Destiny 2's fluid gunplay and abilities make the game stand out from the crowd of first-person shooters and looter-shooters. Throwing in the complex layers offered via 3.0 subclasses, mod systems, and the sheer variety of gear, Destiny 2 is a treat for power fantasy enthusiasts. One new addition in Lightfall will be bringing a well-deserved synergy to subclasses that have been missing out, improving the already fantastic flow of abilities for all players.
Elemental Wells are being removed among several changes and new additions coming in the Lightfall era of Destiny 2. Bungie's community updates state that Destiny 2's Elemental Well mods will mainly create Orbs of Power, however, a new object will fill in for the ability regeneration and utilities provided by Elemental Wells. For lack of a better term, the new elemental essences will soon be available on all subclasses as equivalent to the existing Ionic Traces for the Arc subclass and Stasis Shards for the Stasis subclass. The Void subclass will be getting Void Breaches, the Solar subclass will be getting Firesprites, and the Strand subclass will have an elemental essence that will be revealed closer to Lightfall’s launch.
Destiny 2 Replacing Elemental Wells With Subclass Essences Is Great For Buildcrafting
What makes these elemental essences superior to Elemental Wells in every way is that their benefits are dictated by the player who produces them, not the player who collects them. This means that elemental essences should benefit all players, regardless of having a matching subclass, mod build, or corresponding subclass Aspects and Fragments in use. Unlike the current Elemental Wells, elemental essences won't need an optimized set of Destiny 2’s dedicated gear mods to capitalize on their effectiveness either, since they will be incorporated through subclasses. The addition of Elemental Essences will also help solo players to be a one-Guardian army regardless of any synergies from teammates, by allowing for more efficient uptime of abilities and related buffs.
The elemental essences that currently exist, Ionic Traces and Stasis Shards, don't directly have offensive capabilities but provide benefits to Guardians when collecting them. The base rewards for collecting Ionic Traces and Stasis Shards are ability cooldown reductions, although this unconditional benefit is just the foundation that can be built upon. Players can also customize their subclass Aspects and Fragments under the new 3.0 subclass revamp to dedicate utility bonuses to elemental essences they produce, relative to the buffs of each subclass.
Ionic Traces already have a related Exotic weapon that has improved performance based on collecting them, the Delicate Tomb fusion rifle. The past Season of Plunder also introduced the Voltshot perk for Destiny 2 legendary weapons, which works similarly to the Delicate Tomb’s Exotic perk. The addition of elemental essences for the remaining subclasses is likely to influence potential Exotic and legendary weapon perks in the near future.
It seems that Bungie isn’t afraid to double down on an already ability-heavy meta in Destiny 2. Having more abilities is more than just DPS since abilities have extra utility now. Abilities can grant over shields, turn players invisible, increase movement speed, increase weapon performances, weaken targets, apply status effects, and lately the most underrated feature, abilities can heal guardians. This focus on utility is just the beginning, as Bungie has stated that more interactions and synergies with elemental essences will be unleashed throughout and beyond Lightfall. For example, Solar 3.0 Firesprites are able to apply Restoration.
Since the elemental essences aren’t going to be mods, players' builds will receive a massive amount of modular components when the Lightfall expansion releases, and these systems won’t interfere and compete with each other. Lightfall is shaping up to be an excellent ordeal for fans invested in the space-magic power fantasy of Bungie’s looter-shooter. Not to mention, this feature will benefit abilities for Guardians regardless of owning the Lightfall expansion, since it will retroactively apply to the Void and the Solar subclasses as well as Destiny 2's new Strand subclass. Players will soon have a much easier time managing ability cooldowns, without having to rely on optimized mods or even activity modifiers.