Destiny 2 witch queen promises to deliver

By: Seth Davis

I am very excited for Witch Queen, probably the most hyped expansion since Rise of Iron from Destiny. The new expansion comes out on Feb. 22 2022, and, as an avid Destiny 2 player, I will be playing on the release date. ​

In the trailers for the new expansion several things are revealed, such as the new hive light bearers that are able to use abilities much like guardians. Like guardians, they must use ghosts to respawn and use their light as weapons or healing abilities. This will change the battlefield forever because guardians will no longer be the only ones respawning, throwing light grenades and using abilities. Because of this, players will face new challenges and may even have to create new strategies to deal with the new enemies. 

The new destination for the expansion is Savathun’s throneworld and is likened to the inside of her mind, where everything that happens down to the littlest details like a disturbance in the mud is known by her and documented. Because of this, everything the guardian does will have an effect and will not go unnoticed. Surprise attacks no longer work; this is a bigger thing than most would ever realize because it was one our most used strategies.

As for expansions, a new raid is coming out. Although we do not know much at all, it is most likely based in the space dorito more commonly known as the pyramid ship. It will most likely give some pretty sweet loot and will most likely be one of the more fun day one raids. 

Savathun the Witch Queen is one of the deities that ruled alongside the taken king Oryx, featured in Destiny 1 with the raid and expansion Kings Fall. Unlike Crota, Oryx’s son, she was much more powerful and cautious of the guardians who wielded the light powerful enough to push back the darkness.

Alongside her sister Xivu Arath the God of war and her brother Oryx the taken king they sought to understand the darkness and rule the universe. Xivu Arath is the mightiest warrior in the Universe and even made pacts with the Worms of Fundament other Hive gods that originated as eaters of worlds. Xol the hive god was later heralded by Oryx. 

Although Oryx the taken king was a very powerful being and even worshiped as a god, Savathun, along with her sister Xivu Arath, are the last remaining children of the dead king. Savathun is known by many names but she is most commonly called the Witch Queen, Sister of Shapes, Sword Breaker, Emancipator of Worms and Queen of Lies. She is known across the solar system by all races to be the most cunning of gods and takes great pleasure and power from the confusion, fear and paranoia of others.

There is a new armor set for each of the characters and new weapons to be crafted and obtained. This is a big change in itself because it is the first time in Destiny history that we are able to craft weapons. Because of this many people will jump back into Destiny 2 after taking their “long breaks” away from the game. Crafting weapons allows guardians to obtain unique weapons rolls and new shaders never before seen. The newest and most talked about weapons is the glaive, a new projectile/melee weapon, it looks similarly like a spear but can shoot projectiles of light out of the end. Apparently it can also create an energy shield, that alone should change the sway of competitive crucible as a whole.

The new armor set is linked to alchemy as several guardians recognised symbols related to or used in alchemy. Because of that the Destiny 2 community has hypothesized that the armor will have some sort of relation to the different planets and their resources. Hunters being centered around Mercury and most likely located on Mercury, Titans being centered around sodium or salt and being located on Saturn or Titan, and Warlocks being centered around sulfur which represents Mars and not Venus despite what many guardians think. The Azoth of the Philosophers is one of the only commonalities between the different characters' armor pieces and is most likely the thing that binds them together. Using alchemical reactions to create or infuse armor will be very fun and a new experience for all guardians.

The chemical notation  [Xe] 4f^14 5d^6 6s^2 is osmium and this relates to the Osmium King also known as the father of Oryx, Savathun and Xivu. The Osmium court was ruled by the Osmium and King and his consort Taox who later betrayed them which led to the fall of the Osmium court. Because of this the sisters Xivu Arath and Savathun went deeper into Fundament to find worm gods to empower them this made them the most powerful beings for quite a while. This was just before the traveler was awakened and started his journey to save the universe from falling into the darkness of the siblings of the Osmium court.

Following the end of Witch Queen or Season 16 Light Fall will be coming out in 2023, as it has yet to even have trailers, we know little to nothing about Light Fall but we do know that the expansion after it is titled The Final Shape. This tells us guardians that, Destiny 2 will at least continue into 2024. This is a welcome surprise seeing as Bungie has said that there will be no Destiny 3 before 2025 as Destiny 2 expansions and updates will take up most of their time.

Right now as of what we know there will be several changes in the upcoming expansion, such as a tweak to the orbs of power although we do not know what kind of tweak. All of the 30th anniversary content such as the Grasp of Avarice dungeon, the Xur’s treasure hoard location and the Dares of Eternity activity. Instead of only being able to unlock 12 artifact mods we will be able to unlock all 25 in the future this means that a whole new range of things will be available to us. Hopefully the new aspects of the void subclass are good and are actually useful unlike a lot of the current abilities. 

As a new TWAB just came out on Jan. 20,  new information has also been added to the vault that is a guardians mind with the new trailer several things are showcased and several things are given. Not much of a surprise but a welcome one blue drops will no longer be given after 1500 power level or the soft cap this is a huge thing for several guardians because always clearing blue items after gambit or crucible matches can get very annoying this will also minimize the trips to the postmaster as there will be more space for legendaries and exotics.

Banshee, Rahool and Ada will also get a rework, Banshee will have a real reputation system like the other vendors. This means that Weapons telemetries and  Gunsmith Materials will be removed, because of this change guardians will have to set aside an amount of time to turn in all of their materials before the witch queen. Ada will no longer sell mods for mod components but everything for the transmog will still be there. Luckily for several guardians Mod Components will no longer be in the game either this allows guardians to buy mods for 10,000 glimmer to almost all guardians this a much better trade.  Ada and Banshee will both be selling 4 mods instead of 2 allowing guardians to get many more mods much quicker. As mentioned in past TWABS Rahool will be taking over Spiders duties because of the vaulting of the Tangled Shore. He will also be selling Enhancement Prisms and Ascendant Shards. 

Although the thousands of gunsmith materials I had saved up have to be turned in, I am happy that Banshee will once again have a real reputation system much like Destiny. The changes to Rahool make me happy because he is becoming more of a central piece to a guardians life and will get much more attention. As sad as I am to see Spider go I am just as happy to know that I will still be able to trade materials for legendary shards and glimmer.

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