Destiny 2 makes good Exotics even better in Season 18 – Guardians are already dreaming of ultimate Blitz builds

It was meant to be a short, dry sandbox blog that Destiny 2 posted yesterday. But he immediately got the players excited. Not only because it brings additional perks to some popular exotics, but also because it heralds the “most overall positive change” in a long time. MeinMMO tells you what got the guardians so enthusiastic.

What did Bungie announce in the latest blog? First of all, it is now definitely certain that the new lightning skills, called Arkus 3.0, will go live in Season 18. With this, Bungie integrates the last skill upgrade and completely completes the revision of the three light classes. Bungie will show its players the first details in the showcase on August 23rd.

But the This Week at Bungie blog had more good news to share. We’ve already analyzed him, summarize his highlights here and tell you which weapons you should definitely dust off before Season 18.

Season 18 brings general buffs to unpopular weapons

On August 23, at the start of Season 18, scout rifles and heavy grenade launchers will initially receive a general damage bonus. Light bows and 360 auto rifles get a nice bonus. And glaives also hit more, because they are buffed in melee combat and can also activate the melee perks of exotic armor in Season 18.

• They then trigger with the Titan Exo ACD/0 Feedback Obstacle and with the Warlock Exos Karnstein Armbands and Necrotic Grasp.

That alone sounds like a lot of Arkus fun with fists and poisonous, necrotic glaives. But Bungie packed even more into its Season 18 update. So Destiny 2 finally gets strong improvements for several exotic weapons, some of which have been somewhat neglected:

• These include the Wishing and Ticcus Divination bows, the Misdemeanors handgun, the Legend of Acrius shotgun, the Lion Roar grenade launcher and the Workhorse auto rifle.
• Additional, intrinsic champion perks for exotic weapons from season 18 for:
  • The Le Monarque Exo-Bow and Thunderlord Exo-Machine Gun gain intrinsic perks against Overload champions.
  • The Misdemeanors Exo Hand Cannon can stop Unstoppable Champions.
  • And the most beautiful bow in Destiny 2 “Wisher” gets anti-barrier arrows.

Tailwind for some outdated exo-weapons

With this update, Bungie is making sure that you should absolutely reconsider unpacking a few dusty exotics.

The weapon upgrade for the Arkus Exo “Thunderlord” alone could be a really strong endgame option in Season 18. If maybe even a catalyst were brought into play, which brings a few more bullets into the magazine, this machine gun would completely dominate the game and your opponents and electrify them.

But the “Legend of Acrius” exo-shotgun could also become the star of the new meta in Destiny 2. Here, Bungie packs the additional perk “Tube Barrel” into the catalyst, which means a huge 50% damage bonus for three follow-up shots after a successful melee. With the Titan Exotics “Synthoceps” or the Hunter Exo “Liar’s Handshake” that would be a really nasty combination for any of your opponents.

Comeback of the “King of Grenade Launchers” possible: Then there was this only briefly mentioned hint at the end that in Season 18 Bungie gave heavy grenade launchers a 10% increase in damage against majors, i.e. opponents with a yellow bar. That sounds like a good reason to bring more “anarchy” back to Destiny 2. With the necessary tailwind from the Arkus 3.0 upgrade, this could once again bring bosses to their knees in a chain of devastating Arkus bolts.

That alone leaves some Guardians already on reddit raving about the awesome new build combos with Arkus and the synergies with old Exotics.

Damned. There are a lot of great changes here. Glaives that work with melee exotics and exotic weapons that work with anti-champion perks? […]

the player writes kallemacd via reddit

There are also a few extra perks: Bungie wasn’t satisfied with the original Gambit and Iron Banner perks. That’s why both have been revised.

• Invader Tracker Gambit origin trait renamed to Gun and Run. In Season 18, it should increase your sprint speed for multi-kills.
• And the Iron Banner origin trait Stalking Wolf grants you improved radar starting in Season 18 and helps you disappear from the radar when you are low on health.

These are the most important changes for PvP

There are also two changes coming to PvP that many players have been asking for and now very much welcomed. For Season 18, the muzzle for the exotic shotgun “Lord of the Wolves” is finally coming. This should put an end to the howling and also end the overly advantageous combination with certain exotic armor pieces. All in all, Bungie wants to make “Lord of the Wolves” a good and more practical PvE exotic.

In order for it to sit obediently in PvP, it will get the following adjustments:

• In PvP you only have 10 shots instead of 15. (PvE unchanged) and do ~20% less base damage. So only 35 per body hit in PvP, 44 with activated exo perk)
• When the Unleash the Wolves Exo-Perk is active, the burst, shots per trigger, is also reduced from 10 to 5, and on top of that, there is a 60% burst delay.
• Opponents in PvE have to accept 20% more damage from “Lord of the Wolves”.

Additionally, the Western-style Scout Rifle Tale of a Dead, Hunter Exo-Chest Omnioculus, and Stasis Aspect Whisper of Chains also get a dampening nudge in PvP.

• Bungie nerfs the Exo-Perk from Dead Man’s Tale. Starting in Season 18, it no longer boosts damage against players, instead granting increased reload, aim assist, and range per stack. The Catalyst also deals 20% less damage per bullet, but still has a 180 fire rate at max stacks. In PvE you still have the additional damage – nothing changes there.
• Bungie is weakening the damage reduction in PvP for the exotic “Omnioculus” and the stasis aspect “Whisper of the Chains” in order to take away their team superiority.

In the future, Bungie wants to equip other exotics with intrinsic properties against champions and also pay more attention to the trace rifles. Beyond that, however, there are a few other updates in Bungie’s latest announcement. So if you need more information, you can find it on bungie.net.

What do you say about the changes? Could Destiny 2 also inspire the German community? Feel free to leave us a comment on how you feel about the changes and what the best customization is for you.

If you are still considering which exotics are still suitable for Arkus 3.0, then this article is of interest to you: