Destiny 2: Beginner's Guide

Destiny 2 Beginner's Guide

Greetings adventurer. Welcome to our Destiny 2 Beginner's Guide!

Destiny 2 is a free-to-play MMO-FPS game created by Bungie, available for PC, Playstation, and Xbox. It's a complex game with a remarkable story, great content, and lots of stuff to do that never gets you bored. If you want to start your Destiny 2 Journey, our new player's guide is your best option to get a jump-start. Going through our starter guide, you will discover everything you need to know from a beginner, low-light Guardian to a good en-game PvE or PvP player.

The game has both cross-play and cross-save features, which is amazing!

  • Cross-Save – allows you to move your account to other platforms (for example, if you started playing on PC, you can synchronize your steam account with your Xbox or Playstation account without losing your progression and loot)
  • Cross-Play – allows you to play with your friends from different platforms (for example, if you play on PC, you can team up with a friend from Xbox or Playstation)

Our guide will be a great companion for any new Destiny 2 player, and it will carry you from blueberry to an experienced guardian lightning-fast, so let's get started.

Table of Contents

Here is a little breakdown of our best Destiny 2 Beginner's guide:

  • Buying Destiny 2
  • Third-Party Tools
  • Classes & Subclass
  • How to get started
  • Enemy Types
  • Leveling Up & XP
  • Gear & Stats Priorities
  • End-Game PvE Activities
  • End-Game PvP Activities
  • Armor Synthesis & Cosmetics
  • Keep Yourself Updated
  • Related Guides
  • Conclusion

Buying Destiny 2 (Expansions and Seasons)

Destiny 2 is a free-to-play game, but if you want a faster evolution and don't want to waste time, here is what you need to know about how Bungie sells game content.

Our minimum recomandation is to buy Witch Queen Deluxe Edition, which includes the last expansion with all seasons from the 5th year with season pass rewards. Suppose you want to complete your collection with all expansions and all the content available in the game. In that case, you have to purchase the Bungie 30th anniversary Bundle and Destiny 2 Legacy Collection (Beyond Light, Forsaken, Shadowkeep).

Note: We do not recommend you buy the expansions and season passes separately because this will get you a higher price than if you choose the WC deluxe edition, 30th-anniversary bundle, and D2 legacy collection together.

Where can you buy Destiny 2?

Expansions

If you don't purchase specific expansions, there will be some activities that cannot be accessed, so you won't be able to obtain specific loot(weapons, exotics, armor, etc.).

  • Red war – Content Vaulted
  • Curse of Osiris (December 5th, 2017) – Content Vaulted
  • Warmind (May 8th, 2018) – Content Vaulted
  • Forsaken (September 4th, 2018)
  • Shadowkeep (October 1st, 2019)
  • Beyond Light (November 10th, 2020)
  • 30th Anniversary pack
  • The Witch Queen (2022)
  • Lightfall – Upcoming

Note: The content that Bungie has vaulted is no longer accessible in the game.

It is essential to have the latest expansion and current season in order to access the content that is mostly played by the player-pool. Still, if you want to have access to everything, it is recommended to have all the expansions unlocked.

Seasons & Season pass

For every new season of Destiny 2 (currently season 18 – Season of Plunder), players gain access to new story content, new challenges and activities, and new gear. The duration of each season is about ten weeks.

To have access to all the content for every season, players have to buy a season pass. This costs 1000 Silver (an in-game currency) which can be purchased from steam with real money for 9,99$. Each season pass rewards an exotic weapon, its catalyst, an ornament for it, an armor set, and a complete armor ornament.

Every season, a rank system allows players to collect rewards for every gained season rank. Each rank requires an amount of XP to be unlocked. Two rewards will be awarded for every season rank: the bottom row rewards will only be unlocked by players that purchased the season pass, while the first row rewards are available for players that don't own the season pass.

Season of Plunder Season Pass

Third-Party Tools

To have a more enjoyable experience and make the game more accessible, we have prepared a list of third-party tools that come in handy:

  • Destiny Item Manager (DIM) – is a very useful PC/smartphone application where you can see your entire inventory, transfer items from one character to another, move items from the vault to your character, claim items from the postmaster, create & equip loadouts, follow your bounties progress and weekly rewards (powerful & pinnacle).
  • Destiny 2 Companion AppStore/ AppleStore – This application is often used by Xbox and Playstation players to move items from character to character, view progress on quests, bounties, and items; browse vendor items; view your current season rewards and pick up rewards you forgot to claim last season; send fireteam invites to other players; find, create and manage clans.
  • Light.gg – is a database of all items and mods in the game; god rolls suggestions(most common use), triumphs, and seals.
  • Braytech – here you can view and checklist you collection, view triumphs, and find the missing collectibles.

LFG (Looking for group):

  • Bungie LFG - looking for other players to do activities together.
  • Discord LFG – is the best Lfg option where you can always find people for every activity. It's a well-structured server where you can find rooms for all platforms and activities, and gamers have a role depending on their skills.

Classes & Subclasses

Before playing Destiny 2, you must choose the starting class for your character that fits you best. There are three classes with unique skills: Hunter, Titan, and Warlock. Each class comes with four subclasses: Solar, Arc, Void, and Stasis, with their own set of abilities, grenades, and melee powers that help gamers customize their guardian.

1. HUNTER

Hunter is an agility-based class that focuses on moving around the battlefield quickly and tactfully.

Abilities:

  • Marksman’s Dodge – perform a evasive maneuver with a steady hand. Dodging will automatically reload your weapon.
  • Gambler’s Dodge – perform an artistic jump, avoiding enemy attacks. Dodging near enemies fully recharges your melee ability.
  • Acrobat’s Dodge – perform an acrobatic leap. Upon Landing, make yourself and nearby allies radiant to increase your weapon’s damage output.
  • Recommended Class Stat – Mobility. Increasing movement speed and maximum jump height, and reduces the cooldown of the Dodge Ability.

Solar Subclass: Gunslinger

Gunslinger is the best option if you like playing from a distance. This subclass has three different types of ultimate skills: Golden Gun - Deadshot, Golden Gun - Marksman, and Blade Barrage.

Arc Subclass: Arcstrider

This one is a good option for aggressive players that prefer close combat. This subclass has two different types of ultimate skills: Arc Staff(PvP), and Gathering Storm.

Void Subclass: Nightstalker

Nightstalkers are efficient when dealing with many opponents due to their ability to weaken foes with tether traps. This subclass has three different types of ultimate skills: Shadowshot: Deadfall, Spectral Blades(PvP), and Shadowshot: Moebius Quiver.

Stasis Subclass: Revenant

Revenants have a single super ability: Silence and Squall, which slow down or freeze opponents.

2. TITAN

Titan is a resilience-based class that focuses on strong defense and less on agility and recovery.

Abilities:

  • Class Ability: Barricade – Towering Barricade: Create a large barrier that can be used to reinforce a position with cover from enemy fire & Rally Barricade: Create a small barrier that you can peek over while aiming down sights and that increases weapon reload speed, stability, and range when you stand behind it.
  • Recommended Class Stat – Resilience. Increases the amount of damage taken before dying and reduces the cooldown of the Barricade.

Solar Subclass: Sunbreaker

Sunbreakers hold a powerful ability called Throwing Hammer, which uses flaming hammers against opponents. This subclass has two different types of ultimate skills: Hammer of Sol and Burning Maul.

Arc Subclass: Striker

The Striker uses an Arc-enhanced fist to provoke lightning damage up close and is pretty lethal in a close battle. This subclass has two different types of ultimate skills: Fists of Havoc(PvP) and Thundercrash.

Void Subclass: Sentinel

Sentinels are shield-based characters that can defend themselves and your crew from enemy fire. This subclass has two different types of ultimate skills: Ward of Dawn and Sentinel Shield(PvP).

Stasis Subclass: Behemoth

Glacial Quake is a very good super for Behemoth, which can freeze their enemies. Very strong in PvP activities due to its enemy freezing capabilities and roaming super.

3. WARLOCK

Warlock is a recovery-based class that focuses on team support and buffs and less on soaking up damage.

Abilities:

  • Class Ability: Rifts – Healing Rift, which heals you and your squadmates, and Empowering Rift, which can boost your weapon’s damage.
  • Class Stat – Recovery. Increases the speed at which lost health is regained and reduces the cooldown of Rift.

Solar Subclass: Dawnblade

Dawnbladers are an excellent option for players who like to try their skills in the air and attack opponents from above. This subclass has two different types of ultimate skills: Well of Radiance and Daybreak(PvP).

Arc Subclass: Stormcaller

It's a great subclass that can cause a lot of damage to enemies through electric shocks. This subclass has two different types of ultimate skills: Chaos Reach and Stormtrance(PvP).

Void Subclass: Voidwalker

The destructive skills allow players to cause massive destruction to their target. This subclass has three different types of ultimate skills: Nova Warp(PvP), Nova Bomb: Vortex, and Nova Bomb: Cataclysm.

Stasis Subclass: Shadebinder

This subclass currently has only one ultimate skill, the Winter’s Wrath, perfect for PvE and PvP activities due to its freezing and shattering capabilities.

How to get started in Destiny 2

After you create your first character, you start into the New Light quest in the Cosmodrome. Once you complete this introductory mission, you meet with the first NPC and start the campaign.

Shaw Han

The NPC is Shaw Han, the Guardian that offers you a the first campaign mission that works as a simple tutorial for Destiny 2. "A Guardian Rises" mission takes place in Old Russia, Earth. It will teach you the basic gameplay and unlocks some of the primary functions:

  • Fast Travel
  • Ghost Shell

Fast Travel

After you unlock your first missions, you open your first travel points (Landing Zones), to which you can quickly travel. To get to these points, bring up your map (Hold down the touchpad on PS4, Menu button on Xbox, or M on PC), and select the zone you want to reach.

Landing Zones

Note: You cannot fast travel to missions, events, or any other icon on the map.

Ghost Shell Functions


Ghost Shell

Ghost Shells are unique cosmetic items that change the appearance of your Ghost. They have multiple functions in the game, providing light in the darker zones; modding them with perks to increase your proficiency while playing; (an essential aspect while being a beginner) it tracks the task and shows what you have to do in the mission by opening the Nav Mode (Select on Playstation, View on Xbox, and Tab on PC).

How to access the other available Campaigns/Storylines

Shadowkeep Campaign (Moon) - Launching the Mysterious Disturbance Mission will trigger this campaign to start.

A Mysterious Disturbance

Beyond Light Campaign (Europa) – Launching the Darkness's Doorstep Mission will trigger this campaign to start.

Europa Campaign

Witch Queen Campaign (Savathun's Throne World) – Launching The Arrival mission will trigger this campaign to start.

The Arrival

What are NPCs, and why are they important?

NPCs are Non-playable characters that you can interact with in the game. They will trigger quests, sell gear, offer bounties or reputation-related rewards. and help you convert materials. Below you have a list of the most importan NPCs in Destiny 2 and their use.

  • Variks - located in Europa: Beyond Light Campaign, Europa Bounties, and sells Europa-related gear.
  • Shaw Han - located on the Cosmodrome:New Light Campaign missions, Cosmodrome bounties,
  • Eris Morn - located on the Moon: Shadowkeep Campaign, Moon Bounties.
  • Lectern of Enchantment - Located on the Moon (Bounties)
  • Saint-14 – Trials of Osiris activity NPC (Located in the Tower)
  • Suraya Hawthorne - Located in the Tower, Clan Rewards
  • Lord Saladin - Located in the Tower during Iron Banner Event & Bounties
  • Fynch - Located in Savathun’s Throne World, The Witch Queen Campaign, Throne World Bounties and gear.
  • Starhorse - Located in the Xur’s Treasure Hoard, Dares of Eternity Bounties, 30th Anniversary rewards.
  • Xur - Located in the Xur’s Treasure Hoard, Dares of Eternity Bounties, 30th Anniversary rewards.
  • Crown of Sorrow - Located in the H.E.L.M., Seasonal NPC, Castellum-related Bounties & Gear
  • War Table - Located in the H.E.L.M., Seasonal NPC, Bounties & Gear
  • Star Chart - Located in the H.E.L.M., Seasonal NPC, Expedition-related Bounties & Gear
  • Ada-1 - Located in the Tower, Armor synthesis bounties, gear, Armor mods, and Upgrade Modules.
  • Banshee - Located in the Tower, Gunsmith Bounties, Upgrade Modules, Weapon, and Mods.
  • Commander Zavala - Located in the Tower, Vanguard Bounties, Armor, and Reputation rewards.
  • The Drifter - Located in the Tower, Gambit Bounties, Armor, and Reputation rewards.
  • Lord Shaxx - Located in the Tower, Crucible Bounties, Armor, and Reputation rewards.
  • Petra Venj - Located in the Dreaming City, Bounties, Ascendant Challengs, and Blind well Consumables.
  • Failsafe - Located in Nessus, Bounties, and Reputation Rewards.

You can acquire & complete bounties from these NPCs for rewards and to increase the reputation rank towards him.

How to accept and complete bounties?


Bounties

You can talk with any NPC and accept bounties that reward you with experience towards your season pass, Glimmer, and Bright Dust(a currency used to buy premium cosmetics from Eververse shop).

There are two types of bounties: Daily and Weekly. They are usually short missions requiring kills with a specified weapon or element. You can hold 63 bounties + missions at any given time.

What is the Vault in Destiny 2?

The vault in Destiny 2 is a space where you can store extra stocks of gear, and it has a limit of 600 items account-wide. You can open the vault bya accessing the terminals in the Tower as shown in the picture below:

Vault Terminals

What is the Postmaster in Destiny 2?

The Postmaster is an NPC located in the Tower's Courtyard that can hold up to 21 items in his inventory for you. For example, if you finish an activity where you encounter unreachable engrams, or simply didn't pick them up from the ground, these items will go to your postmaster. Once you reach the maximum amount of items in your Postmaster’s inventory, the new ones will overwrite the old ones, so make sure you visit the postmaster from time to time.

Postmaster

Engrams

Engrams are a unique state of matter, developed and created by Clovis Bray(Golden Age Exoscience corporation founded by Clovis Bray himself). Engrams are used to store information, and they are decrypted(decoded) as equipment that matches the quality of the engram. The following engrams are found in Destiny 2:

  • Blue Engram - Rare Items
  • Legendary Engram - Purple/Legendary items
  • Umbral Engram - Engrams used to focus a specific type of gear/weapon
  • Prime Engram - It always contains an item with a higher power level than the one currently equipped
  • Exotic Engram – Unique type of engrams that have an exotic item
  • Mnemonic Engram - Eververse engram used to store Bright Dust/Cosmetics/Ships/Vehicles/Ornaments/Shaders

Enemy Types and how to beat them efficiently

The World of Destiny 2 contains many deadly and murderous creatures, ranging from robots that convert everything into data to weird “rhinos” who desire conquest for their Emperor. These are the enemy factions that you will find in the current sandbox of the game:

  • Cabal - Legionnaires, Centurions, Gladiators, Psions, etc.
  • Fallen - Shanks, Dregs, Vandals, Captains, etc.
  • Hive - Thralls, Acolytes, Knights, Wizards, etc.
  • Vex - Goblins, Minotaurs, Hydras, Harpies, etc.
  • Scorn – Screebs, Raiders, Lurkers, Ravagers, etc.
  • Taken - Any faction above, cursed by the Taken.

Aiming & Critical Spots

Most enemies have a weak point (precise spot) you should target to inflict extra damage. The damage numbers are displayed in yellow if you struck the weak point. For most types of enemies, the weak spot is naturally the head, but it is not always the case. For example, Vex opponents and Fallen Servitors will have a weak point right in the center.

During boss encounters, you must aim at only the vulnerable part of their body. The weak points could shift around while dealing with immunity phases. Usually, the weak points are easily distinguishable, so you shouldn't worry because the game is pretty straightforward.

Different Combat Styles in PVE

Despite their race or faction, all enemies in Destiny 2 are a combatant type, ranging from red bar enemies to bosses. The class will dictate how difficult an enemy is to beat and what mods and perks you should use.

There are three main combatant types in Destiny 2:

  • Minor Enemies (Often referred to as "ads")
  • Major Enemies (Elites, Minibosses, Champions)
  • Bosses (Including Vehicles)

Below you can find a table that highlights the main enemy types and what weapon mods to use against them:

Minor Major Ultra Miniboss Champions Vehicles
Minor Spec(+7.7%) Major Spec(+7.7%) Boss Spec(+7.7%) Major Spec(+7.7%) Major Spec(+7.7%) Boss Spec(+7.7%)
Big Ones Spec(+7.7%) Big Ones Spec(+7.7%) Big Ones Spec(+7.7%) Big Ones Spec(+7.7%) Big Ones Spec(+7.7%) Big Ones Spec(+7.7%)

Note: As you can see, the Big Ones Spec mod is the best you can use against all enemy types. Until you get this mod it would be best to use Minor Spec on Primary Weapons, Major Spec on Special Weapons, and Boss Spec on your Heavy Weapons.

Some of the most challenging enemies and very commonly encountered are the Champions; they require special mods and perks to be defeated. There are 3 different types of champions in Destiny 2:

  • Barrier Champions
  • Overload Champions
  • Unstoppable Champions

For all three Champion types, you will need to “stun” them using the correct weapon/mod combination. Once you stun a champion, you will break his guard, and it becomes vulnerable to your attacks.

As you level up your artifact you will unlock Mods that allow you to defeat these champions. For Season 18 guardians can use the following mods against Champions:

  • Overload Bow – Fully drawn arrows disrupt overload champions.
  • Unstoppable Pulse Rifle – Aiming down sights load a high-impact burst that stuns Unstoppable Champions.
  • Anti-Barrier Scout Rifle – Scout Rifles are wielding shield-piercing rounds.
  • Anti-Barrier Auto Rifle – Auto Rifles are wielding shield-piercing rounds.
  • Unstoppable Shotgun – Shotguns fire a devastating explosive payload that stuns Unstoppable Champions.
  • Anti-Barrier Sniper Rifle – Sniper Rifles are wielding shield-piercing rounds.
  • Inferno Whip – Solar melee abilities stun unshielded combatants.
  • Overload Machine Guns – Uninterrupted fire from your equipped Machine Gun grants bullets that stun Overload Champions.
  • Surge Detonators – Arc grenades disrupt Overload Champions.

Leveling Up and XP

The difference between Destiny 2 is that in D2 there is no character level. In Destiny 2, your Guardian’s Power Level is the average level of the highest power items you own for each slot. It is a numeric representation that showcases the damage you can inflict on your enemies and how resilient you character is( how much damage you can take before you die).

Level & Power Caps

Every season comes with a new Power Level cap. As a new player, you will start with 1350 Power Level. With the Season of Plunder (Season 18), the max Power level was increased, and the current Power caps are as follows:

  • Starting Level (1350 Power) – You can only increase your Power Level by finding higher-level gear in a specific equipable slot. For example, every piece of equipment found at the entry-level power (1350) to Soft Cap is a 100% power upgrade on your slot. Even blue items will count as an upgrade.
  • Soft Cap (1520 Power) – After you reach the soft cap you will only get upgrades from powerful and pinnacle rewards.
  • Hard Cap (1570 Power) – At 1570 you will reach the Hard Cap, so you can only increase your power when claiming Pinnacle rewards.
  • Pinnacle Cap 1580 Power – Guardians can increase their power above the pinnacle cap only with bonus power that is awarded by gaining XP on their seasonal artifact.

Powerful and Pinnacle Rewards

Powerful and Pinnacles rewards are a set of weekly bounties/tasks you can complete to receive gear that is above your current power level.

If you come across an exotic engram, it awards you with an Exotic Drop with +5 levels above your highest gear in the specific slot.

You can increase your power level through Powerful rewards only until the hard cap of the season. Afterward, the only way to raise it is to get a reward from activities that grant Pinnacle Gear.

Now, let’s talk about the Powerfuls & Pinnacles and the difference between the two types of rewards.

Powerful Gear Sources and Activities

In the following table, you can find all the activities and the tier of rewards that are helpful to reach the Hard Cap:

Source Location Power Increase Availability
Exotic Quest: Vox Obscura Savathun’s Throne World +2 Weekly
Ketchcrash Seasonal Activity H.E.L.M. +3 Weekly
Expedition Seasonal Activity H.E.L.M +2 Weekly
Star Chart Bounties H.E.L.M +3 Weekly
Crown of Sorrow Bounties H.E.L.M +3 Weekly
Defeat Nightmare Bosses (Vestiges of Dread) Derelict Leviathan +3 Weekly
Fynch’s Challenge Savathun’s Throne World +4 Weekly
The Witch Queen Exotic Quests Exotic Quests +3 Seasonal
Nightfall: The Ordeal (3x Clears) Playlist: Vanguard +3 Weekly
Clan Engram Rewards Tower +3x4 Weekly
Altars of Reflection Savathun’s Throne World +3 Weekly
Weekly Campaign Quest Savathun’s Throne World +3 Weekly
The Wellspring Savathun’s Throne World +3 Weekly
Dares of Eternity Eternity +3 Weekly
Trials of Osiris Playlist: Crucible +4x2 Weekly
Survival Playlist Playlist: Crucible +3 Weekly
3x Strikes, Crucible & Gambit Matches Playlist Activities +3 x 3 Weekly
Crucible Bounties Tower +3 Weekly
Gambit Bounties Tower +3 Weekly
Vanguard Bounties Tower +3 Weekly
Gunsmith Bounties Tower +3 Weekly
Reputation Rewards Rank 1(Crucible) Playlist: Crucible +3 Weekly
Reputation Rewards Rank 1(Gambit) Playlist: Gambit +3 Weekly
Reputation Rewards Rank 1(Vanguard) Playlist: Vanguard +3 Weekly
Major Infamy Rank Up Playlist: Gambit +3 Repeatable
Major Glory Rank Up Playlist: Crucible +3 Repeatable
Major Valor Rank Up Playlist: Crucible +3 Repeatable
Seasonal Ritual Weapon Tower +3 Seasonal

Pinnacle Gear Sources and Activities

In the following table, you can find all the activities and the tier of rewards that are needed to reach the Pinnacle Cap:

Source Location Power Increase Availability
King’s Fall Raid Savathun’sThrone World +2 x 5 Weekly
Master Ketchcrash H.E.L.M +2 Weekly
Duality Dungeon Cosmodrome +2 x 3 Weekly
Preservation Mission Savathun’s Throne World +2 Weekly
Weekly Campaign Mission (Score 100.000 Points) Savathun’s Throne World +2 Weekly
Master Wellspring Savathun’s Throne World +2 Weekly
Exotic Vox Obscura Quest Savathun’s Throne World +2 Weekly
Nightfall: The Ordeal (Score 100.000 Points) Playlist: Vanguard +2 Weekly
Dares of Eternity (Score 100.000 Points) Eternity +2 Weekly
Trials of Osiris (WIn 7 Matches) Playlist: Crucible +2 Weekly
Trials of Osiris (Win 50 Rounds) ) Playlist: Crucible +2 Weekly
Trials of Osiris (Win 7 games with no losses) Playlist: Crucible +2 Weekly
Reach “Legend” Glory Rank Playlist: Crucible +2 Seasonal
Featured Raid Weekly Rotation +2 Weekly
Featured Dungeon Weekly Rotation +2 Weekly
Crucible Matches (Complete 3 Matches) Playlist: Crucible +1 Weekly
Gambit Matches (Complete 3 Matches) Playlist: Gambit +1 Weekly
Vanguard Ops (Complete 3 Matches) Playlist: Vanguard +1 Weekly
Clan Weekly XP Tower +1 Weekly

Season Pass

In Destiny 2, the XP is needed for two main things:

  • Unlock the Season Pass Rewards.
  • Upgrading your Seasonal Artifact to unlock its Mods and Bonus Power Levels.

Destiny 2 has the same season pass layout as you have seen in any other game: the pass has two tracks, a free track and another one for Season Pass owners only, and each has 100 levels to unlock.

Season Pass

The paid Season Pass(second row in the picture above) has more rewards, but you still get the seasonal Exotic Weapon and the new gear introduced in the current season, whether you buy it or not.

Note: From rank 100 and up, you will no longer have preset rewards. Instead, you will receive a Mnemonic Engram every 5 levels, rewarding you with Eververse Cosmetics.

Seasonal Challenges

Seasonal challenges are a set of weekly tasks that revolve around eliminating a particular type of enemy using a specific element, completing new activities or raids & dungeons, and completing the seasonal quest. They are a great source of Bright Dust and XP for your artifact and bonus power and grant multiple upgrades for your seasonal NPC(Star Chart for Season 18).

Note: You can complete each challenge once per account!

Each week will add a specific number of new challenges active for the duration of the season. If you fulfill all the Seasonal challenges, you will receive a large Bright Dust reward that you can use in the Eververse store for desired cosmetic items.

We expanded the seasonal challenges information in the section where we talk about End-game Activities.

Seasonal Artifact and Mods

Nowadays, the seasonal Artifact plays a critical role in Destiny 2, and it grants extra power levels and powerful gear mods that help you in activities.

Artifact

The bonus power levels are helpful to meet the requirements for high-end content, while the seasonal mods are mandatory in any challenging activity: Anti-Barrier, Overload, and Unstoppable Champion, as well as debuffs and other benefits for your weapons and abilities.

Note: Below is a screenshot showcasing the Power Level of a Guardian, summing the Gear Level and Bonus Power level.

Bonus Power

How does Gear & Stats Work in Destiny 2

This section of the guide will cover everything you need to know about Destiny 2 Gear and Weapons and how to get to the end-game as fast as possible. In order to reach this goal, we will cover:

  • Gear Stats
  • Armor Qualities & Mods
  • Weapon Archetypes & Ammunition Types
  • Weapon Mods
  • Exotic Catalyst
  • Resources
  • Important Vendors
  • Infuse & Masterwork System

Stats Priorities

Every class and subclass in Destiny 2 has a different way of prioritizing the stats, armor, and weapons dictated by the activity you play. There are six primary armor stats that you have to manage in order to obtain a functional build for your Guardian:

  • Mobility(Primary)
  • Resilience(Primary)
  • Recovery(Primary)
  • Discipline(Secondary)
  • Intellect(Secondary)
  • Strength(Secondary)

The stats determine everything from a character’s movement speed to the cooldown of the skills and super. Let’s take a look at what each armor stat does:

Stat Effects Class-Specific Effects
Mobility Increases your movement speed and maximum jump height. Hunter: Also reduces your Dodge cooldown
Resilience Increases the amount of damage you can take before dying and increases your shield capacity. Titans: Also reduces Barricades cooldown
Recovery Increases the speed at which you regain lost health. Warlocks: Also reduces Rifts cooldown
Discipline Reduces the cooldown time of your grenades. Cooldown varies between different grenade types.
Intellect Reduces the cooldown of your Super Ability. Cooldown varies between Super types.
Strength Reduces the cooldown time of your melee ability. Cooldown varies between melee types.

Before heading into the stats prioritization for each class, let’s delve further into stat tiers!

All stats in Destiny 2 can range from having a value of 0 to 100. The tier is the value of your stat divided by ten, always rounded down. For example, when you increase your discipline stat by ten points, the tier will be upgraded, and you will receive stronger benefits.

Lower Resilience

A stat value is maxed out at 100, or tier 10. If you happen to exceed the maximum, the exceeding stats will not affect your character, as shown below:

Resilience Stat

Stats Prioritization in PvE & PvP

If you are looking to optimize your character for PvE content, you should prioritize the general stats of your build as follows:

  • Warlock – Resilience, Recovery, Mobility
  • Hunter – Mobility, Recovery, Resilience
  • Titan – Resilience, Recovery, Mobility

Note: The secondary stats(Discipline, Intellect, Strength) have to be prioritized depending on the build you choose for your character.

If you are into PvP, you would like to prioritize them differently from PvE, as follows:

  • Warlock – Recovery, Discipline
  • Hunter – Recovery, Mobility
  • Titan – Recovery, Discipline

Armor Quality in Destiny 2

Armor in Destiny 2 has a quality class: rare (blue), legendary(purple), and exotic(yellow). Exotics are always the most important armor piece for a Guardian's build; they hugely impact playstyle.

Note: Artifice Armor is a special type of armor that has five socket slots(one extra slot than standard armor) dedicated for mods, and it can be acquired through the Master difficulty levels of dungeons like Grasp of Avarice and Duality.

The downside is that you can only equip one piece of exotic armor and one exotic weapon at a time, forcing you to choose the ones that synergize with your character's build.

Armor pieces have an element affinity (Solar, Arc, Void, Stasis) that dictates what type of mods you can socket into them(the affinity can be changed). In addition, you can equip mods that buff the armor stats and empower your guardian in multiple ways.

Armor Mods in Destiny 2

Every armor in Destiny 2 can equip three different types of mods in their sockets:

Mod Sockets
  • General Armor Mod – Increases your armor’s stats such as Mobility, Recovery, or Resilience. The mods come in two forms: +5 or +10 bonuses.
  • Slot-Specific Mod – Grants effects such as increased ammo, faster reloading, or reducing the damage taken from certain types of enemies. They vary for each armor slot:
    • Helmet – Weapon targeting and ammo finder mods.
    • Gloves – Seasonal artifact mods for Champions, Reload Speed Mods, and ability energy perks.
    • Body Armor – Resistances, Ammo reserves, better target acquisition with weapons.
    • Boots – Ammo Scavengers and Weapon holsters
    • Class Item – Class Ability, Seasonal artifact mods.
  • Combat-Style Armor Mod – Powerful, build-enabling effects.

Weapon Mods in Destiny 2

In the weapon details screen, you can see all the weapon mods you can apply to a weapon. In the table below we will explain each weapon mod:

Mod Description Acquired by
Backup Mag Increases magazine Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Boss Spec Increases damage against bosses and vehicles Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Counterbalance Stock Reduces recoil deviation for the weapon. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Dragonfly Spec Increases the radius and damage of Dragonfly Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Freehand Grip Increases accuracy and ready speed while firing from the hip. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Full Auto Retrofit Holding down the trigger will fire this weapon at full auto. Unlocked by Default
Icarus Grip Improves accuracy while airborne. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Major Spec Deals extra damage against powerful enemies. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Minor Spec Deals extra damage against rank-and-file enemies. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Quick Access Sling Swap weapons much faster for a short duration after emptying the magazine. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Radar Booster Slightly increases the range at which radar detects enemies. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Radar Tuner Radar immediately returns when you stop aiming down sights. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Rampage Spec Increases duration of Rampage. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Sprint Grip Temporarily increases the weapon's ready speed and aim down sights speed after sprinting. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Surrounded Spec Increases the damage granted by Surrounded. Bonus damage lingers for a brief time when no longer surrounded by three or more enemies. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Sweaty Confetti Causes a festive celebration on each precision final blow. This cosmetic mod is consumed when inserted into a weapon. Xur’s Treasure Hoard in Eternity
Taken Spec Increased damage against Taken Enemies. Last Wish Raid
Targeting Adjuster This weapon gains better target acquisition. Earn rank-up packages from Banshee-44
Weapon Mods

Note: There are additional mods that you are allowed to socket only on adept weapons, named Adept Mods. The Adept Mods are more powerful perks that you can insert only on Adept, Harrowed, and Timelost weapons.

In Destiny 2 you have to unlock new mods by participating in the season’s progression system and activities or visit Ada-1(armor mods) and Banshee-44(weapons mods) in the Tower to acquire seasonal mods from the past seasons.

Weapon Archetypes and Ammunition

In Destiny 2, there are three types of weapon slots & ammunition with different kinds of archetypes. The three weapon slots are shown in the screenshot below: Kinetic, Energy, and Power.

Weapon Slots

Note: The type of ammo used by the weapon is displayed next to the power level of the weapon.

The types of ammunition are as follows:

  • White Ammo – Used by Primary weapons that can only be equipped in the kinetic and energy slot. White ammo has infinite capacity. You will not encounter white armor bricks when you play Destiny 2.
  • Green Ammo – This is Special ammo used by the special weapon classes(equippable in the kinetic and energy slots). These weapons deal more significant damage than Primary weapons(you will have to find green ammo bricks on the ground).
  • Purple AmmoHeavy weapons are the most powerful weapons in D2. They can only be equipped in the Power Slot and ammo is usually more rare than special ammo(you get power ammo by picking up purple ammo bricks from the ground).
Special Ammo Brick Heavy Ammo Brick

Weapons that require Primary or Special ammo can be used in either Kinetic or Energy weapon slots. However, Heavy ammo weapons are locked in the Power slot.

Ammo Weapon Archetypes
Primary
Primary Ammo
Hand Cannon
Scout Rifle
Auto Rifle
Pulse Rifle
Sidearm
Exotic Primary Grenade Launcher: Fighting Lion
Special
Special Ammo
Fusion Rifle
Shotgun
Sniper Rifle
Trace Rifle
Grenade Launcher
Glaive
Exotic Special Hand Cannon - Eriana's Vow
Heavy
Heavy Ammo
Sword
Rocket Launcher
Linear Fusion Rifle
Grenade Launcher
Exotic Heavy Weapons
Sniper Rifle( Whisper of the Worm, D.A.R.C.I)
Shotgun (Legend of Acrius, Tractor Cannon)
Combat Bow (Leviathan's Breath)

Our following guide covers all the Meta PvE weapons you should get & what build you should use in Destiny 2:

Exotic Catalysts Masterwork Upgrades in Destiny 2

By unlocking exotic catalysts for any weapon, you upgrade the Exotic to a Masterwork version, increasing its power and introducing a new intrinsic perk. Catalysts can drop from general playlists and end-game activities like raids and dungeons.

After you acquire the catalyst for a specific weapon, you upgrade it to its masterwork version by completing a particular task: getting normal & precision kills, completing certain activities, completing bounties, etc.

Catalyst Completed Catalyst

Currencies, Resources, and Materials in Destiny 2

There are three main types of currency in Destiny 2:

  • Glimmer
  • Bright Dust
  • Silver

Glimmer is the easiest one to acquire; you will receive it in any mission or activity in the game. You can use it to buy equipment and resources from NPCs and to earn bounties or mods for your character. You can use the Rainmaker consumable to enhance your chances to get more glimmer drops when you eliminate enemies with precision kills.

Glimmer Glimmer Brick

Bright Dust is a currency used to buy cosmetic skins, ornaments, color shaders, ships, etc., from the Eververse Shop. The availability of items you can buy depends on the rotation of items for that week. Bright Dust can be acquired from activities, bounties, or ranking up in the current season pass. Bright Dust

Silver is Destiny 2’s premium currency, and you can buy weapons and armor cosmetics, emotes, shaders, etc., in the Eververse Shop. The Silver shop has every cosmetic item in the game, and you don’t have to wait for a weekly reset to refresh it.

Silver And four types of materials:
  • Planetary Materials
  • Legendary Shards
  • Consumables
  • Upgrade Items

Planetary Materials are collectibles found on planets in free-roam areas or missions. You can use these materials to trade with their Vendors for gear or various rewards.

Planetary Materials

Legendary Shards are a currency used to acquire legendary and exotic items, and also when you masterwork gear. You can collect them by dismantling legendary or exotic weapons or ranking up in the season pass.

Legendary Shards

Consumables are on-time-use items that can boost your chances of getting loot. Raid Banners are a commonly used consumable that gives everyone on the fireteam full Super Energy, Ammo, and Abilities.

Upgrade Materials are used for infusing & masterworking your weapons and armors. You can buy most of these from Banshee-44 in the Tower or find them in activities:

  • Upgrade Modules – used to infuse power between gear items
  • Enhancement Cores – required for upgrading gear.
  • Enhancement Prisms – required for forging masterwork gear.
  • Ascendant Shards – required for forging masterwork gear(it requires two of them to masterwork a piece of exotic gear).

Note: All consumables, shards, resources, upgrade materials, bright dust, silver, etc., you have are shared between all the characters on your account.

Below we will cover the vendors that help you obtain and convert resources.

Master Rahool

Master Rahool is the Cryptarch Vendor located in the Tower’s Courtyard, to the right of the landing zone. He offers various services, from decrypting engrams to unique exchanges of materials and resources.

Master Rahool

The options rotate daily, and the offers come in three types:

1.Curios:
  • Glimmer Exchange: 10.000x Glimmer for 10x Legendary shards or 20x Destination Materials.
  • Planetary Materials: 1x Legendary Shard (Four types of materials available on a daily rotation)

2.Material Exchange Enhancement Prism & Ascendant Shard.

3.Special Offers Enhancement Cores, Enhancement Prisms & Ascendant Alloy.

Banshee-44

Banshee-44 is the Gunsmith Vendor located in the Tower. He offers various services that revolve around weapons and their mods, and material exchanges for upgrade modules, used for infusing weapons & armor.

Banshee-44

In Destiny 2, Banshee-44 sells random legendary weapon mods(rotating on a daily basis) and upgrade modules:

  • Upgrade Module – 1x Enhancement Core, 10x Legendary Shards, 25x Planetary Materials, and 5.000x Glimmer.

Note: Upgrade modules can be bought with a choice between two types of planetary materials, rotating weekly.

Xur, Agent of the Nine

Xur, Agent of the Nine, is an elusive vendor who sells exotic engrams and specific exotic pieces for each class. Xur appears randomly in the Tower, Nessus, or European Dead Zone every Friday until Tuesday’s weekly reset.

Xur, Agent of the Nine

After each week, his stock of Legendary & Exotic items is randomized; he offers a random piece of armor for each class, a random weapon, a special exotic engram that is guaranteed to decrypt into an undiscovered non-quest armor or weapon, and other legendary items:

  • Exotic Armor – 23x Legendary Shards
  • Exotic Weapon – 29x Legendary Shards
  • Exotic Engram – 97x Legendary Shards (You can purchase a second engram by acquiring an Exotic Cipher from his weekly quest: Xenology)
  • Xenology Exotic Quest – You need to complete 21x Playlist activities, and it grants you an Exotic Cipher upon completion.
  • Legendary Weapons – 50x Legendary Shards and 1.000x Glimmer
  • Vaulted Legendary Armor – 50x Legendary Shards and 1.000x Glimmer
  • Hawkoom and Dead Man’s Tale Exotics – 200x Legendary Shards, 125.000 Glimmer, 1x Exotic Cipher, and 1x Ascendant Shard.

If you want to check Xur’s location weekly and what he has for sale, you can use the WhereIsXur website.

Upgrading your favorite gear: Infuse & Masterwork

By casually playing the game, you can find gear that drops with a higher power level or a weapon you enjoy and want to use further on. The infuse system helps you boost an item’s power level and keep it on your guardian as part of your loadout.

If you want to increase an item’s power level, you have to go into the item’s details screen and sacrifice another weapon or armor piece with a higher power rating to boost the one you want to keep.

Infuse

It will be best to infuse a piece of gear when you find a replacement 3 to 4 power levels higher than your currently equipped armor or weapon.

If you want to study all the weapons' perks and rolls and the popularity of a specific gun, you can check out Light.GG for more information.

You can also upgrade a weapon by masterworking it, boosting one specific stat. On armor, the option is displayed as energy.

Armor Masterwork Weapon Masterwork Tier

On weapons, it’s displayed as the middle box on the right of your Infuse button, called Tier Weapon. The maximum level of masterworking is 10, at which point the weapon or armor piece becomes a Masterwork item and receives a boost in stats.

For the beginning, you want to find pieces of armor that can bring your two desired stats to level 10, depending on your class & subclass.

The sum of all stats on by a piece of armor should be higher than 60 to be worth keeping. Below, you have an example of a god-rolled helmet for Solar Warlock:

God Roll Helmet

Note: If you masterwork a weapon/armor, you will need legendary shards, enhancement cores, prisms, and ascendant shards. If you dismantle the masterwork gear, you will not get a full refund of the spent materials, and instead, you will receive only seven enhancement cores.

End-Game PvE Activities

Destiny 2 offers a very wide range of endgame content, requiring stronger gear, optimized builds with specific weapon and armor mods, and a good party that matches the power requirement for the activities. This section of the guide will briefly go over the Destiny 2 PvE End-game content.

RAIDS

Raids are six player activities with higher difficulty arenas and multiple challenging encounters. Matchmaking is disabled in raids, and some of them require a related expansion to play:

Last Wish – Requires Forsaken DLC.

Last Wish Raid Last Wish Location

Here is a video guide for the Last Wish Raid you should watch before trying it.

Garden of Salvation – Requires Shadowkeep DLC.

Garden of Salvation Raid Garden of Salvation Location

Here is a video guide for the Garden of Salvation Raid you should watch before trying it.

Deep Stone Crypt – Requires Beyond Light DLC.

Deep Stone Crypt Raid Deep Stone Crypt Location

Here is a video guide for the Deep Stone Crypt Raid you should watch before trying it.

Vault of Glass – Free for All Players.

Vault of Glass Raid Vault of Glass Location

Here is a video guide for the Vault of Glass Raid you should watch before trying it.

Vow of the Disciple – Requires The Witch Queen DLC.

Vow of the Disciple Raid Vow of the Disciple Location

In the following link you will find our raid guide for Master and Normal difficulty as well as associated challenges and triumphs:

King's Fall – Free for All Players.

King's Fall Raid King's Fall Location

In the following link you will find our King's Fall Raid Guide:

All raids activities feature an exclusive Exotic Weapon, Legendary Armor sets, Weapons, and triumphs you have to complete to unlock the Raid Seal(and also the Title):

  • Last Wish – Rivensbane Seal, One Thousand Voices Exotic Fusion Rifle, and the Great Hunt Armor set.
  • Garden of Salvation – Enlightened Seal, Divinity Exotic Trace Rifle
  • Deep Stone Crypt – Deep Stone Crypt Seal, Eyes of Tomorrow Exotic Rocket Launcher, and the Legacy’s Armor Set.
  • Vault of Glass – Fatebreaker Seal, Vex Mythoclast, and the exclusive armor set.
  • Vow of the Disciple – Disciple-Slayer Seal, Collective Obligation Exotic Pulse Rifle, and the Resonant Fury armor set.
  • King’s Fall – Kingslayer Seal, Touch of Malice Exotic Scout Rifle, and the exclusive armor set.

Weekly Featured Raid & Dungeon

Featured Raid & Dungeon are activities that cycle with each weekly reset and reward pinnacle gear upon completion. The weekly featured activities include the Legacy raids and dungeons that are not supposed to drop pinnacle gear.

DUNGEONS

Dungeons are three player activities with high difficulty arenas and a wide variety of mechanics and jumping puzzles(similar to raids) that must be done to succeed. The matchmaking is disabled for dungeons and some of them require a related expansion to access:

The Shattered Throne – Requires Forsaken DLC.

Shattered Throne Dungeon The Shattered Throne Location

Here is a video guide for the Shattered Throne Dungeon you should watch before trying it.

Pit of Heresy – Requires Shadowkeep DLC.

Pit of Heresy Dungeon Pit of Heresy Location

Pit of Heresy is a dungeon required for Harbringer Title(Shadowkeep Seal); you have to finish it solo & flawless. Also, PoH has an exotic quest for a great Machine Gun named Xenophage.

Here is a video guide for the Pit of Heresy Dungeon you should watch before trying it.

Prophecy – Free for All Players

Prophecy Dungeon Prophecy Location

Prophecy dungeon has two sets of armor, and a list of 6 weapons you can acquire, but the most important ones are:

  • The Last Breath – Legendary Auto Rifle.
  • Darkest Before – Legendary Pulse Rifle

Here is a video guide for the Prophecy Dungeon you should watch before trying it.

Grasp of Avarice – Requires 30th Anniversary DLC.

Grasp of Avarice Dungeon Grasp of Avarice Location

Grasp of Avarice dungeon has four powerful weapons you can acquire:

  • Gjallarhorn & Catalyst – Exotic Rocket Launcher(for the catalyst you have to complete a puzzle inside the dungeon).
  • Eyasluna – Legendary Hand Cannon.
  • Matador 64 – Legendary Shotgun.
  • 1000-Yard Stare – Legendary Sniper Rifle

Here is a video guide for the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon you should watch before trying it.

Duality – Requires The Witch Queen DLC or a Dungeon Key.

Duality Dungeon Duality Location

Duality is the first dungeon to feature its own seal, Discerptor. The best rewards in Duality dungeon are:

  • Heartshadow – Exotic Sword.
  • Lingering Dread – Legendary Grenade Launcher.
  • New Purpose – Legendary Pulse Rifle.
  • Stormchaser – Legendary Linear Fusion Rifle

Here is a video guide for the Duality you should watch before trying it.

Note: Grasp of Avarice and Duality dungeons have Master difficulties available, and they have a chance to drop Artifice armor upon completion. Artifice armor is a special type of gear that has an extra mod slot.

NORMAL & GRANDMASTER NIGHTFALLS

Nightfalls are strike variants that can feature a number of modifiers, champions, and additional rewards depending on difficulty. This activity has a chance to drop exclusive weapons for each Nightfall strike(rotates weekly).

Nightfall Difficulties & Modifiers:

  • Adept – Matchmaking Enabled. No Champions and less modifiers.
  • Hero – Matchmaking Enabled. Some Champions and regular modifiers.
  • Legend – Matchmaking Disabled. Regular Champions and more modifiers.
  • Master – Matchmaking Disabled. Additional Champions and heroic modifiers.
  • Grandmaster – Matchmaking Disabled. Limited Revives and grandmaster modifiers.

Note: The Grandmaster difficulty is not available when new seasons start, and this is the highest difficulty PvE content in the game and is only enabled mid-season.

With disabled Matchmaking and a horde of champions and specific grandmaster modifiers, you need the perfect loadout and strategy to succeed in GM Nightfalls. This activity can drop Adept Versions of the Exclusive weapons, featured with unique shaders, mods, and additional perks.

The most important rewards you can acquire in grandmaster nightfalls are:

  • Adept Weapons
  • Ascendant Shards
  • Enhancement Prisms
  • Enhancement Cores
  • Exotic Engrams

Plenty of rewards await you when you complete this complex activity. Grandmaster Nightfall is an unforgiving activity with limited revives, and if your team dies, you are all sent back to orbit to start again, from scratch.

LOST SECTORS

Lost sectors are mini-dungeons that have many enemies, a boss, and a treasure cache. You unlock the reward cache by defeating the boss. Every planet features various sectors that you can play.

Lost Sector

Legend & Master Lost Sectors have the same layout as the normal activity, but with increased difficulty and modifiers. These types of Sectors reward Enhancement Cores and Unique exotic armor if they are completed solo.

The recommended power for this type of activity changes with every season, and the lost sectors always feature both Legend and Master difficulties. To access a sector's Legend & Master difficulty, you must complete the regular version first.

Legend & Master lost sectors have multiple challenging modifiers and Champion foes, so you must equip a specific loadout to complete these activity versions.

To check out the active Lost Sector you can visit Today In Destiny website.

End-Game PvP Activities

Lord Shaxx is the Titan Manager of the Crucible and a vendor for PvP. He is found in the Tower’s Courtyard, behind the vaults. He offers daily and weekly bounties for you to complete that reward XP and Reputation.

Lord Shaxx and Location

There are three different types of ranks for PvP content activities :

  • Crucible Rank – You can earn them by playing any Crucible Activity. You achieve more points upon winning, and you can’t lose points.
  • Glory Rank – You can earn them by winning matches in the Competitive Crucible Playlist. You can lose points by losing games.
  • Trials Rank – You can earn Trials Points by competing in Trials of Osiris Matches and winning rounds. Points awarded are based on the number of matches won on your passage.

In the Crucible Playlist, there are different modes of PvP that you can choose from; some of them are permanent, while some are in a weekly rotation:

Permanent Game Modes:

  • Rumble – Free-For-All activity.
  • Control – 6 Vs. 6 Activity, Eliminate Opponents and Capture zones.
  • Competitive: Survival – 3 Vs 3. Activity. Round-based mode with a shared pool of lives per team.

Rotating Game Modes:

  • Clash – 6 Vs. 6 Activity. Eliminate the opposing team.
  • Team Scorches – 6 Vs. 6 Fun Activity. Everyone gets a Scorch Cannon.
  • Showdown – 3 Vs. 3 Activity. Eliminate the opposing team until the timer runs out. Best out of 5 Rounds.
  • Mayhem – 6 Vs. 6 Activity. Boosted Ability and Super regeneration.
  • Momentum: Control – 6 Vs. 6 Activity. Instant Respawn, reduced Health, and no Radar.

Iron Banner

Iron Banner is a recurring PvP event that comes in Destiny 2 twice a season. Complete matches and earn exclusive armor, weapons, shaders, emblem, and the Iron Lord seal.

You can check Light.gg for the Iron Banner Loot Table.

Trials of Osiris

Saint-XIV is an Exo and one of the most famous Titans in the history of Destiny. You can find him in the Tower’s Hangar. He is the vendor for Trials of Osiris activity: sells daily and weekly bounties for you to complete that reward you with XP and Reputation with him.

Saint XIV and Location

Trials of Osiris is an endgame PvP activity available from Friday until the weekly reset occurs on Tuesday. Trials is the most hardcore PvP activity where you may encounter some of the best players in the world. There are a couple of instances where Trials of Osiris is not active:

  • First Week of a Season/DLC Launch.
  • When the Iron Banner Event is active.
  • When the race for the Raid World First starts.

Note: Trials of Osiris requires you to have the latest DLC to be able to access the activity.

How to Unlock Access to Trials of Osiris

First, you have to meet Saint-XIV in the Tower Hangar and get the “Trials Access” quest and complete all objectives:

  • Reach Power requirement.
  • Reach “Legend” Glory Rank.
  • Defeat 50x Opponents in Elimination Playlist.

Return to Saint-XIV to unlock your Trials passages and the activity itself.

Trials of Osiris is a 3 Vs. 3 PvP match. The team that wins five rounds wins the match. Winning seven times without losing a single game will grant you access to the Simulated Lighthouse(this is the so-called "flawless run"). You will get a treasure at the Lighthouse containing a guaranteed Adept Trials weapon.

Passages are your entry card into the Trials of Osiris event. You can purchase only one of 5 different passages that grant a unique bonus:

  • Passage of Mercy – This passage forgives one loss per run.
  • Passage of Ferocity – If you have zero losses, this passage grants a bonus win after your third win.
  • Passage of Wealth – This passage increases trials rank reputation gains.
  • Passage of Wisdom – This passage grants bonus XP from Trials wins.
  • Passage of Confidence – This passage grants bonus rewards from the Lighthouse.

How to get Trials Gear

You can get Trials Gear from the following sources:

  • Trials Reputation Engrams
  • Going Flawless
  • Completing your card
  • Powerful & Pinnacle Rewards

Gambit

Drifter is a Rogue Lightbearer, the host and vendor of Gambit activity. He is found in the Tower’s Annex, and offers daily and weekly bounties for you to complete that reward you with XP and Reputation.

Drifter and Location

Your objective in the Gambit activity is to clear out each wave of monsters, collect and bank the motes that drop from them. Once your team has banked 100 motes, you will summon the Primeval which must be defeated as fast as possible. Defeat your Primeval boss before the opposing team and you win!

Banking motes will also send blockers to the opposing team’s bank, preventing them from banking further motes until they eliminate the intruders. There are three types of blockers that you can spawn in Gambit:

  • Small Blocker (5 Motes) – Summon a Taken Goblin.
  • Medium Blocker (10 Motes) – Summon a Taken Phalanx.
  • Large Blocker (15 Motes) – Summon a Taken Knight.

Note: If two or more blockers are summoned, they will begin to drain the bank, lowering the amount of notes banked. If your bank is being drained, eliminate the blockers as soon as possible!

Gambit also has a PvP mechanic that allows you to invade the opposing team and disturb them; three times during the collecting phase.

Triumphs & Seals

Triumphs are tracked objectives that you can complete to redeem various rewards and triumph points. Your total Triumph Score measures your accomplishment progress of the game, split into Active score and Career score:

  • Active Score – Only Currently obtainable Triumphs
  • Career Score – Includes Triumphs that can no longer be obtained.

There are eight categories of Triumphs, as shown below:

  • Lifetime
  • Seasonal
  • Destination
  • Legends
  • Legacy
  • Medals
  • Exotic Catalysts and Weapon Patterns
  • Lore

Seals, or Titles, are a collection of Triumphs representing the completion of all achievements for a specific activity, season, event, or destination. Titles are cosmetic Texts displayed above a player’s name or below the character in the inspect menu.

Cursebreaker Seal Cursebreaker Title

Note: Obtaining a particular seal is not only for cosmetic purposes but also shows your proficiency in a specific activity.

It is possible to upgrade a Title further by gilding the Seal. This is done by completing a number of additional Triumphs, and it simply turns the title Yellow for the rest of the season and adding a permanent symbol that denotes how many times the title has been gilded. Below, you can check the titles that you can still obtain and gild:

  • Deadeye – A seal for different types of Weapons and medals in PvE & PvP activities.
  • Flawless – Trials of Osiris Seal
  • Conqueror – Grandmaster Nightfall Strikes Seal
  • Unbroken – Crucible Seal
  • Dredgen – Gambit Seal
  • Event Seals – Iron Banner, Guardian Games, Solstice, Festival of the Lost, Dawning.

Armor Synthesis & Cosmetics

ARMOR SYNTHESIS

Transmogrification, or Armor Synthesis, allows you to change the appearance of your equipped armor, without sacrificing stats, perks, and other unique traits. If you want to transmog your gear you have to understand the basics to get you started:

  • Defeat enemies to earn Synthstrand.
  • Once you have collected at least 150x Synthstrand, you can take bounties from Ada-1 to earn Synthcords.
  • Synthcord is the material used at the Loom in the Tower (Near Ada-1) to obtain Synthweave.
  • Synthweave is used to convert an unlocked legendary or lower quality armor appearance into an Universal Armor Ornament.

You must complete the initiation quest to unlock the Armor Synthesis system in Destiny 2. Visit Banshee-44 in the Tower and accept the “Armor Synthesis Introduction” questline. Head west towards the Bray Exoscience area in Europa and push through the enemies to access the final terminal.

Then, find the processing unit found on the other side of the room , and head to Ada-1 back in the Tower. After a brief conversation, interact with the Loom and accept the tutorial quest “Tying it All Together” that teaches you how to customize your first transmog.

COSMETICS

Cosmetic items are a unique type of customizing your Guardian’s armor and weapons. A Light-wielder that destroys Gods left and right without being good-looking has to add some ornaments and shaders on his gear:

Shaders

Shaders are cosmetic items that apply a color scheme or texture on your equipment. They can be applied individually to Weapons, Armor, Ghost Shells, Ships and Sparrows. Shaders cannot be applied on Exotic Gear.

You can unlock shaders by completing challenging triumphs and from Eververse through Bright Dust, Silver, or Mnemonic Engrams.

Ships

Ships are necessary to travel to other planets. They don’t do much in the game, just cosmetic items showcased when you are in orbit or traveling through space.

Sparrows

Sparrows are land-based vehicles used to get into the desired place within a planet quickly. They have different qualities(faster summoning, shorter cooldown, reload weapon when riding, airborn roll stabilizers, airborne agility, improve dodging,etc.) and speed limits, as shown in the following list:

  • Basic Sparrow – 132 Speed
  • Uncommon Sparrow – 140 Speed
  • Rare Sparrow – 150 Speed
  • Legendary Sparrow – 160 Speed
  • Exotic Sparrow – 160 Speed

Emotes

As soon as you start your Destiny 2 journey, you will have a few emotes in your collection. You can assign up to four emotes in your character menu tab at once, and they usually are found in the Eververse shop and various triumph rewards.

Finishers

Finishers are precisely what they sound like! Bring an enemy down to roughly 20% of their health, and they spawn a floating orb above their head. Run up to them, initiate the finisher, and eliminate the enemy in style. Finishers are really useful in difficult content where the enemy have big health pools.

Finisher

How to keep yourself updated with Destiny 2

Weekly Resets

Many rewards and activities are tied to the weekly reset, but most are limited to one per week, depending on the chosen activity. The limitations reset every Tuesday.

You can check out the Today In Destiny website for the current featured Raid and Dungeon rotation, Nightfall Rewards, Bounties, Lost Sectors, and more.

You can also check Divide's Youtube Channel for daily vendor updates and news.

Content Creators

When it comes to content creators, we have many possibilities to choose from, but the best creators we recommend watching are:

PvE Content Creators:

PvP Content Creators:

Lore Content Creators:

Destiny 2 TWAB

Destiny 2 has a regularly updated community page shared worldwide for news and hotfixes. You can find the Destiny 2 TWAB on the official Bungie Website.

Note: "TWAB" stands for This Week At Bungie.

Conclusion

This is the end of our in-depth Beginner's guide for Destiny 2. We hope you have found everything you need about this massive and complex game. This guide should help you understand how the game systems work and what is the best approach to Destiny 2 as a new player.

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