The new Strand subclass in Destiny 2 has brought with it many surprises since it launched alongside Lightfall last week. One of the most unexpected of those surprises started to gain traction as more players began messing around with Strand’s grappling hook.
They subsequently discovered they could grapple onto far more physical items than just the hidden threads of the universe.
With the right projectile shot at a low enough velocity, players have discovered that they’re able to grapple onto rockets, Lumina’s Noble Rounds, and similar components from their weapon arsenals. Not only is this an amazing sandbox interaction not previously assumed to be possible prior to launch, but it opens up an entirely new way to breeze past jumping puzzles or enhance speedruns of pre-existing content.
As outlined by a tutorial created by Nodnahs on YouTube, the ability to grapple with Strand isn’t there with every rocket launcher in the game. Players will usually need a rocket launcher with a velocity stat that’s lower than 60 for consistent results, as they need a large window of opportunity to fire the rocket and then immediately grapple to it. The possibilities then evolved even further when Reddit user u/Xynopit discovered that Lumina’s Noble Rounds could be grappled onto in the exact same way yesterday.
“King’s Fall jumping puzzle is literally about to become skippable,” was the top comment left by u/Rehn8927 on one video showing off the new mechanics. While other users pointed out that jumping puzzles like it had always been skippable with the right combination of “skating” tech and the Eager Edge sword, the excitement around the rocket grapple is that it’s a significantly more accessible mode of cheesy transport than skating ever was. All it requires is Strand equipped and the right rocket launcher in your inventory.
Others were quick to worry that Bungie might end up patching out this unique mechanic to prevent future exploits, but with the continued existence of skating in its various forms, it’s tough to imagine that the devs will decide to axe the rocket grapple exclusively. Sandbox interactions like this don’t usually come through happenstance, and it’s more than likely a very intentional choice by the developers to let Strand and certain projectiles interact like this.
What will be most exciting to see is if this newfound mobility will be utilized by teams during the upcoming raid race this Friday. The Root of Nightmares raid race for world’s first completion is set to be tight, and it will be intriguing to see if certain areas of challenging traversal within it can be skipped entirely thanks to the potency of Strand’s grapple.
