Bungie’s Stasis Subclass: A Case of Neglected Potential
Hot off the press from Forbes, we’ve got some fresh news for all you gaming enthusiasts out there. Bungie, the renowned game developer, has just taken the covers off its exciting new assortment of Artifact mods for the upcoming season. Keeping the ball rolling from the past year’s progress, they persist in stoking the fire of gamers’ enthusiasm by presenting a wealth of opportunities to tailor their builds.
Key Points
Bungie has introduced new Artifact mods for the season but is seemingly ignoring the Stasis subclass.
It’s been nine months since Stasis had significant presence in the seasonal mod list.
Stasis is the only subclass that can’t generate its elemental material without using an Aspect.
Stasis was heavily nerfed for PvP, affecting its performance in PvE and reducing its usage rate.
Stasis still only has one super per class after three years.
The most notable recent additions to Stasis are a few exotics.
Stasis is tied to Beyond Light, a three-year-old expansion, which may explain its neglect.
The new elemental orb mechanic introduces Solar, Arc, and Void balls that you can hurl to induce damaging effects. In addition, Strand offers a multitude of Tangle-related items, opening up a broad spectrum of possibilities. Seemingly, there’s something for everyone. But is there?
Related, How to complete The Stasis Prototype and get Salvation Grip?
Peculiar Case of Bungie’s Stasis
Bungie’s apparent disregard for Stasis, its original frozen Darkness subclass that launched with Beyond Light in 2020, is becoming increasingly odd. This isn’t a recent development either.
With the release of these new Artifact mods, it’s been nine months since we’ve seen any substantial Stasis presence in the seasonal mod list. For context, this list often dictates the most-used subclasses for that season. The last time Stasis featured was during the Season of the Seraph in December 2022.
Stasis remains the only subclass where players cannot innately generate its elemental material – shards – without the use of an Aspect. Initially, this subclass was heavily nerfed to align it with PvP standards. However, PvE too bore the brunt of these changes. Consequently, Stasis has lagged behind the Light 3.0 subclasses and Strand in terms of power, relevance, and overall usage rate, with a few exceptions.
Three years post-launch, Stasis still only boasts one super per class, while the Light subclasses have two. Strand, two years newer, also has one.
The Potential of Stasis: Underutilized and Overlooked?
Developers have recently added a few exotics to Stasis, including Winterbite, Verglas Curve, and Wicked Implement, which they will buff soon. The only Stasis exotic armor change of any real significance expected next season is the rollback of the nerf to Duskfield’s cooldown on Renewal Grasps.
The apparent sidelining of Stasis seems to stem from its attachment to a single, three-year-old expansion that’s either available for a nominal fee or bundled with others. Bungie’s focus appears to be on the Light 3.0 subclasses, accessible to the game’s entire population, and Strand, which has received Artifact mods, new Aspects, and buffs every season since its release, to continue to promote the recently launched Lightfall.
The solution seems clear: Make. Stasis. Free. It’s been three years, and while Bungie has simplified the process to unlock Stasis, ownership of Beyond Light is still a prerequisite.
We can understand the decision to tie the launch of a new subclass to an expansion launch. However, in Strand’s case, this integration was so deep that it detrimental to the narrative.
After 2-3 years, the authorities should make subclasses free to prevent population splintering and situations like the current one, where people are overlooking Stasis due to low usage rates. This primarily happens because they tie it to a three-year-old expansion and seldom buff it, and secondarily because Strand is so new.
Stasis, despite its current shortcomings, is a superb subclass! It’s potentially very enjoyable! It’s just that it has significantly lagged behind the current sandbox for the most part and requires major changes, or at the very least, Artifact mods to enhance it for at least a season. Unfortunately, neither seems to be in the pipeline, and that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon.
FAQs
Bungie has included a new elemental orb mechanic in their new Artifact mods, where you can toss Solar, Arc, and Void balls to apply damaging effects. Strand also has several Tangle-related items on the list.
Bungie launched Stasis, the original frozen Darkness subclass, with Beyond Light back in 2020. However, they have largely ignored it in the seasonal mod list for the past nine months.
Stasis only has one super per class after three years, while Light subclasses all have two. Strand, which is two years newer, also has one super.
In Stasis, the only subclass, you cannot intrinsically generate its elemental material, shards, without using an Aspect.
The developers heavily nerfed Stasis for PvP, which also negatively affected its performance in PvE. As a result, its power, relevance, and overall usage rate have fallen behind the Light 3.0 subclasses and Strand.
Stasis only has one super per class after three years, while Light subclasses all have two. Strand, which is two years newer, also has one super.
The developers have recently added a few notable exotics to Stasis, including Winterbite, Verglas Curve, and Wicked Implement, which they plan to buff this season.
The only significant upcoming change for the Stasis subclass is the reversal of Duskfield’s cooldown nerf on Renewal Grasps.
Our Opinion
We suggest that the apparent neglect of Stasis could be due to its association with a three-year-old expansion, Beyond Light. It seems that Bungie is shifting their focus more towards the universally accessible Light 3.0 subclasses and the newer Strand.
We recommend making Stasis free as a measure to avoid population fragmentation and low usage rates. Considering it’s been three years since its introduction and it still requires ownership of Beyond Light to access, this seems like a sensible step.
We believe that Stasis is a strong and potentially enjoyable subclass that, unfortunately, has fallen behind due to lack of meaningful updates or enhancements.