Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Sandbox Update – Weapons

In This Week at Bungie blog-post that released earlier today, Bungie revealed a whole lot of sandbox changes coming to Destiny 2 weapons in general with the new Sandbox Update. These changes are not for specific weapons but for the weapons class themselves. Below, you can find every change revealed in the TWAB:

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Sandbox Update 

Weapon Changes – General

  • Weapon mods are now treated as reusable unlocks instead of consumables. Any mods you have in your inventory will be converted to unlocks
    • This gives players the opportunity to play with different mods more frequently
    • If the only copy of a mod you have is already in a gun, you will need to reacquire one to unlock it
  • Auto Rifles
    • PvE damage increased between +30% and +25% depending on combatant rank
  • Bows
    • PvE damage increased by +31% against minor enemies, and +26% against major enemies
    • Fixed an issue where bow draw times were displayed incorrectly in the inspection screen
  • Hand Cannons
    • PvE damage against minor enemies increased by 30%
    • Lightweight and Adaptive hand cannons use a new firing animation while aiming down sights
      • This change was made to increase weapon accuracy when firing these weapons as fast as possible
      • Ex: Currently, players can shoot faster than the recoil animation of 140/150 archetypes – so while the handcannon looks to have fully reset from recoil, the following projectile will be shot as if the weapon was still in a recoiled state.
    • Reduced the effect the range stat has on damage range falloff (effective range) for this weapon archetype
Destiny 2 Shadowkeep Sandbox Update
  • Machine Guns
    • PvE damage against minor enemies increased by 25%
    • Increased the effects of damage range falloff on this weapon archetype
  • Pulse Rifles
    • PvE damage against minor enemies increased by 28%
    • Increased the effects of damage range falloff on this weapon archetype.
    • Archetype specific damage changes (impacts both PvE and PvP gameplay)
      • Rapid-Fire Pulse Rifles now deal 14/23.8 base/precision damage (Previously 13/21.4)
      • High Impact Pulse Rifles now deal 21/33.6 base/precision damage (Previously 20/32)
  • Scout Rifles
    • PvE damage increased between +36% and +18% depending on combatant rank
  • Sidearms
    • PvE damage increased to minor and major combatants by 16%
  • Sniper Rifles
    • PvE damage increased by +47% against minor enemies, +20% for others
      • Exotic sniper rifle perk damage bonuses have been modified to compensate for this change and they will not receive the full benefits as a result
  • Submachineguns
    • PvE damage increased by 22.5% against minor/major combatants
    • Aggressive Frame
      • Removed the intrinsic effect of “Deals bonus damage at close range.”
      • This bonus was 10%, but was unintentionally always active
      • The bonus damage has been moved to the base damage for 750 RPM Submachineguns, resulting in no damage change
      • As a result, Tarrabah and The Huckleberry gain 10% damage in both PvE and PvP

These are all of the changes coming to Weapons in Shadowkeep next month. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in comments.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep will be hitting PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, on October 1, 2019, and later in November on Google Stadia.