According to the YouTube channel Cheese Forever and corroborated by Destiny Bulletin, who claims to have tested the bow and discovered it does an additional tick of damage at greater hertz per second in the FPS game, a Destiny 2 bow deals more damage at higher frame rates. Due to modifications made to the game’s overall sandbox, Leviathan’s Breath, a heavy Exotic Void bow that can be found at the Monument to Lost Lights and was first introduced as part of the Shadowkeep expansion, is swiftly turning into a meta weapon.
The weapon has intrinsic anti-Champion capabilities, and its Exotic perk, Big Game Hunter, means it fires a massive jolt. Paired with its secondary Exotic perk, Leviathan’s Sigh, a fully drawn shot will induce a charged knockback effect over a limited time. However, players playing at a higher frame rate will find an extra tick of damage.
While Destiny 2 has several known frame rate issues, typically, the problems involve taking more damage at higher frame rates. However, in this case, the issue is that Leviathan’s Breath inexplicably grants an extra tick of damage on increased FPS.
This Destiny 2 bow does extra damage at higher frame rates: The Leviathan’s Breath, with a unique weapon ornament.
This isn’t the only issue players have encountered involving Destiny 2’s frame rates. Players using higher frame rates had less time to dodge lasers in Season of the Seraph, while others have suggested that players take less damage in other aspects of the game when playing on lower frame rates as well. Although Bungie has not offered a clear reason for the differences, some suspect it has to do with the game engine, originally designed to build games for console devices with internal frame rate caps. However, this is unconfirmed.
While Cheese Forever suggests the Leviathan’s Breath issue only occurs at frame rates of 160, Destiny Bulletin’s analysis showed notable differences due to ‘ghost’ damage at frame rates of 60-70.
Another weapon that appears to be dealing extra damage is the Destiny 2 Winterbite Exotic glaive, one of the new Destiny 2 Lightfall Exotics.
Destiny 2 season 20 is reaching its halfway point, and the multiplayer game‘s newest expansion is currently on sale on Steam. If you’re a New Light or just jumping back into the game, check out our Destiny 2 Lightfall guide to see everything new with the game’s most recent expansion.