Melee abilities in Destiny 2, be it powered or unpowered, have a very distinguished following in the community. All three classes can use their melee-focused abilities across all subclasses, and then wipe out an entire army of mobs, and sometimes, even bosses. Bungie, however, recently released a pretty lengthy blog post regarding a whole plethora of changes coming to the melee sandbox in the new expansion.
This article compiles all the changes that matter for melee and lists them in one place below.
All significant changes to melee in Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate
To start, the melee's base damage is going to be slightly toned down when enhanced by damage-increasing stats. For example, any percentage of melee enhancement will be added to the base, instead of being multiplied. This allows players to have a lower damaging ceiling, while also having an incentive to push for 200 on the Melee stat.
However, things don't end there, as multiple weapon types and Exotics are being heavily impacted by this change. One primary weapon type, the Glaive, will have its melee damage counted as normal, unpowered melee. This means that any melee damage that your character used to deal without any enhancement, your Glaive will do the same.
While these changes might seem like major nerfs across the board, multiple ability tunings/buffs make up for them. These tunings are as follows:
- Facet of Courage: PvE melee damage bonus increased from 10% to 50%.
- Spark of Feedback: PvE melee damage bonus increased from 75% to 100%. Now works with Glaive melee at full effect.
- Roaring Flames: Maximum PvE melee damage bonus increased from 73% to 200%.
- Knockout: PvE uncharged melee damage bonus increased from 100% to 160%. PvE charged melee damage bonus increased from 50% to 160%.
- Offensive Bullwark: PvE melee damage bonus increased from 100% to 160%.
- Banner of War: Melee damage bonus for user and allies increased from 40% to 100%.
- Stylish Executioner: PvE melee damage bonus increased from 200% to 300%.
- Combination Blow: Maximum PvE damage bonus increased from 309% to 400%.
The primary takeaway from all this is that you are going to do more damage using your melee, regardless of the additive and multiplication bonuses mentioned earlier.
Check out our other Destiny 2 articles:
- All Destiny 2 Exotic weapon changes in Heresy Act I
- Imminence god roll guide
- Essence of Desire Destiny 2 farming guide
- Best ways to heal in The Nether
- Easiest way to get the Queenbreaker Catalyst
- Derealize Exotic mission guide
- How to get the Barrow-Dyad quest