Destiny 2is in a great spot after the successful release of The Witch Queen, but a game as massive as Bungie’s looter-shooter will always have some issues that need balancing. For example, thecurrent iteration of the weapon crafting system is not at its bestconsidering players can get their desired god roll but never change perks without removing existing ones, including costly Enhanced traits. Season of the Risen saw the addition of a new modifier to Nightfall called Acute Burns, which makes players receive 50 percent more damage of a specific element, while also dealing 25 percent increased damage with matching guns and abilities.
While Acute Burns are not much of a problem in regular Nightfalls, with Master Nightfalls they become a bit of a hassle, and the real issue comes from Grandmaster Strikes.Destiny 2’s Grandmaster Nightfallsare one of the most difficult endgame activities available, as if players happen to wipe at any given point, everyone will be returned to Orbit and the Strike is considered a failure. As such, having Acute Burn modifiers in GMs further increases their difficulty, especially so for players who don’t have an Artifice Armor piece for their chest armor or are using an Exotic in that slot.
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How Artifice Armor Helps Deal With Acute Burns in Destiny 2
Destiny 2’s GMsare already an environment where enemies hit hard, to the point that some specific attacks will almost always one-shot players. This makes Acute Burns even more problematic depending on the specific Strike they apply to, and the type of damage they match. For example, a GM Nightfall with an Acute Burn modifier for Void damage which also features Scorn enemies will almost guarantee that players team-wipe a lot because of how bugged the base damage for Scorn crossbows and grenades.
The only way to mitigate damage inDestiny 2, apart from a couple of Combat Style mods that are viable in endgame content, is to have matching elemental resistance mods slotted in the chest armor. Chest armor pieces are the only item that grants access to resist mods, which vary in terms of the attack’s element, effect, or distance from players. In Season of the Risen, players gained access to a double-resistance seasonal mod that grants damage reduction against bothSolar and Arc damage, making Artifice Armor all the more important in order to balance Acute Burns.
Artifice Armor is a unique line of armor pieces that drop from the Master version of the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon, with every piece of armor having an extra slot where players can place seasonal mods. This extra slot is often valuable due to the limited nature of armor mod slots, but in Season of the Risen with Acute Burns being a thing, Artifice Armor allowsDestiny 2players to triple-stack resistances and avoid unnecessary deaths in endgame content.
Bungie should consider makingArtifice Armormore common than a random drop from a specific activity, or Exotics should always have that same extra slot to increase build variety and GM viability. Especially with Acute Burns, using an Exotic chest armor automatically means not having access to those very handy damage resistance mods, which can lead to hindered survivability. Overall, Acute Burns are an additional layer of challenge to an already punishing activity, which means that players should have more ways to at least counter some of their negative effects.
Destiny 2is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
