At the Destiny 2 reveal event we saw quite a lot of screen time from on the new Super abilities from new subclasses. These subclasses were revealed quite a while ago when some Destiny 2 images leaked, showing some characters with sword, shield, and a staff. We know now that these images were actually of these new Super abilities, though they aren’t new subclasses.
The first new Super and subclass is Dawnblade. This is a Solar Super that gives Guardians a huge Solar sword that works mostly like the swords in Destiny. However, this sword also throws flame at enemies when swung in their general direction. The full skill tree for this revamped subclass includes Solar Grenades, Firebolt Grenades, and Fusion Grenades, as well as some other abilities such as healing rift, healing those around you, and Empowering Rift, a wall of Light that increases the power of those inside of it.
The second new Super is for Titans, the Sentinel subclass. The Sentinel is a Void subclass This new subclass turns Guardians into a space version of Captain America. Titans will get a shield that they can use to smash enemies out of the way, defend themselves, or throw at enemies in order to take them down. The shield will bounce off of enemies as it hits them, meaning you could throw it into a group of three and end up taking all of them down if you really wanted to.
The final new subclass is the Arcstrider for Hunters. Of course the Arcstrider is an Arc based subclass, but with the Super it’s so much more than that. The Super gives Hunters a big old Arc staff with which they can smash enemies and do all sorts of awesome attack moves over and around with, taking out enemies with incredible efficiency. There’s an AOE effect that sees you spin the staff around against all enemies, and there’s some kind of attack that sees Hunters come down from a height to deal big damage too.
With new subclasses come new dynamics between fireteams. Of course the ideal fireteam would be one of each major class with complementary subclasses in order to take enemies down in the most efficient way possible. Dawnblades definitely seem like more of a supporting subclass, with abilities that play on helping out allies with healing and empowering. The Arcstrider appears to be more of a close combat specialist, and classically they’ve always trodden the line between supportive and offensive roles in the fireteam. The Sentinel Titan definitely seems like more of an offensive subclass, especially with that shield that can be used for both close and long range combat. However these subclasses play out in the game we now at least know what they are and what elemental power they all use.
What this doesn’t answer is the question over whether there’s a new elemental power in the game, one that Guardians will gain access to as part of the second half of the game’s content. The main element that springs to mind is air, though how this would be represented in Destiny 2 in both weapons and subclasses is a different story altogether.