Bungie’s recent special ammo nerf has further damaged crucible balance; specifically it hurts sniper rifle users, which ironically further promotes shotgun/fusion use. The problem lies inherently on how the different weapon types use ammo. Shotguns and fusion rifles are much easier to aim and kill in 1-2 shots, meaning that kill to bullet ratio is very high. While snipers also kill in 1-2 shots, aiming is much more difficult, and thus a much larger portion of ammo is lost due to missed shots. The kill to bullet ratio is significantly lower. Since the special ammo nerf was so severe, people who choose to use snipers are pigeon holed into picking rifles that promote additional ammo. Essentially you are left with two options: use Icebreaker or try to find a sniper with field scout and surplus. The amount of special ammo picked up from a crate is equal to the capacity of one clip. For example, praedyth’s revenge with the field scout perk will pick up six rounds from a special ammo crate. Six rounds will net a very skilled sniper about two kills on average. Compared to a shotgun with (6 rounds), a skilled player can likely average around 4 kills. My summative point: the special ammo nerf disproportionately hurts sniper rifles, as compared to other special weapons. It did not appreciably reduce shotgun usage in the crucible, but rather increased it (as sniper rifles are now less viable). If you choose to use a sniper, your choices are dictated by ammo related perks (which reduces the variety and enjoyment of using that weapon class). I was fortunate enough to find a Longbow Synthesis with field scout and surplus, meaning 12 rounds per ammo crate. While this adaptation allows me to continue using sniper rifles efficiently in crucible, I am saddened that I can’t really use praedyth’s revenge or efrideet’s spear anymore. Thoughts on the crucible special ammo changes? ***UPDATE: A user messaged me wondering how surplus actually affects crucible special ammo, since there is some ambiguous information floating around. So, I decided to do a test of a few different rifles; in short, surplus is bullshit. The following are ammo pickups in crucible with three very different rifles, with and without armor that increases ammo carrying capacity: [u]Praedyth’s Revenge (base mag = 4)[/u] Field scout + armor = 6 Field scout – armor = 6 NO field scout + armor = 6 NO field scout – armor = 4 [u]Longbow Synthesis with SURPLUS (base mag = 5)[/u] Field scout + armor = 6 Field scout – armor = 6 NO field scout + armor = 4 NO field scout – armor = 3 [u]Efrideet’s Spear with SURPLUS (base mag = 3)[/u] …I didn’t have field scout on this rifle NO field scout + armor = 6 NO field scout – armor = 4