Season of the Lost 

Cryothesia 77k review – Is it good now? (Destiny 2 Sandbox 3.4.0)

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Cryothesia 77k got a rework in the recent 3.4.0 sandbox update, with Bungie admitting they were pretty worried about putting out a stasis weapon when this was originally released in Season of the Splicer. Stasis has been through numerous balance patches, and the sandbox isn’t dominated by Stasis as it once was. Today I’m going to have a closer look at Cyrothesia 77k, and try to answer the question – Is it good now?

Originally introduced back in Season 14, Cryothesia 77k came and went with little fanfare, with Bungie giving us some insight into why recently on the DCP Firing Range podcast. At the time stasis was still widely disliked by the Destiny community, therefore just before Cryothesia 77k was put out, it was pretty much nerfed into the ground.

Bungie has since balanced out the sandbox pretty well, nerfing Stasis numerous times, so it doesn’t feel so oppressive in PVP, but still retains its power in PvE game modes.

Here’s what Bungie said about it in their weekly update before the balancing

Given the state of Stasis in PvP at the start of Season 14, we deliberately shipped this weapon in a weak state (which almost physically hurt us, but was the right decision), not wanting to contribute to the problem. Now that we’ve had more time to evaluate the state of the sandbox, we’ve reworked this Exotic to address its weakness in PvE. Specifically, the following pain point: Fire on release with the charge trigger, losing all ammo on firing the freezing shot.

Cryosthesia 77K Changes in 3.4.0 Update

  • Removed “variable trigger” completely, now fires on trigger press instead of release (this will make it feel much more responsive).
  • Charged shot moved to special reload. Getting a kill with the Sidearm enables access to the special reload.
  • Once the charged shot is fired, the weapon reverts to standard Sidearm fire. This does NOT cost your entire magazine.,
  • Charged shot now deals an AOE which freezes AI and slows players (direct hits still freeze).

That’s the change, but how does it play? Plus, is the weapon good now? The answer is well… it’s better, but it’s still not great.

Let’s quickly remind ourselves of Cryothesia 77k and its perks

Cryothesia 77k is an Exotic Kinetic Sidearm

  • LN2 Burst – Swap firing mode after a final blow to enable a Charged Shot.
  • Liquid Cooling – Direct hits by a Charged Shot instantly freeze the target. Indirect hits freeze combatants and slow enemy Guardians.

Cryothesia 77k is definitely better now, easier to use and you have the benefit of not losing the entire magazine when you use the charged shot. That was just silly, and it’s a massive positive that feature has been removed. This weapon also uses primary ammo, which given the recent sandbox changes in Season of the Lost, means you have infinite ammo, whereas a comparable Kinetic Stasis weapon like Agers Scepter uses special ammo.

Another big change in the 3.4.0 update is the area of effect, making this pretty potent in PvE. I don’t think this is going to be game-changing in PvE, but the area of effect is nice. We do have the Unstoppable Sidearm Mod this season, making Sidearms viable in Legend and Master PvE modes, however, it’s difficult to compete against Particle Deconstruction and Unstoppable Fusions, unless you are looking to save energy points on your armor as the sidearm mod is cheaper.

One more feature to think about with Cryothesia 77k is the artifact mod Focusing Lens. You can run a light subclass, using the alternate firing mode on Cryothesia 77k and inflict stasis damage, then get bonus damage for your light abilities and supers.

Overall, Cryothesia 77k is better now, with the AOE freeze and ease of use. As with many other stasis weapons, it’s all about the build you put together with the Aspects, Fragments, Exotic Armour, and Mods. On its own it’s nothing special, but if you spec into a particular build with your stasis subclass. Whisper of Chains or Whisper of Rime are both excellent choices. Iceflare bolts are a fantastic choice if you are a Warlock, as you can chain together freezes.

Cryothesia was begging for a rework, especially given the popularity of the newer Legendary Stasis weapons like Eyasluna, Fractethyst, Vulpecula and Peacebond. It was only a few months ago that stasis was potentially dragging the game through the mud, cited as one of the reasons why many players were leaving the game. It’s truly a remarkable turnaround.

This season, in Season of the Lost, stasis weapons and builds have come into their own given the addition of legendary weapons and perks like Headstone. This is where precision final blows can spawn a stasis crystal at the victim’s location.

In update 3.4.0 there were some significant PVE stasis improvements too worth taking notice of.

Stasis crystals

  • While forming, Stasis crystals now slow nearby players instead of freezing them.
  • They still freeze PvE combatants while forming.
  • Increased slow/freeze radius while forming from 1.75m to 2.6m.
  • Reduced crystal-formation damage from 20 to 10.
  • Reduced crystal detonation damage vs players by ~55%.
  • Increased crystal detonation damage vs. PvE combatants by ~60%.
  • Increased crystal detonation radius from 6m to 8m.

Whisper of Shards

  • Reduced grenade regeneration in PvP game modes by 50%.

Whisper of Chains

  • Increased damage reduction vs. PvE combatants from 25% to 40%.

Whisper of Rending

  • Increased Kinetic-weapon damage vs. Stasis crystals by 100%.

Cryothesia 77k now can at least compete with the other stasis weapons, notable ones I can think of are Ager’s Scepter, Eyasluna, and Peacebond.

What I would do would be to experiment with a few builds and see what you like, with 2 themes.

  • Pick a light subclass you like, throw on Cryothesia 55k in the Kinetic slot, and either Reed’s Regret or Zephyr in the Power slot, and make sure you have Focusing Lens and try that on for size and check out the extra damage to light subclass abilities and supers.
  • Experiment with some Stasis subclass builds and different Aspects and Fragments, Whisper of Chains and Rime are a good place to start and build out from there. There’s some good artifact mods this season that benefit from stasis damage, so test them out too and see what works for you and your playstyle.

I am mainly a PVE player, so I’ve been putting together builds for PvE. Currently, it’s not that great for endgame PVE activities like Grandmaster Nightfalls or activities similar to this, it’s going to be hard for Cryothesia to replace either Sleeper Simulant, Vex Mythoclast, Le Monarque or Trinity Ghoul… However, it’s good for making fun builds that are suitable for going into legend activities.

Let me know what you think in the comments about the Cryothesia 77k and what do you think of the rework.

That’s it for this look at Cryothesia 77k in Destiny 2. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out This Week In Video Games on YouTube and subscribe today.