In an effort to reduce the reliance on full auto shotguns, Destiny 2 developer Bungie is reducing their effectiveness in a forthcoming update. Season 7, also known as Season of the Drifter, will feature a key change to full auto shotguns that will effectively nerf their fire rate and damage output potential.

In its weekly blog post, Bungie revealed a handful of changes that will be coming to Destiny 2 in Season 6. Weapons like linear fusion rifles and exotics like One Eyed Mask will be getting much-needed nerfs, but the most surprising change is to the full auto shotgun archetype.

After the update, full auto shotguns will see their rate of fire bonus decrease from +100% to +10%. However, the new fire rate will no longer increase shotgun pellet spread, so players should have an easier time hitting their target while holding down the fire button.

Alongside the nerf to full auto shotguns, the other archetypes will see a buff to their fire rate but a nerf to base damage to balance out these changes:

  • Aggressives are 55 RPM, up from 45 RPM
  • Precisions are 70 RPM, up from 55 RPM
  • Lightweights are 80 RPM (they were erroneously stated to be 90 RPM previously)
  • Rapid-Fire 140 RPM, down from 200 RPM (they were previously natively 100 RPM, but due to the intrinsic full auto, actually had 200 RPM)

While this is no doubt a nerf for full auto shotguns, it’s unclear how greatly it will impact the weapon archetype. A 90% decrease to fire rate sounds like a lot, but players will need to run their own tests to see how severe the change is. This will also likely play a roll in Destiny 2 raid speed runs, which typically use full auto shotguns to make quick work of bosses.

destiny 2 ikelos shotgun escalation protocol warmind

It’s no secret that full auto shotguns in Destiny 2, especially the Escalation Protocol shotgun and Threat Level from the Scourge of the Past raid, have become a popular choice for PvE players and a target for Bungie. The developer already nerfed the Trench Barrel perk so that it only impacts the first three shots, and now the rate of fire nerf should take these weapons’ damage output down even more.

According to Bungie, the goal with these changes is to encourage a greater diversity of choices when it comes to weapon slots and weapon archetypes. Whether it was necessary or just Bungie looking to spice things up, however, is up for debate.

Destiny 2: Season of the Drifter starts on March 5, 2019.