(Outdated) Personal "Not pocket-sized" Guide for New Lights

This informational guide is meant to inform New Lights (new players) many aspects of the game while discussing activities they can do to learn the game's mechanics or improve their skills. This guide is not an all-in-one self-help guide. There are too many aspects to this game (weapons, armor, activities, etc.) to discuss, but I will discuss as many as I can. You can (hopefully) find more information about specific gear or more in the list of Steam guides by filtering out the meme/click-bait guides. This guide is based on my personal Destiny 2 journey since the Red War and onwards when Year 1 content became free-to-play. There will be omitted information. Let's be honest, it takes a lot of time to make a guide alone with everything a player needs to know in an MMORPG, and you probably won't read all of it. Though, if you are still reading this, you are already on your way to becoming a better Guardian than most. Maybe.

No seasonal-related activities will be elaborated on due to their short-term relevance or constant changing in the seasonal cycle. The core daily or weekly aspects of the game will also be update as necessary to reflect the current state of the game.

Information may change between Seasons or years.

Disclaimer: With the amount of information being written, there will inevitably be typos, mistakes, bad information, etc. Comment about it, and I'll fix them if needed. I am one person. There's no way I will get everything right the first time around.

Reading is an Important Aspect of This Game (as with any other MMO)

Why isn't my bounty completing? I've killed at least 50 enemies.

What do you mean check what my bounty says? It says to defeat opponents with Kinetic weapons. I'm shooting them with an Auto Rifle. Isn't an Auto Rifle Kinetic? It's not? It's a weapon that uses Primary Ammo? Kinetic weapons are weapons in the first slot, and my Auto Rifle is in the Energy slot?

That's 20-30 minutes wasted on a simple bounty because someone didn't read. These question wouldn't exist if we all took the time to read. Anything having to do with player progression and has text regarding that ought to be read. Everything in your character interface should be read carefully as a new player. Some terms such as "Kinetic" and "Energy" are often interchanged in discussion when they shouldn't be. Kinetic weapons are always in the first slot from the top, followed by Energy then Power. This is seen when hovering over each slot and viewing the gray title on the left. The same goes for armor slots where class item is always the last slot. I often find myself correcting friends when they mix up the terms "Kinetic" and "Primary".

Do yourself and everyone else a favor. Take the time to read your gear and the interface before asking questions. Often, all it takes to access information is to hover over an icon. When in doubt, hover an icon. Whenever there's an unfamiliar icon, hover over it. It will save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run, and it will set you apart from at least 50% of players who don't read (even veterans with over 2000 hours don't know what's available on each subclass because they don't make it a habit to read new things). It might also give you reason to blame some people you know for long-term confusion created by poor use of terminology.

Choosing a Main Class

I must first say that I encourage you to try all three classes. It is very easy to miss out on their individual potentials for the sake of convenience. Each subclass has their own unique aspects and builds that can be discovered when coming across Exotic items for them. This was one of my biggest gripes about my first year playing. Though, we didn't have as many Exotic items as we do now. There are some YouTube videos that go over builds or use them, but those videos weren't for me as they would take too long to discuss potential or to give the details. You can look up some as you find new Exotics.

Titan

Do you fantasize being a defender? A one-man army on the frontline? Charging down large groups of enemies with potential repercussions you could care less about? Are you fearless or capable of decisive action in the face of imminent defeat? Do you like football? Titan might be for you!

The warrior archetype, but mostly only known for three or four things these days. Starts out stereotyped as the punching class by social media and suicidal tactics and thus given, by social media, the name "crayon eater" which originates from part of the U.S. military's inside rivalry joke.

Despite these perspectives on Titans, players who do well on Titans are often well-respected for their utility that allows others to hold their ground safely or for their ability to clear out armies alone. Their abilities tend towards up-close and personal combat but have some range options, the most popular being Thundercrash. They are the class that can make the decision no one else can make (and fail miserably sometimes).*

For some reason, people don't like their bulky designs despite their archetype.

Strengths

• Variety of unique Exotic armors for numerous builds
  
• Aggressive Supers for clearing many enemies
  
• Supers have greater resistances than most
  
• Reliable jumps that can cover great distances horizontally or vertically
  
• The strongest melee subclass utilized in speedruns
  
• Several subclasses with healing mechanics built in
  
• Barricade that can take extremely high amounts of damage

Weaknesses

• Majority of subclasses are close-combat types
  
• Large shoulder pads (for those who dislike them)
  
• All healing mechanics are on the melee ability
  
• Barricade doesn't actually protect around the edges
  
• Shoulder pads don't give you bonus shoulder-slam damage

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Hunter

Do you prefer working alone? Do you feel thrill in stalking enemies? Are you one to hit weak spots with little trouble? Are you someone who avoids close-combat completely but may occasionally like the up-close and personal approach? Do you like invisibility? Bows? Capes? Hunter might be for you!

The assassin/archer archetype (literally the only class that can keep a bow drawn while using jump abilities) known for their PvP-focused abilities compared to the other two classes. They are more specialized for defeating targets one at a time.* They received much understandable hate in Crucible during Beyond Light's release and are suspected to be Bungie's favorite, resulting in late nerfs regarding PvP. Their kits are often perceived as underwhelming in PvE, and their Exotic armor arsenal is mostly lacking in PvE.

As a master Hunter, you can take advantage of weak spots, control waves of enemies, or confidently hunt elite targets alone. In higher difficulty content, you often rely on Titans or Warlocks to take fire or to assist you with their support utility.

They probably have some of the worst armor appearances out of the three classes. Fashion is difficult for them.

Strengths

• Invisibility option in some cases to throw off AI
  
• Several PvP-focused subclasses
  
• Easy-to-master jump abilities
  
• The second-highest damage potential melee subclass
  
• Can hold draws on Bows while using jump abilities
  
• Dodge options for instant weapon reload or melee ability reset
  
• Shinobi cosplay potential

Weaknesses

• Lack multiple useful, impacting Exotic armors across all content
  
• Golden Gun subclasses have low damage resistance bonuses (if any) for the duration of their Supers
  
• Many people in the Grandmaster Nightfall and Raid player populations are unwilling to take Hunters due to Grandmaster meta subclasses, with the exception of one subclass using a specific Exotic, and lack of Supers that contest Well of Radiance, Ward of Dawn, or Thundercrash when doing DPS to a boss (Way of the Sharpshooter Golden Gun with Celestial Nighthawk, in some cases, can contest Thundercrash with a shot on a boss's weak spot AND is a much safer option. Despite this, there is a continued negative perception of Hunters in Raids, leading to them to be shunned by Raid LFG's.).
  
• Lack of symmetrical armor; many ugly Exotic armor
  
• General stigma associated with (but not limited to) the class

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Warlock

Do you desire to rain destruction from above? Do you enjoy space magic? Or perhaps you prefer a support role on a team? Do you like the Dark side of the Force? Do you like wearing robes or trench coats? Warlock might be for you!

The mage archetype known to get the short end of the stick, despite being Lance Reddick's favorite subclass (Lance Reddick is the voice actor for Zavala and a well-known actor in film industry). Early days of middle-tree Void subclass; nerfed soon after. Top-tree Solar subclass said/known to be overbearing in high-tier PvP; nerfed during Beyond Light. Stasis subclass melee freeze overpowered; nerfed soon after. Bottom-tree Solar with a Season of the Lost artifact mod making too many orbs easily in lower difficulty content; interaction removed. It's really difficult to have fun with them with this kind of history.

Failed to activate glide in time? You drop faster to your death instead. Ran down a slope too steep for your jump? You glide downwards to your death. But you know what? It happens even to the best of Warlocks, and they sometimes have a good laugh with their friends about it. When you are a good Warlock in PvP, you might be hated as much as Hunters. Though, if you hate failing the jump ability, this class is probably not for you.

Despite all of the negatives, they are still known for several good aspects. They have the greatest potency with their jump abilities, making them the best aerial fighters. They can be almost any type of mechanic a fireteam needs. Healing, burst damage, army clear, you name it.* They also have their own solo-content subclasses. And the popular "IMMA FIRIN MAH' LAZER" or "SHOOP DA WHOOP" subclass.

Strengths

• Greatest potential in aerial combat
  
• Aerial mechanics
  
• Unique Blink jump ability
  
• Healing Rifts allow you and an ally to hold your ground
  
• Variety of long-range Supers

Weaknesses

• Steep learning curve for aerial mechanics and their application in high-stress scenarios
  
• Failed glides often lead to unintended faster dropping and, potentially, death
  
• Melee abilities are often underwhelming and not used*
  
• Often nerfed immediately after new content giving them any spotlight is released
  
• Blink misfires

*These are mostly perspectives in PvE rather than PvP.

The subclasses are briefly described by specialty and organized based on the categories below. These brief lists will serve as a quick references for each subclass when deciding based on these categories or when completing certain bounties. I do not know if I will elaborate on them in separate guides and link those guides below. I would need a lot of time for each one if I did so. Too much.

Light Subclass Short Specialization Summaries

As of Season of Plunder, all Light subclasses have been reworked and are now more universal with the new Fragments between the three classes. Still, melee abilities, Aspects, and weapon perks are major factors for which Fragments are chosen for certain builds.

Void Subclass

Specializes in defensive tactics with offensive options as needed. Makes use of Overshield, Invisibility, or Devour for survival or Volatility and Suppression as debuffs to disrupt enemies.

Solar Subclass

A mix of offense and defense. Can prioritize one over the other. Create openings and pathways forward. Makes use of Restoration to continue the fight or Ignition to destroy groups.

Arc Subclass

A focus in mobility and aggressive assaults. Can utilize Amplify to move more quickly and wreak havoc with Jolts or Blinds. High-risk, high-reward.

Choosing a Subclass (Titan)

Wave clear potential subclasses

Striker - Fists of Havoc, Touch of Thunder with related grenades, Spark of Shock

Sunbreaker - Hammer of Sol (throw hammers that explode on impact; Sol Invictus Aspect to create Sunspots that deal AoE damage)

Sentinel - Sentinel Shield, spam Shield Throws, Doom Fang Pauldrons has strong synergy; exceptional for Void Super kills or Multikills; Echo of Expulsion, Echo of Reprisal, Controlled Demolition

Burst subclasses

Striker - Thundercrash (can be used next to or far away; Cuirass of the Falling Star for more damage and safety; popular Raid pick), Thunderclap fully charged

Sunbreaker - Roaring Flames Aspect at three stacks, Throwing Hammer melee ability, Tractor Cannon debuff, corresponding Exotic armor for melee ability damage (Synthoceps or Wormgod Caress

Defensive subclasses

Sentinel - Bastion, Offensive Bulwark; Echo of Leeching; Shield Throw

Sunbreaker - Loreley Splendor Helm, max Resilience for Barricade cooldown reduction, Sol Invictus for Sunspots for Restoration buff

Choosing a Subclass (Hunter)

Wave clear potential subclasses

Gunslinger - Golden Gun: Deadshot (start with 6 rounds; refunds a bullet on Solar ignition, Ember of Combustion for ignite on Super final blow), Gunpowder Gamble Aspect for modified grenade that deals massive AoE damage

Stasis - Revenant (Melee ability spam with resets from Gambler's Dodge or Stasis Shards)

Arcstrider - Lethal Current, Spark of Shock

Burst subclasses

Arcstrider - Combination Blow x3, Shotgun with One-Two Punch perk

Gunslinger - Golden Gun: Marksman (Golden Gun gains precision option, Celestial Nighthawk helmet for single bullet mode

Nightstalker - Moebius Quiver (must wait for tether to do additional damage on second volley)

Defensive subclasses

Arcstrider - Arc Staff guard, Raiju's Harness, Disorienting Blow

Nightstalker - Deadfall; Echo of Persistence, Echo of Undermining; any Aspect combination, mainly known for high invisibility utility

Choosing a Subclass (Warlock)

Wave clear potential subclasses

Stormcaller - Stormtrance, Chain Lightning, Electrostatic Mind, Spark of Shock, Spark of Magnitude

Dawnblade - Daybreak, Ember of Beams, Blistering, Combustion, Eruption

Voidwalker - Nova Warp (hmmm...), Echo of Expulsion

Burst subclasses

Stormcaller - Chaos Reach

Voidwalker - Cataclysm (Shatter Bomb), Chaos Accelerant (overcharged grenade)

Defensive subclasses

Dawnblade - Well of Radiance gives substantially high regeneration, previous theme of Attunement of Grace is still available through Ember of Benevolence, Singeing, Solace, and Torches and Healing Grenade.

Shadebinder - Bleak Watchers for passive freezing; controlled freezing with Super; Melee ability instantly applies freeze

Power (also called Light Level from Destiny 1)

The Meaning of the Number

Power is calculated as the average of your gear score. That is, the sum of all gear values divided by 8 (the number of pieces of gear equipped). This number dictates the overall damage you deal versus enemies and how much damage you take.

• Any amount over the recommended in a PvM activity gives no bonus. You will notice when killed by an enemy that their Power matches yours in such a situation.
  
• Thresholds are visually indicated by icons to the left of an enemy's name.
  
  • A gray icon usually means you are in the recommended range of Power and will deal and take close to the expected amount of damage if you were exactly at the recommended amount.
    
  • A red icon usually means you are moderately under-powered, meaning you will deal moderately less damage and take extra damage.
    
  • A skull icon means you will deal insignificant amounts of damage and usually die in a single hit.

Certain activities have exceptions to what was detailed above.

• Competitive Crucible has Power Advantage enabled. Non-competitive has Power-advantage disabled.
  
  • Competitive Crucible refers to Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner.
    
  • As of Arc 3.0, both of these modes have Power Level Advantage Disabled.
• Grandmaster Nightfalls are capped at 5 Power below Master's recommended Power, and you must be at this minimum to start a Grandmaster Nightfall. Because of this, you will always be 25 Power below the number for Grandmaster Nightfalls, meaning you take extra damage and deal less.

When a piece of gear is far below the recommended Power of an activity, it deals much less damage regardless of your average Power.

At the beginning of each season, a new artifact becomes available while the previous one is removed. Artifacts grant bonus Power based on XP, but this bonus is reset at the beginning of the next season.

How to Increase Your Power

To increase your Power, you must earn various drops of higher Power. At the beginning of a new year, all players start at the lowest possible Power for the year. All drops will accumulate higher Power until a cap. Upon reaching this cap, you will unlock new Legendary Engram drops, namely Prime Engrams, Powerful Gear, or Pinnacle Gear. Upon reaching the second cap, you can only boost your gear's Power through Pinnacle Gear drops. The third and final cap is when Pinnacles max out at 10 above the previous cap.

Example: Season of the Lost's Prime Engram and Powerful Power caps were 1320 for the purpose of increasing in Power, and the Pinnacle Power cap was 1330. If your highest Power possible was 1324, Powerful and Prime engrams would drop as 1324. Pinnacles would drop as 1325 or 1326 depending on the reward source. Pinnacles capped at 1330 Power.

Umbral Engrams

Because it seems like they are here to stay, this section was added post Beyond Light. Umbral Engrams can be decrypted by Rahool at the Tower or Focused into specific seasonal engrams. Focusing requires ownership of the corresponding season pass.

Prime Engrams

Prime Engrams drop at random* when defeating challenging enemies or by completing Crucible matches. These have a limited number of drops each day, represented by a green icon called Prime Attunement. This can be viewed on your character screen.

To decrypt Prime Engrams, you must speak to Master Rahool at the Tower.

*It is said that the drop from challenging enemies depends on an accumulation of an invisible value determined by type of enemy defeated.

Powerful Gear

Powerful Gear is earned through various activities. However, they vary by tier. Tier 1 is the lowest, and Tier 3 is the highest. The Tier determines how much more Power the reward is above your highest possible average Power with your current gear owned.

• Completing Weekly Challenges from the playlist vendors (Tier 1)
  
• Contributing 5000 Weekly XP for your clan's Seasonal level (Tier 2)
  
• Clan participation through the four main activities(?*)
  
  • One engram for each activity each week
    
  • At least half of a fireteam must be from the clan to count progress towards the Weekly Clan Engram (Crucible and Gambit require a win respectively)
    
  • You do not need to participate in a activity directly to get the Engram reward. A fireteam could finish the Crucible Engram requirement without you, and you would still be able to claim the Crucible Engram. In theory, only three clan members are needed to complete all requirements for the rest of the clan to get the Engrams.
  *I don't remember if these are Powerful Gear rewards.
  
• Vanguard Nightfall progress (Tier 1)
  
  • Each difficulty rewards a different amount of progress in multiples of 20%.
• Crucible's Survival (Tier 1)
  
  • Requires 7 wins (wtf)
• The Raid that came out before the current Raid giving Pinnacle Gear rewards (Tier 3)
  
  • As an example, when Vault of Glass came out, Deep Stone Crypt was changed from Pinnacle to Powerful Gear on completion of the raid.

Pinnacle Rewards

Various activities have requirements to obtain the Pinnacle Gear reward. For example, the Vanguard Strikes playlist requires you to complete three strikes with a subclass matching the Burn modifier of the week (Burn modifier is viewable by hovering over the icon that appears in the set of icons in the lower right corner of the screen before joining the queue). In the current model of Pinnacle Gear activities, the following give Pinnacle Rewards:

• Vanguard Strikes (Complete 3 strikes in playlist)
  
• Crucible (Complete 3 matches in playlist)
  
• Gambit (Complete 3 matches)
  
• Nightfall (Complete a Nightfall with a score of 100,000 or more)
  
• The most recent Dungeon released
  
• The most recent Raid released; one given at the end of each main encounter(?)
  
• Empire Hunt (probably will be changed after Witch Queen)
  
• A current Seasonal activity
  
• Certain activities granting specific Exotic Gear (may change with Witch Queen)
  
• Dungeon in weekly rotation

Once close to the maximum base Power permitted for Powerful or Prime drops, Pinnacle Rewards should be obtained last during a week as they are the only means to increase Power after.

Boosting Gear Power
There is an infusion system in place to prevent certain gear from becoming unusable. Only Legendary and Exotic gear can be improved through infusion. Infusions are performed by going to details on a gear piece, hovering over the Infuse box, selecting a higher Power item in the matching category, and initiating the Dismantle for Infusion.



This process normally requires an Upgrade Module, but if you infuse the same exact name gear with one you already have (not from Year 1), it only costs Glimmer instead. The Glimmer method can save you a lot of materials in the long run but may require using gear with lower stats or undesirable perks temporarily.

Character Stats

Each stat is described by Tier or by stat value. The digit in the tens place is the name of the Tier. This also means that your stats only change with multiples of 10. Any points between have no effect. For example, 40 points and 45 points are both Tier 4. The Tier determines the values of the bonuses each stat gives. You can view the changes between your current Tier and the next by hovering over a stat's icon.



For some stats, you may notice at extremely low or high Tiers, there is little change. This is where you want to figure out general minimums and maximums for each stat.

In descending order:

Mobility

• Increases strafe, crouch movement speed and maximum jump height.
  
• Does not increase sprint speed. Players who move slightly faster than you are utilizing a jump ability mechanic, Exotic leg armor increasing sprint speed, or subclass with an ability that increases sprint speed when its condition is fulfilled.
  
• Affects the Hunter's Dodge cooldown. Useful for getting instant reload (Marksman Dodge) or fully restoring melee charge much sooner than your actual melee ability cooldown (Gambler's Dodge).

Resilience

• Increase damage reduction. Applies to both shield and health.
  
  • If you are familiar with Halo, know that Destiny uses the same Health and Shield system. Even though the bar shows as a single, continuous bar, it is actually two separate bars. One is for your health, and one is for your shield. When your bar turns red accompanied by a distinct audio and flash for the shield breaking and the Guardian grunting in pain, you are in the health section. You may notice the length of each bar while very low on health and regenerating both bars simultaneously through certain abilities or mods. These lengths do not accurately reflect total health. Why Bungie did this is unknown.
• Affects the Titan's Barricade cooldown. Usefulness depends on how often you use the Barricade or if you use Exotics related to Barricade.

Recovery

• Affects how soon regeneration occurs and how quickly you regenerate health and shield.
  
• Affects the Warlock's Rift cooldown.
  
  • Useful for creating safe areas or holding your ground often. Also allows for more frequent interactions with certain Exotics.

Discipline

• Affects Grenade cooldown.
  
  • Grenades may have individual cooldowns depending on the subclass.
• Does not increase Grenade damage.

Intellect

• Affects Super cooldown.
  
  • All Supers have individual cooldowns and thresholds.

Strength

• Affects Melee ability cooldown.
  
  • Useful for builds dependent on Melee abilities.
• Does not increase Melee ability damage.

Stasis subclasses generally have longer cooldowns, but these can potentially be negated through certain mods, Aspects, and Fragments utilizing Stasis Shards.

Currency

Seen at the top right of your character screen.

Glimmer

Glimmer is used for several things.

• Upgrading weapons or armor
  
• Purchasing bounties
  
• Purchasing destination materials (to be removed for S19)
  
• Purchasing weapons and armor available on rotation from Banshee-44 or Ada-1, respectively.
  
• Reacquiring gear, equipment, or flair from Collections
  
• Applying weapons mods (subject to change as armor mods and shaders were changed in Beyond Light)
  
• Resetting your Seasonal Artifact entirely (subject to change as the buildcraft community hates this; Glimmer cost increases with each reset)

You will always obtain Glimmer at the end of activities you participated in. Enemies will also drop Glimmer, though at extremely low rates. If you have any, you can use a Rainmaker to gain a chance of Glimmer dropping from enemies after a precision kill, but this is often an inconvenience to remember every login and still somewhat insignificant.

Typically, you are awarded more than 2500 Glimmer from a chest at the end of a Lost Sector, Public Event, playlist activity, Nightfall, or Raid encounter.

Lost Sectors, however, are time-gated and will only award around this amount the first two runs. Afterwards, you will gain much less for subsequent runs. You have to wait a certain amount of time for the same Lost Sector to award the original amount again.

Heroic Public Events grant much more Glimmer than regular Public Events, but depending on how long it takes to trigger and complete one, you may sometimes be better off completing a normal one and going to the next one. As of Season of the Seraph, the stated values are 10k and 12.5k Glimmer for Heroic while regular gives 3.3k and 4,645 Glimmer (weird numbers?)

Glimmer is capped at 250,000.

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Legendary Shards

Legendary Shards are used for mostly the same things as Glimmer.

• Upgrading weapons or armor
  
• Purchasing weapons or armor from Banshee-44 or Ada-1
  
• Purchasing consumables from Banshee-44 or Ada-1
  
• Reacquiring gear, equipment, or flair from Collections
  
• Purchasing Destination Material from Rahool (to be removed for S19)

Legendary Shards are typically obtained when dismantling Legendary or Exotic gear and from some Ghosts, Ships, or Vehicles. Dismantling Legendary gear normally gives 3 Shards, and Exotic gear normally gives 5 Shards. Season Passes also give some when reaching the Rank that unlocks them as a reward.

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Bright Dust

Used to purchase ornaments, emotes, shaders, Ghost skins, Ships, or Vehicles. Essentially gives player a means to acquire these things for free. You can obtain Bright Dust through weekly Vendor Challenges from the playlist vendors, certain repeatable bounties, holiday event bounties, Seasonal Challenges, or as a redeemable reward in the Season Pass. Repeatable bounties give 10(?) Bright Dust each.

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Silver

Silver is a micro-transaction currency purchased with real money to purchase cosmetics or Season Passes. These purchases can be refunded in full within a week from the moment of purchase if unopened or not redeemed.

Bounties (main source of XP; other notes)

Bounties are the dailies of this game. Completion provides XP and other potential rewards based on the vendor they are from. Thus, they are the primary means of gaining Power from the seasonal artifact each season and ranking up season rank. Each bounty costs Glimmer (why am I paying to do a bounty?), but it is a small amount compared to what you get at the end of activities.

All daily bounties change each day, and acquired bounties can be deleted anytime after purchase or will eventually expire. Once a bounty is completed, you must click on it in your Quest tab to redeem the rewards. You can hold them indefinitely due to this fact, but you cannot acquire a duplicate bounty doing so. Redeeming a bounty on a different day it is available will also prevent you from claiming that bounty to do again.

Bounties vary between Daily, Weekly, and repeatable with the exception of Ada-1's bounties completed for Synthcord (extra step of inserting into Loom nearby required to obtain Synthweave).

Completing Bounties

Most bounties from vendors associated with playlist activities need to done in those activities. For example, a Crucible bounty from Lord Shaxx must be completed in Crucible. Some bounties are exceptions; most notably, precision kills, grenade kills, and a specific Super Multikills bounty from Zavala. These can be completed anywhere.

Banshee-44's bounties can be completed in any activity and are the main source for Enhancement Cores early on. They are all weapon, element, or slot specific.

Destination bounties are completed where they come from. For example, if you acquire bounties from Failsafe on Nessus, they must be done on Nessus.

Ada-1's bounties are activity specific bounties, but you can only acquire one at a time. These are expensive at first and should be low priority. They also never expire.

Hawthorne's bounties must be completed with at least one clanmate on your fireteam in the corresponding activity described in the bounty.

When preparing for Nightfalls, if you know which destination the Nightfall will be at, you can grab bounties from there before starting and potentially complete those bounties during Nightfall runs.

Suggestions on Choosing or Completing Bounties

In many cases, you can finish multiple bounties in a single activity or in a short amount of time. However, you may find yourself having difficulty finishing some bounties in a timely manner. If you find that it's taking you more than 10 minutes in one activity or you are repeating an activity to finish a bounty, you may want to evaluate if it's worth picking it up again in the future. There are some factors regarding timely completions for some bounties, but you should consider your time and the amount of XP a bounty gives and rule out some to save yourself the trouble and stress.

Other Notes on Gaining XP

• You gain a very small amount of XP from kills.
  
• Weekly Challenges from various vendors grant large amounts of XP.
  
• Completing activities or Dungeon/Raid encounters yields a moderate amount of XP
  
• In the current season model, there are also Seasonal Challenges to complete.
  
  • Like bounties, you want to weigh the time, effort, and stress that may be involved with completing certain Seasonal Challenges and decide whether to complete one, do one gradually, or not do one at tall.

Seasonal Challenges

Every season, a list of seasonal challenges unlocks with each passing week, up to (??) weeks. Each on gives different amounts of XP based on the number of + symbols, and some will give Bright Dust.

I leave the main source of XP label on bounties because players who reach ridiculous season ranks utilize repeatable bounties rather than Seasonal Challenges. If you are someone who doesn't have the time to grind bounties or dislikes doing dailies, you can hold onto Seasonal Challenges until the following week and redeem a few at a time at the beginning of the week. The reason is that each weekly reset, you are granted a Well-Rested buff that gives you double XP for up to 5 Season Ranks. Although this alone won't complete your Season Pass, it can make up for over 30 ranks alone with the rest of the ranks completed by bounties or activity completions.

Reputation Rank (for getting additional gear or Legendary Shards)

Each playlist vendor has a reputation rank system. When completing the corresponding playlist activity, you gain reputation. While on a streak (playing the same activity consecutively and fulfilling the conditions for the streak), you gain bonus points. Each time you rank up, you get a Legendary Engram that can give gear associated with the vendor (ex: Zavala is of Vanguard, so his Engrams may give Vanguard-themed armor). When hitting certain reputation ranks, they give an additional reward. Rewards must be acquired by visiting the vendor in-person. Eventually, you can reset your rank back to 1 to reacquire the same rewards, except for the Ascendant Shard and ritual weapon. The Ascendant Shard is replaced by an Exotic Engram, and the ritual weapon is replaced by Enhancement Prisms*.

*Ritual weapons are replaced with their ornaments first. At least that's what I remember.

Banshee-44 now has a similar reputation rank system, but it does not involve activities. Each time you dismantle gear, you gain reputation points. Dismantling Legendary gear grants 3 points while Rare gear grants 1 point. You also gain reputation rank points when completing and turning in his bounties.

Consumables (Core materials, where to get them)

Gear Consumables (for upgrading weapons or armor)

- Enhancement Core

• Random reward from Adept or Hero Nightfalls
  
• Dismantling upgraded gear or Legendary weapons
  
• Legendary Engram packages
  
• Finest Matterweave drop reward
  
• Legend or Master Lost Sectors
  
• Season Pass rewards
  
• Used to upgrade weapons and armor or to buy Upgrade Modules or Enhancement Prisms

- Enhancement Prism

• Random reward from Hero, Legend, or Master Nightfalls
  
• Dismantling upgraded armor (must be certain Energy values)
  
• Redeemable from vendors at certain ranks
  
• Purchasable from Master Rahool
  
• Used to upgrade armor or to buy Ascendant Shards
  
• Inventory and Postmaster capacities are capped at 50 each

- Ascendant Shard (also called golfballs by community)

• First-time reset for playlist vendors per season
  
• Random reward from Master or Grandmaster Nightfalls
  
• Purchasable from Master Rahool
  
• Season Pass rewards
  
• Used to upgrade armor or purchase gear from the Monument to Lost Lights
  
• Inventory and Postmaster capacities are capped at 10 each

- Upgrade Module

• Purchased from Banshee-44 or Ada-1
  
• Used to infuse gear and increase their Power
  
• Inventory capacity is capped at 25.

- Resonant Alloy

• For weapon shaping. Used for finalizing the shape of a weapon.
  
• Obtained from dismantling legendary weapons.

- Ascendant Alloy

• For weapon shaping. Used to reshape a weapon.
  
• Obtained from Weekly Witch Queen missions on higher difficulties.
  
• Limited quantity can be purchased from Rahool for 400 Legendary Shards.
  
• Inventory capacity is capped at 10.

Destination Consumables (a.k.a. Destination Materials; no longer obtainable)

These were previously obtainable through Spider then Rahool and now are no longer obtainable. They were removed to simplify currency for essential consumables.

Methods of obtaining them include finding the actual material while roaming open-world or opening chests from any source at the destination.

- Dusklight Shard (EDZ)

- Spinmetal Leaves (Cosmodrone)

- Microphasic Datalattice (Nessus)

- Etheric Spiral (Tangled Shore; will no longer have use if Tangled Shore goes away when Witch Queen launches)

- Baryon Bough (Dreaming City)

- Helium Filaments (The Moon)

- Glacial Starwort (Europa)

Other desirable consumables

- "based on class" Synthcord (picture is Plush Synthcord; Ada-1's bounties; are class-specific and cannot be acquired by one class to redeem for a different class)

- Exotic Cipher (Season Pass or Weekend Xur; can only hold one at a time)

- Spoils of Conquest (Raid chest drop at the end of an encounter; used to purchase random rolls after completing a Raid or an Exotic associated with past raids from the Monument to Lost Lights)

Postmaster (when you can't pick up gear)

Kadi 55-30 is the NPC who holds items you didn't or couldn't pick up during activities. Kadi can hold up to 21 items (three rows). Whenever items from activities get sent to the Postmaster while at max capacity, the oldest item will be removed to make room for the newest item. Because of this, you must visit the Postmaster often to ensure new items do not remove something valuable.

Character Management Through 3rd-Party

If you connect your Bungie/Steam account to either of the following, you will gain access to management tools that allow you to manage items across all three characters, purchase bounties without visiting vendors, or, in the case of Destiny Item Management, create loadouts without having the game loaded. Essentially, you can save a lot of time from loading into the Tower or visiting NPCs.

Destiny 2 Companion app - Check your mobile store

Destiny Item Management (DIM) - https://destinyitemmanager.com/en/ or mobile store

Both require access to your Bungie data for obvious reasons. Read their Privacy Statements if you have concerns regarding data pulled and used.

Note the following when using either website/app:

• You do not need to be playing a specific character to manage their items or bounties
  
• Items cannot be dismantled (safety precaution)
  
• Bounties can only be obtained at the Tower or in orbit
  
• The Destiny 2 Companion app needs to be updated every now and then for seasonal or holiday vendors

Weapon Slots and Ammo Type

Weapon slots

Kinetic - Contains weapons with Stasis or no element. (It is said that Stasis is not counted as Kinetic for bounties and was put in Kinetic to prevent cluttering Energy weapons; arguably a good thing because Match Game is hard enough as is for newer players)
Energy - Weapons with Arc, Solar, or Void that do not use Heavy Ammo
Power - Weapons using Heavy ammo with Arc, Solar, Void, or Stasis

Ammo types

Primary


Symbolized by white, single-bullet icon. Weapons typically include Auto Rifles, Scout Rifles, Pulse Rifles, Hand Cannons, Submachine Guns, Sidearms, and Bows.

Special


Symbolized by green, two-bullet icon. Weapons typically include Shotguns, single-shell Grenade Launchers, Fusion Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Trace Rifles, and Glaives.

Heavy


Symbolized by purple, three-bullet icon. Weapons typically include Swords, cartridge Grenade Launchers, Rocket Launchers, Linear Fusion Rifles, and Machine Guns.

The word "typically" is used because some exceptions include Exotic weapons.

Mods (add content based on Lightfall)

• All basic mods are available to all players.
  
• Formerly known as Charged with Light or Elemental Well armor mods, these have been combined into the new Armor Charge system.
  
  • Max stacks is three
    
  • Orb of Power grants one stack

Armor (add content based on Lightfall)

Masterwork Gear

Masterworked gear is prized in all endgame content and in build crafting. A gear is Masterworked when upgraded to Tier 10 and is represented visually by a gold border around the item's icon.

Masterwork Weapon

Each weapon has a random Masterwork stat. After Masterworked, the bonus is represented by a gold bar in the corresponding stat.



For weapons, increasing the Masterwork stat requires Glimmer, Legendary Shards and Enhancement Cores. You will need Glimmer for up to Tier 5. Tier 6 and above require only Legendary Shards and Enhancement Cores.

Masterwork Armor

For armor, increasing Energy to Masterwork one requires, Glimmer, Legendary Shards, and Enhancement Cores, Prisms, or Ascendant Shards depending on what Energy value is next. From 1 to 5, you only need Glimmer and Legendary Shards. Once 6 and 7 are next, they require Enhancement Cores. Points 8 and 9 require Enhancement Prisms. Finally, point 10 requires Ascendant Shards. Exotic armor requires more materials compared to Legendary armor.

Increasing the Energy to 10 Masterworks the armor piece, making it give 2 points to all character stats in addition to what the armor already gives. These bonuses are represented by gold bars.



Once your armor is Masterworked, changing the element type will cost Glimmer and an Upgrade Module. For Legendary armor, you will need 10,000 Glimmer. For Exotic armor, you will need 20,000 Glimmer.

Shaped Weapons

Located at the Enclave on Mars, Savathun's Throne World. Accessible after completing the first Witch Queen campaign mission.

Occasionally, you may get a weapon with a red outline around the picture. This is known as a Deepsight weapon.



This means two possible things. It is a weapon where if you defeat enough enemies with it, you can extract the pattern, get shaping material, and keep the weapon, or, you get only material from it for use in crafting.



As of Lightfall, you dismantle the Deepsight weapons to get pattern progress.

Shaped weapons are fully customizable weapons within the scope of their predetermined perk pool. You can choose the frame's stat, first two perks altering other stats, and last two perks focused on gameplay.




Various upgraded version of the third and fourth perk will be locked behind the weapon's level. This level is individualized and is not shared across additional creations of the same weapon.

You can level a weapon by defeating a large number of enemies or by having the weapon equipped before the end of an activity.

• Most players currently level their weapons at the Shuro Chi checkpoint of the Last Wish raid where many Shadow Thralls spawn at the start of the encounter.
  
• Legend/Master Lost Sectors count towards leveling your Shaped weapon through activity completion. You should only use this method if you can complete certain Legend/Master Lost Sectors in under 3 minutes.

Weekend Xur

Every Friday-Monday, an NPC named Xur shows up at a random destination (Nessus, EDZ, or Tower as of Year 4) selling an Exotic Engram, 1 Exotic weapon, 1 Exotic armor for each class, and a set of Legendary weapons.

The Exotic Engram is guaranteed to give you something you do not already have, with the exception of Exotics locked behind Legend/Master Lost Sectors. Because of this fact and the high cost of the Engram, it is recommended to purchase any of the four Exotics available you do not own before purchasing the Engram. Exotics from Xur are higher(?) Power, and their Power is based on the current character purchasing gear from Xur. This can be a way to boost your other characters' Power. Power is restricted to the cap before Pinnacle Power.

Exotic Archive (Monument to the Lost Lights; needs editing for S19)

Located between the Vaults at the Tower. Here, you can purchase Exotic weapons no longer obtainable through old quests, activities, or seasons. You can also purchase old (and Sunset) weapons. They are mainly used in Crucible game modes where Level Advantage is disabled.

Each item is extremely expensive, so you will want to choose carefully and think about how you could use each weapon in various activities. You will need the following:

• An Exotic Cipher (obtainable through weekend Xur's quest or Season Pass)
  
• 100,000-150,000 Glimmer
  
• 150-250 of one specified type of Destination Material (to be removed for S19)
  
• 1 or 2 Ascendant Shard
  
• 240 Spoils of Conquest (for gear with origins from Raids)

Costs most likely differ based on how the gear was previously obtainable.

Public and Heroic Events (spontaneous team grinding)

Public events are quicker, accessible, significantly lower-stress activities for getting new gear versus playlist activities but quickly become obsolete as you rise in Power and assemble a variety of legendary weapons and armor. As you are just starting out, this can be a better method versus other activities, but you should be aware of your Power and eventually move on to playlist activities. Others in the immediate area may join you. This can speed up the event, which can be either good or bad, especially if you are seeking Heroic Public events.

Each public event has a mechanic that turns it into a Heroic event. You can find this information in various websites, but you can figure some out through observation. The mechanics are never associated with the posted objective and are sometimes less obvious than others. They usually involve destroying something or standing on plates (in the case of Vex).

Doing Public Events solo can be a way to gauge your ability early in the game. If you can solo regular Public Events, you are making good progress. If you can solo some Heroic Public Events with a moderate amount of time remaining or few or no deaths, then you are more than ready for Hero Nightfalls (provided you are close to recommended Power).

If you have difficulty with completing Public Events solo, evaluate your weapon loadout, subclass choice, or your approach to each event. Consider changing weapon loadouts if you are currently running double Primary weapons, and consider changing your subclass to one with mechanics that make doing activities solo easier.

Lost Sectors (solo grinding)

Lost Sectors are, in most cases, short expeditions that yield quick rewards. Normal ones are accessed by walking through their entrances and continuing until the name of the Lost Sector pops up on your screen. After defeating the Lost Sector's boss, you will obtain a Cache Code which allows you to open the chest in the final room where you fought the boss. For some locations, the Lost Sector's exit is beyond the chest leading back to the entrance. For shorter Lost Sectors, you will have to walk out the way you came in. You can repeat Lost Sectors by walking out until the name of the adjacent area pops up on your screen or by teleporting to a Landing Zone. This will reset the Lost Sector you just completed. Rewards are time-gated and significantly reduced after two consecutive completions.

Legend and Master Lost Sectors

Legend and Master difficulty Lost Sectors are available for a limited number of Lost Sectors and are rotated every day. The rotation schedule changes at the start of a new season. These Lost Sectors are accessed by interacting with the banner right outside their respective Legend/Master Lost Sector. The normal Lost Sector needs to be cleared at least once by the character to access its Legend/Master variant, and each character must do this for themselves to gain access as well.

As of the 1/27/22 TWAB, when Witch Queen launches, there will only be one daily Lost Sector with the option to choose between Legend or Master.

Mini-Nightfalls?!
Much like Nightfalls, Legend and Master Lost Sector enemies are substantially stronger and include Champions. Like Nightfalls, they also have Burn modifiers which modify the corresponding element listed. This modifier affects both enemy damage and your own damage, except for Stasis Burn which increases freeze effectiveness instead. Take advantage of these Burns by equipping a matching elemental weapon to clear these Lost Sectors faster. Before loading into one, make sure you have the appropriate mods on to stun Champions.

Rewards
When completing them solo, you have a chance to gain rewards typically associated with Nightfalls (Enhancement Cores, Enhancement Prisms, Exotic armor). Exotic armor is also on a daily rotation schedule. You can view what type of Exotic armor will drop by hovering your cursor over the Legend/Master Lost Sectors on the map. Rewards are also affected by the medal earned at the end of the run. Bronze will yield only Glimmer*, while Platinum yields the highest potential reward but may only yield Glimmer.

For any run solo or with others, drops include Glimmer and Destination Material by default, but there is a chance that you get no gear and double the amount of Glimmer (roughly 6000-8000 Glimmer in these cases). There is the possibility that you only get Glimmer (based on a clanmate's experience).

Suggestions for Legend/Master
You will find that some Legend/Master Lost Sectors are quicker than others. To save your time and frustration of completing some, figure out what loadouts work best for you and align with the Lost Sector's burn, keep track of time elapsed per run per Lost Sector, and explore subclass options. Optimal Platinum runs are 2-5 minutes** without crazy stunts and some endgame gear involved.


*Based on two Bronze runs in a Dreaming City Legend Lost Sector.
**This is my personal acceptable time limit for Legend Lost Sector runs. The 2-3 minute runs were only achievable in two Dreaming City Lost Sectors, one Cosmodrone Lost Sector (no longer possible with an update), one Europa Lost Sector, and three EDZ Lost Sectors. Five minute runs were based on Lost Sectors with barriers preventing skips to the boss. I have heard of people taking 8 or 10 minutes for the same Legend Lost Sector runs or as long as 15 minutes. I have also heard of some runs being done in less than a minute, but with very, very specific unconventional loadouts. Your runs should not be longer than 10 minutes for sanity and efficiency purposes, but this may become the case until you have gear allowing you to complete them faster. If you do not need Exotic gear, cannot complete these alone due to being moderately below recommended Power, or are missing a Champion mod, bring a teammate along to assist you with completion.

My Personal Training Areas (target practice, testing builds)

Trostland

The first place where I developed a sense of the game during Year 2 and 3 was EDZ's Trostland Landing Zone, located near Devrim Kay. An occasional and immediately firefight between Fallen and Cabal, three Lost Sectors close to each other with two currently containing Nightmare enemies, and Devrim with bounties, this was the ideal location to start the day. The firefight between Fallen and Cabal make an ideal situation for completing bounties and practicing long-distance shooting. The Terminus East Lost Sector containing Nightmare enemies, elevated sections, and some cover was ideal for practicing mechanics, testing builds, and practicing close-combat with Swords and Shotguns for Hero or Legend Nightfalls. Since Lost Sectors were also instanced for fireteams, I had my own personal and accessible training ground. I still use this area to this day.

If you can avoid dying entirely in the firefight between the Fallen and Cabal or solo the Lost Sectors containing Nightmares without dying and completing it in under 3 minutes defeating all enemies, either you are doing very well or your loadout is very good for low to mid-level content. This area should not be used to gauge your potential in Master or Grandmaster Nightfalls.

Sorrow's Harbor

Located here is the public Horde event "Altars of Sorrow", the current replacement for Year 1's Escalation Protocol (the predecessor for public Horde mode and, arguably, the most epic). Accessible without Shadowkeep, but rewards may be inaccessible. Altars of Sorrow is a way to test your mechanic knowledge, wave clear potential, and various builds. To start one (if one isn't active), defeat a Nightmare. When you attempt to kill the next one, you will notice that it is substantially stronger. This is when it really begins. At the beginning of each wave, certain enemies will spawn. This varies with each run. Sometimes, you will have many acolytes with charged snipers. You might get a bunch of Thrall and Cursed Thrall. In any case, you must be more careful to not die, though, respawn times are short.

It is difficult to solo even with an arsenal of Exotic gear. Wait for one or two others to come before starting one, or join one when there are more Guardians. Doing it solo would amount to attempting to do Legend or Master Nightfalls solo in terms of awareness and movement required. With others, it is close to Hero Nightfalls. More than five people lowers the perceived difficulty to Adept.

If you find yourself dying a lot solo, don't worry. It doesn't mean your loadout is no good. However, if you are dying many times with a group, or finding that your build isn't working with teammates as intended, you should reevaluate the validity of your build or your approach to the activity. Remind yourself what the purpose of your build is and how it is supposed to work. Are you missing a mod? Are you using the wrong armor piece? Evaluate your weapon loadout and how you are using each weapon and when you use them. Often times, weapon combinations, lack of use of Special or Heavy Ammo Weapons, or lack of use of abilities results in frequent deaths against the Nightmares or being overwhelmed by the enemies that spawn.

Solo Nightfall

If you would like to test your overall capability for Master or Grandmaster Nightfalls, I suggest running a Legend Nightfall or Master Nightfall, respectively, solo. In this case, all enemies have their attention on you rather than any other Guardians you would run a Nightfall with. This forces you to learn spots, different approaches for different sections, and to change your loadouts for specific Nightfalls to do them better. If you can at least solo a main encounter in either difficulty, then you are more than ready for the next difficulty. Grandmaster, however, has some important particulars to be mindful of. Check the Vanguard section for these details.

Notes for Jumping and Places to Practice

Needed for some Raids/Dungeons

Notes on character-specific jump abilities:

• Titan - Can deactivate and reactivate Lift abilities with moderate decreases to duration (normal max 2 times; third attempt results in instant deactivation of jump ability). Practice for maximum horizontal distance traveled. Jump ability doesn't stop downward momentum instantly.
  
• Hunters - Midair jumps stop downward momentum instantly in most cases
  
• Warlock - Can deactivate and reactivate Glide abilities with decreases to duration (mostly same as Titan). When dropping at a moderate speed, reactivating Glide resets downward momentum.

Minor notes:

• Practice both first person and third-person (Sword equipped)
  
• Third-person sword for seeing above you or around walls when prep jumping
  
• Sword attacks in midair when only slightly dropping resets upward or downward momentum and preserves height temporarily.

Major notes:

• As of The Witch Queen, falling from great heights at max speed now kills you.
  
• Attacking with a Sword before touching the ground negates fall damage completely while in the attack animation.
  
• Falling on slopes will send you flying the corresponding direction, often leading to deaths by colliding with walls.
  
• Falling on spots with multiple slopes at moderate or high speed can result in a moderate amount of damage taken or even death upon landing, even when it seems safe. You'll learn to hate stairs.

Below is not a necessarily a complete list nor the best of places to practice and master jumping. Images (will be) added for clarity on some locations. May be reorganized later.

---

Height Practice

• EDZ Trostland (where Devrim Kay is located)
  
  • Reach the top of a wall of the building missing a roof from outside using the vaulting or ledge climb mechanic (you can climb the sign).
    
  
  
• Last Wish Raid
  
  • Shuro Chi encounter - Reach the top of the cliff (you can get the secret chest while you are at it).

Horizontal Distance Practice

• EDZ Trostland (side note: It's a really good place if you can make the best of it)
  
  • From the corners of the church's perimeter, reach the second story of the buildings' exposed interiors.
    
    
  • Jump from one sign to the next two or three consecutive times (you may use vaulting/ledge climb mechanic)
    
  
  
• EDZ Winding Cove
  
  • With a sword equipped, run to the top of the tallest fallen tree and reach the road.
    

Timing Practice

• Nessus Artifact's Edge
  
  • From spawn, drop down without taking critical damage.
• Last Wish Raid - After the way forward opens, reach the Wish Wall in less than 1 minute.
  
• Pit of Heresy - At the beginning, drop down without taking critical damage without a Sword. (Most difficult for Titans)

Sword Info Guide

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2640348292
Often players neglect other aspects of Swords outside of dealing damage with them, so I am including this guide as a reference for new players and current players on all I know about them.

Although it is labeled incomplete, this labeling is relative to the Nightfall sections only but has everything on Frames, list of Swords, and sword mechanics.

How I Did Zavala's and Banshee-44's Bounties

The following is the description written for the video. It is below for your convenience and to explain what's happening in the strangely-cut video.

---

Short video showing my old routine for raising Power and doing Zavala's and Banshee-44's bounties at the same time back in Year 3 when Power gaps between seasons were huge. Before Lost Sector drops were nerfed. Before Legend and Master Lost Sectors were a thing.

Essentially, I check if Zavala has a precision, grenade, or Super multikill bounty to do in open-world and take all of Banshee-44's bounties. I go to the Vault and pull whatever weapons I need to finish Banshee-44's bounties in particular, as I normally don't hold every type. Afterwards, I grab the weekly Lost Sector Nightmares bounty from the Lectern on the Moon. Then, I go to Trostland, enter Terminus East, and repeat the Lost Sector as needed.

If you don't have Shadowkeep, you can't get the Moon bounty from the Lectern. I do the same exact Lost Sector multiple times for each bounty from Zavala and Banshee-44. I leave early sometimes to reset the cluster of enemies to do Rocket Launcher or Grenade Launcher bounties and to farm the Nightmares for the Moon weekly bounty.

This sequence is repeatable on all three characters. Think of all the XP and Enhancement Cores gained in less than an hour...

Video cuts suck because I'm using a free program with restrictive cut methods. Actual time taken to finish the bounties not counting load times was almost 10 minutes.

Vanguard

Vanguard is a core 3-man PvE activity that contains original missions or reprisals of campaign missions. It is split as three main activities (not counting Battlegrounds seen in the picture for Year 4). Zavala provides bounties and rewards for these activities. All missions involve a number of sequenced battles and a final boss at the end of the mission.

Vanguard Operations

Vanguard Ops are low-level missions accessible to all players. They can be played through the Vanguard Ops playlist or by loading a Strike directly from a destination.





Note that Strikes loaded directly from their respective destinations will not count towards objectives listing "playlist strikes".

Unlike Strikes loaded from destinations, Vanguard activities loaded from the Vanguard interface have modifiers.



These can be viewed by hovering over them. They can also be viewed during an activity by pulling out your Ghost.

Nightfalls

Nightfalls are Strikes that include Champions, extra elemental shields on various enemies, and higher Power based on difficulty chosen. Each week, based on the season's rotation schedule, a specific Strike is available as a Nightfall. The name of the Strike can be viewed by hovering over the word Nightfall on the Launch screen.



Nightfalls contain more negative modifiers as you increase the difficulty. Not counting Champions listed in the modifiers list, Adept has 1, Hero has 2, Legend has 4, and Master has 5. The general differences as you go up in difficulty are as follows (all previous modifiers carry over to the higher difficulty):

• Adept - Base Nightfall modifier
  
• Hero - Elemental damage taken from a source increased (Witch Queen launch: elemental damage dealt increased; Seasonal Strike modifier)
  
• Legend - Equipment Locked, Match Game, no matchmaking
  
• Master - A random Master-only modifier based on the Strike (alternates between two; the Master modifier changes for the second time a Nightfall shows up in a rotation), Champion: Mob modifier (more Champions)

Champion types are Barrier, Overload, and Unstoppable. Each Champion must be damaged with the corresponding mod and weapon to disable their abilities temporarily. On higher difficulties, this becomes mandatory as the effectiveness of each ability increases substantially. Remember to equip weapon mods accordingly after unlocking them from the Seasonal Artifact. The Artifact does NOT grant these mods as passive effects.

For F2P: Some Nightfalls require ownership of DLCs to play the Strike directly through Nightfalls. Otherwise, you can only play DLC Strikes at random through Vanguard Strikes playlist.

Grandmaster Nightfalls

Grandmaster Nightfalls are Nightfalls with the Grandmaster Modifier along with the previous modifiers.

• Contest (Power is capped at 25 below the Recommended Power listed)
  
  • In other words, Power beyond will do NOTHING to make it easier.
    
  • Reminder that Power does not reflect skill. It only reflects number of bounties and Seasonal Challenges done by a player.
• Join in progress disabled (you cannot leave and come back; if your internet or computer crashes, you cannot rejoin and need to start over)
  
• Extinguish (if the entire fireteam is defeated, the Nightfall ends in failure)
  
• Limited Revives (limited number of revives; increased by defeating Champions; cannot self-revive, a teammate must revive you)

I will reemphasize this. Additional. Power. Does. Nothing. And Power along with hours played do not necessarily represent a player's skill.

New players, or even veteran players entering Grandmaster for the first time, be wary of LFG's in this particular PvE activity. Many of them depend on streamers and YouTubers and are not open to strategies or loadout options outside what they have seen. You may become one of those people later down the road. My brother, who I have done endgame content with as just the two of us, and I have proven overtime in our clan that there are several viable ways to do Grandmaster Nightfalls and other difficult content as long as one knows their mechanics and utilizes their subclass kit. We understand some subclasses are just nowhere near as useful as others, but we should not shun every single one and leave only the three seen in almost every Grandmaster.

If you are unsure of the difficult aspects of Grandmaster Nightfalls, run one solo. You will get the feel for how many hits you can take and what units utterly destroy you without the Resist mods necessary to survive one or two hits. You will also get an idea of how many more hits are needed for each weapon to defeat or stun Champions.

One way to get some practice without the Grandmaster restrictions is to run a Master Nightfall far below the recommended. This is typically done early in a season, as most Nightfall LFGs begin to reject players far below the recommended Power after three or four weeks.

Gambit (needs updating for TWQ version)

(high)DING...(low)DING...(mid)DING.

The Drifter's baby, pride, and joy. This 4v4 competitive co-op activity involves four main aspects: killing enemies of humanity for Motes, banking motes, killing a Primeval, and invasions. As simple as it may appear, there is a strategic (and controversial) aspect to this mode. The general structure for a match is as follows*:

• Kill enemies -> Motes drop
  
• Bank or save motes to spawn different Blockers on the enemies' bank
  
  • 5 motes spawns a Taken Goblin (grants immunity to allied Taken)
    
  • 10 motes spawns a Taken Phalanx (Cabal with shields)
    
  • 15 motes spawn a Taken Knight (tough to kill without Special or Heavy ammo)
• Every 25 Motes opens the invasion portal until you reach 100 Motes; one invades immediately
  
  • Invaders have limited time during invasions.
• Reach 100 Motes banked to summon Primeval. Kill Primeval Envoys (Taken Wizards) to gain a damage boost against the Primeval. First side to defeat their Primeval wins.
  
• Your deaths caused by invaders heal the Primeval you are fighting. Avoid being killed, or kill the invader ASAP.

*Subject to change if Bungie addresses lack of updates and the problematic boss melt strategies present.

Formerly, when Gambit Prime existed, there were 4 defined roles. Now, they are no longer relevant. However, their philosophies still apply in Gambit overall.

Reaper
Someone needs to have strong wave clear potential to make getting Motes faster. This allows for earlier invasions or for other Guardians to bank Motes without worrying about enemies killing them.

Sentry
Someone must address Blockers when they spawn. Anytime there are two or more present, the bank gradually loses Motes. Someone should also be on the lookout for high-value targets (white-highlight enemies) or for invaders. Invasions cause an alarm to sound and change your visuals, so you should be listening and looking for the alerts.

Collector
Someone needs to pick up Motes, but not everyone. While two Guardian go to the next area to clear enemies or to the bank to invade, at least two people should pick up and bank Motes. You can assist the Reaper with wave clear or the Sentry with clearing Blockers.

Invader
Someone can stop the enemy team from banking Motes or turn the tide by defeating enemy Guardians to heal the Primeval they're fighting. When you invade, you are given an overshield and can see each Guardian's location and how many Motes they're holding. The enemy team is alerted when you invade, so be on the lookout for someone looking for you. Before invading, there is a Heavy Ammo crate that you can use to stock on a small amount of Heavy Ammo. This perpetuates the idea that the invader's Heavy should be used to kill Guardians rather than enemies on your own side.

With each of the four roles' philosophies and responsibilities in mind, aim for these numbers to become a good Gambit player overall:

40 Combatants defeated
25 Motes banked
1 or 2 Guardians defeated
30% Primeval damage

Recommendation Before You Go Into Gambit

Keep in mind that you will be competing against other Guardians. They may or may not have an arsenal of gear you cannot compete against. As of end of Year 4, Thundercrash, Eyes of Tomorrow, Titan Throwing Hammers with One-Two Punch shotguns and Synthoceps, and Ward of Dawn + Swords are dominating the game with their uncontested potential in each match. You may want to obtain various Exotic gear and create builds to have a chance of winning against these strategies.

Historical Controversy

When Gambit Prime existed, boss melt wasn't easy to do. Unlike Gambit today, Gambit Prime included immunity phases for the boss, and old Gambit required 2 wins out of 3 rounds to win a match. Both modes were considered too long for the rewards yielded from the activity. Thus, Bungie merged parts of the two modes into today's Gambit, introducing the current problem of boss melt strategies and the snowball effect of early invasions. Matches became shorter, but comebacks are not as frequent as they once were, and the overall quality of Gambit decreased. Several competitive elements leveling the playing field were removed, and now, most players only enter Gambit for bounties, Exotic quests, or the Weekly Pinnacle reward.

Crucible (PvP)

THROW MORE GRENADES!



The PvP game mode of Destiny 2. Here, you can play several game modes.

• Control
  
• Elimination
  
• Survival
  
• Rumble
  
• Rotational game modes
  
• Iron Banner
  
• Trials of Osiris

Each time you finish a game, you gain either Crucible (Valor) points or Glory points based on the game mode you play. Crucible Rank never decreases, but Glory Rank can. Glory points can only be gained by playing Survival.

To earn the weekly Pinnacle Gear from Crucible, you must play 3 matches of playlist game modes. The game modes are boxed below.



Survival grants a Powerful Gear (Tier 1) drop after winning 7 rounds.

Control

Control is a 6v6 game mode that involves capturing zones and defeating opponents for points. The main goal is to be the first team to 150 points. There is also a Mercy system in place when a team has an overwhelming lead, the game will prematurely end.

When defeating opponents, your team gains a point. When you have Zone Advantage, kills grant more points. When all three zones have been captured by a team, Lord Shaxx will announce a Power Play, and kills will be worth 3 points. Capturing zones also grants points.

Unlike in PvE, kills in Crucible will grant much more Super energy. A Heavy Ammo crate is also available during this gamemode. All players start with no Heavy Ammo.

As there are 12 players in a single session of Control and zones require Guardians to stay in a small area temporarily, things can get chaotic, especially on smaller maps. Though, this mode, along with the other 6v6 modes, are ideal places to complete Exotic quests that require Guardian kills due to the number of Guardians present.

Elimination

Each player has one life. First team to eliminate the other wins a round. Team with majority rounds won wins the match. Revive is disabled in this mode.

Survival

Basically Elimination, but your lives are shared.

Rumble

Free-for-all gamemode. The Guardian with the most points wins.

Rotational Game Modes

Team Scorched

Everyone has a Scorched Cannon. Shots fired can be charged and detonated mid-travel or fired normally like rocket launchers. First to 150(?) points wins.

Momentum Control

Control, except weapons do more damage, abilities only restore energy on kill, and radar is disabled. Those weapons that needed two hits might only need one in here. Like sniper rifle body shots.

Mayhem

Cooldowns are significantly reduced, and respawn timers are ~1 second. Throw those grenades, cast those Supers. First to 125(?) points wins.

Iron Banner

Available once a month(?). Hosted by Lord Saladin (nicknamed Lord Salad Man by community) who is at the Tower during the week Iron Banner is available. Previously was a single type of game mode similar as Control, except Power Play becomes The Hunt, which locks the zones and resets them to no one controlling them when The Hunt ends.

Recently, Bungie has released new modes. As of Season of Plunder, there is Rift (historically and currently unpopular) and Eruption.

Playing matches while fulfilling the conditions seen when hovering over the Iron Banner icon will earn you Pinnacle Gear and reputation rank.

As there are Pinnacle Gear rewards tied to this game mode, there will be players in this game mode playing with what they would rather not use, making some games difficult to win when they aren't playing the objectives. With this in mind, you should bring a less serious mindset to this game mode.

Trials of Osiris

Available each week from Friday-Monday. Hosted by the legendary Saint-14 located in the Hangar of the Tower. Same as Elimination as a 3v3 mode, zero lives, the option to revive each other, but does not have matchmaking unless it's Freelance(?). Round concludes when a team is eliminated. First to 5 rounds won wins the match. Mode and map are predetermined each week and do not change during the week.

Dungeons

Dungeons are sometimes described longer Strikes with mechanics or as mini-raids with less players and mechanics. Dungeons do not have matchmaking and must be done as a premade team if desired. At the end of each main encounter, a chest will spawn and drop rewards as it does at the end of Strikes. Each Dungeon has their own special themed gear drops. Below are very brief summaries or details of each Dungeon. They should not be taken as literal interpretations of the Dungeons or as guidance on how to do them. It is best to watch some videos or to figure them out on your own or with friends.

Bungie added a weekly rotation system. Every week, one of the old dungeons will drop a Pinnacle gear upon completing the dungeon in addition to the most recent dungeon dropping Pinnacles.

Shattered Throne*

• Map out symbols and do in order
  
• Gauntlet 1
  
• Ogre boss room (x4 orb and dunk mechanic for damage)
  
• Gauntlet 2 (famous Thrallway)
  
• Final boss and Knights of Three (defeat Knights "simultaneously", x3 orb stack, Celestial Nighthawk to the face, boss go boom)

*Requires Forsaken

Pit of Heresy*

Sword Logic of the Three

• Sword Logic intro (using Sword three different ways to defeat bosses)
  
• Three halls, Ogres (orb dunk mechanic)
  
• Chamber of Suffering (actual name; orb dunking)
  
• Hive contraptions and Wizards of Three (map out symbols; defeat Wizards)
  
• He-Man and the Masters of Sword Logic (not actual names or titles; orb mechanic for damage)

*Requires Shadowkeep

Prophecy

• Gambit? (Light and Dark Motes intro; defeat Taken Knights while standing in light or dark)
  
• Taken Phalanx boss (Light and Dark Motes)
  
• Dry ocean (seek and destroy blights)
  
• Cube room got me trippin (Light and Dark Motes)
  
• Rainbow Road (Sparrow Run)
  
• Shadow Kell Jutsu (Light and Dark Motes x3 to enter damage phase in different location)

Grasp of Avarice*

Pirates of the Cosmodrone: The Curse of the Rich Exo

• Burdening Riches mechanic intro
  
• Platforming puzzle with pressure plate traps + Scorch Cannon intro
  
• Ogre boss (Burdening Riches + Scorch Cannon)
  
• Race Against Time (Sparrow run)
  
• Playing cannonball to disable Fallen Shield (Burdening Riches + Scorch Cannon)
  
• Captain boss (NO SURPRISE, BURDENS AND CANNON)

*Requires 30th Anniversary; to have separate purchase option later(?)

Duality*

(Joke name still in progress)
"Whether We Wanted It or Not" Becomes a Nightmare

• Two-Dimension Bell mechanic intro (normal dimension, shoot bell whenever, wherever; Nightmare dimension, must be in circle)
  
• Your Guardian apparently can't stay asleep and live through a Nightmare for more than a minute
  
• Platforming and skirmishes in-between encounters
  
• Encounters are always four corners with symbols
  
• Incinerators with magical powers that keep bells shut (???)
  
• Nightmare and his clones (intro to Psions that drop Standard Essence, four symbols, grab any)
  
• Short puzzle with half-naked Cabal statues
  
• Three Cabal Mini-bosses (four symbols, locate two)
  
• Empress boss (Psions, Psions everywhere; four symbols, locate two; new bell mechanic -> DPS phase)

*Requires The Witch Queen Deluxe Edition; to have separate purchase option later(?)

No Dungeons against non-Taken Vex.

Raids

Six-man mechanic-based activity with no matchmaking; requires joining Destiny 2 Discord server or using Bungie's Find a Fireteam website. All raids require their respective DLCs to play.

Raids test your coordination skills and ability to operate under stress. Each main encounter requires some form of communication and assigning of roles. In some cases, you might not have to be responsible for anything but defeating enemies. In some cases, you will be in charge of a role and depending on others to fulfill your role.

Two other factors making Raids difficult for some players are the Limited Revives and boss Enrage. Unlike Grandmaster Nightfalls, each Guardian can only revive another Guardian once. The team is also given a time limit for how long a Guardian can be down for, represented by the phrase "Light fading in (time remaining)". This timer is paused while all fireteam members are alive. Enrage is a mechanic that limits how many times your fireteam can do damage to the final boss of a Raid. The total number of times permitted is four, and your team will be notified after the third damage attempt by the phrase "ENRAGE IS NEAR".

Rewards

At the end of main encounters, a chest will spawn much like Strikes and Dungeons. You will be given a piece of Raid gear, Glimmer, and Spoils of Conquest.

Each Raid has secret chests that drop Raid gear you have previously unlocked.

After defeating the final boss of a Raid and only at the end of a Raid, the chest that spawns has a chance of dropping the Raid Exotic weapon, with the exception of Divinity from Garden of Salvation. This chance increases each time it does not drop for you.

In the current Pinnacle drop model, the most recent Raid drops Pinnacle Gear. Also, every week, one of the old raids will drop a Pinnacle gear upon completing the raid.

Current Raid dropping Pinnacle Gear - Vow of the Disciple

List of Raids available

• Last Wish
  
  • Located in The Dreaming City
    
  • Hardly anyone does legit
    
  • We "kill" Riven of a Thousand Voices because she is Taken
    
  • Source for One Thousand Voices.
• Garden of Salvation
  
  • Located on The Moon
    
  • Hardly anyone does outside getting Divinity. Requires both the quest and doing the puzzle.
    
  • We enter the Black Garden and defeat the Mind within that is the source for the Vex of ages past
    
    • My own knowledge; I don't know the full background, and I've never done the Raid.
• Deep Stone Crypt
  
  • Located on Europa
    
  • Taniks comes back. Again. The follow-up on Beyond Light campaign when Eramis sent Atraks-1 to bring back Taniks. He ought to be dead for sure after this time.
    
  • Source for Eyes of Tomorrow.
• Vault of Glass
  
  • Located in Legends.
    
  • Destiny 1 raid remastered.
    
  • Source for Timelost weapon drops when doing on Master difficulty and Vex Mythoclast.

• Vow of the Disciple
  
  • Located on Mars, Savathun's Throne World
    
  • Symbol count matches English Alphabet (26)
    
  • You enter a Pyramid in the Throne World. The Witness's disciple, Rhulk, plays a game with you only to realize he should not have been screwing around.
    
  • Source for Collective Obligation.
• King's Fall
  
  • Located in Legends
    

General Goals/Feats to Aim For

Goals to aim for in each activity to become a decent/exceptional Guardian, ordered based on what kept the game enjoyable to what made me not enjoy the game. The ordering is for within each activity, not an order for playing all of Destiny 2. For example, you might complete Pit of Heresy solo before completing a Grandmaster Nightfall.

1. Public Events

• Complete regular Public Events solo without dying.
  
• Complete Heroic Public Events without dying.

2. Lost Sector

• Complete regular Lost Sectors containing Nightmares without dying.

3. Vanguard Strikes

• Complete playlist Strikes without dying.
  
  • Exceptions include environment-based deaths and Blackout modifier-related deaths.

4. Nightfalls

• Complete Hero Nightfalls without dying.
  
• Complete Legend Nightfalls without dying.
  
• Complete Master Nightfalls with less than 3 deaths.
  
• Complete Legend Nightfall solo.
  
• Complete a Master Nightfall without dying.
  
• Complete a Grandmaster Nightfall.
  
• Complete a Master Nightfall solo.
  
• Complete a Master Nightfall solo without dying.

5. Legend/Master Lost Sectors

• Complete Legend Lost Sectors solo.
  
• Complete Legend Lost Sectors in under 6 minutes.
  
• Complete Master Lost Sectors solo.
  
• Complete shorter Master Lost Sectors in under 7 minutes.
  
• Complete extremely short Master Lost Sectors in under 4 minutes.

6. Dungeons

• If you own Forsaken(?), complete Shattered Throne in under 30 minutes.
  
• If you own Shadowkeep, complete Pit of Heresy in under 30 minutes.
  
• Complete Prophecy in under 45 minutes.
  
• If you own the 30th Anniversary pack, complete Grasp of Avarice in under 45 minutes.
  
• Complete Shattered Throne solo.
  
• Complete Pit of Heresy solo.

7. Gambit

• Get 50 kills in a single match.
  
• Bank 40 Motes in a single match.
  
• Defeat Guardians 4 times in a single match.
  
• Deal 40% Primeval damage.

8. Crucible

• Get a 1.0 K/D or higher in three consecutive matches.

9. The Witch Queen Campaign

• Complete on Legendary Difficulty with or without a fireteam.
  
  • All players have their Power capped to the Power stated for each mission.
    
  • Enemies are scaled with more damage and health according to number of fireteam members.
    
  • Revives are limited when playing with others. Allies who are downed by an enemy trigger a revive timer that counts down while a fireteam member is down. This timer does not reset on revive and resumes its previous time. Revives are added when Champions are taken down the same way it's designed for Grandmaster Nightfalls.

Choosing Your Preferred Loadout

One of the most difficult aspects of Destiny 2 is building up your armory and arsenal. Following that is choosing the right combination of gear and mods suited for each activity. Simple bounty completions, playlist activities, Dungeons, Raids, or Nightfalls are all different areas of gameplay requiring various loadouts or mindsets. I won't discuss Gambit or Crucible, but know that the PvP aspect in each mode changes your loadout choices substantially transitioning from PvE to PvP. The focus of this section is to discuss choosing loadouts for PvE activities in general.

Considerations to Make

Range

The weapons and abilities in this game allow for close, mid, or long range combat. Some activities will include more of one than the other. Some will have even amounts of them. Ideally, your weapon loadout should be able to address all three scenarios.

Ammo Type and Count

Many players are really into their Primary Ammo weapons. Submachine Guns, Hand Cannons, Bows, etc. They handle low-level content well. Going up the difficulty and given the mod requirements for dealing with Champions, it's simpler for them to take double Primary Ammo weapons and matching Champion mods. They also don't run out ammo, as they were redesigned with infinite ammo in a previous major update. The trade-off in taking double Primary Ammo weapons is the damage potential for dealing with Major enemies.

Special Ammo weapons can be extremely strong in dealing with both Minor and Major enemies. Special Grenade Launchers to control clusters of enemies, Sniper Rifles for dealing high damage at long range, Shotguns and Fusion Rifles to take down large enemies at close range, etc. Their downside is their general difficulty of use given the scenarios and limited ammo for some archetypes. That limited ammo can lead to conservative gameplay, causing you to use them sparingly or not at all. There is usually a Champion mod for one Special Ammo weapon per season.

Heavy Ammo weapons are generally the big damage dealers and require you to make every ammo count. Rocket Launchers, Linear Fusion Rifles, Swords, etc. again all have their uses at different ranges or for different scenarios. Given that some of them have similar or less ammo count than Special Ammo weapons, you should choose a Special Ammo weapon that has opposite ammo count to ensure you still a second weapon that can deal substantial damage when the first one runs out.

Your Accuracy/Rate of Precision hits

Everyone has different skill levels and learning curves. Some of our performance levels do not exceed a certain point. You might not hit weak spots as often as others. You might even prefer to not have to think about it. Maybe you always hit weak spots or typically aim for them as soon as possible. You also have to mind the amount of flinch you experience aiming down sights (also referred to as ADS) with certain weapons. All weapons experience a different amount of flinch. Their reticles also expand when jumping, falling, or hip firing repeatedly. Know your strengths and weaknesses when aiming and the time it takes you to land those perfect shots when choosing your weapons.

Shield Types

Given that there are three shields to deal with in the game, there are activities with the modifier Match Game, which causes shielded combatants to take significantly less damage from weapons not matching their shield element. Due to this, it is preferable to take an Energy and Power weapon with different elements. In some cases, you might need all three and have to consider your subclass element when choosing your weapons' elements.

Champions

In an activity with Champions, it should be able to stun two types of Champions in the event you are Last Guardian Standing with Champions still up or you are playing solo. As a fireteam, you can make exceptions to these and focus on one or two combat styles and have only one mod to stun one type of Champion. Given that several Exotics now have intrinsic Champion mods, they should be utilized for both Champion stun and high damage compared to a using double Primary Ammo weapons with mods on both.

List of Builds for Each Subclass (discontinued; require updating for Lightfall)

Builds listed are mainly designed for low or mid level difficulty PvE activities or for completing ability-specific bounties. For almost all of them, It is not advised to use them in something like Grandmaster Nightfalls. Some may require mods that must be purchased from Ada-1 or seasonal vendors (if they are still around). List only includes personal guides. You may explore the list of Steam guides under the Guides tab. Be warned, there are a lot of useless guides that cannot be avoided by filtering with categories as they sometimes tag all categories.

Titan

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2730651373

Hunter

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2731973684
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2834957802
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2842123388

Warlock

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2736483648
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2697559883

For Nightfalls (sorry Warlock users, only have one for them atm)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2845119523

The Species of Destiny

Cabal

Large, muscular beings usually adorned in red and white colors. Enemies are comprised of War Beasts, Psions, Legionaries, Phalanx, Centurions, Incinerators, Gladiators, and Colossus. Elemental shield variants include all three types for Centurions and Incinerators. Champions include Barrier Colossus and Unstoppable Incinerators.

Weak-spots are their heads and glowing part on their backs. They take more damage from the back weak spot. Incinerators' entire fuel packs are weak spots. Phalanx shields are temporarily disabled by dealing enough damage to the center.

Famous for their drop pods and brass music. Notorious for starting the Red War, their Emperor Calus, and Season of Chosen when we begin an alliance with Caiatl.

Fallen/Eliksni

Beings adorned in purple cloth. Enemies are comprised of Dregs, WRETCHES, Marauders, Vandals, Captains, Shanks, Heavy Shanks, and Servitors. Notorious in Beyond Light (World of Shanks) and the traumatic Exodus Crash Grandmaster variant. Elemental shield variants include all three types for Captains, Heavy Shanks, and Servitors. Champions include Barrier Servitors and Overload Captains.

The weak-spot on organics is the head. Shanks do not have weak spots, but Heavy Shanks do. The weak-spot for the Heavy Shank is located where the wide section of purple light emits at the front of their frame. Servitors have weak spots directly on the large purple dot of their front.

They are split in terms of Houses, such as the House of Devils and House of Light. We are currently allied with the House of Light led by Misraaks (formerly known as Mithrax prior to Season of the Splicer). They are dependent on Ether for their species' growth and survival.

Vex

Mechanical bodies run by the organic white matter within them. Enemies are comprised of Goblins, Hobgoblins, Harpies, Minotaurs, Cyclops, Hydras, and Wyverns. Elemental shield variants include Arc and Void shields for Harpies and Minotaurs. Champions include Barrier Hobgoblins and Overload Minotaurs.

For some, the white part is their weak-spot. For others, it's the eye or head.

Many lower ranking Vex are controlled by a single Mind.

Hive

Organisms of light-brown or dark-brown colors (I'm not knowledgeable in color names beyond the rainbow). Comprised of Thrall, Cursed Thrall, Acolytes, Wizards, Knights, Shriekers, and Ogres. Champions include Barrier Knights and Unstoppable Ogres.

Weak-spots are the head. Ogres need to be hit closer to the center of the head.

Sword Logic.

Taken

Paracausal enemies of black color, some partially see-through. Comprised of various enemies from Cabal, Fallen, Hive and Vex. Elemental shield variants include all three types. Champions include Overload Taken Hobgoblins and Unstoppable Taken Phalanx.

Weak-spots are their heads, including Taken Vex (Contradiction? Or embedded truth regarding the nature of the Taken?).

Scorn

Mostly former Fallen reanimated and adorned with helmets. Violent shells of their former selves. Comprised of Screebs, Stalkers, Lurkers, Raiders, Ravagers, Wraiths, Chieftains, and Abominations. Elemental shield variants include all three types. Champions include Overload Chieftains and Unstoppable Abominations.

Weak-spots are usually the head with the exception of the Ravager where the weak-spot is the lantern.

Introduced during Forsaken. Reanimated by Fikrul, The Fanatic with Uldren Sov's help(?). They mainly roam the Reef (Tangled Shore), but some are present in the Dreaming City.

(ARCHIVE) Mods; Where to get some

Mods can be obtained at random from Engram packages redeemed from the playlist vendors or Banshee-44. This will be your main quick source for acquiring mods.

(UPDATE FOR LIGHTFALL)
Banshee-44 sells four weapon mods at a time. These change daily, so check back to see if he has what you want or are missing. He is no longer a vendor to visit for mods from specific seasons.

Ada-1 sells standard armor mods and Seasonal mods no longer accessible through their respective vendors removed from the seasonal cycle. These also change daily. She sells one of each type at a time (probably two of each when Witch Queen launches).

Both Banshee-44 and Ada-1 are located at the Tower. Ada-1 is on the west section of the map while Banshee-44 is in the main area of the map.

With a certain past update during Beyond Light, Grandmaster Nightfalls now have a chance to drop certain Adept mods previously only acquired through Trials of Osiris. These mods can only be put on Adept or Timelost(?) weapons.

Trials of Osiris Flawless chests drop Adept mods. I do not know if they are guaranteed as I do not play Trials of Osiris. It is infamous for the type of PvP players that go into there and poor matchmaking with a reward system often abused immediately after news reaches eyes and ears. Join the activity with caution.

Various Seasonal NPC vendors of the current year may have mods available, but they require their respective season passes purchased to gain access to them.

Mods may be obtainable through Legend/Master Lost Sectors*.

1/11/23

As of this day, for preparation of Lightfall, Bungie is making all standard Armor Mods unlocked for all players, meaning you will not have to farm or purchase these mods anymore.

*Based on clanmate's experience while running a few with him.

(ARCHIVE) Armor and Armor Affinity

(UPDATE FOR LIGHTFALL)
Armor affinity, or element, determines the associated elemental mods that can be equipped on an armor piece.

Arc specialty - Melee

Solar specialty - Grenade

Void specialty - Class ability

Stasis specialty - Fully expend ability energy to gain back; ability energy for lowest

Armor energy is capped at 10, restricting certain mod combinations on various armor pieces. For build crafters, you will want to evaluate which armor pieces do not have as many desirable mods and put higher cost mods on them.

The following may change in the future as it did between Year 3 and Year 4. (UPDATE FOR LIGHTFALL)

As of Year 4:

The first mod slot on an armor piece is designated for Minor and Major stat bonus mods.

The second and third slot are designated for armor-specific mods.

The fourth slot is designated for mods acquired through Seasonal Vendors (ex: Warmind, Charged with Light mods, Elemental Charge mods).

To view all mods owned, you can check the Mods section in your Collections tab viewed in your character screen.

Seasonal Aritifact mods vary in locations between the 2nd/3rd and 4th slots. Mods subtitled by armor slot are still 2nd/3rd slots, and mods subtitled Charged with Light or Elemental Charge are still 4th slot.

Afterword

To new players reading this guide, I hope this is everything you need in terms of basics and being self-informed on core content in the game. There are still a lot of things to learn and find out about beyond what was presented in this guide, but most of it can be experienced while playing the game. As for builds or strategies for different activities, there are always content creators making videos on these every season (and "borrowing" each other's ideas). Just don't fall for clickbait videos talking about a "god roll" weapon.

To players who have already been playing for a while now but might not have known certain stuff before this guide, I hope the information helps you moving forward in the game. It took me all of Year 1 content and some Year 2 or 3 content of playing all three classes and observing other players' builds in-game to really understand what's available and what I can do to be a better player. It takes everyone different amounts of time to get good in a game like this.

At the rate which meme/clickbait guides are being produced or viewed, this guide will eventually be buried with the other useful guides. It is unfortunate, but as guides are moderated the same way discussions are, there's nothing we can do to keep this visible for others who may need it. You can always spread the word and redirect players here. But, if this guide doesn't get updated within 3 months after major updates that change some fundamentals of the game, it might be best to leave it buried.

All information and ideas were my own or based on observation of people in-game (which I find hard to believe sometimes). No videos, guides, or other forms of media presenting ideas were used in the making of this guide. Images were produced by me through recordings or screenshots.

Copyright Notice

Copyright 2022 Xorik. This item is not authorized for posting on Steam, except under the Steam account named Xorik. No parts of this guide may be reproduced, transmitted, or copied without explicit consent from the owner. You may use this guide for your own individual non-commercial and informational purposes only.

[Xorik]

After these past 2 weeks, I have observed that I no longer have the motivation to play this game as before and thus have lost motivation to keep this guide updated. This will now serve as a historical piece of a time prior to Lightfall. I wish you all happy gaming while you still play this game.

[Xorik]

Added a Nightstalker build guide. It is minimal in terms of build because the main focus is utilizing and maintaining invisibility in various ways rather than relying on various Exotic effects. The intent of this guide's creation is to expose New Lights to one of the primary means to do higher difficulty content solo.

[Xorik]

Added my sword guide as a section for players who are looking to use them long-term. Also added Seasonal Challenges as a separate section after Bounties and a way for players who don't play often to use them efficiently.

[Xorik]

Added the Revenant (Stasis Hunter) melee build guide. I know I put "discontinued" for the list of builds, but it was a quick make since there isn't much to it.

[Xorik]

Added section "Choosing Your Preferred Loadout". This section doesn't specify weapon combinations. It goes over things to consider when choosing weapons for higher difficulty activities.

[Xorik]

Had to reupload some pictures not showing in the guide because Steam essentially deleted them at some point.

[Xorik]

Minor Guide Update:

1. Added Duality and Vow of the Disciple's details in Dungeons and Raids (previoulsy added VotD in the Raid dropping Pinnacles but not the details). Small reminder: This guide does not discuss the how-to's for each. They are mainly mentioned to let you know what is available.
2. Marked Crucible as "will never be finished". I haven't gone in there alone in so long that I have no will to do so.
3. Added Rotating detail to Dungeon and Raid.

[Xorik]

Guide Update:

1. Changed some descriptions for Void subclasses in the categories for Choosing a Subclass (Warlock needs updating)
2. Clarified Power system having familiarized myself with it again with the new year
3. Added Resonant Alloy and Ascendant Alloy to Consumables
4. Edited Vanguard section for new name, updated pictures to reflect new UI, and added note for viewing the current week's Nightfall (still need to change modifiers description?).
5. Added notes for Banshee-44's reputation system
6. Crucible details put on hold indefinitely as I don't play it.
7. Added new raid Vow of the Disciple

Got too caught up with Lost Ark and Destiny 2 Legendary campaign with all three characters solo and other activities.

[PhatCheeks]

witch queen gonna have you changing alot
since void 3.0 is droping

[_galaxy]

Some criticism:

I think seasonal triumphs are the main source of exp now, not bounties.
"General Goals/Feats to Aim For" needs to be remade, I think a guardian should strive to get a comp legend or raid completion, then when he has better skill a raid flawless or a trials flawless.