Destiny 2: Guardian Games Goes Live With Huge New Update

03/05/2024 04:23 pm EST

A substantial new update for Destiny 2 has today gone live alongside the start of Guardian Games All-Stars. On an annual basis, the Guardian Games event comes to Destiny 2 and brings with it a number of new challenges and rewards that players can earn. Outside of Guardian Games All-Stars now kicking off (and lasting until March 26), a notable new patch for Destiny 2 has also become available to download. 

As a whole, the latest update for Destiny 2 that Bungie has pushed out is one of the most extensive that the game has seen so far in 2024. For the most part, this patch is dedicated to all of the new activities that Bungie has added that are related to the Guardian Games. Other than this, though, some drastic gameplay balancing changes have also been made to go along with the usual array of bug fixes. In short, if you've been waiting for a reason to dive back into Destiny 2 in recent months, this update might be what you're looking for. 

You can get a look at the full patch notes for this new Destiny 2 update alongside the launch trailer for Guardian Games All-Stars below. 

Destiny 2 Update 7.3.5 Patch Notes

ACTIVITIES 

CRUCIBLE

General

• Fixed an issue causing crests to bounce on water in Supremacy.
• Altered the way the experimental Snake Draft lobby balancer handles fireteams.
• Updated the playlist tooltips to correctly display which matchmaking style is being used for each mode.

Maps

• Tuning pass over the initial spawning, Heavy ammo crate, and tiebreaker zone locations for all maps.
• Map spawning quality of life pass.
  • Addressed spawn traps for Eternity and Fortress.
  • Removed all backfield spawns for non-Rift modes: The Citadel, Cathedral of Dusk, Disjunction, and Convergence.

Game Modes

• Moved 3v3 Clash to the 3v3 Quickplay rotator and updated the rules:
  • Heavy ammo is no longer shared. 
  • Respawn timer increased from 5 to 7 seconds. 
  • Match timer increased to 10 minutes, score to win remains 40. 
• Added Collision, a new 3v3 king of the hill game mode, to Crucible Labs.
  • A single, larger zone will rotate between five points around the map on a timer. Capturing and controlling that rotating zone will earn a team points. 
  • This mode will also feature test an alternative Special ammo crate system.
    • The Special ammo crate system will feature four shareable Special ammo crates that spawn simultaneously at the beginning of the game or round, and then on a timer afterwards.
    • Each control zone location (A, B, and C) will have an associated Special ammo crate, and the fourth crate will be in a neutral location.
    • Players who currently have Special ammo will drop Special ammo bricks upon defeat.
• Iron Banner Tribute has been reworked:
  • Simplified objectives and scoring.
    • Changed the trigger for the Hunt from depositing max crests to a team score threshold. 
  • User-experience improvements.
    • Decreased the distance at which crest icons can be seen.
    • Reworked how quickly the beacons de-spawn and rotate.
    • Significantly decreased the time it takes to dunk crests. 
  • Reduced the number of turrets that spawn with the Hunt beacon from 4 to 3. 
  • Removed the visual indicator ("wall hacks") on players carrying max crests. 

Competitive

• Added a third tier to the Competitive weekly challenge with a new reward of Artifice Armor.
  • This tier is unlocked for all players who reach rank Gold III or above each Season.
  • This tier requires match victories instead of completions.
  • Upon completion of the challenge, each victory thereafter has a chance to drop Artifice Armor, and the drop rates increase alongside a player's rank.
  • Drop rates are based on a player's highest rank achieved for the Season, not their current rank.
• Competitive matches will also have an increased chance to drop Exotic weapon catalysts on victories. 

Trials of Osiris

• Updated the 50% chance to get a Trials weapon on wins to always drop the weekly weapon reward, to better allow for targeted farming of the specific weapon a player wants.
• Added rewards on match completions for three-person fireteams (gated on participation).
  • An additional 50% chance to drop the non-Adept Trials weekly weapon reward.
  • A 50% chance at a Trials Engram drop. 
  • Additional Trials reputation. 
• Trials Passages
  • Updated:
    • Passage of Ferocity – If a player hasn't been Flawless for the week, then losses after 3 wins will reset them back to 3 wins instead of Flawing their card. 
  • Added:
    • Passage of Persistence – Losses following a win will remove the win from a player's card. Consecutive losses do not remove additional wins. Getting to 7 wins grants a drop of the weekly Adept weapon, regardless of how many losses the player has taken.

• Added two weapons to the Trials of Osiris rewards rotation.
  • The Summoner Auto Rifle and its Adept version will be the featured Trials of Osiris weapon for the first time during the week of March 12.
  • The Prophet Scout Rifle and its Adept version will be the featured Trials of Osiris weapon during the week of March 19.

Iron Banner

• Added two weapons to the Iron Banner rewards rotation that will be available starting April 2.
  • Tusk of the Boar Grenade Launcher
  • Multimach CCX Submachine Gun

NIGHTFALLS

• Added two weapons to the Nightfall loot pool rotation.
  • The Wild Style Grenade Launcher and its Adept version will be the featured Nightfall weapon for the first time during the week of March 5.
  • The Slammer Sword and its Adept Version will be the featured Nightfall weapon for the first time during the week of March 19.

GAMBIT

•  Fixed an issue with an incorrect Hive variant spawning.

DUNGEONS

• Prophecy
  • The dungeon weapon pool has been updated. All the added and updated weapons below will also be given this new Origin Trait:
    • Crossing Over: These weapons have increased range and handling for the top half of the magazine, while rounds from the bottom half of the magazine deal increased damage.
  • Removed:
    • A Swift Verdict Sidearm
    • The Long Walk Sniper Rifle
    • The Last Breath Auto Rifle
  • Added:
    • These weapons will be added to the weapon pool and have received all-new perk pools and, in some cases, new damage types:
      • Prosecutor Auto Rifle
        • Primary
        • Precision Frame
        • Arc
        • Origin Trait: Crossing Over
      • Adjudicator Submachine Gun
        • Primary
        • Precision Frame
        • Kinetic
        • Origin Trait: Crossing Over
      • Relentless Pulse Rifle
        • Primary
        • High-impact Frame
        • Damage changed from Kinetic to Strand
        • Origin Trait: Crossing Over
  • Updated:
    • These weapons will remain in the dungeon weapon pool rotation with new perk pools and new damage types.
      • Judgment Hand Cannon
        • Primary
        • Adaptive Frame
        • Damage changed from Kinetic to Stasis
        • Origin Trait: Crossing Over
      • Darkest Before Pulse Rifle
        • Primary
        • Rapid-Fire Frame
        • Damage changed from Arc to Solar
        • Origin Trait: Crossing Over
      • A Sudden Death Shotgun
        • Special
        • Aggressive Frame
        • Damage changed from Arc to Void
        • Origin Trait: Crossing Over
• Warlord's Ruin
  • The correct nameplate now appears when the boss spawns during traversal.
  • Fixed an issue during the Ogre encounter where killing the Wardens quickly could soft lock the player.

UI/UX 

• Gunsmith Engrams are now listed in the Engram wallet.
• Fixed an issue where some multiplayer emotes would not display their interaction dialogue.

ACCESSIBILITY

• Players are now able to change the location of their reticle, regardless of platform (Center or Below Center) in the Gameplay Settings menu.
• Added controller Dead Zone settings in the Controller Settings menu.
• Players are now able to adjust the opacity of the radar background on the Character Settings menu.

FIRETEAM FINDER

• Fixed an issue where the Create a Listing button prompt would incorrectly say that players' listing title and tags would be reset when reselecting the same activity.
• Fixed an issue where the names of players joining Fireteam Finder lobbies were not displayed in group text chat.
• Improved activity selection for activities that players may not have access to yet in their progression, notifying them earlier in the selection process the requirements to have it available.
• Fixed an issue where the Fireteam Finder application pop up would freeze while it was being accepted.
• Fixed an issue where Listing Tags and Minimum Guardian Rank filter categories were reset after closing the filter screen.
• Improved search flow by adding feedback when there are active filters applied to the View Listings page.
• Fixed an issue in which search filters were not being reset when choosing another activity.
• Private Match titles in Fireteam Finder lobbies now include the activity name.
• Improved error messaging when players are unable to join or apply to a listing.
• Fixed an issue in which stale information was being shown when reselecting activities.
• Added Visual Impairment tag in the Listing Tags options.
• Fixed an issue in which the tooltip on roster contacts was inconsistent displaying "Finding Fireteam" when not in Fireteam Finder.
• Fixed an issue in which text would be stretched or spaced incorrectly in the Fireteam Finder text chat.
• Fixed issue where the Application modal stayed open if a player was looking at it while it was accepted. 

GAMEPLAY AND INVESTMENT

ARMOR

• Promethium Spur: Fixed an issue where Solar weapon kills were not providing the correct amount of Rift energy, both inside and outside of the Rift.
• Ballidorse Wrathweavers: Fixed an issue where this armor was providing bonus Stasis damage when using non-Stasis Supers.

• Apotheosis Veil: Fixed an issue where Insatiable could be applied when casting Super with relic weapons.

• Fixed an issue where the Dark Age and Wyrmguard armor sets were appearing in the Appearance screen before being earned.
• Fixed an issue where the artifact mod Revitalizing Blast failed to apply weaken when using Consecration.

CRUCIBLE SANDBOX

• Health:
  • In base Crucible, increased player health by 30, from 70 to 100.
    • Shields will still be between 116 and 130, depending on the player's Resilience values.
• Ability cooldowns:

• Melee, Grenade, and class ability cooldowns now have a 15% penalty applied to them in Crucible only.

• Super cooldowns now have a 20% penalty applied to them in Crucible only.

• Ability damage:

• Supers

• Increased base Super damage by 31%.

• Melee

• Increased base melee damage by 16%.

• Grenades

• Increased Arc Flux Grenade damage by 16%.

• Primary weapon damage:

• Pulse Rifles, Auto Rifles, Sidearms, and Scout Rifles

• Increased critical hit damage by 14%.

• Hand Cannons

• Increased critical hit damage by 10%.

• Reduced body shot damage by 5%.

• Reduced flinch dealt to players by projectile impact by 12.5% and by Explosive Payload by 10%.

• Submachine Guns

• Increased critical hit damage by 12.5%.

• Reduced body shot damage by 3%.

• Bows

• Reduced base damage by 15%.

• Special ammo acquisition:

• All players will start every game (all game types, including round-based modes like Dominion) with two kills worth of Special ammo for their chosen weapon.

• Instead of two kills worth of Special ammo being granted every time a player respawns, they will earn more ammo by filling up a Special ammo meter, with points given for getting kills, assists, or completing objectives. Getting 100 points grants two kills worth of Special ammo for their chosen weapon.

• Kills from Special ammo weapons and Heavy ammo weapons do not grant any points toward Special ammo meter progress.

• Jumping off the map will subtract progress from the Special ammo meter.

• Ammo is not dropped on death, and players will not lose the Special ammo they earned when they are defeated or revived.

• Earned Special ammo will carry over between rounds.

• Swapping from double Primary weapons to a Special ammo weapon will reset the player's Special ammo meter progress.

• Special weapon damage

• Trace Rifles, Shotguns, and Fusion Rifles

• Increased base damage by 20%.

• Glaives

• Increased projectile damage by 20%.

• Increased melee damage by 16%.

• Heavy weapon damage

• Heavy Grenade Launchers

• Reduced detonation damage by 5%.

• Machine Guns

• Exotic weapons:

• Fighting Lion

• Decreased damage versus players in Crucible by 20%.

• Devil's Ruin

• Decreased charged beam damage versus players in Crucible by 15%.

• Crimson

• Reduced flinch dealt to players by projectile impact by 17.5%.

• Forerunner

• Increased damage versus players in Crucible by 20%.

• Symmetry

• Increased Revolution damage versus players in Crucible by 16%.

WEAPONS

• Fixed an issue where players who have unlocked a weapon pattern via Riven's Wishes and don't own the Forsaken Pack will now be able to craft that weapon.
• Fixed an issue where players could swap weapons faster than intended in combination with a grenade or grapple ability.
• Fixed an issue where bonus damage from the Surrounded perk would not apply to a Rocket-Assisted Frame Sidearm's detonation damage,

Weapon Archetypes

• Hand Cannon
• Heavy Burst
• Fixed an issue where Heavy Burst Hand Cannons had 25% less aim assist than other Hand Cannons when hip firing or airborne on mouse and keyboard.
• Bow
• General
• Reduced auto aim falloff distance start and end by 15%.
• Reduced auto aim cone size by 5% at 100 Accuracy stat (unchanged at 0 stat).
• Auto Rifles
• Breakneck
• Added the missing twelfth perk to Breakneck's second trait column.
• Scout Rifles
• Lightweights
• Increased base damage by 5%.
• Sniper Rifles
• General
• Reduced auto aim by 10%.
• Rocket Launcher
• Diversified subfamilies:
• Precision: Increased reserve ammunition by 2 and reduced damage penalty from -10% to -5%.
• High Impact: Increased reserve ammunition by 2 and now deals more area-of-effect damage and less impact, for roughly the same total damage.
• The above two changes also affect Deathbringer, Gjallarhorn, and Truth.
• Heavy Grenade Launcher
• Increased reserve ammunition by 6 rounds at 0 inventory stat and by 10 rounds at 100 inventory stat.
• Reduced Spike Grenade's impact damage buff from 50% to 12.5%. With the below changes, this reduces the total Spike Grenades damage buff from about 8% to ~3%, making them less mandatory.
• Increased direct hit impact damage by 10%.
• Increased detonation damage by 5%. (This is offset by a 5% reduction to detonation damage in PvP.)
• Increased Heavy Wave Grenade Launcher damage by 20%.
• Increased Heavy Wave Grenade Launcher wave width by 40%.
• Sword
• Caster Swords
• Reduced Heavy attack energy cost from 5 to 4.
• Increased Heavy attack damage by 16%.

Exotics

• Vigilance Wing
• Now has a deterministic recoil pattern.
• Vex Mythoclast
• Increased aiming down sights (ADS) damage falloff scalar from 1.5x to 1.7x.
• Wish-Ender
• True Sight will now deactivate if the player leaves ADS or holds it for longer than 3 seconds. To reactivate, fully redraw the bow.
• Edge of Action
• Added damage resistance against combatants in PvE.
• Resists 85% against all combatants except bosses and 15% against bosses.
• Manticore
• Must now be airborne for 0.5 seconds and deal damage with the weapon to activate the perk. (This prevents accidental activation while running down stairs or doing small jumps.)
• Special reload to disengage antigrav thrusters.
• While antigrav thrusters are engaged, combatants will be less accurate when targeting the player.
• Catalyst: Final blows and sustained damage with this weapon while airborne grant a Void overshield and return ammo to the magazine.
• Ex Diris
• Increased impact damage vs PvE enemies by 50%.
• Increased maximum rate of fire by 16%.
• Conditional Finality
• Fixed an issue where the Freeze and Ignition effects could sometimes be applied at extremely long distances.
• Outbreak Perfected
• Fixed a flashing photosensitivity issue when firing the weapon.

Perks

• Heal Clip
• Now grants cure x2 to the player (still grants cure x1 to nearby allies).
• Trench Barrel
• Can now be activated by dealing damage with ranged melee attacks.
• Barrel Constrictor
• No longer deactivates upon firing a shot and lasts for 7.5 seconds (enhanced 8.5 seconds).
• Loose Change
• Applying an elemental debuff now increases aim assist and ADS movement speed, in addition to reload speed.
• Dual Loader
• Removed the reload speed penalty.
• Tex Balanced Stock
• Now grants +20 range and +1.5 degrees hip fire precision cone angle, in addition to its other effects.
• Envious Assassin
• Each activation is now capped at 100% of mag size instead of 150%, and maximum overflow is now 3x the mag size instead of 4x.
• Bait and Switch
• Reduced the damage bonus from 35% to 30%.
• One-Two Punch
• Now correctly deactivates after dealing damage with a powered melee attack.

• Hakke Breach Armaments, Deconstruct, and Sundering now work with Void Souls, Strand Clones, Cabal Projection Shields, and Brigs.

• Hakke Breach Armaments
• Damage bonus vs. Stasis crystals reduced from 85% to 60% to match other constructs.
• Deconstruct
• Updated the perk description to correctly state that it pulls ammo from thin air, not reserves. Also updated Deconstruct to work on Fusion Rifles and weapons that deal splash damage.
• Corrected an issue preventing the perk from activating on enemy constructs in Crucible.
• Fixed an issue where Deconstruct would not work as expected when dealing explosive damage.
• Fixed an issue where Deconstruct's ammo refund was not working correctly on Fusion Rifles.
• Sundering
• Can now trigger on shield break in addition to final blows on vehicles and constructs, added a small reload speed scalar and reduced charge rate benefit to account for higher uptime.
• Sundering buff is no longer active while weapons are stowed.
• Hatchling
• Activation requirements are no longer locked to the archetype in terms of precision or non-precision kills.
• Previously, a Scout Rifle could only activate the perk from a precision kill.
• Now Scout Rifles can activate on a precision kill or three rapid non-precision kills.
• Target Lock
• Now activates later in the magazine for Submachine Guns, at 20% instead of 12.5%.

Mods

• Major Spec
• Fixed an issue where mini-bosses were incorrectly included in its effects.
• Boss Spec
• Now correctly increases damage versus mini-bosses.

Seasonal Weapon Focusing

• Fixed an issue where the Wish weapons and Undying weapons engrams didn't reward a weapon if the player had already unlocked all crafting patterns for weapons contained in the engram.

ABILITIES

• Radiant and Restoration
• Fixed an issue where Restoration and Radiant buffs were being reapplied rather than having their duration extended.
• Note: This also resolves similar issues with shorter Restoration sources like Sunspots.
• Ember of Empyrean
• Increased maximum extension duration from 12 to 15 seconds.
• Reduced timer extension granted per Solar kill to compensate for drastically improved consistency.
• Previously, this granted a flat timer extension, regardless of the type of target defeated.
• Now, this time varies based off the target's tier, with lower time extension returns than previously for minor combatants and higher returns for Champion+ tier combatants.
• Ember of Mercy
• Now grants a flat 2 additional seconds to the player's active Restoration or Radiant timer, rather than refreshing its duration. This value is increased to 3 seconds with Ember of Solace equipped.
• Threaded Specter
• After creating a Threaded Specter, it now applies the same Dodge cooldown penalty that Ensnaring Slam applies.
• Increased detonation damage vs. PvE targets by about 25%.
• Ensnaring Slam
• Reduced duration of Dodge cooldown penalty after performing an Ensnaring Slam in PvE activities by 50%.
• Threadlings
• Reduced base damage vs. players from 40 to 35 and fragment-enhanced damage from 45 to 38.5 vs. players.
• Note: Unchanged vs. PvE combatants.
• Fixed an issue where the Threadling destruction impulse that was looking for other Threadlings had standard falloff, so they weren't reliably popcorn detonating as intended when one Threadling was destroyed.
• Fixed an issue where Threadlings were sometimes not playing their destruction performance when destroyed.
• Increased aim assist target size from 0.41m to 0.5m.
• Arcane Needle
• Increased aim assist angle by about 50%.
• Increased aim assist falloff distance from 30 to 45 meters.
• Increased tracking angular velocity by about 5%.
• Increased length of projectile's tracking shape.
• Note: These changes result in improved tracking consistency at all ranges, with the greatest improvement felt against close- to mid-range targets.
• Fixed an issue where using uncharged melees while Arcane Needle is equipped resulted in the player appearing to freeze in a melee pose.
• Consecration
• Increased Primary Scorch ground-follow projectile travel distance from 18 to 20 meters.
• Increased height of slam ground-follow projectile detonation by about 1 meter.
• Increased travel distance of slam ground-follow projectile from 16 to 20 meters.
• Increased travel speed of slam ground-follow projectile (including Pyrogale's enhanced version) from 16 to 24 meters per second.
• Gunpowder Gamble
• Reduced maximum self-damage on detonation by 33%.
• Fixed an issue where Omnioculus's melee energy return perk was unintentionally being reduced by the melee ability's chunk energy scalar. It now returns its original energy values when making allies invisible.
• Fixed an issue where Flashbang Grenade was receiving less chunk ability energy from perks than intended.
• Fixed an issue where Rally Barricade was receiving more chunk ability energy from perks than intended while the Bastion Aspect is equipped.

BOUNTIES AND PURSUITS

• Armor Synthesis Bounties have been reset.

GENERAL

• Added a new text chat command called "/clear". When used, it will clear out all text chat messages on screen.
• Multiplayer emotes added during Seasons of the Deep, Season of the Witch, and Season of the Wish will now properly display their chat messages when used with other players.
• The Veteran's Flair transmat effect can now be acquired from Collections and equipped to ships by those players eligible to use it.
• The Laser Cutter ship has had a missing engine component restored.
• The Duel emote can be properly acquired from the Special Deliveries vendor in the Tower for those players who claimed its associated Prime Gaming Drop.
• The General Triumphs for each ritual weapon ornament now correspond to the correct ornaments.
• Players must now be present during the first phase of the activity to get the Deathless Triumph to gild the Champ Title.
• Festival of the Lost quests that were not completed should be correctly cleaned up from the player's inventory.
• Champions will no longer spawn in the Vanguard Ops playlist version of the PsiOps Battlegrounds.
• Players are no longer awarded a second Veil Spectrometer consumable on subsequent characters after completing the pursuit.
• Take out the Trash emote no longer allows players to hide in geometry.

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