Following a week full of new reveals and Shadowkeep details, Bungie still had even more to show off at Gamescom 2019 including two new trailers during the Xbox live stream. Fans not only got to check out a trailer dedicated to the Garden of Salvation raid, but even more footage of the nightmares that await back on the Moon inside of the Shadowkeep expansion for Destiny 2. However, the live stream also featured a look at a brand new Titan exotic that focuses on a lesser-used subclass skill.
Revealed during the pre-Gamescom festivities, Bungie revealed a few new exotic items coming inside of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. One in particular that stood out was the Phoenix Cradle leg armor which is a Titan-only exotic that's geared more towards the Sunbreaker class. Its exotic perk is known as Beacons of Empowerment, which doubles the length of time that Sunspot benefits are active and any allies who pass through them are given the bonus as well. Essentially this increases all damage output, recharges abilities faster, and makes supers last longer.
Currently, Sun Warriors are few and far between, as the other class trees for Sunbreaker Titans are currently more appealing. However, this exotic item could make this class tree more viable due to synergizing better with the upcoming buff/debuff changes that Destiny 2 director, Luke Smith, outlined in his three-part Director's Cut blog posts. Since damage stacking is going away, only utilizing the strongest buff, these boots will allow a whole fireteam to supercharge their weapons through the Sunspot usage.
In addition to the added support benefits, the leg armor also appears less bulky than more Titan gear in Destiny 2, an option which should make more than a few players happy. At the end of the day, these boots are also an effective way to buff a struggling subclass rather than nerfing the other more powerful ones to bring them more in line with the weaker option.
Gamescom 2019 has also given players new details about a never before seen mode called Nightmare Hunt. Not much was given about what this cooperative mode actually is, though it is a three-person matchmade activity with multiple difficulties to pick from. The lowest setting called Adept features 1 modifier, Hero comes with four, and Legend has 6 in total. In addition to 6 modifiers, players interested in the highest tier of difficulty will also need to have a premade fireteam, as this setting won't have matchmaking available similar to Heroic Menagerie.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep releases October 1, 2019, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.