The Solar Warlock is getting a significant overhaul, Bungie has announced in This Week At Bungie, and it might take some of the sting out of Rift matches in the Iron Banner. While the Destiny 2 developer acknowledges the community’s discontent with the MMO game’s Rift activity, it looks like the only changes on the horizon are meant for fixing the Iron Banner’s reputation issues. Players reported on Reddit that they received minimal – or no – reputation increase after matches, but the next update lets you earn reputation bonuses for playing matches, winning, and wearing a five-piece set of Iron Banner armor.
The June 2 TWAB mentions no changes to the speed of Rift matches or even the bugs players say make the activity nearly unplayable at times. Instead, the team recommends playing the objective to get the most out of the activity.
What it does mention is a set of extensive changes planned for Solar subclasses, buffing healing abilities for Solar Warlocks and making Solar Titans more interesting in combat. “We’d much rather ship something a little too spicy than something bland that makes a bad first impression. I think with Solar 3.0, we landed somewhere in the middle, and the team feels very passionately that this is the wrong place to be,” Kevin Yane, Bungie’s Sandbox Discipline lead, says in the TWAB update.
These changes will go live in Hotfix 4.0.1.2, planned for release on June 7.
Chief among the Solar buffs is a set of healing abilities for Solar Warlock builds. Using grenades will unleash a healing effect, one that triples if you use a Healing Grenade. Quickly defeating foes while using the Icarus Dash movement skill will also heal you, and Celestial Fire adds more Scorch stacks than it did previously. That’s a lot of healing, so if you’re tired of dying in Rift matches and spawning back at the enemy’s base, it might be time to consider a class change.
The Solar Titan changes are a bit less drastic, but seem designed to build on all of the class’ strengths. Titans will gain one extra fragment slot for Consecration and a 25% damage buff for Burning Maul in PvE scenarios. When Roaring Flames is active, uncharged melee attacks will generate 30 Scorch stacks.
Bungie promises more details about Arc 3.0 changes in the near future and reminds players that once the Arc changes ship, there won’t be any significant ability changes planned for a while.
If you’ve linked your Amazon Prime and Bungie accounts, you can also nab a new set of cosmetics in June:
- Polaris Lance Scout Rifle
- The Bray Legacy Exotic Weapon Ornament
- Ash Angel Exotic Sparrow
- Nightmare’s Chalice Projection
While you wait on the new Hotfix to buff your Solar Warlock builds even further, check out how to get Season 17’s Exotics, including the new Warlock leg armor Rain of Fire.