Destiny 2 Releases New Update for March 2025

Summary

• Update 8.2.5 for Destiny 2 adjusts exotic gear, weapons, and activities like the Crucible.
• March 11 reset introduces Act 2 of Episode Heresy, Guardian Games event, and sandbox changes.
• Changes include nerfs to Redrix’s Estoc, bug fixes, and nerfs to the Hunter Nightstalker subclass.

Bungie released Update 8.2.5 for Destiny 2, making a number of adjustments and tweaks to the current game, including exotic gear, weapon types, and activities such as the Crucible. Bungie has been fairly open about these upcoming Destiny 2 changes in recent weeks, especially in addressing certain weapons which may not be quite as powerful as they were prior to this update.

The Destiny 2 reset for March 11 has proven to be a big one as Act 2 for Episode Heresy has finally arrived, giving players the next part of the ongoing story, as well as new gear and activities to check out. Alongside Act 2, Bungie is also kicking off the 2025 Guardian Games event for Destiny 2 as well, once again pitting the three classes against one another to see who can earn and bank the most medallions each day. As if that wasn’t enough, a major update has also arrived for Destiny 2, shaking up the game’s current sandbox a little bit.

Many of the big changes in this update have been mentioned ahead of time, so the changes themselves shouldn’t be too surprising for players who can now go hands-on with it. For many, the biggest change is with a popular new Destiny 2 pulse rifle named Redrix’s Estoc. Utilizing the Legacy PR-55 Frame archetype, which is also from Destiny 2‘s Halo-inspired BxR-55 Battler rifle, the weapon, along with all Lightweight pulse rifles, get body shot and critical hit damage lowered slightly.

Plenty of bugs are also getting squashed within this update as well, both to various activities as well as gear. The Titan’s No Backup Plans, Khepri’s Horn, and Hazardus Propulsion are getting fixed alongside the Hunter’s Shards of Galanor, Radiant Dance Machines, and Sealed Ahamkara Grasps. Unfortunately, the new Nightstalker aspect called On The Prowl is getting nerfed slightly, and the debuffs granted from the Smoke Bomb are also being toned down when in the Crucible.

In the meantime, debate continues to rage on regarding crafting and Destiny 2‘s seasonal weapons. While Episode Revenant removed the ability for seasonal weapons to be crafted by players in an effort to restore the weapon chase, a large portion of fans remain unhappy with the current system. While a change of this magnitude is unlikely to come during Episode Heresy, it’ll be interesting to see how Bungie approaches this topic with the Codename: Frontiers evolution on the horizon.

Destiny 2 Update 8.2.5 Patch Notes

Seasonal Activities

The Nether

• Reduced damage taken from Sharpshooter’s Burden.
• Reduced damage taken to health from Fragile Strength.
• Fixed an issue where Paracasual Payload was not providing Kinetic weapons with extra damage.
• Fixed an issue where Paracausal Siphon was not proving buffs to elemental damage.

Other

• Fixed an issue where lore books were not being correctly rewarded.

Crucible

General

• Fixed an issue where Lockdown did not award or display medals.

Matchmaking

• Trials of Osiris and Competitive playlists
  • Enabled solo vs. fireteam loss forgiveness
  • Duos and trios can now be matched together

Competitive

• Enabled the new Ascendant 0 rank for players above 10000.
  • Wins while in the Ascendant 0 rank have a chance to drop the new “Darkest Night” emblem.
  • Rebalanced the rank-based matchmaking brackets to account for this new rank.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing players from being awarded the fixed roll of Redrix’s Estoc upon completing their placement matches.
  • Players who never earned this roll can claim it from Lord Shaxx.
• Fixed an issue that was blocking players from being able to focus previous Competitive rewards.

Iron Banner

• Fixed an issue where the weekly challenge referenced Stasis instead of Strand.

Dungeons and Raids

Vesper’s Host

• Fixed an issue in the first encounter where a nuclear core wouldn’t spawn even after activating all the correct panels.

Gameplay and Investment

Armor

Hunter

Sealed Ahamkara Grasps

• Fixed an issue where Nightmare Fuel’s damage bonus would be reduced by 5% while Radiant.
• Fixed an issue where your held weapon would not receive the Nightmare Fuel damage buff after getting a melee or finisher final blow without Nightmare Fuel active.
  • This does not apply if Nightmare Fuel was already active when getting a melee or finisher kill. If the Nightmare Fuel meter is not empty, the damage boost is active.

Radiant Dance Machines

• Fixed an issue that could cause extra dodge charges to be lost when transitioning between bubbles in various activities.

Shards of Galanor

• Fixed an issue where this Exotic could refund energy for any Super, instead of just Blade Barrage and Silk Strike.

Relativism – Spirit of Galanor

• Fixed an issue where Spirit of Galanor was refunding less energy than intended for non-roaming Supers.

Titan

No Backup Plans

• Fixed an issue where the intended Shotgun damage bonus would be reduced by 5% while Radiant.

Khepri’s Horn

• Fixed an issue where the Solar waves from Khepri’s Horn would not break Stasis crystals.

Hazardous Propulsion

• Fixed an issue where the benefit from the “Enhanced Rockets” buff would be reduced by 5% while Radiant.

Armor customization

• Fixed an issue where Warlock and Titan leg armor from Sundered Doctrine was not available for transmog.
• Fixed an issue where the Stasis armor sets did not show their correct name.

Weapons

General

• Fixed an issue where the Vault of Glass (Timelost) weapons did not have the proper flavor text.
• Fixed an issue where enhanced/crafted weapons with some new weapon perks couldn’t obtain a masterwork border.
• Fixed an issue where the Adept Shader for Trials weapons was not correctly changing colors based on the state of the glow.

Weapon archetypes

Wave-Frame Swords

• Fixed an issue where the wave attack did not do damage in PvP.

Lightweight Pulse Rifles

• Body shot damage against players reduced from 20.4 to 19.7.
• Critical hit damage against players reduced from 31.8 to 31.5.
  • Note: This is still a damage increase over their values pre-8.1.5.3, but it does shift some of the forgiveness and optimal kill thresholds downward.
• Redrix’s Estoc
  • Reduced handling from 79 to 74.

Weapon perks

Sword Logic

• PvP only
  • Reduced base damage bonus for kills against players from 20% to 15%.
  • Increased damage bonus for kills against players in Super from 35% to 50%.

Enhanced Collective Action

• Fixed an issue where the perk was not activating when collecting Stasis Shards created by Prismatic fragments.

Enhanced Slideways

• Fixed an issue where the perk had a shorter than intended duration.

Discord and Harmony

• Fixed an issue where both perks had their countdown start before switching to the weapon with the perk.

Abilities

All Classes

Prismatic

• Facet of Blessing
  • Fixed an issue where final blows from certain melee abilities, such as Consecration and Thunderclap, were not triggering health regeneration.

Hunter

Nightstalker

• Smoke debuff
  • No longer slows player movement speed, jump height, or weapon handling in PvP.
  • No longer suppresses player movement abilities in PvP.
• On the Prowl
  • Removed first-person glow from hunted player’s perspective.
  • Reduced strength of glow on hunted players in third person.

Artifact

• Fixed an issue where the Piercing Sidearms perk granted wasn’t piercing some types of shields.

Power and Progression

• Fixed an issue where the new Iron Banner weapons did not progress the Orimund’s Taste Triumph.

Collections

• Fixed an issue where the Artificial Sun Ornament for Lodestar appeared under the Pulse Rifle section in Collections.
• Fixed an issue where the Chatterwhite shader did not appear in Collections.

General

• Updated the international Silver purchase confirmation to use the current Episode’s art.