Has it Been a While? Here Are The Basics
Welcome back guardian! Destiny recently released its sort of big April Update last week, and people are buzzing about Destiny for the first time in a while. This has led to lots of old-timey Destiny fans like myself to return to the game and check out what’s new and different. In the long term, Bungie still needs to add a lot more to Destiny. Still, on the bright side though, the April Update puts Destiny in a really good place in terms of variety and rewarding players for the work they put in.
Year One Returners and Newbies
If you’re coming back from Year One, I have some bad news: All of your Year One equipment is essentially useless with the exception of weapons you really like in regular Crucible where power levels don’t matter. Also, all of the endgame activities from Year One like Vault of Glass, Crota’s End, and the original Prison of Elders are pretty much pointless as well unless you’re after something really specific from them to use in Crucible like the Vex Mythoclast or just like collecting relics.
So if you’re just jumping into The Taken King, don’t stress anything too much yet. Take as many bounties as you can and level up to 40 with the story missions like you did in the past before moving onto the other parts of this guide. Oh and there’s also a microtransaction shop called Eververse Trading Company, but you can safely ignore it unless you’re very impatient about cosmetic drops and/or want more emotes.
Year Two Returners
If you’re jumping back in from somewhere in Year Two, things aren’t completely different, but there are some changes you should be aware of. First off, King’s Fall isn’t the only show in town anymore. Mercifully, the endgame is much more varied thanks to the inclusion of the updated Prison of Elders, which makes its return after being effectively retired at the end of Year One.
The light level has been increased to 335, and a handful of new gear sets have been added. You can upgrade that armor with a new item called Chroma, which adds neat glowing lights to it. It’s cool, but it doesn’t help you in battle at all. A lot of that stuff (Chroma, new armor) drops from new Sterling Treasure Mystery Bags. You can read up on how to get Chroma and Sterling Treasure if you want it, but as far as climbing to 335 goes, they aren’t as important.
Finally, before we start digging into tips, although we meant it when we said Year One stuff is pretty much dead outside of Crucible, it’s worth noting that Bungie did decide to bring back some Year One weapons such as Shadow Price. They are RNG drops from reward packages. You can view the full list of returning weapons here.
OK now that you’re all caught up on what’s new, lets go into more detail about the changes that are relevant in getting you to as close as possible to the new max light level of 335.
Important Tips: Infusing, Rank Ups, and Engrams
The April Update makes getting drops a much less frustrating process. Not necessarily in the sense that you’ll get exactly what you want, when you want it, but even blue engrams can be extremely valuable now as long as you play your cards right. This is thanks to the new infusion system added in the April Update. When you infuse now, the item that is getting infused will be brought up to match the item you infused it into. Meaning, no more averaging between the two. If you get a lucky blue engram drop that is high light level, you can quickly bring your favorite legendary and exotic equipment right back up to speed.
Also, it’s important that you’re doing everything that you can to rank up your Vanguard, Crucible, and/or faction ranks. These have a good chance of dropping some high level gear as well as the returning Year One legendaries. Sterling Treasure drops Vanguard/Crucible rep boosters that quickly speed your gains up; and, of course, grab and complete as many bounties as you can that aren’t too time consuming to complete.
Speaking of bounties, extra important is that you’re completing Lord Shaxx’s weekly Crucible bounties, as these have a good chance of dropping powerful weapons and armor, eventually up to 335.
Finally, make sure you’re always completing events and turning things in with your highest possible light level gear equipped. Anytime you get a drop, be it from an engram or otherwise, the highest possible level the drop will be will always be within five light level of your current overall score. So for example: if you’re light level is 310, and you get a drop, it has a chance of being something 315 and below.
Hit Up Destiny’s New Prison of Elders
As previously mentioned, the Prison of Elders is back once again! Which is good or bad news depending on your feelings on the House of Wolves endgame, but at least it’s not the end all be all like it was. There are two new modes. First, the 41 Prison of Elders mode which is worth doing at least once a week to get a guaranteed Sterling Treasure. After that, it’s only worth doing to get your House Judgement rank up, and complete bounties.
The Challenge of the Elders is your real aim. This new endgame event features a Trials of Osiris-like scorecard that you get from Variks once a week. Your goal is to complete both the requirements on the card for a shot at high level equipment. Completing the high score challenge will get you a weapon, while the cumulative score will net you armor. You can read more about how to give yourself the best chance to hit those scores here. Long story short though, pay attention to the modifiers that will dramatically increase your score. If it’s precision kills, make sure you’re landing them.
Also, even after you claim your weekly prize for turning in the scorecard, you can still complete Challenge of the Elders for a decent shot at a good class item, ghost, and the Year Two versions of the House of Wolves exotics.
Visit Your Old Pal Oryx in King’s Fall
Just because Prison of Elders is the new hotness now, doesn’t mean the raid is any less useful. You can still visit the raid for a shot at some good gear. The normal raid will drop armor at 320, while hard mode will drop 330 equipment. Keep in mind though that to accompany these buffs, the raid was made to be harder as well.
If you were on the up and up in terms of light level before the April Update you’ll probably be fine for normal mode, but if you’re returning and catching up. The Challenge of the Elders will probably be an easier first stop for you. The raid, if you have completed it before, isn’t any different, but for most people will require a lot more skill, coordination, and numbers to complete than the Prison of Elders. Use a combination of King’s Fall and Challenge of the Elders to help bridge you into the final content that will get you to 335.
Getting to 335: Do the Really Hard Stuff
Wrapping up this guide are the most difficult events in Destiny, most of which you should already be familiar with. First, Challenge of the Elders can drop 335 gear, but you’ll have to claw your light level up first to get yourself within striking distance of those drops being possible.
Next, you can also clear the King’s Fall challenge modes, which feature tougher version of the boss fights in King’s Fall. There are twists in the hard versions of King’s Fall and these fights, so make sure you’re aware of them. Also worth noting is the Court of Oryx. Although it’s not particularly difficult, doing the Tier 3 versions of these fights can drop you a 335 artifact, which certainly helps, and a lot of engrams along the way.
Also, don’t forget the Nightfall either. It’s a crapshoot, and depending on the modifiers/strike you get, it could end up being not worth your time, but it’s definitely worth a shot if you have a competent team to run through them quick and painlessly.
Finally, of course, there’s the infamous Trials of Osiris. If you’re not into PvP, you’ll have to be content with running King’s Fall, Challenge of the Elders, and other weekly activities. The Trials of Osiris are there for you though if you want pit yourself and your best gear, up against other players in a quest for nine wins and a trip to The Lighthouse. The Lighthouse chest drops guaranteed 335 equipment. The gold tier bounty, five win seven win prizes can also drop a powerful piece of equipment. PvP isn’t for everyone, and the Trials of Osiris can be tough, but it is lucrative if you have the chops to win consistently.
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