Destiny 2 Ash & Iron: All Exotic Weapon Changes Detailed

Bungie just dropped a massive sandbox update with Destiny 2’s Ash & Iron. Here’s every exotic weapon change coming in the free update.

Destiny 2’s next major update, Ash & Iron, is just around the corner, launching next week, on September 9, 2025. This one’s special not just because it brings players back to the Plaguelands, but also because it’s completely free for all players, marking the first major content drop following The Edge of Fate expansion.

There’s quite a bit packed into this one. We’re getting a new activity called Reclaim, the return of Iron Banner, new exotic missions, updates to the Portal, and even the Epic difficulty version of the Desert Perpetual raid. But alongside all that, Bungie is also rolling out a major sandbox update, which means a whole bunch of tuning changes to weapons, armor, and abilities, just like it has done with previous seasonal or expansion launches.

And in this article, we’re focusing entirely on the exotic weapon changes coming with Ash & Iron.

All Exotic Weapon Changes in Destiny 2: Ash & Iron

These changes come straight from Bungie’s newly published Sandbox Tuning Preview article earlier today, ahead of the Ash & Iron launch. In total, 15 exotic weapons are getting some kind of update.

You’ll find the full breakdown of exotic weapon changes below:

MIDA Multi-Tool

• Added a new trait called MIDA Software Package: Getting enough kills with MIDA Multi-Tool now provides various buffs and an incremental PvE damage bonus after reaching certain thresholds:
  • Stage 1: 25% faster Handling and ADS speeds, 5% PvE Damage.
  • Stage 2: 15 Range and Stability, 5% PvE Damage.
  • Stage 3: 15% AA/Magnetism ranges, 5% cone angle, 5% PvE Damage.
  • Stage 4: Shots detonate on impact.
• Kills with weapons that have the MIDA Synergy intrinsic also grant progress towards these buffs.
• On death you regress to the beginning of the previous stage.
• The “radar while aiming” functionality has been moved to the intrinsic.
• Exotic Catalyst:
  • Replaced No Distractions with a brand-new catalyst.
  • While an enemy is within close proximity and MIDA Multi-Tool is in hand, you are granted enhanced radar resolution and improved reload speed (20 reload stat, 15% reload scaler).
• Very slightly increased the movement speed bonus.

Sturm 

• Storm and Stress: Rapid kills with Together Forever weapons within three seconds of each other now load extra Sturm Overcharge shots. Primary ammo Together Forever weapons load even more Sturm Overcharge shots.
  • Sturm Overcharge shot’s bonus damage has been tuned. Previously this was roughly a 261% damage buff against all combatants and a 78% buff against players. New values are as follows:
    • 260% against bosses
    • 280% against mini-bosses and Champions
    • 300% against minors and majors
    • 75% against players
  • Maximum Sturm Overcharge reduced to 25. (from the cap of 99)
• Accomplice: In addition to existing behavior, final blows with Sturm Overcharge shots now also increase the magazine capacity of Together Forever weapons until death, capped at 100% of the base magazine.
• Exotic Catalyst:
  • In addition to the increased stats, Sturm now has a brand-new catalyst:
  • Kills with Sturm Overcharge shots grant charges that provide a 50% ready and stow speed scaler for Sturm and Together Forever weapons. One stack is consumed upon readying Sturm or a Together Forever weapon, max six stacks.
• Other changes:
  • Lucky Pants now buffs the damage of Sturm Overcharge shots, but at a lower-than-normal efficacy (110% buff at Illegally Modded Holster x10).
  • Increased Sturm’s Ammo Generation stat from 30 to 80.
  • Fixed an issue where Sturm Overcharge shots were not playing the impact VFX that signify increased damage.
  • A lens flare is now visible on opposing players’ Sturm in PvP while they have active Sturm Overcharge shots.

Eriana’s Vow

• A lens flare will now be visible on opposing players’ Eriana’s Vow in PvP.

Graviton Spike

• Reduced time to gain overcharged shots from 20s to 7s.
• Reduced time to gain Temporal Alignment catalyst buff from infinite to 7s.

Tarrabah

• Increased zoom to 16.
• Reduced the Peacekeepers bonus damage when using Tarrabah with Ravenous Beast active from 100% to 70%.

Hawkmoon

• Lucky Pants now buffs the damage of Paracausal Shot, but at a lower-than-normal efficacy (50% buff at Illegally Modded Holster x10).

New Land Beyond

• New Land Beyond’s perk counter, previously capped at x100, now stacks up to x999 for bragging rights.
  • Increased damage is still capped at x100.

Lord of Wolves

• Decreased Release the Wolves damage versus bosses by 20%.

Grand Overture

• Reduced total reserves from 58 to 48.
• Exotic Catalyst:
  • Omega Strike micro-missiles no longer require direct hit kills for enemies to explode, enemies killed by its blast radius will now also trigger the explosion.

The Queenbreaker

• Reduced damage vs bosses by 8%.
• Reduced decreased charge rate via Combat Sights by 15%.

Outbreak Perfected

• Reduced damage-based recharger Super contribution.
• Slightly reduced nanites damage-based recharger Super contribution.

Barrow-Dyad

• Slightly reduced damage-based recharger Super contribution of non-seekers.
• Reduced damage-based recharger Super contribution via Taken seekers.

Hierarchy of Needs

• Reduced damage-based recharger Super contribution via guidance ring arrows.

Thunderlord

• Fixed an issue with the Thunderlord catalyst where it was refilling more ammo than intended.

Whirling Ovation

• Increased the rate at which Anticipation builds.
  • A fairly optimized damage rotation utilizing Whirling Ovation should see the Anticipation meter fill time decrease from ~ten seconds to ~eight seconds.
  • Less-optimized damage rotations will see a more significant fill time decrease.

That’s the full list of exotic weapon changes coming with Ash & Iron. The devs will reveal more about this update in the reveal livestream on September 9, 2025. (yes, the launch day)

What do you think of these exotic changes? Anything you’re excited (or annoyed) about? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!