With Destiny 2‘s Lightfall expansion less than a month away, Bungie is going all out to get Guardians excited for the new content, today releasing their trailer for the Strand Darkness subclass. You’ll unlock these unique abilities in the neon-soaked city of Neomuna on Neptune, using them there and across the system to grapple, weave, and unmake enemies. Here’s what we learned from the trailer.
The Lightfall Trailer Shows Off Strand
Throughout the latest trailer from Bungie, we see all three subclasses using various abilities new with Strand. The Warlock, for instance, consumes some Strand energy, which seems to empower their weapon with the power, causing a kill to create a burst of it. Affected enemies are debuffed before disintegrating when defeated.
Strand kills also generate what Bungie calls “threadlings” that crawl along the ground and detonate when they hit an enemy. Titans can generate energy waves with their Barricades and swathe their arms in Strand blades. Hunters use a Strand kunai attached to a long whip-like energy rope to attack their enemies both up close and at a distance.
Perhaps the most versatile ability Strand grants is not unique to any one class, however. The ability to summon a grapple point in mid-air, attached to a building or specific points across Neomuna, will give players unprecedented maneuverability. There’s some concern that the new traversal abilities will crack open old content, trivializing many of the roadblocks put in place long before Strand was conceived.
We know that you can attach your grapple to other Guardians and possibly to weapon-fired projectiles. With Supers like Thundercrash already providing Titans with the ability to fly for short distances and mechanics like Well of Radiance and Shatterdive skating already pushing the bounds of balance, adding in a grappling hook has the potential to unravel a lot of Bungie’s good work.
That won’t be an issue for the Neomuna destination or the story told in Lightfall, as both were built with Strand front and center. Guardians will be working with Osiris, recently revived by a powerful Darkness cocktail, to unlock the potential of the new energy type. It seems, too, that there are nexuses of Strand energy throughout Neptune that we’ll be able to tap into, either to unlock new powers or empower what we already have.
Here’s hoping everything else about Lightfall seems as deep and involved as Strand, from its story to the activities we’ll be grinding for all the new loot. We’ll learn whether that’s true when Lightfall releases on February 28. For more Destiny 2 content on seasons and expansions passed, check out our guides hub.
