Destiny 2 Hunter nerfs fix PvP meta at last after months of dominance

Bungie has given Hunters a big nerf that has finally given Destiny 2 players the opportunity to consider using a different class in PvP.

On September 10, the Hunter class was nerfed, with the changes focused on ending their dominance in The Crucible. These targeted Threaded Specter and Snare Bomb, two of the most powerful abilities Hunters can use.

These were the balance changes introduced, as outlined in the patch notes:

• Threaded Specter
  • Increased cooldown duration of Marksman Dodge and Gambler’s Dodge when Threaded Specter is equipped.
  • Removed dodge cooldown penalty after creating clone. 
  • If the clone is destroyed by attacks, it no longer spawns Threadlings. 
  • Increased the amount of time the clone will distract nearby combatants before exploding. 
• Snare Bomb
  • Reduced the time the Smoke Bomb projectile lingers in the world from 10s to 3.5s. 
  • Reduced the player movement speed penalty imparted by the smoke by 25%. 

The most impactful change is that Threaded Specter no longer releases Threadlings when shot. This allows players to freely destroy it without having to worry about the consequences, making it much easier to counter.

Furthermore, Snare Bomb’s linger period was cut by 65%, going from 10 seconds to 3.5 seconds. Beforehand, it could be placed as a mine to control areas and objectives for extended periods, but Hunter mains now have to be smarter with how they place it, or else it will detonate before anyone gets close.

While these adjustments may seem drastic, they have been implemented with good reason. Since The Final Shape was released and the Prismatic Subclass was added, Hunters have dominated PvP. The last weekend of Trials of Osiris saw 54% of Guardians playing Hunter, compared to just 27% of Warlocks and 19% of Titans, as tracked by Trials Report.

A big reason for this dominance was Prismatic’s unique ability to use both Threaded Specter and Snare Bomb at the same time, which wasn’t possible when they were exclusive to Strand and Void respectively. You can still use them together after the patch, but the nerfs have made both of these abilities less impactful.

The good news is that this update should see the PvP meta open up in the coming weeks, though we’ll only know for sure once Trials returns on September 27. In the meantime, be sure to try out Iron Banner to see if your Hunter build is still viable or if it’s time to consider playing a different class.