Every change coming to Destiny 2 prior to Forsaken

Ahh, Forsaken. That’s the Destiny 2 expansion that hopes to carry on with Warmind’s vibes and replicate the success of The Taken King in the first game. We already mentioned everything players should know about it — from the fall of Cayde-6 to the introduction of Gambit, to brand new raids and activities. We’ve also mentioned key details with big changes taking effect just before Forsaken releases on September 4.

There are, however, more things to consider in the recent This Week at Bungie (TWAB) announcement. There will be more changes when it comes to mods, class perks, Solstice armor/completions, and yes, even Xur. Many of these we’ll be part of Update 2.0.0 which goes live on August 28, a week before the expansion hits. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

Destiny 2: Forsaken — What do I do with my mods?

Forsaken will make major changes to weapon mods in Destiny 2. As we’ve previously discussed, the mods system will be revamped which poses the question of what players should be doing with the mods they have now. The general answer is: “Dismantle. Otherwise, buy, combine, then dismantle.”

• Basically, you’ll want to dismantle all your Year 1 legendary/purple mods for mod components.
• As for your Year 1 rare/blue mods? You can choose to spend some glimmer to buy random blue mods from Banshee now. After acquiring a stack, you can then directly exchange them for a legendary mod which you would, of course, dismantle for components.
• If you’re unable to exchange your rare mods for legendary ones — perhaps you ran out of glimmer or you just don’t have time to be looking for them — just dismantle them as is. There’s still a chance you’d get mod components, albeit very low.

The reason you want to dismantle all your unused mods into components is because the Year 1 mods will be next to useless in Year 2. However, those mod components that you just obtained can still be used to purchase Year 2 mods from Banshee. While you can still dismantle your old mods during Forsaken, it’s much better to do that before the expansion goes live. At least you’ll be able to clear out your vault space and lessen all the clutter.

For Year 2 item drops, there’s a chance that they’re already slotted with a mod. If you like the gear and the mod combination, keep it. If not, you can dismantle the gear to get the mod back or replace the mod with a different one.

Year 1 weapons transitioning to Year 2

As for weapons, the weapon slot rework will also happen in Update 2.0.0 on August 28. Your weapon elements will be locked to the elemental mod you have that’s active. That means if you want to have an Arc Mananan SR-4 for Year 2, you better put an Arc mod in it right now. Meanwhile, others such as the Ikelos Shotgun and Ikelos Sniper will be locked to Solar. This was explained before as: “preventing them from stacking with Tractor Cannon” — also known as “melting bosses within seconds by using Void damage weapons.”

If you thought you could get away with changing your Hawthorne’s Field-Forge Shotgun and Perfect Paradox to Void to compensate, well, tough luck. That’s because they’ll be changed to Kinetic weapons instead. Say goodbye to having a full-auto elemental shotgun from Year 1 — well, except for the Unification VII which you can see in the video above from the Destiny Fun Police YouTube channel — or the Zenith of your Kind which is a raid drop. Those are a couple of options to keep as Void.

Certain Power weapons will remain in the same slot such as the Tractor Cannon, D.A.R.C.I., Legend of Acrius, and Whisper of the Worm. Lastly, throughout next week the Collections tab in your vault will be locked. If you need something, grab it soon or the next time you’ll be able to do so would be once Forsaken is live.

What about Solstice of Heroes and my Solstice armor?

This one is fairly important given how the Solstice of Heroes and Moments of Triumph in Destiny 2 was a fairly rewarding grind for players. It would be disappointing if these armors would suddenly be useless, right?

Well, don’t fret, Guardian. That’s because Year 1 armor can still be infused up to Year 2 standards up to the power cap. What’s also great is that we’ve learned that we’ll be able to place Year 2 mods on Year 1 armor including our Solstice gear.

There are, however, a few things that need to be considered. First, Solstice of Heroes and Moments of Triumph will end on August 28. That’s it, it’s over, it’s done… except for getting them Masterworked. If you already have the legendary (Resplendent) versions, you can still Masterwork them after the 28th although there will be some changes.

• For the requirement to hit the 110,000 point threshold in a Prestige Nightfall, you’ll only be able to do this after Forsaken goes live. That’s because Strike Scoring will be disabled from August 28 to September 4.
• For the requirement to complete Heroic Strikes with a clanmate, you’ll still be able to do that for that playlist until Forsaken. Once the expansion goes live, that playlist will be replaced by a new one which you can still run with a clanmate.
• For the requirement to attain Legend Valor Rank, all ranks will reset once Forsaken goes live. That means if you aren’t able to hit Legend before the expansion, you’ll have to start the grind all over again.

What about changes to subclass perks and exotics?

Titans:

• Their Ward of Dawn bubble in Destiny 2 only protected you while inside. Come Update 2.0.0, it’s going to be back to Destiny 1 levels like the Blessing of Light. Friendlies who pass through it will also gain an over-shield. But that’s only if you’ve got the Helm of Saint-14 equipped.
• As for the Rally Barricade, well, say goodbye to accidentally blowing yourself up with a rocket. That’s because you no longer need to crouch to get your ammo back. It will simply refill your magazine over-time as is.

Warlocks:

• Warlocks will have their Healing Rift and Empowering Rift abilities boosted even more.
• The Skull of Dire Ahamkara exotic will also regen more super energy from Nova Bomb kills, and even more depending on how tough the mob is.
• Oh, and the Transversive steps will also automatically reload your currently equipped weapon after sprinting for a short time. That’s on top of additional mobility.

Hunters:

• As usual, Hunters got the short end of the stick. Even though the Forsaken expansion for Destiny 2 features Cayde-6 — the Hunter Vanguard leader — that doesn’t mean jack squat. We’ll see some synergy with Marksman’s Dodge and reload-oriented perks like Kill Clip — ho-hum.
• We’ll also see the Celestial Nighthawk grant 33 percent of our super energy back if our Golden Gun kills a target. That sounds helpful until you realize that you’re probably just going to breeze through strikes as an Arcstrider or Nightstalker. Or, you know, how Golden Gun is often used for bosses and you’ll probably never need a 33 percent ability refund once you do kill a boss.
• Finally, with the other classes getting buffs, Hunters end up getting a nerf. Wormhusk Crown will no longer start shield and health regen when you dodge. Instead, you’ll just get a larger health and shield bump when you begin your dodge animation. That sounds good on paper until you realize that the Wormhusk was really good because that regen kept you alive while dodging. A bump in your health and shield might sound nice until you realize that people are still shooting you.

Grenades:

Most grenades will gain a boost when it comes to their base damage. Axion Bolts, Skip Grenades, Magnetic Grenades, Flashbangs, you name it. There’s just no mention of Tripmines, sadly. Even after the boost given by Young Ahamkara’s Spine, I still haven’t seen one-shot kills against full health opponents. Just to show you how hilariously good Tripmines were back then, here’s a video courtesy of a Destiny player El2mador.

What about Xur?

Xur will still be around in Forsaken, of course. It’s just that he will no longer have an icon telling you where he is on the destination map. Players will have to scour various locations once more to find him and report on the forums where he is. Also, Fated Engrams which give you exotics that you’ve yet to obtain will only grant pre-Forsaken exotics.

Well, that’s pretty much it for now. Looks like Forsaken is shaping up to bring some major changes to Destiny 2. For PC players who are experiencing the franchise for the first time now, this is how things were back during The Taken King days. So many improvements and mechanics vastly changed the game compared to its vanilla or Year 1 iteration.

As usual, stay tuned to PC Invasion for more news. As for me, I’ll have to log back in the game. I’m currently 10 points shy of completing my Moments of Triumph. What’s the last requirement that I still need to do before August 28, you ask? Well, that’s opening 40 more region chests which, I feel, is a more painful ordeal than grinding for Solstice armors.