Do you hear the crackling? In Destiny 2, a deadly electric storm is approaching with Season 18, as Bungie has released initial information on the new Lightning abilities Arc 3.0. Hunters are getting their beloved teleport back, Warlocks are the storm you don’t want to get caught in, and Titans will finally experience what mobility means. All of this is inspired by Jason Statham in Crank 2: High Voltage. It’s time to charge yourself with electricity.
What’s Bungie bringing to the game with Arc 3.0? After Bungie introduced Stasis in 2020 as a completely new ability class, the old classes Void, Solar, and Arc seemed quite outdated. Also, because Stasis offered players many more options through additional aspects and fragments. So Bungie began to gradually revise the old ability classes starting with “The Witch Queen” to make them comparable to Stasis.
Initially started in Season 16 with the Void abilities. Season 17 followed with the upgrade for the Solar abilities and Season 18, which starts on August 23, 2022, will now be the last to polish the Arc abilities so that Guardians can soon do “Lightning things” in Destiny 2.
Bungie’s new Lightning power is inspired by “Crank 2”: What awaits players at the start of Season 18 sounds highly electrifying. Players should feel like Jason Statham in the action film “Crank 2 – High Voltage” from now on in Destiny 2.
In Crank 2, Statham plays a hitman with an artificial heart, which however has no battery. Therefore, whenever the power level of his heart drops too low, he has to recharge himself with a power source. And he will do anything for that. In the film, he not only sucks on a car battery, but also uses outlets and high-voltage lines for more power. What would kill other people only makes Jason Statham as Chev even stronger.
And it is exactly this electric fantasy that is now coming to Destiny 2.
Maximum speed and enhanced power: To allow players in Destiny 2 to fully utilize the electric power, Bungie will “enhance” them starting from Season 18. An enhanced Guardian can move faster, and this is already possible without having to equip the new aspects or fragments. Quick kills with Arc weapons can also contribute to the enhancement.
- Players will thus enhance their speed after a few seconds of sprinting and will receive longer glide abilities. The mobility boost remains active as long as one continues to sprint.
- Enhanced also grants increased damage resistance in PvE.
- All classes can generate and collect Ionic traces, which then add energy to all abilities.
- Additionally, Arc 3.0 also brings back old favorite abilities. This includes the Titan’s “Titan Dash” and the popular teleport ability for Hunters, known as “Blink”.
Everything in Arc 3.0 is aimed at moving quickly forward to aggressively deploy the new abilities right next to their enemies.
- You can blind PvP enemies with Arc and give them an annoying beeping sound in their ears.
- Enemies in PvE will be disoriented so they can no longer use their weapons. Additionally, enemies affected by Arc can also chain lightning to nearby foes.
All abilities of Arc 3.0 at a glance
Warlock – Star Wars Sith with deadly lightning fingers
Like the Star Wars Emperor Dark Sidious, the supreme Sith Lord, the Warlock in Destiny 2 will continue to channel electricity through his body and direct it at his enemies. You will have 2 super abilities and 2 melee options available for this. Both can also be enhanced.
For example, the Ball Lightning melee will not only produce a floating ball of Arc energy that explodes. It will also shake the primary target and trigger a chain reaction that also harms nearby foes.
However, if enhanced, it will trigger a double chain that can then jump to double the number of foes.
Additionally, the Warlock has the following aspects available:
- Arc Soul: The Warlock conjures a Rift to create an Arc soul that assists the player in battle. Allies passing through the Rift also receive an Arc soul. The Rift charges faster when allies are nearby. During enhancement, each Arc soul is charged, increasing its rate of fire.
- Lightning Strike: The Warlock activates his melee while gliding to transform into a Lightning ball and teleport forward, calling down a field of lightning at the exit point that rattles targets.
- Electrostatic Mind: Kills with Arc abilities and kills on enemies with Arc debuff generate ionic traces. When players collect an Ionic trace, they are enhanced.
Are Warlocks already the big losers? Although the changes sound good, many Warlocks are not happy with them. They suspect a drastic nerf to their abilities behind these changes. However, without initial build tests, nothing can be said about this yet. When Season 18 starts on May 23, it will have to be shown whether the Warlock is truly at a disadvantage or not.
Hunter: Deadly in the middle and fast away again
Destiny 2 wants to reward Hunters who venture right into the middle of enemies – even in difficult content. To this end, the Hunter with Arc 3.0 will be able to block and distract projectiles at the push of a button, as well as perform an armored dodge maneuver. This will make him more resilient to incoming damage when dodging starting from Season 18.
Additionally, the Hunter will get back the once-popular “Blink”, which is the teleport ability, and on top of that, a brand-new super ability, the “Gathering Storm”.
This is the Hunter’s new Arc super: With it, he can jump into the air and slam a spear into the ground or into an enemy. Upon impact, the staff releases a damage pulse that shakes nearby enemies. Shortly after, a huge lightning bolt strikes the staff, overloading it and creating a large damage zone around it for several seconds. While the staff is overloaded, it sends out arcs of lightning to damage all enemies approaching it.
Hunters can choose from three Arc aspects to tailor their tactical style:
- Flow State: Defeating a shaken enemy causes Guardians to be enhanced. When the Hunter is enhanced, dodging charges faster and makes him more resistant to damage. Additionally, he will have faster reload times.
- Tempest Strike: Allows the Hunter to perform a gliding melee attack that unleashes an Arc wave across the ground, dealing significant damage and shaking enemies in its path.
- Deadly Current: After dodging, the Hunter’s melee range is increased, and his next melee attack shakes the target. This creates a damaging, lightning-like aftershock. When used with the Arc spear super, the Hunter’s next light staff attack after dodging hits twice. If you hit a shaken enemy with a melee attack, they will also be blinded.
Titan: Hits like an electric freight train and becomes more mobile
With Arc 3.0, Titans will finally get to experience what mobility means. Their ultimate goal will be to punch their enemies in the face. Bungie is bringing in a few Arc abilities for this purpose that will make “face-to-face contact” as easy as possible. In other words, starting from Season 18 it will be: Hit hard whenever possible for all Titans.
The Titan Ground Slam is back: To give enemies the experiences of being struck by Titans, Bungie retains the Thundercrash super. Chaos Fists will also remain in the game. This super will sit midway between the upper and lower paths, and its ground slam will leave a damage field. A strike from the air will create a damaging AOE effect.
Like the other subclasses, Arc 3.0 Titans will also have three aspects to choose from:
- Touch of Thunder: Enhances Arc grenades in the following ways:
- Flashbang: Fires an additional blinding pulse on first impact.
- Impulse: If the grenade damages an enemy, it creates an ionic trace for the Titan. The damage from impulse grenades increases over time as the grenade lingers after impact.
- Lightning: Grants an extra charge for lightning grenades and rattles targets on the first explosion.
- Storm: Creates a wandering thundercloud that moves and chases enemies (similar to the Silence & Squall super of the Stasis Hunter) and fires lightning to the ground beneath it.
- Juggernaut: While sprinting and with full class ability energy, the Titan receives a front shield that blocks incoming damage. When enhanced, the shield is stronger. Once the shield is exhausted by damage taken, the player’s class energy is depleted.
- Knockout: Melee kills trigger health regeneration and enhance the Titan. Critically wounding an enemy or breaking their shield temporarily increases melee range and damage. The Titan’s base melee is Arc empowered while Knockout is active.
Lastly, the new Arc abilities will also feature fragments that allow you to further specialize your Guardian.
- Spark of Beacon: When the player is enhanced, Arc special weapon kills create a blinding explosion.
- Spark of Resistance: When the player is surrounded by enemies, they have increased damage resistance.
- Impulse Spark: Gliding over ammo reloads the weapon and grants a small amount of melee energy. Gliding over heavy ammo increases the granted energy amount.
- Shock Spark: Arc grenades shake enemies.
When will the first movements of the new abilities be seen? On August 23, Bungie will showcase the first movements with Arc 3.0. We have summarized all details about the showcase and the upcoming Season 18 in this article.
What do you think about the new options coming to the game with Arc 3.0? Which class has received the strongest abilities for you? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion here on MeinMMO.
