If you’ve played Destiny 2’s Crucible over the past few months, chances are you’ve gotten shanked by a Hunter using the void-powered Spectral Blades super – an ability that grants players a cloak of invisibility and then strike from behind, Assassin’s Creed style. After a long stint at the top of the meta, Spectral Blades is finally getting a nerf.
What made Spectral Blades particularly annoying to play against was its high survivability, and Bungie says this is the first thing that’s changing in the upcoming patch. The super’s damage reduction is getting reduced: while you’re in stealth mode, that figure is dropping from 60% to 52%. Out of stealth damage reduction is dropping from 62% to 54.4%.
Bungie’s sandbox team says this makes sense given Spectral Blades’ other abilities: since it grants stealth, true sight (the ability to see enemy silhouettes through walls), and buffed movement, there’s plenty of survivability built into the ability already, and pulling back the damage reduction will mean Hunters will need to rely more on good planning than tanking incoming fire.