Destiny 2 devs confirm Prismatic Hunter PvP nerfs are on the way

The arrival of the Prismatic subclass has irreparably altered Destiny 2‘s PvP scene. Prismatic Hunter, in particular, has been the greatest beneficiary, but upcoming nerfs could be set to rebalance the class in The Crucible.

As detailed in its This Week In Destiny blog post on July 25, there are two major changes set to roll out with the 8.0.5 update. These have been specifically designed not to affect how the class and subclass perform in PvE content, where Bungie feels its balancing efforts have been more successful.

Centered on Threaded Specter and Swarm Grenade (which have both become extremely popular in Prismatic builds), the changes have included nerfs to both damage and tracking.

Prismatic Hunter changes (August 2024)

Bungie

The preview for the patch changes are as follows:

“In 8.0.5, we’re changing two Prismatic Hunter abilities to address community feedback about Prismatic Hunter performance in the Crucible. The goal of these changes is to reduce frustration around playing against Prismatic Hunters without negatively affecting their performance in PvE content.”

• Threaded Specter
  • Reduced aim-assist strength on Threaded Specter by ~50% vs. players and added a short delay before the aim-assist takes effect.
  • Reduced Threaded Specter detonation damage vs. players by ~45%.
• Swarm Grenade
  • Reduced the distance that Swarm Grenade submunition projectiles can travel once they begin tracking a target by ~20%.

Though the changes are likely not significant enough to put people off playing the subclass entirely, it should level the playing field somewhat. That said, there are still a ton of extremely powerful tools in the Prismatic Hunter‘s arsenal that are significantly better for PvP than what other classes have available to them.

Specifically, Smoke Bombs remain untouched and, used in conjunction with Swarm Grenades, they are likely to remain an incredibly potent combo. It’s difficult to find a parallel for zone control in the other classes (without branching into Supers), and Trials of Osiris will still feature a lot of Prismatic Hunters.