Recently, Bungie has addressed fan discussions regarding a couple of unique weapon perks commonly attached to Nightfall and Trials of Osiris weapons. Fans have requested that Bungie make Celerity and Bottomless Grief two intrinsic perks permanently active additions on these weapons drops as well as the Adept versions. However, Bungie revealed that while a cool idea, it wasn't viable for a few reasons including one that would introduce some major performance related problems.
Still, Bungie did reveal a couple of changes to those weapons, making Celerity and Bottomless Grief available as a perk option for players to select. Still, Bungie admitted that it was satisfied with either perk as the trigger conditions rely on failure which doesn't always feel great for the last player standing. This admission triggered a thought in one player for another overlooked exotic item that has a similar function.
One of the more unique looking exotic gear pieces is The Stag, a helmet that has been in both Destiny games for the Warlock class. Inside of Destiny 2, The Stag is considered a low tier item, generally passed over but most Warlock players due to its less than ideal perk. Dearly Departed gives rift energy when the player is close to death as well as creating a healing rift for teammates once the player is defeated. Naturally, the helmet only really shines closer to a fail state, similar to the perks Bungie mentioned.
Bungie you said it yourself: "we found that a trigger condition that relies on failure generally feels pretty bad" now please consider reworking The Stag. from DestinyTheGame
Reddit user TheWorldOfTyler mentioned this in a recent post, linking Celerity and Bottomless Grief perks to The Stag, pushing Warlock players to always play close to death to get the most out of the item. Naturally, the player offered ways to rework the item to make it more useful and move away from that reliance on failure with ideas like giving Warlocks an extra rift charge, throwing a rift to teammates, faster rift energy charging when taking damage, causing rifts to move with the player, and much more.
Clearly this is a major sticking point for players as most of the comments agreed with the original post. Warlock players admitted to skipping over The Stag due to its perk conditions and being so situational, even though the look of the item is so unique and eye catching. If the player isn't close to death, the item offers no real value to the team.
For now, there doesn't appear to be any official plans by Bungie to make wide spread adjustments to underperforming exotics like The Stag. However, fans may have a bit of hope as perk reworks have been happening more often similarly to what the studio is planning with Celerity and Bottomless Grief. Recently, the exotic Aeon Cult gear set was completely reworked, taking the three exotic armor pieces that players avoided entirely and turning them into gear that is now extremely viable and sought after.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.