Now that Destiny 2 made all mods available for free to all players, newcomers can rest assured that Lightfall will make buildcrafting much more accessible to them than it ever was. On top of that, the many changes to longstanding Destiny 2 systems, such as Champions, can likely make a huge difference in terms of build diversity in endgame content. Among them is the fact that players will now have several built-in counters to Champions coming with their elemental subclasses, and if these changes apply to each element as a whole, then it’s likely that a single fusion rifle will be the single best anti-Champion weapon in the entire game.
RELATED: Destiny 2’s Strand Subclass Change Is an Ill Omen for Hunters
Destiny 2’s Champion Counters Could Make The Riptide Fusion Rifle a Monster in Lightfall
In its current iteration, Stasis is likely the most balanced element in Destiny 2 due to how many tweaks it underwent since its inception, but it still finds a few occasions where it can shine the brightest. An example is that Stasis can chain-freeze Barrier Champions in endgame activities, completely negating their ability to create a shield around them, thus offering players a chance to burst them down with ease. This matters simply because of the many restrictions to one’s loadout when players want to be able to deal with all Champion types.
The new Lightfall changes allow Stasis to stun Overload Champions by slowing them and Unstoppable Champions by freezing and then shattering them. What this means is that abilities like the Hunter’s Withering Blades can easily stun Overload Champions, whereas the Warlock’s Coldsnap Grenade turret build allows for easy work of Unstoppable Champions as they are frozen and shattered repeatedly. Unless Bungie made these changes exclusive to Destiny 2’s Light 3.0 and Stasis subclasses, then it’s quite likely that the Riptide fusion rifle will become a meta option for dealing with Champions.
This is because Riptide is a Stasis Rapid-Fire Frame fusion rifle that can roll with the perk Chill Clip, which applies multiple stacks of slow at once on enemies hit while the magazine is half full, and a second shot of Chill Clip on the same target freezes it. As such, Destiny 2 players could use Chill Clip to chain-freeze Barrier Champions, stun Overload Champions with one shot, and stun Unstoppable Champions with two quick shots, effectively countering all three Champion types with one weapon. This would likely break the game’s meta, however, and Bungie has to be careful with the way the Lightfall Champion counters are implemented.
Since Destiny 2’s mod overhaul also implies that seasonal mods will apply passively to the players’ characters without requiring mod energy to be slotted, any anti-Champion pick will likely be more impactful than ever already. However, with Champion counters built into the game’s elements, the Riptide fusion rifle could simply overshadow any other option. Even if Bungie made changes to Barrier Champions and how frequently they can be frozen, players could find ways to use Destiny 2’s Solar 3.0 to become Radiant, effectively stunning these shielded foes with one Riptide shot anyway. Overall, this fusion rifle shows a lot of promise for the time being, but it remains to be seen how effective it will be come Lightfall.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: Destiny 2 Nerfing Popular Titan Exotic and Storm Grenades
