Destiny 2 Season 18 will be released on August 23, 2022, and one of the most anticipated changes is the Arc 3.0 reworks, following the Solar and Void buffs Bungie did before. Previously, the developer team has mentioned that Arc 3.0 will focus on chain-lightning attacks and parts of Synaptic Spear’s attacks was a testing ground for it. Now, Destiny designer Sam Dunn has revealed how Arc 3.0 in Destiny 2 Season 18 works and a new side-effect called Jolt.
How Jolt will Work in Destiny 2 Season 18 Arc 3.0
“Arc is really just, ‘go fast and hit stuff.’ We call it the ‘hold W’ subclass. Everything is built around moving forward and enabling aggression and those abilities.”
Dunn explained in August 17, 2022, in a Bungie blog post. To accommodate that “that high-speed, high-impact goal” feeling, Arc Classes are getting one buff for themselves and two debuffing effects against their enemies. The buff, inspired by Jason Statham’s Crank 2: High Voltage, is called Amplified, which gives increased speed, longer slides, and PvE damage resistance after killing enemies with Arc attacks. Meanwhile, the debuffs are Blind (which is pretty self-explanatory) and Jolt.
Simply put, Jolt is the chain lightning effect. Both PvE and PvP enemies that are afflicted with Jolt will periodically send small bursts of chain lightning out to other targets when they gather in a group, damaging all of them in the process. Obviously, this means, if you’re the one on the end of the Jolt stick in Crucible matches, you have to quickly remove yourself from your group and potentially make yourself an easier prey.
Arc 3.0 will also introduce new Aspects and Fragments to add more customization to your play style. Here’s the list of the Arc Aspects and how Jolt will synergize with each Classes’ skills:
Hunter Arc Aspects:
- Flow State: Defeating a Jolted opponent causes you to become Amplified. When Amplified, the Hunter’s dodge will recharge faster and make you more resistant to damage, and you have quicker reload times.
- Tempest Strike: Allows the Hunter to perform a sliding melee that launches an Arc wave along the ground, dealing significant damage and Jolting enemies in its path.
- Lethal Current: After dodging, the Hunter’s melee lunge range is increased and their next melee attack Jolts the target and creates a damaging lightning aftershock. When used with the Arc Staff Super, after dodging, the Hunter’s next staff light attack hits twice. In addition, hitting a Jolted enemy with a melee attack will Blind them.
Warlock Arc Aspects:
- Arc Soul: The Warlock casts a rift to create an Arc Soul that will assist the player in battle. Allies who pass through the rift will also earn an Arc Soul. The rift charges faster when allies are near. While Amplified, any Arc Soul you have or gain is Supercharged, increasing its rate of fire.
- Lightning Surge: The Warlock activates their melee while sliding to transform into a ball of lightning and teleport forward, calling down a field of lightning bolts at the exit point that Jolts targets.
- Electrostatic Mind: Arc ability kills and kills on Arc-debuffed enemies create Ionic Traces. When you collect any Ionic Trace, you become Amplified.
Titan Arc Aspects:
- Touch of Thunder: Improves Arc grenades in the following ways:
- Flashbang: Fires an additional blind impulse on its first bounce.
- Pulse: When the grenade damages an enemy, it creates an Ionic Trace for the Titan. Pulse Grenade damage increases over time as the grenade lingers after impact.
- Lightning: Grants an additional charge for Lightning grenade, and Jolts targets on initial blast.
- Storm: Creates a roaming thundercloud that moves and tracks enemies (similar to the Stasis Hunter’s Silence & Squall Super), firing lightning bolts at the ground underneath it.
- Juggernaut: While sprinting and with full class ability energy, the Titan gains a frontal shield that blocks incoming damage. When Amplified, the shield is stronger. Once the shield is depleted by taking damage, the player’s class energy is depleted.
- Knockout: Melee kills trigger health regeneration and make the Titan Amplified. Critically wounding an enemy or breaking their shield increases melee range and damage for a brief period. Titan’s base melee becomes Arc-empowered while Knockout is active.
And below is the upcoming Fragments:
- Spark of Beacons: When the player is Amplified, Arc special weapon kills create a Blinding explosion.
- Spark of Resistance: When surrounded by enemies, the player has increased damage resistance.
- Spark of Momentum: Sliding over ammo will reload your weapon and grant a small amount of melee energy. Sliding over Heavy ammo increases the amount of energy granted.
- Spark of Shock: The player’s Arc grenades Jolt enemies.
While it sounds pretty strong (and annoying), it’s still not clear how Jolt works will synergize well or end up being ineffective in Destiny 2. All we can do for now is wait until Season 18 drops.
