When Strand releases in Destiny 2‘s Lightfall expansion, players can expect it to have a more cohesive launch than Beyond Light‘s Stasis. Bungie is applying some of the lessons from Stasis to Strand and fast-forwarding its launch with Strand-aligned weapons and shields, game director Joe Blackburn confirmed in a press conference last week.
“Strand is coming alive in a much more complete package than Stasis did at launch,” Blackburn said. Strand is poised to have a much more holistic launch than Stasis, in part due to the learnings that came from Stasis in Beyond Light and the Light 3.0 reworks from The Witch Queen. “Guardians will be able to see a really complete and usable version of Strand right at the get-go,” according to him, and may even feel confident enough to take the new subclass into the Lightfall raid.
When Stasis released, players only had one Stasis weapon—the gimmicky Exotic Salvation’s Grip, which most guardians used for quests or platforming and never touched again. It wasn’t until two seasons later that players got another Stasis-aligned weapon, the Exotic-rarity Cryosthesia 77K. Legendary Stasis weapons only started dripping in during Season of the Lost, the last season of Year Four. Destiny 2 doesn’t have Stasis shields, either, and they’re not planned for Lightfall.
Strand, on the other hand, is shipping with “a bunch of Strand weapons,” according to Blackburn, and you may see enemies taking advantage of this new power. You could even bump into an enemy with Strand shields during your time in Neomuna. “So many of the learnings from Stasis and subclass 3.0 are integrated into Strand right from the beginning,” he said.
The lessons from Stasis include an easier method of acquisition and a more player-friendly approach. Unlocking Stasis Fragments required grindy, time-gated objectives. Unlocking Strand, on the other hand, will be closer to the Light-based subclasses, according to creative director Tyson Green. Fragments will be shared between all characters, but Aspects will be unlocked per class.
Though Strand is already launching in a better form than Stasis, that’s not the final shape of the subclass by any means. Players can expect more Aspects to drop throughout Lightfall, similar to how Stasis users got a few new tools under their belts throughout Beyond Light. Warlocks’ Bleak Watcher Aspect wasn’t available at launch, Blackburn said, but it had a tremendous impact on the game. While players can expect working subclasses and new mechanics from day one, there’s plenty more in stock for Strand throughout Year Six.
Players can try out Strand when Lightfall releases on Feb. 28.
