Why Destiny 2's Endgame Has Now Suddenly Become Harder

Summary

Destiny 2's PvE difficulty has increased in the Heresy episode with stronger Taken Phalanx enemies.
Unstoppable Champion enemies are also buffed, making player strategies more challenging in endgame content.
Players may need to adjust loadouts, use specific weapons, or swap abilities to effectively combat the enhanced enemies.

After a long period filled with internal struggles at Bungie and issues within the game, Destiny 2 is finally in a really good place with Episode Heresy, though it's hard to tell if this will be enough heading into Frontiers and a new content model. Bungie should try and ride the highs for now, especially seeing how things could change with Act 2 and Act 3 of the current release, but so far the game hasn't seen the same level of bugs and gameplay problems as in Revenant. However, players started noticing that something didn't feel right in Destiny 2 recently, and the reason is that the game is suddenly more difficult in PvE.

Difficulty has been a hot topic within the community in the past, with quite a lot of players being upset at how easy it was to complete Root of Nightmares when it came out. Likewise, some lamented that Prismatic trivialized some content or even buildcrafting in Destiny 2. It's hard to please all players in such a big game, so it may seem strange that difficulty in PvE has gone up now in Heresy, but the reason may very well be a bug. Right now, Taken Phalanx enemies are much harder to kill than ever, and this can lead to some frustrating experiences in endgame content.

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By Derek Nichols

Destiny 2's Taken Phalanxes and Unstoppable Champions Have Been Secretly Buffed

Taken Phalanx units are some of the most annoying Destiny 2 enemies due to their knockback attack as they cover themselves with their shield, which can sometimes push Guardians off ledges or even into walls, often resulting in frustrating deaths. However, this experience is taken to the next level in Heresy, as Taken Phalanx enemies now have bigger shields across the board, and even different posture, making them much harder to kill. Several players, such as Chablo91 on YouTube or FrostWendigo on Reddit reported this.

The change is quite visible once one knows where to look or knows about the change, whether it's intentional or not. This can easily impact some of Destiny 2's Grandmaster Nightfalls, Expert Nether runs, the Starcrossed Exotic Mission, and more. The reason is that not only are base Taken Phalanxes harder to kill now, but this also applies to Unstoppable Champions based on this enemy unit. With Heresy only offering Unstoppable mods for glaives and fusion rifles, it can be hard to stun these Champions in some content, which is all the more noticeable now that many players are using Arc.

While Arc builds in Destiny 2 often have means to stun both Overload and Unstoppable Champions with relative ease, one may need to swap damaging grenades for the Flashbang Grenade just to have a guaranteed stun on Unstoppable Champions. Likewise, players may want to find reliable ways to deal AoE damage in endgame activities where Taken Phalanxes abound, such as the new Area Denial grenade launcher Psychopomp or Solar ignitions. This may be harder in content like Starcrossed, where Taken Phalanx enemies are a key part of the mission and are best killed from afar.

Why Taken Phalanx Enemies Are Harder to Kill in Destiny 2 Now

Destiny-2-Taken-Captain-Solar-Hammer-Takedown — An official Destiny 2 screenshot of a Solar Titan preparing to smash a Taken Captain into molten viscera.

The fact that Taken Phalanxes now tend to cover their whole body and most of the head just with their posture makes them harder to engage with in a firefight from a distance, as their shields are much bigger than before. The same applies to Unstoppable Champions based on these enemies, so it may be wise to use Exotics with intrinsic anti-Unstoppable rounds, such as Destiny 2's Malfeasance (which also happens to deal more damage to Taken). It's unclear at this stage if this is something Bungie planned or a bug, but the latter seems more likely with the new spin on Taken Phalanx enemies in Heresy. Still, players should be wary of this change when tackling activities that include these units and their respective Unstoppable Champions.

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