Destiny 2 The Final Shape randomly makes raids and dungeons way harder, but disables controversial Surge modifiers for the Salvation's Edge raid race

Destiny 2 developer Bungie announced on Twitter (X) that its new Salvation's Edge raid race will not contain the unpopular Surges, special modifiers that provide a noticeable damage boost for specific weapons. Players have been worried that Surges would prove too restrictive since Bungie released The Final Shape expansion on June 4.

Bungie originally introduced the modifiers in a previous expansion in an attempt to make "high-difficulty activities" (as the studio wrote in an update article) more challenging. Generally, Surges have a changing damage type and they rotate weekly under certain game modes. 

With The Final Shape expansion, Bungie has even added Surges to normal mode raids, which many players have been finding unfair and limiting. Not only that, the base activity difficulty for raids and dungeons has abruptly gone up due to a significant Power level change.

"The changes to normal mode raids (and dungeons) make them way less accessible to new players and annoying to veterans," says one very upvoted Reddit post. "As of Final Shape, all normal mode raids have been made -5 power and have given Surges to offset the power difference."

The thing is, "the power difference by the Surges isn't even made up for fully," u/charlymarlypoo continues, since "having 25% damage increase to a certain element does not make up for -5 power. And even if it did, being locked to one or two elements a week [...] is not a fun or exciting way to play raids."

Another popular Reddit post agrees. "For evergreen activities like normal raids, [Surges] get tiresome," writes u/SlippySlimJim in a thread. "The seasonal artifact already encourages certain loadouts or elements, and Surges are always the 'elements of the season,' so it seems like double-dipping."

In light of these gameplay and loadout frustrations, Bungie is compromising on Surges for its Salvation's Edge raid, which launched on June 7. During the Contest Mode window active for the raid's first 48 hours, which wrap up on June 9 at 5pm UTC, Surges will not be active. But they will apparently be reinstated once Contest Mode concludes, suggesting more foundational changes would come later if at all as players push back against the endgame difficulty changes. 

"We appreciate everyone's feedback on raid and dungeon difficulty and the impact that the addition of surges has had," Bungie writes on X. "No changes planned right now, but the team is aware."

Here's what you need to know going into the Destiny 2 Salvation's Edge raid.