Destiny 2 How To Play

Destiny 2 (Paradigm credit: Bungie)

Update 7/5/2021: This guide was updated with some current details about Ability Level in Destiny 2.

Destiny ii and its expansions Forsaken, Shadowkeep, and Beyond Light recently arrived on Xbox Game Pass alongside the launch of Xbox Series 10 and Xbox Series Southward. This means that people who want to check out everything Destiny two currently has to offer tin can now do so at an incredibly low cost.

Unfortunately, though, there's a problem: Destiny ii is not an like shooting fish in a barrel game to spring into if you're simply starting out. Don't worry, though, because this guide contains all of the information yous'll need to get started off on the right pes, likewise equally some tips and suggestions that volition aid brand your showtime foray into the Destiny universe a smooth one. Let'due south become started.

Wield the Darkness

Destiny ii: Beyond Light

Europa awaits

Beyond Low-cal is the next big expansion for Destiny 2, introducing a new element for Guardians to wield, a new area on the Jupiter moon Europa, a new story, and plenty of boodle to get effectually.

Destiny 2: Picking your class

The commencement matter you'll demand to do when you start upwards Destiny ii for the outset time is choice a class to play equally. Each grade has dissimilar types of jumps, grenades, and melee abilities, and each one besides has "Supers." Supers are ultimate abilities that have a while to charge, but have a dramatic impact on gainsay, and give you lot damage resistance while active.

There are three classes: Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks (listed left to right in the in a higher place paradigm). Titans are the closest affair Destiny has to tank classes, featuring a skill that lets them place down a protective wall and several abilities focused on harm mitigation. Hunters are similar rogues, able to perform a dodge, move around quickly, and use abilities to deliver big amounts of burst damage. Lastly, Warlocks are similar to mages, bringing supportive things like healing or impairment boosts to the table with rifts. Additionally, they also take the highest (and trickiest to acquire) jump of the three.

There are elemental subclasses (ruddy is Solar, bluish is Arc, royal is Void, and nighttime blueish is Stasis) for each grade, which can be switched at any time. These subclasses change what your abilities do, so as you play, try them out and run across which ane suits you best. Admission to Stasis requires owning the Across Lite expansion, chirapsia the campaign, and doing some of the Exo Stranger'south quests. There are likewise Aspects and Fragments that you lot can unlock for Stasis that tweak what your abilities practice; don't miss our guide on how to get Aspects and Fragments.

Ultimately, you shouldn't stress virtually this conclusion, as you have iii grapheme slots. This means y'all tin can have ane of each class if you lot want. Plus, all classes can utilize the aforementioned guns, then there'due south no need to worry about missing out on a cool weapon but because you're a Titan and not a Warlock.

Destiny 2: Gainsay nuts

Now that you've picked a class, let's talk about the basics of combat. In Destiny, there are three types of enemy ranks: Minors, Majors, and Bosses. Minors (red health bar) are weak merely plentiful, Majors (xanthous health bar) are tougher just rarer, and Bosses (orange wellness bar) are the strongest but will ordinarily only be encountered once per session.

In terms of your arsenal, you lot can wield three dissimilar types of guns: Primary (white ammo), Special (green ammo), and Ability (purple ammo). Principal weapons (assault rifles, pulse rifles, handcannons) come up with enough of ammo but the lowest damage, making them ideal for mowing down Minors. Special weapons (shotguns, sniper rifles, fusion rifles) practise college harm with rarer ammo, making them best used on Majors. Finally, Power weapons (grenade launchers, machine guns, swords) are the most powerful, merely ammo drops for them the least common. Therefore, you lot should save Power weapons for usage against Bosses or very large groups of Minors or Majors.

If you notice that an enemy has a shield glowing around their trunk, pay attention to the color of it. Red means that the shield is weak to Solar damage, bluish ways its weak to Arc, and majestic ways its weak to Void. You can use either your subclass abilities or an elemental guns to exploit these weaknesses. When you do, the enemy shield will instantly explode, hurting enemies shut to the enemy you damaged, too. Stasis, the newest chemical element, is less of a damage tool and more of a crowd command i. You lot tin use Stasis to slow, freeze, and shatter enemies.

Lastly, when you notice your Super is gear up, I recommend saving information technology for one of 3 situations: damaging a dominate, immigration out huge groups of Minors/Majors, or staying alive at low health. Supers take a while to recharge, and so you don't want to use them wastefully.

Destiny 2: What is Power Level?

Power Level in Destiny 2 is best described as the primary statistic you're aiming to increase equally y'all play. Certain activities are just suitable for players who have reached a certain Ability Level, therefore if yours is too low, the enemies will impale y'all extremely quickly and accept petty damage.

As a new actor, your Power Level is at 1,100. This allows you to play in the game'south patrol areas, Forsaken content, Shadowkeep content, normal Strikes, Crucible matches, and Gambit matches. As you play this content, you volition find and earn new guns and armor that have a higher Power Level than your current boilerplate, which is displayed on the pinnacle correct of your character overview. Every bit y'all equip them, your Power Level will become upwards.

Somewhen, you'll accomplish a point where you tin't go any higher from these types of drops. From there on out, you'll have to start engaging with specific tasks and activities that reward Powerful Gear. These primarily include completing 8 bounties (simple missions similar "kill 25 enemies with a sword") for vendors in The Tower each calendar week. It as well extends to special Nightmare Hunt and Nightfall Strike missions, completing the weekly Flashpoint (go to the planet with the yellow icon higher up information technology and practise simple activities for the vendor) or finding Prime number Engrams randomly equally you play.

Afterwards doing this for awhile, you lot'll reach the Power Level soft cap, at which point you lot can only increase your Power Level x points further by completing harder activities that advantage Meridian Rewards such as the Deep Stone Catacomb Raid, the Prophecy Dungeon, and bounties for the Fe Banner Crucible fashion that rolls around monthly.

Power Level too increases by 1 for every time you level up the seasonal artifact every actor gets during in-game seasons. You do this by getting XP from vendor bounties, quest completions, and enemy kills. This helps ensure your Powerful Gear grind isn't too long, but the Power Levels do go away when a new season starts and you become a new artifact. Therefore, these Power gains are only a temporary boost. Additionally, Bungie raises the Power Level caps with each new season, so you'll never truly be "done" chasing Power Level increases in Destiny.

Destiny ii: What are seasons?

Seasons in Destiny 2 are (roughly) three calendar month long periods of fourth dimension where a special activity is added to the game and players consummate it in club to earn new loot. Additionally, a battle laissez passer is added for each season, and players take the option of paying $x for a season boxing pass that enables them to unlock cool stuff like cosmetics as they accrue XP.

Destiny 2: Loot stats and tiers

Equally you unlock new weapons and armor, you'll notice that in addition to randomized perks, they'll also take randomized stats. Here's a breakdown of what each stat ways for weapons:

Bear upon: The damage the weapon does.
Range: How far abroad y'all can shoot at a target earlier impairment falls off.
Stability: How steady the weapon stays after trigger pulls.
Handling: How quickly you can switch to or put away the weapon.
Reload Speed: This one explains itself, no?

Here are the different stats for armors:

Resilience: How much damage resistance your armor provides.
Recovery: How speedily you lot regain health later on existence damaged.
Mobility: Bound height and how fast you walk (sprint speed is universal).
Intellect: How quickly your Super recharges.
Discipline: How chop-chop your grenade recharges.
Strength: How quickly your melee recharges.

On elevation of the stats that weapons and armor pieces take, it's also important to pay attention to their rarity tier, which is adamant by color. There are five of them, but the Mutual and Uncommon variants (white and green) are effectively nonexistent in Destiny 2 for 2020. Therefore, we'll cover the three relevant ones:

Rare (Blueish): These are the worst tier of gear you'll come beyond. They drop ofttimes, so they're neat for getting your Ability Level up . Notwithstanding, you lot should look for Legendary items, since Rare weapons take fewer perks, and Rare armors have fewer mod slots.
Legendary (Regal): Legendary gear will be your bread-and-butter in Destiny ii endgame, as they offer more perks/modernistic slots and better overall stats compared to Rare gear.
Exotic (Gold): Exotic gear is the rarest type in Destiny. Pieces of Exotic gear typically change the style your Guardian interacts with enemies and the globe past way of a unique perk. You lot're but allowed to equip one Exotic weapon and 1 Exotic armor piece at once.

Powerful Gear and Tiptop Gear drops will never be Rare. They will always be Legendary or in very rare cases, Exotic. If you see a golden engram while playing, make sure y'all grab it since it's a lucky Exotic drop.

Destiny 2: Of import vendors and services

Though Destiny two has tons of different vendors and NPCs to talk with, some are more important than others. While I recommend talking to them all every bit you lot play, the ones I list here are the ones yous'll want to prioritize equally a new actor.

Zavala: Vanguard vendor, provides Vanguard bounties and Strike quests. Likewise gives Vanguard-themed gear in exchange for Vanguard Tokens yous earn while playing Strikes. Gives Powerful Gear later 8 bounties are completed every week.
Lord Shaxx: Crucible vendor, provides Crucible bounties and quests. Also gives Crucible-themed gear in exchange for Crucible Tokens you earn while playing in Crucible. Gives Powerful Gear after eight bounties are completed every calendar week.
The Drifter: Gambit vendor, provides Gambit and Gambit Prime number bounties and quests. Gives Powerful Gear after 8 bounties are completed every week.
Banshee-44: Weapon/armor mod vendor, provides Gunsmith bounties, weapon quests, and mods. Gives Powerful Gear after eight bounties are completed every week.
Xur: Sells Exotic weapons and armor on weekends. Also sells a special engram that is guaranteed to give you Exotic gear yous don't accept notwithstanding.
Postmaster: This vendor is where gear you either don't take inventory space for or forget to pick up off the basis when it drops goes to. Make certain to check it frequently, as if the Postmaster gets full, items you forget to collect will only be deleted instead of sent to the Postmaster.
Exo Stranger: Owners of the Beyond Lite expansion will need to often work with the Exo Stranger in gild to receive and upgrade their Stasis subclass.
Ada-1: Speak to Ada-1 to use Armor Synthesis, which allows y'all to plow whatsoever armor pieces in your Collections tab into a universal armor ornament through the use of Synthweave, a currency earned from Ada-1 for killing enemies and completing her bounties. Ada-1 also sells some valuable Charged with Low-cal and Warmind Cell mods that allow players to craft deep and unique builds (her inventory changes daily).
Quest Kiosk: If you ever abandon one of your quests and want to activate information technology again, it will be found here. Also, this is where existing players will be able to access the new tutorial quest that came with Beyond Low-cal.
Monument To Lost Lights Kiosk: This Kiosk is where players tin obtain Exotics and other special weapons exclusive to content that was put into the Destiny Content Vault (When Bungie removes one-time content to brand the game install size smaller). It will price a hefty corporeality of in-game currencies for these items however, as they required completion of difficult quests and missions and are priced highly equally a result.

All of these vendors can be institute in The Tower hub, although Xur also has a chance to spawn in other locations in the game as well. Keep an centre on this tracking website during weekends in order to figure out where he is every week.

In addition to the above vendors, there's too Tess Everis. She runs the Eververse store on The Tower, which is Destiny 2's microtransaction shop. In it, you can find different cosmetic ornaments for your armor and weapons, new types of Sparrows (a speeder bike yous can ride in open areas), shaders, and more. Some of it tin be purchased with Brilliant Dust, a special currency yous get for doing weekly bounties for vendors. Still, well-nigh of it has to be bought with Silver, a currency bought with real money.

Destiny two: Major game modes

Below follow the main gameplay experiences that y'all'll be able to have outside of doing the story missions or just aimlessly exploring Destiny 2'southward worlds.

Strikes: These Vanguard missions involve a squad of iii players fighting their way through a traditional-manner shooter mission. At the terminate of the level, players take to face off confronting and defeat a boss. Later on, you'll ordinarily cease up getting Vanguard Tokens and a rare slice of gear or two, with a lower chance for Legendary gear.
Nightfall: The Ordeal: These are harder versions of Strikes chosen Nightfalls that have more durable and mortiferous enemies. However, to compensate, the chances of good loot dropping have been increased significantly. Loftier difficulty Nightfalls will even drib Exotic gear and upgrade materials for armor and weapons usually; you'll need to be at the Power Level soft cap, though.
Crucible: The Crucible is Destiny 2's PvP arena and where players tin go to fight against other Guardians. Free-for-all, 4v4, and 6v6 modes are all available, and in that location's a special competitive 4v4 Elimination fashion too. Finishing matches normally nets you Crucible Tokens and a Rare or Legendary gear drop.
Gambit: This way fuses together PvE with PvP equally two teams of four compete to run into who tin kill a Taken Primeval first. The cadre mechanics are cyberbanking motes to spawn Taken on the other squad's battlefield and piece of work towards spawning a Primeval, as well every bit Invading to try and kill players who have motes.
Dungeons: These levels bridge the gap betwixt Strikes and Raids, offering a decently long and challenging PvE experience with lite puzzles for a grouping of iii. They reward two Powerful Gear and a Pinnacle Gear when completed each calendar week.
Raids: These are half dozen-human being PvE missions that often take several hours to complete and require crystal clear communication due to the complex puzzles and difficult combat in them. Raids are the hardest things in Destiny 2, but are also ofttimes considered i of the most fun things too. Currently, you lot get five Pinnacle Gear drops when completing the reprised Vault of Glass Raid. Older Raids drop unique loot, though information technology isn't Acme Gear.

In general, I recommend fugitive Dungeons and Raids until you get more comfortable with Destiny and have a relatively high Power Level. Those activities don't take matchmaking, either, so you'll have to form your own fireteams. The Destiny Sherpa subreddit is a expert identify to await if you want to try a Dungeon or Raid.

Destiny two: Upgrading and customizing gear

In Destiny two, you'll need to utilise a combination of Glimmer (drops from fallen enemies), Legendary Shards (obtained from dismantling Legendary/Exotic Gear), and rare currencies called Enhancement Cores, Enhancement Prisms, and Ascendant Shards (most reliable drops are from Nightfalls) in order to fully upgrade your weapons and armor. You can upgrade every weapon and armor piece 10 times each, with each level adding more to your stats. Additionally, with armor specifically, upgrading information technology gives you the ability to use more impactful mods. Mods are very valuable since they can provide all sorts of benign effects, and then upgrading your kit and leveraging several slap-up mods at in one case is the right phone call. At the tenth upgrade level, weapons and armor become masterworked and can't be improved any farther.

If you want to customize your weapons or armor, ringlet downward to the Appearance tab underneath the item's inventory page. Here, you will be able to apply shaders that you lot've constitute during gameplay (think of them equally paint schemes), and you can likewise apply whatever ornaments that you accept bachelor (either bought from Eververse or earned in gameplay) for the weapon or armor piece in question. These will make your armor or weapon look completely different. However, you lot can switch back and forth at any time, so don't be afraid of "wasting" your ornament.

Finally, you can speak to Ada-1 in The Belfry to use Armor Synthesis, which is a organisation that allows you to turn any armor piece in your Collections tab into a universal ornament through use of the Synthweave currency that you can earn from Ada-1 by killing enemies and completing her bounties. Check out my breakdown of the organization for more details.

Your thoughts

If you have any questions virtually the game that yous'd similar to have answered, experience free to drop them in the comments. Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available for $xl on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. If y'all don't feel that Destiny 2 is correct for you lot, make sure yous cheque out our listing of the all-time Xbox One shooters available.

Wield the Darkness

Destiny two: Beyond Light

Europa awaits

Across Light is the adjacent big expansion for Destiny 2, introducing a new element for Guardians to wield, a new area on the Jupiter moon Europa, a new story, and plenty of loot to go around.

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Fundamental author and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he'southward been an avid fan since childhood. Yous'll find him doing reviews, editorials, and general coverage on everything Xbox and PC. Follow him on Twitter.