All Melee, Glaive, and Exotic Armor Changes in Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate

The road to Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate keeps getting shorter, and to hype us up, Bungie has been explaining many of the changes coming to the expansion on a weekly basis. For this TWID, we got to see some of the melee, glaive, and exotic armor changes for Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate, and let me tell you, they all look fantastic. Some veterans might have a hard time adjusting, but these mechanics are much better and will certainly streamline many of the things players have been struggling with for years. So, without further ado, let’s see what awaits us once we land on Kepler.

Melee Rework

The Destiny 2 Sandbox Team went into detail regarding how melee works right now and how it will change once The Edge of Fate arrives. Basically, the way it works at the moment is that it relies too much on buffs, which is a problem in the long run. However, The Edge of Fate will do the following:

• We are buffing almost all effects that increase melee damage, some of them by double the damage they do now.
• In PvE, melee damage increasing effects always stack at full value if applicable.

According to the TWID, these are also some of the systemic changes coming to melee damage:

• Every effect that increases melee damage has been converted to use additive damage stacking.
• Melee damage no longer scales Scorch and Ignition damage generated by melee attacks. The logic behind this change is similar to the logic underlying the Jolt damage scaling changes we made a while back.

It will be a bit strange for melee-oriented Guardians at first, but it seems that this will balance things a lot. Some players were looking for ways to one-shot bosses, while others were struggling with tough enemies if they had a bad melee build. Now, it seems things will be much easier to understand.

Glaive Changes

Bungie is also looking for ways to make Glaives feel more relevant. At the moment, they don’t feel viable enough, with some not even making it to the melee meta. For that reason, there are many changes coming to Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate, alongside the melee rework.

One of the most important changes is that Glaives are now considered an Unpowered Melee Ability. This basically lets Glaives receive buffs if anything else increases Unpowered Melee Abilities.

• Glaive melee is now considered to be a type of unpowered melee ability.
  • They now receive melee damage increases at full effect in all cases where an unpowered melee ability would, including the damage increases from Synthoceps, Knockout, Offensive Bulwark, Combination Blow, Spark of Feedback, Wormgod Caress, Banner of War, and Stylish Executioner.
• Glaive melee now triggers all effects that are triggered by any melee ability.
  • They will no longer benefit from some weapon damage bonuses, such as Radiant, as it’s no longer weapon damage.
  • Effects that modify the behavior of basic melee attacks, such as the Titan Aspect Knockout that changes basic melee attacks from Kinetic to Arc, will not affect the behavior of Glaive melee.
• Glaive melee damage in PvE has been adjusted to compensate for their increased access to melee damage-increasing effects.
  • Glaive melee damage against minors and majors has been reduced by 40%.
  • Glaive melee damage against Champions and minibosses has been reduced by 28.5%.
  • Glaive melee damage against bosses and vehicles has been reduced by 50%.

Class Melee Abilities Changes

Bungie also listed all the changes coming to melee abilities to all classes in Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate. If you want to know how your build will work now, here’s what’s changing:

All Classes

• Prismatic
  • Facet of Courage
  • PvE melee damage bonus increased from 10% to 50%.
• Arc
  • Spark of Feedback
  • PvE melee damage bonus increased from 75% to 100%.
  • Now works with Glaive melee at full effect.
  • PvE melee damage bonus is no longer decreased when used with Synthoceps, Liar’s Handshake, Knockout, Wormgod Caress, One-Two Punch, or Winter’s Guile.

Titan

• Roaring Flames
  • Maximum PvE melee damage bonus increased from 73% to 200%.
    • As a note, Roaring Flames increases Solar ability damage, and Glaive melee is always kinetic. We have opted to follow the rules as written for this one for now, so Roaring Flames does not scale Glaive melee damage.
  • Melee damage bonus is no longer decreased when used with Peregrine Greaves, Wormgod Caress, One-Two Punch, or Synthoceps.
• Knockout
  • PvE uncharged melee damage bonus increased from 100% to 160%.
  • PvE charged melee damage bonus increased from 50% to 160%.
  • Increased melee damage now works with Glaive melee at full effect.
• Offensive Bullwark
  • PvE melee damage bonus increased from 100% to 160%.
  • Increased melee damage now works with Glaive melee at full effect.
  • Melee damage bonus is no longer decreased when used with Synthoceps.
• Banner of War
  • Melee damage bonus for user and allies increased from 40% to 100%.
  • Melee damage bonus is no longer decreased when used with Wormgod Caress, Synthoceps, or Glaive Melee.
  • The damage bonus provided to Bladefury’s melee attacks is unchanged.

Hunter

• Stylish Executioner
  • PvE melee damage bonus increased from 200% to 300%.
  • Now works with Glaive melee at full effect.
  • Now works with every melee ability if the ability makes contact while you are leaving invisibility.
    • In other words, projectile melee abilities like Threaded Spike will benefit from the damage increase if you use it at point-blank.
• Combination Blow
  • Maximum PvE damage bonus increased from 309% to 400%.
  • Increased melee damage now works with Glaive melee at full effect.
  • Now works with Tempest Strike in PvE at full effect.
    • This line incorrectly mentioned Ascension.
  • Now works with Grapple melee in PvE at full effect.

Exotic Armor & Weapon Changes

Naturally, a lot of Exotic Armor and Weapons will receive changes, too. Here are some of the changes coming to class-specific sets and some weapons and their perks.

Hunter

• Athrys’s Embrace
  • PvE Weighted Throwing Knife damage bonus increased from 200% to 300%.
• Liar’s Handshake (and Spirit of the Liar)
  • PvE basic melee and Arc melee damage increased from 200% to 400%.
• Ophidia Spathe
  • Maximum PvE Throwing Knife damage bonus increased from 100% to 200%.
• Triton Vice
  • PvE Glaive melee damage bonus increased from 100% to 200%.

Titan

• Heart of Inmost Light
  • Maximum PvE melee damage bonus increased from 20% to 50%.
  • Now increases the damage of unpowered and Glaive melee abilities.
• Peregrine Greaves
  • Shoulder charge ability impact damage bonus against non-Champion, non-Tormentor, and non-miniboss targets increased from 363% to 400%.
• Synthoceps and Spirit of the Synthoceps
  • Melee damage bonus is unchanged (165%).
  • Melee damage bonus is no longer decreased when used with Combination Blow, Stylish Executioner, and Glaive Melee.
  • Damage bonus is still decreased against players when used with Lightning Surge.
• Wishful Ignorance
  • Maximum PvE Frenzied Blade melee damage bonus increased from 100% to 200%.
  • Maximum PvE Flechette Storm melee damage bonus increased from 50% to 200%.
• Wormgod Caress
  • Maximum PvE melee damage bonus increased from 275% to 400%.
  • Melee damage bonus is no longer decreased when used with Roaring Flames or Glaive melee.

Warlock

• Winter’s Guile
  • Maximum PvE melee damage bonus increased from 275% to 400%.

Weapon Perks

• Close to Melee
  • PvE Glaive melee damage bonus increased from 30% to 60%.
• One-Two Punch
  • PvE melee damage bonus increased from 100% to 150%.
  • Now works with all melee abilities.
  • Melee damage bonus is no longer decreased when used with Liar’s Handshake.
  • Increased the time the perk is active to three seconds.

Exotic Weapons

• Bastion
  • Saint’s Fists PvE melee damage bonus increased from 100% to 300%.
  • Now works with all melee abilities.
  • Increased the time the perk is active to three seconds.
• Monte Carlo
  • Catalyst melee attack no longer deals reduced melee damage to bosses, minibosses, and Champions.
• Winterbite
  • Now receives melee damage bonuses from a variety of sources.
  • Reduced enhanced melee damage with ammo to +20% vs bosses, down from +50%.

Exotic Armor Tuning

Beyond the melee changes coming to Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate, there have also been a few reworks on existing Exotic Armor pieces. Some have received buffs while others got nerfed. However, keep in mind that this is in the spirit to keep things balanced once the expansion launches.

Hunter

• The Dragon’s Shadow
  • Now passively increases weapon stability and ready speed.
  • Dodging reloads your equipped weapon.
  • No longer reloads holstered weapons.
  • Activating your dodge ability grants the following effects for a short time:
  • Increased stability and handling
  • Increased move speed
  • Increased sprint, slide, and ADS strafe speeds
  • Increased class stat
• Speedloader Slacks
  • Adjusted the Tight Fit perk: Dodging reloads all weapons and grants increased handling and reload speed for you and nearby allies.
  • While this buff is active, additional dodges increase the strength of the buff and refresh the timer.
  • Dealing sustained damage grants class ability energy.
• Mask of Bakris
  • Effects are now active when equipping either an Arc or Stasis Super.
  • Reworked “Light Shift”:
  • No longer provides a non-stacking “Surge” damage bonus.
  • Now grants +10% damage for eligible weapons (Stasis weapons, Arc weapons, and Lord of Wolves) per stack.
  • Stacks up to three times.
  • While active, weapon final blows grant class ability energy.
• Khepri’s Sting
  • Removed automatic Smoke Bomb activation when using a melee attack.
  • Removed Truesight when dealing damage with smoke bomb.
  • Added:
    • Killing weakened targets creates a burst of weakening smoke and returns smoke bomb energy.
• Oathkeepers
  • Increased maximum damage bonus from +150% to +200%.
  • Now provides more of the total damage bonus earlier in the overdraw.
• Blight Ranger
  • Fixed an issue where cancellation damage was not consistently scaling based on Voltaic Mirror progress.
  • Adjusted Voltaic Mirror meter behavior:
  • Now requires 25% less reflections to reach maximum.
  • Fills more evenly.
  • Blocked melee attacks now count as a reflection.
  • Maximum cancellation damage increased by 50%
  • This is in addition to the fix above.
  • Minimum cancellation damage increased by 150%.
  • Now always applies Blind before dealing damage.
  • Updated visuals, audio, and timing of the blinding shockwave to better reflect its impact.

Titan

• Crest of Alpha Lupi
  • Added additional effects:
    • Sustained damage while behind a barricade triggers another smaller healing pulse.
    • Healing your allies grants barricade energy.
• Phoenix Cradle
  • Updated VFX on Sunspots while the user has Phoenix Cradles to look more clearly supportive to allies.
  • Added additional effects:
    • Dealing sustained Solar weapon damage in a Sunspot extends its duration.
  • Providing Solar buffs to allies has the chance to create a Sunspot at your feet.
• Mk.44 Stand Asides
  • Sprinting with Juggernaut active periodically grants you a stack of Static Charge.
  • Sprinting while amplified creates an area behind you that grants allies Speed Booster.
• Path of the Burning Steps
  • Increase Solar weapon damage and Solar Ignition damage based on the number of stacks of Roaring Flame you have.
  • Roaring Flame x1/2/3 grants +10/15/20% bonus Solar weapon damage and +5/10/15% bonus Ignition damage.
  • Stacks with Surge mods.
  • Reduces the duration of Suspend, Slow, and Freeze effects applied to you.
• Abeyant Leap
  • Now increases the duration of Suspend applied by enhanced Drengr’s Lashes.
• Actium War Rig
  • Auto Rifle or Machine gun final blows increase their stability, ammo generation, and damage.
  • Stacks up to ten times. Higher stack counts expire more quickly.
• Spirit of the Alpha Lupi
  • Added: Healing your allies grants class ability energy.

Warlock

• Starfire Protocol
  • Now also activates on Radiant damage.
  • Increased the Fusion Grenade energy gain from dealing damage from 2.5% to 5%.
  • Reduced Fusion Grenade energy gain from final blows from 20% to 15%.
• Wings of Sacred Dawn
  • Combatants are less accurate towards you while Tome of Dawn is active.
  • This is similar to Manticore’s effect.
  • While equipping a Solar Super, Solar Weapon final blows now grant Restoration and reload your stowed weapons.
• Felwinter’s Helm
  • Added: “Powered melee damage weakens targets.”
  • Applies a 15% weaken.
  • Weaken effects applied by the burst via melee or finisher final blows do not change.
• Promethium Spurs
  • Reworked the perk Embers of Light:
    • While a Solar Super is equipped, weapon defeats grant class ability energy and weapon defeats in a rift grant a different Solar verb depending on the Rift:
    • While in a Healing Rift, weapon defeats create a pulse that grants Radiant to you and nearby allies.
    • While in an Empowering Rift, weapon defeats instead grant Cure to you and nearby allies.
• Boots of the Assembler
  • Noble Seekers no longer spawn in waves and instead spawn at a constant rate based on fireteam size.
  • Average number of Noble Seekers produced per eight seconds is unchanged – it will produce one per ally in that time period.
    • Noble Seeker tracking range changed to 40 meters constantly (from 20 to 40 meters based on time alive).
  • Noble Seekers will prioritize allies who have not been healed in the last eight seconds.
  • Noble Seekers can now target allies standing in the rift producing them.
  • Noble Seekers will not target an ally more than once every four seconds.
  • Noble Seekers will not detonate when passing near an ally they are not targeting.
  • They will still detonate if they make direct impact with an ally they are not targeting.
  • No longer grants extended rift duration on Noble Seeker impact with allies.
    • Instead, grants class ability energy on Noble Seeker impact with allies (scales based on fireteam size).
• Geomag Stabilizers
  • Reduced Super energy granted by ionic traces to 4% (from 7%)
  • Retuned sprinting to top off Bolt Charge:
  • Decreased Bolt Charge stacks required before sprinting will grant additional stacks from six to five.
  • Decreased the amount of time required for sprinting to start granting Bolt Charge from two seconds to one.
  • Increased the rate Bolt Charge is granted while this effect is active from one every 1.5 seconds to one every 0.33 seconds

As you can see, many of the melee, Glaive, and Exotic Armor changes will feel quite daunting for Destiny 2 players. However, this seems to be the right way to go. If you want to look at some of the reasoning behind the changes, here’s a link to the TWID. Also, remember that the Rite of the Nine is still going, with some revamped rewards for this week. So, now’s the perfect time to prepare for your trip to Kepler.