With the fifth year of Destiny 2 in full swing, players have gotten to experience one of the best campaigns the series has ever debuted. The Witch Queen expansion has impressed new and returning players alike with a complex story and new location. Alongside replayable missions and series-altering lore in The Witch Queen’s campaign, the expansion has also introduced a new raid to Destiny 2 called the Vow of the Disciple. Serving as the introduction of Rhulk, Vow of the Disciple has begun to add a more defined form to the power structure of the Darkness.
While Destiny 2 fans have been aware of the Hive hierarchy, at least since the Dark Below released for the first game, understanding the greater intricacies of Darkness agents has been minimal. The Vow of the Disciple raid begins to flesh out what’s happening behind the scenes and shows how the Hive haven’t been acting alone in their campaign of domination across the universe. While the introduction of Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness has major implications for how the Darkness operates in Destiny 2, the impact of Disciples shouldn’t be limited to just what players experience within the Vow of the Disciple raid. Instead, Disciples should become another prominent part of how Destiny 2 tells the story of the Darkness.
Vow of the Disciple Raid
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Rhulk serves as an interesting raid boss that takes a new approach to combat and phases. While close-quarters fighting in the final encounter of a raid isn’t new, the approach used for Vow of the Disciple’s raid boss has changed this dynamic. Unlike Crota, Rhulk has a greater amount of mobility, as well as ranged attacks that he can use back-to-back, forcing players to be aware of each of his movements. This creates a style that can feel hectic, but with open lines of communication the fight becomes significantly easier.
Using a similar approach for different bosses in future content is something that could benefit Destiny 2 immensely. Raid and dungeon bosses have been some of the best parts of Destiny 2 for years, both because of how challenging they can be and the unique mechanics players must overcome. Destiny 2’s next raid will likely be just as impressive as Vow of the Disciple, but that doesn’t mean the best aspects of The Witch Queen’s raid can’t be implemented elsewhere.
Taking both lore implications and unique raid mechanics from Vow of the Disciple and using them to lay the foundations of the new dungeons in Destiny 2 Year 5 could help these experiences feel better than their predecessors. Most of the dungeons added to Destiny 2 before The Witch Queen expansion have already been important pieces of lore. The Shattered Throne, Pit of Heresy, and Prophecy dungeons have all built on the story of Destiny 2 in significant ways. Year 5 dungeons have an opportunity to do the same by incorporating enemies like new Disciples as their bosses, adding to the knowledge that players have about the Darkness and Witness.
New Destiny 2 Dungeons Lore
This will become even more important as Season of the Risen and the rest of Year 5 plays out. While not a major part of The Witch Queen’s campaign, both the Witness and its Disciple Rhulk have become significant in Destiny 2’s lore. Their actions could be viewed as single-handedly responsible for the creation of the Hive, and the ripple effects of their presence in the universe have had drastic impacts on the Sol System and its inhabitants.
Using future dungeons to build on their lore would help players understand just how terrifying enemies like the Witness can be. It would also show that Rhulk wasn’t alone in his status. Despite Rhulk’s full title being Disciple of the Witness, it doesn’t seem likely that a billions-year-old enemy would only have one Disciple. The more realistic possibility seems to be that each pyramid ship Destiny 2 players have become so familiar with is helmed by a Disciple. This might seem unlikely, as Destiny 2 players have already been aboard two other pyramid ships outside of Savathun's mind-bending throne world without encountering anyone, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there.
Until the defeat of Rhulk, it may have been the case that there was no reason for the Disciples aboard the pyramid ships on the Moon and Europa to engage Guardians. Instead, they may have been tasked with watching and influencing the player, and in the case of Europa’s pyramid, actively pushing the Guardian toward powers the Darkness has to offer. This would make sense given what players learned about the Darkness trying to corrupt the Traveler’s chosen in Destiny 2 during the campaign for The Witch Queen.
It also leaves the door open for major content leading up to the Lightfall expansion and Year 6. If two other Darkness pyramids are used as dungeons in Year 5, they’ll be able to build on everything leading up to their release. They can pull on the Witness’s lore more and help provide a different perspective about the character and its relation to the Darkness. Who the Witness is has been a hot topic among Destiny 2 players ever since the character debuted during The Witch Queen’s campaign. Fleshing out its backstory is inevitable, but doing so through meaningful activities and gameplay would play to Destiny 2’s strengths.
There are other options when it comes to dungeons and Disciples. It seems likely that Eramis could be a Disciple in Destiny 2’s future, and there’s no reason the dungeons added in Year 5 need to build on the Witness and its Disciples. There are still a lot of different parts of Destiny 2’s lore that could be explored through dungeons, and the greater threat of the Darkness may be left to campaigns and raids so new dungeons can explore other diverse options.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
