Since the release of The Final Shape, no gear combination has dominated the Destiny 2 PvE meta quite as much as Celestial Nighthawk/Still Hunt Hunter. Recent nerfs put a dent in the party, but they may have been more egregious than they first appeared.
The potential issue first came to light in a Reddit post, where one player claimed that Celestial Nighthawk was now only providing around a 2.5% increase on Still Hunt Golden Gun base damage. This is compared to around 53% before the nerfs hit.
The full figures they provided are as follows:
- Still Hunt without Celestial:
- 309,789
- Pre Nerf Still Hunt with Celestial:
- 473,583 (~53% more)
- Post Nerf Still Hunt with Celestial:
- 317,265 (~2.5% more)
Dexerto has now checked out those numbers and come back with the following data:
- Still Hunt without Celestial:
- 71,216 + 103,264 + 135,310 = 309,790
- Still Hunt with Celestial
- 317,265 – Celestial + Still Hunt (+2.5%)
It’s important to note that Dexerto’s numbers were tested against Shayotet Partisan (Carl) in The Conflux lost sector, while the Reddit post only specifies a lost sector on Nessus.
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In any case, the identical damage output is enough to show that the nerfs have been particularly brutal this time around. While the single-shot damage of Celestial Nighthawk is nice to have, there may now be quite a few situations where the combination isn’t optimal.
In fairness to Bungie, the figures above do amount to the 33% nerf that players were promised. The difference between the damage output is now more significant than that, but the reduction in overall damage is close to the mark.
The damage is still very impressive overall, and this likely won’t entirely spell the end of Still Hunt’s appearances in raids and other difficult PvE content. The Snipers Meditation artifact role should also play a role in the community’s thinking, as Still Hunt is now very effective against Barrier champions.