Bungie is currently preparing a truly massive TWAB for this Thursday which will lay out a series of changes coming to the sandbox of Destiny 2 next season, and I think that may not even include solar/arc 3.0 which is also arriving then, and I assume that will be a separate write up.
At this point, I’ve gone through usage rates in PvP and PvE and have seen some clear outliers, as well as you know, playing the game myself. Here are the underperforming or underrepresented types of weapons in Destiny right now that could probably use some buffing.
Scout Rifles – Other than Dead Man’s Tale, Scout Rifles are just almost never the play in either PvP or PvE, except for the rare occasion you might take your old Night Watch out to plink down some anti-barrier shields. Bungie has said they are scared of buffing Scouts too much in PvP specifically, as that gets boring really fast, but I’d love to see some love for them in PvE. Exotics like MIDA and Jade Rabbit could use some generalized help as well.
Auto Rifles – Definitely don’t want to get back to the Gnawing Hunger PvP meta, but in PvE especially, Auto Rifles need some pretty serious help as they are dramatically underperforming every other type of primary in that mode at this point. We may have the odd Chroma Rush that feels good, but generally, we need to see some buffs to at least some of the archetypes.
Sidearms – At the risk of letting True Vanguard break the game, Sidearms are just not at the same level as SMGs right now for the most part, especially in PvE, though Bungie has said they are cautious about buffing them too much to make them OP, as that’s a fine line at that range. Kind of doubt we’ll see anything here.
Machine Guns – As ever, Machine Guns feel underpowered in the heavy slot compared to most other options. Bungie keeps trying to buff them for crowd clearing, but that just isn’t doing much when we have options like say, Volatile Rounds Funnelweb or Chain Reaction Forbearance. We need that boss damage buff.
Heavy Grenade Launchers – These were king for a brief moment, but have been nerfed into more or less complete irrelevance, stuck in an awkward spot between crowd clearing and boss damage, but not all that great at either.
Glaives – I have written entire essays about how much glaives need to be buffed, especially after the seasonal mods go away, and I think they’re going to be in a bad spot without some serious help for the new weapon type. I actually think most of the other special weapons, breach grenade launchers, snipers, fusions and shotguns are in a pretty good spot, which means glaives will feel even more like the odd option out in the near future.
Those are the ones that stand out to me. Usage rates are low on things like bows and swords too outside of say, Le Monarque, Trinity Ghoul and Lament, but not sure what to do with the entire classes. And I think some unique specialized weapons need help, like heavy snipers Whisper and DARCI, which have gotten big buffs that are simply not enough in the past already.
We’ll see what this Thursday, and next season, brings.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.