Destiny 2’s Still Hunt nerf is even bigger than originally advertised

Bungie has outlined an amendment to nerfs being made to Destiny 2’s Still Hunt Exotic, bringing its damage down even further than originally advertised.

Introduced in The Final Shape, the Sniper Rifle’s Exotic Perk, Cayde’s Retribution, grants potent Golden Gun shots when its in-built Super bar is charged.

This functionality isn’t going away, nor is the damage of each Golden Gun shot being changed by default. Rather, the nerf specifically targets damage dealt by each empowered round when used alongside Celestial Nighthawk.

The combo, only accessible to Hunters, proved instrumental in the race for the world’s first clear of The Final Shape’s Salvation’s Edge Raid.

Players have known for weeks that nerfs were coming, but in a July 22 post on Reddit, Bungie outlined that, after testing, it “Discovered that a slightly larger reduction in Golden Gun damage was required to bring this Exotic pairing into line with other classes.”

“Still Hunt’s Golden Gun damage when using Celestial Nighthawk will now be 33% less than the current functionality,” the developer continued.

While some responses voiced concern over the nerf being too heavy-handed, the prevailing opinion was in agreement with Bungie’s decision.

“The gun will still be great, and with the artifact mods, it’s still S-tier. Some people really do not understand balance,” came one reply.

“This is an absolutely fair change. You’re still getting a mini Super that you can build up easily,” came another, while others echoed the same sentiment. “One of those rare instances where I don’t really mind a nerf. Still Hunt is such a massive outlier that it’s completely warranted.”

How the changes will affect Destiny 2’s current PvE meta remains to be seen, but should Still Hunt fall out of favor, there are still plenty of build options available for Hunters. Outbreak Perfected is one such option, but the disciples of Cayde-6 also shouldn’t sleep on Episode: Echoes Act 2’s Corrasion.