Bungie is being very secretive about Destiny 2's Season 17, and its lack of a trailer might hint at what element is going to be reworked next.

Destiny 2's The Witch Queen expansion changed a lot of things for the game through a compelling campaign, new gameplay features, and the rework of past elements that needed a few tweaks or complete overhauls. Among them is the Void 3.0 update, which completely changed what it means to build around Void subclasses in Destiny 2 and actually play them, elevating the gameplay loop to new heights, inventing powerful combos, and adding depth to existing aspects. Ever since the rework of Void subclasses and the confirmation on Bungie's part that players would experience the 3.0 update for both Solar and Arc, players have been wondering which element they would see get this treatment first, and also when.

Because of all the secrecy surrounding Season 17 and the element rework coming with it, Destiny 2 fans are coming up with theories as to why this is the case and what it means, both in terms of narrative and gameplay. A very likely answer to this question may be that the story beats of Season 17 and the new Solar 3.0 or Arc 3.0 update might be much more closely linked than one would think, hence why Bungie didn't reveal anything about either of them. If that is the case, there is a very plausible route that Bungie might be taking with Season 17, and it revolves around events that go back as far as Season of Arrivals before the Beyond Light expansion was released.

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Season of Arrivals was the last Season of the Shadowkeep era, and it was one of the most story-advancing Seasons to date because of how it tied the changes being made to Destiny 2 through the Destiny Content Vault with narrative reasons for them. Another reason why Season of Arrivals was such a big release is that it served as a bridge to connect the Pyramid ships' presence in the Solar System with the Darkness granting Guardians the powers of Stasis in Beyond Light, paving the way to the Final Shape expansion.

Destiny 2's Season of Arrivals is also when fans saw the last of the Warmind Rasputin, who tried to launch an attack on the Pyramid ships to eliminate the threat but was ultimately shut down in a way that forced Ana Bray to salvage the remains of Rasputin's mind. Ana's intervention guaranteed that what was left of Rasputin was placed inside an Engram, with the hope of "reviving" the Warmind in an Exo body to make Rasputin sentient once again.

In Season of the Risen, players learn through lore cards that Ana is now working closely with both Mithrax's Splicers and Caiatl's Psions to make the process of reviving Rasputin faster and possibly more effective. Rasputin has been out of the picture for around two years now, and making his resurrection part of the plot for Season 17 would make sense. What would make even more sense is that the Warmind has always been linked to the Warmind Cells mods and the various IKELOS or Seventh Seraph weapons that create the Cells in the first place, which could be why Solar 3.0 is coming in Season 17.

Warmind Cells are connected with Solar damage, and having a whole Season revolving around Rasputin would seal the deal on which element rework is coming first, with Solar 3.0 being the only sensible option. As such, the lack of a trailer and a full breakdown of the changes made with the upcoming element 3.0 update could actually be an indication of how linked the themes for Season 17 and its element are. In this case, Solar 3.0 and a Rasputin-based Season would go hand-in-hand, and they would perfectly fit the direction Destiny 2 has been headed towards for a while.

Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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Andrea became a gamer for life at 7, thanks to a Pokemon Red cartridge and her Game Boy. She knew she wanted to be a writer early on, back when she got a floppy disk and she wrote "My Book" on it. Her Italian lineage means she thrives on pizza and cosmic horror because that's a typical Italian Sunday. She loves games featuring deep lore, sci-fi elements, and strategic thinking. She is often found playing Destiny 2, for which she also makes guides.