Destiny Hotfix 2.5.0.2 Sandbox Update Reveal

The reveal stream for Destiny Hotfix 2.5.0.2 is complete, and the major Sandbox updates are now public knowledge. Here is our list of announced changes, complete with some extra stats you won't find elsewhere.

Sidearms, Snipers, and Fusion Rifles

No changes announced.

Shotguns

Decreased bullet magnetism and removed aim assist when hip firing. Aim Assist is now only active while ADS on Shotguns. Mid Air Accuracy for Shotguns is also decreased generally.

Precision damage has been removed from Shotguns (other than Chaperone and Universal Remote), and base damage is buffed by 20% to make up the difference.

Rangefinder now includes a trade-off, decreases ADS speed by 25%. Finally, the movement penalties for wielding a Shotgun have been removed as the other nerfs have rendered them excessive / irrelevant.

Pulse Rifles

The rate of fire for low impact pulse rifles (Grasp of Malok and Clever Dragon) has been reduced by 7.7% or 1 frame, dropping their optimal TTK to .87s, identical to that of the slower firing low-mid impact pulse rifles (Hawksaw and PDX-45). The lowest impact Pulse Rifles have also had their magazines reduced by about 6 rounds, making Braced Frame a more painful choice.

In addition, High Caliber Rounds are now less effective and Pulse Rifles generally have had their flinch reduced. On the flip side, Pulse Rifles will benefit from an increase to mid air accuracy. It will take actual play in game to assess how helpful this is.

Finally, high impact pulse rifles (Parthian Shot and Spare Change .25) have had their rate of fire increased. Bungie said this change increased their RoF by 5.5%, but that would be a fraction of a frame. The delay between shots is 13 for these guns, so reducing that delay by 1 frame is actually 7.7%, unless it also affects the Lyudmila, in which case it could also be 10%.

Assuming they meant 1 frame, this reduces the optimal TTK to .7s. If it also affects Lyudmila (and why wouldn't it?), that gun's optimal TTK goes down to .73s.

Auto Rifles

Increased base damage of low rate of fire auto rifles (Suros and Shadow Price). The stream showed Genesis doing 35 on crits (with Focused Fire active). This matches the 1.3 crit multiplier and does not demonstrate a concrete TTK increase (suggesting a new standard crit of 27 and base damage still at 21). If what Bungie said is accurate, and you can kill with one less bullet, the TTK would become .8s, and the base damage would need to be slightly above 22. We'll have to wait to find out where we actually stand.

As we mentioned briefly already, Auto Rifles also got a general buff, moving the Crit multiplier from 1.25 to 1.3. This should have mid impact models dealing around 21 Crit, allowing them to achieve their current .9s TTK with one less crit. Low Impact models will also benefit, achieving their former optimal .8s TTK with 13 headshots.

Finally, mid air accuracy has been increased generally - we'll have to wait and see how helpful that actually is.

Scout Rifles

Mid air accuracy has been increased, alongside Auto Rifles and Pulse Rifles.

Hand Cannons

Initial Accuracy on hand cannons has been restored to Year 1 levels, a significant increase. However, bloom remains in effect at current levels, so follow up shots will need to be paced in order to take advantage of this buff.

To compensate, base range on high and mid impact hand cannons was reduced by 5 meters, affecting the drop off of damage and aim assist to make long range shots difficult and less effective. Hand in hand with this, max range damage was reduced from 50% to 33%.

General Crucible Changes

Guardians now spawn into matches with Special ammo, but thereafter it is treated like Heavy: dropped on death and only available from Special ammo crates. Special crates now spawn every 60 seconds and the drop radius has been nerfed sharply for teammates.

In Elimination and Trials, players will only spawn in with Special ammo in the first round. It is unclear if ammo held by players alive at the end of that round will carry forward to subsequent rounds.

Invective and Icebreaker will still generate ammo as they do now, but will drop that ammo on death. Sidearms are still Sidearms though, and are immune to this effect.

In effect, this is a net buff to Sidearms.

Hunter Changes

Throwing knife now does solar damage. Finally!

For Bladedancers, Hungering Blade now restores more health, and this health can spill over into your shields, but shield regen does not start immediately. Finally, Blink now removes your radar and HUD for 2 seconds upon activation, making it a bit more disorienting to use.

Warlock Changes

Stormcaller melee range has been brought into line with other warlock melees. In addition, Landfall now reduces the time that Stormtrance is active. It is unclear if The Impossible Machines are also affected by this change or not.

Titan Changes

Flying Juggernauts have been nerfed - Juggernaut now disables after a short time in the air, and cannot be activated mid air either.

Miscellaneous Changes

Universal Remote is getting nerfed again, but just a hair.

Finally, Young Wolf's Howl will be easier to use (less ammo to use), various exotics that were granting Kneepads for free have had this removed (?), and Bungie is looking at Truth and Shinobu's Vow to be changed as well.

That's all for now, Guardians! Stay tuned for more news and updates!