Marathon update 1.0.5.3 arrived today, and Bungie is making some fairly sizable changes to melee damage and the Bubble Shield

Melee Damage

The most important change, in my opinion, is that Bungie is reducing the bonus damage provided by the Melee Damage stat to a maximum of 50% when previously it was a max of 100%. This is only applied when using melee attacks vs. other Runners, and is unchanged vs. UESC or other AI enemies.

The reasoning for this change is that quick-melee kill potential was possible without having to upgrade the Melee Damage stat very high through build crafting and upgrade spending. The later game upgrades to the Melee Damage stat were essentially pointless, as you were already powerful enough at +50% Melee Damage to quickly kill other Runners. Now it will take additional upgrade investment from players to achieve the same level of melee damage.

If you’re looking for a way to track those additional upgrades you now need, loo no further than our Faction Upgrade Progression Tool.

Bungie have also reduced the lunge distance and targeting angle when using the Knife:

  • Maximum lunge distance reduced ~10%
  • Targeting angle reduced ~20%

Bubble Shield

Many players have been complaining that the Bubble Shield is too strong, and that the Bubble Shield/Shotgun meta is not a fun way to play the game, and Bungie have responded by nerfing the Bubble Shield in PvP situations:

  • The rarity has increased from Deluxe (blue) to Superior (purple)
  • Overall bubble HP reduced by 33%
  • Bubble is no longer vulnerable to Volt Weapon damage
  • Increased resistance vs. UESC damage by 17%

This makes the Bubble less oppressive in PvP situations, but more useful in PvE situations vs UESC bosses which seems like a perfect middle ground for the item!

Miscellaneous Fixes

  • Thief: Fixed additional Grapple-related slide cancel movement exploits.
  • Vault and Armory:
    • An issue causing the Vault and Armory to at times appear empty has been resolved
    • An issue causing Armory item refreshes and free daily items to bot appear consistently has been resolved (nice!)
  • Contracts:
    • Traxus Return On Investment 4/5 no longer requires it to be completed in a single run
  • Zones:
    • The issue on Cryo Archive where the first player to entire an Exfil could reset the timer if they left the ring has been resolved

And that’s it for this week’s changes! Hopefully if you were someone constantly getting knifed or getting wrecked by squads with Bubble Shields this update will alleviate some of your anger!

See you on Tau Ceti!

Source: Original article on Bungie.net