Many Destiny 2 players are hoping Bungie takes another pass at one of the weakest and most overlooked subclasses in Arc 3.0 ahead of The Final Shape, with many believing it is well overdue for buffs.
Disgruntled players feel Arc’s once-signature “glass cannon” gameplay loop has since been lost to targeted nerfs and repetitive adjustments to other Destiny 2 subclasses which now better fill that gap, with many left struggling to see the positives of Arc today. It also hasn’t helped that the last few seasonal artifacts have leaned toward other subclasses, but even in a neutral sandbox, Arc really lacks its signature punch.
Many players feel Arc subclasses no longer dish out the damage they once did, and as the game scales into the endgame where survivability is key, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. “After the Arc nerfs, abilities hit like a wet noodle meaning there isn’t much use to running a glass cannon when you’re all glass and no cannon,” one player summarized.
Outside of the Spark of Resistance fragment, there’s little in the Arc 3.0 kit to help guardians survive. While boosts to melee damage and the use of abilities exist, most require you to get up close and personal with enemies—something you’ll actually actively want to avoid in activities like raids and dungeons. “Arc is the only subclass without a verb involving healing, damage resistance, or an overshield,” another Destiny player said. “The survivability is just bad, and all three classes don’t feel very cohesive with their aspects.”
Nowhere has Arc’s shortcomings been more evident than during Onslaught, the horde-mode activity introduced with Into the Light. As a long-time Titan main, I’ve had a hard time making Arc 3.0 work; the melee-centric fragments and aspects simply cannot keep up with Onslaught’s scaling past around wave 20, and a full Thundercrash focus with Cuirass of the Falling Star just doesn’t hit the same as it once did.
The Bladefury super and the Strand kit are far more adaptable thanks to their ability to Suspend targets and apply Woven Mail resistances, while Solar is incredibly potent thanks to this season’s artifact mods. It shouldn’t take an Arc-focused artifact for the subclass to see regular use, especially when Stasis and Void builds work just fine without mod synergy.
Unfortunately, it’s unlikely we’ll see any huge buffs at the launch of The Final Shape given Bungie will likely focus on Prismatic’s rollout. Here’s hoping Arc gets a little love in the coming Into the Light updates so we Titans can missile ourselves at Destiny bosses once again, and Hunters and Warlocks can once again embrace the lightning.
