Bungie seems to have 'accidentally' leaked a glimpse at Destiny 2's next subclass

I don't normally cover Destiny 2 leaks, but the timing of the latest one is so suspicious that I think it's worth a look. Yesterday, a redditor posted a short video to r/Destiny2Leaks that showed a guardian beaming into the H.E.L.M. social space. What's remarkable about the clip is that at the two-second mark we see a few frames of UI that show a completely new super icon. The UI also uses a red colourway not currently found in the game, leading pretty much anyone who watched it to speculate that this might be a glimpse of the game's next subclass. 

The original poster claimed to have been sent the clip by a friend (lol, lmao) and has since deleted both their account and the video. You can still watch it for yourself here:

Now, very obviously, this could all be the work of a spoofer with above average Adobe Premiere skills. But Destiny 2 is no stranger to substantial leaks, and there are few other reasons to think it might be the real thing.

1: Almost exactly the same thing happened last year

The timing is eerily similar to a leak from August 2022 that also revealed a new subclass. A clip appeared online—again, apparently from a dev build—that showed green UI elements and three melee charges, neither of which existed in-game at the time. Players speculated that this must be the next Darkness subclass, and that it would be themed around poison. They were correct on the first count, and what eventually became the Strand subclass did have three melee charges on Titan and Warlock.

2: We're about to get new info on the next expansion

Bungie is hosting a Destiny 2 livestream showcase on August 22 at which it will reveal more details about next year's The Final Shape expansion, which is set to tie up the Light and Dark saga that has been running for almost 10 years. The game currently features three Light subclasses (Solar, Arc and Void) and two Dark ones (Stasis and Strand). The expectation has always been that a third Darkness class would arrive at some point, partly for reasons of symmetry, but also because having a new toybox is a good way to sell an expansion. Speaking of which…

3: It would suit Bungie to change the subject

The community is currently in one of its particularly febrile states of disgruntlement. (As a colleague of mine noted earlier: "When isn't it?") Complaints about greedy microtransactions, the seasonal model getting stale, PVP players feeling abandoned, and Lightfall dropping the narrative ball have coalesced into a kind of superstorm of complaints. Given that backdrop, it's perhaps not too cynical to think that it might suit Bungie to give everyone something more fun to talk about, and a brand new subclass is just that. 

All that in mind, I'm willing to at least give this enough credence to say the leak could be real, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was some sort of guerilla marketing psy-op. If you're interested in pure speculation, I also wouldn't be surprised if Bungie announces that The Final Shape will be coming out a little later than expected. Given the extensive travails of Lightfall, which released late February last year, I think the studio will want to do everything it can to stick the landing of its grand finale, which may mean taking some extra development time. Again, just my prediction, but remember where you heard it first.

Elsewhere in Destiny 2, the seasonal Solstice event went live last week, and given the overall mood music around the game I don't get the sense it's going to be a roaring success. More positively, the latest patch, which also dropped this week, came with a whopping 67% damage buff for Graviton Lance against minor enemies. This OG exotic pulse rifle now turns waves of enemies into fizzing purple mist like an elephant at a grape-stomping session. I've been running it with Nezarec's Sin on Warlock and Gyrfalcon's Hauberk on Hunter. That's Destiny 2 for you: However bad everything else gets, those guns still feel sensational.