The Strand is a new subclass coming in Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion that will give every Guardian a new grappling hook-like ability in place of their grenade. While this sounds great on paper, Destiny veterans know that in the current sandbox, Spider-Man-style web-slinging is just going to result in a whole lot of dead Guardians splattered on the wall.
However, Bungie is a benevolent game developer. Rather than keep the current consequences for physics mishaps, Lightfall will update them to be a little more forgiving.
"Starting in Lightfall, physics collision damage will no longer be lethal to Guardians," wrote Bungie in a new blog update. "Fall damage will still be lethal when Lightfall launches, but we plan to also make that nonlethal in a mid-Season update. You’ll still take damage from physics collisions, but it will generally leave you at 1HP instead of outright splattering you."
Physics collisions here likely mean boss stomps that send you careening into a rock. Being at one HP in a boss fight is generally a recipe for death, but having at least a sliver of health to fight with is better than being insta-gibbed.
The rest of the blog update confirms changes coming to Guardian abilities, including adjustments to supers as well as a raft of new fragments to use in building light-based subclasses. A few of them will offer new ways to heal yourself, which will surely be welcome to Guardians that are testing just how hard they can slam into walls before they kill themselves.
For example, the new Ember of Mercy fragment will provide nearby allies with Restoration whenever you revive someone. Firesprites will also grant Restoration, which will are now created courtesy of the Ember of Combustion, Ember of Tempering, and Ember of Searing fragments. Picking up a Firesprite also grants grenade energy regardless of what fragment you have equipped.
There are a bunch of other fragments that have even more interesting effects than mere healing, so check out Bungie's blog. Destiny 2: Lightfall arrives on February 28.