Hunter has been the most underwhelming class to play in Destiny 2 since The Edge of Fate, especially in higher-end content. There are some strong builds, but they pale in comparison to what Void Warlocks can do by simply throwing grenades. That changes with Renegades, though, as Hunters are receiving some major buffs.
In the Renegades Ability Tuning Preview blog post on Nov. 24, Bungie teased plenty of buffs coming to Destiny 2 with the launch of the Star Wars-themed expansion on Dec. 2. Every class is getting some love (except Titans catching a few nerfs in PvE), but the most impactful changes are coming to Hunters.
All Hunter changes in Destiny 2 Renegades
The Solar Hunter DPS meta from The Final Shape is on its way back, as, alongside buffs to Still Hunt, every Super in their arsenal now deals more damage. Acrobat’s Dodge may also be finally worth using thanks to its reduced cooldown.
Here are all the Solar Hunter ability changes coming with Renegades:
- Golden Gun (Super): Increased damage by 15 percent against non-boss combatants and by 26 percent against bosses.
When fired inside a Well of Radiance, Golden Gun now counts as Radiant for increased damage, so you no longer need to step outside to fire it.
- Blade Barrage (Super): Increased damage by 39 percent against combatants.
- Solar melee abilities: Increased damage against red-bar enemies by 50 percent and by 36 percent against other enemies.
- Acrobat’s Dodge (class): Cooldown now matches Gambler’s Dodge.
- Gunpowder Gamble (aspect): Shooting the grenade in the air increases its damage by 50 percent and creates submunitions.
Void Hunter is also getting a lot of changes, with the main ones affecting, once again, Supers. The general goal is to make Deadfall the best choice for debuffing enemies and Moebius Quiver for dealing damage.
Here are all the Void Hunter ability changes coming with Renegades:
- Shadowshot: Deadfall (Super): Tether now attaches to combatants on direct impact. Increased the weaken effect from 30 to 35 percent, making it the strongest debuff in the game.
- Shadowshot: Moebius Quiver (Super): While the Super is active, dealing damage increases the damage of subsequent Shadowshot attacks and bow weapons. The final shot (or two shots when using Orpheus Rig) deals significantly higher damage, up to 227 percent. Super’s duration has also been increased from 10 to 16 seconds (16 to 20 when using Orpheus Rig).
- Smoke Bomb (melee): Increased the bomb’s lifetime from three to nine seconds, but reduced lingering smoke time in PvP from five to two seconds. Damage and screen effects have also been reduced.
The rest of the changes are moderate improvements across all remaining subclasses. The key ones are the improved Frost Armor gains on Stasis and the ability to give grapple to your teammates, even if they’re not using Strand.
Here are all the other key Hunter changes coming with Renegades:
- Storm’s Edge (Super): Passive energy regeneration increased by 25 percent.
- Tempest Strike (aspect): Reduced damage against players by 16 percent.
- Shatterdive (aspect): Any shatter grants full stacks of Frost Armor in PvE and two stacks in PvP.
- Silence and Squall (Super): Increased damage against combatants by 63 percent.
- Widow’s Silk (aspect): Looking at a grapple tangle for a short time now overrides your grenade ability with a free non-offensive grapple. Works for you and your teammates, as well as synergizes with The Navigator Exotic trace rifle. Grapple tangles created near the ground now rise into the air shortly after creation.
- Silkstrike (Super): Increased passive energy regeneration by 11 percent and damage resistance by 13 percent.
- Marksman’s Dodge (class): Increased ammo pickup radius from 10 meters to 15 meters
- Gambler’s Dodge (class): Reduced melee energy gain from 50 percent to 35 percent in PvP.
All Warlock changes in Destiny 2 Renegades
While Warlocks have recently received a buff to their grenade abilities, a few more improvements are coming with Renegades. Arguably, the biggest change is the ability to cast Rifts on the go instead of hunkering down.
Here are all the key Warlock changes coming with Renegades:
- Daybreak (Super): Increased damage against combatants by 20 percent, and projectiles now scorch targets.
- Nova Warp (Super): Charging the primary attack now pulls enemies toward you. Increased primary attack damage against combatants by 15 percent. Dark Blink now releases weakening seekers.
- Nova Bomb: Vortex (Super): Now repeatedly pulls enemies toward it during its lifetime.
- Stormtrance (Super): Increased maximum sustained damage bonus from 50 to 65 percent. Increased landfall jolt duration from 10 seconds to 16 seconds.
- Chaos Reach (Super): Increased damage against combatants by 20 percent.
- Ionic Sentry (aspect): No longer blinds the user.
- Lightning Surge (Prismatic only aspect): Reduced damage against players by 16 percent.
- Winter’s Wrath (Super): Increased shatterwave damage against frozen targets by 210 percent.
- Frostpulse (class): Reduced player freeze radius from 7.5 meters to five meters. Now slows players between five meters and eight meters.
- Needlestorm (Super): Now prioritizes bosses, minibosses, and Champions.
- Healing Rift and Empowering Rift (class): Rifts can now be cast while moving at around half-speed. Increased Rift radius from 3.5 to five meters. While standing in the Empowering Rift, melee and grenade recharge is increased by 20 percent. Healing Rift’s effectiveness is reduced in PvP by 10 percent.
All Titan changes in Destiny 2 Renegades
Titans are the only class hit by a few unpleasant PvE nerfs, including a rework to the Sentinel Shield Void Super and Howl of the Storm Stasis Aspect. Overall, the rework to Sentinel Shield can end up being a decent addition to DPS phases, but it’s unclear if it’d be worth using over Well of Radiance.
Here are all the key Titan changes coming with Renegades:
- Hammer Throw (melee): Impact damage now increases with range.
- Sentinel Shield (Super): Standing behind the shield now reloads all weapons every 2.5 seconds, grants overshield, but the damage bonus is reduced from 40 to 25 percent. Blocking attacks extends Super’s lifetime and charges Shield Throw damage.
- Fists of Havoc (Super): Light attacks now increase the next heavy attack’s damage.
- Howl of the Storm (aspect): When used during Super, increased Super energy cost from five to 15 percent.
- Banner of War (aspect): Melee damage bonus against players now scales with stacks instead of always being at full strength. This allows an unarmed melee to one-shot players at two stacks with 200 melee stat or at three stacks with base stats.
There are a few general improvements across all classes, like Threadlings looking for another target if the target was defeated when they were already in the air. Bungie also promises more ability improvements with the Shadow and Order major update later next year.
