Destiny 2’s New Void 3.0 System Detailed Ahead Of The Witch Queen

Year 5 of Destiny 2 will bring with it an overhaul to the Void subclasses that players have been using for years. Coinciding with the release of The Witch Queen DLC, what Bungie refers to as “Void 3.0” will be implemented, essentially making it so Void works similarly to how Stasis has operated since it was introduced with the launch of Beyond Light. As part of a new vidoc and accompanying preview event, Bungie has now shared more details on just how Void 3.0 works, including some of the new customization options that will be available. It also released a blog post on its website this week that gives an even more comprehensive look at the system’s changes.

Like Solar and Arc, Void subclasses have largely been unchanged for years, aside from some balance alterations along the way. Beyond Light’s new Stasis subclass was a dramatic rethinking of how a subclass could work, giving you more things to unlock and more ways to engage with and customize the loadout you’re taking into the field beyond just weapons and armor. Those customizations change your Stasis abilities and unlock new ones, and Void, Arc, and Solar subclasses will all be getting updated to that Stasis style, with Void being the first of the three to get that treatment.

As with Stasis, you’ll earn Aspects, which are class-specific items that offer different abilities or make big changes to the ones you’re already using, and Fragments, which are universal and apply various bonuses to certain elements of your loadout, to customize your subclass. These offer more flexibility than the current subclass arrangement, where you’re basically picking from three alterations on the same Super and an accompanying set of melee/ability tweaks with no flexibility. Fortunately, the changeover to this new system won’t involve losing everything you have–any Void grenades or melee attacks you’ve already unlocked will be there for you to use right away. If you’re a new player, Bungie says you’ll unlock the new Void Aspects and Fragments as part of the New Light experience.

Bungie said it is spreading out Void abilities, what it refers to as “verbs,” across the three classes, to some degree. If you really want to focus on turning invisible, you’ll still need to be a Hunter, but with Fragments and Aspects, you’ll at least get a little taste of that you-can’t-see-me lifestyle as a Warlock or Titan. Suppressor grenades, too, will be available to everyone if you use the right loadouts.

Void abilities are largely about debuffing enemies and buffing players, and Bungie’s blog runs down all the different ways those status effects work into potential loadouts with Void 3.0. Suppression is one of the debuffs–it disorients enemies and knocks out their abilities–but there’s also Volatile (which causes enemies to explode when they take enough damage) and Weaken (which leaves enemies confused and causes them to take more damage). Meanwhile, for buffing teammates, you have Overshield (which gives you or a teammate an extra shield to allow them to absorb more damage), Invisibility (which makes you tough to spot by other players and causes PvE enemies to lose track of you entirely), and Devour (which restores your health and gives you grenade energy back as you damage and kill enemies).

The blog post goes through all the changes to all three classes, as well as the Aspects you can use for them.

Titan Void 3.0 changes

For Titans, existing abilities are gaining new buffs and debuffs: when you throw your Sentinel Shield Super, for instance, it’ll add Volatile to enemies; when you bash them with the close-range melee shield attack, you’ll gain an overshield. Meanwhile, your Ward of Dawn Super–the bubble shield–can now be summoned much more quickly and is among the fastest-charging Supers, making to more viable as a defensive reaction to an incoming attack.

Titans’ three Void Aspects are:

• Controlled Demolition: Any enemies hit by either your Void abilities or the denotation of a Volatile enemy will also become Volatile.
• Bastion: Creating a Barricade generates an overshield for yourself and nearby allies. Continuing to use the Barricade for cover regenerates the overshield over time and extends its duration.
• Offensive Bulwark: Your grenades charge faster and you get increased melee damage while you have an overshield or are standing inside a Ward of Dawn, and you get an extra throw for your Sentinel Shield Super.

Hunter Void 3.0 changes

The focus for Hunters is in agility and invisibility, so expect a lot more of that with your new Void builds. The major tweaks to the subclass go to its bow Supers, the Deadfall and Moebius Quiver. For Deadfall, snare traps you set will now draw enemies into them, while the Moebius Quiver fires three arrows at a time in a tracking spread and makes tethered enemies Volatile. Meanwhile, the melee Snare Bomb ability will weaken enemies and rob other players of their heads-up display in PvE.

Hunter Void Aspects are:

• Trapper’s Ambush: Much like Shatter Dive, players get a new ability called Quickfall that uses their melee charge to dive to the ground and generate a smoke cloud as they impact. Enemies in the cloud are weakened, while allies become invisible. You can also make teammates invisible with Snare Bombs when they’re attached to surfaces or enemies.
• Vanishing Step: Dodging makes the Hunter invisible. This doesn’t change much from current Hunter builds, except that you can now use Vanishing Step with any Hunter Super, not just Deadfall.
• Stylish Executioner: Killing any target that’s suffering from a Void debuff (so either Weaken, Suppression, or Volatile) briefly makes you invisible, while also granting True Sight. While you’re invisible, your next melee attack also inflicts Weaken.

Warlock Void 3.0 changes

We learned the most about Warlocks from the vidoc, but Bungie’s blog post filled in what gaps remained. Most of the alterations are in making Warlock Supers handle a little differently and become more effective, depending on what you choose for your loadout. For instance, your Nova Bomb will draw enemies into the supernova it creates when it explodes with one enhancement, or split off into projectiles with another, allowing you to choose the effect you want without having to default to one kind of Nova Bomb over the other. Pocket Singularity is the Warlock Void melee attack, which fires a ball of exploding Void energy at enemies that weakens them and pushes them back–and can be used to fling people off cliffs if you use it right, according to Bungie.

Warlock Void Aspects are:

• Chaos Accelerant: Holding down the grenade button allows you to overcharge your Vortex, Scatter, Magnetic, and Axion Bolt grenades, with overcharged Magnetic grenades transforming into Handheld Supernova.
• Feed the Void: Killing enemies with any Void ability activates the Devour buff.
• Child of the Old Gods: Using your rift ability summons a Void Soul, which flies at enemies you damage with your weapon and zaps them with tendrils that damage and Weaken them. Void Soul damage gives you grenade and melee energy back if you’re using a healing rift and heals you if you’re using an empowering rift, and you get rift energy if you kill an enemy being drained by the Void Soul.

Bungie’s new vidoc revealed some of the Fragments that will be available as well, although you could be forgiven for missing them–blink and a few likely passed you by. Luckily, the blog post filled in some gaps. Here are all of the Fragments we’ve heard about so far, which provide buffs (sometimes at a cost) and are available to all classes:

• Echo of Exchange – Melee final blows grant grenade energy.
• Echo of Remnants – Your lingering grenade effects (Vortex Grenade, Void Wall, Void Spike, and Axion Bolt) have increased duration.
• Echo of Reprisal – Final blows when surrounded by combatants grant Super energy.
• Echo of Expulsion: Void ability kills cause enemies to explode, and the Fragment grants an Intellect bonus.
• Echo of Provision: Damaging enemies with grenades grants melee energy, and the Fragment incurs a Strength penalty.
• Echo of Domineering: After suppressing a target, gain greatly increased Mobility for a short duration and your equipped weapon is reloaded from reserves; the Fragment adds a Discipline bonus.
• Echo of Undermining: Void grenades weaken enemies, with the Fragment incurring a Discipline penalty.

Bungie says that seasoned Destiny 2 players will have all Aspects and most Fragments for their Void subclasses immediately upon logging into the game; the missing Fragments will release after the first completion of The Witch Queen’s new raid. Upgrading your Void subclass will be done by spending new currencies at the Tower, and anything veterans don’t have at the Witch Queen’s launch will be available there right away; there won’t be a long, drawn-out series of quests in order to start unlocking new options. For new players, you’ll unlock and earn the various pieces of your Void 3.0 loadout during the New Light missions that introduce you to Destiny 2 for the first time.

Now that we know everything about Void 3.0, we’ll have to see how loadouts can be optimized for each class to take advantage of their new abilities and tweaks, but we’ll have to wait for the launch of The Witch Queen to see it all in action. In the meantime, check out all we’ve learned about Witch Queen’s campaign and Savathun’s throne world, how many Exotics to expect, and how crafting works.

Source: Gamespot