Destiny 2 December Update Fixes Major Episode Revenant Bug

Key Takeaways

• Destiny 2 releases an update adding The Dawning and fixes bugs like wrong drop rates for Tomb of Elders weapon tonics.
• Update 8.1.5.1 also adjusts Hunter’s Raiju’s Harness, tweaking its super energy gain rate.
• The new winter event adds Void linear fusion rifle, armor sets, and a community challenge.

Bungie releases a new update for Destiny 2, which kicks off the annual winter event known as The Dawning, while also addressing a number of issues with the game, including a fix for Tonics. Episode Revenant is now in between Acts, though as Destiny 2 players wait for the final story chapter, Bungie is making sure the game is in a good state.

Episode Revenant has seen plenty of bugs and issues to this point, sullying the experience for many players. Some issues, like a damage buff to Sentinel Shield Titans, have largely been viewed as minor, though there have been more than a fair share of frustrating bugs impacting the episode as well. Weapon tonics designed to help drop rates for certain Tomb of Elders loot haven’t been working as expected, leading players to again bring a game issue to the attention of Bungie.

Following more community sleuthing, Bungie confirmed that Tomb of Elders tonics were bugged, increasing drop rates for the wrong weapons. Thankfully, the studio was able to resolve the issue fairly quickly, as Update 8.1.5.1, released alongside the Destiny 2 weekly reset, made a number of changes to tonics in general. Including resolving the Legendary Tomb of Elders Weapon Tonics buff, Bungie corrected a quest progress blocker and descriptions for the onic of Worldly Arms Armor and Tonic of Worldly Chest Armor.

In addition to fixing other issues with activities like Onslaught Salvation, Vesper’s Host, Salvation’s Edge, and others, this update also completely reworked the Hunter’s exotic chest armor known as Raiju’s Harness. According to the notes, Raiju’s Harness has had its super energy gain rate buffed for defeating most Arc debuffed enemies across the board, except for Minibosses or Boss encounters. One change is that Destiny 2 players who use Gathering Storm won’t be seeing those returns as energy gained has been decreased by 80% of the previous value.

The other major piece of this update is that it marked the start of The Dawning in Destiny 2, the annual winter event where players can earn ingredients and bake cookies for the various NPC characters in-game. While much of the activity remains the same, this year’s version is adding a new Void linear fusion rifle called Mistral Lift, Astral Stasis Drake armor sets, and a new community challenge to help unlock 3 rare emblems.

Destiny 2 Update 8.1.5.1 Patch Notes

Seasonal

The Dawning

• The Dawning is now live.
  • Snowballs are available to use against combatants in several activities.
  • Three new emblems can be found inside of A Gift in Return packages. Check the December 5 TWID for details on how to increase chances.
    • Confectionary Commander emblem
    • Epicurean Extraordinaire emblem
    • Handcrafter Hunter emblem
  • A New Weapon has been added.
    • Mistral Lift – Adaptive Void Linear Fusion Rifle
  • New Astral Stasis Drake armor has been added.
    • Available in the Eververse store.

Tomb of Elders

• Fixed an issue where players waiting for revival after the final Tomb of Elders boss has been defeated would spawn in the Warden’s Office and could not claim rewards.

Onslaught Salvation

• Fixed an issue where the bonus Heatwave round was occurring less than intended.
• Fixed an issue where an invisible ledge was present near the third defense location on Kell’s Grave.

Crucible

Matchmaking

• Updated backend thresholds to improve matchmaking times and quality of matches.

• Adjusted fireteam MMR weighting in 6v6 playlists to avoid redundancy with Fireteam Matchmaking.

• Increased the score threshold at which teams are broken up, in order to allow more matches to recycle and improve matchmaking times.

Dungeons & Raids

Vesper’s Host

• General
  • Fixed an issue where the first secret chest would only reward the first player opening it.
  • Fixed an issue where the Icebreaker Catalyst was not always awarded to players who died during their run.
  • Fixed an issue where players could crash during the boss death.
• Second Encounter
  • Fixed an issue where the boss would sometimes not reform properly after DPS, resulting in an infinite damage phase.

Garden of Salvation

• Fixed an issue where the Consecrated Mind boss could be pushed off its starting platform and immediately end the encounter.
  • Feel free to keep using Stasis, if you want…

Salvation’s Edge

• Fixed an issue where the incorrect wipe text was displaying during the Witness encounter.

Exotic Mission Rotator

• Fixed an issue where the Featured Exotic Mission was not granting Pinnacle rewards.

UI/UX

Fireteam Finder

• Fixed an issue where the Vow of the Disciple raid was missing the Master option in Fireteam Finder.

Gameplay and Investment

Exotic Armor

• Hunter
  • Raiju’s Harness
    • Re-tuned Super energy granted by defeating Arc-debuffed combatants.
      • Minors: Increased Super energy granted from 0.3% to 1%.
      • Majors: Increased Super energy granted from 1.7% to 2.5%.
      • Players: Increased Super energy granted from 3.1% to 4%.
      • Minibosses and bosses: Decreased Super energy granted from 4.5% to 4%.
    • Decreased amount of Super energy granted for defeating Arc-debuffed combatants while Gathering Storm is being cast to approximately 80% of the previous value.
      • Maximum total energy granted this way remains the same, at 50%.
        • Note: The lightning summoned by Raiju’s Harness on allies and enemies near the user will always apply status effects before dealing damage.

Revenant

Tonics

• Fixed an issue where Tonic quest progress could become blocked on specific characters.
• Fixed an issue where the Tonic of Worldly Arms Armor and Tonic of Worldly Chest Armor had incorrect descriptions.
• Fixed an issue where Legendary Tomb of Elders Weapon Tonics were targeting the incorrect weapons.
  • This fix went live last week in a hotfix.

General

• Updated the Gjallarheart armor ornament sets in Collections to use their appropriate names.
• Reduced the requirements for the Fight to the End Triumph from 5/15/30/50 to 5/10/20/40.
• Fixed an issue where the spawn sound effect can be heard briefly before the ship goes into the warp screen animation.
• Fixed an issue where an unintended sound effect can be heard in Orbit when joining a Gambit match in progress on Cathedral of Scars.