The Destiny 2 Season 19 patch notes are here – and we’ve got a lot to talk about. As is often the case with start-of-season patches, Destiny 2‘s META is being fundamentally shaken up in a big way. We’ve got a ludicrous number of perks and weapons undergoing changes this patch, to the point where I guarantee something you use is going to be affected.
I’ve gone ahead and distilled the most important information from the Season 19 patch notes here. I’ll be going over changes to weapons and perks, but won’t really touch on bug fixes or the adjustments Bungie is making to various subclasses. You can find that information in the patch notes if you’re looking for something specific.
So, if you’re ready to get an idea of where Season 19’s META is heading, have a glance at the patch notes down below.
Destiny 2 Season 19 Patch Notes
Bungie is going all out this season in terms of balance and reworks this season, to the point where I guarantee something you use in your loadout every day is being affected in some way, shape, or form.
I’ve broken the patch notes down into three sections. First, I’m going to go over the general reworks and changes made to the game. We dive into the changes being made to specific perks after that. Lastly, we’ll have a look at the changes coming to various Exotic weapons and armor.
General Reworks
There are a handful of general reworks and specific legendary weapons being adjusted in this patch. There aren’t too many changes, but they’re important enough to be worth mentioning.
- Full auto toggle being added to settings.
- Shotgun reticles changed to dynamically reflect pellet spread. Pellet spread is no longer random. Each frame type has a unique pellet spread.
- Fixed an issue where some Aggressive Frame shotguns did not increase the rate of fire after a kill.
- Rapid Fire Frame shotguns damage increased in PvE by 5%.
- Reload speed benefit of Rapid Fire Frames now applies constantly, instead of only when reloading from an empty mag.
- Drang zoom reduced from 14 to 13.
- Main Ingredient stability was reduced from 49 to 35.
- Main Ingredient aim assist reduced from 59 to 45.
- Fusion Rifle hip-fire cone now dynamically reacts to changes in the weapon’s accuracy zone.
- Glave projectile hit detection has been upgraded to more reliably register over Bungie’s network.
- Melee attacks with Glaives now benefit from the exotic perks on Wormgod’s Caress, Synthoceps, and Winter’s Guile.
- Glaive melee damage multipliers are reduced by 25-30% against Champions, bosses, mini-bosses, and vehicles.
- Glaive base melee damage was reduced from 75 to 67.
- Rose’s stats have been changed to bring it in line with an Adaptive Frame hand cannon.
- Grenade launchers, Queenbreaker, and Grande Overture have all had their blinding effects changed to the new Arc 3.0 blinding effect.
Destiny 2 Season 19 Patch Notes – Changes to Perks
The biggest changes coming in the Destiny 2 Season 19 patch notes in terms of quantity are all about perks. Bungie is changing up a ludicrous number of perks in an attempt to inject more diversity into the META. Here are all the perk changes you need to keep in mind.
- Dragonfly, Rampage, and Surrounded:
- Now have their respective weapon mod behaviors enabled by default.
- Air Assault:
- Now grants a stacking bonus to airborne effectiveness, up to two stacks with each stack offering +30 AE.
- Headseeker:
- Body shots now increase your precision multiplier and increase your aim assist. Bodyshots also reset the perk’s timer.
- Encore:
- Body shot final blows grant one stack of Encore, precision final blows grant two.
- The perk now has a seven-second timer with final blows resetting the timer.
- +8 stability, +5 range, +1.25% accuracy per stack of Encore.
- Seraph Rounds:
- No longer increase damage falloff by 10%. Instead, it gives +7 stability and +3 range.
- Kill Clip:
- Damage was reduced from 33% to 25%.
- Redirection:
- Fixed to effectively register different tiers of combatants.
- Hakke Breach Armament origin trait:
- Now has 30% increased damage against Ward of Dawn and Well of Radiance sword, and 15% against Stasis crystals.
- Gutshot Straight:
- Increases Auto Rifle body shot damage by 20% instead of 10%.
- Compulsive Reloader:
- Now remains active down to half of your weapon’s total magazine count.
- The High-Impact Frame intrinsic perk:
- Now allows for slight movement before becoming inactive.
- Ambitious Assassin:
- The time between kills reset changed from five seconds to seven seconds.
- Well-Rounded:
- Duration increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Recombination:
- Has been fixed to allow the perk to function reliably in PvP.
- Recombination now grants up to 100% bonus damage in PvE and 50% in PvP.
- Zen Moment:
- It no longer deactivates on a miss. Instead, it now has a one-second timer.
- Rewind Rounds:
- Now works correctly with Divinity.
- Genesis:
- Now triggers on breaking player shields in PvP.
- One Quiet Moment:
- Now has faster reactivation after a final blow.
- Gun and Run:
- The number of final blows needed to activate Gun and Run has been reduced by 50%.
- Box Breathing:
- Damage on Scout Rifles was reduced by 5%.
- Unstoppable Force:
- Damage was reduced from 30% to 20%.
- One-Two Punch:
- Bonus damage was reduced from 3x to 2x against most enemies with unpowered melees.
- Reduced from 1.8x to 1.4x against most enemies with charged melees.
- Reduced additional damage vs bosses from 0.5 to 0.25.
Destiny 2 Season 19 Patch Notes – Changes to Exotics
There are quite a few Exotic weapon changes coming with the Destiny 2 Season 19 patch notes, and a handful of armor changes. Bungie is still in the middle of trying to balance the PvE Exotic META, and these changes reflect that. Many of Destiny 2’s best Exotics are being subjected to nerfs, with the lesser-used ones being buffed in an attempt to encourage players to use them.
- The Fundamentals perk present on Hard Light, Dead Messenger, and Borealis has been changed to add stats to the weapon based on which element is active. Arc now grants 25 handling and 5 range. Solar grants 35 reload speed and 20 airborne effectiveness. Void grants 20 stability and 10 aim assist.
- Borealis:
- Now refills the magazine when you break a matching shield. After this, your next five shots deal bonus damage.
- Jade Rabbit:
- Now returns a round to the magazine when you land three crits. This also increases the damage of your next body shot. Up to three of these body shot buffs can be stored at once, and the bonus damage resets on reload.
- Witherhoard:
- Taken portal duration was reduced from 7.5 seconds to 4.5 seconds.
- Divinity:
- Weaken was reduced from 30% to 15%.
- Arbalest:
- Now has reduced body shot damage to bring it in line with Lorentz Driver.
- Gjallarhorn:
- The initial impact and detonation of Gjallarhorn’s primary rocket have been reduced by 25%.
- Forerunner:
- Base damage was reduced from 40 to 37, and crit damage was reduced from 72 to 67.
- No Time to Explain:
- Full Auto Trigger System has been replaced by Feeding Frenzy.
- Traveler’s Chosen:
- Full Auto Trigger System has been replaced by Surplus.
- Vigilance Wing:
- Full Auto Trigger System has been replaced by Ensemble.
- Dead Man’s Tale:
- Body shot damage increased from 46 to 54.
- Crit damage was reduced from 81 to 80.
- D.A.R.C.I.:
- Now applies Jolt when damaging targets affected by Personal Assistant.
- The weapon’s base airborne effectiveness has been increased to 80.
- Wish-Ender:
- Bonus damage against targets affected by Witherhoard increased from 10% to 25%.
- The Prospector:
- Chain Reaction added to the weapon’s intrinsic perk.
- The Fourth Horseman:
- Recoil decreased by 50%.
- Forerunner:
- Crit damage increased by 30% in PvE.
- The Rock’s damage has been increased by 60% in PvE.
- The ammo cost to activate The Rock was reduced from six to four.
- Increased The Rock’s effective damage radius.
- Merciless:
- Decreased charge time on hit now resets based on a five-second timer.
- Rat King:
- The radius to activate the weapon’s perk increased from 15 meters to 20 meters.
- Legend of Acrius:
- Movement penalties while using the weapon were removed.
- Bastion:
- The spread angle was reduced by 6%.
- Quicksilver Storm:
- Maximum PvP grenade damage increased from 80 to 120.
- The grenade explosion radius was increased from three meters to four meters.
- Rocket damage type switched from Arc to Kinetic.
- Coldheart:
- Ionic Trace generation cooldown reduced from 3.5 seconds to two seconds.
- When at maximum damage, the weapon now maxes out your stability and reload speed.
- Picking up an Ionic Trace now decreases the time needed to get max damage.
- Grand Overture:
- Increased missile damage by 50%.
- Xenophage:
- Xenophage now deals half of its damage as impact, and half as detonation.
- Overall damage increased by 5%.
- Wormgod’s Caress:
- Reduced maximum damage multiplier from 7.5x to 3.5x.
- Winter’s Guile:
- Reduced maximum damage multiplier from 7.5x to 3.5x.
- Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk:
- Grants Volatile Rounds when exiting invisibility.
- Executing a finisher while invisible now grants bonus weapon damage.
There are a few other changes coming to Destiny 2 in the Season 19 patch, but that’s mostly bug fixes and some changes to the Enhanced versions of various perks. This is all the important stuff, so study it well and make sure you’re prepared – the META’s about the change in a big way.
