With Season 19 around the corner, Bungie has shared more details on how several of its Exotic weapons will be tweaked for the next period of activity. Bungie identified a number of weapons to apply amplified traits to, with a specific subset of Exotic weapons receiving a buff to the Fundamentals perk. Borealis, Hard Light, and Dead Messenger, which feature the ability to cycle through different elements, will each receive increased handling, range, stability, and aim assist stats depending on which element is currently active.
Borealis, a sniper rifle that also falls into that category of Exotic weapons, will receive a more substantial buff that will make it even more powerful Breaking a matched enemy shield will refill the magazine from reserves and allows for your next five shots to deal bonus damage. Jade Rabbit, one of the more popular scout rifles, is also getting a big redesign. Bungie says that landing three critical hits will return a round to the magazine and increase the damage of the next body shot, and players will be able to stack up to three of these enhanced rounds.
While the Exotics above are getting some great buffs, a few other weapons are getting nerfs as well. The Divinity trace rifle is one controversial weapon that will see some of its power dialed back and will see its Weaken debuff effect reduced from 30% to 15%. Witherhoard has been one of the most popular grenade launchers due to its ability to deal high damage quickly, so for PvE, the Taken portal area of effect will have its time shortened from 7.5 seconds to 4.5 seconds.