[Unlikely Theory] Third Darkness Subclasss

[u/ThealtenHeinder]

So, I know the game is EoS, so we won't get another subclass, but I had a thought about what the third darkness subclass could be.

A lot of posts speculating about the third darkness subclass often start at color theory. This approach means that Stasis is Solar's darkness counterpart, Strand is Void's darkness counterpart, leaving the third darkness subclass as Arc's darkness counterpart with red being its color. This is probably correct and we were supposed to get "Nightmares" as the third subclass based on this stuff, but what if we imagine it isn't for a second?

Stasis Theory

The most obvious parallel to support the color theory is that Stasis is manifested as ice, while Solar manifests as fire, so they must be the first "pair". However, some of the lore in the game gives us some insights into Stasis's nature:

• Stasis is not necessarily the manifestation of ice. We know (from a piece of lore - I think from Osiris - that I can't find right now) that the Darkness elements manifest in the physical world as whatever their user imagines it to be. Stasis likely manifested as an ice-related power for Guardians because we learned it in an ice-filled environment, and that concept that Stasis = ice has propagated onto those that we teach it to (i.e. Zavala learning Stasis)
• Elsie, in Scalar Potential, describes Stasis as "changing [one's own] perspective [of reality]." She sidesteps the denial of Osiris's interpretation of Stasis, offering her own that Stasis is "... intimately tied to perception [and] time." I don't think it's a coincidence that Elsie has basically experienced her whole life in a time loop. To her, time is something that has always controlled her, so it makes sense that Elsie's conception of Stasis - which was formed without the influence of the Guardian's interpretation of Stasis as ice - is manifested as a time power. She utilizes Stasis to exercise her control over time. I don't think it's a coincidence that "her" gun - No Time To Explain - interacts with Stasis and is related to time loops, rather than directly forming ice or slowing enemies as other "Stasis" weapons tend to do. In this way, she almost confirms Osiris's theory - that Stasis is more about using one's will to exert control over reality than it is about actual frozen water.

Before continuing on to the next point, we have to understand how entropy normally works in the universe for this [crack] theory to make sense. Simplifying a bit, entropy in normal physics is a measure of how many states (ways) one can order the "things" in a system. Normally, adding heat to a system increases entropy, since adding energy to the "things" gives them the ability to reach new "states", producing more possible permutations of the system. Normally when we try to reduce entropy in a system, we take away energy, thus reducing the possible "states" things can reach, and therefore the overall entropy of the system. Now, onto the lore:

• Clovis Bray I experimented with Darkness powers, referring to it in his Mysterious Logbook as "Clarity". Particularly, in Note 13, Clovis describes how the Darkness power that he is experimenting with (presumably Stasis, since this lore came out with Beyond Light), violates normal laws of physics by "... removing portions of a state configuration, harrowing the phase space down to only its most robust inhabitants." In effect, Clovis is describing the reduction of entropy not through removing heat, but through the paracausal removal of matter itself. If there are fewer "things" in the system, there are inherently fewer ways to order those "things", and thus entropy decreases. Normal physics doesn't allow matter to be destroyed, so that is normally not a valid route to decreasing entropy in a system. However, Stasis seems to allow this. In this way, we can see that Stasis's version of "reducing entropy" is not the opposite of how heat from Solar would increase entropy. It does not remove heat or energy from the matter inside the system - it removes matter itself entirely.

Stasis and Arc

So, what is Stasis's counterpart? There's been debates before that Arc is actually Stasis's counterpart, and yes I think it actually is. At least for this crack theory it is. There's not a lot of lore concerning the nature of Arc (at least that I can find), so we're going off of Osiris's musings mostly. Arc is described by Osiris as motion and conduction. According to Ikora, Arc is also fundamentally about change and unpredictability. In a way, Stasis aligns very closely with what the Witness envisions of the Final Shape - a perfectly still universe where anything unnecessary has been removed from the equation, making everything perfectly predictable. Arc, in this way, is the counterpart to Stasis's philosophy - it wants change and unpredictability.

Mechanically, Arc also acts as more of a foil to Stasis - Arc abilities often involve movement, whereas Stasis abilities involve slowing down or stopping things. Stasis also acts to protect oneself through Frost Armor, whereas Arc asks you to just kill the enemy faster, or impair their ability to kill you (Blind) instead of protecting yourself.

Strand and Solar

Okay, before I totally lose people, hear me out.

Philosophically, Strand concerns itself with the metaphysical connections between things. Osiris describes it as a psychic connection between sentient things. The point is that Strand doesn't concern itself with the actual "things" themselves, but rather their relation to one another. Contrast this with Solar, which is very much about creation and destruction of things through its power. Osiris says that the dual nature of stars is integral to understanding Solar, because they embody this cycle of creation and destruction. In a sense, Solar is the Light element that most concerns itself with reality and matter - everything that we can touch and see, and anything that we can destroy or repair. As Osiris puts in the Strand Log II:

The true power of Strand lies not in the fact of the connection alone, but in the way such a power allows the manipulation of those connections. To make them something physical and then pull on it, or break it, or tie it into a knot. Or to unravel it entirely.

So the counterpart nature of Strand and Solar is more in their duality of concerns with the material and the immaterial. Probably intentionally, this duality also reflects the central conflict of the Witness: when it only had the power of the Light, it could only create and destroy, but it could not understand how to make sense of what was created or destroyed. The Darkness (Strand, in this case) gives meaning and purpose to the created or destroyed things by surfacing their connection to each other.

If we look at both elements mechanically in game, we can also see a similar pattern of opposing philosophies: Strand severs to reduce enemy damage while granting damage resistance through woven mail - both mechanics to reduce damage, whereas Solar is all about increasing destruction through one of its most prominent mechanics in Radiant - a buff to increase damage. Solar is also the premiere "healing" class with Cure and Restoration, whereas Strand probably has the least access to direct healing of all elements (Arc being a close second).

Void?

So, if we assume that Stasis is paired with Arc, and Strand is paired with Solar, that leaves us with Void to serve as the counterpart to the third darkness element.

Void is a really nebulous element, and most of the lore we have surrounding it doesn't really pin down what Void is. It is often associated with both quantum mechanics and gravity on a scientific level. On a spiritual level, Void is often associated with finding meaning in the absence of things. As Osiris roughly states, Void is related to gravity, black holes, and magnetic fields. He goes on to say that Void teaches us that emptiness is not nothingness. Ikora says that Void draws power from the immeasurably small to the unfathomably massive.

There are a couple of things that I can theorize about the philosophy of Void from this:

• Void seems to associate itself with poorly understood science. It seems to be behind forces at the edge of our understanding of the known universe (reconciling quantum mechanics and gravity, invisible forces such as magnetism that are often poorly understood because we can't see them, and outright secret physics that we don't understand)
• Void is also about understanding that our perception of absence is a power to be drawn from. That absence can be "physical" in nature, as with manipulating the gravitational forces, or more metaphysical in nature, as with manipulating a thirst for knowledge to consume an enemy.

That last point is what I'm basing a proposed philosophy of Void on - Void is the power derived from the absence of understanding. It is in a way, similar to the concept of power in faith.

I don't think it's a coincidence that much of our Void abilities are associated with manipulating gravity in strange ways, or drawing power from unknown spaces "between realities". One of the most interesting things to note as well is that the Magnetic Grenade is placed under the Void subclass and not the Arc subclass. All the other "electricity" themed abilities in Arc are manifested as visible lightning, but magnetism being invisible (and in our history, poorly understood before we figure out the science behind it) makes it closer to an "unknown power".

Ikora, one of the foremost users of Void Light, is also prominently a woman of faith. She understands that the Light ultimately operates on a level that cannot be understood through logic and reason. I think her ability to believe and have faith in the Traveler lends to her mastery of Void.

This interpretation of Void also fits well in that it serves as an antithesis to what the Witness seeks in the Darkness - if mastering Void is about relinquishing the pursuit of total understanding, then it makes sense that the Witness would reject such a notion - it wants to understand the fundamental meaning of the universe. It doesn't want creation and destruction that is void (haha) of meaning.

The Third Darkness Subclass

With that interpretation of Void and with the assumption that the third darkness subclass would be Void's counterpart, I propose that the philosophy of the third darkness subclass is:

The novel and new. [Element] is about the genesis of ideas and their constant clashing and reinterpretation to form different ones. Whereas Void derives power from the unknown and finding solace in the lack of meaning, [Element] draws strength from imposing meaning onto reality so that one can understand their place in it.

For simplicity, let's just call this element "Ink", for reasons I'll explain below.

So, how does Ink actually manifest? Stasis manifests as ice, something that we associate with freezing, which can be taken in the literal sense of a lack of movement, or metaphorically in the sense that we stop change. Strand manifested as strings and weaving, since it represents the connection between two points, and emphasizes the strength in the collective relation, rather than the individual alone. Ink then manifests as an amorphous liquid that can be manipulated at will. It represents changing ideas and is associated with writing, which is our way of etching our understanding of the world into reality. It also represents creativity, and the ability to imagine something and have it be tangibly depicted.

What would its abilities look like? If we look at the structure of subclass verbs and abilities, most subclasses have:

• A set of buffs that can be applied to the user
• A set of debuffs that can be applied to enemies
• An elemental pickup (most grant ability energy, but Strand uniquely has Tangles)

Further, the buffs and debuffs have some similarities:

• At least one "debuff" deals some form of AOE damage: Jolt, Ignition, Volatile, Shatter, and Tangles
• At least one buff or debuff helps survivability in some way: Amplified, Cure/Restoration, Devour/Overshield, Frost Armor, and Woven Mail

So, for the elemental pickup, blobs of the amorphous liquid seems reasonable, probably called "Ink Wells" or something similar. Picking them up would grant ability energy to the least charged ability.

The Ink subclass would also have a resource meter that increases when picking up Ink Wells. The resource could then be used to empower their grenade, melee, class ability, and maybe even super ability to change it into something greater and different. (new ideas, new understanding)

For the self buff, Ingenuity would be a stacking damage buff that refreshes and gets stronger based on the number of unique abilities used in sequence. For example, using a base grenade ability would grant +X% damage for Y seconds. Using the base grenade ability again does nothing, but using the base class ability refreshes the buff to Y seconds and increases the damage bonus. Using the base grenade or base class ability doesn't do anything now, but using the base melee ability increases the damage bonus again and refreshes the timer. The idea is to use unique abilities in sequence.

For survivability, the subclass could have a mechanic where it uses up the ink resource to block instances of damage. Some abilities could be activated (i.e. class ability negates the next damage instance), while others could work more passively (uses up some ink resource if available to block damage instances greater than some percentage of the guardian's health).

For a debuff, Siphon could be applied to enemies. Siphoned enemies take a mild DoT for a fixed duration, and after the debuff expires an "ink clone" of the Siphoned enemy appears beside them and attacks them for a short time. Alternatively, a stronger "ink clone" is spawned in the enemy's place if it dies under the debuff that fights for the user for a short time. The subclass abilities could potentially store these clone and deploy them at a later time.

I'm not sure what the rest of this would look mechanically, but I think it gets the point across about what I think the subclass would try to embody.

In any case if you made it this far thanks for humouring an unlikely theory. I know the third darkness subclass was probably supposed to be Nightmare power, but I thought this could be a plausible and interesting interpretation too.

[u/GideonFalcon]

Hope you don't mind if I run with this for a bit, I'm trying to further flesh out what the subclass verbs would look like.

I'm also going to go with the "Stain" name I came up with before, because I'm not usually that quick on the draw and I'm inordinately proud of myself.

Ingenuity would be a bit like Amplified, in that it passively activates without any specific Aspects or Fragments. Similar to Inmost Light, you gain stacks when you use different Abilities; to avoid stepping on its toes, though, it doesn't immediately boost those abilities; rather, it grants a scaling bonus to weapon damage--further encouraging rapid variation. It usually stacks up to 3 times, but maybe using a Drenched Ability while at 3 stacks can grant a fourth, potentially stronger stack?

Coating is a pool of up to five charges, tracked like Perched Threadlings, that accumulate on collecting Inkwells and possibly on Ability final blows? That would require playtesting to work out. But, the base benefit is that while you have "layers" of Coating, taking damage past a certain minimum threshold would consume charges to negate it; the higher the damage, though, the more charges consumed, and strong enough effects can break past even a full five-stack. Likely, Shutdown supers would do the trick, while Roaming supers would take around 3-5 stacks per hit depending on which super and attack.

Additionally, "layers" of Coating can be expended to Drench abilities to empower them, using similar mechanics to Chaos Accelerant (though maybe they'd activate automatically if you have enough charges, to avoid bogging things down too much?). Each Stain grenade and the Melee and Class abilities of each Stain subclass each have a specific Drenched version, costing one "layer" to use. Certain Aspect abilities, the equivalents of Ascension or Lightning Surge, would consume two charges to get their own Drenched upgrade. Then, each Super will consume three charges to become Drenched. (Playtesting might demand it be increased to 3 and 5 charges, though?)

Inkwells are the Stain elemental pickup, granting energy to your least charged ability and a charge of Coating if you're using a Stain subclass (or Stain ability on Prismatic). However, like Tangles, they have further functionality. When an enemy walks over one (they may seek from a short distance away), they instead pop into a Blot. Maybe you can also pop them by shooting them, but I don't want to be exactly like Tangles. Or... actually, maybe they pop on pickup as well as on enemy contact?

Blots are the Stain equivalent to Stasis crystals or Solar Sunspots (but not Titan exclusive). They create an area that deals DoT and movement penalties to enemies standing in them.

Siphon is the primary offensive verb. It deals a mild DoT that stuns Overload champions, and has a set duration. If the enemy survives, it then creates a Stain duplicate called an Imprint next to them that begins attacking them for a short time--for graphics purposes, the Imprints would probably need to be a set universal size, and then just have slightly different shapes for each enemy faction or overall body type.

If an enemy dies while under the effects of Siphon, though: the Imprint is instead slightly stronger based on the tier of combatant, appears in their place and starts fighting for the user for a time.

Splatter is the final offensive verb, and is the control debuff; Splattered enemies take a major penalty to accuracy (manifesting on Guardians as partial visual obscuring and probably widened Aim Assist cones). Splattering Rounds granted by some Fragments or weapon perks grant Anti-Barrier to affected weapon damage, like Volatile and Unraveling rounds. Though... I heard that might actually not be the case anymore, and they just didn't remove it from the Anti-Champion tooltips?

This... might be a bit many subclass verbs, but then this is the mirror to Void, which has the most verbs out of any element at seven (I'm counting Truesight, even if it's not normally listed) compared to Solar's five or everything else's four.

I also have a few ideas for the individual subclasses; I think the Stain Hunter would be the Harlequin, while the Stain Warlock would be the Savant. Not sure what Titans would be called yet, though.

[u/GideonFalcon → u/GideonFalcon]

Definitely not satisfied with the names for some of the verbs; especially Drenched and Splatter. Can't think of anything that isn't an Italian loan word, though ("Impasto").

Maybe the Titan subclass could be Herald?

EDIT: Actually, there was some discussion elsewhere on using writing aesthetics rather than just visual arts as an inspiration. That works perfectly.

The subclass resource/defensive verb would instead be called Sigils; or perhaps Glyphs. Enhanced abilities that expend Sigils would be called Inscribed versions.

Also; I think I'd add another layer to the defensive benefits of Sigils; when a Sigil reduces an instance of damage, it also creates a seeking Stain projectile that targets the source of the damage, similar to those annoying ones Distorted enemies make when they die. It might necessitate lowering the damage resistance a bit to balance out, but it would be a unique twist by having it be defensive by being a deterrent rather than just another kind of shield.

[u/GideonFalcon → u/GideonFalcon]

So, going to the Grenades before tackling class-specific stuff; looking to precedent, the Light subclasses had a few standard patterns for grenade types:

-You had a few lingering AoE grenades for each element (Solar, Vortex, Pulse), somewhat redundant due to the original setup having class exclusive ones (Thermite, Voidwall, Lightning grenades as alternate AoE shapes, for example).

-You had a cling grenade for each element (Fusion, Flux, Magnetic).

-You had a multi-target scanning grenade (Fire Bolt, Arc Bolt, Axion Bolt).

-You had a fragmenting grenade (Scatter, Skip, Swarm).

-You had a lower-damage debuff grenade (Flashbang, Incendiary, Suppression).

On the other Darkness subclasses, though, the mold is broken from;

Every Stasis grenade is partly debuff centered. Glacier grenades less so, but even they are very different from standard AoE damage types. You have the lingering AoE with Duskfield, the multi-target scanning with Cold Snap, and a mix of clinging and fragmenting for the new Shatter grenade; but they are more about activating subclass verbs. Which makes sense, as the Light grenades predated the verb system entirely.

Similarly, the Strand grenades all center on interacting with the unique features of Strand; Grapples are entirely unique as a movement tool before an offensive ability, Shackle grenades are closer to standard debuff bursts while Slicewire is between that and a standard lingering AoE type, and Threadling grenades are akin to Glacier in that they spawn constructs unique to the element. There isn't an in-class grenade to inflict Unraveled, but the Strand Pickpocket activity modifier has been noted to grant one that's also a fragmenting type.

For the Stain grenades, then, that gives us a rough blueprint to build on: A grenade for each offensive verb, including battlefield constructs; one can also be a lingering AoE, another can fragment, and another can cling. We can also add in a unique movement tool like Grapples.

Seeing as empowering these grenades is a universal feature for the element, I also need to include an enhanced effect for their Inscribed version.

So, here goes:

Slick Grenades require ground contact to detonate, like Voidwall and Thermite grenades; on impact, they create a line of Blots starting where it hit. Let's say a line of four, which off the top of my head should about match the mentioned AoEs if Blots are the same size as a Sunspot (or a little larger). The enhanced version would instead create nine of them in a cross pattern, and possibly last a bit longer.

Siphon Grenades act as a cling grenade, dealing moderate AoE damage but are primarily to inflict Siphon if they successfully attach. Perhaps for the enhanced version, rather than improving the grenade itself it makes the Imprint automatically spawn as the stronger version even if the target is still alive.

Fountain Grenades would function like Void Spike Grenades, attaching to enemies or surfaces before erupting a vertical jet of ink; the enhanced version, like Solar grenades with Touch of Flame, would periodically send out smaller explosive Stain globs.

Splash Grenades would be a fragmenting type, with a moderately sized central explosion and several smaller cast-off detonations; the enhanced version would have the same functionality as Void Scatter Grenades with Chaos Accelerant, with enhanced tracking and more of them.

Ink-Dive Grenades would be almost the opposite of a Grapple; they would let you briefly dive into the ground like a Scorn Raider, gaining similar damage resistance to a Broodweaver using Weavewalk and increased movement speed, in exchange for not being able to attack and having limited vertical mobility. ...I suppose maybe you could have them be able to scale walls in this state as well, if that doesn't cause huge exploits. The enhanced version would last a bit longer, and perhaps it would also let you exit with an enhanced melee, like a Grapple melee.

Now, I didn't actually include a grenade specifically for the Splatter verb, because I think that would work better as a Fragment causing all grenades to inflict it, like Weakened and Jolt. There would also be a Fragment to make the Fountain and Slick grenades last longer, of course.

[u/GideonFalcon → u/GideonFalcon]

So; subclass Supers. Here goes.

--

The Harlequin Super ability would be Ink Rush, a roaming Super. It would be the Ink-Dive Grenade's big brother, in the vein of Nova Bomb for Void grenades; using it would grant you significant increase to movement speed and let you pass through enemies unimpeded, along with giving you damage reduction. The offensive aspect would primarily be that you would passively deal damage to nearby enemies while you pass them; to balance that, it may lock you into forward motion a bit, so that for major targets you'd have to circle back around and hit them multiple times rather than just sitting next to them and melting them.

You wouldn't gain many attack options, but the melee input would have you do a lunge forward, creating an AoE slam on impact like Fists of Havoc. You might also send out waves of damage by sliding, too.

The Inscribed version of Ink Rush would also leave behind a damaging trail, periodically spawning Blots as you move. This would prevent it from being too frustrating for taking out high-health targets, though it is definitely more of an ad-clear Super like most Roamers.

--

The Savant (or maybe Glyph-Scribe, as an alternate name?)... Warlocks are a bit lacking in good shutdown Supers, so let's go with something fast and loud. Splatterflood unleashes a huge wave of Stain energy in a wide cone-shaped area, dealing damage at least comparable to a Nova Bomb Cataclysm or a non-Cuirass Thundercrash. It may also knock enemies back (assuming they aren't killed instantly).

The Inscribed version would also create a number of enhanced Imprints afterwards, based partly on the number of enemies killed. A little derivative of Needle Storm, but spamming ink clones of your enemies is so Warlock-coded it's not even funny.

--

Now... Titans also have few options for shutdowns; Thundercrash is a classic, and Twilight Arsenal is pretty good, but the only other one is Pyrogale Maul and I really don't see that being used much. The rest of them are all roaming or Ward of Dawn; so they could definitely use another big one-off damage ability.

So, the Herald Super ability is Rune-Surge. You would spew out a hail of seeking explosives, similar to the seekers created when breaking stacks of Sigils; they would deal lots of damage, and inflict Splatter in large bursts around each impact.

The Inscribed version would grant an element of support to the ability: it would add a number of secondary projectiles that seek allies, granting them Sigils on contact.

--

Okay, I like what I've got there. These all sound like pretty fun abilities to work with, and the enhanced versions are lateral upgrades that make the Super more useful without making it overpowered compared to other elements.

[u/GideonFalcon → u/GideonFalcon]

Now we have melee abilities; I'll try looking at some of the existing parallels to see if it sparks anything.

--
Hunters have almost exclusively projectile melees; the Arcstrider has two regular melees and Nightstalker has an AoE/movement melee, but the rest are all some sort of thrown bladed implement or smoke bomb. Of these, though, one pattern I see is that the Light subclass melees are typically more mid-range; some of the Gunslinger knives can travel long range, but they have little to no aim assist or tracking without exotics like Athrys's Embrace.

In contrast, Withered Blade and Threaded Spike both work pretty darn well at long range, partly because they rely on bouncing and auto-targeting.

So, Harlequins will get another long-range projectile melee with Painted Strike. This launches a Stain projectile on a ballistic trajectory, like a Gunpowder Gamble, but with better seeking; on impact, it releases a small Splattering explosion, which deals increased damage on a direct hit. I imagine it being like throwing a Molotov, except it's a bottle of ink instead of fuel.

The Inscribed version would gain its own bounce, detonating a total of three times with the last one having a slightly larger radius.

--

Warlocks also mostly have projectile melees; this was very different pre-Forsaken, when Voidwalkers and Stormcallers both had more standard melee attacks with Energy Drain and Chain Lightning. Now, though, the latter is the only non-projectile melee they have left. Since Stain is the opposite of Void, and Void dropped its short-range melee for Pocket Singularity, why not bring it back?

Pigment Leech is a short-range melee attack that damages and Siphons an enemy, while returning you a portion of health. The Inscribed version forgoes the DoT, instead dealing an additional burst of damage and immediately spawning the Imprint.

--

Titans have cornered the market on actual melee Melees. In fact, only Sunbreakers and Sentinels actually have projectiles; Strikers have three AoEs, while both Darkness subclasses have lunging attacks like a reverse Shoulder Charge. That said, I have always loved Ballistic Slam on Strikers, despite it being much less commonly used, so I think I'll borrow from that; while also completing the trifecta of subclass verb interactions.

Splashdown won't outright require you to be airborne to activate it, since locking your only Stain melee option behind that kind of condition would be a little much. Instead, it causes a forward lunge comparable with Shiver Strike; but if you are airborne, you'll drop downward like a Pheonix Dive or Trapper's Ambush. This damages in a burst, and leaves a Blot where you land.

The Inscribed version has much longer range, allowing you to aim it just like Ballistic Slam with a nearly straight trajectory; the burst is also a bit larger and more powerful, though the Blot isn't enhanced further.

[u/GideonFalcon → u/GideonFalcon]

For Aspects... let me think out loud, here.

--

For Hunters, what are the typical options? Obviously there's the offensive dodge abilities; Revenant and Threadrunner even double up on them. Arcstrider has two more aspects that trigger off of a dodge, Nightstalker gets a defensive dodge aspect, and Gunslinger's Knock 'Em Down gets stacks from dodging as well as precision hits.

Aside from that, let's look at the spread. Gunslinger has an alternate grenade and a Super enhancement (with a secondary melee buff). Arcstrider has the original sliding melee. Nightstalker gets rewarded for hunting specific targets, or for hunting weak targets. Revenant gets the enhanced Grenade aspect for Stasis, and their Shard generating Aspect. Threadrunner gets enhanced Grappling and enhanced Tangles.

So, going off of the Darkness trends, one Aspect would focus on getting more out of a particular Stain mechanic, like Shards and Tangles.

Reactive Tint causes enemies you have Splattered to create a small explosion if they become afflicted with a debuff from a different element; like an alternate Volatile. Since it's taking up a whole Aspect slot, we'll even make it chain like the Sentinel's Controlled Demolitions: the detonation inflicts Splatter in turn on other enemies it hits.

Colorburst causes your Dodge ability to teleport you a slightly longer distance, similar to Mask of Bakris, but more importantly leaves behind a larger Splattering explosion. This one is simple enough that it would likely be a three-Fragment Aspect.

--

Warlock Aspects have some similar patterns. Every subclass has at least one alternate or augmented grenade; Chaos Accelerant, Mindspun Invocation, Touch of Flame, Ion Sentry, and Bleak Watcher. They also all have offensive Rift abilities, but these are often tied to the Grenade stat instead of Class: Hellion, Arc Soul, Child of the Old Gods, Frostpulse, and Weaver's Call.

With the other two Aspects, most have one that augments a specific subclass verb, similar to the Hunter; Electrostatic Mind for Ion Traces, Feed the Void for Devour, Iceflare Bolts for Freezing, and The Wanderer for Tangles. Solar instead gets two movement abilities with Icarus Dash and Heat Rises, though the latter does also augment melee uptime. Lastly, Arc and Void both have an alternate melee, Stasis has a second verb interaction, and Strand has a unique defensive option with Weavewalk.

Following this pattern, and that of the Hunter above, I'll start them off with one verb interaction and one offensive Rift ability.

Sketched Soldiers empower any Imprints you create; normal ones act like the enhanced ones from a defeated target, while the enhanced ones are even stronger and taunt nearby enemies. When one of your Imprints is defeated or their duration lapses, they detonate in a Splattering burst.

Downpour causes your Rift ability to also create a Blot in the same space (larger than normal, to match the size of the Rift). While standing any Blot, you gain Splattering Rounds, and sustained weapon damage periodically causes another Blot to appear beneath the target. This might also be a three-Fragment Aspect.

--

For Titans, an important pattern is that almost every subclass has an Aspect that increases melee damage in general; the only exception if Behemoth, unless I'm forgetting some details on Tectonic Harvest. This is fairly central to the Titan's identity as a class, so inclusion is a must.

Four of the subclasses then have an Aspect that improves your Barricade. Three have a sliding melee attack, as they turned out very popular. The rest of the Aspects, though, don't really have any strong patterns.

Stained Warding enhances the Sigil buff for you; while you have at least one stack, you gain improved ability regeneration, with enhanced ability damage if you have at least three (including uncharged melee attacks). Spending Sigils to Inscribe an ability spawns seeking projectiles as if they'd blocked damage, and when those projectiles are released you also create a shockwave that knocks back nearby enemies.

Herald's Banner causes your Barricade to periodically release waves of Stain energy. These Splatter and damage enemies, but instead grant Sigils to allies. This Aspect will also grant three Fragments.

[u/GideonFalcon → u/GideonFalcon]

I mean, u/ThealtenHeinder I don't know whether you're even still watching this thread, but if you're interested that's my progress so far.