Titans Got Punched Again: How Lightfall's Strand Stranded the Punchy Bois

Destiny 2 Lightfall's new Strand subclass electrifies gameplay with unique debuffs and powers for Warlock, Hunter, and Titan builds.

The year was 2023, and the Destiny 2 community was buzzing with anticipation for Lightfall, the penultimate chapter of the Light and Darkness Saga. Bungie, in its typical flair for the dramatic, pulled back the curtain on Strand – the new Darkness subclass promising to weave chaos into every corner of the battlefield. Trailers dripped with neon threads, developers whispered about “actions per minute,” and Warlocks and Hunters got shiny new toys. Titans, however, got… well, more punching. And not the creative kind, either.

Before we dive into the crayon-eating elephant in the room, let’s give Strand its due. The subclass introduced a wardrobe of debuffs that would make even a Voidwalker blush. Suspend hoists enemies into the air like naughty marionettes, leaving them dangling helplessly. Unravel causes foes to cough up explosive threads whenever they take a hit, a lot like Volatile but with more cosmic lint. Sever actually makes enemies hit like wet noodles, reducing their damage output. And then there are Tangles – physics-defying wads of Strand matter that spawn from Unraveled victims. These things are the spiritual successor to Warmind Cells, but with a grapple-friendly twist. You can shoot them, throw them, or grapple onto them mid-flight, turning the arena into a Spider-Man fever dream. Bungie’s design lead Kevin Yanes called it a symphony of “actions per minute,” and feature lead Eric Smith painted a glorious picture: unravel a foe, spawn a Tangle, grapple onto it, hurl it at a group, grapple onto it again, and surf the explosion like a cat riding a Roomba. It sounds incredible.

For Warlocks and Hunters, the fantasy actually delivers. Warlocks become Broodweavers – necromancers of a sort, birthing skittering little Threadlings that scamper toward enemies and detonate like spiteful popcorn. Their Arcane Needle melee unravels multiple targets at range, and the Needlestorm Super blankets an area in spikes that then weave themselves into a whole entourage of Threadlings. It's a minion-mancer’s dream come true, a real “my monstrosities will handle this” vibe. Hunters, meanwhile, tap into their inner acrobat with Threadrunner. The Threaded Spike melee is a rope dart that ricochets between foes, and if timed right, catching it mid-air grants extra energy. Why? Who knows, but it feels cool. Their Silkstrike Super lets them zip around like a caffeinated squirrel, swinging a massive dart for devastating chain attacks or a sweeping area-of-effect spin. Finally, Hunters get the agile free-running identity they have craved since the Tower's laundry day gossip in 2014.

Then we reach the Titan subclass: Berserker. Bungie describes them as “hulking masses of untamed power.” They get Frenzied Blade, a multi-charge melee that dashes at enemies with dual Strand swords. They can destroy Tangles to gain Woven Mail, an overshield that makes them as tanky as a Panzer. Their Super, Bladefury, sends them on a rampage with fist-mounted blades, cleaving through hordes like a blender on legs. On paper, it's the ultimate aggressive fantasy. The problem? It’s also exactly what Titans have been doing for nearly a decade.

Let’s run a quick tally. Stasis Behemoth? Punch things while making ice. Arc Striker? Punch things while making electricity. Solar Sunbreaker? Throw hammers, but let’s be honest, the close-range variant involves a lot of punching. Void Sentinel? Punch things while wearing an overshield, which is basically Strand’s Woven Mail with a different coat of paint. Among all eight Titan subclasses (counting Stasis and Strand), all but two feature a roaming Super where you run around and throw your fists like a bartender ejecting rowdy customers. Even the Strand design lead, Yanes, seemed to struggle with the uniqueness pitch. In an interview with GameRadar, he argued that Frenzied Blade provides survivability tools and a bit of range, but then dropped the line that set Titan Twitter ablaze: “But yeah, Titan mains, we love you. We do. But remember that we try to reinforce core fantasy. And at some point, your guy’s holding the fist on the cover of the game.”

Oof. That’s like telling a chef that their core fantasy is chopping onions and then handing them yet another knife. Yanes promised that Strand would evolve, that the “wild untamable force” within the Berserker would eventually manifest. But compared to the out-of-the-box innovation Warlocks and Hunters received, it's hard not to feel like Titans are getting the short end of the stick. Or the short end of the fist.

Fast-forward to 2026, and we have three years of hindsight. Did Strand evolve? Absolutely – the grapple meta gave birth to some absurd mobility plays, and Tangles became a staple in chaotic add-clear. But the Titan identity remains stubbornly unchanged. Warlocks are still their own animal shelter, and Hunters dance through the air like ballet-trained ninjas. Meanwhile, Titans continue to punch, kick, headbutt, and occasionally slice, with the same “run in and break things” philosophy that has defined the class since the very first Ghost revival. Some Titans have embraced the crayon gourmet lifestyle, content to be the living battering ram. Others, however, look at the cover art, see their Titan holding a fist, and whisper, “I’m more than that.” They deserve more than a recycled Super with green particle effects. They deserve a dream that isn't just another fistfight.

Maybe the final chapter of the saga will deliver. Or maybe Titans will enter the next war and still be the designated punchers. Either way, one thing remains true: the heart of a Titan is strong, even if Bungie’s imagination sometimes isn’t.