Bungie is pushing some Arc 3.0 changes coming with Season 18 of Destiny 2, and all of the classes are seeing significant updates to their abilities and loadouts. Warlock, the space wizard class, received some interesting new kits alongside the broader sub-class changes, keeping some of the core lightning-wizard fantasy and adding some additional ability uptime tuning.
Arc 3.0 Warlock changes – Jolt, amplify, and more
At the core of the Arc 3.0 system are two new status effects players can inflict: blind and amplify. When afflicted by jolt, enemies send slivers of chain lightning to nearby creatures. When blinded, PvE combatants cannot see and cannot fire. Blinding other players acts like a flashbang, whiting out the screen and creating a ringing audio sound effect.
Amplify is a new buff state, applied by rapidly defeating opponents with Arc damage. It causes players to speed up using the new Speed Booster ability, which they can increase by sprinting for a few seconds. Once Speed Booster amps up, players receive a significant PvE damage resistance buff and a longer slide.
Warlocks are powered up by being amplified. Their Ball Lightning melee, for instance, will now fly out and zap enemies three times instead of just once. Chain Lightning, the other melee, usually sends out arcs of lightning that chains to additional targets beyond the main one. When amplified, it chains to additional targets, creating two sets of chains, and can chain to up to double the number of targets. Warlock Supers received some tuning as well. Chaos Reach is relatively unchanged, but Stormtrance now gains the Landfall ability and Ionic Blink, allowing them to short-range teleport while in Super.
Warlock Aspects
Arc 3.0 transforms some of the central abilities of the Arc Warlock into equippable Aspects, as was done with both Void and Solar 3.0.
- The Arc Soul, created when the Warlock player or their teammates enter a Healing or Empowering Rift, is a ball of electricity that fires lighting balls at nearby enemies. While amplified, it fires faster.
- Lightning Surge activates if a Warlock uses a charged melee ability while sliding, transforming them into a ball of lightning and teleporting them forward, then creating a field of lightning bolts where they exit the teleport.
- Electrostatic Mind creates Ionic Traces — ability restoring, player-seeking shards of electricity that travel along the ground — on Arc ability kills or kills on Arc-debuffed foes. Collecting Ionic Traces amplifies the Warlock.
