It was weirdly dark. Most people remember Season of the Witch for the hive magic and the emerald-glow aesthetics, but honestly, it was the moment Destiny 2 finally leaned into the "space horror" vibe it had been flirting with for years. We aren't talking about ghosts and pumpkins. This was about Eris Morn, the most tragic figure in the Tower, literally transforming herself into a Hive God of Vengeance.
It felt risky.
Bungie was coming off a fairly lukewarm reception to Lightfall, and the community was restless. We needed something meaty. What we got was a season that fundamentally changed how we interact with the game’s deck-building mechanics and introduced a narrative payoff nearly a decade in the making. If you weren't there for the ritual circles in the Savathûn’s Spire, you missed the peak of the Light and Darkness saga's experimental phase.
The Deck of Whispers changed everything
Before this, seasonal upgrades were boring. You clicked a node on a grid, got a 5% damage buff, and moved on. Season of the Witch threw that out the window for the Deck of Whispers.
It was a roguelike element injected into a looter shooter. You collected Opaque Cards. You'd take them to the Lectern of Divination and reveal them, hoping for a "Major Arcana" card that actually mattered. These weren't just stat bumps. They were gameplay shifters. One card made your melee hits trigger explosions; another turned your class ability into a defensive nuke. You had to build a literal deck.
The strategy was deep. You couldn't just run everything. You had to pick five cards to form a deck that would randomly rotate during activities. It forced a level of intentionality that Destiny usually lacks in its seasonal loops. If you were running a solar warlock, you wanted cards that played into scorch stacks. If you were a titan, you were looking for anything that kept your health up while you stood in the middle of a pack of Hive.
Eris Morn and the Hive God problem
Narratively, this season was heavy. Eris Morn has always been the "creepy aunt" of the Vanguard, the one who lived through a literal horror movie in the Moon’s tunnels. But in Season of the Witch, she became the monster.
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To defeat Xivu Arath—the Hive God of War who literally gains power whenever anyone fights her—Eris realized she couldn't just "fight." She had to play the Hive’s game. She used the Anthemic Invocation to transform. Watching her hover over the ritual circle, wings sprouting, eyes glowing with a malevolent green light, was a "holy crap" moment for the lore community.
It raised a massive question: Can you use the darkness without being consumed by it?
The dialogue between Eris and the Drifter during this time was some of the best writing the game has ever seen. It wasn't just "go here, kill ten dregs." It was a psychological study of a woman who had already lost everything and was willing to lose her soul to save the City. The stakes felt real because we were the ones tithed to her. Every enemy we killed fed her power. We were her acolytes. It was uncomfortable, and that’s exactly why it worked.
Savathûn’s Spire vs. Altars of Summoning
Bungie gave us two very different ways to play.
- Savathûn’s Spire was your classic linear run. Great for farming, beautiful level design, but a bit predictable after the tenth time.
- Altars of Summoning was the chaos engine.
Altars was arguably one of the most difficult seasonal activities ever released. You could choose your difficulty by depositing different tiers of tithes. If you were brave—or stupid—you’d go for Tier 3. Suddenly, the room is full of Lucent Hive, your screen is flashing red, and you’re screaming at your teammates to dunk the void orbs. It was relentless. It felt like a mini-raid encounter that you could launch from the director.
Most players actually complained it was too hard. They were right. But that's what made it memorable. In a game that often feels like a power fantasy where you’re an invincible god, Season of the Witch reminded us that the Hive are terrifying.
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The gear that stayed in our vaults
We have to talk about the weapons. The "Cassoid" foundry weapons introduced here were aesthetic masterpieces. They had this sleek, experimental look, but the real star was the seasonal origin trait: Stunning Recovery.
Breaking a shield or stunning a champion partially refilled your magazine and triggered health regeneration. In high-level Nightfalls, this was a lifesaver. The Eremite fusion rifle became a staple for DPS phases, and the Brya’s Love scout rifle was a sleeper hit for anyone who liked long-range precision.
Then there was the exotic: Ex Diris. A Hive Boomer that we could actually carry. It shot arcing projectiles that spawned moths. It was weird. It was clunky. It was loud. It was perfect for the theme. It wasn't the "meta" pick for a Day One raid, but for pure fun factor, it was a 10/10.
What most people get wrong about the ending
People think the season ended when Eris gave up her power. That’s a surface-level take. The real climax was the fact that she banished Xivu Arath from her own throne world.
She didn't kill the God of War. She made her mortal.
This was a massive shift in the power dynamics of the Destiny universe. By cutting Xivu off from the Black Terrace, Eris proved that the Hive's "Sword Logic" could be subverted by something stronger: sacrifice. It set the stage for everything that happened in The Final Shape. Without the events of this season, we would have been crushed by the Witness's forces immediately.
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The lasting legacy of the Witch
Looking back, this season proved that Destiny 2 is at its best when it gets weird. When it moves away from the generic military sci-fi and embraces the occult. The Deck of Whispers was a prototype for the more complex customization systems we see in the game today.
It wasn't perfect. The grind for certain cards was tedious. The "tithe" mechanic felt a bit like a chore by week seven. And let's be honest, the jumping puzzles in the Spire caused more deaths than the actual bosses.
But it had soul.
It treated the player like they were part of a dark ritual, not just a soldier. It respected the history of characters like Ikora Rey and Eris Morn. It gave us a villain in Savathûn who was helping us even as she mocked us from her crystal prison.
How to use these lessons in your current build
If you're still playing Destiny 2 or similar looter shooters, the "Witch" philosophy is simple: synergy over raw power.
- Look for interaction: Don't just pick the gun with the highest damage. Look for how your armor mods feed your abilities. The Deck of Whispers taught us that a 10% buff to a specific playstyle is better than a 20% general buff.
- Embrace the Roguelike: If a game offers you randomized buffs, lean into them. Experiment with combinations you'd normally ignore.
- Lore matters: Pay attention to the "why." The gameplay feels more impactful when you understand the weight of the actions your character is taking.
The Season of the Witch ended, but the Hive magic—and the shift toward more creative, deck-based gameplay—is baked into the DNA of the game forever now. It was a dark, messy, brilliant moment in gaming history that reminded us why we keep coming back to the Tower.
Actionable Steps for Returning Players
If you are coming back to the game after a hiatus and want to catch up on the impact of this era, focus on these three things. First, check your "Patterns and Catalysts" menu to see if you have the Eremite or Subjunctive patterns unlocked; these remain top-tier for specific elemental builds. Second, go to the Timeline Reflections in the Director. You can often find summarized missions that cover the pivotal cinematic moments of Eris's transformation, which is crucial for understanding the current state of the Hive. Finally, update your armor mods to focus on "Orb of Power" generation, as the current meta has doubled down on the ability-looping concepts that were first perfected during the seasonal ritual activities.