Destiny 2 Update 3.18 – Patch Notes on March 06, 2024

A new update for Destiny 2, known as Update 3.18, has recently been released. This update is accessible across all gaming platforms, as well as on PC. Players can now download this update, which introduces bug fixes, improvement updates, and patch notes for the game. It is worth noting that the file size of this update may differ depending on the gaming platform being used.

Destiny 2 Update 3.18 Patch Notes – Detailed Explanation of Fixes

ACTIVITIES

CRUCIBLE

General:

• Fixed an issue where crests would bounce on water in Supremacy, improving the gameplay experience.
• Altered the way the experimental Snake Draft lobby balancer handles fireteams to ensure fair matchmaking.
• Updated the playlist tooltips to correctly display which matchmaking style is being used for each mode, providing more transparency to players.

Maps:

• Tuning pass over the initial spawning, Heavy ammo crate, and tiebreaker zone locations for all maps, improving the balance and flow of matches.
• Made quality of life improvements to map spawning, optimizing the overall player experience.
• Addressed spawn traps for Eternity and Fortress, resolving a problem that hindered fair gameplay.
• Removed all backfield spawns for non-Rift modes: The Citadel, Cathedral of Dusk, Disjunction, and Convergence, creating a more balanced gameplay experience.

Game Modes:

• Moved 3v3 Clash to the 3v3 Quickplay rotator and updated the rules to enhance gameplay:
• Heavy ammo is no longer shared, promoting individual strategy and decision-making.
• Respawn timer increased from 5 to 7 seconds, providing a slight delay to respawn times.
• Match timer increased to 10 minutes, score to win remains 40, allowing for longer and more strategic matches.
• Added Collision, a new 3v3 king of the hill game mode, to Crucible Labs. This mode introduces a single, larger zone that rotates between five points around the map on a timer. Capturing and controlling that rotating zone will earn a team points. Additionally, this mode features a test of an alternative Special ammo crate system.
• The Special ammo crate system will feature four shareable Special ammo crates that spawn simultaneously at the beginning of the game or round, and then on a timer afterwards. Each control zone location (A, B, and C) will have an associated Special ammo crate, and the fourth crate will be in a neutral location. Players who currently have Special ammo will drop Special ammo bricks upon defeat, encouraging engagement and strategy.
• Iron Banner Tribute has been reworked to provide a better player experience:
• Simplified objectives and scoring for more straightforward gameplay.
• Changed the trigger for the Hunt from depositing max crests to a team score threshold, allowing for more strategic play.
• Implemented user-experience improvements, enhancing the overall feel of the mode.
• Decreased the distance at which crest icons can be seen, providing better visibility to players.
• Reworked how quickly the beacons de-spawn and rotate, creating a smoother gameplay flow.
• Significantly decreased the time it takes to dunk crests, improving the pace of the mode.
• Reduced the number of turrets that spawn with the Hunt beacon from 4 to 3, balancing the gameplay.
• Removed the visual indicator (“wall hacks”) on players carrying max crests, adding an element of surprise and strategy to gameplay.

Competitive:

• Added a third tier to the Competitive weekly challenge with a new reward of Artifice Armor. This tier is unlocked for all players who reach rank Gold III or above each Season. This tier requires match victories instead of completions. Upon completion of the challenge, each victory thereafter has a chance to drop Artifice Armor, and the drop rates increase alongside a player’s rank. Drop rates are based on a player’s highest rank achieved for the Season, not their current rank. Competitive matches will also have an increased chance to drop Exotic weapon catalysts on victories, providing additional rewards for skilled players.

Trials of Osiris:

• Updated the 50% chance to get a Trials weapon on wins to always drop the weekly weapon reward, allowing players to farm for specific weapons they desire.
• Added rewards on match completions for three-person fireteams, providing more incentives for participation:
• An additional 50% chance to drop the non-Adept Trials weekly weapon reward.
• A 50% chance at a Trials Engram drop.
• Additional Trials reputation.
• Updated and added Passages to enhance the Trials of Osiris experience:
• Passage of Ferocity: If a player hasn’t been Flawless for the week, then losses after 3 wins will reset them back to 3 wins instead of Flawing their card, giving players more opportunities to reach Flawless.
• Passage of Persistence: Losses following a win will remove the win from a player’s card. Consecutive losses do not remove additional wins. Getting to 7 wins grants a drop of the weekly Adept weapon, regardless of how many losses the player has taken.
• Added two weapons to the Trials of Osiris rewards rotation to provide more variety and options for players:
• The Summoner Auto Rifle and its Adept version will be the featured Trials of Osiris weapon for the first time during the week of March 12.
• The Prophet Scout Rifle and its Adept version will be the featured Trials of Osiris weapon during the week of March 19.

Iron Banner:

• Added two weapons to the Iron Banner rewards rotation that will be available starting April 2, increasing the loot pool and rewards for Iron Banner matches:
• Tusk of the Boar Grenade Launcher
• Multimach CCX Submachine Gun

NIGHTFALLS:

• Added two weapons to the Nightfall loot pool rotation, providing more variety and rewards for players:
• The Wild Style Grenade Launcher and its Adept version will be the featured Nightfall weapon for the first time during the week of March 5.
• The Slammer Sword and its Adept Version will be the featured Nightfall weapon for the first time during the week of March 19.

GAMBIT:

• Fixed an issue with an incorrect Hive variant spawning, ensuring the correct enemies appear in Gambit matches.

DUNGEONS:

Prophecy:

• The dungeon weapon pool has been updated. All the added and updated weapons will now have the new Origin Trait called Crossing Over. This trait provides increased range and handling for the top half of the magazine, while rounds from the bottom half of the magazine deal increased damage.
• Removed: A Swift Verdict Sidearm, The Long Walk Sniper Rifle, The Last Breath Auto Rifle.
• Added:
• Prosecutor Auto Rifle (Primary, Precision Frame, Arc, Crossing Over)
• Adjudicator Submachine Gun (Primary, Precision Frame, Kinetic, Crossing Over)
• Relentless Pulse Rifle (Primary, High-impact Frame, Damage changed from Kinetic to Strand, Crossing Over)
• Updated:
• Judgment Hand Cannon (Primary, Adaptive Frame, Damage changed from Kinetic to Stasis, Crossing Over)
• Darkest Before Pulse Rifle (Primary, Rapid-Fire Frame, Damage changed from Arc to Solar, Crossing Over)
• A Sudden Death Shotgun (Special, Aggressive Frame, Damage changed from Arc to Void, Crossing Over)
• Warlord’s Ruin:
• The correct nameplate now appears when the boss spawns during traversal.
• Fixed an issue during the Ogre encounter where killing the Wardens quickly could soft lock the player.

UI/UX:

• Gunsmith Engrams are now listed in the Engram wallet, making it easier for players to access and keep track of their engrams.
• Fixed an issue where some multiplayer emotes would not display their interaction dialogue, improving the communication between players during emote interactions.

ACCESSIBILITY:

• Players are now able to change the location of their reticle, regardless of the platform (Center or Below Center), providing a customizable experience for players.
• Added controller Dead Zone settings in the Controller Settings menu, allowing players to adjust the sensitivity of their controller.
• Players are now able to adjust the opacity of the radar background on the Character Settings menu, providing a customizable visual experience for players.

FIRETEAM FINDER:

• Fixed an issue where the Create a Listing button prompt would incorrectly say that players’ listing title and tags would be reset when reselecting the same activity, preventing confusion for players.
• Fixed an issue where the names of players joining Fireteam Finder lobbies were not displayed in group text chat, improving communication between players.
• Improved activity selection for activities that players may not have access to yet in their progression, notifying them earlier in the selection process of the requirements to have it available, avoiding confusion and disappointment.
• Fixed an issue where the Fireteam Finder application pop-up would freeze while it was being accepted, ensuring a smoother experience for players.
• Fixed an issue where Listing Tags and Minimum Guardian Rank filter categories were reset after closing the filter screen, preserving player customization and preferences.
• Improved search flow by adding feedback when there are active filters applied to the View Listings page, keeping players informed of the current filter settings.
• Fixed an issue in which search filters were not being reset when choosing another activity, preventing incorrect filter settings from carrying over to new searches.
• Private Match titles in Fireteam Finder lobbies now include the activity name, providing clearer information to players.
• Improved error messaging when players are unable to join or apply to a listing, helping players understand and troubleshoot any issues they encounter.
• Fixed an issue in which stale information was being shown when reselecting activities, ensuring up-to-date and accurate listings.
• Added Visual Impairment tag in the Listing Tags options to cater to players with specific accessibility needs.
• Fixed an issue in which the tooltip on roster contacts was inconsistent, displaying “Finding Fireteam” when not in Fireteam Finder, eliminating confusion.
• Fixed an issue in which text would be stretched or spaced incorrectly in the Fireteam Finder text chat, improving readability and overall visual experience.
• Fixed an issue where the Application modal stayed open if a player was looking at it while it was accepted, ensuring smoother navigation and functionality.

GAMEPLAY AND INVESTMENT:

ARMOR:

• Promethium Spur: Fixed an issue where Solar weapon kills were not providing the correct amount of Rift energy, both inside and outside of the Rift, improving the functionality of this armor piece.
• Ballidorse Wrathweavers: Fixed an issue where this armor was providing bonus Stasis damage when using non-Stasis Supers, addressing balance concerns.
• Apotheosis Veil: Fixed an issue where Insatiable could be applied when casting Super with relic weapons, ensuring the perk functions as intended.
• Fixed an issue where the Dark Age and Wyrmguard armor sets were appearing in the Appearance screen before being earned, maintaining consistency and unlock progression.
• Fixed an issue where the artifact mod Revitalizing Blast failed to apply weaken when using Consecration, resolving a bug that impacted gameplay.

CRUCIBLE SANDBOX:

Health:

• In base Crucible, increased player health by 30, from 70 to 100, providing a more balanced and fair playing field.
• Shields will still be between 116 and 130, depending on the player’s Resilience values, maintaining the importance of Resilience in resilience-based gameplay.

Ability cooldowns:

• Melee, Grenade, and class ability cooldowns now have a 15% penalty applied to them in Crucible only, balancing the use of abilities and promoting strategic decision-making.
• Super cooldowns now have a 20% penalty applied to them in Crucible only, ensuring a more balanced and fair use of Super abilities.

Ability damage:

• Supers: Increased base Super damage by 31%, making Supers more impactful and rewarding for players.
• Melee: Increased base melee damage by 16%, providing a slight boost to melee effectiveness.
• Grenades: Increased Arc Flux Grenade damage by 16%, enhancing the power of Arc Grenades.

Primary weapon damage:

• Pulse Rifles, Auto Rifles, Sidearms, and Scout Rifles: Increased critical hit damage by 14%, making these weapons more viable and rewarding for accurate shots.
• Hand Cannons: Increased critical hit damage by 10% and reduced body shot damage by 5%, balancing the effectiveness of Hand Cannons and promoting skilled play.
• Reduced flinch dealt to players by projectile impact by 12.5% and by Explosive Payload by 10%, improving the overall gunplay experience.
• Submachine Guns: Increased critical hit damage by 12.5% and reduced body shot damage by 3%, making Submachine Guns more effective and balanced in gameplay.
• Bows: Reduced base damage by 15%, addressing balance concerns and ensuring fair gameplay for all weapon types.

Special ammo acquisition:

• All players will start every game with two kills worth of Special ammo for their chosen weapon, allowing for more immediate engagement.
• Instead of two kills worth of Special ammo being granted every time a player respawns, they will earn more ammo by filling up a Special ammo meter, with points given for getting kills, assists, or completing objectives. Getting 100 points grants two kills worth of Special ammo for their chosen weapon, promoting engagement and objective play.
• Kills from Special ammo weapons and Heavy ammo weapons do not grant any points toward Special ammo meter progress, ensuring fair progression and preventing potential abuse.
• Jumping off the map will subtract progress from the Special ammo meter, discouraging unsportsmanlike behavior.
• Ammo is not dropped on death, and players will not lose the Special ammo they earned when they are defeated or revived, ensuring a fair and consistent experience.
• Earned Special ammo will carry over between rounds, providing a more seamless and consistent gameplay flow.
• Swapping from double Primary weapons to a Special ammo weapon will reset the player’s Special ammo meter progress, preventing abuse and promoting strategic decision-making.
• Special weapon damage:
• Trace Rifles, Shotguns, and Fusion Rifles: Increased base damage by 20%, making these weapons more impactful and viable.
• Glaives: Increased projectile damage by 20% and increased melee damage by 16%, improving the effectiveness of Glaives in both ranged and melee combat.
• Heavy weapons:
• Heavy Grenade Launchers: Reduced detonation damage by 5% and increased reserve ammunition by 2, providing a more balanced and fair gameplay experience.
• Machine Guns: Increased base damage by 20%, making Machine Guns more effective and rewarding for players.
• Exotic weapons:
• Fighting Lion: Decreased damage versus players in Crucible by 20%, addressing balance concerns.
• Devil’s Ruin: Decreased charged beam damage versus players in Crucible by 15%, ensuring a more balanced and fair use of the weapon.
• Crimson: Reduced flinch dealt to players by projectile impact by 17.5%, improving the overall gunplay experience.
• Forerunner: Increased damage versus players in Crucible by 20%, making the weapon more viable and impactful.
• Symmetry: Increased Revolution damage versus players in Crucible by 16%, promoting the use of this weapon in PvP encounters.

WEAPONS
General:

• Fixed an issue where players who have unlocked a weapon pattern via Riven’s Wishes and don’t own the Forsaken Pack will now be able to craft that weapon, allowing for proper weapon crafting.
• Fixed an issue where players could swap weapons faster than intended in combination with a grenade or grapple ability, ensuring balanced gameplay.

Weapon Archetypes:

Hand Cannon:

• Heavy Burst: Fixed an issue where Heavy Burst Hand Cannons had 25% less aim assist than other Hand Cannons when hip firing or airborne on mouse and keyboard, maintaining consistency across weapon archetypes.
  Bow:
• General: Reduced auto aim falloff distance start and end by 15%, reducing the effectiveness of auto aim at extreme distances. Reduced auto aim cone size by 5% at 100 Accuracy stat, maintaining balance between precision and non-precision shots.
• Auto Rifles:
• Breakneck: Added the missing twelfth perk to Breakneck’s second trait column, ensuring all perks are available to players.
• Scout Rifles:
• Lightweights: Increased base damage by 5%, making Lightweights more viable and rewarding for players.
• Sniper Rifles:
• General: Reduced auto aim by 10%, improving the skill required for precise shots.
• Rocket Launcher:
• Diversified subfamilies:
• Precision: Increased reserve ammunition by 2 and reduced damage penalty from -10% to -5%, balancing the effectiveness of Precision Rocket Launchers.
• High Impact: Increased reserve ammunition by 2 and changed damage distribution to provide more area-of-effect damage and less impact damage, maintaining balance across weapon types. These changes also affect Deathbringer, Gjallarhorn, and Truth, providing a more consistent experience across Heavy Grenade Launchers.
• Heavy Grenade Launcher:
• Increased reserve ammunition by 6 rounds at 0 inventory stat and by 10 rounds at 100 inventory stat, ensuring players have an appropriate amount of ammunition for Heavy Grenade Launchers.
• Reduced Spike Grenade’s impact damage buff from 50% to 12.5%, reducing the overall damage bonus and making it less mandatory.
• Increased direct hit impact damage by 10%.
• Increased detonation damage by 5%. (This is offset by a 5% reduction to detonation damage in PvP.)
• Increased Heavy Wave Grenade Launcher damage by 20%, making Heavy Wave Grenade Launchers more effective and rewarding for players.
• Increased Heavy Wave Grenade Launcher wave width by 40%, improving area-of-effect damage and overall effectiveness of Heavy Wave Grenade Launchers.
• Sword:
• Caster Swords:
• Reduced Heavy attack energy cost from 5 to 4, making Heavy attacks more accessible and viable.
• Increased Heavy attack damage by 16%, improving the effectiveness of Heavy attacks.

Exotics:

• Vigilance Wing: Now has a deterministic recoil pattern, improving consistency and predictability during gameplay.
• Vex Mythoclast: Increased aiming down sights (ADS) damage falloff scalar from 1.5x to 1.7x, addressing balance concerns.
• Wish-Ender: True Sight will now deactivate if the player leaves ADS or holds it for longer than 3 seconds. To reactivate, fully redraw the bow, ensuring consistent and balanced use of the weapon.
• Edge of Action: Added damage resistance against combatants in PvE, providing additional survivability for players.
• Resists 85% against all combatants except bosses and 15% against bosses.

Perks:

• Heal Clip: Now grants cure x2 to the player (still grants cure x1 to nearby allies), improving the effectiveness of this perk.
• Trench Barrel: Can now be activated by dealing damage with ranged melee attacks, enhancing the versatility of this perk.
• Barrel Constrictor: No longer deactivates upon firing a shot and lasts for 7.5 seconds (enhanced 8.5 seconds), providing a longer duration for the perk.
• Loose Change: Applying an elemental debuff now increases aim assist and ADS movement speed, in addition to reload speed, improving the overall effectiveness of the perk.
• Dual Loader: Removed the reload speed penalty, ensuring a more balanced and fair gameplay experience.
• Tex Balanced Stock: Now grants +20 range and +1.5 degrees hip fire precision cone angle, in addition to its other effects, improving the functionality of the perk.
• Envious Assassin: Each activation is now capped at 100% of mag size instead of 150%, and maximum overflow is now 3x the mag size instead of 4x, addressing balance concerns.
• Bait and Switch: Reduced the damage bonus from 35% to 30%, ensuring a more balanced and fair gameplay experience.
• One-Two Punch: Now correctly deactivates after dealing damage with a powered melee attack, preventing unintended effects.
• Hakke Breach Armaments, Deconstruct, and Sundering now work with Void Souls, Strand Clones, Cabal Projection Shields, and Brigs, expanding the functionality and versatility of these perks.
• Hakke Breach Armaments: Damage bonus vs. Stasis crystals reduced from 85% to 60% to match other constructs, maintaining balance across perk effects.
• Deconstruct: Updated the perk description to correctly state that it pulls ammo from thin air, not reserves. Also updated Deconstruct to work on Fusion Rifles and weapons that deal splash damage, providing more clarity and ensuring consistent functionality of the perk. Additionally, fixed an issue where Deconstruct would not work as expected with explosive damage.
• Sundering: Can now trigger on shield break in addition to final blows on vehicles and constructs, added a small reload speed scalar and reduced charge rate benefit to account for higher uptime. Sundering buff is no longer active while weapons are stowed, providing a more balanced gameplay experience.
• Hatchling: Activation requirements are no longer locked to the archetype in terms of precision or non-precision kills. Now Scout Rifles can activate on a precision kill or three rapid non-precision kills, providing more versatility and options for players.
• Target Lock: Now activates later in the magazine for Submachine Guns, at 20% instead of 12.5%, addressing balance concerns.
• Mods:
• Major Spec: Fixed an issue where mini-bosses were incorrectly included in its effects. Boss Spec now correctly increases damage versus mini-bosses, ensuring proper functionality.
• Seasonal Weapon Focusing:
• Fixed an issue where the Wish weapons and Undying weapons engrams didn’t reward a weapon if the player had already unlocked all crafting patterns for weapons contained in the engram, ensuring proper rewards for players.

ABILITIES:

• Radiant and Restoration: Fixed an issue where Restoration and Radiant buffs were being reapplied rather than having their duration extended, ensuring a more intuitive and consistent experience.
• Ember of Empyrean: Increased maximum extension duration from 12 to 15 seconds and adjusted timer extension criteria for better balance and consistency. Players now get varying time extensions based on defeated targets’ tier, promoting more strategic play.
• Ember of Mercy: Now grants a flat 2 additional seconds to the player’s active Restoration or Radiant timer, rather than refreshing its duration. This value is increased to 3 seconds with Ember of Solace equipped, ensuring balanced functionality.
• Threaded Specter:
• After creating a Threaded Specter, it now applies the same Dodge cooldown penalty that Ensnaring Slam applies, adding consistency to ability mechanics.
• Increased detonation damage vs. PvE targets by about 25%, making Threaded Specters more effective against enemies.
• Ensnaring Slam:
• Reduced duration of Dodge cooldown penalty after performing an Ensnaring Slam in PvE activities by 50%, addressing balance concerns.
• Threadlings:
• Reduced base damage vs. players from 40 to 35 and fragment-enhanced damage from 45 to 38.5 vs. players, ensuring balanced PvP gameplay.
• Increased aim assist target size from 0.41m to 0.5m for improved accuracy.
• Arcane Needle:
• Increased aim assist angle by about 50%, improving accuracy and target acquisition.
• Increased aim assist falloff distance from 30 to 45 meters, increasing effectiveness at longer ranges.
• Increased tracking angular velocity by about 5% and increased length of projectile’s tracking shape, improving the overall performance of the ability.
• Consecration:
• Increased Primary Scorch ground-follow projectile travel distance from 18 to 20 meters, improving the functionality of the ability.
• Increased height of slam ground-follow projectile detonation by about 1 meter and increased travel distance of slam ground-follow projectile from 16 to 20 meters, enhancing overall performance.
• Increased travel speed of slam ground-follow projectile (including Pyrogale’s enhanced version) from 16 to 24 meters per second, ensuring more consistent targeting and engagement.
• Gunpowder Gamble:
• Reduced maximum self-damage on detonation by 33%, improving the survivability of this ability.
• Fixed an issue where Omnioculus’s melee energy return perk was unintentionally being reduced by the melee ability’s chunk energy scalar. It now returns its original energy values when making allies invisible, addressing a bug.
• Fixed an issue where Flashbang Grenade was receiving less chunk ability energy from perks than intended, ensuring proper functionality.
• Fixed an issue where Rally Barricade was receiving more chunk ability energy from perks than intended while the Bastion Aspect is equipped, maintaining balance in ability energy gain.

BOUNTIES AND PURSUITS:

• Armor Synthesis Bounties have been reset, giving players fresh challenges and opportunities for reward.

GENERAL:

• Added a new text chat command called “/clear” that clears out all text chat messages on screen, providing a tidier chat experience.
• Multiplayer emotes added during Seasons of the Deep, Season of the Witch, and Season of the Wish will now properly display their chat messages when used with other players, improving communication during emote interactions.
• The Veteran’s Flair transmat effect can now be acquired from Collections and equipped to ships by eligible players, offering more customization options.
• The Laser Cutter ship has had a missing engine component restored, improving its visual design.
• The Duel emote can be properly acquired from the Special Deliveries vendor in the Tower for players who claimed its associated Prime Gaming Drop, ensuring availability and accessibility.
• The General Triumphs for each ritual weapon ornament now correspond to the correct ornaments, ensuring accurate tracking and rewards.
• To get the Deathless Triumph to gild the Champ Title, players must now be present during the first phase of the activity, preventing unintended completion.
• Festival of the Lost quests that were not completed should be correctly cleaned up from the player’s inventory, ensuring a tidy and relevant inventory.
• Champions will no longer spawn in the Vanguard Ops playlist version of the PsiOps Battlegrounds, streamlining the gameplay experience.
• Players are no longer awarded a second Veil Spectrometer consumable on subsequent characters after completing the pursuit, avoiding duplication and confusion.
• Fixed an issue where Take out the Trash emote allowed players to hide in geometry, addressing a bug that impacted gameplay.