Just like in previous seasons and new expansions, big changes are coming to several of Destiny 2’s Exotic armor pieces in The Final Shape. Bungie has outlined plans to adjust 19 Exotics across all Guardian classes, bringing them up to date with the game’s current state and preparing them for the new Prismatic subclass when The Final Shape launches.
Bungie says it has focused on updating Exotic armor and armor mods to reference a player’s equipped Super element instead of a specific subclass, allowing those effects to work more smoothly with Prismatic. This in turn will allow their effects to function on Prismatic without changing their behavior on the original subclass. Some of the changes outlined below are very good, with Khepri’s Horn, Mantle of Battle Harmony, and Triton Vice being the big winners here.
The sad news is that some of the other Exotics are getting a nerf, and you’ll probably recognize them for being very popular in Destiny 2, especially in high-level content. Cenotaph and Sunbracers are being hit particularly hard here because Warlocks can never catch a break in Destiny 2, especially after this week dropped a bombshell on players who specialize in popping Well of Radiance Supers for their fireteam.
In the Exotic weapons department, Divinity is also being significantly adjusted in a big round of weapons fine-tuning for the expansion. On the bright side, the very first gun you ever used in Destiny 2 is getting its second Exotic overhaul. You can see the full list of changes below, which will come into effect after The Final Shape launches on June 4.
Hunter
Triton Vice
This Exotic will be a lot more flexible, as Bungie is tweaking it so that it’ll no longer require a Glaive that matches your subclass to trigger its extra detonations. Glaive projectile final blows will always trigger a detonation matching your weapon’s damage type, even if the Glaive does not match the equipped subclass. Additionally, the surrounded effect provided by Triton Vice while wielding a Glaive now lingers for five seconds even when you’re not surrounded by enemies.
Dragon’s Shadow
When you use Ensnaring Slam or the new Ascension Arc aspect, this will trigger the effect of Dragon’s Shadow.
Foetracer
The Exotic Hunter helmet now grants the bonus damage it inflicts on a target to your weapons, and the damage type matches that of the ability used to harm your target. Bungie says Prismatic will apply a variety of different damage elements with your abilities, which in turn allows Foetracer to buff multiple different weapon damage types.
The Sixth Coyote
Inspired by the Warlock’s Claws of Ahamkara Exotic gauntlets, The Sixth Coyote will create Orbs of Power from final blows after you use your class ability.
Renewal Grasps
This armor has been updated to grant the new Frost Armor from the Stasis subclass. By entering your Duskfield Grenade volume, you or your allies gain a stack of Frost Armor, and additional stacks will be generated every 0.9 seconds.
Star-Eater Scales
Bungie is adjusting Star-Eater Scales to balance the effort required to gain its powerful effects, given how it easy it is to currently create orbs of power. You’ll need six orbs of power to gain its maximum benefits–up from four–and the increased Super energy gained per orb of power when the Golden Gun is equipped has been reduced by 75%.
Titan
Ursa Furiosa
These furry gauntlets are being fine-tuned to improve the new Void Aspect Unbreakable. They’ll provide increased movement speed and Super energy while guarding with Unbreakable attached.
Eternal Warrior
This Exotic helmet no longer requires an Arc subclass for Arc final blows to gain its escalating weapon damage bonus. Bungie says this allows it to synergize with Prismatic builds more easily, and the bonuses for the Fists of Havoc Super will remain unchanged.
Armamentarium
A plain Exotic that simply granted a second grenade charge, Armamentarium will also create orbs of power from grenade final blows after The Final Shape launches.
Khepri’s Horn
Bungie thought that Khepri’s Horn felt underwhelming in many situations, so the potency of its Solar blast effect has been increased. In PvE, this damage has been increased by 100%, it’ll apply Scorch stacks every time it hits a target, and it’ll greatly from the Ember of Eruption and Ember of Ashes Fragments.
Heart of Inmost Light
Mechanically, Heart of Inmost Light will remain the same, but on a functional level, it’ll be a lot more user-friendly. The Exotic armor will now display a consolidated status effect icon in the HUD, instead of the lines of text it currently floods the screen with.
Synthoceps
To reinforce the idea that Synthoceps works best when you’re surrounded, Bungie will reduce the amount of time that the Bionic Enhancements effect lingers after you’re no longer being surrounded, from eight seconds to five seconds.
Severance Enclosure
Because this is seen as a “particularly noisy Exotic” by Bungie, the plan here is to reduce the explosive effects by requiring a line of sight to damage enemies. The knockback intensity will also be reduced and enemies will be launched vertically by this Exotic.
Warlock
Mantle of Battle Harmony
Good news! This Exotic armor will grant more Super energy for defeating powerful enemies and the cooldown on granting Super energy has been removed.
Ballidorse Wrathweavers
This will be updated to grant the new Frost Armor effect when you activate your Rift, and activating Winter’s Wrath shatter attack grants nearby allies the maximum amount of stacks of Frost Armor. When your Winter’s Wrath ends, you gain maximum stacks of Frost Armor.
Secant Filaments
Empowering Rift will reset your Devour buff duration back to 11 seconds when you enter it.
Verity’s Brow
A big change here is that this Exotic now requires final blows with a weapon matching your grenade’s damage type, instead of needing to match your equipped subclass. Theoretically, this will work better when you use your Prismatic subclass.
Sunbracers
The Michael Bay of Exotics, Sunbracers will still allow you to do crowd control, but its explosive firepower is being toned down slightly. Solar grenade duration is being halved to two seconds and the grenade recharge rate will allow for a maximum of four grenade charges, down from five.
Cenotaph Mask
Because this funky helmet generates far more Heavy ammo than is “healthy” for the sandbox, Bungie is making a few nerfs to this Exotic. Multiple players using Cenotaph Mask will no longer trigger its effect when they use a single enemy as a target and Cenotaph’s target-lock visual marker will be hidden for the Exotic’s wearer. The mark will only appear to the wearer’s allies.
