Destiny 2 Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place With Prismatic Changes

30/06/2024

Destiny 2's The Final Shape is praised for Prismatic subclasses, but Titans struggle in comparison to Hunters and Warlocks.
Balancing Prismatic subclasses and Exotic class items poses challenges for Bungie and Prismatic's design philosophy.
Bungie plans to buff Titans and add more Prismatic tools, but it may not be an easy fix and it could create ripples.

Destiny 2's The Final Shape is currently one of the most praised and critically acclaimed releases of 2024, and with good reason, as Bungie delivered on multiple promises made over the years and then some. This was a make-or-break moment for Destiny 2, as there had been a few controversies with Lightfall's launch and over the year that followed, but The Final Shape does a lot of things right to prove that the space looter-shooter is very much still alive and kicking. For one, The Final Shape's Prismatic subclasses are shaking up Destiny 2's meta in big ways, but they abide by specific rules and methods of implementation that may not be easy to bend with Bungie's planned changes.

Each Prismatic subclass in Destiny 2 comes with a total of five Supers, five melee attacks, five grenades, and five Aspects, as well as a plethora of other tools that may change between the various classes, like jumps and class abilities or even Transcendent abilities. These kits of five pieces use one element from each existing subclass - Void, Solar, Arc, Stasis, and Strand - to create good combinations and new gameplay loops, but not all classes are on the same playing field. Bungie is seemingly looking into buffing Titans and adding more Prismatic abilities overall, but that may be easier said than done.

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Destiny 2 Buffing Classes and Prismatic Soon in The Final Shape is Great News For Titan Players

Why Destiny 2's The Final Shape Puts Titans in a Tough Spot

Titans in Destiny 2's The Final Shape are particularly in a bad spot due to years of design leading to a point where they don't really shine in long-range combat, with Twilight Arsenal being the first good ranged Super for the class, and a strong focus on melee in the overall kit. Not only that, but Prismatic Titans also suffer from a lack of synergy between the various Aspects and abilities outside of the Consecration and Knockout combo with three melee charges from Frenzied Blade. While Diamond Lance and Drengr's Lash are not bad, they don't really give Titans a lot of extra utility and power compared to other classes, and Unbreakable is not as exciting outside of Void builds.

Titans are generally seen and designed as "the melee class." Right now, however, Prismatic Hunters are in a better spot than Titans by a huge margin, to the point that they boast incredible ranged DPS while also being able to dish out millions of damage with melee builds.

Bungie looking at buffing Titans in Destiny 2 is a good thing, and while this can be applied to the class as a whole, it's hard to imagine a huge shift in focus for Prismatic. The problem with Titans in Destiny 2's The Final Shape is a symptom of a bigger issue with class identity and design, which is reflected in the way Prismatic was created. At its core, Prismatic is a mix of bits and pieces from each subclass that can vary in potency based on which elements are picked, but making changes to these subclasses can be problematic for a few reasons.

Balancing Prismatic Subclasses in Destiny 2's Future Release is a Double-Edged Sword

Why Prismatic Subclasses Getting More Options Can Be an Issue

For starters, removing Aspects or abilities in favor of other ones could destroy current builds, so if Bungie intends to add to Destiny 2's Prismatic, the only option would be to add new tools on top of existing ones. This leads to a different potential problem, as Destiny 2's Prismatic can then become the epitome of power creep by offering more choices than every subclass and thus stronger builds or builds that can do it all without needing to go back to the regular Light and Darkness subclasses. As things stand, there doesn't seem to be an easy way out for Bungie to balance Prismatic differently.

Destiny 2's Exotic Class Item Perks Can Cause Problems With Prismatic Balance

The same applies to Destiny 2's Exotic class items and their combos, as some combos are incredibly strong and build-defining, whereas others cover other roles or are simply not synergistic. However, this means that some Exotic class item perks are just not great to begin with, so if Bungie wants to change them or add more perks to these Exotics it can be difficult to do in the same way as balancing Prismatic itself. Bungie could get out of this one specific problem by adding another set of Exotic class items further down the line, but even then, it doesn't seem like a great solution.

Destiny 2

Platform(s) Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS5, PS4, PC, Stadia, Xbox OneReleased August 28, 2017Developer(s) BungiePublisher(s) BungieGenre(s) FPSMultiplayer Online Co-Op, Online MultiplayerEngine Tiger EngineESRB T For TEEN for Blood, Language, and ViolenceExpansions Destiny 2: Lightfall, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Destiny 2: Forsaken, Destiny 2: Beyond LightHow Long To Beat 100+Metascore 85Platforms That Support Crossplay PC, PS4,PS5, Xbox One &Xbox Series X|SNumber of Players 1-6 (Co-Op)PS Plus Availability Essential, Extra, & Premium (The Witch Queen) See at Xbox Games StoreSee at Playstation StoreSee at SteamSee at Amazon