Good news, edgelords! Destiny just dropped an (almost) all-black shader for everyone

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Players have been begging to goth up their gear since forever, but Bungie has been reluctant until now.

Is it a bit obvious? Yes. Does it look cool AF. Also very much yes. (Image credit: Bungie)

Why doesn't Bungie just make an all-black shader? It's a question that has puzzled and infuriated Destiny players since pretty much the game's inception. It was almost two years after the original game's launch before the studio finally added the Super Black shader, and despite the name even that still had some shades of grey in it. 

Meanwhile in Destiny 2, we've had to make do with the likes of Metro Shift, Shrouded Stripes and Abyssinian Gold—none of which quite hit the pure black spot due to unwanted Kevlar effects, camo patterning and so on. For us fashionistas hoping to enjoy peak Bela Lugosi is Dead levels of Hot Topic edgelord with our fits, it has been a struggle.

That struggle ended earlier today, when Bungie released the new Erebos Glance shader at the weekly reset. Available for the entirely reasonable sum of 300 Bright Dust from the Eververse store, as you can see from the looks I've thrown together below (one for each class), this is as close as we've been able to come to a truly blacked out look.

Hunter in Shinobu's Vow. Hunters have historically been the biggest wannabe goths, so no shock that it's easy to create cyber ninja looks. (Image credit: Bungie)

Titan in Heart of Inmost Light. I deliberately included some glows in this one to go with the chest piece but it's easy enough to find all-black alternatives.  (Image credit: Bungie)

Warlock in Dawn Chorus. Erebos Glance works really well on plated armor, like this Nezarec-themed ornament on the chest. (Image credit: Bungie)

That's pretty black, right? Some might say: none more black. Okay, yes, the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted there's some bright orange accenting going on. And veteran players will be only too aware that Bungie's shader icons rarely tell anything remotely like the full story when it comes to what colours are actually going to be displayed on your gear. 

I mean, seriously, do you see any orange in the icon below? You do not.

I have honestly never been lied to by anyone as often as I have Bungie's shader designers. (Image credit: Bungie)

And yet there it very much is...

I picked out some pieces where the amount of orange is especially egregious.  (Image credit: Bungie)

In fact, the orange element, which tends to pop up on certain cloth textures, can be pretty punchy on some items. But choose your transmogs carefully and you'll be able to pull off a look that screams 'I have at least read Nietzche's Wikipedia page and own the Cure album with Lullaby on'. 

Which of course brings us to the obvious answer why Bungie has historically been so reluctant to give us predominantly black shaders. We are, by and large, a bunch of unimaginative beggars, and faced with the choice between crafting a coherent, colorful look or just slapping black on everything and calling it done, I know what path most will take. Just don't blame me when the Tower looks like a Nine Inch Nails convention for the rest of the year. 

Just in case the instructions weren't clear enough, here's exactly where to find the shader in the store. (Image credit: Bungie)
Tim Clark
Tim Clark

With over two decades covering videogames, Tim has been there from the beginning. In his case, that meant playing Elite in 'co-op' on a BBC Micro (one player uses the movement keys, the other shoots) until his parents finally caved and bought an Amstrad CPC 6128. These days, when not steering the good ship PC Gamer, Tim spends his time complaining that all Priest mains in Hearthstone are degenerates and raiding in Destiny 2. He's almost certainly doing one of these right now. 

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