Destiny 2's latest update buffs Golden Gun, nerfs Blade Barrage

Image source: Destiny Wiki

Today's Destiny 2 update brings a big buff to the Gunslinger's Golden Gun, including a 40 percent boost to damage inflicted on bosses and an increase in the Six Shooter base damage from 275 to 300. Scoring kills with the Six Shooter will also get you a bullet back, and you can never have too many of those. It's a different story for the Blade Barrage super, though, which had its impact dialed back, and can now also kill the user if you cast it too close to your target. Thanks?

There's a lot going on in this update, which collectively represents a big effort to bring old sub-classes in line with those introduced in Forsaken. In some cases, like the Golden Gun, it's an obvious buff, while other changes are more subtle: The base damage of the Titan Striker's Fist of Havoc super has been reduced from 325 to 275, for instance, but the damage to bosses and vehicles has been given a percentage increase.   

Scout rifles are getting a pretty hefty buff—five percent base damage increase on lightweights, six perfect on rapid-fire, and ten percent PvE damage on all scout rifles—which will hopefully make them a little more useful in a fight, and auto rifles are getting punched up slightly too. Rapid-fire sniper rifles, grenade launchers, bows, and trace rifles are being tuned. One of the major talking points will be what's happened to Telesto (also nicknamed "thebesto"), which has long been the scourge of the Crucible PvP mode. The base damage of Telesto's bolts is being cut by 19 percent, but the PvE damage is going up by 30 percent—an elegant solution designed to please both types of players happy, but almost certainly won't somehow.

Speaking of which, there's also quite a bit of grousing that One-Eyed Mask, a Titan Exotic which is widely regarded as being grossly overpowered in PvP but is absolutely fine in PvE has been left untouched. Again. On Reddit, Bungie's community manager said: "The team is currently looking at One-Eyed Mask, with tuning in mind for a future update. We'll provide more info when available." In the meantime, enjoy your free overshields, Titans.

As always, the update also makes a number of bug fixes, including one that was preventing players from being properly credited for using keys in the Mysterious Box quest. It's not entirely fixed, as Bungie that that "it is still possible, on rare occasions, for players to use a key and not complete the objective," but if you run into that, returning to orbit should fix you up. If you've already been affected by the bug, you'll be credited for consumed keys the next time you log in. 

The Destiny 2 update 2.1.4 patch notes are available in full at bungie.net. And in case you hadn't heard, The Last Word is back too—and it's bringing a friend. 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.