Every weapon buff & nerf in Destiny 2 Season of the Splicer

Hamza Khalid
Destiny 2 player count 2023

With Destiny 2 Season of the Splicer just around the corner, Bungie has plenty of new content planned for the coming update, including various balancing changes. So here’s a full overview of all weapon buffs and nerfs.

Bungie introduces new content in each season update for Destiny 2 so that the game feels fresh. These updates also bring some major balancing adjustments to many of the in-game weapons to improve the player experience.

Season of the Splicer is no exception, as the developers have many buffs and nerfs planned for the update when it goes live in just one week.

Here’s a complete rundown of all the balancing changes in the upcoming update for Destiny 2 Season of the Splicer.

Destiny 2 Season 14

Destiny 2 weapon archetype changes in Season of the Splicer

The new season will bring some major alterations to the Linear Fusion Rifles in Destiny 2. Their Precision damage and reserve ammo will receive a boost in the update.

There’s a small buff planned for Precision Auto Rifles, which will increase their overall damage per bullet, and Standard Fusion Rifles will be nerfed with a slightly bigger damage falloff distance when Season 14 goes live.

Precision (450 rpm) Auto Rifles:

  • Increased Precision (450 rpm) Auto Rifle damage per bullet from 17 to 18.

Rares:

  • Added existing but unobtainable rare Linear Fusion Rifle and Breech Grenade Launchers to the World Loot Pool.

Linear Fusion Rifles:

  • Increased precision damage by 15%
  • Increased reserve ammo by 20%

Fusion Rifles:

  • Increased damage falloff start distance for Fusion Rifles, no effect on 100 range stat, +2m on 0 range stat.
Linear Fusion Rifles in Destiny 2

Weapon perks changes in Destiny 2 Season of the Splicer

Dragonfly is a fan-favorite perk in Destiny 2. It will receive a buff that ensures a more effective Unrelenting, along with a more powerful Sympathetic Arsenal in Season of the Splicer.

There is also a change planned for Subsistence which will keep reserve ammo from being reduced when using the perk. Additionally, SMGs will be given the same effects as Auto Rifles to boot.

Subsistence:

  • No longer reduces reserve ammunition.
  • Submachine Guns now receive the same ammo fraction per takedown that Auto Rifles do (was 10%, like most weapons, now 17%, same as Auto Rifles).

Dragonfly:

  • Now works on heavy shanks and servitors, and occurs even faster than after the Season of the Chosen fix.
Dragonfly perk in Destiny 2

High-Impact Reserves and Under Pressure:

  • These are now active as long as their conditions are met.

Unrelenting:

  • Now easier to trigger in PvE (immediate trigger on majors) and heals 20% more.

Sympathetic Arsenal:

  • Now grants +20 reload in addition to its primary effect.

Hip-fire Grip:

  • +1 degrees precision hip fire angle threshold, +1.2x reticle stickiness falloff distance.
  • One degree doesn’t seem like that much, but for reference Hand Cannon aim assist cone angle is 2.5 degrees at 0 AA, to 3 degrees at 100 AA, and you can feel the difference between a 90 AA hand cannon and a 100 AA hand cannon (a 0.05-degree increase), so a small difference can be significant.
  • Note that precision hip-fire angle caps at the aim down sights aim assist cone angle.

Iron Grip, Iron Gaze, Iron Reach:

  • Reduced secondary stat penalty from -40 to -30.

Osmosis and Elemental Capacitor:

  • Osmosis now switches the weapon to Stasis damage when playing a Stasis subclass – this should work for any mechanics that ask for Stasis damage (but not for Stasis ability damage). Also created stasis VFX for all weapon types that Osmosis can appear on (more coming later).
  • Elemental Capacitor with a Stasis subclass grants +recoil direction and reduces ADS move speed penalty.

No Distractions:

  • Reduced trigger time from 1.5s to 1s and increased flinch reduction from 30% to 35%.

Celerity and Bottomless Grief:

  • Celerity: Now always grants +20 to handling and +20 to reload in addition to the triggered effect.
  • Bottomless Grief: Now always grants +30 to magazine in addition to the triggered effect.
Subsistence perk in Destiny 2

Weapon mods changes in Destiny 2

Bungie also has a few weapon mod changes planned for Season of the Splicer. Adept Mag and Adept Targeting will come with lesser penalties, while Adept Counterbalance will receive recoil improvements in the new update.

Adept Mag, Adept Targeting:

  • Reduced secondary stat penalty from -20 to -15.
  • Fixed Adept Mag not granting reserves when applied to a Sword.

Adept Counterbalance:

  • Increased recoil direction benefit.

All Exotics changes in Season of the Splicer

Bungie also has a couple of changes planned for Destiny 2’s Exotics in Season of the Splicer, with the Hawkmoon receiving more Paracasual Charge priority and Paracausal Shot buff text. You can look at all the Exotics changes below:

MIDA Multitool:

  • Changed the catalyst perk from Outlaw to No Distractions.

Hawkmoon:

  • Increased priority of Paracausal Charge and Paracausal Shot buff text
Destiny 2's Beyond Light expansion

That covers all the buffs and nerfs that have been confirmed for Destiny 2’s Season of the Splicer update. The developers will mainly focus on Fusion Rifles, Hand Cannons, and Shotguns.

While Shotguns are a popular pick, the developers hope to spotlight other weapons after the Season of the Splicer update goes live. We expect to see some interesting changes in the coming season.

We’ll keep checking for new developments regarding this and will be sure to update this article once something new is announced for Destiny 2 Season of the Splicer. As the season draws to a close, there’s still time to complete the weekly challenges.

Image credits: Bungie

About The Author

Hamza is a Content Creator & Publisher at Charlie INTEL, who graduated from Bahria University with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. He's spent the past few years covering news and guides for various video games, including Call of Duty and Apex Legends. He loves digital art, movies, and comic books. You can contact Hamza at [email protected].