Subclass Changes in Summer 2021

Subclasses are an important part of Destiny 2. They spice up the three main classes by adding special abilities that favor different playstyles. Each subclass is based on an element. At first, there were three usable elements: Solar, Arc, and Void, with three subclasses each. In late 2020, the Beyond Light expansion added Stasis, bumping up the total number of subclasses to twelve. The Stasis classes were a popular addition in many areas. However, they were also immediately criticized for throwing the PvP balance off-kilter. Over the summer of 2021, developers Bungie have finally focused on solving this problem, resulting in a number of major changes to elemental subclasses.

Stasis Issues

One of the major factors that make it hard to balance Destiny’s gameplay is the difference in experience between PvE and PvP. For various reasons, the activities in those categories have a vastly different feel and make it very hard to balance both at once. Stasis subclasses found a ready niche in PvE activities such as Raids or Vanguard Strikes. There, their ability to slow and/or freeze enemies has proven invaluable for crowd control against large numbers of weaker enemies. Community feedback on PvE in Stasis has been largely positive.

When working on Stasis, the development team also had a specific PvP balance goal in mind. Mobility has played an outsized role in the Crucible, allowing certain tactics and loadouts to become excessively powerful. Specifically, developers worried about Guardians with PvP shotguns like Astral Horizon overwhelming everyone else with hit-and-run attacks. Stasis seemed to present an obvious solution by letting Guardians freeze their enemies in place. However, this cure soon proved worse than the disease.

Stasis subclasses quickly became dominant in everything from regular matches to Trials of Osiris. By negating movement in what was a highly mobile meta, they became able to control the flow of the battle. Frozen or slowed enemies could be dispatched with relative ease. Many players felt they had two choices: adapting Stasis themselves or not bothering with the Glory rank climb at all. Using Stasis abilities did not require much skill, which discouraged high-level play. Up until June 2021, attempts at fixing this situation were piecemeal and largely ineffective.

Power Tweaks

The 3.2.0.3 hotfix released on June 3 saw a sweeping array of Stasis nerfs, including:

• The durations of freeze effects inflicted on Guardians by anything other than Super abilities were reduced to 1.35 seconds. However, the ability to break out of those shortened freezes has been removed;
• Bonus damage done to frozen Guardians by Light abilities and Special and Heavy weaponry was reduced from 50 to 5%;
• The effects of slowing have been scaled down. Guardians could use their class abilities and aerial moves when slowed. Instead of making weapons more inaccurate, slowing now caused increased flinch when under fire. The movement penalty has also been reduced;
• The Whispers of Hedron Fragment (one of the passive modifers acquired through Stasis Fragment quests) has been changed to increase various secondary weapon stats rather than damage;
• Coldsnap grenades suffered halved radius and an increased arming duration;
• Several Behemoth, Revenant, and Shadebinder subclass abilities have been nerfed, reducing their power, duration, and/or area of effect, mainly against other player characters.

The changes to Stasis were largely enthusiastically received, having genuinely altered the balance in Crucible and other modes like the Iron Banner event. Non-Stasis builds have become vastly more competitive overnight. Although most of the nerfs were aimed at PvP specifically, many of them could not help but weaken the Stasis subclasses in PvE as well. In particular, they led to concerns that the Behemoth Titan subclass has been rendered largely useless in any mode. After a few tweaks and bugfixes over July, Bungie released another major balance update on August 24. The beginning of the Season of the Lost brought with it a more complicated set of changes to all subclasses, such as:

• A partial reversal of Behemoth nerfs, raising the melee ability’s associated movement speed and allowing Cryoclasm’s slide ability to shatter nearby crystals and frozen foes;
• Sunbreaker’s Throwing Hammer attack dealing roughly half as much damage to powerful AI opponents;
• Striker’s Super potentially causing more damage in a wider area;
• Sentinel’s Ward of Dawn group shield being more vulnerable to bosses, reducing automatic reliance on it in dungeons and raids;
• Revenant’s nerfs being partly reversed as well, as the Hunter Stasis class received faster Super movement and a more damaging melee attack;
• Slight buffs to a couple of Gunslinger’s damaging abilities;
•  Arcstrider’s Super dealing more damage to all enemies in PvE, along with other improvements;
• Damage reduction nerfs for Nightstalker;
• Lessened Shadebinder Super damage against Guardians using a close-range Super;
• Extensive adjustments to Dawnblade, once the most effective non-Stasis subclass. Celestial Fire has been changed to require better accuracy for maximum effect. However, air maneuvering abilities were increased. Although the Well of Radiance alternative Super has been made less effective against bosses, it could now give allies more damage resistance and Stasis effect immunity in PvP. Igniting Touch has been reworked to set off explosions on killing burning enemies;
• Reduced Chaos Reach range for Stormcallers;
• Greatly increased PvE effectiveness and convenience for Voidwalker’s Nova Warp and Handheld Supernova.

Nerfing Stasis has proven largely successful. Although Stasis abilities remain viable in PvP, their effective use now requires more thinking and perhaps PvP coaching. They can no longer render weapons and other abilities irrelevant. Meanwhile, the partial rollback later has helped ensure their continued relevance in PvE. Tweaks to other subclasses also helped make gameplay somewhat more balanced and varied. Bungie have already revealed plans for more extensive changes to non-Stasis subclasses in the future, giving them their own Aspects. In the meantime, though, the changes have created a good opening if you want to get back into the Crucible.