I feel as though Stasis is going in a good direction, but I feel a (little) more would make it just right. Before I continue, all of what I am saying is coming from someone who mains Behemoth and played the Legendary campaign exclusively on Behemoth.
Stasis is going in a good direction, but only Stasis. The individual subclasses tied to Stasis, however, are still lacking in many departments.
Behemoth still, after all these years, feels unfinished. Whether it's good or not, it feels unfinished, as if we're only beta testing it.
Shiver strike is just a glorified mobility tool that sits at a massive 1:54 second cooldown, despite providing almost nothing to the Behemoth kit. Bungie can buff the melee all they want, but for as long as it provides no bonus to the subclass, as long as it grants no subclass synergy, it will remain a PvP funny button for its entire existance.
Tectonic Harvest is good, but it's just too good, especially now that it grants pre-nerf Whisper of Rime healing, escalating DR, AND also generates shards off of shattering targets as if it wasn't already the best of the three harvest aspects.
Cryoclasm is the most idiotic way to shatter crystals and frozen targets, all while adding no bonuses outside of shattering, mobility, being generally fun to use, and only two fragment slots. Huh, sounds EXACTLY like a ceritan charged melee I know.
Howl of the Storm is just a monumentally worse version of Consecration and other slide melees. The only reason Howl might see more use than the two ark ones is because ark already provides a better way to jolt. But in a vacuum, both Ark slide melees clear Howl any day, and yet Howl is at least useful, unlike Shiver strike.
Dimond lance, at base, goes entirely against the Behemoth playstyle and sucks ass, but is also good? But put on a certain helmet, and it becomes one of the strongest aspects in the game. Yet Cadmus Ridge lancecap still (kinda) clashes with Behemoth while also being very boring to use.
Fianly, there is the super: Glacial quake, which is actually fine. It's a super niche but cool super that requires precise spacing and situation. Its greatest flaw is that there is no other option. If there was just at least a second option, I would have no complaints what so ever.
Revenant is ok, but it's just kinda awkward. As if they just don't know what to do with the subclass.
Whithering blades just FEELS bad, which is crazy because this is the same game that has throwing knives, im not quite sure what it needs to get there, but it just needs to FEEL just like a throwing knive (I think it's the sound effect of it being the most underwhelming sound in the game becuase i feel the same way about threaded spike). Also, why is it not three charges like arcane needle and Freinzeid blade.
Grim harvest, while not as good as Tectoic harvest, still feels like the go-to aspect that you don't take off. But having the one go-to aspect plus a secondary one, then the third one that no one picks outside of a few builds is just a huge destiny problem as a whole when it comes to aspects, not just Stasis.
Winter's shroud is just so bad. It is litterly just a worse version of Frost pulse. At least slowing targets now grants class ability. But while I haven't tested it out, it just doesn't seem like it fixes anything. Ironically enough, Winter's shroud is actually really cool on Prismatic Hunter, being able to combo with Stylish executioner, gun powder gamble, and other fragments within Prismatic very easily.
Shatterdive is the same story as Cryoclasm. Why would I waste an aspect slot JUST to shatter stuff. At least shatterdive can make you fly around the map, but that's not intended, and for all we know, bungie might intentionally or unintentionally fix it/remove it from the game. It's also just a better shatter tool that cryoclasm in general, but being better than that isn't hard.
Touch of Winter only feels bad/underwhelming because there's only three grenades, and they're all more utility based than damage based, which is fine, but can we get more damage/shatter focused grenades.
Silence and squall is nice, but just like Glacial quake, there needs to be a second option.
Shadebinder is perma stuck with its one really good build and its close variant with Osiomancy (aka Osio Bleakwatchers or Osio Iceflare bolts, pick your poison)
Penumbral blast is up there with the most ussless abilities in the game, which is sad because it looks sick as f*ck to summon a whole wizard staff to freeze a mf. It's only use I can think of outside of PvP is to continue an iceflare chain if you somehow f*ck it up, which is almost never. I guess it's slightly better than anything else at freezing something up in your face, but that's it.
Glacial harvest is almost perfect. Its only downside is that shadebinders melee is the most redundant. But beside that, it's so good imo becuase you don't NEED it, but it's still really good. Now you can run Bleak/Iceflare, Bleak/Glacial, or Iceflare/Glacial and it feels smooth (as long as you have Whisper of Conduction plz bungie make that inherent to shards, were fine with picking up tangles, breaches, and sprites becuase they dont spawn in mass unlike traces and shards).
Iceflare used to be a big problem for me becuase they used to be so brain-dead must-pick, but now that Glacial harvest is good its a lot more healthy.
Frostpulse, despite me saying "Winter's shroud is a worse version of Frostpulse" is somehow more irrelevant than Winter's shroud in every way imaginable. There is absolutely nothing good about frostpulse in PvE at all
Bleakwatchers was always cool, I have no problems with it. So instead I'm going to use this space to talk about how Shadebinder has NO good exotic armor besides Osiomancy. It's not healthy, or fun for an entire subclass to ONLY use ONE exotic. The fact that osio is a must is absolutely criminal. There's only so few Exotics that even benefit the Stasis kit for all the classes combined and yet the only other Warlock exotic that specificly interacts with stasis intentionally is rotting away in my vualt even after the changes. How can the balance be so skewed heavily in favor of only Osio for this long.
Winter's wrath is just kinda ass, it's not the best add clear or dps, so like what is it's purpose. I don't play shadebinder that often as Behemoth or Revenant so I don't know IF Winter's wraith actually has a niche or not.
Overall, stasis is better, but the individual subclasses still feel bad or heavily limited.
