Bungie has temporarily removed the Hawkmoon exotic hand cannon from Destiny 2's PvP modes due to a game-breaking exploit. This isn't the first time Destiny 2, a live-service game, has faced such issues in its six-year lifespan; past incidents include the overpowered Prometheus Lens during a notorious "Laser Tag" weekend.
Despite largely positive reception for the recent "The Final Shape" expansion, bugs persist. One example involves the new No Hesitation auto rifle failing to damage barrier champions due to an apparent coding conflict with its unique healing rounds.
Hawkmoon, reintroduced in Season of the Hunt, has become a popular choice among players, especially due to its unpredictable availability via Xur. However, its recent dominance in the Crucible prompted Bungie's intervention. A Bungie Help announcement confirmed its temporary removal due to an exploit.
The exploit leveraged the Kinetic Holster leg mod to prevent the cancellation of Hawkmoon's Paracausal Shot perk, resulting in effectively unlimited damage-boosted shots. This allowed for one-shot kills, prompting swift action from Bungie before the start of Trials of Osiris.
This incident follows another recent Crucible exploit allowing for easy AFK farming of rewards in private matches. While that exploit primarily yielded resources like glimmer and enhancement cores (with occasional deepsight-enabled weapons), Bungie disabled rewards in private matches, highlighting the studio's proactive approach to addressing even seemingly minor issues.
