Bungie have followed on their initial E3 trailer for Destiny’s upcoming DLC, The Taken King. The below segment highlights some of the features we can expect when the content is released on September 15.
No legend is safe
With the inclusion of puzzles, Oryx’s dreadnought sounds like a return to the incredibly popular Vault of Glass raid. This comes as incredibly welcome news to long term fans of the game who felt that VoG was the pinnacle of Destiny’s content.
The new subclasses have also been elaborated on:
Nightstalker: “Draw from the void. Light the way.”
Hunters will finally be able to play a support role in combat using Nightstalker abilities like smoke grenades and new super attack, Shadowshot, that binds multiple enemies in place. One of the final perks allow the hunter to roll out of danger by double-tapping crouch which seems incredibly useful in both PvP and PvE, as does “smoke”, the new beatdown. Likewise “voidwall grenade” creates a wall of void damage – incredibly useful for zoning in both gametypes – although it’s unclear whether the wall will physically block passage or just cause damage.
Stormcaller: “Harmony within, hurricane without.”
Stormcaller warlocks look like little more than a new flavour of damage but with increased melee range in the form of “thunderstrike” and an interesting ying/yang balance to beatdowns and grenades. The arc damage super ability, Stormtrance, looks to chain widespread damage while allowing incredible speed and manoeuvrability, in addition to a potentially useful third person perspective. The “storm grenade” doesn’t sound particularly interesting or at least as fresh as the rest of the skills we’ve seen.
Sunbreaker: “Forge the fury of undying suns.”
One of the biggest gamechanging subclasses announced is the Titan’s new Sunbreaker build. The Hammer of Sol super grants the punch happy soldiers a melee attack, a “shoulder charge” that doesn’t seem to require any windup, and the ability to throw a flaming hammer from a distance. The latter completely changes how titans handle, providing range as well as the former up-close options. The “fire keeper” skill provides an overshield when standing beside a Sunspot, although it’s unclear how these can be generated. “Thermite grenades” create a line of fire towards enemies, creating zoning options while melee skill “sunstrike” sounds like basic damage much like the existing Striker skill.
Planet Destiny – Subclass analysis
The Crucible:
Two new PvP game modes have been announced for launch with The Taken King. Mayhem Clash promises some thoroughly enjoyable insanity with drastically reduced cooldowns on all guardian abilities – expect a shit-tonne of elemental supers and grenades – meaning death will most likely be even more of an inevitability. We can’t wait to see the first all-bladedancer invisible fireteam videos to start cropping up on youtube.
Rift however scratches the more strategic itch. With a far more tactical setup, each team attempts to drop “the spark” into the enemies “rift” like a reverse capture-the-flag with the added enjoyment of causing an explosion in the process to wipe out any surrounding guardians.
Additionally, players that made their way over from Bungie’s indie Halo series (you probably haven’t heard of it) will be happy to hear that crucible commentator, Shaxx, has had his vocabulary extended to include phrases like “Double kill!” and other flourishes.
