Here's how Destiny's Titan classes will change in the December Update
According to Bungie, the Titan class will get some major adjustments in the December update of Destiny. This is the first time Bungie has ever significantly touched Class balance in Destiny so Senior Design Lead Sage Merrill took to Bungie's site to explain what those changes will look like.The two biggest issues with the current Titan classes are their lack of melee range and the Sunbreaker's overpowering Super ability in PvP matches.
According to Bungie, the Titan class will get some major adjustments in the December update of Destiny. This is the first time Bungie has ever significantly touched Class balance in Destiny so Senior Design Lead Sage Merrill took to Bungie’s site to explain what those changes will look like.
The two biggest issues with the current Titan classes are their lack of melee range and the Sunbreaker’s overpowering Super ability in PvP matches.
Here’s how Bungie outlined its simple goals for the three Titan subclasses in the game.
- Solar Titan
- Give other players a glimmer of hope standing against a Solar Titan in PvP.
- Bring down the average KDR so it’s closer to the ideal (1.0)
- Encourage taking alternate paths through the Node tree.
- Arc Titan
- Bring average KDR up so that they are competitive with other Subclasses.
- Reinforce the Strikers Hard Charging Melee role.
- Void Titan
- Double down on the Instant Base/Ready for anything Combat/Support role.
To combat the melee issue, Bungie will be extending the melee range of all Titans. “Let’s just say that I agree that the Titans should be the primary Melee Class,” Merrill said, “We are not touching the melee for the other Classes, but we are extending the Titan’s Melee range from 4m to 4.5m (a gain of 12.5%). This should improve the feeling of having short, little, inadequate T-Rex arms.”
Not only is the Sunbreaker the most played sub-class in the PvP portion of Destiny, but its Super, the Hammer of Sol, accounts for 19% of players kills which is above the Sub-Class average of 14%.
“Although the Sunbreaker definitely has a balance problem,” Merrill said, “that problem is mostly confined to what I would call the “Hammer more Hammers” path (Forgemaster + Flameseeker + Cauterize). So you can expect changes to those nodes, bringing them in line with other paths.”
Sunbreakers also had a higher Kill/Death ratio than the other Titan Sub-Classes. Sunbreakers came in at an average KD Ratio of 1.06 while the Defender and Strikers came in around 0.90. Bungie said its okay with the lower average KD Ratio for Defenders, as they’re intended primarily as a support class, but wants to bring Strikers up out of the “KDR basement” so they can be more competitive.
Also, the Defender Sub-Class will get an addition to the Super Ability. When the Super is activated, both the Grenade and Melee abilities will recharge. The full Titan patch notes can be found below.
Sunbreaker
- Melee
- Titan Melee: Extend Titan Melee range (+12.5%)
- Sunstrike: Decrease DOT Time (6.5s ->5.5s)
- Super
- Hammer of Sol: Reduce Damage Resistance during Super (-9.09%)
- Hammer of Sol: Slow Hammer travel speed by (-1.32%)
- Passives
- Forgemaster: Reduce Splash damage detonation radius multiplier (-20%)
- Flameseeker: Turn down Hammer tracking bonus (-25%)
- Flameseeker: Remove +1 Recovery, and +1 Agility stat bonuses
- Fleetfire: Added +1 Agility stat
- Firekeeper: Added +1 Recovery stat
- Cauterize: Added cooldown (0s -> 3s)
- Movement
- Catapult Lift: Faster Initial velocity (+5%)
Striker
- Melee
- Titan Melee: Extend Titan Melee range (+12.5%)
- Storm Fist: Increase base damage (+18.2%)
- Overload: Now also provides faster melee recharge (+50%)
- Discharge: Additional Damage (+7.69%)
- Discharge: Changed AOE to spherical shape
- Amplify: Increased Super energy bonus (+30%)
- Passives
- Headstrong: Now also provides Faster Sprint
- Transfusion: Improve cooldown(5s ->3s)
- Unstoppable: Now provides a total of +2 Armor (+1 additional)
- Unstoppable: Increased damage resistance (+25%)
- Juggernaut: Improved Shield health (+14.3%)
- Juggernaut: Now works when airborne
- Movement
- Catapult Lift: Faster Initial velocity (+5%)
Defender
- Melee
- Titan Melee: Extend Titan Melee range (+12.5%)
- Super
- Ward of Dawn: Recharge Grenade and Melee Abilities on Super cast
- Movement
- Catapult Lift: Faster Initial velocity (+5%)