Destiny 2’s latest update rebalances PvP meta with Graviton Lance nerf, weapon buffs, and critical bug fixes
Major Meta Shifts: Graviton Lance and Weapon Balancing
The January 14 Destiny 2 maintenance deployment introduces significant sandbox adjustments that will reshape competitive play and PvE effectiveness across multiple weapon categories.
Graviton Lance undergoes a substantial fire rate reduction, returning to its 300 RPM pre-Episode Revenant configuration after dominating lower to mid-tier PvP matches for several months.
Bungie’s development team identified this Exotic Void Pulse Rifle as disproportionately effective in average skill brackets while remaining manageable in high-level competitive play. The weapon’s exceptional uptime and potency in player versus environment content was acknowledged but didn’t drive this specific balancing decision.
Submachine Guns receive meaningful quality-of-life enhancements with magazine capacity increases ranging from 10-15% based on individual weapon statistics and rate of fire characteristics. This improvement addresses ammo economy concerns in both PvE engagements and extended PvP gunfights.
Sidearm enthusiasts will appreciate the Heavy Burst archetype damage boost, with body shot damage increasing from 30 to 33 and critical hit damage rising from 48 to 52.8. These adjustments make this weapon category more viable in close-quarters combat scenarios.
Exotic Armor Fixes and Ability Corrections
- Fixed an issue where using Hunter’s Shadowshot Super ability on Raneiks Unified could result in the encounter crashing.
- Reduced the number of active servitors that appear when splitting the boss during DPS.
- Rebalanced boss health values to compensate for the reduced number of servitors.
- Re-enabled Hunter’s Shadowshot Super ability in the activity.
- Spirit of Alpha Lupi
- Reduced heal impulse when using Thruster to 30 HP.
- Crest of Alpha Lupi
- Reduced heal impulse when using Thruster to 60 HP.
- Fixed an issue where Ballidorse Wrathweavers could increase the damage dealt by shattering targets frozen with Winter’s Wrath far more than intended. (D2-1217286)
- Fixed an issue where Mantle of Battle Harmony’s perk could be activated during Song of Flame to extend its duration.
- Fixed an issue where Stormdancer’s Brace would not refund energy if the player was in Transcendence during their Stormtrance Super.
- Fixed an issue where Golden Gun incorrectly was receiving the boosted roaming Super recharge benefits while Celestial Nighthawk was equipped.
Hunter mains can now confidently deploy Shadowshot in Raneiks Unified activities without risking encounter crashes, while the servitor reduction during damage phases streamlines the combat experience. The Alpha Lupi exotic adjustments balance Titan survivability in competitive modes where healing capabilities needed moderation.
Warlock exotic corrections address several functionality issues: Ballidorse Wrathweavers no longer provides excessive shatter damage, Mantle of Battle Harmony’s perk activation aligns with intended behavior, and Stormdancer’s Brace properly refunds energy during Transcendence. Celestial Nighthawk now correctly applies single-shot Golden Gun mechanics without unintended Super recharge benefits.
Weapon Archetype Specific Changes
- High-Impact – Now requires six crits on all resilience levels above 1.
- Reduced body shot damage from 22 to 21.5.
- Reduced critical hit damage from 39.6 to 38.7.
- Reduced Aim Down Sights (ADS) damage falloff scalar from 1.7 to 1.6.
- Lightweights
- Increased body shot damage from 17 to 20.4.
- Increased critical hit damage from 31.45 to 31.6.
- Lightweights
- Increased body shot damage from 32 to 38.
- Increased critical hit damage from 64 to 64.6.
- Rapid Fires
- Increased body shot damage from 13.5 to 13.6.
- Increased critical hit damage from 23 to 23.1.
- Precisions
- The intrinsic Hand Cannon Precision Frame now reduces your ADS movement speed penalty by 10%.
- Reduced the camera roll component of flinch against players by 20%.
- Reduced self-damage by 50%.
- Now activates in PvE and, when active, makes enemies slightly less accurate when targeting you.
- Reverted the Update 7.3.5 specific tuning for Sub Machine Guns.
- Reduced the camera roll component of flinch against players by 50%.
High-Impact Pulse Rifles now demand more precision with increased critical hit requirements and reduced damage values, while Lightweight variants gain improved body shot effectiveness. Scout Rifle adjustments enhance their mid-to-long range utility with substantial body shot damage increases.
Sniper Rifle flinch reduction and Heavy Grenade Launcher self-damage decreases improve weapon usability in high-pressure scenarios. The Skulking Wolf origin trait expansion to PvE content provides additional defensive utility for Iron Banner weapon enthusiasts.
Technical Fixes and Quality of Life
- The Daito manufacturer extends a heartfelt apology to all Guardians for this error.
- Fixed an issue where the Firefly perk on Ace of Spades was dealing Kinetic damage instead of Solar damage.
- Fixed an issue that allowed nuclear cores from the traversal to be used outside of the encounter.
The resolution of persistent Guitar error server crashes represents a major stability improvement for Destiny 2’s infrastructure, addressing one of the community’s most frequent technical complaints. Audio restoration during cinematic sequences ensures narrative moments maintain their intended emotional impact.
Weapon-specific corrections include Ace of Spades’ Firefly perk properly dealing Solar damage, Scavenger’s Fate Shotgun receiving its intended Slideshot perk, and various crafting table accessibility fixes. The Iron Intent armor set now correctly features its missing intrinsic perk, restoring complete functionality for Iron Banner participants.
Activity integrity improvements prevent nuclear core exploitation in Infiltration encounters and correct perk activation boundaries for Harmony and Discord, maintaining intended game mechanics across all content.
No reproduction without permission：Game Guides Online » Destiny 2 January 14 patch notes: Graviton Lance nerf, SMG buffs, Guitar error fix, more Destiny 2's latest update rebalances PvP meta with Graviton Lance nerf, weapon buffs, and critical bug fixes