Not since Destiny's Taken King expansion has the game released new elemental Subclasses for players to experiment with. While the Stormcaller, Sunbreaker, and Nightstalker Subclasses added a large amount of variety to the game, the franchise has never seen a new element.
That is where Destiny 2's Beyond Light expansion changes the mold. This fall will introduce three new Subclasses tied to the new Stasis element. Instead of using the Light to destroy the enemies of the Traveler, players will instead harness the power of the Darkness to control the battlefield and shatter opponents into a million pieces. From customizable Subclasses to the Stasis element itself, here is a complete rundown of the new Stasis Subclasses releasing with Destiny 2: Beyond Light.
9 Stasis Element
Stasis is a new element being introduced in Destiny 2 with the Beyond Light expansion. Not only will the new Subclasses be using this element, but certain weapons will have the Stasis damage type tied to them as well. This is the first time in the Destiny franchise that a new element has been added to the game. While Solar burns, Void suppresses, and Arc shocks enemies, Stasis will focus around freezing foes.
8 Focus On Crowd Control
As the manifestation of the Darkness's power, Stasis is unique in that it focuses on controlling the battlefield before all else. Bungie has made it clear that the element and new Subclasses were built around players slowing targets, freezing them, then shattering their frozen corpses to damage nearby targets. Each Subclass excels at doing one of these three things. Hunter's Revenant Subclass is best at slowing targets, Warlock's Shadebinder is best for freezing foes, and the Titan's Behemoth Subclass excels at shattering foes.
7 New Subclasses
Hunters, Warlocks, and Titans will each get a new Stasis-themed Subclass when Beyond Light launches later this year. Unlike all other Subclasses, these specs are focused much more on crowd control rather than pure damage. Hunters will gain access to the Revenant Subclass, Warlocks will obtain the Shadebinder, and Titans will unlock the Behemoth Subclass. Each of these Subclasses will use a new customization model that is much more flexible than the three Subclass paths present in the other Subclasses.
All three Stasis Subclasses will also share the same grenades. Players can choose between spawning an ice wall, a fissure grenade that tracks and freezes enemies, or a dome-shaped grenade that pulls in targets before slowing and, eventually, freezing them. These grenades are named Glacier, Coldsnap, and Duskfield Grenades respectively.
6 Hunter Revenant
Revenants are effectively ice ninjas, controlling the flow of combat using powerful grenades and ice shurikens. Their Super, Silence And Squall, is a non-roaming ability that throws two kamas at foes. The first will freeze targets in a massive area while the second will deal massive damage in a similar radius, capable of shattering any frozen foes created by Silence.
Based on pre-release footage seen of the Revenant, their Withering Blade melee ability has two charges. This melee ability can ricochet off walls, chain between targets, and will both slow and suppress targets on impact. Landing a shuriken on a slowed target will freeze them for a short duration. If played properly, Revenants can bring better crowd control than Nightstalkers in PvE while punishing aggressive players in the Crucible.
5 Warlock Shadebinder
Shadebinders are the defacto Subclass for freezing targets in Destiny 2. Their melee ability, Penumbral Blast, fires three tracking Stasis projectiles that will freeze targets on impact. To detonate these targets, players will want to activate their Shatter Shockwave Super. This roaming Super will equip Warlocks with their powerful ice staff, allowing Warlocks to freeze targets from afar before detonating their staff in a massive explosion that shatters targets. Shadebinders will bring an absurd amount of map control in PvE and PvP with their melee ability and Glacier grenades that can generate cover.
4 Titan Behemoth
Behemoths are a combination of a Striker Titan's sheer melee potential with the crowd control abilities present with the Stasis element. Shiver Strike is a melee ability that acts similarly to Thundercrash, causing the Titan to lunge forward before exploding into targets with a slowing shockwave.
Glacial Quake is the Behemoth's Super, encasing their body with Stasis itself to shrug off absurd levels of punishment while erecting ice pillars with every melee slam. Destroying these pillars will deal incredible damage in a small area. For PvE, there will be little reason to play a Striker once the Behemoth releases. This will compete with middle-tree Sentinel as one of the best add-clearing Subclasses in the franchise. For PvP, the Subclass has immense outplay potential with the mobility tied to Shiver Quake and the Behemoth's resilient Super.
3 Aspects
Customizable Subclasses have made their way into Destiny 2 in the form of Aspects and Fragments. Debuting with the new Stasis Subclasses, these two new items will allow players to fine-tune their Subclasses to suit their playstyle.
Aspects are class-specific artifacts that can be slotted into the Stasis Subclass itself similar to armor mods. These items can be found throughout the world by completing various activities. Each Aspect grants a powerful build-enabling passive and Fragments slots. Aspects can have up to three Fragment slots. Currently, Bungie has revealed four Aspects:
- Frostpulse (Warlock Shadebinder): Casting your Rift generates a shockwave that freezes nearby enemies.
- Tectonic Harvest (Titan Behemoth): Shattering a Stasis crystal creates a Stasis shard. Shards grant melee energy when picked up by you or your allies.
- Shatterdive (Hunter Revenant): Activate while midair to quickly descend and shatter nearby targets on impact.
- Slow Dodge (Hunter Revenant): Temporarily slow nearby enemies when performing a dodge.
2 Fragments
Just as armor can equip mods, so too can Aspects equip smaller bonuses named Fragments. Fragments offer smaller passive bonuses when equipped and can alter a player's core armor stats such as mobility and intellect.
Unlike Aspects, Fragments are class-agnostic. In other words, Fragments can be shared across all Stasis Subclasses. As with Aspects, Fragments are found throughout the world and by completing various activities. There are three known Stasis Fragments currently:
- Whisper of Bonds: Defeating frozen targets with weapons grants you Super energy. -10 intellect and -10 discipline.
- Whisper of Durance: Slows from your abilities last longer. Lingering slow abilities last longer. +10 strength.
- Whisper of Hedrons: Gain a bonus to weapon damage after freezing a target with Stasis. -10 strength.
1 The Future Of Subclasses
Bungie has expressed interest in overhauling every Subclass in Destiny 2 to use the new Aspect and Fragment system if players enjoy it in Beyond Light. At launch, only the new Stasis Subclasses will take advantage of the new system. While it doesn't quite mimic the original Destiny's node-based system, the Aspect and Fragment system seems to allow for the same build crafting as the original game did. This modular system also gives Bungie the potential of adding new Aspects and Fragments with future seasons and expansions.