Player Character
Character Level Cap raised to 34 for all players
Your Character Level will be grandfathered into your highest possible Light Level from all gear in your inventory and vault
Character Level Cap will be increased to 40 on 9/15 (requires The Taken King)
Character Level and Light are now separate stats
Light is now calculated by the average of the Attack and Defense scores of all your gear
Weapons, Ghosts, Class Items, and Artifacts now all contribute to Light
Grimoire Score has been moved from the Character Nameplate and now displays in the Character Screen
Attack Power values on weapons and gear have been renormalized in preparation for the Taken King
Year 1 Attack and Defense values caps have been renormalized for Year 2 (previously 365 Attack is now 170 Attack)
All Defense values are now on the same scale as Attack
Weapon damage numbers and combatants have been scaled against renormalized Attack and Defense values
Outgoing and Incoming damage has been changed to reflect new Light system
Ability Damage is directly computed from your Light Score
Player Health is directly computed from your Light Score
Weapon Damage is heavily weighted by both your Light score and the Attack value of the weapon
Classes
General
Intellect, Strength, and Discipline now only change their effect in fixed tiers
Intellect, Strength, and Discipline stats now display their tier and the exact duration of the effect on the tooltip in the Character Screen
Orb generation is now capped to a maximum of 8 orbs at once when wearing exotic armor items that increase orb spawning rates
Increased Recovery stat time at low end by 1 second and Reduced high end reduced timer by 2 seconds. These were re-normalized Recovery stat effects to make a more compelling character stats choice
Pulse Grenades secondary effect distance are now globally 8 meters (Thermal and Void: 7 -> 8 meters, Arc: 9 -> 8 meters). Detonation distance still unchanged at 7 meters
Pulse Grenade fuse times have been reduced
Thermal Pulse (Incendiary Grenade) base detonation and damage have been increased to unify stats with other Pulse Grenades
Fixed an issue where perks that grant additional super energy for grenade kills did not work correctly in the Crucible
Titan – Defender: Line attacks (Fist of Havoc Shockwave and Arc Blade Razor’s Edge) can now no longer penetrate Ward of Dawn
Hunter
Gunslinger: Golden Gun Damage increased (350 -> 360) to ensure it consistently killed opponents in the Crucible
Bladedancer
Arc Blade can now generate up to 6 Orbs when geared with exotic armor that increase orb spawning rates
Blink movement ability activation delay increased by 0.07 seconds (0.26 seconds to 0.33 seconds)
Blink movement ability visuals now changed to better telegraphing direction: clearer activation FX and trail FX
Blink Strike now does Arc Damage
Arc Bolt grenades (Thermal and Arc) damage reduced by 25% to 75 damage
Arc Bolt Range reduced by 11% to 8 meters
Flux Grenade tracking shape volume has been changed to reduce tracking aggressiveness
Warlock
General: Armor Bonus perk “Strength of the Ram” (found on exotic helmet, The Ram) has been reduced (5->3)
Sunsinger: Fixed an issue where Sunsingers who self-resurrected from Fireborn were given a free orb upon respawn; Fireborn Sunsingers must now successfully kill to spawn orbs.
Weapons
Auto Rifle
Base Damage increased across all archetypes
Damage Falloff now starts closer to the player to emphasize its role as a close range weapon
Base Stability reduced slightly. Landing consistent precision shots require more weapon control
Damage done against AI combatants increased by 30%
Pulse Rifles
All Stable (low recoil) Pulse Rifles (i.e., Hopscotch Pilgrim) now use “Medium” Rate-of-Fire base stats
“Medium” Pulse Rifle’s Rate-of-Fire has slightly increased, but with base Damage reduced slightly (2.5%)
PVP: Bursts-to-kill (all precision hits) is 2 or 3, depending on victim’s Armor stat
Magazine Size increased on all base stats
Base Stability reduced slightly. Landing consistent precision shots require more weapon control
Damage done against AI combatants increased by 25%
Scout Rifles
Base Damage increased slightly for “Medium” to “High” Rate-of-Fire Scout Rifles. Small adjustment, does not change shots-per-kill in PVP against another Guardian with full health
Magazine Size increased on all base stats
Accuracy when firing from hip is reduced
Damage done against AI combatants increased by 5%
Hand Cannons
Damage Falloff distance has been reduced to be closer to the player to limit long range lethality
Accuracy while in Aim-Down-Sights reduced slightly, making long range snap-shooting less reliable
Accuracy when firing from hip is reduced
Magazine Size reduced on all base stat settings
Base Optics (zoom) reduced so Aiming Down Sights grants more width (in favor for depth)
Shotguns
Shotgun precision damage scalar grants 10% bonus damage (Was 25%)
Shot Package perk reduces the cone spread by 20% (was 50%)
Rangefinder perk adds a 10% base Range increase on zoom (was 20)
Damage done against AI combatants reduced by 45% ( 2.25-> 1.15)
Sniper Rifle: Final Round perk now buffs precision damage, not base damage. This change only affects this perk when combined with Sniper Rifles
Fusion Rifles
Fusion Rifles now no longer get more accurate with each projectile fired
Fusion Rifles that are slow charging, high impact now have a slightly lower base Range value, making it harder to max out
range for these weapons
Accuracy increased for low range Fusion Rifles; Accuracy reduced for high range Fusion Rifles
Max Fusion Rifle projectile speed decreased slightly
Damage done against AI combatants increased by 15%
Sidearms
Base Reload Speed increased
Ammo Stats for Sidearms have been reduced to match other Secondaries, but still retain starting bonus ammo
Rocket Launchers
Blast Radius distance slightly increased
Grenades and Horseshoes perk proximity detonation distance reduced to 1.3 meter (was 2 meters)
Machine Guns
Fixed an issue with all Dead Orbit Machine Guns where attached plasteel plate failed to animate properly on reloads
Damage done against AI combatants increased by 5%
Weapon Perks
General
Reduced Damage bonuses and penalties granted from weapon barrel upgrades
Overpenetration perk now only works on bipeds (no longer works on environment materials)
Mulligan perk chance increased to 20%
Year One Perks
We have revisted all of these Year One stat perks and reduced the amount they buff your weapon stat to re-normalize against Year Two weapon lethality and reinforce specialization so players are making meaningful trade-offs on weapons.
To compensate for the weaker stat perks from launch weapons, we added some new stat perks (introduced in House of Wolves) that provided a significant increase to a stat in exchange for a reduction in other stats. This allows players to be able to spike a stat that reinforces their specialized play style, but at a cost.
Accelerated Coils: Reduced charge time by 50%
Accurized Ballistics: Reduced range and damage bonus by 50%
Aggressive Ballistics: Reduced damage bonus by 50%. Increased stability and range penalties by 100%
Aggressive Launch: Reduced damage bonus by 50%. Increased stability and projectile speed penalty by 100%
Confined Launch: Increased projectile speed penalty by 25%. Reduced stability bonus by 33%
CQB Ballistics: Reduced range bonus by 25%. Reduced stability bonus by 33%
Enhanced Battery: Reduced magazine bonus by 60%
Extended Mag: Reduced magazine bonus by 33%
Field Choke: Reduced damage bonus by 50%. Reduced range bonus by 60%. Reduced stability penalty by 20%
Field Scout: No longer affects magazine. Reduced inventory bonus by 37%
Fitted Stock: Reduced stability bonus by 60%
Flared Magwell: Reduced reload bonus by 80%
Hammer Forged: Reduced range bonus by 50%
Hand Loaded: Reduced range bonus by 50%
Hard Launch: Reduced projectile speed bonus by 50%
Heavy Payload: Reduced blast radius bonus by 50%
Javelin: Reduced projectile speed bonus by 50%
Linear Compensator: Reduced damage bonus by 50%
Luck in the Chamber: Reduced damage bonus by 3%
Perfect Balance: Reduced stability bonus by 40%
Send It: Reduced by range bonus 40%. Inventory and equip penalties added
Smart Drift Control: Reduced stability bonus by 40%. Reduced range penalty by 33%
Smart Drift Control (Rocket Launcher):
Reduced stability bonus by 40%. Reduced projectile speed penalty by 33%
Smallbore: Reduced stability and range bonuses by 25%
Smooth Ballistics: Stability bonus made into penalty. Range penalty is now a bonus.
Soft Ballistics : Reduced damage penalty by 50%
Soft Launch: Stability bonus made into penalty. Projectile speed penalty is now a bonus.
Speed Reload: Reduced reload bonus by 80%
Warhead Verniers: Reduced blast radius bonus by 37%. Reduced projectile speed bonus by 60%. Reduced stability penalty by 20%
Exotic/Legendary Weapons
Hard Light
Base Stability increased to 80
Hard Light projectiles now have increased bounce count
Hard Light projectiles are now not affected by Damage Falloff
Hard Light projectile FX updated so it is easier to track the projectile ricochets
Suros Regime
Stability reduced
Added a Range boost to the Focus Fire node on the Talent Grid
Necrochasm
Base Stability increased to 60
Magazine Size increased
Cursebringer perk will now always trigger on a precision kill
Cursebringer perk explosion radius increased and deals more damage
Rangefinder perk has been replaced by Zen Moment
The Last Word
Range reduced by 10
Base Stability reduced by 10
Accuracy while in hip fire is increased
Precision Damage aim assist while in hip fire is increased
Fixed an issue where damage bonuses while in hip fire was not applying correctly
Thorn
Base Damage of Thorn DoT reduced by 1/3 for both PVE and PVP
Thorn DOT now stacks up to 5x over multiple shots: This is a net buff, but it is now spread over multiple shots to eliminates the PVP “2-shot walk away.”
Thorn DoT damage now correctly reports as poison
Hawkmoon
Luck in the Chamber and Holding Aces perks now have a stacking limit of 2. Only 2 of the bonus damage perks will ever stack, which should eliminate the Hawkmoon 1-hit PVP kill to an undamaged opponent
Holding Aces perk now increases magazine by 2 rounds
Icebreaker:Ammo Recharge time increased to 7 seconds between rounds (was 5 seconds)
Gjallarhorn: Reduce damage of Wolfpack Rounds by roughly 1/3
Black Hammer: White Nail perk now fills the magazine from your ammo reserves
No Land Beyond
Fixed an issue where there were overlap/parallax issues in Sights during aim-down-sights view
Base Handling increased
The Master perk has an increased base precision damage bonus scalar (2.6x -> 3x)
Lord of Wolves: Rally perk now grants +5 Recovery to allies in close proximity
Thunderlord
Arc detonation chance for Lightning Rounds kill increased to 50%
Magazine size increased to offset ammo stat changes
Vex Mythoclast
Projectile Speed increased to compensate for global Fusion Rifle changes
Stability increased to compensate for global Fusion Rifle changes
Universal Remote: Base Range increased by +20
Monte Carlo
Stability increased to compensate for global Auto Rifle Changes
Fixed an issue where the Method perk did not only trigger when killing players or combatants. Can no longer trigger when “killing” destroyable objects
Bad Juju: Stability increased to compensate for global Pulse Rifle changes
Red Death
Stability increased to compensate for global Pulse Rifle changes
Fixed an issue where Rate of Fire and Impact stats were displayed incorrectly. Stat values were not changed, UI display only
Plan C
Range increased to compensate for global Fusion Rifle changes
Stability increased to compensate for global Fusion Rifle changes
Exotic Armor
General: Many pieces of Exotic Armor now recolor when a Shader is applied