Destiny 2’s Season of the Haunted had a strange meta that mainly consisted of Classy Restoration in most activities, be it PvE or PvP, as one of the best seasonal mods ever introduced for players who want their character to stay alive. Much like Seasons before it, players experimented with the various artifact mods available and filtered out the best of the bunch, using them in appropriate game modes.Season 18’s artifact mods were revealedahead of launch, with the various unlock tiers explained alongside the slot allocation for every mod that requires a specific one.
Although this has not always been the case, Bungie has been pushingbuild-crafting inDestiny 2as one of the game’s strengths, and seasonal mods are part of the equation that makes each different build shine. In the case of Season 18, Bungie added interesting items to the game that will work with Arc 3.0 builds or for general play, but one detail that stands out is the fact that most of these seasonal mods are bound to the class item slot. Like any other armor piece inDestiny 2, class items have a maximum of 10 energy and up to three slots for artifact mods in the case of Artifice Armor, but that’s nowhere near enough to use all Season 18 mods.
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Destiny 2’s Seasonal Mods Shouldn’t Only Be Tied to Class Items
Using all class item-specific seasonal mods has never been an option inDestiny 2, which makes sense because it means players have to make strategic choices on what they are willing to sacrifice along the way. However, Season 18’s artifact mod selection features a total of nine mods that are exclusive to the class item slot, meaning that at best, players will only be able to use three of them. More realistically, that number will fluctuate between one and two.
Having up to 10 energy points per-armor piece dictates the maximum total value that mods applied to that armor piece can have, meaning players will never be able to use a mod that costs seven energy and one that costs four on the same item, for example. This is part of the reason whyDestiny 2’s Season 18shouldn’t focus on the class item slot much, as it’s physically impossible to fit multiple mods in a piece of gear that is already limited.
Furthermore, because players likely don’t own an Artifice class item that grants access to a fifth slot to exclusively host artifact mods, it’s possible that many Guardians will end up using a single seasonal mod or two on the class item. Class item mods also tend to be more expensive in terms of energy, which doesn’t help. Regardless,Destiny 2’s upcoming Season likely aims to increase build variety by providing multiple valid options, especially forArc 3.0 builds.
It seems that in Season 18, the most interesting mods will all be exclusive to class items, which may have the opposite effect and create a few optimized builds that become the meta, effectivelyreducing build diversity. If nine options are available for a single slot and players can’t possibly use more than three at a time due to limitations the game imposes, only the best two or three will eventually be used. FutureDestiny 2Seasons could instead provide mods that are not bound to a single item slot, but two - this would make each choice more impactful and increase build diversity the way Bungie intends.
Destiny 2is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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