Overall, all of the three new subclasses added in Destiny: The Taken King are awesome. Nightstalker, Stormcaller, and Subreaker all have their uses in both PvE and PvP Crucible content. What’s best about them is that they all have really imaginative perks and abilities that reward strategic play such as Sunbreaker’s Sunspots and the Stormcaller’s Electrostatic Mind.
The only problem is that Bungie did such a great job with these three new subclasses that they kind of make the other subclasses feel a little obsolete and dated. Some more than others for sure, but some of vanilla Destiny’s subclasses could use some touching up.
So let’s give them a makeover! We have a wish list of what new abilities or perks we want to see added to the original subclasses, particularly for PvE content. Some of them, likeDefender who topped our list of the best PvE subclasses in TTK Year Two content, are just small tweaks. Other subclasses, like the Striker, really could use the help, as the Sunbreaker outclasses it in many ways. So without further ado here is how we would fix the old Destiny subclasses starting with the ones that need the most help.
Striker is arguably the weakest class right now, especially in PvE. Its main selling point, Fist of Havoc, is outclassed by so many other supers, including the Sunbreaker’s Hammer of Sol which essentially serves the same purpose with much less risk. In order for a Striker to successfully pull off its super attack, they need to charge head first into danger. Right now the risk isn’t worth the reward. Any enemies that aren’t caught by Fist of Havoc (and even strong majors that are) will usually pummel the Striker right after they are done using it. So how do we bring the Striker into Year Two relevancy? Make Fist of Havoc the most powerful attack in the game.
Fist of Havoc, considering the risk that you have to take to use it, should be a nuclear weapon, obliterating anything caught in its blast. Whether they are red enemies or majors, they should be completely annihilated by the explosion. Only named Majors or Ultras should be able to survive it. Otherwise what is the point of it? Why not safely Nova Bomb/Storm Trance as a Warlock or Hammer of Sol from a distance and cover more ground? This would lead to some interesting decision making. As a Titan do you play it safe and still remain destructive with Hammer of Sol (but maybe take a little longer to kill some Majors) or do you risk life and limb destroy packs of enemies in one single swoop.
Also, some kind of escape mechanism would be great too to give Strikers a chance to survive after dropping Fist of Havoc. Perhaps an overshield and increased agility that is dependent on how many enemies you defeat with Fist of Havoc as some kind of new perk?
The Gunslinger subclass has a lot of perks that take effect after pulling off precision kills. Players that are skilled shots, and can pull of precision kills reliably, should be drawn to this class and be rewarded for their skill. The way Bungie can do this is by doubling down on these perks and making them more effective.
Increase the effect of perks such as Gunslinger’s Trance and Chain of Woe. And better yet, change these perks so that nearby allies also get to reap the benefits. That would give Gunslingers some real utility outside of being the person that shoots a Golden Gun every couple of minutes. Gunslingers are supposed to be lone wolves, but right now there’s just too little synergy with the other classes. Making Gunslinger’s Trance and Chain of Woe area of effect abilities would turn Gunslinger into a valuable fireteam member in between Golden Gun shots.
Voidwalker is in a weird place. It’s kind of a jack of all trades subclass but master of none. It has a pretty strong super with Nova Bomb, but not the strongest. It has cool grenades that can do some unique things like track enemies and do area of effect damage, and a melee that can steal life and feed into your grenade energy. But like the Gunslinger, it kind of lacks team synergy.
How about adding some more interesting modifiers? Perhaps steal a page from the Titans and give Nova Bomb the ability to suppress enemies that survive or create a blinding field? Perhaps Bungie can make Voidwalker the master of damage over time and have enemies that die to Vortex Grenade or Nova Bomb Vortex spread their poison to other nearby enemies. Give it something that it is better at than anyone else.
Voidwalker isn’t far off, it just needs to feel a little more besides just waiting around to blow things up with Nova Bomb which is kind of what it is right now.
Unlike Strikers that really need a lot of work to be more of a common place in difficult PvE content, Bladedancers are still helpful despite their lackluster Super. While Arc Blade is a force to be reckoned with in the Crucible, in PvE it’s probably more useful for Vanish and hiding. Probably not the developer’s intent.
Luckily it really wouldn’t take a whole lot to make Arc Blade more attractive. Just simply make it stronger. Currently, it almost takes up your entire super to take out one or two “yellow” majors. That’s hardly worth it when Sunbreakers and Stormcallers can rip through them much easier, and in the case of Sunbreakers, from a safer distance. Up the ante on Arc Blade then, they should be able to one shot “red” normal enemies, and one or two shot unnamed majors. That way you’ll actually be able to see a Bladedancer cutting up a line of enemies like I’m sure the developers had envisioned. Difficult PvE activities such as Nightfall strikes have too many majors that stop Arc Blade in its tracks. Like the Striker, if you need to run up into something’s face to do damage, it had better be worth the risk. The ranged damage dealing supers should not be stronger than Arc Blade.
Let’s face it, aside from some gimmicky situations or just to be cute, there is almost no reason to not ever use the Fireborn perk on Sunsinger. No one is playing this subclass to throw grenades and melee rapidly. People pick Sunsinger because of their ability to self revive using the Fireborn perk.
So instead of watching a large portion of the Destiny community all use the same perk, just make it a given and make it permanently a part of Radiance and add a new perk in its stead. That way you’ll actually see some people use Song of Flame or Radiant Skin. Song of Flame in particular, which, in case you forgot because you never use it, reduces cooldowns for allies, would lead to some really creative strategy and teamwork on tough encounters and give Sunsinger a purpose besides just being the class that can self revive.
Compared to some of the new classes and even the old ones, Sunsinger is quite boring. It’s a one trick pony and adding Fireborn to Radiance would breathe some much needed life into it.
The Defender in a lot of ways is Destiny’s “tank” class but really it has that honor by default thanks to its defensive super Ward of Dawn. However, no subclass in Destiny can really reliably tank because no one can take bullet fire for too long without dying. Defenders should fill that role.
Enhancing Force Barrier could be a great way to give Defenders some more defensive utility. Right now Ward of Dawn is so incredibly useful that it isn’t worth investing perks into Force Barrier over Ward of Dawn based ones. But what if there was a perk that made Force Barrier strong enough to really withstand some hits over an extended period of time, perhaps at the expense of weapon damage? That would make for some more interesting builds and make Defenders known for something other than Ward of Dawn. No Backup Plans would become way more viable and competitive with other Defender exotic armor such as the Helm of Saint-14. Whether it’s boosting Force Barrier or something else entirely, it would be neat for Destiny to have a true tank class. Someone that can run out into danger, distract enemies, and return unscathed.
How would you update or change your favorite Destiny class? Leave us your ideas in the comments!
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