Bungie has walked back its Destiny 2 Portal nerfs after community backlash, calling the approach “too conservative,” and outlined some reward buffs coming with the Ash & Iron update.
Bungie has pulled a hard U-turn on last week’s controversial Portal tuning. After announcing nerfs to Solo Ops power gains and Exotic mission rewards, the studio says its approach was “too conservative” and “the wrong call,” and it’s reverting those changes. The note arrived in today’s This Week in Destiny post, alongside specifics on short-term fixes and what’s coming with Ash & Iron.
Following a brief statement from the Destiny 2 Team account yesterday, today’s This Week in Destiny post goes deeper. Bungie confirms it has reverted the planned Solo Ops grade reduction, the Exotic mission engram cuts (Encore, Starcrossed, Whisper), and even the Prime Engram decryption change.
Destiny 2 Portal Nerfs Reversed, Buffs Announced For Ash & Iron Update
This update comes via Bungie’s latest This Week in Destiny post, where the studio details what changed immediately, what’s landing with Ash & Iron, and why it’s shifting to a “bring options up” philosophy across activities.
“Based on player feedback we’re revisiting our approach to balancing progression, as we believe our previous approach was too conservative and these nerfs would work against our goals of improving progression,” the developer said. “To be clear, we believe these changes were the wrong call.”
“We want all activities in the Portal, Solo or Fireteam based, to feel rewarding. We want our activities to contribute understandable and meaningful progress to your climb in Power.
“In the long run, we are still going to be cautious about a singular Ops category or activity becoming the go-to for Power leveling. We want Destiny to be a game where you want to hop in with friends to level, rather than declining an invite to spend time in a solo activity for the sake of progression.
“We don’t want players who generally just want to play Solo or Pinnacle Ops feeling like they’re getting caught by a stray nerf. Our current approach is to bring options up and make sure they feel good before we look at the ‘problem children.'”
Bungie’s new statement confirms that the devs are reverting three planned changes immediately: the reductions to Power earned for a given grade within Solo Ops, the engram reductions in Encore, Starcrossed, and The Whisper, and the change that would have forced Prime Engram decryption in the Tower. All three are canceled.
On the “already live” side, matchmade Fireteam Ops time limits have been raised across the board: Expert +25%, Master +50%, and Grandmaster +75%. That change was pushed with the update 9.0.0.8 earlier this week.
Looking to Ash & Iron update, which goes on September 9, 2025, Bungie has shared a preview of several buffs coming to Destiny 2’s Portal system:
- Increase the number of drops for Liminality, Inverted Spire, and Onslaught: Widow’s Court.
- Activity timers have been rebalanced for Solo, Pinnacle, and Fireteam Ops.
- Increase the number of drops for many more activities in Fireteam Ops.
- Removing unpopular mods like Grappler from the Fireteam Ops matchmaking pool. (will still be selectable when customizing)
Portal Rewards Changes:
- Chance of Prime Engram drop per completion reward. Activities with more base completion rewards, such as Liminality and Inverted Spire, will provide more chances for Prime Engrams to drop.
- Bungie is working on a “more consistent Power reward experience” for the upper Power band (500–550) during Ash & Iron.
Other Buffs:
- The Desert Perpetual raid
- Weekly challenges added.
- Improved gear tier drops.
- Gear attunement added.
- Portal
- The time bonus earned will grant 5% minimum score if you make the timer.
- Your account highest Power will be used for reward score rather than equipped Power.
- Conquests are now replayable.
In related news, NetEase’s Destiny: Rising mobile game is officially out! The game, available on iOS and Android, takes places in an alternate timeline with the storyline focusing on the Dark Age. If you’re looking to try out the game on PC, check out our complete guide here.
What do you think about the U-turn and the new reward plan for Destiny 2’s Portal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
