Bungie’s Update 1.1.5 landed on July 21 alongside the Vault Breaker PvE mode, and it quietly rewrote the weapon meta. If you have been running the same loadout since Season 2 started, some of your favorites got touched. Here is where things stand.
The winners
WSTR Combat Shotgun
The big one. Damage up from 85 to 100 and spread improved by 20% across all stat tiers. The WSTR went from a niche pick to the best close-quarters weapon in the game overnight. If you fight inside buildings on Night Marsh, there is no reason not to carry one.
V22 Volt Thrower
Bungie removed the 0.5 second target acquisition delay and pushed projectile velocity from 56 to 80 m/s. The Volt Thrower now actually works for ambush plays instead of announcing your position and then missing.
Bully SMG and Twin Tap HBR
Both picked up quality-of-life buffs. The Twin Tap’s prestige mod tuning makes it a genuinely competitive mid-range option now.
The losers
Misriah 2442
Damage cut from 140 to 110 and the precision multiplier dropped from 1.2x to 1.0x. The 2442 dominated mid-season and Bungie clearly agreed. Still usable, no longer free wins.
D54 Battle Pistol
A small-sounding precision nerf (1.5x to 1.38x) with big consequences: three bursts to down a Grey Shield Runner instead of two, four against Purple. Falloff ranges also came in about 10%. The D54’s reign as the budget king is over.
Image credit: IGN
What to actually bring
- Close range: WSTR Combat Shotgun, no contest
- Mid range: Twin Tap HBR or a tuned Bully SMG
- Budget kit: Hardline or Overrun — the Server Slam reward guns still hold up for cheap runs
- Vault Breaker: whatever the Sponsored Kit gives you, upgraded with Vault Data
One more thing worth knowing: weapon stats only matter if your shots land first. Fights in Marathon are won on information, which is why plenty of players pair a strong loadout with tools from marathoncheat.com — ESP for pre-fight positioning matters more than any single buff on this list. Our best Marathon cheat roundup covers what those kits actually include.
The meta will shift again when Season 3 lands on September 22. We will update this list when the patch notes drop.
