Summary
- Bungie released a new Destiny 2 update fixing issues and adjusting powerful weapon perks.
- Crucible changes include adjustments to Competitive points system and Trials of Osiris loot modifier.
- The update also makes changes to exotic gear like the Radiant Dance Machines, Barrow Dyad, and Slayer's Fang.
Bungie released a new update for Destiny 2, fixing issues with various activities, adjusting exotic items like the Hunter's Radiant Dance Machines, while also tweaking a few powerful weapon perks. It's been a busy few weeks for Bungie as the developer has added tons of new events to the current Destiny 2 episode, including the annual Moments of Triumph and the 2025 edition of Guardian Games.
Alongside the influx of new content, Destiny 2 continues to receive new updates fairly often, as an unfortunate reality with the switch to Episodic content has been a rise in bugs. Over the course of the three episodes, Destiny 2 players have seen a fair share of issues, including a bug that prevented certain weapon perks from dropping to one nasty issue that ruined longer play sessions. While those issues have since been fixed, there are still a few smaller issues that needed fixing and with this latest patch, Bungie is taking the opportunity to address many of them.
Destiny 2 is Turning a Bug Into a Game Feature
Bungie reveals that a recently discovered but popular Destiny 2 bug won't be fixed and instead will be kept as a regular game feature.
Alongside the Destiny 2 weekly reset this week, Bungie also applied its latest update for the game. Fans of Destiny 2's Crucible have a few changes to be aware of, as Bungie adjusted the Competitive points system, increasing performance bonuses to be positive more often. Matchmaking has also been tweaked slightly to avoid smurf protection being applied to players who were once highly ranked and have since been placed lower in the current season. Finally, Trials of Osiris had an issue fixed where the double loot modifier was being applied twice for post-game Adept weapon drops.
The Hunter's Radiant Dance Machines exotic leg armor has also been a topic of discussion in Episode Heresy as it has had some issues. The Destiny 2 exotics were previously fixed in an update where players were losing some of their extra dodge charges in various activities, but in this update, the armor no longer gives extra range bonuses to certain weapons like Tommy's Matchbook, The Last Word, and Dead Man's Tale. Not only that, the precision angle on this exotic was higher for mouse and keyboard users than those on controller, so that issue has now been fixed.
One of the more notible recent issues was the accidental launch of Destiny 2's Rite of the Nine activity. Intended to be part of Act 3, Bungie unintentionally launched an unfinished version with the arrival of the Act 2 update, allowing some players to explore the activity before it was ready. Hilariously enough, the activity even dropped unfinished weapons, some of which were missing textures entirely, while Bungie indicated some even had unintentional perk combinations.
Destiny 2 Update 8.5.2.1 Patch Notes
Crucible
Competitive
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Points Gains/Losses
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Increased the granularity of the performance bonus portion of the Rank rewards.
- This will allow the performance bonus to grant additional positive points more often.
- Increased the maximum amount the performance bonus can grant from +10 to +20.
- Increased the maximum amount the contribution scalar can grant from +50 to +60.
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Increased the granularity of the performance bonus portion of the Rank rewards.
-
Matchmaking
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Fixed an issue where smurf protection could be erroneously applied to players who had been highly ranked in previous seasons but placed lower than expected this season.
- This was increasing the effective rank that these players were matching in, leading to the reports of lower ranked players matching against players at higher ranks.
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Fixed an issue where smurf protection could be erroneously applied to players who had been highly ranked in previous seasons but placed lower than expected this season.
Trials of Osiris
- Fixed an issue where the double loot modifier was being applied twice for post-game Adept weapon drops.
Raids and Dungeons
Sundered Doctrine
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Fixed an issue where the final boss could be defeated using pressure doors.
- Pyramid Ships are dangerous places...
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Fixed an issue where alternate characters that completed the quest could not collect the class item.
- Alternate characters with no focus set can collect class item from focus chest.
- Alternate characters with a focus set, will need to set it to the class item to collect from focus chest.
Episode: Heresy
Court of Blades
- Fixed an issue where the Ritual of Greed armament pickups could be acquired by another player who had also purchased the armament.
Gameplay and Investment
Weapons
- Updated Temptation's Hook to match damage profiles of other modern Caster Frame Swords.
Exotic Weapons
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Slayer’s Fang
- Fixed an issue where Slayer's Fang would stun Overload Champions but did not stop their constant health regeneration.
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Barrow Dyad
- Fixed an issue where Barrow Dyad couldn't be crafted if the player had unlocked the fourth intrinsic.
Weapon Perks
- Fixed an issue where weapons with the Subjugation origin trait would not exhaust boss, miniboss, and Champion combatants.
- Fixed an issue where Explosive Payload's damage was not being scaled correctly by some perks like Magnificent Howl and Master of Arms.
- Fixed an issue where the Legacy Intrinsic Frame precision angle threshold was higher on mouse and keyboard than on controller.
Exotic Armor
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Radiant Dance Machines
- Set up custom tuning for Tommy's Matchbook, The Last Word, and Dead Man's Tale so that they do not get any range increase from Radiant Dance Machines but still receive some of the accuracy bonuses.
- Fixed an issue where the precision angle threshold when using Radiant Dance Machines was higher on mouse and keyboard than on controller.
Abilities
- Fixed an issue where players could spawn infinite orbs with no cooldown after using a Relic.
Artifact
- Fixed an issue where the Piercing Sidearms perk granted by Tablet of Ruin wasn't piercing some types of shields.
General
- "Winged Victory" Holochip has been renamed to "Taking Flight" so as to not be confused with the new ship with the same name.
- Fixed an issue where the Triumphant ornament required Season Pass ownership to purchase.
- Fixed an issue where the “Taking Flight” Holochip’s tooltip would not indicate that it was previously purchased.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 84 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
WHERE TO PLAY
Dive into the world of Destiny 2 to explore the mysteries of the solar system and experience responsive first-person shooter combat. Unlock powerful elemental abilities and collect unique gear to customize your Guardian's look and playstyle. Enjoy Destiny 2’s cinematic story, challenging co-op missions, and a variety of PvP modes alone or with friends. Download for free today and write your legend in the stars.
An Immersive Story
You are a Guardian, defender of the Last City of humanity in a solar system under siege by infamous villains. Look to the stars and stand against the darkness. Your legend begins now.
Guardian Classes
Choose from the armored Titan, mystic Warlock, or swift Hunter.
- Cross Save
- yes
- Expansions
- Destiny 2: Forsaken, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Destiny 2: Beyond Light, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Destiny 2: Lightfall
- Franchise
- Destiny
- Number of Players
- 1-6 (Co-Op)
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- no
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- Platform(s)
- PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, Stadia
- How Long To Beat
- 100+
- X|S Optimized
- YES
- PS Plus Availability
- Essential, Extra, & Premium (The Witch Queen)
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
