Destiny 2's 17th Season, Season of the Haunted, has launched with Solar 3.0, an overhaul of the Solar Light subclass, just as the release of The Witch Queen and Season Sixteen updated Void to 3.0. Following Beyond Light's Darkness subclass Stasis, the decision to upgrade the Light's Void, Solar, and Arc powers lets Bungie provide Destiny 2 players with more customizable builds than before. Switching from a branching skill tree system, the conversion of Solar 3.0 sees the use of Aspects and Fragments - the same as Stasis - to provide buffs for players and debuffs for enemies.

While Hunters, Titans, and Warlocks all utilize the Solar subclass, their varying builds, which focus on different play styles, bring variants to how Solar works for each Guardian class. Solar 3.0 features new Abilities alongside its inclusion of Aspects and Fragments, ensuring creative ways for Guardians to incinerate their enemies with fiery pageantry. Organized into Super, Melee, Movement, and Grenade Abilities, each type has offensive and defensive perks that help shape the player's play style and work in conjunction with the strengths of that particular class. While veteran players will find their Solar subclass unlocked already, new players can purchase Abilities, Aspects, and Fragments with Glimmer by speaking with Ikora Rey at the Bazaar in the Tower.

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Buffs, Aspects, and Fragments

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Solar 3.0's powers will give Guardians buffs to their offensive or defensive strategies while simultaneously debuffing enemy combatants and providing new healing options. These buffs and debuffs are classified into a list of terminology or keywords highlighted in the descriptions of Aspects, Fragments, and even Exotic weapons and armor, indicating the use of the buff for powerful or altering effects. The terms are the following:

  • Radiant: The Traveler has enhanced the player's weapons, so they deal increasing damage to foes.
  • Ignite: A Solar explosion in an area around the target that deals significant damage.
  • Scorch: The target is singed by destructive Solar Light, taking damage over time. Scorch damage increases as the target accumulate more Scorch stacks. After a certain number of Scorch stacks are applied, the target ignites.
  • Cure: Players are healed in a burst of mending Solar Light.
  • Restoration: Players continuously regenerate health and shield over time. It does not work while taking damage.

Used to determine the functionality of Guardian subclasses, Aspects and Fragments provide active and passive bonuses, focused on attacking enemies or defending players' Guardians or members of their Fireteam. While Aspects and Fragments can be offensive and defensive, each Guardian class has three specific Aspects they can use that aren't shared by the other two types, where Fragments are universal to all three. Despite there being three Aspects per class, only two can be equipped at any given time, and each Aspect has several Fragment slots that can be filled. Fragments are less potent than Aspects, which allows players to equip more than just two.

Titan Aspects

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WIth Solar 3.0, Titans have become double-wielding weapon powerhouses that inflict fiery devastation and chaos on their enemies, unleashing Solar damage through hammers or mauls. While not gaining a new class ability with the release of Season of the Haunted, Titans are fearsome Guardians who can decimate scores of enemies in waves of Solar flame.

  • Consecration: While sliding, activate a charged melee ability to launch a wave of Solar energy forward, damaging and scorching targets in front of the Titan while leaping into the air. While airborne, activate melee again into the ground and create a second more enormous wave. If the wave hits a scorched target, they ignite. This has one Fragment slot.
  • Roaring Flame: Final blows with Solar abilities or ignitions increase the damage of solar skills. This effect stacks up to three times. This has two Fragment slots.
  • Sol Invictus: Solar ability final blows, Hammer of Sol impacts, and defeating scorched targets creates Sunspots. Abilities regenerate faster, and the Titan's Super drains more slowly when standing in a Sunspot. Sunspots apply scorch and deal damage to targets inside. Entering a Sunspot applies Restoration to the Titan. This has two Fragment slots.

Hunter Aspects

Destiny 2 Solar Subclass Hunter Warlock Titan Three flaming Guardians

Focusing on DPS, Solar 3.0 designs Hunters to keep enemies burning through Ignition and Scorch. Hunter can decimate additional enemies through extended use of bundles of grenades that can be thrown on the ground or mid-air.

  • Gunpowder Gamble: Defeat targets with abilities, Solar debuffs, or Solar weapons to charge up a Solar improvised grenade. Shooting it in midair will cause ignition. This has one Fragment slot.
  • Knock 'em Down: Solar Supers are enhanced. Deadshot has increased duration, Marksman has increased damage resistance and time, and Blade Barrage launches more projectiles. While radiant, final blows with the Throwing Knife fully refund melee energy. This has two Fragment slots.
  • On Your Mark: Precision final blows grant the Hunter and nearby allies increased weapon handling and reload speed for a short duration. Stacks three times. Activating class ability immediately gives maximum stacks of On Your Mark. This has three Fragment spots.

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Warlock Aspects

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Handling supreme proficiency of the Solar element, Solar 3.0 creates powerful Warlocks who wield mighty forces of heat and flame. They're more than capable of battle on the ground or in the air while drawing power to support their Fireteam through potent healing.

  • Heat Rises: The Warlock can fire weapons, melee, and throw grenades while gliding. Final blows while airborne increase the duration of Heat Rises and grant melee energy. It consumes grenades to cast. This has two Fragment slots.
  • Icarus Dash: Dodge quickly while airborne. While Heat Rises is active, the Warlock has an additional dodge. This has two Fragment slots.
  • Touch of Flame: Improves the strength of Healing, Solar, Firebolt, and Fusion Grenades. This adds another effect to each. This has two Fragment slots.

Fragments in Solar 3.0

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Applicable for all three classes, Fragments lean more heavily on passive buffs for players to further design their Guardian builds into specific weapons of destruction or powerful healers for themselves and their team. These are Solar 3.0's Fragments:

  • Ember of Beams: Solar Super projectiles have a more robust target acquisition.
  • Ember of Benevolence: Applying restoration, cure, or radiant to allies grants increased grenade, melee, and class ability regeneration for a short duration.
  • Ember of Blistering: Defeating targets with Solar ignitions grants grenade energy.
  • Ember of Combustion: Final blows with Solar Super cause targets to ignite.
  • Ember of Eruption: Solar ignitions have increased area effect.
  • Ember of Searing: Defeating scorched targets grants melee energy.
  • Ember of Singeing: Class abilities recharges faster when scorching targets.
  • Ember of Solace: Radiant and restoration effects applied to the player have increased duration.
  • Ember of Tempering: Solar weapon final blows grant the player and their allies increased recovery for a short duration. Stacks 3 times. While Ember of Tempering is active, the player's weapons have increased airborne effectiveness.
  • Ember of Torches: Powered melee attacks against combatants make the player and nearby allies radiant.

Destiny 2's Solar 3.0 overhauls the Solar Light subclass for every Guardian class available, bringing new build flexibility to the game. Moving away from a branching skill tree and following in the path of the popular Darkness subclass, Stasis, Guardians can unleash devastating torrents of fiery power and maximize their healing abilities for themselves and their friends. With the Void subclass already receiving its 3.0 update, all that remains for the Light subclasses is Arc.

Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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