Destiny Diaries: Attack On, Titan

What happens when a career healer jumps into a first-person shooter/massively multiplayer online role-playing game hybrid without the need for heals? A whole lot of punching.

I played a bit of the Destiny Alpha and enjoyed all of the moon wizardry and exploring the powers that each of the classes could wield. Since it was just an Alpha, I didn't really think too hard about what kind of character I'd like to make my "main" or how I'd want to progress through the game. But now that the Beta has launched and there's a chance that my progress will roll over into the game proper, I find myself having to make very important decisions.

In my time playing MMOs or even FPS games online, I've always opted to be a healer. While dealing damage is cool, I've always wanted to be of more help to my team and keep them in fighting shape. In Team Fortress 2, I played Medic and Engineer. In any Battlefield game, I've played Medic or Support. In the World of Warcraft, I've always rolled a healer, whether it be in the form of a Restoration Druid or a Holy Paladin. In Destiny, none of the three classes presented were dedicated healers. So after poring through the skill trees of the Titan, Hunter and Warlock classes, I decided to go with the Titan and engage in my second-favorite activity in games: punching the crap out of everything.

As soon as I started the introductory mission as my male Awoken Titan, I start swinging away with my fists. I racked up Ability Kill after Ability Kill just by using my melee attack, even going so far as to employ a "hit-and-away" tactic on the level's final boss, as well as the surrounding trash mobs around him. If you're unfamiliar with the Titan class, it's basically Destiny's "space knight," capable of acting as a tank and absorbing damage for groups. They're slow-moving and have buffed armor, which allows me to eat all of the enemy fire while I advance with my fists at the ready, set to punch them into oblivion. How awesome is that?

After leveling up a bit, I received the Fist of Havoc skill, which allows me to smash the ground and atomize all enemies caught in the blast radius. A little bit later, I got one of my favorite skills ever: Storm Fist. This attack infuses my melee attack with bonus damage, crackling with electricity and power. It's on a cooldown, but lets me disintegrate my foes with a punch. Yes, please. I just wanted to punch everything in space.

For the most part, that's all I did. All of the weapons are pretty cool and are in line with anything you'd find in the Halo series. The sniper rifles, in particular, felt very much like the classic rifles from Halo: Combat Evolved. After getting the Special Weapons and Heavy Weapons, I could feel my arsenal becoming truly formidable, especially since I was packing fusion rifles and a machine gun that just vomited elemental ammo. But my favorite way to dispatch enemies was a good ol' melee attack. If you timed them just right, you can lock onto enemy after enemy, with each Dreg only requiring one punch to take down and Vandals taking at least two. A cool trick is to aim a Storm Fist off cooldown at a Vandal first, then wipe out the rest of the Dregs with quick punches. If you get overwhelmed, bring down the hammer with a Fist of Havoc. Beautiful destruction for all of you fans of pugilism.

Dropped into Old Russia, surrounded by the desolate beauty of a ravaged earth, I only had one task in mind, no matter what Peter Dinklage told me to do: punch everything to kingdom come.