New Destiny 2 subclass seemingly leaked ahead of Lightfall showcase

Destiny 2
(Image credit: Bungie)

A now-deleted ArtStation post may have leaked a new subclass coming to Destiny 2 Lightfall, but the whole thing is more than a little suspect.

Twitter sleuth DestinyTwoLeaks flagged the short video last night, and the ArtStation post itself was pulled shortly after the Destiny 2 player base latched onto it. It's said to have been posted by a Bungie employee, but since the page was deleted in the middle of the night and only the video has been archived, we can't confirm the identity of the alleged artist. 

The video was purportedly meant to showcase one of the finisher animations released in the ongoing Season of the Haunted, but its opening seconds show a conspicuous new subclass HUD with green abilities. The actual ability icons are just recolored versions of the Solar Firebolt grenade and the Stasis Shiver Strike melee (now with extra charges), but the Super icon seems brand-new.

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It's been nearly two years since the release of Destiny 2's fourth subclass, Stasis, in the Beyond Light expansion, so it wouldn't be strange for Lightfall to add another subclass to the game in early 2023. And with Bungie's August 23 showcase fast approaching with Lightfall in tow, we could see such a subclass officially announced later this month.

That being said, this so-called leak is fairly shaky. The fact that the related ArtStation post has been pulled has been interpreted as proof of its legitimacy, but it's also possible that Bungie simply didn't want to spread misinformation sparked by out-of-date art. It would be quite strange for traces of a new subclass to be included in an animation reel for a nearly three-month-old finisher. The fact that the HUD is green also fits a little too well with the old and unconfirmed theory that the next subclass, allegedly titled Vapor, will be poison-themed – a theory even DestinyTwoLeaks has debunked

Assuming the whole thing is even legitimate, the HUD elements used in this post are almost certainly placeholder assets, meaning this leak tells us absolutely nothing about how Destiny 2's next subclass might play or, really, what it is. At most, it's evidence that a fifth subclass is on the way in some capacity. Of course, that hasn't stopped players from wildly speculating about what it might be. For now, all we can do is add a new square to the bingo card for August 23.  

In the realm of official additions to Destiny 2, a new PvP mode was just announced and it sounds like extreme deathmatch

Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.