, Alacrity has nearly zero uptime in non-Trials Crucible playlists, so we wanted to give it some additional utility. We believe this will make it one of the strongest origin perks for Crucible in the game and should help to better position weapons from Trials of Osiris alongside the Competitive playlist offerings.

• Now activates at reduced effectiveness whenever a teammate dies. Reaches maximum effectiveness when two or more teammates are currently dead.

Note: Descriptions for both of these perks will be updated in a later release.

Exotics Weapons Updates

Lord of Wolves

Lord of Wolves has been an absolute beast within the realm of PvE for many months now. Both Atheon and Templar have been shaking in their proverbial boots whenever Guardians readied their weapons for DPS phases.

While we found Lord of Wolves was far outperforming where we wanted it to be, we decided to let this ride for most of Heresy for a fun little "meta" time period.With Rite of the Nine arriving soon, it is time to rein it in.

• Reduced hip fire damage in PvE by 30%.

Riskrunner

Riskrunner has long been a low-zoom outlier as far as SMGs go, so we wanted to bring it more in line with other options alongside the buff it will be getting to range as part of the Adaptive SMG changes listed above.

• Increased zoom from 13 to 14

Truth and Two Tailed Fox

Rocket Launchers rarely compete in Crucible as viable Heavy options against LFRs and LMGs but giving them more ammo from crates is not a decision we would make lightly. To test the waters, we have selected two Exotic Rocket Launchers that will get additional ammo from Heavy crates in PvP.

• Increased the amount of ammo picked up from ammo crates in Crucible from 1 to 2.

Alethonym

Creating an ammo brick drained all of the weapon's energy which prevented the player from creating two special ammo bricks when at 100% energy. We've adjusted the cost of the special ammo brick to 50% to allow the player to create another special brick if they desire.

• Creating a special ammo brick now only costs 50% energy.
• Reworded the Vestigial Alchemy trait description to be a little less confusing.

Finality's Auger

We've added some quality-of-life changes that should make using this weapon an overall smoother experience.

• Increased the duration that a target is painted to match the duration of the turret.
• The environmental target marker now marks additional targets that enter the zone after its initial creation.
• Now grants an automatic reload from reserves after deploying a turret.
• Reduced the turret's self-damage by 85%.
• Increased the turret's damage by 10%.

Armor Updates

Hunter

Radiant Dance Machines

The goal of the RDM's rework was to introduce a new style of gameplay into PvP, centered around aggressive, close-range play with Primary weapons. While this has happened in practice, and we have received a large amount of feedback that the playstyle itself is fun to use, we need to make sure that at its peak it is still in band with the other playstyles that exist in high-end Crucible gameplay.

Unfortunately, due to differences between the input devices, the current tuning for RDM continues to remain problematic on mouse and keyboard (MnK) while being significantly less effective on controller (The Last Word excluded, which has been addressed in the tuning specifically below). The usage reflects this, with RDMs seeing 45% higher usage on mouse and keyboard. MnK already benefits from having significantly higher aim assist, accuracy, and stability while hip firing than controller does, and stacking those benefits with the ones from RDM is allowing some weapons to perform outside of their intended bounds.

Long term, we want to investigate moving the two inputs to be more equal in terms of hip firing efficacy at base, but for now, we are going to significantly reduce the benefits granted by RDMs. We believe these values will still allow players to engage in hip fire combat, albeit at a more limited range window and with additional investment needed in the form of perks or mods to achieve a similar level of strength.

In addition, so that Hunter's don't have all the hip firing fun, we are going to grant the hip fire range and accuracy benefits for Primary weapons (post-reduction) to an Exotic each on Warlock and Titan, which will be discussed below.

• Reduced the bonuses granted to Primary weapons when hip firing. Aligned the hip fire bonuses to range and accuracy with the values granted by the Hip Fire Grip perk, instead of the Legacy Frame intrinsic perk.
  • Reduced accuracy bonus for standard weapons by 60%.
  • Reduced aim assist falloff distance bonus by 60%.
  • Further reduced the accuracy bonus for the custom tuned Exotic weapons (including The Last Word) by an additional 25%.
    • As a note, based on the feedback we have received from mouse and keyboard players using The Last Word with RDMs, we are looking into tuning the specific penalties for that input device down a bit in a future patch to make the weapon more usable without requiring an Exotic.
• Although dodge uptime is already lower on RDMs than it is with some other Hunter Exotics, we want to reduce the class ability refund benefit just a bit in PvP to make it less of a focal point of the Exotic.
  • Reduced the amount of energy refunded for defeats against players when you do not have full class ability energy from 33% to 20% to align it with the upper tier of the Strategist perk.

Titan

Lion Rampant

Lion Rampant has long been a niche Exotic, and since it already dealt with hip firing effectiveness, we thought they would be a great candidate for this buff. For a second buff, we are also allowing the Airborne Effectiveness bonus provided by the Exotic to be active even when ADS, so it is no longer limited to hip firing while airborne.

• Added the accuracy and range hip fire bonuses from RDMs to Lion Rampant for Primary ammo weapons only. These hip fire benefits are always active, not just when airborne.
• The +50 Airborne Effectiveness bonus is now always active, not just when you are hip firing while airborne.

Note: The description will be updated to reflect the new functionality in a future patch.

Warlock

Lunafaction Boots

Lunafaction Boots similarly sees low usage in Crucible, and when it does it is almost always to show off an extremely long-range Slug Precision Shotgun or Fusion Rifle kill. While those instances are funny, we don't believe they are generally acceptable for PvP play, so we have reduced the range benefits while standing in an Empowering Rift for Crucible only. In its place, we have added the benefits to hip firing Primary ammo weapons, which are always active.

• Added the accuracy and range hip fire bonuses from RDMs to Lunafaction Boots for Primary ammo weapons only. These hip fire benefits are always active, not just when in a rift.
• Decreased the range bonus granted by the Empowering Rift by 50% in PvP only to reduce occurrences of extremely long-range kills with short range weapons like Fusions and Slug Shotguns

Note: The description will be updated to reflect the new functionality in a future patch.

Three New Rewards Coming with 8.2.6

As you know very well by now, we are reprising the Prophecy, Spire of the Watcher, and Ghost of the Deep Weapon sets with new perks, additional traits, and a renewed look that includes a holofoil version for those of you with the soul of a crow. We think you will love the weapons and their perks, so we won't be talking about those here today. Discovering by yourselves what they have to offer will make them a bit more special.

That said, we wanted to give you a little tease of what's to come, so how about we reveal the additional weapons coming to Iron Banner, Trials of Osiris, and Nightfalls?

Iron Banner

Nature Reclaimed

• Solar Lightweight Scout Rifle

• Column 3: Killing Wind, Outlaw, Heal Clip, Lone Wolf, Rapid Hit, Shoot to Loot
• Column 4: Desperate Measures, Kill Clip, Incandescent, Precision Instrument, Box Breathing, Explosive Payload
• Origin Trait: Iron Banner

Trials of Osiris

The Inquisitor

• Arc Precision Slug Shotgun - SUROS Foundry

• Column 3: Envious Assassin, Lone Wolf, Offhand Strike, Loose Change, Perpetual Motion, Slideshot, Threat Detector
• Column 4: Bait and Switch, Closing Time, Cascade Point, Fragile Focus, Jolting Feedback, Opening Shot, Precision Instrument
• Origin Traits: Trials, Crucible, SUROS

Nightfall

Cruel Mercy

• Arc Heavy Burst Pulse Rifle - Omolon Foundry

• Column 3: Dragonfly, Demolitionist, Eddy Current, Fourth Times the Charm, Keep Away, Lone Wolf
• Column 4: Jolting Feedback, Adrenaline Junkie, Headseeker, Frenzy, Kill Clip, Desperado
• Origin Traits: Nightfall, Vanguard, Omolon

Nature Reclaimed will be first available starting May 20, when Iron Banner returns. You can get it as an end of match reward and from engrams you open. Once you have earned it for the first time, you can focus it at Saladin in the Tower, like every other Iron Banner weapon.

For The Inquisitor and Cruel Mercy, we are trying something a bit different for the duration of Rite of the Nine and until The Edge of Fate launches. While both will be available at their respective vendors, they will also drop as additional rewards when you finish a Trials match or a Nightfall activity. That also includes their Adept counterparts!

Trials of Osiris will be back on May 13 for the first time after Update 8.2.6 is live, so winning on a four-win streak can get you the featured reward, Aisha's Care (Adept), but also an extra The Inquisitor (Adept) to go with it. Same thing in Grandmaster Nightfalls: for every Lotus Eater (Adept) you get on the week of May 6, you will get a Cruel Mercy (Adept). Have fun with the extra loot, everyone.

Celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month with Us

Happy Asian American Native Hawai'ian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month! The Asians@Bungie Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Association is celebrating the occasion with the Harmonic Waves emblem. We are excited to support the International Community Health Services (ICHS), a nonprofit healthcare organization based in Seattle, Washington, and a leading voice in challenging anti-Asian hate.

In honor of AANHPI Heritage Month, everyone that makes a $10 donation to ICHS through the Bungie Foundation campaign will earn the Harmonic Waves emblem for Destiny 2. Through May 31, 2025, all net proceeds* will go to ICHS. 

*Minus Tiltify and payment processing fees.

Player Support Report

Known Issues List | Help Forums | Bungie Help Twitter

Known Issues List

• The Sunless Cell Grandmaster is not available in Fireteam Finder.
• Some bosses don't spawn in Court of Blades, leading to a soft-lock.
• When speaking to a vendor, you can hear their ambient dialogue.
• Ionic Sentry sometimes doesn't Chain Lightning enemies.
• Steps 6 and 9 of the Drowning Labyrinth quest aren't able to be completed by some players.
• Due to this quest being a fix between character-scoped and account-scoped, if you have an alternate character and make progress on the quest, you need to play on that character to get back into the correct research paper level for your main character.
• Sometimes in the Derealize Exotic mission, the Taken relic can drop below the surface during the Vhriisk encounter.
• When damaging Shrieker bosses in the Sundered Doctrine dungeon, players receive critical damage feedback, but damage is actually regular base damage.
• When tracking Ikora's Drowning Labyrinth quest, completion of certain steps may stop progress on the next steps.
• Sometimes the Tome of Want: A Primer quest does not progress after meeting Step 3 and Step 4 requirements.
• Memento shaders can be previewed on armor in the Armor Management screen. This is not intended, and Mementos aren't being considered for use on armor.
• The Honor of Hercules Ornament right boot is angled incorrectly, so the leather strap does not fit the boot.
• Secant Filaments and Spirit of the Filaments can't grant Devour while Facet of Protection is equipped.

We Rate Ahamkaras

We only rate wish dragons here. Given the length and spikes we see in this art piece, this is clearly a Sword or a Glaive. Please look up what an Ahamkara looks like and only send us that. Thank you. 15/10, would curse a whole city for her again.

By Scint-H, via Bluesky

We Have Spoken

I guess by now we all have a pretty clear understanding that not all Hunters are untrustful acrobats that owe you Glimmer. Some can be caring dads that remain loyal to their creed and fight to the end for their hatchlings. This is the way.

We hope the teaser unlocked with that outstanding move got you even more excited for The Edge of Fate reveal happening on May 6 (that's less than five days away!) Making puzzles of this magnitude is a unique challenge with many moving pieces (pun intended) and a lot of planification. Saying that we love to watch you work together to solve it is an understatement. No matter what we put in front of you, this community always finds a way to blow our minds. Thank you all for the passion and effort you put into our games.

It's a privilege.

Destiny 2 Community Team