Since Bungie adopted a live-service model forDestiny 2, the game has constantly updated with new content in Seasons and annual expansions. With every new release, Bungie tends to rebalance the state ofDestiny 2’s sandbox, which entails buffing and nerfing weapon archetypes and specific Exotics. Another aspect that usually gets a pass in sandbox updates is subclasses, which are often tuned in a way that brings them more in-line with how they are supposed to perform.
Destiny 2’sThe Witch Queenexpansion releases in February 2022, and it will bring a lot of changes to all Void subclasses in an update called Void 3.0 that Bungie hopes will make all Light subclasses akin to Stasis through Fragments and Aspects. Many things will be changing with theVoid 3.0 update, from the way abilities work to how buffs and debuffs can apply to allies and enemies alike. Many Void subclass Exotics should be reworked accordingly, updating their existing traits and providing them with new ones where necessary, particularly in cases where the base Exotic is not heavily used.
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Rat King and Sidearms
Destiny 2’s sidearmsare not in the best shape overall, mainly due to their lack of range, good perk combinations, and damage dealt in both PvE and PvP. Both Season of the Splicer and Season of the Lost featured Unstoppable Sidearms as an artifact mod, and both times players complained that sidearms wouldn’t cut it in high-end content. Rat King is one peculiar weapon, as it allows players to become invisible after reloading the Exotic sidearm, and stacking Rat King users together increases everyone’s damage.
However,Rat Kingstill requires an Exotic slot that not many players are willing to spend on a sidearm, despite the potential advantage of dealing more damage. A great way to buff Rat King and make it a solid pick would be to give it the Gjallarhorn treatment so it buffs allies. Gjallarhorn has the Pack Hunter perk that provides Wolfpack Rounds to all players using a non-Exotic rocket launcher. Rat King might benefit from giving up its ability to scale damage based on how many players use it, instead increasing the damage and range of all non-Exotic sidearms.
Super Energy-Based Exotics: Orpheus Rig, Gwisin Vest, Skull of Dire Ahamkara
Bungie recently changed the way that Exotics generating Super energy works, as some of them were too meta-defining and needed to be toned down.This change affected Hunters the most, with things like Shards of Galanor losing their power fantasy in favor of a well-rounded niche that made Hunters even less appealing in PvE content. Regardless, every item that provided Super energy was streamlined in a way that the cap for energy would have no limits.
Skull of Dire Ahamkara is a Warlock Exotic helm that was butchered, and it didn’t even shine before the change. It provides Super energy based on Nova Bomb kills, which are usually hard to get in high numbers, drastically reducing this Exotic’s Super gains to around 20-to-25 percent per cast. The item needs a buff, and it could be changed in a way that regenerates Nova Bomb energy based on the amount of single-target damage dealt, which could make it a more desirable option in PvE.
Orpheus Rig is a pair of Exotic Hunter boots that dominated the meta in vanillaDestiny 2thanks to how powerful Tether was, inflicting the Weaken debuff on all enemies hit and restoring a lot of Super energy. Tether is borderline useless now, however, because powerfulartifact mods provide the Weaken debuff to every class, and Orpheus Rig also saw its Super energy gains reduced. There is no easy way to fix Orpheus Rig and Tether, but making artifact mods provide different debuffs that do stack would instantly make this Exotic more viable.
Gwisin Vest is a Hunter Exotic chest armor that provides extra Super energy whenever players score a kill, and while this is not capped and percentage-based, it’s still limited by other factors.Roaming melee Supers are not in the greatest spot at the moment, and Spectral Blades could use a buff, but Gwisin Vest could take it further and increase the damage dealt by attacks when players don’t score a kill every few seconds. This could make Spectral Blades a decent competitor for DPS, stacking damage against bosses instead of being stuck in PvP.
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More Void-Themed Destiny 2 Exotics: Nothing Manacles, Helm of Saint-14
Nothing Manacles is a newly introduced Exotic that hasn’t seen much use, providing an extra charge for Scatter Grenades and improving their projectiles' tracking. Tracking is either buffed in a negligible way or it doesn’t work as intended, plus Scatter Grenades are often the least usedgrenade type for Warlocks. This Exotic’s main use is to provide two Handheld Supernova charges, but many players prefer to use Contraverse Hold. Providing a damage boost to Scatter Grenades could make Nothing Manacles very useful, and not break the game in the process.
Helm of Saint-14 is not in a bad place at the moment, and it does see some use inDestiny 2’s PvE activities, but it’s never the best-in-slot Titan Exotic for Void subclasses under all circumstances. The Void 3.0 update seems to be intended as a rework of Void Titans' overshields, which could be the perfect opportunity to buff this Exotic as well.
Overall, these are just examples of what sort of items could use a buff inDestiny 2’s next expansion, as updating them to reflect the changes made to Void subclasses would open up lots of possibilities when it comes to builds and loadouts. With the30th Anniversary Pack’s sandbox patch, Bungie proved that it intends forDestiny 2to be more varied in terms of customization options, and changing Void subclasses without adjusting their associated Exotics would hinder that drive.
Destiny 2is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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