What you need to know
- A Destiny 2 armor piece from the new Root of Nightmares raid, the Warlock’s Bond of Detestation looked very…suggestive.
- Players have made jokes about the armor piece since the raid came out earlier this month, even giving it a raunchy and explicit nickname.
- In response to the community’s reaction to the bond, developer Bungie has changed the armor’s appearance in a recent hotfix.
Armor pieces from Destiny 2’s pinnacle PvE raids always stand out quite a bit when compared to sets obtained from world drops or other activities, as they typically reflect the aesthetic of the raid that they come from. This has been the case for every raid armor set added since its 2017 launch, and the gear from Destiny 2’s newest raid, the Root of Nightmares, is no different.
In the Root of Nightmares, Guardians travel throughout The Witness’ flagship Darkness Pyramid that the Traveler terraformed with Light energy, resulting in a wild and bizarre aesthetic that weaves gargantuan paracausal flora growths between the sharp and angular structures in the Pyramid’s interior. Fittingly, the armor from the Root of Nightmares raid is also themed around the blend of Light and Darkness, and it’s unquestionably some of the strangest gear that players have ever had an opportunity to wear. Have a look and you’ll understand what I mean:
One particular piece of armor, though, stood out for a…different reason. You see, while all of the Root of Nightmare loot looks strange, the Warlock class’ Bond of Detestation looked comically similar to a certain part of the female anatomy. You can see the bond’s original design in the embedded Tweet below, paired with a shader that accentuates its, uh, unique features.
Since the raid’s release on March 10, players have made countless jokes about the armor piece, even giving it a hilarious nickname that I won’t repeat here (check social media to find it; you’ll have no trouble doing so). However, as of Destiny 2’s latest hotfix patch that went live yesterday, Bungie has stealthily altered the bond’s design to make it look more like an eyeball and less like…that. Here’s how much the bond got “nerfed” in the update:
To my knowledge, Bungie has only changed the appearance of an armor piece two other times in Destiny history. First, there were Hunter gauntlets that Bungie altered in 2017, as the armor originally bore an unintentional resemblance to the controversial “Kek” internet meme. Earlier this year, the developers also tweaked the design of Iron Banner Titan gauntlets to remove the Z-shaped straps on them. This was likely done because the letter Z has become a Russian military symbol during the country’s ongoing war of aggression in Ukraine.
Compared to these past issues, the current situation is at least pretty funny and lighthearted. Bungie will surely be more careful about making sure that armor pieces don’t look explicit moving forward, but in the years to come, everyone will look back on this occasion and laugh about that time a Warlock bond looked like genitalia.
Destiny 2: Lightfall is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, Windows PCs, and PlayStation systems. In it, you’ll take the fight to Emperor Calus, get access to Strand subclasses and their unique abilities, and more. We didn’t love the expansion, but if you’re a fan of Destiny 2 and want to keep up with it, you’ll want to get it so you can access all of the game’s latest content.
