Well of Radiance needs a nerf in Destiny 2. There, I said it. I know that’s probably an unpopular sentiment — Warlocks have so little, Well is such a fundamental ability, and so on. But that’s just it. As it is, Well of Radiance is so good that it warps the Destiny 2 PVE meta around it. Something’s gotta give.
Warlock Supers generally are in kind of an awkward spot in Destiny 2 right now. Part of the problem is that a lot of roaming Supers just aren’t that useful in PVE thanks to how overpowered most Guardians are after 3.0 subclass updates and with weaponry that can tear apart rooms of enemies as quick as or quicker than, say, a Nova Warp or a Stormtrance. Additionally, burst single-target Supers like Nova Bomb and Chaos Reach are usually less effective than just concentrated weapon fire against bosses. That means that Warlocks are, more often than not, railroaded into using Well of Radiance in PVE activities.
Don’t get me wrong — I like Well, but we’re basically back where we were when I started playing Destiny 2 during Season of Opulence in terms of its usage. At least Warlocks aren’t locked into Lunafaction Boots anymore, but Well of Radiance is still, in most Raids and high-level PVE activities, the obvious best choice for the class. What’s worse is that the dominance of Well as an ability that provides both defensive and offensive capabilities affects fireteam composition — there’s no reason for, say, a Titan to run Ward of Dawn if there are Warlocks in the party.
So how should Bungie approach adjusting Well of Radiance in Destiny 2? One possible nerf for it would be to remove the damage buff, perhaps replacing it with a buff to ability regeneration or something similar. That would allow Well to maintain its identity as a beacon of survivability while also encouraging Titans to run Ward of Dawn to get a damage boost against raid bosses. It would also give Radiant a little more room to shine, which Dawnblade Warlocks can proc for their team with their ranged melee ability.
I don’t think just making Well worse would fix Warlocks in Destiny 2 PVE, though. Warlocks need more Super options for taking out bosses. One change that could alter the Warlock Super balance would be to give Warlocks a Celestial Nighthawk-style Exotic that turned Chaos Reach into a quick single blast with high damage. That would make Chaos Reach a more attractive option as a Super, as well as give Warlocks a burst damage option for Raid bosses. Another possibility, and one that would restore Vortex Nova Bomb’s identity now that Arc Hunters essentially have a better version of it, would be to have the vortex create a Divinity-like crit spot and debuff on targets.
There are a number of ways that Bungie could approach this, but regardless of the specifics, I really believe that Well of Radiance needs a considerable rework in Destiny 2 to reduce its dominance in the meta. I say this not as a “high-skill” player, but as a maybe slightly-above average one who mains Warlock and would just like to have a few more decisions to make in Raids and Nightfalls than to cast Well first or second.
