Guardian Subclass/Exotic Problems?

I've made many a post about Warlocks (and even some about Hunters and Titans) but due to how diverse our options are and the sheer power of the ones that are actually good means that I often see as much resistance as I do support.

All three Stormcallers are in a very solid place now as all three trees can be quite powerful. There are a few tweaks that would be nice, but they're okay in their current state.

  • Transcendence on the Attunement of Conduction causes a lot of mental overhead when trying to hunt for arc chain targets.
  • Control Stormcaller is fine, I'd just like to see the effects for Chaos Reach made a bit more translucent and less bright to we can aim better.
  • Elements is a bit less sexy than the other two Attunements but we do have Arc Buddy. I would appreciate if our Rising Storm melee contributed Rift energy too for more self sufficiency and synergy with Electrostatic Surge.

Voidwalkers are a bit of a mixed bag in my opinion.

  • Attunement of Chaos is really strong, but at the same time I dislike the dead time between grenades due to the lack of second means to cycle their Entropic Pull perk (unlike the D1 Voidwalker). I would like to see a second method to trigger it, most likely a trigger when getting void ability multikills to reward and enable well placed grenades.
  • Fission bums me out a bit. Right now its effectiveness is mostly hinging around Handheld Supernova. I'd like to see a PvE buff for them: More energy granted by Dark Matter versus combatants. More damage for charged Nova Warp blasts versus combatants. And then a blanket reduction in energy cost for Dark Blink.
  • Hunger is very linear and the subclass does lack some depth which is not necessarily a bad thing. A range of complexity in character options is a good thing. That being said Vortex Nova Bomb is a bit underwhelming considering the top trees charged grenade is comparable to the damage field of this SUPER. So a tweak to this damage and/or a secondary utility effect would be appreciated. I'd also like to have Nova Bomb kills trigger Devour, just to provide another way to jump-start our Insatiable loop.

Dawnblades have been consistent source of contention. I despise the designs for the original two subclass branches for being poorly budgeted, lopsided, and one-note but I frequently see resistance to any suggestions to round out these Attunements.

  • The super for Attunement of Sky has no direct upgrades to its potency, having to rely on mobility to be effective. This works great in the Crucible once you get to learn Daybreak, but means the super is kind of bad in PvE for actual boss damage and add clearing. Its neutral game abilities are similarly good in PvP and work fine in low stakes PvE, but as you start taking Sky into more difficult content with stronger enemies, their tools fall out of practice. I'd like to see a secondary means to get airborne accuracy. My preferred suggestion is allowing us to consume our grenade to trigger Swift Strike as that would provide reload and movement speed in addition to the accuracy without needing to get into melee. This would also make both sources self sustaining as Heat Rises can restore from aerial kills and refresh on casting Daybreak. It would make the Sky Dawnblade a very mobile option.
  • Grace is the Warlock support option I waited four years to get. I've been very happy with how its abilities play. I'm less of a fan of how all consuming Well of Radiance as become, but considering Bungie seems to be keen on adjusting it, we shall see what becomes of this super. Hopefully they'll be moderate changes.
  • I want to say the Attunement of Flame is a hot mess, but it has so little firepower without its super, I feel like that would be misleading. Flame Daybreak is absolutely bonkers and I think Everlasting Fire should be nerfed in PvP (more aggressive diminishing returns versus Guardians) but this comes at the cost of ANY neutral game. There is no gameplay loop to keep the player engaged while waiting for Daybreak to come online. The heal on Phoenix Dive is very weak and their melee is one of the worst in the game, being consumed on-hit but only triggering the secondary explosion on kill. I think the Igniting Touch melee should be made into an on-kill effect to ensure the explosion goes off. I think Phoenix Dive could heal more and/or provide a secondary effect. And lastly, I strongly believe Flame should have some kind of method to get back ability energy. It is playing the phoenix and pyromancer trope spaces after all.

I also have opinions on Hunter and Titan change, but this comment is getting long enough already.

/r/DestinyTheGame Thread