Destiny 2 Patch Notes: Stasis Abilities Get Major Rebalancing

If you've been upset about Stasis abilities dominating in Destiny 2's Crucible since the release of the Beyond Light expansion, the end of your long nightmare is finally here. Bungie's update for the game finally addresses Stasis rebalancing, tuning down some of the abilities that have been getting heavy use in Destiny 2 PvP.

Bungie previously gave a preview of the changes in Update 3.1.1.1, but the hotfix is still pretty extensive, as the developer detailed on its website. Some of the most notable changes to Stasis will make its deadliest abilities a little less deadly, at least in PvP. The notorious Shatterdive ability for Hunters has been tuned to eliminate the damage resistance it grants players using it in PvP, making them easier to kill--something their opponents have been clamoring for. Another notable alteration is one that lowers to magnetic draw of Duskfield grenades, which have been so powerful that players can use them to yank one another out of cover or around corners for easy kills.

The patch notes also detail a few other fixes, including one Bungie mentioned recently in its This Week at Bungie blog post. It turns out that drop rates for the Eyes of Tomorrow Exotic rocket launcher, which is only available as a random reward in the final encounter of the Deep Stone Crypt raid, weren't being adjusted correctly. Normally, raid drops like that one have "bad luck protection" that slowly raise your chances of receiving it every time you clear the raid, but for Eyes of Tomorrow, the math wasn't being done correctly. Bungie's fixed that, which means it should be slightly easier to get the Exotic, especially if you run the raid often.

This update also corresponds with the release of a new Strike in the game, called Proving Grounds. The Strike is currently only available for players who've purchased the season pass, but it'll join the playlist for free-to-play Guardians on March 30. You'll also see a Nightfall version of the Strike on that date.

Check out the complete patch notes below.

Hotfix 3.1.1.1 Patch Notes

ACTIVITIES

Presage

• Fixed an issue where players could respawn into the void, instantly bringing an end to their feeble attempts to survive this activity at Master difficulty.

Wrathborn Hunts

• Fixed an issue where "Immune" text appears when players deal damage to the High Celebrant.

Destinations

• Fixed an issue where players would die instantly if they stood in a particular spot of the Quitter's Well in Tangled Shore.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Scan and Heroic VIP patrols from appearing on Europa.

Battlegrounds

• Fixed an issue where players could regenerate infinite Super energy from teammates running through hallways.
• Fixed an issue where players would incorrectly receive an “online privileges” dialog when trying to launch specific Battlegrounds activities or the Battlegrounds playlist with a fireteam member who hadn’t unlocked the activity.
• Fixed an issue where the Cabal Pyro Flamethrower projectile generated a lot of network usage, leading to strange combatant behaviors within Battlegrounds activities.

UI/UX

General

• Fixed an issue where the Prismatic Recaster was not displaying all available engram types on a single page.

GAMEPLAY

Armor

• Updated Mantle of Battle Harmony to function in PvP.
  • Grants small amount of super energy when defeating Guardians with weapons matching the damage type of your Super.
  • Grants small damage bonus when defeating enemies with weapons matching the damage type of your Super while your Super is full, but at a shorter duration than when you defeat combatants in PvE.

Weapons

• Fixed an issue that caused Eyes of Tomorrow to do less damage than intended against yellow bar enemies.
• Fixed an issue where Guardians could embrace their darker side and damage their teammates using the Frenzy perk.
• Added Unrelenting as a possible perk for THE SWARM Machine Gun.

Hunters

• Shatterdive
  
  • Removed damage resistance from Shatterdive.
  • Added a 4s cooldown between activations of Shatterdive.
• Withering Blade
  
  • Decreased Withering Blade damage against players from 90 to 65 damage. PvE damage is unchanged.
  • Decreased Withering Blade slow stacks applied to players from 60 to 40 stacks. PvE slow stacks are unchanged.
  • Decreased the target acquisition range of Withering Blade after it impacts a player from 12m to 8m. Range after impacting PvE enemies is unchanged.

Titans

• Glacial Quake
  
  • Removed AoE freeze against players on Super cast. Will still freeze PvE enemies on cast.
  • Reduced damage resistance while in Super from 60 percent to 50 percent.
  • Increased the energy cost of using Shiver Strike while in Glacial Quake from three percent to seven percent Super energy.
  • Using the combo of a Shiver Strike into a Heavy slam attack will now cost the full Super energy of both the Shiver Strike and the slam (this previously only cost energy for the slam).
• Shiver Strike
  
  • Increased downwards velocity applied to Shiver Striking players when they are slowed to more quickly pull them out of the air.
  • Fixed an issue where Shiver Strike (or Thundercrash) could get the player stuck against soft ceilings in Crucible maps.

Warlocks

• Winter’s Wrath
  
  • Improved tracking of Winter’s Wrath projectiles, now tracking strength decays from its max value over 10s instead of 2.2s.
  • Increased the size of the Warlock Super projectile's proximity detonation radius 1.5m – 1.65m.
  • The proximity detonation now starts at its largest and scales down to 40 percent over time.
• Penumbral Blast
  
  • Decreased Penumbral Blast damage against players from 80 to 30 damage. PvE damage is unchanged.
• Iceflare Bolts
  
  • Fixed a bug where Iceflare Bolts would continuously try to switch targets.
  • Increased target acquisition range of Iceflare Bolts by 33 percent.
  • Increased turning speed of Iceflare Bolts so they can more effectively hit nearby targets.
• Chaos Reach
  
  • Decreased the amount of Super energy refunded when cancelling Chaos Reach early.

General Stasis Tuning

• Duskfield Grenade
  
  • Reduced how strongly Duskfield Grenade pulls players inwards, effectively reducing the pull range from 9.5m to ~6m. PvE pull impulse is unchanged.
  • Reduced the slow stacks applied to players by the grenade detonation from 20 to 10 stacks. Detonation slow stacks are unchanged in PvE.
  • Reduced the slow stacks applied to players on each tick of the grenade from ten to five stacks. Per-tick slow stacks are unchanged in PvE.
  • Adjusted the UI presentation of the “Slowed” status to display slow stacks as X/100 instead of X/10, to increase readability when adding slow stack amounts that are fewer than ten.
• Stasis Crystals
  
  • Reduced crystal shatter damage against players from (85 max, 55min) to (55 max, 25 min). PvE damage is unchanged.
• Whisper of Chains
  
  • Reduced Whisper of Chains damage resistance bonus while in Super from 25 percent to five percent. Damage resistance when not in Super is unchanged. This only affects damage from other Guardians.

INVESTMENT

Stasis Fragment Quests

• Significantly reduced objective completion values for all Crucible fragment quests.

Bounties and Pursuits

• Fixed an issue where players could earn Exotic Cyphers with a full inventory, resulting in the loss of their reward.

Triumphs

• Fixed an issue that prevented the "Trash the Thresher" Triumph from completing even when the conditions were met.

Stat Trackers

• Reset raid completion time stat trackers for any player who has exactly five minutes time recorded in the stat tracker.

Rewards

• Fixed an issue that prevented bad luck protection for Eyes of Tomorrow from accumulating properly on accounts where players raided on multiple characters.
• Fixed issues with the Frozen in Time ornament for the Exotic Pulse Rifle No Time To Explain.
  • The ornament will no longer display "Exclusive Item" which prevented players from socketing it.

Chosen Seal and Title Requirements

• Replaced the “Bound in Memory” Triumph with “All the Scattered Memories" to ensure players who missed a week of playing the Presage activity could earn the seal before the Season ended.