To say that Bungie and Destiny 2 have undergone significant changes and setbacks after the launch of The Final Shape – don’t even get us started on Marathon – would be an understatement. Following layoffs, the developer is focusing on smaller expansions instead of massive yearly drops or Episodes, and it all starts with The Edge of Fate.
Launching on July 15th for Xbox, PlayStation and PC, the $40 expansion ventures to a new destination with new abilities and loot to earn. However, its arrival also marks a suite of overhauls and changes for Destiny 2 as a whole. Here are 15 things you need to know before jumping in.
New Planet
Kepler marks the first time that players will travel outside of the Solar System. For reasons unknown, they’ll discover the House of Exile (with some new unit types that’ll make you go, “They fly now!”), which houses humans who survived the Golden Age (known as Aionions) and a mysterious new NPC named Lodi. The latter is a “fish out of water” who is described as a “long, long way from home.” What role he’ll play is ultimately unknown but for now, Kepler has an aesthetic that’s more akin to Venus than The Pale Heart or Savathun’s Throne World.
Sequence-Breaking Missions
In fact, Bungie describes it as being similar to Rise of Iron from Destiny 1 in terms of depth, which means you’ll discover different secrets and solve puzzles. However, perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Kepler is how players can effectively sequence-break the desired progression. Whether this means completing the campaign earlier than intended, tackling missions in a different order or going places that you weren’t supposed to explore so early, Bungie confirms it’s intentional.
New Traversal Mechanics
There’s no new class or subclasses in The Edge of Fate. Instead, players get three new traversal abilities – Matterspark, Mattermorph and the Relocator. Matterspark turns you into a ball of Arc energy to discover new areas, while Mattermorph can create platforms in mid-air. The Relocator is a cannon that lets you access the Fallen’s teleportation network to get around. Each of these can be upgraded for use in combat or even to facilitate better travel around Kepler (like infinite use of Matterspark).
New Three-Player Activity
A new three-player activity also awaits, similar to Vex Incursions and Wellspring, with players battling waves of enemies and bosses around Kepler. You can utilize the new abilities for different mechanics, and completing it grants the chance to earn new Exotic armor. However, for some reason, it’s “technically time-limited,” which means it may not be around all the time.
Power Changes
Proud of your 2020 loadout, especially with the added Power from the seasonal Artifact? Well, great news – it’s all going away. Or rather, Bungie is resetting the Power grind. Every player will start at 10 Power, and the new Power Band or Soft Cap is 200 (with the max being 450). However, playing at tougher difficulties provides gear with 200+ Power, but that’s not all. Seasonal Power is no longer tied to the Artifact – instead, you need to progress through challenges across all modes (and yes, that includes PvP) to earn gear with Seasonal Bonus Power, which lets you go beyond the Soft Cap.
This may sound fairly annoying, but the best part is that you can grind Power without any limits each week. The Seasonal Bonus Power resets every season. However, the good news is that using a new currency, Unstable Cores, will allow for infusing gear with it into your current set-up, meaning you won’t have to grind out a completely new optimized set.
Armor 3.0
But that’s not all – Armor is getting a massive overhaul when The Edge of Fate launches. New armor sets will now drop with Set Bonuses depending on the number of corresponding equipped pieces. For example, TecSec’s two-piece bonus grants “significantly increased Kinetic damage to overshields, combatant shields and constructs.” However, its four-piece bonus will unleash a disorienting Kinetic shockwave if you break an enemy’s shield or kill them with Kinetic damage. There are also six armor archetypes. Each prioritizes a Primary and Secondary stat (while the remaining four – which we’ll get to – are much lower). If you’re all about grenades, then get the Grenadier set; if it’s about melee damage, then the Brawler set. Archetypes are randomly assigned so you may get the right set bonus but not the desired archetype.
But wait, there’s more. Armor will also have tiers affecting the total stat range when factoring in Masterworking. By taking on increasingly challenging activities, you can get Tier 4 and 5 armor. The former offers extra mod energy while the latter lets you “Tune” the armor, which means taking numbers from other stats and pouring them into another or granting +1 to the three lower stats. And while you can still stick with your previous armor set-up, the new gear will grant 10 percent bonus weapon damage and 15 percent bonus damage resistance, so it’s well worth shifting over.
Stats Revamp
With the change in Power, damage numbers are going down significantly, dropping from the hundreds of thousands to the dozens or hundreds (though it wouldn’t be surprising if they ventured into the thousand at higher Power). However, the stats revamp is easily a bigger deal. Mobility, Resilience and Recovery are being turned into Weapons, Health, and Class while Discipline, Intellect and Strength will be renamed to Grenade, Super and Melee. Health increases the health grained per Orb of Light and your Flinch Resistance; Class reduces your Class Ability cooldown and increases energy earned for the same from all sources; and Weapons improves reload speed, handling and damage for weapons.
Stats cap at 200 and there are no more stat tiers that you need to reach to get specific benefits, with each point providing some benefit. While this means having to focus on a handful of stats instead, crossing the 100 threshold unlocks additional benefits. For example, if your Health stat is over 100, you get increases to Shield Health and Recharge Rate. For something like Melee, the damage dealt is increased in both PvE and PvP.
The Portal
The Director – and Destiny 2 in general – has been a bane for new and old players, especially when it comes to choosing what to play. The Portal aims to streamline all that with sections for Solo Ops, Fireteam Ops, Pinnacles and Crucible. You’ll be able to matchmake into playlists based on different difficulties, see the rewards, and even how many bonus drops are available. This is where you’ll spend time increasing your Power with a range of activities available, including some previously released content like the Coil and Savathun’s Spire. Of course, there’s also a Seasonal Hub which will keep track of challenges, weekly ranks, and more.
Difficulty Modifiers
The other new addition is difficulty modifiers for each activity. When selecting an activity, you can specify a difficulty – from Normal being the lowest to Ultimate being the highest. Each has a corresponding Power for combatants, and while you could run the activity as normal (or even add positive modifiers), difficulty modifiers can increase the challenge and thus the rewards. Some of these modifiers include Avante Garde, which restricts you to new gear and weapons only, and as you add more, the Challenge Modifier goes up (while positive modifiers reduce it). The more difficult the activity, the more rewarding it is, including dropping higher-Tier weapons. Higher Tiers equals things like a fully enhanced Adept weapon at Tier 3, an enhanced Origin Trait on top of that at Tier 4 and, at Tier 5, enhanced perks on top of those.
Shooting Range
After years and years of requests, especially after it took away the Tribute Hall, Bungie is finally adding a shooting range in the Tower. You can spawn in different enemy types or Champions, have them remain stationary or attacking you, and effectively test our different weapons with damage numbers that should correspond to the actual activities. And yes, if you want to test out Supers and abilities, that’s also possible.
New Exotic Weapons
Thus far, only two new Exotic weapons have been revealed, but each is intriguing in its own way. Graviton Spike is a new hand cannon with two modes – one firing Arc shots and the other Stasis shots. With precision hits and final blows, you can overcharge the other mode, which can either unleash a lightning strike or a Stasis explosion and crystal generation. Third Iteration is a scout rifle, which fires a spread of void projectiles from the hip. Aiming down sights not only reduces it, but after a short period, they’ll condense into a single Amalgamation Round, which marks damaged enemies, which then receive additional damage from the gun. Landing precision final blows with the round or even slaying marked targets provides Truesight and invisibility. Also, instead of reloading, you essentially vent its core to recharge it, though it also recharges when not fired or stowed.
There’s also New Land Beyond, which is available right now for Ultimate Edition owners, and it’s…No Land Beyond from Destiny. The same bolt action firing, the same animation cancelling for cutting down the time between shots. The biggest difference is its intrinsic perk, The Master, which increases the weapon’s damage as you score precision hits until your death.
New Exotic Gear
As for Exotic gear, only three pieces have been unveiled, one for each class. Melas Panoplia is for Solar Titans, specifically, the Throwing Hammer mains, where rapidly slaying targets with Solar damage or collecting a Firesprite will grant the Forge Master buff. This lets you recall a Throwing Hammer, and executing a Perfect Recall creates an explosion while extending the timer of Forge Master. Eunoia is essentially Getaway Artist for Song of Flame Warlocks, where Helion deals more damage with greater distance and explodes into shrapnel that scorches enemies. Finally, there’s Moirai for Strand Hunters, where you throw a Threaded Spike at a Tangle, detonating and returning it in your hands immediately alongside the Spike, which should pair well with Whirling Maelstrom.
New Artifact Perks
This season’s Artifact focuses on Solar, Strand and Stasis, like Frost Renewal, where taking critical damage with Frost Armor active will release a freezing burst that also provides Frost Armor to you and any allies close by. You also have Fever and Chill, where rapidly hitting precision shots with a Solar weapon grants Radiant (and Frost Armor if you’re using a Stasis weapon). Tangled Web lets you suspend nearby enemies if you defeat a Strand debuffed target and make a Tangle. Personally, there are too many worthwhile Solar perks to ignore as a Warlock, like Radiant Shrapnel where dealing damage while Radiant or slaying a scorched enemy with a weapon causes it to release damaging Solar projectiles that also Scorch. But even if you’re rocking Sunshot – which you should, and no, I don’t care how old it is – there is a lot to choose from.
New Weapon Frames
Rocket Sidearms remain one of the most fun archetypes in Destiny 2, so naturally, Bungie’s weapons team took it even further with…Rocket Pulse Rifles. Yes, they eat through Special Ammo like crazy, but the damage, based on a livestream, looks solid. You also have Longbows, which can over-penetrate and deal more damage but have longer draw times, and Spread Hand Cannons, which are essentially shotguns (and deal the most damage up close). However, perhaps the most exciting new addition is the Crossbow. It’s a Legendary Heavy weapon frame, and while it deals substantial damage (that too in an area after colliding with a target), you can pick up the bolt afterwards. As an alternative to Leviathan’s Breath, it looks and sounds amazing.
New Raid
Of course, it wouldn’t be a new Destiny 2 expansion without a new raid (please don’t pay too much attention to Renegades potentially not having one). Nothing is known about it except that it goes live on July 19th – four days after the expansion’s launch. Bungie has noted that completing the Legendary Campaign will be enough to get your Power ready, but whether your gear is ready or not, especially for Contest Mode, is up to you.