Destiny 2’s deadliest auto rifle toned down in PvP, but eludes PvE nerfs

Destiny 2’s Khvostov 7G-0X quickly became one of the most beloved weapons in The Final Shape—and maybe a bit too beloved in PvP. Bungie is watering down the weapon’s ricochet in the Crucible but is leaving it mostly unchanged in PvE, the studio confirmed today.

Bungie has revealed upcoming nerfs to the Khvostov 7G-0X, Red Death Reformed, and Speaker’s Sight, which were oppressive in Destiny 2‘s PvP realm. Each of these can be particularly hard to fight against in its own right, but the Khvostov was arguably the deadliest.

The elusive Khvostov 7G-0X uses high-powered ricochets that deal extra damage to enemies, and it was easy to charge them up in the Crucible. Its steady recoil didn’t hurt its case, either. This auto rifle was responsible for 24 percent of all Trials of Osiris kills last weekend, according to DestinyTrialsReport.

The Khvostov 7G-0X nerf hits on both the ricochet and the recoil. The Exotic’s comfortable recoil was due to a bug, so Bungie is fixing it. As a compromise, the studio is nearly doubling the weapon’s stability, which will “give it back some (not all) of that stable feel” without making it too oppressive.

The ricochet will also undergo tweaks to the initial damage, seeing its initial damage drop to five percent (down from 15) and slashing the bouncing bullet damage against guardians to 4.6 points (down from 18.4). The developer wanted to “avoid impacting PvE with this change,” so both sets of nerfs will not leave the Crucible.

While a nerf seemed imminent, fans were afraid it would also hurt the weapon in PvE. Having items diluted in PvE due to PvP balancing changes isn’t uncommon in Destiny 2, much to the community’s chagrin. The most recent example may be the nerf to Young Ahamkara’s Spine, affecting the Exotic in both modes. Despite those fears, however, the Khvostov seems to escape a nerf mostly unharmed in PvE, with just a reduction to its recoil in sight.

Bungie also outlined nerfs coming to Red Death Reformed and Speaker’s Sight. The pulse rifle, like the Khvostov, will get more recoil, while Speaker’s Sight is temporarily having its orb generation effect disabled in PvP while the studio settles on a full solution.