'Destiny 2' Flinch And Air Combat Reworks Explained

Flinch and in-air accuracy, two of the most important parts of “Destiny 2’s” gameplay, will be reworked in Season 17. Players can expect the meta to shift drastically when the new update arrives.

The way flinch works will remain the same in essence; getting hit will still cause a player’s camera to jerk in a random direction. However, the way flinch gets mitigated will be rebalanced in “Destiny 2’s” upcoming season, as per Bungie’s latest monster TWAB.

Every weapon will get their own flinch resistance values based on their archetype. Additionally, the Stability weapon stat and Resilience armor stat will contribute to how badly a player will flinch when shot.

Weapons with high-zoom values will intrinsically receive more flinch when hit. The opposite is true with low-zoom weapons. Maximum flinch resistance given by Stability differs based on the weapon archetype. The max value ranges between 10% and 25%.

Meanwhile, each Resilience tier will grant an extra 1% flinch resistance, up to 10% at 100 Resilience.

On the other hand, in-air accuracy is getting a total overhaul. Instead of making players suffer a severe accuracy penalty by widening weapons’ accuracy cones, the reworked aerial combat mechanic will demand accuracy from players. This will be done via the introduction of the Aerial Effectiveness stat.

In Season 17, shooting while in the air will reduce the effectiveness of aim assist instead of making bullets fly in random directions. The effectiveness of mid-air aim assist will depend on Aerial Effectiveness, which is a hidden stat similar to recoil direction.

A build with little to no Aerial Effectiveness investment will be more accurate than in the live version of the game, but there will still be an accuracy penalty. As a player invests more into the stat, it can have zero penalties while also retaining the same degree of aim assist as normal ground combat.

A weapon’s base value, mods, perks, sub-class effects and armor will determine Aerial Effectiveness.

This change should make Icarus Grip feel less mandatory on primary weapons while also providing players more ways to build their characters.