Destiny 2 players have discovered that many of the game's all-new Anti-Champion mods can stop working under certain conditions, with the most significant problem being that this bug is inconsistent, yet pervasive. There have been many discussions about Destiny's Darkness-infused Champion foes since their introduction with the Shadowkeep DLC, with some players calling for Bungie to remove them entirely.
Some players' dislike for Champions comes from the fact that they could previously only be countered with a few specific types of weapons. When Destiny 2: Lightfall introduced new Anti-Champion options by providing ability counters to Unstoppable, Barrier, and Overload Champions, the game's meta suddenly became much more interesting, though this added new layer of complexity didn't come without its own problems.
Specifically, Reddit user Rexiem has discovered that some of Destiny 2's Anti-Champion mods can outright stop working under certain conditions. According to their testing, Bungie's revamped build-crafting system appears to have old tech debt from the previous version of the feature. Whereas Anti-Champion mods had fixed costs before Lightfall launched, players can now invest in special Seasonal Artifact perks that reduce these mods' respective costs. Rexiem claims that this reduction in mod price isn't actually being applied in the backend, as having less than a certain amount of armor energy will simply disable the mod entirely without letting the player know.
Many players have been looking forward to having access to an expanded array of Destiny 2: Lightfall's Champion counters, as these enemies come in hard and fast in endgame-tier activities. Rexiem's testing, however, has shown that Glaive, Sword, and other assorted mods can stop working in some cases. Worst of all, the issues in question aren't actually replicable under all conditions, showing that there are serious inconsistencies currently in place.
Since Destiny 2's Guardian Rank progression nudges players to interact with Champions via Nightfall missions, chances are good that many players have already experienced the problems that Rexiem has highlighted in their Reddit post. Since replicating them isn't always possible, however, nailing down the specifics of the problem wasn't easy. Now that the community is aware of the severity of the problem, however, odds are good that Bungie will take note in due time.
Naturally, all these problems give even more ammunition to those who believe that Tormentors and Hive Lightbearers are the future. Namely, many players feel that Destiny 2: Lightfall's Tormentors are excellent combatants due to their aggression, tankiness, and flexibility. Regular Champion foes don't come close to the levels of engagement that Tormentors provide, but it's highly unlikely that Bungie will be getting rid of Champions anytime soon.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.