Humanity's future defenders are Guardians: Long-deceased warriors destined to be chosen by a Ghost who will return them to life and imbue them with the Light of the Traveler. Don't worry, your Ghost will walk you through the details when you meet.
After your unexpected awakening in the Cosmodrome, your first task is to cross the wasted landscape of the Divide. Along the way, you'll begin to learn the ways of a Guardian and receive a quick primer-by-fire on
Destiny 2 combat.
TIPS FOR YOUR NEW QUESTS
An important function is deploying your
Ghost to view the map and selections. For PC players, hitting TAB on the keyboard will deploy your Ghost and allow you to deploy your Sparrow if available, return to orbit, or open the Director. By opening the Director, you will have access to the map, waypoints, the in-game store, social options, and your Seasonal rewards.
Deploying your Ghost also shows you the current waypoint. A white diamond shape would appear which can guide the direction of your objective. For more details on navigation
see the Navigation section below.
BOUNTIES
An important factor to leveling up and gaining rewards is collecting and completing bounties. As you collect quests and bounties, your progress can be viewed via the Director. Weekly bounties will give you more XP and potential rewards. New Light players will meet their first NPC vendor,
Shaw Han, in Cosmodrome. Shaw would provide an in-game bounty tutorial before players will meet more vendors across the Solar System and in the Tower.
More details on bounties and quests are available in the
Navigating the Universe section below.
LOST SECTORS
One of the key quests on your new journey will be completing a Lost Sector – a PvE activity where you'll encounter combatants of various races, a boss enemy, and an unlockable treasure chest. You can do them alone or with two other Guardians. There are multiple Lost Sectors on each planet so there are plenty rewards to collect for the wanted enemies you'll find within.
The Lost Sector symbol can be found the World Map and once discovered, it will be highlighted where you can continue to earn rewards for each completion.
As part of your New Light experience, be sure to use the World Map to help you find the Lost Sector in the Forgotten Shore section of The Cosmodrome. Once you're near, look for the Lost Sector logo that will mark your entrance.
CURRENCIES
There are many currencies in Destiny 2 that allow you to buy items, bounties, or to upgrade your weapons and armor. Most new players start collecting Glimmer: The currency of the Last City. A form of programmable matter, used both for craft and as a fuel.
PLANETARY RESOURCES
In addition to the currencies used for purchases and gear upgrades, there are planetary resources across the universe that Guardians can obtain. These resources are used to purchase valuable items such as Upgrade Modules and Enhancement Cores that can advance your power. More information on mods and infusion practices is available in the
Weapons, Armor and more!
PLAYING WITH FRIENDS
Playing with your friends can be a key factor to enjoying your Destiny 2 experience. If you have friends playing on your platform of choice, you can easily find them in the Roster tab in the Director. From within that menu, you can join or create a fireteam.
You can also find new friends to join your fireteam or make new ones if you’re looking for help with a certain activity using the Fireteams feature in the
Official Destiny 2 Companion App. You can also manage your gear, track your bounties and much more. Check out the
Resources section to enhance your
Destiny 2 experience including popular 3rd party applications.
READING THE HEADS-UP DISPLAY
- 1. It won’t be hard to discern threats to humanity, because they’ll be firing at you and your allies. Enemy names and totals for shield and health are displayed.
- 2. The tracker in the corner highlights in red threats* approaching from different vectors. It’s extremely useful for confirming at-a-glance the direction in which danger lurks. *(Threat color can vary based on colorblindness settings)
- 3. Ability cooldowns and ammo totals are grouped together to make their availability easy to confirm. Current weapons and available ammo are also displayed.
- 4. When you get hit, damage will initially deplete the white shield gauge. Once the shield is shattered, hazards will begin chipping away at your red health gauge. If this is fully depleted, your Guardian will perish. When in danger, rest briefly behind cover, hidden from enemy attacks, to give the shield time to regenerate.
Rewards earned will be shown on the right side of your screen. Most often this will be Glimmer or other types of currency, weapons and armor pulled from loot caches, and engrams picked up from vanquished targets.
After picking up a piece of gear, wait for a break in the action, then check out the Character screen to see if you’ve received an upgrade worth equipping right away. Check out
Weapons, Armor, and Rewards for more about upgrades.
BASIC GAMEPLAY
During the introductory mission, you’ll be introduced to a few of the game’s different weapon types and enemies, as well as various Guardian powers.
Kinetic weapons will tend to be your primary tool. They deal high direct damage to unshielded targets, but are less effective against shielded adversaries.
Energy weapons deal elemental damage, allowing them to melt through enemy shields much more effectively than Kinetic weapons. Bonus damage is dealt if you break an enemy’s color-coded elemental shield with the corresponding element: Solar for orange shields, Arc for blue shields, and Void for purple shields. Against unshielded enemies, Energy weapons are slightly weaker than Kinetic weapons.
Power weapons hit like trucks, inflicting far more damage per shot than Kinetic or Energy weapons. They’re strong against any target, but are particularly valuable against challenging foes (indicated by yellow health bars). Power weapons are typically a bit unwieldy, and you can’t carry very much reserve ammo for them.
ENGRAM BASICS
Guardians will encounter these loot items that can be randomly dropped by defeated enemies or at completion of various activities. Basic engrams will award you various weapons and gear which can help you gain overall power, or an item with a roll or attribute that suits your play style.
- The blue Encrypted Engrams will grant "Rare" equipment. These engrams normally are decrypted upon pickup.
- The purple Legendary Engrams will grant "Legendary" equipment. Like the blue engrams, most Legendary Engrams will be decrypted without the need to visit a Cryptarch.
- The yellow Exotic Engram will grant "Exotic" equipment which all weapons and gear have a special unique perk. Like the Legendary Engrams, they will be decrypted upon pick up.
- The shiny purple Prime Engram can be decrypted to a higher level gear until the soft level cap. Unlike the other Engrams, Prime engrams must be decrypted by a Cryptarch. Guardians can claim a free Prime Engram by having a registered Bungie.net account and visiting the Bungie Rewards page.
- The clear Eververse Engram can be decrypted into a variety of cosmetic, mods, Ghost ships and much more. Guardians can either visit Tess Everis, the Eververse vendor to decrypt, or directly decrypt in the Store tab in the Director.
For more details, read the "Earning New Gear" section below.
PRECISION SHOTS AND WEAK POINTS
Most enemies have a weak point you should target to inflict extra damage. You can tell if you’ve struck the weak point because damage numbers will be displayed in yellow. For most enemy types, the weak point is naturally the head, but this is not always the case. For example, against biomechanical Vex adversaries and orb-shaped Servitors, the weak point is right in the center. When in doubt, shoot different spots till you see yellow numbers.
Against some enemies, the weak point will be basically the only vulnerable part. Particularly during boss encounters, you might have to aim at shifting weak points, while dealing with phrases of boss immunity.
DEFEAT, REVIVAL, AND RESPAWNING
When a Guardian’s shield is busted and their health is fully depleted, they are downed, leaving behind a glowing sphere of their essence.
But death is not the end. Other Guardians can bring back a downed Guardian by standing nearby and following the Revive prompt. A defeated Guardian can also follow their own prompt to Respawn, which brings them back on the fringe of the current battlefield.
RESTRICTION ZONES
Revival rules change in Restriction Zones. You’ll know when you’ve entered a Restriction Zone because you’ll get a clear notice onscreen, and your vision will shimmer ominously.
Manual respawning in Restriction Zones will be more difficult. A coordinated fireteam can brave a Restriction Zone with multiple individual defeats as long as they keep reviving each other and progressing as a unit.
If all Guardians are defeated at once, the whole fireteam will be booted back to the entrance of the Restriction Zone, which works like a checkpoint. Anything accomplished prior to being wiped out will have to be redone.
In most locations and during most activities, fireteams move in and out of Restriction Zones, alternating between sections of normal or heightened stakes. But certain Nightfall strikes based on difficulty, the entire activity is a Restriction Zone, raising the challenge substantially!
GUARDIAN POWERS
Apart from having different movement options when airborne, it’s these abilities that differentiate the three Guardian classes. Each Guardian subclass has its own selection of specialized Super, grenade, melee, and class ability actions.
GRENADE
Grenades are powerful explosives with a wide variety of effects. They vary from straightforward explosive ordinance, to sticky bombs that attach to victims, to area-denial tools that briefly wash the detonation zone with pulsing damage. Take care not to hurt yourself with a grenade tossed too close!
Tapping the grenade button (the left bumper or L1 or equivalent shoulder button by default on controllers; keyboard default is "Q") will toss a grenade if grenade energy is full. For some subclasses, holding down the grenade button activates an alternate effect, like “cooking” the grenade for extra power or consuming grenade energy to replenish health.
MELEE
Guardians can bash opponents up-close with a standard melee strike (by tapping R1 or the right bumper or equivalent by default on controllers; keyboard default is "C"). When melee energy is full, a better melee ability is available. Full-energy melee strikes have better reach and damage than standard melee, along with additional effects like shield, health, or ability energy regeneration.
CLASS ABILITY
Class abilities do a variety of things depending on the subclass. They tend to offer effects that can benefit an entire fireteam, if used cooperatively. Using class abilities to complement teammates goes a long way toward making tough firefights winnable. For Hunter, class abilities are dodge maneuvers activated by double-tapping the crouch button. For Titan and Warlock, class abilities help fireteams stand their current ground, bolstered by temporary buffs or cover. These are activated by holding the crouch button.
SUPER
Supers are the most powerful tools in Guardians’ arsenals. A Super’s expression depends on a Guardian’s chosen subclass, but the end result is a devastating attack (or temporary alternate state) that’s capable of laying waste to many minor opponents at once, or heavily damaging a boss. Defeating enemies with a Super generates Orbs of Power, which teammates can collect to quickly build up more Super energy. Coordinated teams use Supers judiciously to help everyone get Supers more often, greatly increasing fireteam lethality.
STASIS
The new elemental power to dominate the battlefield is available only for
Beyond Light owners. Control the fight, seize your enemies in an icy grip, and shatter them where they stand. Power takes a new form for all three Guardian classes. For more information about Stasis, visit the
official Stasis page.
ADVANCED TIPS
FINISHER
Finishers provide a stylish melee twist on taking down low-health opponents up close. When a foe has less than half health, they’ll glow subtly, and a small circular tick mark will appear above their head. Approach this enemy and press in the right analog stick (Q on PC-keyboard) to initiate the finishing move. If within range, you’ll take them out with a flashy third-person cinematic. If you are running out of ammo, using the finishing move while you're close gives you an edge than being exposed while reloading or switching weapons.
Different Guardians have different starting finishers, and more styles can be acquired from Tess Everis’s Eververse store in the Tower. Some special finishing moves expend a little Super energy to generate extra effects, like spawning Heavy ammo or replenishing health.
UNIQUE CLASS ACTIONS
Depending on your Guardian’s subclass, you may have access to more actions.
Some classes have a special dodge maneuver on the ground or even in the air (executed on consoles by double-tapping the crouch button or on PC by using the “air move” key, which defaults to X).
Some subclasses also have alternate abilities activated by holding down the grenade button.
Powered-up melee strikes have preconditions for certain subclasses, like sprinting or jumping first.
And several Supers are not simply fire-and-forget mega-moves, but instead are powered-up states that enable temporary actions.
Carefully read your favored subclass’s ability breakdowns on the Character screen so you’ll be aware of any non-standard capabilities worth weaving into your battle plan!
MAKING THE MOST OF SPECIAL ABILITIES
Special abilities recharge over time, in addition to building up more quickly under certain conditions (picking up Orbs of Power regenerates Super energy, some melee attacks help regenerate grenades, and so on). Unless you know an especially sturdy adversary is coming up soon, don't save available special abilities for a rainy day; Use them as often as possible, especially on clustered enemies, challenging foes, and particularly nasty commander-types.
SPRINTING INTO COVER
To sprint, push in the left analog stick while moving on the ground. Sprinting gets you from point A to point B faster than a normal running pace and makes it much more likely you’ll dodge enemy attacks and gunfire along the way. A life-saving habit to develop: Whenever your shield is broken, drop what you’re doing and sprint into cover to let the shield regenerate. Don’t get greedy during shoot-outs!
The only catch regarding sprinting is that it’s a commitment. You can’t do anything else while sprinting, so no firing or reloading a weapon. If you need to move quickly while reloading at the same time, try aerial movement.
SPRINTING ON OPEN GROUND
When facing off on open ground, without convenient cover to hide behind, sprinting perpendicular to current threats makes it much more likely they’ll miss. (By perpendicular, we mean sprinting laterally around attackers, maintaining the same distance, not sprinting toward or away from them.)
If a vital tip for dodging bullets is “stay moving,” then it stands to reason that “stay moving, but faster” is an even better tip.
SLIDING FOR FUN AND PROFIT
When sprinting, press the crouch button to perform a high-speed slide. When hurrying to cover, this gives you a brief speed boost while lowering your profile quite a bit. After the slide’s momentum ends, you’ll be crouching. Keep that in mind while continuing to move around. To stand up, either tap the crouch button or sprint again by pushing in the left stick while moving.
AIR MOVEMENT
Extreme air mobility is one of the defining traits of Guardians. Pressing the jump button while airborne (whether after jumping or stepping off a ledge) engages some type of specialized aerial move, depending on the current Guardian class and subclass movement choice.
Each subclass has three aerial movement options to choose from. Hunters have an array of double- and triple-jump options available, while Titans and Warlocks use boost jets to glide for extra hangtime (and Warlock’s Voidwalker subclass has a unique teleporting aerial ability called Blink).
Air movement helps cross chasms and reach higher ground. The initial momentum increases of Hunter’s Strafe double-jump, Titan’s Catapult glide, and Warlock’s Burst glide are also great for a little extra forward oomph when crossing dangerous airspace. And when you need to reload while seeking a better attack angle or the safety of cover, jetting through the air while reloading is faster and safer than plodding on the ground at normal speed.
LEDGE MANTLING
Boost, glide, or warp through the air into the side of a viable platform or ledge (essentially slapping into the lip of it with your Guardian’s hip rather than their feet) to deftly climb up, rather than missing your footing altogether and falling down. This isn’t necessarily something to aim for, but it can help you just barely make jumps across long gaps or recover from desperate falls.
CUTTING RELOADS SHORT
To make every moment count, be aware that you don’t have to watch the full reload animation play out. As soon as the number displayed for ammo reserves indicates a full magazine, you’re free to fire.
In the case of weapons that reload shell-by-shell, like many Shotguns, you don’t have to wait for the weapon to be fully reloaded before you return to firing. As long as at least one round is chambered, the weapon can be discharged.