Best Destiny Strikes, All 31 Ranked

Best Destiny Strikes, All 31 Ranked

Between Destiny 1 and Destiny 2, the series has been churning out strikes regularly for a while now. Let’s look back at all 31 from both games, and rank the best Destiny strikes of all-time.

31. Exodus Crash

There were some clunker strikes in the first Destiny game. You’d think for Destiny 2 Bungie would have learned how to not make a bad strike. While most of strikes in the sequel are more interesting, Exodus Crash goes out of its way to be the new worst. A few lowlights include forcing you to drive your sparrow through checkpoints with a Fallen firing squad ready to light you up. And of course, the movement restricting shanks that impede you from chasing down a boss that can’t be burned down and will go invisible every few seconds to hide from you. This strike sucks so bad.

30. Echo Chamber

The Echo Chamber at least tried to be interesting but it’s effectively a big long strike where the big gimmick is you have to just carry a charge the whole time. It slowed you down for a really dumb reason. The boss was kind of cool though.

29. Tree of Probabilities

Tree of Probabilities from gets knocked down multiple pegs for literally being a mission repurposed as a strike. There are a few of these in Destiny 2, but Tree of Probabilities gets the honor of being the worst. It’s a dull romp through some Cabal and nothing more. When the boss crushes that Vex Minotaur is the only memorable part worth mentioning

28. Will of the Thousands

Here’s another mission that got reused as a Strike in Destiny 2: Warmind. Will of the Thousands is frustrating because you’re forced to kill a giant worm god that only takes significant damage when it’s critical. It was cool the first time in the mission, but getting it for the 30th time while playing Vanguard Strikes, it quickly loses its luster and is just is a drag.

27. The Nexus

The Nexus is pretty lame. You can skip a ton of it and the final boss is just a big hydra that will pound you if you’re out in the open for more than a few seconds. Meaning you’re constantly have to just hide behind a pillar, take some shots, trigger reinforcements, and repeat until the strike mercifully ends.

26. The Devil’s Lair

Ah the original. The first strike. This honestly would be higher if Rise of Iron didn’t do a metal remake of it which we’ll get to later. On its own, it’s just a pretty nondescript encounter with an annoying walker in the middle which taught newbies the hard way that you shouldn’t enter Destiny events underleveled unless you want to have a bad time.

25. Winter’s Run

Winter’s Run, like a lot of the early Destiny 1 strikes, were pretty much just missions. The moment where the Vex first warp in was pretty cool since they were still intimidating back then. Trying to stun-lock the final boss with Icebreakers was also pretty fun.

24. Lake of Shadows

Lake of Shadows is fine, but it just lacks memorable moments by Destiny 2 strike standards. It’s just kill some blights, some random taken, then kill a Taken Cabal boss like we have all done so many times before.

23. The Summoning Pits

Destiny 1 veterans will have “fond” memories of hiding in the cheese spot sniping the giant Orge at the end until the dire moment you realized that you’d have to go out and get special ammo. If it wasn’t one of the original strikes with some nostalgia attached to it, The Summoning Pits would be kind of lame otherwise. It took way too long to kill that Orge to be considered fun.

22. A Garden World

A Garden World is one of those missions reused for a Strike that occurred in Curse of Osiris. The boss is bullet spongy and reminiscent of some of the worst bosses from Destiny 1. However, the scenery is pretty, taking place in past Mercury, and the the verticality of climbing higher and higher up the spire to reach the final boss is entertaining.

21. Blighted Chalice

Blighted Chalce is basically just going through The Summoning Pits again, but backwards and you fight Taken instead, and then end with a giant Knight instead. Fine, but also, whatever.

20. The Wretched Eye

The Splicers in general were pretty rad, and a Splicer priest with a pet Orge is pretty metal so that scores The Wretched Eye some points. However, the final encounter is basically big long kite fest with a bullet sponge boss. Eh…

19. The Insight Terminus

The Insight Terminus’ final boss is pretty neat, a very pissed off Psion with some Vex-powers that summons hordes of Cabal that are satisfying to take down. The sections before that though can get tedious though and that knocks this one down a few pegs.

18. The Arms Dealer

The Arms Dealer is just very OK. It lacks some of the creativity seen in the other strikes that were seen in Destiny 2. There’s nothing very wrong with it, but nothing is particularly memorable about it either. It’s just fun to try and see if you can burn down the boss before it starts its mechanics.

17. Broodhold

Broodhold should have been a lot cooler than it was. It’s a short strike with not a lot of memorable scenery or encounters. Disappointing considering you’re diving deep into a Hive nest. The final boss splits into two, but who cares? Destiny has had better two boss strikes before. A neat twist would have been if they needed to die at the same time. Clearly the worst out of the Destiny 2: Forsaken strikes.

16. Strange Terrain

Strange Terrain is the last of the lame reused mission strikes. It is by far the most fun though. This time you get to actually THROW the stupid ball instead of just carrying one around from place to place. Game changing stuff.

15. Cerberus Vae III

This was the hardest strike to rank. It has become the ultimate meme thanks to Zavala’s classic opening line. Back in the day, it was by far the most skipped strike because of how long and dragged out every encounter was. However, when you think about it, it was pretty bad ass taking out a bunch of big-daddy Cabals “one by one.” Let’s leave this one right in the middle.

14. The Pyramidion

Depending on who you ask, The Pyramidion is either one of the most fun, and unique strikes, or the most frustrating. That’s because of those stupid lasers that you need to dodge throughout that I SWEAR didn’t touch me… you can probably tell my feelings about this one can’t you?

13. The Undying Mind

This romp through the Black Garden was an enjoyable one. Having to take out a horde of Precursor Vex (you remember, the really mean ones), was challenging for a long time. And even if the boss was just another big Hydra, at least this one moved around and you had a lot more space to work with. The Precursors would show up at the worst times in that fight and added a lot of drama, especially in a Nightfall.

12. Dust Palace

Dust Palace was the first strike that didn’t feature some big, slow, boss enemy. It was just a handful of highly nimble, and capable Psions each with their own unique elemental attacks. The strike as a whole had a nice, brisk pace to it and was creative compared to all of the other strikes at the time.

11. The Inverted Spire

The Inverted Spire is just great. There’s big open-air battlefields to navigate, a section where you have to dodge a massive drill, and then a final encounter where the boss changes up its appearance and elemental attacks while the floor beneath you drops out. There’s a lot going on in this one and all of it is very fun.

10. Fallen Saber

The idea of a giant shank boss was just a joke until Bungie finally made it reality and honestly, it was a pretty bad ass encounter. The Fallen Saber was no joke, and Nightfalls with him and his legion of specialized shanks were incredibly dramatic and challenging.

9. The Shadow Thief

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8. Will of Crota

OMNIGUL?! Number 8?! Yes, Omnigul and her classic scream is by far one of the most memorable encounters in Destiny history. That final boss room was so poorly designed, but I wouldn’t trade back my memories of running Will of Crota. Also, that first encounter room was very satisfying to clear out and the strike as a whole has a nice flow to it other than the last room of course.

7. Savathun’s Song

Savathun’s Song is one of the best Destiny 2 strikes still to this day. It has a compelling story element going on with the story of that Fireteam getting turned into crystals. It requires some light teamwork to not get pounded by the Shriekers littered throughout the Strike, and there is a memorable “hero” moment where one Guardian has to do some light platforming to escort the final charge through a legion of enemies.

6. The Hollowed Lair

The Hollowed Lair sees the return of big daddy Scorn, The Fanatic. The entire strike flows incredibly well with very few sections that slow you down. You have to cut a swath through massive hordes of Scorn throughout the strike and during the boss fight, which once your power level up, is so much fun to do.

5. Septiks Perfected

Septiks Perfected blessed us with what is arguably the best musical track in all Destiny history. It also took the iconic (but kind of meh) first strike in Destiny history, and infused it with way more engaging Splicer enemies. Man I’d really love to see the Splicers and Scorned go at it one day.

4. Shield Brothers

Shield Brothers is one of the most iconic strikes from The Taken King expansion and remains one of the most unique strikes in Destiny history because of its excellent final boss encounter. You’ll need to juggle two Cabal bosses each with polar opposite fighting styles. Mau’ual is constantly getting in your grill, trying to slam dunk his massive arm into your face, while Tlu’urn is more tactical and defensive. Tlu’urn utilizes shields and long range missile attacks to beat you.

3. The Sunless Cell

The Sunless Cell joins in with Shield Brothers as the 1-2 combination of The Taken King strikes that make up the best from the Destiny 1 era. Like a lot of the best and most memorable strikes, The Sunless Cell is iconic because of its final boss fight. There still has been nothing like being locked in a dark prison cell, with nothing but the light of Cursed Thrall, and a terrifying Hive Knight that loves to pop up out of no where like Michael Myers scaring the crap out of you and your fireteam.

2. Warden of Nothing

For about a week or so, Warden of Nothing had the honor of being the best Destiny strike of all time. Warden of Nothing gives you the grand tour of the now run-down Prison of Elders which was such an iconic part of Destiny 1. During the Strike, you’ll need to dodge (read: get f’ing DRILLED by) train cars which is hysterical every time in happens, fight your way through hordes of every single enemy type, disable some mines like old times, and then go mano y mano with the embodiment of your former pal Variks. It hits the nostalgia feels, and it’s also just an excellently-designed strike to boot.

1. The Corrupted

The Corrupted was the surprise cherry on top of the Destiny 2: Forsaken expansion, releasing shortly after the launch date. The Corrupted has you switching back and forth between ours, and the Taken’s Ascendant planes of existence in extremely entertaining fashion taking on powerful Hive and Taken enemies. You’ll need to chase down Taken Awoken priestess in wide-open and gorgeous areas complete with light platforming across flying debris, which if you’re not careful, can smack you upside the head. The Corrupted is dynamic the whole way through, features unique gameplay mechanics, an exciting boss fight, and takes place in a beautiful, wide-open never before seen area. It’s because of all this that it easily is the best strike in Destiny history so far.