Since the launch of Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Bungie has been on a mission to revamp its core subclasses, namely Void, Solar and Arc.

To date, Void and Solar have benefitted from a refresh and next week with the launch of Season of the [REDACTED], Arc will see a similar refresh.

Much like Void and Solar, Arc 3.0 will revolve around keywords that reinforce the fantasy of going fast and hitting stuff.

“We call it the ‘hold W’ subclass. Everything is built around moving forward and enabling aggression and those abilities,” said designer Sam Dunn.

The first and perhaps most notable keyword is Amplified. This keyword isn’t enabled by aspects or fragments and is an intrinsic part of the Arc subclass. Amplified is activated when rapidly defeating targets with any Arc damage.

When Amplified, sprinting will trigger a movement speed bonus as well as a bonus to weapon handling. In PvE, sprinting while Amplified will also grant a “sizable PvE damage resistance buff” and enable a longer slide ability.

The other two keywords of Arc 3.0 are Blind and Jolt both of which are debuffs.

In PvE content, Blind will blind opponents and render them unable to fire their weapons. In PvP, Blind will white out a player’s HUD for a short period and audio will sound distorted and washed out.

The Jolt debuff will send chain lightning to nearby enemies and damage them.

All three of these keywords will form part of Arc 3.0 but each class will also receive some changes.

Hunter

The days of Hunters only having access to the Arc Staff super are over. Hunters will get access to a new super through Arc 3.0 called Gathering Storm as well as Arc Staff.

“Here, the Hunter leaps into the air, hurling their staff into the ground (or into an unlucky enemy) like a spear. Upon impact, the staff emits a damaging burst that jolts nearby enemies. Soon after, a giant bolt of lightning strikes the staff and overcharges it, creating a large damage zone around it for several seconds—while overcharged, the staff sends out arcs of lightning to damage any enemies that move near it,” explains Bungie.

The class will also be getting a blink ability much like Void Warlocks. Blink has also been reworked to travel further and the recharge model has been changed.

Warlock

While Warlock’s aren’t getting anything new, the class will see some changes. For one, Stormtrance now combines the Landfall ability and the Ionic Blink ability into one Super. Chaos Reach is also still the alternate Super.

For melee abilities, Warlocks will still have Ball Lightning and Chain Lightning. The power of both of these abilities are ramped up when Amplified.

Not much of a change here, but Warlock was perhaps in the best spot as regards Arc.

Titan

We’ll be frank, Titans are in a great spot and have been since the subclass refreshes started coming down the line. Arc 3.0 appears to continue that trend.

Titans will have access to Fist of Havoc as well as Thundercrash. However, we need to highlight something Mike Humbolt said, particularly in relation to Thundercrash.

Speaking about the Super, the Destiny designer said that moving away from the old subclass system can lead to substantial buffs depending on how players combine abilities with Aspects and Fragments.

“When you start pairing them with different things, even though nothing changed about the actual ability, they can end up getting significantly stronger as a result, because now they aren’t locked into a canned set of perks that surrounded them,” said Humbolt. “Thundercrash is a great example of that.”

There is also a new class ability coming for Titans. Thruster will allow a Titan to perform a first-person evasion when double-tapping a button. This is said to be comparable to a Hunter’s dodge in terms of distance.

A new melee ability for Titans will also be introduced. Thunderclap can be charged up by holding down a button to either execute a quick jab or a devastating blow.

“The charged state cannot be stored and the Titan must be on the ground to charge the punch. The damage is significant: a 90-percent-charged Thunderclap will one-shot Guardians in PvP; but that reward will be balanced by the time it will take to build up that charge level and the fact that you must remain stationary to charge, always a dangerous move in PvP,” Bungie said.

These changes are incredibly exciting and we can’t wait to see more during the Destiny 2 Showcase next week Tuesday.

We also highly recommend you head here to read about the Aspects and Fragments that will be introduced as part of Arc 3.0.