The Witch Queen, Sister of Shapes the Sword-Breaker is the next big bad landing in Destiny 2. This cunning Hive goddess Savathûn and her newly empowered army of Hive Lightbearers will be meeting you in her Throne World. Are you ready Guardian to step in and behold the truth?
The Witch Queen expansion is coming on the 22nd of February 2022. This gives us about a month to prepare for Destiny 2 s next grand campaign. This will include new raids, weapons subclasses and a whole lot more. There’s a lot that will be coming upon her arrival so you might want to take this opportunity to learn a bit more about our new enemy and what’s to come.
A sprawling web of evidence lies before you. Shadows nip at your heels as you retreat into the Light, only to find the enemy waiting, bolstered by a power it does not deserve. Face the Witch Queen’s Lucent Brood and solve the riddle at the heart of her deceit.
The Witch Queen
Savathûn formerly known as Sathona is a Hive god and sister to Xivu Arath, God of War and Oryx, the Taken King. Together with her two siblings, she was a progenitor of the contemporary Hive species and one of its chief gods, having made a pact with the Worms of Fundament.
The Hive follows the Sword Logic. A religious-like belief that living beings can only justify their existence to live through combat. But unlike her siblings that focus on combat, Savathûn’s methods are based on subterfuge and trickery. Taking steps to prevent the Vanguard from contacting the Darkness as it entered the Solar System.
During Beyond Light, Savathûn claims to have rescued a weakened Osiris from Xivu Arath within the Ascendant Realm. She then took his form to influence the Vanguard into strategic alliances with factions of the Cabal and Fallen. During the final season of Beyond Light, Season of the Lost, Savathûn revealed her true form and with Mara’s help frees her from the control of the Worm God.
Now that she’s been freed she lies in wait in her Throne World within the Ascendant Realm.
The Lucent Brood
After The Witch Queen steals the power of the Light in the events of Beyond Light she creates her Lucent Brood. Uniquely among the Hive, the Lucent Brood have been gifted with the powers of the Light and are capable of rising from the dead through the use of their own Ghosts.
They are distinguishable by their dark blue and grey colouration and feature spike-like armour. They are also able to cast Guardian specific abilities. You’ll see Hive warriors cast an arc lightning storm exactly like a Warlock. Or throw two Void shields like a Sentinel Titan. It’s eerie and with the worst being that just as with Guardians of the Light the Lucent Brood Hive can also be resurrected by Hive Ghosts. Meaning that you might have to strike them down more than once.
The Witch Queen ‘s Throne World
A twisted wonderland of corruption and splendour, Savathûn’s Throne World plays host to a fragile balance of terrifying power. From the foundation of her glistening palace to the gnarled roots in the swamp, all that she hides can be found here. Seek the truth and learn that in this place, mystery makes its home in both the Darkness and the Light.
The Ascendant realm is an extradimensional plane of existence related to the Darkness. Within this realm known as thrown worlds, the rulers have absolute power over it through the Sword-Logic.
Existence in the Ascendant plane is mutable and maintained by force of will. Well-defended ideas there take physical form, creating bizarre and twisted landscapes. Similarly, using the Sword Logic to define one’s own terms of existence causes one to develop a throne world suspended in the Ascendant Plane. All laws within these realms obey the Sword Logic, even over the Light.
If the god is killed, they persist still as all Throne Worlds are located and connected on the Ascendant realm’s plane.
The Witch Queen Raid & Event
Among the swamps of Savathûn’s Throne World lies a sunken Pyramid. Alongside your fireteam, venture inward and confront the ancient danger imprisoned within.
Within the darkness in the swamps of Savathûn’s Throne World lies a pyramid ship that houses an “ancient danger imprisoned within”.
Destiny 2 is also getting another six-player, matchmade, offensive-style activity, like Override and Astral Alignment, called Conflict Eternal. Not much is known about this either, but an image does show a team of Guardians fighting their way through Lucent Brood Hive towards the palace in Savathûn’s Throne World. It will be centred around “the heart of the ongoing struggle for the Throne World”.
Glaives & Weapon Crafting
The Glaive is an entirely new weapon type that is being introduced in Destiny 2’s The Witch Queen. They’re the games’ second melee weapon next to the sword. But is unique as it is powered up with energy and can fire mid-ranged projectiles as well as deploy shields.
In The Witch Queen gameplay trailer, the glaive is revealed after the Light-wielding hive makes its appearance. A quick series of stylish clicks of pieces into place is capped with a trigger being pulled before the guardians rush into battle. The glaive shows its versatility in battle with wide swings, long-range stabs, and attacks with the pommel.
To get a Glaive, any of the new Throne World destination weapons, and the Season 16 seasonal weapons, you’ll need to craft them. This means you’ll have greater control over their weapon rolls and can add mods and shaders to create unique combinations. You’ll also level up your weapons as you use them, making them better over time.
Void Class Overhaul
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Alongside all the new content in The Witch Queen expansion, Bungie is also set to overhaul everything Void-related in Destiny 2. As the first step in reworking all Light subclasses, Void will be revamped with Solar and Arc abilities following later.
As a result of this focus, Bungie will not be designing a new Darkness subclass for the upcoming launch. Instead, this Void-based overhaul will be the primary driving force.
In a blog post, last August “Void 3.0 is set to seriously revamp existing Light subclasses”. Not merely a set of buffs and nerfs, this overhaul will be “a new interpretation of the Void subclasses. That means adding new abilities and mechanics, ditching some old ones where it makes sense to do so. And spreading out existing ones to create enticing new combinations.”
Moving forward there will be six key labels for Void-friendly Guardians to keep in mind. Suppression, Weaken, and Volatile serves as the negative effects that can be applied through Void abilities. While Void Overshield, Invisibility, and Devour will be the three positive effects.
Negative Void Effects
- Suppression – The target is knocked out of any active abilities and can’t activate any abilities/movement modes as long as Suppression persists. Afflicted enemy AI combatants can’t shoot their weapons.
- Weaken – The target takes increased damage and has their movement slowed. Enemy AI combatants fire their weapons with decreased accuracy.
- Volatile – The target is afflicted with unstable Void energy and will explode upon taking additional damage or on death.
Positive Void Effects
- Void Overshield – A protective barrier of Void Light that reduces damage taken from combatants.
- Invisibility – You vanish from sight and do not appear on enemy radar.
- Devour – You feast on the energy of your foes. Kills restore you to full health, grant grenade energy, and extend Devour.
