As exciting as Destiny 2: Into the Light and its various goodies may be, the upcoming Final Shape expansion pack is what everyone is really waiting for. Doubly so now that Bungie’s shown off the Prismatic Guardian subclass, combining both Light and Dark under the control of one superpowered monster-slayer.
Certainly, it’s still far too early to say whether Bungie will be able to fully recover from the problems that cropped up following the Lightfall DLC, but the recent reveal is exceedingly promising. The introduction of the Dread – a whole new race of Darkness enforces – is game-changing in its own right, but Prismatic abilities are currently in the spotlight. To that end, Bungie isn’t keeping its Guardians waiting: the recent blog post has unveiled the full list of all of the upcoming Prismatic abilities, Supers, and fragments, underlining the importance of good balance once The Final Shape hits.
Destiny 2 reveals all Prismatic abilities and Fragments
“Our main goal for Prismatic is to enable new and interesting buildcrafting combinations that lead to new types of gameplay, so that we can keep the game feeling fresh,” says Bungie’s announcement. “From the very first mission of The Final Shape, you’ll have access to a complete starting Prismatic build with a set of Light and Darkness abilities, Aspects, and a full set of Fragments.”
Naturally, this does mean that the Prismatic ability set is not a total, all-encompassing fusion of all of the abilities Guardians have learned over the years. Instead, Bungie is approaching the Prismatic subclasses as exceedingly flexible custom-built ability sets that pick and choose certain aspects of dedicated elemental subclasses. Hunters, for example, will initially only have access to one Solar and one Void Super (Marksman’s Golden Gun and Deadfall Shadowshot, respectively), and it’s possible although not confirmed that Bungie might expand upon the list later on.
Destiny 2: Hunter Prismatic abilities
Destiny 2: Titan Prismatic Abilities
Destiny 2: Warlock Prismatic Abilities
Choosing the Prismatic Subclass also enables Transcendence: this special Super-adjacent state builds up as Guardians dish out Light and Dark damage types, and once activated, Transcendence will instantly refresh all melee and grenade energy and massively increase their regeneration. Dishing out grenade damage will boost melee refresh, and vice-versa. Further, while Transcendent, Guardians will also get a slight damage increase and a reduction to all incoming damage, which are both very handy boons in their own right.
All three Guardian classes will get access to their own unique grenade types while Transcendent:
- Hunters’ Hailfire Spike: Deals Stasis and Solar damage upon eruption, as well as creating a scorching cyclone
- Titans’ Electrified Snare: Combines Arc and Strand damage to detonate and suspend affected damage, stranding them up in the air and arcing lightning to any nearby targets
- Warlocks’ Freezing Singularity: Casts a mass of Stasis and Void to deploy a small black hole surrounded by a halo of slowing Stasis crystals; a little while later, the black hole explodes, suppressing nearby targets and dealing heavy damage
All Prismatic ability Fragments in Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Finally, Bungie has also chosen to reveal some of the Prismatic Fragments that Guardians will get to unlock and equip upon The Final Shape‘s release in June:
- Facet of Balance: Rapidly defeating targets using Light damage grants melee energy, while defeating them with Dark damage grants grenade energy.
- Facet of Bravery: Defeating targets with grenades grants Volatile Rounds to Void weapons. Defeating targets with powered melee attacks grants Unraveling Rounds to Strand weapons.
- Facet of Dawn*: Powered melee hits on targets make you Radiant. Powered melee final blows make both you and any nearby Guardians Radiant.
- Facet of Defiance: Finishers detonate enemies. The detonation will Jolt, Scorch, Slow, Sever, or make nearby enemies Volatile based on your equipped Super.
- Facet of Dominance: Void grenades Weaken enemies; Arc grenades Jolt enemies.
- Facet of Generosity: While Transcendent, defeating targets creates Orbs of Power for your allies.
- Facet of Grace: Kinetic weapon damage grants extra Transcendence; Super kills grant you and your allies Transcendence energy.
- Facet of Hope*: Class ability regenerates faster when you have an active elemental buff.
- Facet of Justice: While Transcendent, all ability kills cause explosions.
- Facet of Protection*: While surrounded by enemies, you are more resistant to all damage.
- Facet of Purpose*: Picking up an Orb of Power grants Amplified, Restoration, Frost Armor, Woven Mail, or Overshield depending on your equipped Super.
- Facet of Ruin*: Increases the potency (size and damage) of the shatter caused upon taking down a Frozen target, or a Stasis Crystal; increases the size of Solar Ignitions.
All Facets marked with the asterisk are available immediately upon unlocking the Prismatic subclass, during the first mission of The Final Shape.
Overall, this is an extremely promising showcase from Bungie. To say nothing of the fact that it was not expected to be quite so explosive and colorful. Whatever the case may be, it seems all but certain that The Final Shape, which is due to launch on June 4, will be a very interesting release for Destiny as a whole. Considering the scope of what Bungie’s revealed over the past couple of days, though, I do hope they’ve not shown off absolutely everything exciting about the DLC. Time will tell!
