Lucent Moth

Lucent Moths are small flying creatures of Light that first appeared after Savathûn managed to gain control over the Light. They can be found fluttering around non-Lightbearer Hive of the Lucent Brood, granting them a degree of shielding. When they are separated from their host, Lucent Moths will wander aimlessly until they see an enemy, upon which they will become charged with Arc Light and dive-bomb their target, exploding upon impact.

Biology
"Incredible. The Hives' own bodies transform Light into a parasite! What a wondrous adaptation!"

- Krill

Lucent Moths are a by-product of the existence of Lightbearer Hive. Hive biology treats the Light in their bodies as an infection, causing disease-like symptoms such as headaches, mood swings, and insomnia, and generates an immune response that attempts to isolate it into cysts. However, the properties of Light end up organizing and transforming the encysted Light and Hive biomass into a wholly new and separate organism, more energy than biology, which eventually hatches from the cyst and attempts to protect its hosts. This life cycle was discovered by the Hive Ghost Krill, although the discovery was credited to their Lightbearer, Ubartu-ana.

Gameplay
Lucent Moths are similar to Vex Seekers as they are treated more like a minor hazard than an actual enemy; they do not possess a health bar nor do they have an identifying name label above them. Lucent Moths serve two purposes, one defensive and the other offensive. In their default defensive mode, Lucent Moths will seek out nearby Lucent Hive, fusing with them to grant an Overshield. When this Overshield is depleted, however, the Moth will be separated from its host unit and, will seek another unit to protect instead. When the Moth runs out of units to protect, it switches to its offensive mode as a last resort, overcharging itself with Arc light and flying toward a player before exploding in an Arc blast that can injure or kill Guardians and Hive alike if they are too close to it. This can be useful against Lucent Hive, as the blast is highly damaging and is instantly fatal to Acolytes within a few meters' range. Lucent Moths have two primary weaknesses, after a Moth's host has been killed and it separates from them, it will become vulnerable while searching for a new host, allowing the player to shoot and destroy it. In their offensive mode, when tracking toward a player to hit them, Lucent Moths can simply be shot before they reach their target, and are highlighted on your screen as if they were grenades. A Moth's detonation can also trigger other Moths and cause them to detonate.

Trivia

 * Lucent Moths will not overshield Hive Ultras and even if the Ultra is the last living combatant, the Moths will instead go on the offensive.
 * This is the same for Champions and, most of the time, Hive Lightbearers, however it would later change to Lucent Moths being able to overshield Major Hive Lightbearers, but not Ultra variants of them.
 * There is a glitch wherein a Lucent Moth attempts to shield an enemy that has just been killed, shielding its corpse. The corpse disappears along with the Moth, deleting it from existance.
 * There is another glitch that happens where multiple Lucent Moths will enter the same host. When the overshield is depleted, only one Moth will be ejected.

List of appearances

 * Destiny 2
 * The Witch Queen
 * Season of the Risen
 * Season of Plunder