destiny 2
Bungie
I’ve really loved Strand this season in Destiny 2, one of the biggest highlights not only of Lightfall but IMO the entire sandbox of the game in recent years.
But there’s a catch.
The problem is that this season, Strand debuted in Destiny with a bunch of extremely powerful Strand mods that will turn the subclass into something it won’t really be next time, even if a few other Strand mods follow.
Here is the updated list of this season’s beach mods:
Untangler – Destroying a Tangle with a beach weapon levitates targets damaged by the explosion. Threaded Blast – Destroying a Tangle with a beach weapon creates a larger and more damaging blast for longer durations near allies. Counterweave – When you or a member of your fireteam stun or defeat a champion, gain energy for your least charged Strand ability
artifact
Bungie
Based on what we’re losing, there are two main issues here. The biggest change is the loss of the first two mods, which essentially turn Strand Tangles into suspending Warmind Cells. We’ve gotten used to the way Strand Tangle’s detonation works, but have you ever blown up a Tangle without these mods enabled? It feels terrible. This is also why the new warlock aspect feels bad. You have to 1) throw a Tangle, 2) stick it to an enemy, and then 3) only then explode and suspend the enemies. It’s only a fraction of a class’ current performance.
The other issue is Allied Unraveler where we’re used to our beach guns basically always having unraveling rounds because I mean how hard is it to get quick kills in any activity? That would go away and be replaced by a worse mod. And what are these mods in the next season?
Enhanced Untangle – Increases the damage dealt by untangling a target – Could be good, but we don’t know the actual buff percentage. Beach Trooper – Your Beach Weapons gain Decryption Rounds when you acquire Woven Armor while your Beach Subclass is equipped. – This requires something like the Hunter Woven Mail Helm or a Fragment slot which also lowers your resilience by -10 to get Woven Mail on picking up the orb. Again, this is just a worse version of last season’s unraveling mod. Conductive Cosmetic Needle – Targets affected by Strand debuffs take increased damage from Arc and Void abilities – This is a purely fireteam based ability that requires coordination. Squad Objectives – Performing a finisher when you have Woven Mail grants you Woven Mail to nearby allies – again, something that doesn’t benefit you, only your team.
And that’s it. You can see the problem. Unraveling Rounds is getting a league inferior mod and there are no Tangles at all here, so they’ll just be little puffball blasts that don’t do much compared to last season. While some beach subclass buffs are coming, there’s nothing that will improve the lost elements of this season’s builds. And what if there are no seasonal beach mods, probably in season 22? Then I think we have a real problem.
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I’ve been writing about video games, television, and film for Forbes for over 10 years, and you may have seen my reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. I cover all types of console and PC games, but when it comes to looting or gunfights I’m definitely in. When I watch something, it’s usually sci-fi, horror, or superheroes. I’m also a regular on IGN’s Fireteam Chat podcast and have published five sci-fi novels.
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