I wasn’t sold on the idea of Bungie adding glaives to Destiny 2. Something about the initial pitch seemed out of place in a game like Destiny 2. But now, after playing many, many hours of Witch Queen, I’m happy to report that past Zack was an idiot. Glaives are awesome.
Destiny 2’s latest expansion, The Witch Queen, is very good. Others here and around the internet have already said as much. So I won’t spend too much time repeating them or myself. But yeah, the new narrative campaign is great, paying off story threads from years ago. Yet, Witch Queen also adds new twists and wrinkles to the (admittedly far too complex at times) universe of Destiny. All of that, plus the amazing-looking new zone added in the expansion — Savathun’s own throne world — really are great. It’s easily my favourite Destiny expansion in years.
However, I want to talk about perhaps the best little thing added in Witch Queen: Glaives.
Glaives in Destiny 2 are sort of a weird combination of fusion rifle, sword, shield, and spear. You can shoot energy blasts at enemies using your glaive, block damage using the weapons shield or beat the shit out of anyone in your way using its fast and responsive melee attacks. And unlike swords in Destiny, which zoom the camera out into a third-person perspective when equipped, when using glaives you remain in the first-person view the whole time. It makes these feel new melee/energy hybrid space sticks feel more like a natural part of your combat flow.
That’s a lot of words mostly explaining what glaives are and not why I love them so much.
The thing about these new spear-like weapons is they provide a fit a nice hole in Destiny 2′s combat sandbox. Sometimes, especially when fighting the Hive, you’ll be placed in situations where you are getting attacked from far, medium and close range by melee and ranged baddies. The glaive offers a nice solution to all of these problems. The melee attacks can easily kill weak thralls and other less-powerful enemies in seconds, while the energy blast can pick off annoying enemies from a distance. And the shield gives you a way to escape or block damage from annoying snipers who might be just out of range of the glaive.
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Sure, I know that experts and min/max obsessed Destiny 2 fans will probably point out some tweaks and nerfs Bungie has applied to glaives since Witch Queen launched. And they might also point out how, actually, this special weapon is more effective or does it better for crowd control or whatever.
And to them I say: That’s cool.
I’m going to have fun beating the shit out of Fallen and Hive with my magical space stick, smiling and laughing the whole time.
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