With The Witch Queen, Bungie started focusing more and more on build-crafting, which is intended as the ability that Destiny 2 players have to make their own loadouts by combining all the various Exotics, Aspects, Fragments, and other elements into a specific playstyle. This is not an entirely new concept for Destiny 2, but it was never a key part of the experience before the introduction of Stasis, which changed everything thanks to its revolutionary approach to class identity. Alongside Beyond Light, Bungie added Stasis as the first Darkness subclass, and it came with the Aspects and Fragments system that later inspired the framework of the newly updated Light subclasses.
Starting with Void 3.0, Bungie remodeled the experience and the tools all the Light subclasses had to offer based on the same system Stasis used, eventually improving on those foundations to make something even better. Void, Solar, and Arc subclasses all managed to add something new to the game, which was previously all over the place due to predetermined skill trees, and that freedom made the Light subclasses the best they've ever been. Destiny 2's meta is mercurial by definition, as many things are rebalanced between Seasons or with major expansions, but all the recent buffs to Light subclasses may have made Stasis a subpar option.
Why Destiny 2's New 3.0 Subclasses May Be Better Than Stasis
Despite the fact that Destiny 2's Year 5 made all three Light subclasses substantially better via the Void, Solar, and Arc 3.0 updates, which were meant to bring these elements on par with Stasis in terms of versatility and build-crafting potential, they have likely surpassed Stasis in every possible way. Stasis was formerly the go-to element for crowd control and ADD-clearing, but these are now aspects of every 3.0 subclass to a degree, which makes Stasis inherently obsolete due to it not having its own niche besides freezing and slowing targets. This is something that made Stasis unequivocally stronger than anything else on release, especially in PvP, but it's the part of the class' identity that eventually subsided.
In PvE, Destiny 2's Stasis went from being the top pick for almost any piece of content to being a niche one, and that's mostly due to some underlying problems that were present from the get-go. With fewer options in terms of available Supers, as Stasis is limited to one Super per class compared to two or more for every Light element, and some now outdated mechanics or perks, the Darkness subclass sees less and less use as time goes on. Not only that, but two out of three Stasis Supers are roaming abilities, meaning that they are mostly underperforming in all PvE activities due to reducing DPS overall.
While this is not always true, with Behemoth Titans being a great example due to the weird interactions between shattering Stasis crystals and Ward of Dawn or the Void bubble from the Edge of Action Exotic glaive, roaming Supers tend to be outperformed by instant-cast ones. Stasis' gameplay loop often depends on generating a good amount of Stasis shards to keep up buffs and ability rotations, but this is not always feasible, and it's something that the Headstone perk helped immensely with. However, Destiny 2's new weapon perks are now even better than Headstone ever was in terms of synergy with Light subclasses, making Stasis all the more behind the times.
Lightfall will introduce Strand, and it's likely that it will be the new shiny thing to chase for many players, further leaving Stasis behind in an ever-changing environment. It's evident that Bungie spent a lot of time and resources on rebalancing all the Light subclasses in Destiny 2, and with Strand on the horizon, it's likely that the same process will be difficult to repeat, especially if the company intends on adding another Darkness subclass with The Final Shape. As such, it doesn't seem a concrete possibility that Stasis will get another pass shortly, but it would be interesting to see what Bungie could do to polish it once more.
Destiny 2 is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
