Destiny 2 ‘Prismatic’ Weapons Would Allow Bungie to Have its Cake and Eat it Too

Highlights

• Destiny 2 is thriving post-Final Shape expansion, with a player-focused approach driving changes in episodic storytelling.
• The potential for “Prismatic” weapons could revolutionize gameplay, enhancing build options and promoting diverse playstyles.
• Bungie may introduce multi-elemental weapons to complement Prismatic subclasses, offering new gameplay possibilities.

Destiny 2 is in a great spot right now after the smashing success of The Final Shape expansion, and Bungie can capitalize on this in many ways. Listening to player feedback is a crucial element in this process, and Bungie recently showed it can achieve this by making a big change to Destiny 2‘s episodic narrative starting with Episode 2, which will have all story missions available for each act as they release. One big change that Bungie could make is to add new “Prismatic” weapons to Destiny 2 to match the elemental mastery of Light and Darkness in the respective Prismatic subclasses.

There are a few ways Bungie can implement Prismatic weapons, with the most obvious being also the strangest and riskiest of the bunch. In fact, a full-blown Prismatic element for weapons could be quite controversial because it would either have to be its own Destiny 2 damage type in addition to the five existing ones, or it could automatically turn the damage dealt into that of the equipped Super – but both of these options have more cons than pros. However, there is a safer and more compelling way for Destiny 2 to have Prismatic weapons without them being exactly Prismatic.

Destiny 2 Already Has ‘Prismatic’ Weapons After Root of Nightmares and Salvation’s Edge

How Destiny 2’s Raid Weapons Lead The Charge For Bungie to Add ‘Prismatic’ Guns

Prismatic weapons don’t have to be exactly Prismatic, which is a good starting point for Bungie to tackle, as the only damage type that currently stands out in a way is
Kinetic in Destiny 2
, due to it not being tied to any subclass.

“Prismatic” weapons already exist in a way, with examples being Imminence from Salvation’s Edge, which is a Strand SMG that can roll Firefly to deal Solar damage on kills, and then Conditional Finality, which is a Solar and Stasis shotgun with perks tied to ignitions and shatter damage. Destiny 2 should use similar concepts for other guns regardless of their base element, and there are multiple ways to achieve that.

For starters, there could be new Destiny 2 Raid weapons or even Dungeon or episodic guns that normally deal damage that belongs to one damage category, but then their functionalities and perks can add layers to this. An example could be weapons with a sort of modified Permeability or Osmosis perk or Origin Trait, essentially changing the element of the gun when some abilities are used to create a different gameplay loop for players to explore, such as changing element with Prismatic grenades or when using a powered melee.

Destiny 2 Weapons Could Kill Two Birds With One Stone by Using Multiple Elements

Multi-Elemental Weapons in Destiny 2 Could be True ‘Prismatic’ Guns

An even more practical way to implement weapons that go hand in hand with Prismatic subclasses in Destiny 2 is to add keywords and corresponding perks of multiple elements to new weapons, regardless of their starting element. A good example could be an Arc weapon that can roll Incandescent, or maybe a Strand gun with Headstone. This matches the current concept for Firefly on Imminence, and it can open up a lot of buildcrafting venues for Guardians to toy with.

It’s worth noting that Firefly does deal Solar damage with its explosions after scoring kills, but it’s not tied to any existing Solar keywords, like Scorch or
Ignite in Destiny 2
. As such, it only offers minor benefits to buildcrafting with Imminence’s base element being Strand.

A good reason for Bungie to delve into this sort of “Prismatic” weapons is that they could not only power up many builds, but promote more diverse use of various perks to achieve different goals, such as stunning Champions in Destiny 2 or filling the Transcendence meters for Light and Darkness faster with a single, non-Kinetic weapon. The sky is the limit with this concept, and it would allow Bungie to both make a new “element” for weapons and not have to actually add a Prismatic weapon damage type, all while boosting player choice and freedom to the next level.