Destiny 2: Bungie details Season 15 Anarchy nerfs, fusion rifle changes, and more

Anarchy
Anarchy (Image credit: Bungie)

What you need to know

  • Destiny 2 developer Bungie has put out a blog post that details some of the massive changes and additions coming to the game's weapon sandbox.
  • The biggest pieces of news include a big nerf to the reserve ammo and boss damage of the Anarchy grenade launcher, a 15% damage buff to scout rifles and hand cannons against minor PvE enemies, a large rework to fusion rifles, and more.
  • The blog post also showed off some of the various new weapons coming in Season 15 such as a new ritual rocket launcher that features the Explosive Light perk.

In one of the most dense and detailed "This Week at Bungie" blog posts ever posted by Bungie, the Destiny 2 developer has extensively detailed many of the weapon sandbox buffs, nerfs, adjustments, and reworks that will go live in the game when Season 15 launches on August 24.

The biggest news is that the meta-dominating Anarchy Exotic heavy grenade launcher is getting its reserve ammo capacity lowered from 26 to 16 and is having 30% of its damage against bosses removed, which Bungie argues will allow the weapon to remain strong for trapping and killing large swathes of enemies without it also performing better than other heavy weapons intended for boss damage. Other large changes include a flat 15% damage buff against minor enemies for scout rifles and hand cannons, a large buff to the Vex Mythoclast Exotic that gives it a 40% damage increase, a faster rate-of-fire, and a faster charge time, and the decision to make all primary weapons have infinite ammo.

Source: Bungie (Image credit: Source: Bungie)

Bungie also dedicated a large portion of the blog post to fusion rifles, which are being given a flat 15% damage buff across the board. Additionally, the developers are also reworking each archetype of fusion rifle so that each one performs differently. High impact fusion rifles will charge slower but deal more damage and only have five bolts in a burst, while rapid fire fusion rifles will fire much faster and have more bolts per burst but will have less overall damage to compensate. The precision and adaptive frame of fusion rifles are mostly unchanged, as Bungie feels they offer a good middle ground between the "extremes" of high impact and rapid fire fusion rifles. Bungie is also reworking charge time modifying perks and mods so that they don't significantly reduce impact damage like they used to, which should make them more useful.

Finally, Bungie also teased some of the new weapons players can obtain in Season 15, which includes a new ritual rocket launcher that comes with the Explosive Light perk that boosts your damage after picking up Orbs of Power. The developers are also adding a new scout rifle, auto rifle, and sidearm to the loot pools of Gambit, the Crucible, and Strikes respectively, and the general loot pool is also getting a new sniper rifle, pulse rifle, auto rifle, hand cannon, sidearm, and linear fusion rifle. Finally, the weapons from the Trials of the Nine gamemode from Destiny 2 Year 1 are being added into the loot pool of the Prophecy dungeon in Season 15.

Overall, there's a ton of changes and additions coming in Season 15, and I've only scratched the surface of it here. Make sure you read the full blog post for all the nitty-gritty details.

Source: Bungie (Image credit: Source: Bungie)

The latest Destiny 2 expansion, Destiny 2: Beyond Light, is available now for $40 on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. The base game is free, so if you're looking to try Destiny 2 out before investing any money, you can do so. If you do decide to try the game, don't miss our beginner's guide on how to get into Destiny 2 in 2021. Check out our roundup of the 10 best Destiny 2 weapons you need to farm in Season of the Splicer as well, as we expect many of these weapons will pair excellently with the upcoming Season 15 ones.

Brendan Lowry

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. You'll find him doing reviews, editorials, and general coverage on everything Xbox and PC. Follow him on Twitter.