Developer Insight – Combatant Modifiers & More

Welcome to one of many Developer Insight articles for Codename: Frontiers. Over the weeks and months to come, we will be covering a lot of different topics about changes coming to Destiny 2 next year with these deeper dives. Check back with our Paving the Way for New Frontiers article for more information on our plans and an always-up-to-date list of these articles as they are published.

This deep dive is introducing Combatant Modifiers and how they will fit into our larger modifier system changes, providing new abilities or properties to the enemy combatants you encounter in an activity. These new threats will create new gameplay, raise the challenge, and overall change-up the experience from run-to-run.

TLDR

• We are investing more than ever before in our activity modifier systems.
• Activities will be updated with a library of modifiers that can change how you approach combat on every playthrough.

• Combatants will gain varied powers and buffs in order to create new gameplay threats and encourage changes in player strategy, especially for higher challenge levels:

The Problem

Today in Destiny, playing the same PvE activity repeatedly can feel like a chore—particularly when chasing a reward or following a narrative. Running through the latest Exotic mission the second, third, and fourth time just doesn’t feel fun enough to justify the time spent. Eventually you know when each enemy spawns, where to fight them, and how to win without any challenge. This is a component of Destiny 2 we want to greatly improve with Codename: Frontiers — keeping activities fresh and challenging, each time you run them.

The Solution

Improve the experience of replaying activity content by adding variety and unpredictability to each playthrough.

A First-Class Modifiers System

Destiny 2 has added modifiers to activities since the launch of the first Nightfall (who else remembers trying to wrangle Solar shield shanks in 2014 Archon Priest?). With Codename: Frontiers, we’re investing more than ever in our modifier systems to improve the fun and challenge in activities.

We are:

• Creating combatant-focused modifiers that change the way players approach combat on every playthrough: Banes, Enemy Modifiers, and Combat Modifiers.
• Designing modifiers so that they can combine to create a wide variety of experiences.
• Reduce barriers to entry and time-to-fun by reducing the number of build crafting-necessary modifiers and replacing them with new Combat Modifiers.

Banes

Also known as ‘combatant affix modifiers,’ an enemy unit with a Bane will present a different challenge to players according to which Bane is affecting them. Enemies that spawn with these modifiers appear unpredictably during an activity, so each run will present a different challenge.

Here are two of the Banes we will be releasing in Episode 2: Revenant as we start testing out this new system ahead of Codename: Frontiers:

Meteors & Shock

The Meteors Bane gives combatants the ability to launch Solar projectiles that track but can be shot down. Shock will continuously build up a charge that will discharge on a single target within line of sight, and killing a unit with this Bane causes it to spread to others nearby.

Here are sneak previews of other in-development Banes we are working on (all are still in-development and subject to change):

Berserk

Killing combatants with Berserk causes other combatants nearby to enrage.

Punchable

Punchable combatants are immune to all ranged damage and damage from status effects until they are hit with a melee attack.

Nuclear

Once a unit with the Nuclear Bane reaches low health, it begins an arming sequence. If the unit is not defeated before the sequence completes, it explodes in a massive fiery shockwave.

Enemy Modifiers

While Banes will appear intermittently on individual units, Enemy Modifiers are used to change base aspects of all enemies in an activity. Adjust your strategies to account for an active Enemy Modifier or you may end up flat-footed when something unexpected happens.

For example, under a certain Enemy Modifier shipping in Revenant, some enemies may have copied some Tricks about booby-trapping their drops from a famous Scorn Baron…

Combat Modifiers

Modifiers aren’t just about changing enemies –they can affect players too. Surge mods are a classic modifier type that’s been used for years in Destiny ritual activities, but we’ve come to realize that too many forceful build crafting modifiers can become barriers for players. So, we’ve been working to create new modifiers that are more accepting of varied strategies and builds.

More on these modifiers to come!

FAQ

What about Champions? Will they be using Banes too?

Champions still exist in our new future for modifiers, but they won’t be hosting any Banes.

Can Banes stack on an enemy?

In Revenant only one Bane can be present on an enemy at a time.

Are you replacing all the old modifiers with these new ones?

No, we’re trying to strike a balance of keeping the best of the old modifiers that work well with the new ones. But these new modifiers raise the bar enough that we will most likely start to retire the older ones over time.