Every so often Bungie makes a change that seemingly shouldn’t impact the gameplay of Destiny 2 but ends up leading to a massive discovery. Last season it was the discovery of the One Two Punch perk combined with the Liar’s Handshake Hunter exotic, which allowed players to beat Last Wish raid boss Riven using only melee attacks. For Season 8, there is a similar setup at play, only this time it benefits Titans.
Once again, the key to this big damage setup is the One Two Punch perk. This Destiny 2 weapon perk can roll on a number of different shotguns, including the new One Small Step kinetic shotgun from the Lectern of Enchantment.
With a One Two Punch shotgun equipped, Titans can use the combination of shoulder charge and Peregrine Greaves to deal massive damage to a single target. What they want to do is fly through the air with shoulder charge active, fire the shotgun, and then melee.
It’s obviously not an easy combination to pull off, especially on console, but if done correctly the One Two Punch perk should buff the already potent aerial melee. And with the right melee attack like Hammer Strike, players will do roughly 84 times more melee damage than a basic punch.
There are a few key elements that must be active in order for this to work correctly, though. The first is that the shotgun must connect with every pellet. It’s the only way to get the One Two Punch perk to activate and buff a follow-up melee. Additionally, the melee must occur in the air or else the Peregrine Greaves won’t buff the attack.
Previously, Bungie made it so that Destiny 2 players could not shoot and then shoulder charge (without sliding off a surface) but a change in Destiny 2 Season 8 undid that restriction. Now, if players are fast enough, they can fly through the air, shoot, and then melee without losing any momentum.
As mentioned, this is much harder to accomplish on console where the frame rate is lower, but it’s still possible. On PC, it’s much easier and deals massive damage.
To give some perspective on how strong the combination is, Bungie was concerned enough about the damage that they disabled Peregrine Greaves during the World First race for Garden of Salvation. Since then the devs have not mentioned the perk or the exotic, but it seems likely that a nerf might be on the way – likely targeted at being able to shoot and then melee.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.