Destiny 2 Season 17 is closer than it seems. With just over a month to go, Bungie is dishing out details on the new sandbox changes that will hit the looter shooter starting next season, and this week it dropped two fundamental changes to the way combat works in Destiny 2.
First is a new in-game statistic coming in Season 17 called Airborne Effectiveness. It won't appear on a weapon's card next season, but you'll be able to see it in the API (meaning apps like Destiny Item Manager can display it) and it'll be visible in changes coming in Season 18. In a nutshell, this stat describes how well you'll be able to shoot certain weapons while jumping or in midair.
This new stat also comes with a general change to Destiny 2's midair shooting penalties. Previously, jumping, falling, or otherwise having your feet off the ground would constitute a massive penalty to your accuracy cone, making your bullets fire off in seemingly random directions. Starting Season 17, that accuracy penalty will be overall reduced and instead, jumping will penalize your weapon's aim assist stat.
Increasing your Airborne Effectiveness stat can be done in several ways. Certain weapon archetypes and Exotics will just be intrinsically better to use in the air, while certain Exotic Armors like Lion Rampant, Wings of Sacred Dawn, or Foetracer will provide a blanket bonus to Airborne Effectiveness. Certain subclass abilities like Heat Rises, Tempered Metal, and Whisper of Hedrons will also boost Airborne Effectiveness, and certain weapon perks like the return of Airborne Assault can also help.
Flinch is also getting a major rework. Firstly, Resilience is being tied to flinching so the more Resilience you have the less you'll get flinched. A weapon's stability stat will also reduce flinch along with recoil, so having an exceptional stability stat will be more meaningful. Certain weapons will also just be more stable, such as Autorifles and Bows, while Shotguns, Snipers, and Fusion Rifles will be more flinching after receiving incoming fire.
There are loads of other changes detailed in today’s TWAB, including changes to special ammo scavengers in PvP and weapon archetype changes that will buff Snipers, nerf Shotguns, and provide Machine Guns a massive 40% damage buff in PvE and revert the Xenophage changes. Read all about 'em over on Bungie's page here.
Destiny 2 Season 17 arrives on May 24.