Explained: The changes Bungie is planning to bring in Destiny 2 for season 18 – Times of India

Destiny 2 fans have a lot to be excited about in August with the upcoming Bungie showcase (season 18) and a reprised original Destiny raid coming up this month. According to a report by Polygon, Bungie has updated its blog post to reveal some information about how certain weapon types and Exotics will be changing this month before the start of these campaigns. Moreover, the developer has also announced that fans will learn about Arc 3.0 — the final update for the old subclasses — before the Destiny 2 showcase on August 23. Players are expected to learn more details in the coming weeks.
Changes coming to weapon archetypes
Firstly, let’s talk about the changes announced by Bungie which will arrive for weapon archetypes. As per the blog post, scout rifles and heavy grenade launchers are getting an overall damage buff. Buffs and debuffs are damage modifiers available for weapons and abilities in Destiny 2. Buffs increase the damage that players deal, while debuffs increase the damage that enemies receive. Buffs arrive in the form of weapon damage perks, certain subclass perks, armour mods like High-Energy Fire and certain game mechanics.
Other weapons like lightweight bows and high-impact auto rifles will also get some adjustments. Moreover, Glaives are also getting a buff to their melee which will allow their hits to activate three Exotics — ACD/0 Feedback Fence, Karnstein Armlets, and Necrotic Grip.

Changes coming to existing perks
Bungie has also confirmed to make some changes to the existing perks as season 18 starts on August 23. The game will offer a complete rework of the Gambit and the Iron Banner perks, while Dares of Eternity weapons (based-on other Bungie games like Halo) will receive their Origin trait.
Apart from this, the Ambitious Assassin perk is also getting a major increase in its overflow potential (up to 150%) to keep up with the Overflow perk. Furthermore, the game will also remove the hidden cooldown from the Wellspring perk so that it can give ability energy on multiple kills.
On the other hand, the Dead Man’s Tale’s Cranial Spike perk will no longer deal bonus damage to players as the buff remains applicable only against PvE enemies. However, this perk will increase reload, aim assist and range per stack, where at maximum stacks, the Catalyst will cause the weapon’s hip-fire RPM to increase to 180.
Changes coming to Exotics
The most notable change to be introduced by Bungie was the Exotics. The blog mentions that multiple older weapons will get anti-Champion capabilities in season 18 and some Exotics will offer entirely new effects. The Exotics that will be getting anti-Champion updates are — Le Monarque will get an overload on poison arrows, Thunderlord to get an overload as well, Malfeasance will become unstoppable on explosions and Wish-Ender will add an anti-barrier.

Moreover, Wish-Ender is also one of the Exotics that will receive a substantial buff as it will hit most enemies three times instead of twice and will deal an additional 10% damage to Champions, majors, and minibosses.
Apart from that, the Exotic Void pulse rifle from the Vow of the Disciple raid — Collective Obligation, will become much easier for players to use in Season 18. Additionally, the Void Leech timer will also run for five seconds longer in PvE activities along with having no cooldown and will be much easier for players to activate.