Destiny 2's Season 18 will be big for the team at Bungie, because it will be the last to feature a major rework of the existing subclasses with Arc 3.0. Although not much is known about Season 18 right now, it's likely the Destiny 2 August showcase planned for next Tuesday will disclose more details about both the Season itself and the Lightfall expansion scheduled to come out in early 2023, possibly in February. Bungie released an article on its official website today that covers everything about the Arc 3.0 update.
The Arc 3.0 reveal came with no gameplay footage and developer commentary, which are likely coming in the August showcase or tomorrow's TWAB. Still, one of the highlights is Bungie's new vision for the Hunter's Arcstrider subclass, which thus far has arguably been the worst in the game for PvE due to the restrictions of playing a melee Super that deals low damage. Along with a new Super called Gathering Storm, Destiny 2 Hunters will now get a popular ability back via the original Destiny's Blink, filling a major power vacuum that existed since Forsaken.
Why Destiny 2's Hunters Getting a New Super and Movement Ability is Great
In the Forsaken expansion, Bungie added Destiny 2's second ground-based Super in the form of Well of Radiance for Warlocks, which, alongside the Titans' Ward of Dawn, rapidly became one of the best Supers in the game. This is because having a stationary area that buffs the entire team is desirable when it comes to most of the difficult encounters in the game, especially so when it comes to bosses for Dungeons and Raids.
With Arc 3.0, Hunters are coming full circle with Gathering Storm by adding the third ground-based Super that is also of a different element than the other two, and one of the most iconic for Hunters as well - so much so that they are thus represented by Exotic glaives. However, Gathering Storm is not like Well of Radiance and Ward of Dawn because it doesn't buff allied players; rather it debuffs and continually damages enemies standing in its circle. This is an incredible addition for Destiny 2 Hunters, as it means having a constant damage source for all encounters not tied to a roaming Super.
Another major addition with the Arc 3.0 update is going to be the Blink ability from Destiny, which made the Bladedancer subclass iconic and powerful in both PvE and PvP. In Destiny 2, Blink is a movement ability exclusive to the Warlocks, but now that Bungie intends to bring it back for the Hunters, players will finally be able to play the Arc subclass and bring something unique to the table. Because the Arc rework seems to be all about movement and melee damage, having Blink as an option will be amazing for Hunters.
This could make the Hunters take on a hit-and-run style thanks to the renewed focus on sprinting and taking less damage while doing so, alongside melee abilities with Exotics like Liar's Handshake or sword combos like with Falling Guillotine before ultimately using Blink to teleport away. A similar strategy also works for PvP, and Blink can make Hunters more unpredictable compared to the usual jumps they have access to. Overall, these two additions will likely have a big impact on Destiny 2's meta for all game modes, and the Arc rework for Hunters is looking promising so far.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.