The 2.8.1.1 update for Destiny 2 is now live across all servers, and with the April 29 patch comes much-needed relief for Crucible and Trials of Osiris players alike — the infamous Hard Light exotic auto rifle has finally been nerfed.
Thanks to early-season tweaks to auto rifles, which saw Destiny’s auto rifles given a leg up with some much-needed precision buffs, the Hard Light has become a monster. The general buffs, combined with its unique perks, made it unstoppable.
Following the 2.8.0 buffs, the Hard Light was slingshot to the top of Destiny’s meta. The gun soon landed at 10.23% usage in the Crucible. Only the Revoker (10.13%) and The Summoner (7.40%) came close, according to DestinyTracker.
Bungie certainly took notice. Ahead of the 2.8.1.1 update, the devs confirmed the Hard Light was “at the forefront” of nerf plans due to its “shocking” oversaturation in PvP playlists. The plan, the devs said, was to “reduce lethality.”
“This patch will be focused on a weapon that’s been shining a little too bright in the Crucible since Season of the Worthy began,” Bungie confirmed. Now Guardians have a clear picture of the planned nerfs, and they’re pretty big.
Hard Light cops multiple nerfs in 2.8.1.1 update
The Hard Light has been hit on multiple fronts in its 2.8.1.1 update. As well as damage fall off — which was well above the Auto Rifle’s 0.5x standard — has now been set to 0.7x, while recoil adjustment has been bumped down.
The gun also now boasts two separate bonus damage stats on ricochet bullets in PvE and PvP modes. When facing other Guardians, players will deal 1.35x damage. In Raids, Strikes, and other PvE modes, however, its 2.0x multiplier remains.
Bungie said they wanted to address the gun’s “usage for mouse and keyboard users, since the ability to precisely aim over range allows you to use the weapon at longer distances, on top of being able to use ricochets more effectively.”
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“The Hard Light boasts a lot of great stats, and its impact grows as more use it — eventually no cover is safe,” Bungie added. “As such, we’re reducing some of the aspects that allow for indirect fire and unexpected lethality in odd scenarios.”
Season Pass, Warmind Cell bugs patched out
On top of the Hard Light changes, which well and truly headline update 2.8.1.1, Bungie has also provided a bandaid fix for a Warmind Cell glitch. The Seventh Seraph buff-drops were overcharging Guardians — this has been fixed.
Finally, Bungie also confirmed Levels 32 & 92 in the Season Pass “have now been unlocked for all three characters.” This means Guardians who were previously locked out of these tiers should now have the rewards in their inventories.
Be warned too: this patch has been advertised by Bungie as a smaller, 150MB update. Unfortunately, it looks like while that is true, update 2.8.1.1 is also asking Guardians to fully copy over their Destiny 2 game-state, meaning it’s a near-100GB download instead. Get cracking!
Destiny 2 update 2.8.1.1 full patch notes
Combat
Fixed an issue that allowed Guardian’s to quickly regain ability energy by picking up Warmind Cells.
Exotics
Hard Light
- Hard Light’s damage falloff now floors at 0.7x (Auto Rifles use 0.5x standard).
- Split ricochet bonus damage between PvE and PvP:
- PvE damage remains at 2.0x.
- PvP damage is now 1.35x.
- Removed a recoil adjustment that made the weapon more stable than intended.
Season Pass
Level 32 and 92 upgrades now unlock for all three characters. Players who were previously locked out of these Season bonuses can now access them.