Dune: Awakening is still early in its life, but very few features have impacted its endgame PvP as much as the ornithopter. For some time now, the community has pointed out just how much it dominates open-world combat, especially in the Deep Desert, where dogfights and rocket launchers often determine outcomes before any fights on the ground even have a chance to really gain momentum. What eventually made matters worse was the now-patched ability for players to "goomba stomp" other players on foot by crashing their ornithopter into them for massive damage with little risk. However, that exploit was officially removed in a recent update for Dune: Awakening, with vehicles no longer able to deal direct damage to players through collision.
But while the meme may be dead, the ornithopter meta lives on. Aerial combat still reigns in most endgame PvP encounters, meaning its role has simply shifted from being a joke to an ongoing problem. It's not just that the ornithopter is strong either, but more so that it trivializes nearly every other part of the game's combat sandbox. From stealth skills to tanky builds to gadget-based support roles, anything that isn't airborne often feels irrelevant. If Dune: Awakening wants to retain its most dedicated players, it may need to rethink how air combat fits into the bigger PvP picture.
Dune: Awakening Review
Dune: Awakening thrives in atmosphere, worldbuilding, and survival depth, even if its combat and grind somewhat drag behind its setting and systems.
Dune: Awakening's Recent Ornithopter Fix Still Doesn't Solve Its Biggest Problem
The Goomba Stomp Patch Removed the Joke, Not the Issue
When Funcom removed vehicle collision damage from Dune: Awakening's PvP, it was definitely the right call. The "goomba stomp" had become an easy punchline for anyone watching ornithopters slam down on players with almost no consequences. It looked absurd, broke immersion, and was easily exploited in crowded zones. The fix, however, was immediate and highly effective, with it ensuring vehicles could no longer damage players by smashing into them from above.
While the meme may be dead, the ornithopter meta lives on.
Still, all this did was cut off the most visible branch of a much larger tree of problems. Yes, respawn timers were an issue as well, but Funcom has been tweaking those. Dune: Awakening's Ornithopters, on the other hand, are still largely untouched apart from the recent fix. It wasn't the stomp mechanic that made ornithopters overpowered, but the fact that they could control the battlefield from above. The vehicle's speed, mobility, and long-range weapon options make it the default choice for anyone taking PvP seriously. However, when fights are determined in the air before a single ground skill can be activated, it creates a system where builds don't matter, positioning doesn't matter, and character progression is made largely obsolete.
PvP Air Superiority Trivializes the Game's Other Combat Elements
The reason this issue is gaining traction isn't just because ornithopters are too strong, but because they make the game just a bit less interesting. When every late-game fight revolves around little more than dogfights and missile spam, the excitement of PvP makes Dune: Awakening's combat in other areas less appealing. Specifically, the characters many players have spent hours carefully crafting is now made irrelevant due to the sheer power of the ornithopter. It essentially transforms Dune: Awakening from a survival game into a flight simulator.
This isn't just a "git gud" problem for Dune: Awakening, either. Reddit threads and Discord discussions have already labeled the current PvP loop as "just missile duels." Once that label sticks, it's hard to recover without a major shift in how combat incentives are structured. If builds don't matter, and the best strategy is always to get to an ornithopter as quickly as possible, then it's only a matter of time before PvP engagement stalls and Dune: Awakening's endgame becomes less desirable to reach.
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Survival, MMO
