Destiny 2: The Final Shape’s New Prismatic Subclass Fuses Light And Darkness For The First Time Ever

Destiny 2: The Final Shape will throw you into a fight where all of reality is at stake, but your Guardian is about to get a powerful new subclass in your war against the Witness. While previous Destiny 2 subclasses were either Light or Darkness-based, the new Prismatic skillset is a killer combo of those powers. As a result of the Witness unleashing the Darkness inside of the Traveler, you’ll be able to enter a new state called Transcendence after you deal enough Light and Dark damage to enemies.

You’ll be able to keep track of this by observing a new meter underneath your Super bar, and once both sides are full, you’ll gain a new level of power to wield. While Transcendent, you gain a new grenade born of both subclass energies. Hunters get a Solar and Stasis synthesis, Titans can use both Arc and Strand-energy abilities, and Warlocks can combine Stasis and Void-energy together. Additionally, grenade and melee energy are both instantly recharged when Transcendence is cast and there’ll be extra damage boosts to tinker with.

“We’re kind of thinking of Prismatic as this advanced subclass where you have more buildcrafting options, more potential combinations, more Fragments than you normally get, and more Fragment slots to socket them than you normally get,” gameplay feature lead Sam Dunn said during the Destiny 2: The Final Shape developer preview.

Bungie showed off some of the possible combinations for Primsatic buildcrafters, teasing incredibly powerful crowd-control abilities alongside the unique debuff skills of each subclass. For example, Titan Guardians can paralyze an entire squad of enemies with the Jolt effect from their Arc subclass and follow up that assault with Strand blades, severing enemies from existence. Or alternatively, Warlocks can lock down an area with their Bleak Watcher turret and send out a horde of Strand Threadlings to hunt down enemies, use Arcane Needle to eliminate more enemies, and gain grenade energy back, creating a powerful combat loop in the process.

The new Prismatic subclass and Transcendence ability look like necessary upgrades for Guardians, as over several months, the Witness has brought in a new enemy faction called The Dread to terrorize players who follow it into the Traveler. These enemies are a combination of airborne harassment, acrobatic powerhouses, and Darkness-wielding wizards alongside the Tormentors who were introduced in Lightfall last year, and players will need to quickly master their new skills if they hope to stand a chance against them.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape will launch on June 4 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One, but right now, a new period of story content leading into the expansion has kicked off. There’s a lot to look forward to over the next couple of weeks in Into the Light, including the return of reworked Exotic missions, a Raid Boss rush mode, and new PvP maps.