“Stasis glaive with Chill Clip” has been a common chant for parts of the Destiny 2 community since the release of The Witch Queen, but the Traveler may have answered their prayers—at least to a degree.
The Lightfall weapons trailer released today introduced fans to the Winterbite Exotic glaive, the first Stasis-aligned glaive in the game, which will launch alongside the expansion on Feb. 28.
The Witch Queen introduced the new glaive weapon type, which blends shield and damage capacities. Throughout the expansion, all three Light-based elements got an Exotic version at launch and Legendary variants as seasons went by, but Stasis didn’t get the same treatment. Stasis slowly phased into different weapon categories after Beyond Light. It also gradually received unique perks such as Headstone and Chill Clip, which lean into the class’ verbs.
Winterbite doesn’t boast Headstone or Chill Clip, based on the trailer, but its unique Exotic perk can easily make up for not having them. It “freezes enemies on impact with frost orbs, leaving them vulnerable to follow-up attack,” based on the press release. Seeing how other Exotic glaives function, though, players may need to charge up their shield and consume shield energy to use that perk—which may not be much of a sacrifice.
Winterbite could provide some extra synergy for Stasis builds. While players have a slew of choices for Stasis Legendaries, Stasis boasts only three Exotics—Cryosthesia 77K, Ager’s Scepter, and the easily forgotten Salvation’s Grip. Even if you’re not running Stasis, though, Winterbite offers some great crowd control by freezing enemies, similar to a souped-up Chill Clip. It can be excellent for area control, even if you’re not running a Stasis subclass. With Strand’s crowd-control potential on the horizon, players can also blend the two for unique results.
The addition of Winterbite might also signal a possible addition of more Legendary variants in the future. While Bungie started slowly phasing in glaives with different elements, depending on what takes place in Lightfall, guardians might end up seeing Legendary versions of Winterbite if Bungie thinks it would benefit the game. Winterbite is bound to set a precedent for glaives in the Kinetic slot (since all glaives so far have taken the place of other Energy weapons), which could also be a test run for the future.
Winterbite and Lightfall release on Feb. 28, though it’s still unclear how players can get their hands on the weapon. Until then, though, they can take solace in the fact that a Stasis Glaive has been confirmed—even if guardians will have to sacrifice their Exotic slot to use it.
