Bungie moves up major Stasis nerfs to next week

ByEloin Barahona Garcia Hours

Last Updated on: 29th May 2021, 03:50 pm

Bungie, you really had something when you introduced Stasis into Destiny 2. A cool new subclass that was focused on freezing and locking down an entire area of enemies. Titans got to be walking ice monsters, Warlocks got to throw snowballs at people, and Hunters got shurikens and kama blades. Life was grand in the PvE side of the game.

Unfortunately, despite being a hit in PvE, Stasis has not gone over well in Crucible. Suffice to say, fighting against a Stasis Guardian in Crucible is a lot like trying to fight rain barehanded while staying dry with a broken umbrella. Since day one of Stasis being introduced into the game, Crucible has been a bit of a shit show for anyone who exclusively plays the game mode.

In one of the last major TWAB posts, Bungie announced Stasis nerfs in Season 15, which would’ve been several months out from the previous season. However, according to the most recent TWAB post, Bungie has announced that some of the major Stasis nerfs would be coming as soon as next week.

Breaking the ice

The Behemoth Stasis subclass, first introduced by Bungie in Beyond Light.
This is the last thing Hunters see when a Behemoth enters Crucible.
Credit: Bungie

So according to the TWAB post, most of the frustrating aspects of Stasis in Crucible are going to be toned down in a variety of ways. Some highlights include:

  • Duration of all non-super freezes vs. players to 1.35s
  • Reduced Special-weapon, Heavy-weapon, and Light-ability bonus damage vs. frozen players from +50% to +5%
  • Stasis slow increases weapon flinch instead of reducing weapon accuracy.

In addition to these general nerfs to Stasis, there will be class-specific nerfs, such as Titan’s Shiverstrike having its flight speed and distance reduced, Hunter’s Withering Blade getting reduced projectile speed, and Warlock’s Shadebinder getting a reduced freeze radius on its Penumbral Blast.

From the looks of things, the changes to Stasis in Crucible will make it so that getting hit by any Stasis ability won’t be an instant death sentence for anyone. Instead of just getting continually locked down by bullshit every couple of seconds, you now have some room to wiggle out of a dicey situation involving Stasis. The best thing about these changes is that they are exclusively for Crucible and not the general PvE environment.

Is Crucible still out in the cold?

These nerfs are absolutely welcome, as the prevalence of Stasis in Crucible is truly a painful thing to witness. Light subclasses as of right now have to work harder to keep up with their Stasis brethren, who just have to hit you once to take you out. Also in the TWAB, Bungie noted that they wanted to tweak Light subclasses to compete better with Stasis subclasses, so hopefully, those tweaks will be in sooner than later.

READ MORE: Is Destiny 2 Worth Playing Right Now?

All in all, Crucible might be in a better place this time next week, as the insanity of Stasis seems to be coming to a slow but welcome end. There will still be more changes to come in Season 15, so hopefully, these current changes will lay the groundwork for better changes in the future. An emphasis on gunplay will be a welcome change to Crucible, as I think I speak for everyone when I say that getting locked down by one freeze grenade is the most unfun thing in the world.

That is until I get to freeze someone else with my freeze grenade. Because in my opinion, the only way to combat the issue is to become the issue. Take those words to heart, dear readers.