Destiny 2 Finally Reveals Arc 3.0 Ahead Of Season 18 Reveal

Bungie has, finally, given us some information regarding Arc 3.0 in Destiny 2 in a blog post on Bungie.net.

Arc is the final element to undergo a 3.0 treatment in Destiny 2, bringing all Light subclasses to the height of their power.

This new look includes a new look at the buffs and debuffs coming to Arc, a deep dive into the changes happening with each of the 3 Classes and even a few Fragments coming on August 23rd. There’s a lot to unpack so let’s go.

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Arc 3.0 Buffs and Debuffs

Destiny 2 Arc 3.0 has one major buff for players to tap into: Amplify.

Unlike Radiant on Solar or Void’s Invisibility, you don’t need a certain ability or aspect/fragment combo to trigger Amplify. Killing targets with Arc damage while on the new Arc 3.0 subclasses is enough to become Amplified and this is available across all 3 classes.

Amplify boost movement speed, slide speed and distance and weapon handling speed. You gain a PvE damage resist when sprinting while Amplified, allowing you to get close and close gaps with Arc 3.0’s focus on melee heavy combat. There is also the second state of Amplify if you continue sprinting while under its effect, which is an added bonus to sprint speed and slide distance: Bungie likened it to the Metroid speed booster mode, ‘only Samus is now wielding a Gjallarhorn.’ Even if a player loses Amplify, their sprint will still be boosted if they were already mid-sprint.

Ionic Traces also make their return, this time decoupled exclusively from Middle Tree  Arc Warlock. Now any class can spawn an Ionic Trace if they have a Fragment or Aspect which does so, which grants ability energy to all abilities upon pick-up. 

For debuffs, there are two new ones: Jolt and Blind.

Jolt works similar to a chaining type ability. Once affected by Jolt, an enemy will periodically release slivers of Arc energy that damage them and any enemy around them.

Blind works like Disorient current does. PvE enemies will be stunned similar to Suppression where they cannot fight back and are stunned in place. In PvP, the screen will white out and the HUD will disappear for a short time while an audio-cue plays. 

So in total, Arc 3.0 has 2 Buffs (Amplify and Ionic Trace) and 2 Debuffs (Blind and Jolt).

The Arc Subclasses

Hunter

Bungie has decided to focus on the ‘graceful warrior monk’ fantasy for Arcstrider, allowing players to get in close quickly while still being able to stay alive.

Arc Staff makes a return, now with a built-in Whirlwind Guard from Middle-Tree and an armoured dodge. Perhaps the most exciting, however, is that Arc Hunters get a brand new Super. 

This is called The Gathering Storm. The Hunter jumps into the air before hurtling their Staff to the ground like a spear. Upon impact, the staff will pulse Arc damage to Jolts opponents nearby. Soon after the initial impact, a large bolt of lightning will strike the staff, overcharging it and making more Jolt pulses appear that will damage any enemy nearby. This finally gives Arc Hunters a brand new Super which can hopefully be used at long-range in tougher PvE encounters.

For Melee, Hunter’s will keep Combination Blow which will refund dodge energy, increase melee damage, and restore a small amount of health on melee hit/kill. Disorienting Blow also returns, allowing Hunters to tap into Blind using their melee attack while also Amplifying themselves. 

Hunter

Hunters have access to 3 Arc Aspects at launch:

• Flow State: Defeating a jolted opponent causes you to become amplified. When amplified, the Hunter’s dodge will recharge faster and make you more resistant to damage, and you have quicker reload times.
• Tempest Strike: Allows the Hunter to perform a sliding melee that launches an Arc wave along the ground, dealing significant damage and jolting enemies in its path.
• Lethal Current: After dodging, the Hunter’s melee lunge range is increased and their next melee attack jolts the target and creates a damaging lightning aftershock. When used with the Arc Staff Super, after dodging, the Hunter’s next staff light attack hits twice. In addition, hitting a jolted enemy with a melee attack will blind them. 

Hunters also will finally be getting back Blink as a jump ability, joining Void Warlocks as the only classes with access to the teleport. Blink will also be getting a baseline buff across both classes – increased travel distance and a ‘reworked recharge model’.

Hunters in Arc 3.0 seem to be the masters of Jolt with a lot of their abilities tying Jolt and Amplify together.

Warlock

The Warlock Arc 3.0 fantasy is two-fold: elemental shaman and evil Emperor Palpatine. 

Chaos Reach and Stormtrance both make their return. Of particular note, Stormtrance now has built-in Landfall (spawns a bolt of lightning on Super cast) and Ionic Trace (allowing teleport in Super) without the need for an Aspect or Fragment.

Warlock

Two melee options are available: Ball Lightning from Middle Tree and Chain Lightning. Chain Lightning now Jolts targets as well as Chaining lightning to other targets pon hit. 

A large focus for Arc 3.0 Warlocks will be becoming Amplified to augment their existing abilities. An example was given with the melee options – for Ball Lightning, Amplify will mean that the melee will zap enemies 3 times instead of just once and with Chain Lightning it will cause two sets of chains to appear as opposed to one.

Warlocks will have 3 Aspects to choose from come Arc 3.0:

• Arc Soul: The Warlock casts a rift to create an Arc Soul that will assist the player in battle. Allies who pass through the rift will also earn an Arc Soul. The rift charges faster when allies are near. While amplified, any Arc Soul you have or gain is supercharged, increasing its rate of fire. 
• Lightning Surge: The Warlock activates their melee while sliding to transform into a ball of lightning and teleport forward, calling down a field of lightning bolts at the exit point that jolts targets. 
• Electrostatic Mind: Arc ability kills and kills on Arc-debuffed enemies create Ionic Traces. When you collect any Ionic Trace, you become amplified.

Warlocks appear to be the ones most adept at spawning Ionic Traces and have plenty of ways to get Amplify.

Titan

Titans punch things: hard. Bare-knuckle brawling was the focus of Titan Arc 3.0. ‘You don’t get to move Arc 3.0 Titan – they move you.’

Thundercrash and Fist of Havoc make their reappearance. Fist of Havoc now has a mix of Top and Bottom tree behaviour, with a slam radius that is halfway between the two and a damaging aftershock left after each slam. Thundercrash is fundamentally the same, but it has had its potential unshackled thanks to being decoupled from other parts of the Middle Tree kit. 

The biggest new change is an inbuilt mobility dash like Icarus Dash. Here it is called Thruster and upon double pressing a button, the Titan will perform a First-Person style quick dash (kind of like a first-person Twilight Garrison that is built into the class itself) which has a distance equalling the Hunter dodge.

Titan

Seismic Strike shoulder charge returns with the bonus of Blinding enemies it hits, which has bonus duration and AoE when Amplified. Ballistic Slam also comes back. Titans do have another new Melee option, though. 

Thunderclap is a chargeable melee ability in which the Titan must standstill and charge up their attack, releasing it into either a quick jab or a ‘One-Punch Man-style blast’. The charged state cannot be stored, meaning that the Titan has to stand completely still whenever they wish to charge – the benefits are immense, however, with a 90% Thunderclap capable of one-shotting a Guardian in PvP.

The Arc Titan Aspects are:

• Touch of Thunder: Improves Arc grenades in the following ways:
  • Flashbang: Fires an additional blind impulse on its first bounce.
  • Pulse: When the grenade damages an enemy, it creates an Ionic Trace for the Titan. Pulse Grenade damage increases over time as the grenade lingers after impact.
  • Lightning: Grants an additional charge for Lightning grenade, and jolts targets on initial blast.
  • Storm: Creates a roaming thundercloud that moves and tracks enemies (similar to the Stasis Hunter’s Silence & Squall Super), firing lightning bolts at the ground underneath it.
• Juggernaut: While sprinting and with full class ability energy, the Titan gains a frontal shield that blocks incoming damage. When amplified, the shield is stronger. Once the shield is depleted by taking damage, the player’s class energy is depleted. 
• Knockout: Melee kills trigger health regeneration and make the Titan amplified. Critically wounding an enemy or breaking their shield increases melee range and damage for a brief period. Titan’s base melee becomes Arc-empowered while Knockout is active.

The punch dream is alive with Arc 3.0 Titans, allowing for close-quarters combat to be viable in PvE for the first time in a long time.

Fragments

Bungie also gave us a sneak peek at some of the Fragments coming with Arc 3.0. This is only a look at 4 of them.

• Spark of Beacons: When the player is amplified, Arc special weapon kills create a blinding explosion. 
• Spark of Resistance: When surrounded by enemies, the player has increased damage resistance. 
• Spark of Momentum: Sliding over ammo will reload your weapon and grant a small amount of melee energy. Sliding over Heavy ammo increases the amount of energy granted.
• Spark of Shock: The player’s Arc grenades jolt enemies.
  
  

  The Day of Arcstrider Approaches

The first gameplay of Arc 3.0 will come on August 23rd with the Destiny 2 Showcase.

SOURCE: BUNGIE.NET ARTICLE ON ARC 3.0.