Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5 Unveils Significant Ability Changes, Weapons, & More

Bungie recently announced a comprehensive update for Destiny 2, aimed at balancing the game's ability mechanics. The update, version 7.3.5, scheduled for release on March 5, is part of Bungie's preparation for the much-anticipated launch of The Final Shape, set to debut in June. This update focuses on addressing overpowered abilities and making crucial adjustments to various subclasses to ensure a more balanced and enjoyable gaming experience.

Pre-Update Fixes And Destiny 2 7.3.5 Preview: Balancing Abilities and Enhancing Gameplay

Leading up to this significant patch, Bungie released an update on February 14, which introduced an essential fix for the Stormcaller Warlock's Ball Lightning melee ability. This fix resolved a persistent bug that prevented the ability's use following a slide cancel. Additionally, this update made the Chivalric Fire legendary sword acquirable once again from the Collections menu, with its masterworked version slated to become available post the 7.3.5 update launch.

The forthcoming 7.3.5 update will bring to the fore several key changes, notably to the Strand's Threaded Specter and Threadlings, as well as enhancements to the Solar subclass abilities. A significant adjustment is the reduction of Threaded Specter's uptime and the alignment of its class ability regeneration penalty with that of Ensnaring Slam. To offset these adjustments, Bungie has decided to increase the detonation damage of Threaded Specter against PvE combatants, ensuring it remains a viable option in players' arsenals.

Threadlings And Arcane Needle Adjustments: Tuning For Balance

Threadlings, which have shown a tendency to overperform, especially in PvP activities, will see a reduction in damage output and a recalibration of their aim assist size to prevent them from becoming overwhelmingly powerful. In addition, the Arc subclass's Arcane Needle will receive improvements in aim assist and tracking capabilities, maintaining the effectiveness of Threadrunners and Broodweavers in the game's dynamic combat scenarios.

The update also addresses critical issues with the Restoration and Radiant abilities within the Solar subclasses. These fixes aim to ensure the correct storage and reactivation of buffs during combat, with extensions granted by certain aspects being increased for enhanced combat efficiency. Sunbreaker Titan subclass users can look forward to buffs to Consecration, aimed at improving its consistency in hitting targets, thereby enhancing the subclass's overall combat effectiveness.

Preparing For The Final Shape With Update 7.3.5

In a move to reduce the risk of unintended self-inflicted casualties, the update will also adjust Gunpowder Gamble's maximum self-damage. This change is intended to minimize the occurrence of accidental deaths or mistakes during combat, allowing players to engage in battles with increased confidence and strategic depth.

Bungie's commitment to balancing Destiny 2's gameplay mechanics is evident in the detailed adjustments and fixes introduced in update 7.3.5. By addressing abilities that have shown to be excessively powerful, such as the Threaded Specter, and by fine-tuning other aspects across various subclasses, the developers aim to create a more equitable and enjoyable gaming environment. These changes are crucial for preparing the player base for the upcoming content releases, including the highly anticipated The Final Shape expansion.

Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5 Patch Notes

As Destiny 2 gears up for its next major phase with update 7.3.5, players can anticipate a host of refinements and enhancements across the board. Below is the full list of patch notes detailing every change and adjustment coming to the game, ensuring a well-balanced and enriched gameplay experience.

As a quick rundown, Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5 will bring the following: 

• A reduction in uptime for Threaded Specter.
• A few changes to Threadlings to make them easier to deal with in the Crucible.
• A fix for the Restoration timer extension issue, with a few corresponding changes to relevant Solar Fragments.
• A small number of ability buffs that we’re pulling forward from our balance pass in The Final Shape.

Ensnaring Slam 

• Reduced class ability regeneration penalty duration by 50% in PvE activities.

Threaded Specter 

• Now applies the same class ability regeneration penalty used by Ensnaring Slam when the player creates a Threaded Specter.
• Increased Threaded Specter detonation damage by 25% vs. PvE combatants.

Threadlings

• Increased aim assist shape size from 0.41m to 0.5m (this makes aim assist more effective against them, making them easier to shoot)
• Reduced base damage vs. enemy players from 40 to 35.
  • Damage with Thread of Evolution equipped reduced vs. enemy players from 45 to 38.5.
• Fixed an issue where groups of Threadlings were not reliably chain detonating when one was destroyed.
• Fixed an issue where Threadlings sometimes did not play their (non-damaging) destruction performance when destroyed by enemy fire, resulting in them appearing to blip out of existence.

Arcane Needle 

• Increased aim assist angle (the size of the cone that the aim assist system uses to bend the projectile’s initial direction) by about 50%.
• Increased aim assist falloff distance (the distance at which aim assist begins to decay) from 30 to 45 meters.
• Increased tracking angular velocity (how quickly the projectile can bend towards its target) by about 5%.
• Increased the length of the projectile's tracking shape (the shape in front of the projectile that it uses to find targets).
• Fixed an issue where uncharged melees while Arcane Needle is equipped resulted in the player appearing to freeze in a melee pose.

Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5: Restoration And Radiant Updates

• Fixed an issue where the maximum duration of Restoration and Radiant buffs was being incorrectly stored, resulting in their buff timers resetting to their initial duration instead of their maximum when the buff was reapplied.
• This also resolves similar issues with shorter Restoration sources like Sunspots with the Sol Invictus Aspect.

Ember Of Mercy 

• Now extends your current Restoration duration by 2 seconds when a Firesprite is collected. If you don’t already have Restoration active, collecting a Firesprite grants Restoration with a 2-second duration.
• This Restoration extension is increased to 3 seconds while Ember of Solace is equipped.

Ember Of Empyrean 

• Increased the maximum duration extension from 12 to 15 seconds.
• Reworked the duration extension granted with each Solar defeat.
  • Previously, it always granted a 4-second duration extension, regardless of the type of target defeated.
  • Now the duration extension varies based on the strength of the defeated target. Defeating an Elite or weaker combatant will result in less time added than in the game currently, but defeating Champion or stronger combatants results in a greater extension.

Solar Ability Buffs

• Consecration
  • Increased the travel distance of the initial ground follow (a projectile that travels along a surface like Thermite Grenade’s wave or the Coldsnap Grenade seeker) from 18 to 20 meters.
  • Increased the height of the slam ground follow detonation by about 1 meter.
  • Increased the travel distance of the slam ground follow from 16 to 20 meters.
  • Increased the travel speed of the slam ground follow (including the Pyrogale Gauntlets’ enhanced version) from 16 to 24 meters per second.

Gunpowder Gamble

• Reduced the maximum self-damage from 144 to 80.

Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5: Weapon Archetypes

Heavy Burst Hand Cannons

• Corrected an issue that was causing Heavy Burst Hand Cannons to have 25% less aim assist than other Hand Cannons when hip firing or airborne on mouse and keyboard.

Bows 

• Reduced the auto aim falloff distance start and end by 15%
• i.e. aim assist will be less effective at long range
• Reduced the maximum auto aim cone size by 5%.

Auto Rifles 

• Added the missing 12th perk (Target Lock) to Breakneck's second trait column.

Lightweight Scout Rifles 

• Increased base damage by 5%.

Sniper Rifles 

• Reduced the auto aim cone size by 10%.

Rocket Launchers

• Precision
  • Increased reserve ammo by 2 and reduced damage penalty from -10% to -5%.
• High-Impact
  • Increased reserve ammo by 2.
  • Now deals more detonation damage and less impact, for roughly the same total damage.
    • This should make them more effective vs. groups, or when getting splash damage on a target with a near miss.
• The above changes also affect Deathbringer, Gjallarhorn, and Truth.

Heavy Grenade Launchers 

• Increased reserve ammo by a minimum of 6 rounds, maximum of 10 rounds, depending on the Grenade Launcher.
• Reduced Spike Grenade's impact damage buff from 50% to 12.5%. With the below changes, this reduces the total Spike Grenades damage buff from about 8% to 3%, making them less mandatory.
• Increased direct hit impact damage by 10%. Combined with the above change, this brings non-Spike Grenade Launchers almost up to the level of Spike Grenade Launchers, and very slightly reduces damage output with a Spike Grenade Launcher.
• Increased detonation damage by 5%. (In PvP, this is offset by a reduction to detonation damage, for no overall change.)

Wave Frame Heavy Grenade Launcher 

• Increased damage by 20%.
• Increased wave width by 40%.

Caster Swords

• Reduced heavy attack energy cost from 5 to 4.
• Increased heavy attack damage by 16%.

Exotics

• Vigilance Wing
  • Now has a deterministic recoil pattern.
• Vex Mythoclast
  • Increased ADS damage falloff scalar from 1.5x to 1.7x.
• Wish-Ender
  • True Sight will now deactivate if you leave ADS or hold it for longer than 3 seconds. To reactivate, you must fully redraw the Bow.
• Edge of Action
  • Increased its damage resistance in PvE against all combatants except bosses to 85% and increased its damage resistance against bosses to 15%.
• Manticore
  • Players must now be airborne for 0.5 seconds and deal damage with the weapon to activate the perk. (This prevents accidental activation while running down stairs or doing small jumps.)
  • We gave it a special reload to quickly disengage antigravity thrusters. (Swapping weapons will continue to disengage as well.)
  • Tarrabah also receives this special reload animation.
  • While antigrav thrusters are engaged, combatants will be less accurate when targeting the player, similar to the Always on Time Sparrow.
  • With the catalyst, final blows and sustained damage with Manticore while airborne grant a Void overshield and return ammo to the magazine.
• Ex Diris
  • Increased impact damage against PvE enemies by 50%.
    • Detonation damage is unaffected, so the total damage increase works out to be around 20% (varying by target type).
  • Increased the maximum rate of fire by 17%.

Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5: Perks

• Heal Clip
  • Now grants Cure x2 to the player while still granting Cure x1 to nearby allies.
• Trench Barrel
  • Can now be activated by dealing damage with ranged melee attacks.
• Barrel Constrictor
  • Once activated, it no longer deactivates upon firing a shot, it lasts for 7.5 seconds, and it buffs all shots fired during that time.
  • Enhanced Barrel Constrictor lasts for 8.5 seconds.
• Loose Change
  • Applying a subclass 3.0 debuff now grants +20 aim assist stat and 20% reduced ADS movement speed penalty in addition to the existing +50 reload stat. Applying another debuff now refreshes the duration, too.
• Dual Loader
  • Removed the reload speed penalty.
  • Changed the wording of the perk description to make it clearer that it increases the number of shots reloaded, so we can now apply it to other weapon types without confusion in the future.
• Tex Balanced Stock
  • Now grants +20 range and a +1.5 degree hip-fire precision cone angle in addition to its other effects, making it easier to land follow-up crits with hipfire.
• Häkke Breach Armaments, Deconstruct, and Sundering
  • Now work against Void Souls, Strand Clones, Cabal Projection Shields, and Brigs.
• Häkke Breach Armaments
  • Damage bonus vs. Stasis crystals reduced from 85% to 60% to match other constructs.
• Sundering
  • Can now trigger on shield break in addition to final blows on vehicles and constructs. We added a small reload speed scalar while reducing the charge rate benefit to account for the higher uptime.
• Hatchling
  • Activation requirements are no longer locked to the archetype in terms of precision or non-precision kills. Instead, the perk will trigger with either a precision kill or 3 non-precision kills.
• Target Lock
  • Now activates later in the magazine for SMGs (at 20% instead of 12.5%), so the damage buff will swing Primary weapon gunfights less often.
• Envious Assassin
  • Each activation is now capped at 100% of magazine size instead of 150%, and the maximum overflow is now 3 times the magazine size instead of 4 times.
• Bait and Switch
  • Reduced damage bonus from 35% to 30%.
• One-Two Punch
  • Now correctly deactivates after dealing damage with a powered melee.
• Deconstruct
  • Updated the perk description to correctly state that it pulls ammo from thin air, not reserves.
  • Fixed a bug preventing the perk from triggering when shooting an enemy Titan barricade (and similar targets).

Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5: Crucible Sandbox

Player Health 

• Player health will be increased by 30 HP in base Crucible, so players have 100 health (up from 70) and 116-130 shield, depending on the player’s Resilience values.

Ability Cooldowns

• Melee, Grenade, and class ability cooldowns now have a 15% penalty applied to them in Crucible only.
• Super cooldowns now have a 20% penalty applied to them in Crucible only.

Ability Damage

• Supers
  • Increased base Super damage by 31%.
• Melee
  • Increased base melee damage by 16%.
• Grenades
  • Increased Arc Flux Grenade damage by 16%.

Primary Weapon Archetypes

• Pulse Rifles, Auto Rifles, Sidearms, and Scout Rifles
  • Increased critical hit damage by 14%.
• Hand Cannons
  • Increased critical hit damage by 10%.
  • Reduced body shot damage by 5%.
  • Reduced flinch dealt to players by projectile impact by 12.5% and by Explosive Payload by 10%.
• Submachine Guns
  • Increased critical hit damage by 12.5%.
  • Reduced body shot damage by 3%.
• Bows
  • Reduced base damage by 15%.

Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5: Special Ammo Acquisition

• You will start every game (all game types, including round-based modes like Dominion) with two kills worth of Special ammo for your chosen weapon.
• Instead of two kills worth of Special ammo being granted every time you respawn, you will earn more ammo by filling up a Special ammo meter, with points given for getting kills, assists, or completing objectives. Getting 100 points grants you two kills worth of Special ammo for your chosen weapon.
  • Base Point Values
    • Kills: 23
    • Assists: 10
    • Deaths: 10
    • Control zone capture: 14
    • Heavy ammo pulls: 8
  • Elimination/Dominion Point Values
    • Kills: 38
    • Assists: 16
    • Deaths: 16
    • Heavy ammo pulls: 10
  • 3v3 Respawn Modes (Survival, 3v3 Clash, and Countdown Rush)
    • Kills: 26
    • Assists: 12
    • Deaths: 11
  • Rumble
    • Kills: 30
  • Countdown
    • Charge armed: 20
    • Charge defused: 40
    • Charge detonated: 70
• General Notes
  • Kills from Special ammo weapons and Heavy ammo weapons do not grant any points toward Special ammo meter progress.
  • Jumping off the map will subtract progress from the Special ammo meter.
  • Ammo is not dropped on death, and you will not lose the Special ammo you have earned when you are defeated or are revived.
  • Earned Special ammo will carry over between rounds.
  • Swapping from double Primary weapons to a Special ammo weapon will reset your Special ammo meter progress.

Special Weapon Archetypes

• Trace Rifles, Shotguns, and Fusion Rifles
  • Increased base damage by 20%.
• Glaives
  • Increased projectile damage by 20%.
  • Increased melee damage by 16%.

Heavy Weapon Archetypes

• Heavy Grenade Launchers
  • Reduced detonation damage by 5%.
• Machine Guns
  • Increased base damage by 20%.

Exotic Weapons

• Fighting Lion
  • Decreased damage versus players in Crucible by 20%.
• Devil's Ruin
  • Decreased charged beam damage against players by 15%.
• Crimson
  • Reduced flinch dealt to players by projectile impact by 17.5%
• Forerunner
  • Increased damage versus players in Crucible by 20%
• Symmetry
  • Increased Revolution damage versus players in Crucible by 16%

Lunar New Year Bundles

On February 10, the Lunar New Year began, welcoming the Year of the Dragon—a symbol that resonates with strength and fortune. It's an event that would surely delight Riven. To celebrate, a special emblem named Risen is being offered to the community. This emblem can be redeemed with the following code:

THR-33A-YKC 

The celebration extends to the Eververse store, which features new items for the Lunar New Year. The Leporine Jubilation Riskrunner ornament returns, accompanied by a new ornament for the Two-Tailed Fox, named Herald of Spring. Additionally, a Year of the Dragon Bundle is available, including the Auspicious Exotic Ghost Shell, the Lunar Omen Exotic ship, and the Firecracker Exotic Sparrow, all designed to commemorate the Lunar New Year in style.

Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5: The Next Trials Map Revealed

Last week's call for input on the upcoming Trials of Osiris map has culminated in a decisive community vote. With the polls now closed, the results are in, revealing that Dead Cliffs has won the favor of the players with 43% of the votes. This map will be the battleground for Trials of Osiris starting Friday, February 16.

For more gaming news, visit ClutchPoints Gaming