Yes, Destiny 2’s Antaeus Wards Should Be Nerfed For The Sake Of Everyone’s Sanity

Yesterday, the Destiny 2 community’s frustration with the Antaeus Wards exotic reached its peak. Clan Redeem, known for uncovering exploits and glitches with exotics, pulled a prank by fabricating high-damage, immortality glitch footage involving Antaeus Wards. While this incident caused quite a stir at Bungie, it did bring attention to the fact that it’s time to address the issues with Antaeus Wards seriously.

Antaeus Wards, an exotic introduced during the Forsaken era, went largely unnoticed until recently when a change affected how these Titan boots reflect damage. Initially, they seemed like a mere gimmick, capable of reflecting supers, tank shells, or rockets with a well-timed slide.

However, the recent alteration has made Antaeus Wards more efficient at reflecting regular firearm damage. Consequently, we now have hordes of Titans sliding around, reflecting shotgun shots and fusion rifle blasts back at their assailants, often resulting in instant and unavoidable kills.

In the context of Crucible gameplay, particularly with the introduction of Trials of Osiris and its small, tight maps, facing Antaeus Wards is nothing short of a nightmare. There’s little you can do to counter them except attempt to keep your distance, which proves challenging when dealing with shotgun aping strategies.

What makes this situation even more problematic is the notion that Antaeus Wards are almost a necessity for Titans engaging in high-level PvP content. The issue with an overpowered class-specific exotic is that it puts other classes at a distinct disadvantage. While everyone could access and counter a fully broken weapon like Hard Light, only Titans can use Antaeus Wards.

Furthermore, the frustration associated with Antaeus Wards goes beyond gameplay imbalance. While the One-Eyed Mask presented issues in Crucible with its regeneration, overshield, damage boost, and wallhacks, Antaeus feels different because it amplifies Destiny’s existing problem of shotgun shots not connecting. It intentionally replicates that effect but also damages you and leaves you vulnerable to being instantly killed by its wearer.

Sliding has always been a fundamental movement skill differentiating good and bad players in PvP, as it disorients opponents and disrupts auto-aim. However, with the addition of damage reflection and immunity, shotgun sliding has become significantly more aggravating.

It’s clear that Antaeus Wards were never meant to function in this manner. They were intended to be a gimmick exotic, allowing players to reflect supers or rockets on special occasions with perfect timing. The current situation, where shotgun and fusion rifle fights against other classes become completely one-sided, was likely never the intention.

For once, the Destiny 2 community appears to be in unanimous agreement on the need for a nerf. This is a rare occurrence, and it’s uncertain whether we will see changes before the end of this season, which concludes in a month. However, it would be surprising if nothing is done to address the issues with Antaeus Wards in the next season, even if it means they can no longer one-shot Riven through Synthoceps switching.

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