How Exotic armor is changing in Destiny 2: The Final Shape

Destiny 2’s The Final Shape expansion is just a few days away, and alongside everything new coming to the game, the existing status quo will change. Some Exotic armor effects are due for tweaks, both to support the new Prismatic Subclass and to adjust the meta as needed.

Bungie has been using the window up to The Final Shape’s release to highlight how Destiny 2 would change. The studio has already detailed some new Exotics and what players could expect from weapons in the new expansion, and now it’s showing the alterations being made to existing Exotic armor.

General changes

While most of the changes to Exotic armor affect the Class that can use the item, Bungie outlined a few alterations that would hit on a more global scale. The first of these is simple, but it helps meld more Exotic effects into the new Prismatic Subclass. Exotic effects that require a specific Subclass element will only need a matching Super in The Final Shape. This opens up buildcrafting opportunities, as Prismatic won’t technically be any one element.

A welcome update to all Exotic armor is that the gear will support an Artifice slot in The Final Shape. Traditionally, Artifice armor could only be earned in Dungeons on Master difficulty, but more recently, Bungie extended the offering to the Competitive PvP playlist. The bonus slot on this gear allows players to add a zero-cost +3 boost to any chosen stat. Guardians will be able to Masterwork Exotic armor as usual and then purchase the Artifice slot for 1 Exotic Cipher and 10,000 Glimmer.

Ammo Finder armor mods are also set to see a slight change. As they are, a player’s death resets progress toward another ammo drop, making reliable gains difficult for those who die frequently. Bungie is altering the effect to persist through death but compensating by increasing the number of kills to create an ammo drop. As another small bonus, the unique Raid mods only available on Raid armor will be free to equip in The Final Shape.

Warlock

• Mantle of Battle Harmony – This Exotic has always had a pretty solid effect, increasing Super energy gained while uncharged and then switching to an elemental damage buff matching Subclass choice. The 2-second cooldown between Super energy gains will be removed, and more Super energy will be granted based on the type of enemy defeated.

• Ballidorse Wrathweavers – Ballidorse Wrathweavers will still improve Shatter damage for the Winter’s Wrath Super, and it will also provide max stacks of Frost Armor to nearby allies. The user gets Frost Armor once the Super ends and Rifts also grant full stacks of Frost Armor when using the Frostpulse Aspect.

• Secant Filaments – The Exotic already grants Devour when using a Warlock Rift and allows Guardians to disrupt enemies from within the Rift. Now, Secant Filaments will also refresh the Devour buff when reentering the Rift.

• Verity’s Brow – The effect is unchanged, providing a grenade damage buff and offering grenade energy, but instead of triggering from elemental weapon kills tied to a Guardian’s Subclass, it will now function off of elemental weapon kills tied to grenade choice.

• Sunbracers – Sunbracers allows players to throw multiple Solar grenades after eliminating a foe with a powered melee charge. Now, the number of possible grenades has decreased from 5 to 4, and each Solar only lasts an additional 2 seconds, down from 4.

• Cenotaph Mask – This Exotic quickly became popular, allowing Warlocks to generate ammo for their team by marking Champions or other formidable adversaries with trace rifle fire. Players can no longer trigger Cenotaph Mask’s effects multiple times on a single target, and the visual mark indicator will now be hidden from the user.

Titan

• Ursa Furiosa – In addition to its existing effects buffing the Sentinal Shield Super and refunding Super energy based on guarded damage, Ursa Furiosa will allow Guardians to move faster while guarding with the new Unbreakable Void Aspect and reward scaled Super energy for blocking damage.

• Eternal Warrior – Eternal Warrior remains largely unchanged except for removing the requirement to run an Arc Subclass.

• Armamentarium – Besides the existing effect that adds an extra grenade charge, the Exotic will also grant Orbs of Power for grenade kills.

• Khepri’s Horn – Khepri’s Horn provides Barricade energy for Solar kills, and Barricades send forth a returning Scorching wave. The wave has been improved, increasing PvE damage by 100%, applying Scorch each time it hits foes, and working with both Ember of Eruption and Ember of Ashes.

• Heart of Inmost Light – Hear of Inmost Light’s functionality is unchanged, buffing players’ other two abilities after using one. However, its three buffs have been consolidated to save UI space.

• Synthoceps – This exotic still buffs Handling and Reload Speed on top of granting a melee and Super damage bonus when surrounded. That said, Bungie decreased the time the buffs remain active from 8 seconds to 5.

• Severance Enclosure – Severance Enclosure creates an explosion when defeating enemies with a powered melee, amplifying the effect with Finishers or against more difficult enemies. Bungie tweaked the effect only to go off after players spend a melee charge to eliminate an enemy. The explosions now also require line of sight to trigger, and knockback has been lessened.

Hunter

• Assassin’s Cowl – Like Severance Enclosure, Assassin’s Cowl will also require an expended melee charge to trigger its effects. However, those effects remain unchanged, granting invisibility, health, and shields after players use a powered melee to defeat an enemy.

• Triton Vice – Triton Vice buffs glaives, increasing damage and reload speed when enemies are nearby. Glaive melee kills overflow the weapon, and projectile kills cause a detonation. Bungie is removing the previous requirement for the glaive to match Guardians’ Subclass for the projectile detonations to function. Additionally, the buffs granted for being surrounded will linger for 5 seconds.

• The Dragon’s Shadow – This Exotic lets a Hunter dodge reload all weapons, buffing movement speed, and weapon handling. It will also apply its effects when using Ensnaring Slam or the upcoming Ascension Arc Aspect.

• Foetracer – Currently, Foetracer grants a weapon matching the element of your Subclass a damage bonus when players damage an enemy with an ability. It also creates elemental pickups when enemies are defeated using a weapon that’s the same element as your Subclass. In The Final Shape, Foetracer will function based on the element of the ability used rather than the equipped Subclass.

• The Sixth Coyote – This Exotic grants another charge of dodge. Bungie has updated The Sixth Coyote to include the Reaper armor mod, granting Orbs of Power when players eliminate a foe after dodging.

• Renewal Grasps – Renewal Grasps increase the size of the Duskfield grenade effect, reducing damage to allies and making enemies deal decreased damage. Bungie is updating Renewal Grasps to incorporate Frost Armor, replacing the generic damage reduction. Players will gain one stack of Frost Armor upon entering the Duskfield grenade and an additional stack every 0.9 seconds.

• Star-Eater Scales – This Exotic allows players to earn more Super energy from Orbs of Power and Orbs of Power collected while at full Super energy provide a damage buff, overshield, and healing when the Super is cast. This can stack up to four times. For The Final Shape, Bungie tweaked Star-Eater Scales, making the full buff effects require 6 Orbs of Power pickups while at full Super energy, up from four. The Super energy gained from Orbs of Power while using the Golden Gun Super has decreased from 2% to 0.5%.