Destiny 2: Niobe Labs solved, matchmaking changes in the works, Iron Banner returns next week

Changes to the sandbox are coming to Destiny 2 later this month, and Bungie has provided information on what's in store. Also, fans of Lord Saladin will be pleased to know he returns for the first Iorn Banner of 2019 next week.

Starting next week, the studio will adjust matchmaking settings in Competitive. Destiny 2: Forsaken servers will go offline to apply the changes on January 15 at 10am PT, 1pm ET, 6pm UK.
Bungie said it is changing matchmaking parameters so that opponents found in Competitive matchmaking will be closer to your Glory rank.

It notes that while imbalanced matches can still happen, the changes put into place should reduce the number of occurrences “dramatically.”

Because of the changes, expect longer matchmaking times as the system tries to “ensure a good Glory rank match before opening up the search criteria.”

With Iron Banner returning next week, you can expect new weapons along with a Valor Bonus. It starts on January 15 and ends January 22. The weapons shown in the image be earned during the Iron Banner event.

In other news, Niobe Labs has been solved. Bungie will officially confirm the first Fireteam early next week. If you're just getting into the head-scratching Black Armory puzzle, here's how to reignite the Bergusia Forge.

Before the holidays kicked off, Bungie announced sandbox changes were in the works for January. The majority of the changes relate to abilities, which means some Supers are getting buffed.

For example: Golden Gun, Shadowshot, Arc Staff, and Burning Maul will all receive a damage increase when the update drops on January 29.

Blade Barrage and Nova Warp will also see a bump, but a much smaller one.

Bungie said changes to Super damage is the beginning of a process, as it will also be tuning numbers on perks to make them more effective, or even replacing them when they aren't performing.

The start of these upcoming changes to Destiny 2: Forsaken can be found below.

Destiny 2: Forsaken – January sandbox changes
Hunter

Gunslinger

• Golden Gun
  
  
  
  
  
  • Six-Shooter kills return a bullet
  • Practice Makes Perfect Super regen increased
    
  
  

  
  

• Blade Barrage
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • The damage is now heavily weighted on the delayed explosion instead of the knife impact
  • Now deals self-damage if the knives explode too close
  • Fixed a bug where the knives would track allies
    
  
  

  
  

Notes: This Golden Gun change brings increased uptime with your Super. For the Way of the Outlaw, this means a skill-based mechanic to extend it. For Way of the Sharpshooter, it's the ability to earn your Super more quickly.

Nightstalker

• Moebius Quiver
  
  
  
  
  
  • Entire damage bonus is applied on the first hit instead of stacking and multiplying
  • Increased tether radius and lifetime
  • Made it easier to fire successive tethers
    
  
  

  
  

• Spectral Blades
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Damage resistance in stealth decreased
  • Duration of Super while invisible slightly decreased
    
  
  

  
  

Notes: This is step one for Shadowshot, and we intend to keep improving the way it works. For this pass, we focused on Moebius Quiver quality of life.

Arcstrider

• Super damage is now more heavily weighted toward the heavy palm strike attack
  
  
  • No attack damage was reduced, but much of the added damage for this Super went into the heavy attack
    
  
  

• Lethal Current bonus damage increased
  

Titan

Sunbreaker

• Sunspots
  
  
  
  
  
  • Doubled the damage of the burn on enemies
    
  
  

  
  

• Sun Warrior
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Buff length increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds
  • Now increases ALL outgoing damage
    
  
  

  
  

• Burning Maul
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Slam radius increased
  • Slam fire tornado improved homing
    
  
  

  
  

Sentinel

• Super damage is more heavily weighted on the heavy shield charge attack.
  
  
  
  
  
  • No attack damage was reduced, but much of the added damage for this Super went into the heavy attack
    
  
  

  
  

Striker

• Terminal Velocity
  
  
  
  
  
  • There are now three tiers of hang time
    
    
    
    
    
    • The amount of hang time for each tier has been reworked
    • Each tier of hang time now causes four damaging shocks instead of three
    • The damage for the hang time bonuses has been increased significantly
      
    
    

    
    

  
  

  
  

• Trample
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • The light shoulder attack Super cost has been reduced by ~85%
  • Trample can now trigger every 0.5 seconds, up from every 1 second
    
  
  

  
  

Warlock

Dawnblade

• Super duration increased
  

Voidwalker

• Cataclysm
  
  
  
  
  
  • Increased detonation radius
  • Cluster damage increased
  • Improved cluster bomb homing to make it more consistent against single targets
  • Cluster bombs no longer detonate one another
    
  
  

  
  

• Vortex
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Linger damage increased significantly
    
  
  

  
  

• Nova Warp
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Slower movement while charging
  • Charging costs more energy and overall duration is reduced
  • Damage resistance reduced very slightly
  • PvP damage reduction
    
    
    • Charged detonation will no longer be able to one shot another player in their Super, provided it has damage resistance
      
    
    

  
  

  
  

Notes: The Nova Warp changes above are all small, but we think together they will help bring it down into a good place—a place similar to the Supers that we're raising up.

Stormcaller

• Stormtrance
  
  
  
  
  
  • Increased number of targets for chain lightning by 1
    
  
  

  
  

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