The Witch Queen: What’s Changed
One of the best Destiny 2 DLC The Witch Queen has a lot of new content to explore. But it has also changed a bunch of existing things. Let’s take a closer look at these changes.
First of all, of course you’ll notice that vendors and social zones have been changed a little bit. The HELM, for example, lost its wings (as the content from Seasons of the Hunt, Chosen, Splicer, and Lost have been vaulted) and had been redecorated since the previous season. The most important things, War table are still present, though. So you can get your Umbral Engrams with specific armour or weapons from Season of the Risen.
In short we’ll discuss the following topics:
- Void 3.0
- Exotic tuning
- Vanguard Ops
- PvP Changes
- Gambit changes
- NPC-related changes
Void 3.0
A lot of changes come with a new subclass overhaul. Void is more powerful than ever, and even more fun to play, than it used to be. The subclass becomes more customisable, and brings it in line with Stasis, so there are now Fragments and Aspects.
All classes has their specialities:
Hunters (Nightstalker): Invisibility and weaken.
- Invisibility: Vanish from sight and enemy radar. Shooting breaks invisibility.
- Weaken: Enemies take more damage from all sources and are blinded.
Titan (Sentinel): Overshield and volatile.
- Overshield: Grants additional health that also grants damage resistance.
- Volatile: Enemies explode when repeatedly damaged or slain.
Warlock (Voidwalker): Devour and suppression.
- Devour: Gain increased grenade recharge rates and HP on kill.
- Suppressed: Enemies are blinded and can’t use their abilities.
Bear in mind that each subclass can veer into different disciplines, just like it works in Stasis.
Exotic tuning
A bunch of new exotics come this season, but some old exotic weapons shine this season. With the new buff to all kinetic exotics, that makes their 40% more effective against yellow bar enemies. Every single weapon that falls into this category will feel stronger in PvE Witch Queen content thanks to a 40% damage boost against minor foes.
Vanguard Ops
As for Vanguard activities, few minor tweaks have happened as well. The Battlegrounds activity is still present, yet renamed to PsiOps, and grants Vanguard reputation upon completion, so it becomes a great alternative.
PvP Changes
Not quite much changes, beside The Eternity and Vostok maps have returned into the game’s rotation, and also get a small PvP rebalance. Also, The Iron banner tokens are now expiring at the end of the season. Be sure to spend them before that time!
Gambit changes
Yeah, and here comes Gambit. There have been a ton of changes here, including quality of life improvements. This mode hasn’t seen much love since Gambit Prime way back in 2019 during Season of the Drifter, and this activity that was vaulted when Beyond Light launched. There have been several changes made to it in the Witch Queen Expansions. For example, the number of motes needed to activate an invasion portal has changed. And now, you cannot save up multiple invasions, so it became a use it or lose it kind of thing. More than that, Invaders cannot see how many motes the enemy team is carrying, so it became much harder to pick out priority targets. Finally, enemy Blockers have gotten some unpleasant additions like elemental shields and Stasis abilities. Not really game changing, but still a nice difference.
NPC-related changes
Now, for The Tower’s vendors. The Cryptarch, Master Rahool can decrypt Umbral Engrams now, and got some of the Spider trade options — Glimmer and Legendary Shards for resources. He also sells a new material: Ascendant Alloy. This is a new item, you’ll need it to use with The Witch Queen’s new weapon crafting system. However, it’s quite costly — buying the Alloy will take back 400 Legendary Shards away from you and you can only buy one per weekly reset.
Another noticeable change happens to gunsmith Banshee-44. His reputation system was completely rebuilt, and all gunsmith Material resources now gone. Instead, dismantling any piece of gear, in addition to giving you Glimmer and Shards, will also increase your reputation rank with Banshee-44. Completing his bounties will grant you some progress as well. The reward system works the same way as in Vanguards, Crucible or Gambit — once you hit a certain rank, return to Banshee for a reward. It will usually be upgrade kits or rare upgrade materials. Finally, Banshee will only sell mods for weapons, and armour mods are now completely in hands of Ada-1.
The awaited season 16, brought a lot of good changes alongside great content. Hopefully, we’ll see even more nice little QoL improvements as the season goes on.
Huckleberry out.
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