Every 'Destiny 2' Subclass Is Getting PvP Nerfs In December

Bungie has finally revealed how it plans to push “Destiny 2’s” Crucible into a more skill-based and gunplay-oriented direction, but not every player may be thrilled to hear what the devs have in store for them.

Bungie revealed in the latest “This Week At Bungie” that every subclass in the game is going to get hit with ability nerfs, and some are going to get taken down several notches more than others.

On Dec. 7, nearly every ability in the game will be rebalanced to shift the PvP modes’ focus on guns and player skill expression. Expect longer cooldowns, less damage and zero ability-based one-shots across the board.

In the upcoming patch, abilities will have their cooldowns and damage outputs shuffled to create more diversity in skill choices. Strong abilities will have longer cooldowns, while weaker ones will have shorter cooldown times.

This change will include several buffs and nerfs to existing abilities like the Flux Grenade, which will be able to one-shot enemies in PvP in exchange for over twice the usual cooldown time. Every subclass will be affected by this change one way or another, and more details will be made available once the full patch notes are released.

As for the subclasses themselves, players can expect some hefty nerfs to the cooldown timers and damage numbers of almost every damaging ability for PvP. Dodge and Towering Barricade will have their cooldowns slightly increased, and abilities like Shatterdive, shoulder charges and the Warlock’s Handheld Supernova will no longer kill Guardians in one hit.

Hunters will have their Dodge ability cooldowns increased for both Marksman and Gambler variants, although the latter will be hit a bit harder due to its innate strength as a melee refresher and its ability to break the Hunter’s silhouette. Additionally, Shatterdive will no longer one-shot Guardians thanks to reduced Shatter damage in PvP.

The Titan’s bottom-tree Striker abilities are also getting tuned down to keep it in line with the other subclasses. Players won’t be able to chain Knockout hits anymore, and Fists of Havoc’s slam attack will hit over a smaller radius.

Meanwhile, apart from the Handheld Supernova nerf, the Winter’s Wrath Super for Shadebinder Warlocks will no longer instantly kill enemies that have their own Supers on. On a different note, Warlock neutral melee attacks have been adjusted to function the same as Titan and Hunter melees.

All of these changes sound great on paper so far if promoting gunplay in PvP is concerned. Luckily, almost every nerfed ability is getting some form of buff for PvE to compensate.