Bungie teases armor and stat reworks for Destiny 2: Frontiers

Destiny 2 will see some considerable changes to how stats and armor work for Frontiers, finally reigniting the armor chase for players. Some stats are simply getting renamed to be easier to understand while seemingly entirely new ones are entering the mix. Also, armor itself will be very different in the next Destiny saga, introducing powerful set bonuses and reworking how stats are distributed.

The armor chase has been more or less stagnant since Destiny 2 added Artifice armor alongside the 30th Anniversary Pack in 2021. Artifice armor offers an extra slot on the piece, adding a free +3 to a desired stat. It’s flat-out better than any other option, and the only reason you wouldn’t take an Artifice armor piece in every slot is so you can equip an Exotic in one. It sounds like that’s all getting shaken up in Frontiers with new reasons to hunt down some swag.

Stats for all

The crux of the armor changes work on top of greater changes both to how stats work and how they are distributed through armor. Bungie outlined how everything would come together in a Developer Insight post. The studio noted, “Once you have the right stat rolls, there is very little else to look forward to, and the intricate balance of stat values has a lock-in effect that makes it hard to want to swap anything out anyway. For armor to be exciting again, it needs some unique properties, and stats need to be easier to manage without so much need for fine-tuning.”

To address these issues, Bungie is taking several big swings at stats in general, starting with eliminating its current tier-based system. Players no longer need to build their stats with multiples of 10 in mind, as every little bit of a stat will count towards something. Complimenting this is the fact that stats can now be pushed over 100 to a maximum of 200. Building this high unlocks powerful effects, and Bungie hopes that will help make every stat have some value.

In the spirit of making everything more accessible, some stats are set to receive a name change. Bungie outlined that Discipline would become the Grenade stat and Strength would become Melee to help ease player identification. On top of these renames, Bungie also listed a Special Ammo stat. It didn’t specifically note whether this was altered from an existing stat or if it would join the others already in the game.

The studio offered a bit of information about how these stats might work in Frontiers, noting that up to 100, Discipline (or Grenade) behaves as players know it, but from 101 to 200, the stat grants an exponential chance to get an extra grenade when the ability charges. Strength (or Melee) decreases the cooldown for powered melee abilities as it does now through 100, but beyond, it similarly offers the chance for additional powered melee charges. As you might expect, Special Ammo increases the opportunity for ammo to drop after defeating enemies, and pushing it past 100 makes it more likely for double bricks to appear.

Valuable armor set bonuses are inbound

While Guardians are seemingly getting more stats on their armor, each piece will feature less diversity. Currently, armor appears with every stat possible, with only a couple highlighted to receive more than a few meager points. In Frontiers, armor will only appear with three stats, but each will offer more points in the stats that actually show up. In an example shown, a chest piece had 30 Strength, 10 Intellect, and 20 Discipline.

In addition to the general changes to stat distribution armor is getting, Class items are also getting a bit of love. Bungie noted that all Legendary Class items would receive a suite of stats just like any other piece of gear. The one exception to this is the Exotic Class items for Prismatic, as adding another layer of complexity into the grind for that item isn’t ideal. The studio noted that it’s considering methods for players to manually add the stats they want to the items.

Finally, one of the most significant changes to armor is the reimagining of set bonuses. Armor set bonuses are already in the game, though they appear in a rather timid fashion. These boons are never anything more than a Seasonal rep increase or something to help farm the currency of the week. However, Bungie is looking to make set bonuses in Frontiers something players would actually want to go after.

The new armor set bonuses will offer benefits when players either have two or four pieces of a set equipped, leaving room for an Exotic. This also allows players to mix and match two different sets for their bonuses if desired. The studio shared a few examples of the general direction in which these bonuses are intended to appear, including one from Tex Mechanica that improves hip fire and another for the Vanguard that offers damage resistance for the Fireteam when using a grenade.

Of course, as Bungie noted, much of this information is still in development and early, and the final product could change at any time. That said, Destiny 2‘s armor has needed a change for quite a while now, and if the studio can also tune up stats in the process, then it feels like a win-win.