DESTINY 2 NEW PLAYER GUIDE
GUARDIAN CREATION
TITAN
Solar | Sunbreaker |
Arc | Striker |
Void | Sentinel |
WARLOCK
Solar | Dawnblade |
Arc | Stormcaller |
Void | Voidwalker |
HUNTER
Solar | Gunslinger |
Arc | Arcstrider |
Void | Nightstalker |
APPEARANCE CUSTOMIZATION
DESTINY 2 CONTROLS AND SETTINGS
Players can now customize and map specific actions to various buttons on their controller or keyboard and mice setup. An example for the Xbox One (X|S) controller default mapping is shown below.
GETTING STARTED AND TIPS
TIPS FOR YOUR NEW QUESTS
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
More details on bounties and quests are available in the Navigating the Universe section below.
LOST SECTORS
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
PLANETARY RESOURCES
PLAYING WITH FRIENDS
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.
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
ENGRAM BASICS
- 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
DEFEAT, REVIVAL, AND RESPAWNING
RESTRICTION ZONES
GUARDIAN POWERS
GRENADE
MELEE
CLASS ABILITY
SUPER
STASIS
ADVANCED TIPS
FINISHER
UNIQUE CLASS ACTIONS
MAKING THE MOST OF SPECIAL ABILITIES
SPRINTING INTO COVER
SPRINTING ON OPEN GROUND
SLIDING FOR FUN AND PROFIT
AIR MOVEMENT
LEDGE MANTLING
CUTTING RELOADS SHORT
NAVIGATING THE UNIVERSE

Platform | Deploy Ghost for Nav Mode (tap); access the Director (hold) |
PC | Tab key |
PlayStation 4 | Touch pad button |
PlayStation 5 | Touch pad button |
Xbox One | View button |
Xbox Series S|X | View button |
Stadia (Controller) | Options button |
NAV MODE
THE DIRECTOR
Director tab | Function |
Store | Access storefronts for Eververse, Seasonal Offerings, Archives, Bright Dust, and Campaigns |
Quests | Display accepted quests and bounties and choose which to track with Nav Mode |
Map | View the local map (not available from orbit) and fast travel to accessible local areas |
Destinations | View the solar system map and jump to accessible worlds |
Roster | Check status of fireteam members, friends, and clanmates |
Seasons | Monitor Season Pass progress and rewards |
Traveling between planetary bodies is accomplished with the Destinations tab. Different locations are accessible depending on your Power level, XP gained, and content purchased.
THE TOWER
- The Drifter (1), Rogue Lightbearer
- Ikora Rey (1), Warlock Vanguard
- Suraya Hawthorne (1), Clan Steward
- Banshee-44 (2), Gunsmith
- Commander Zavala (2), Titan Vanguard
- Kadi 55-30 (2), Postmaster
- Lord Shaxx (2), Crucible Handler
- Master Rahool (2), Cryptarch
- Tess Everis (2), Eververse
- The Vault (2), Equipment Repository
- Monument to the Lost Lights (2), Weapon Terminal
- Quest Archive (2), Quests Terminal
- Amanda Holliday (3), Chief Shipwright
- Saint-14 (3), Trials of Osiris Handler
Keep seeking out blue Destiny icons to travel to more locations and meet new allies!
ACTIVITIES
VANGUARD STRIKES AND NIGHTFALL: The Ordeal
BOUNTIES AND QUESTS
FREE-ROAMING ACTIVITIES
RAIDS
DUNGEONS
WEAPONS, ARMOR, AND MORE
START MENU
Platform | Open Start Menu |
PC | I key |
PlayStation 4 | OPTIONS button |
PlayStation 5 | OPTIONS button |
Xbox One | Menu button |
Xbox Series S|X | Menu button |
Stadia (Controller) | Menu button |
Clan | Information pertaining to your current clan |
Collectibles | Compendium of equipment and items |
Triumphs | Codex of accomplishments and lore |
Character | Overview of Guardian equipment, abilities, and stats |
Inventory | List of available consumables, modifications, and shaders |
Settings | Customizable options for controls, video, audio, and gameplay |
EARNING NEW GEAR
Reward Color | Reward Rarity |
White | Common |
Green | Uncommon |
Blue | Rare |
Purple | Legendary |
Yellow | Exotic |
Rewards | Effects |
Weapons | Increase Power level, customize stats, change appearance |
Armor | Increase Power level, customize stats, change appearance |
Class Items | Increase Power level, change appearance |
Ghost Shells | Change appearance, bonus effects |
Clan Banners | Change appearance |
Sparrows | Increase free-roaming movement speed, change appearance |
Jumpships | Change appearance |
Emblems | Change appearance |
Finishers | Change appearance, bonus effects |
Emotes | Change appearance |
Consumables | Types of currency (mod components, Enhancement Cores, Dusklight Shards, Etheric Spirals, etc.) |
Modifications | Alter weapon and armor performance |
Shaders | Change appearance |
WEAPONS AND AMMO TYPES
PRIMARY AMMO WEAPONS
- Auto Rifle
- Combat Bow
- Hand Cannon
- Pulse Rifle
- Scout Rifle
- Sidearm
- Submachine Gun
- Exotic Grenade Launcher (Fighting Lion)
SPECIAL AMMO WEAPONS
- Fusion Rifle
- Shotgun
- Sniper Rifle
- Trace Rifle
- Grenade Launcher
HEAVY AMMO WEAPONS
- Machine Gun
- Grenade Launcher (drum loaded)
- Linear Fusion Rifle
- Rocket Launcher
- Sword
- Exotic Bow (Leviathan's Breath)
EQUIPMENT SLOTS, POWER LEVEL, AND STATS
WEAPON SLOTS
- Kinetic weapons are tools for dealing direct damage, perfect for taking out unshielded targets.
- Energy weapons inflict elemental damage on victims. They’re slightly weaker than Kinetic weapons against unshielded enemies, but vastly better at chewing through shields.
- Power weapons deal extreme damage. You can’t go wrong with a Power weapon when the situation calls for heavy firepower.
WEAPON STATS
Of course, there’s no substitute for field testing, so be sure to take new weapons out for a spin. If you find a particular weapon’s feel and performance irresistible, it may be worth sticking to that one even as you acquire weapons with higher attack. Eventually, you’re bound to find a weapon with higher attack that handles similarly.
- IMPACT (or BLAST RADIUS): The weapon’s force per shot. Bullet hoses like Auto Rifles and Submachine Guns tend to have lower stats here, while powerhouses like Sniper Rifles and Hand Cannons will be stronger. With Rocket Launchers and Grenade Launchers, this stat will be replaced by blast radius, a measure of the area each explosion will cover.
- RANGE (or VELOCITY): An indication of how much a weapon’s damage drops off with increased distance. The bigger the bar, the better it’ll be from far away. You’ll naturally see good ratings for this among Sniper Rifles and Scout Rifles, and bad ratings for weapons like Shotguns. The equivalent stat for explosive weapons is velocity, an indication of how fast the explosive round travels.
- STABILITY: This stat gives a sense of the severity of a weapon’s recoil. Less stable weapons jump around much more than weapons with high stability.
- HANDLING: Handling basically indicates a weapon’s weight or wieldiness. The better the handling, the quicker you can swap to (and away from) a weapon, and the smoother it’ll be when aiming down sights and while airborne.
- RELOAD SPEED: Self-explanatory. Poor reloading isn’t bad in and of itself, but under pressure you’ll just have to compensate by ducking into cover or swapping to another weapon that still has ammo in its magazine.
- ROUNDS PER MINUTE: A general indication of how much sustained damage a weapon can output, considering its rate of fire and reload speed.
- MAGAZINE: The number of rounds a weapon can hold at once when fully loaded.
ARMOR SLOTS
ARMOR STATS
Class items put an accent on appearance while adding defense and therefore influencing overall Power, but don’t have specific stats themselves.
- ENERGY: Energy amount and element determines what kind of mods can be equipped to a piece of armor.
- MOBILITY: Influences base movement speed (sprinting is not affected).
- RESILIENCE: Influences shield durability. More resiliency, more survivability.
- RECOVERY: Influences how quickly health regenerates after being damaged.
- DISCIPLINE: Influences how quickly grenade energy recharges.
- INTELLECT: Influences how quickly Super energy recharges.
- STRENGTH: Influences how quickly melee energy recharges.
HOW MODS WORK
TRIUMPHS
LORE
Bungie.net is also a source to get Destiny lore with weblore blogs throughout the season and also web comics you can read now.
New and returning Destiny players can watch a quick story recap video recently created by Bungie in the Video section below in this Guide. See the background of the war between Light and Dark.
COLLECTIONS
SEASONAL RANK & REWARDS
COMMUNITY
Destiny 2: Heroes Welcome
- This Week at Bungie: https://www.bungie.net/en/News
- Official Bungie forums: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/
- Official Bungiehelp Twitter: https://twitter.com/BungieHelp
- Destiny 2 Patch Notes: Bungie.net Patch Notes
- Destiny 2 on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Destiny%202
- Destiny 2 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/destinygame
- Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/DestinyTheGame
- Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DestinyTheGame/
- Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/destinythegame/
RESOURCES
- The official website, for news and updates. To track all kinds of information about your characters and recent matches, sign in with your login information for PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Google Stadia, or Steam: https://www.bungie.net/
Whether you’re on an Apple or Android mobile device, the Destiny 2 Companion App can help you track your characters, clans, fireteams, and gear: https://www.bungie.net/en-US/Companion
- Official Destiny 2 Companion on App Store.
- Official Destiny 2 Companion on Google Play.
Aside from the official Destiny 2 Companion App, powerful fan-made programs and apps can also enhance your experience by streamlining gear tracking and inventory management between your characters:
- Destiny Item Manager: destinyitemmanager.com
- Ishtar Commander:
- Braytech: braytech.org
VIDEO LINKS
Solar 3.0 ViDoc
The Destiny 2 playerbase is filled with passionate fans and creators. Here is a popular streamer with tips to play Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 Beginner Guide
BUNGIE REWARDS
A GUARDIAN RISES TIPS
This guide is to serve as a helpful hand during the A Guardian Rises quest. Don’t be afraid to ask for help on Bungie.net, Twitter, and YouTube. Guardians are everywhere, and we are stronger together.
LOST SECTOR AT THE DIVIDE
As you may have guessed, Lost Sectors aren’t as obvious as other locations. The Lost Sector you must complete in A Guardian Rises is located in The Divide section of the map. Look at the walls of the map. You’re looking for this icon:
You may have to climb up a building or two to get to it. Once you see this icon, head towards it and destroy anything that stands in your way.
FAST TRAVEL
Fast travel is a fantastic way to get around the map quickly. There is a step during the A Guardian Rises quest where it feels like you might be stuck in a room. Consider fast traveling to continue with the quest. Open your map and look for this icon to fast travel.
A GUARDIAN RISES REWARDS
There are some great rewards awaiting you at the end of this first quest. Sign into Bungie Rewards to claim these rewards.
Glimmer: By completing A Guardian Rises, you will earn 25,000 Glimmer. Glimmer is a common currency in Destiny 2 and you can get a lot of it just by defeating enemies. There is a cap on how much Glimmer you can carry of 250,000. You can use Glimmer to buy bounties, and upgrade materials for your weapons and armor. Most Glimmer rewards are automatically applied to your character, some you will need to pick up off the ground, so keep an eye out for glowing blue cubes.
Enhancement Cores: Enhancement Cores are used to upgrade your weapons and armor. You will earn five Enhancement Cores for completing A Guardian Rises. Upgrading your armor allows you to increase certain abilities for your Guardian. For a full walk through, check out this video by KackisHD. Your Enhancement Cores will be waiting for you at the Postmaster. The Postmaster is that nice Exo to your left if you land in the middle section of the Tower.
Upgrade Modules: After completing “A Guardian Rises you will earn five Upgrade Modules. Upgrade Modules allow you to... well, upgrade your weapons and armor. For example, if you have a Hand Cannon you really like, and you earn a Scout Rifle that is a higher Power Level, you can transfer that higher Power Level over to the Hand Cannon using an Upgrade Module and the Scout Rifle (which gets destroyed in the process). These Upgrade Modules will be automatically applied to your inventory.
TIMELINE
The Red War
Dominus Ghaul led his Red Legion Cabal on an assault of the Last City. Victorious, he used Cabal technology to ensnare the Traveler and block Guardians’ access to the Light.
Guardians regathered the Vanguard and mounted a counterassault to take back humanity’s home. Ghaul’s plan to steal the Light backfired, and the Traveler destroyed him.
Curse of Osiris
Osiris, the former Warlock Vanguard and exile from the Last City, sought to thwart Panoptes, the Infinite Mind, from using simulations to achieve total victory for the Vex.
Osiris and the Guardian entered the Infinite Forest, a Vex simulation engine, and defeated Panoptes. Osiris chose to remain in the Forest to use its simulations for humanity’s gain.
Warmind
After the Traveler woke, the shockwave caused Warsats to crash on the surface of Mars, revealing the core of the Golden Age Warmind AI, Rasputin…as well as forgotten foes.
Ana Bray, Hunter and the descendent of a Golden Age lineage, worked with the Guardian to defeat the Hive worm god Xol and his herald, Nokris. Rasputin pledged to safeguard humanity, but only on its own terms.
Forsaken
In a high-stakes prison escape, Uldren Sov and his eight Barons took out legendary Hunter, Cayde-6 and unleased chaos across the Reef. Avenge the fallen Vanguard leader at any cost. Uncover the mysteries at the heart of the Dreaming City, earn a wealth of new Exotic weapons, and carry the Light into the Shattered Throne dungeon and Last Wish raid.
Season of the Forge
Guardians met Ada-1, reclusive Exo and curator of the weapon foundry called The Black Armory. Though distrustful of Lightbearers, Ada needed help to recover her Forges, lost during the Red War.
Guardians recovered all four Armory forges and unearthed secrets of Ada’s own past, rekindling the Armory’s operations and changing Ada’s outlook on those who wield the Light.
Season of the Drifter
The Drifter upped the ante on his Gambit, much to the Vanguard’s disappointment. Guardians made a choice, to spy on the Drifter or to work closely with him.
Guardians learned bits of Drifter’s past: that the Nine are patrons of his endeavors, and that he knew their Emissary days past, when both were different people.
Season of Opulence
Emperor Calus, disgraced former leader of the Cabal, enticed Guardians back to his Leviathan ship with promises of power, all in the hopes he could sway them to his clandestine ranks as a Shadow.
The Guardians completed in Calus’s Menagerie and claimed their spoils but their allegiances remained steadfast.
Shadowkeep
An ancient enemy grows ever closer, and as the heroes of the last safe city turn their attention to the frontiers of our galaxy, new Nightmares emerge from beneath the lunar surface.
Heed Eris Morn’s call and stand against the Hive swarm. Construct an arsenal out of Nightmare Essence and destroy the evil lurking in the Pit of Heresy and Garden of Salvation.
Season of the Undying
The Vex, spurred by the reactivation of the Pyramid on Earth’s moon, opened a portal to the Black Garden. Their forces spewed forth, assaulting the lunar surface.
Ikora Rey and the Guardian launched offensives into the Garden, using a portal of Ikora’s creation to track and destroy the Vex leader: the Undying Mind. The Guardian recovered a relic of the Darkness from within the Garden.
Season of Dawn
Osiris exited the Infinite Forest with a portent of humanity’s doom, foreseen in the simulations. He learned the remains of the Red Legion had taken the Sundial, a failed time-travel experiment of his own invention.
The Guardians fought the Cabal and their Psion Council to stop them from rewriting history, then used the same methods to save the lost Guardian Saint-14 from his death in the past.
Season of the Worthy
With their plans for the Sundial foiled, the Legion made a desperate play for revenge on Humanity. They launched the derelict Almighty, former pride of Ghaul’s fleet, at the Last City.
Ana Bray and the Vanguard put aside their differences and made a plan to use Rasputin’s Warsat network to neutralize the threat. The Guardians powered Rasputin’s arsenal, and the Warmind destroyed the Almighty.
Season of Arrivals
The Black Fleet, humanity’s ancient foe, returned to our system and knocked out Rasputin’s defenses with trivial ease. The Vanguard’s evacuated some stellar bodies as the Pyramids descended on them.
Guardians worked with Eris Morn to translate cryptic messages from the Pyramids while battling back the enemies of humanity, now emboldened by the growing shadow enveloping humanity.
Beyond Light
Humanity’s ancient foe has returned. As the Black Fleet fills the sky, a strange power pulls friend and foe alike to the ruins of Europa, a new Kell wields the gift of Darkness to unite the Fallen.
Work with the Exo stranger to stop Eramis, Kell of Darkness, in a new story campaign. Master Stasis subclasses and unlock the secrets of the Deep Stone Crypt Raid.
Season of the Hunt
As planets vanished, Xivu Arath, the Hive god of war, moved to seize power. Osiris walked a dangerous path to learn of this plot; his Ghost, Sagira, paid the ultimate price.
The Guardia met an unexpected ally – Uldren Sov, murder of Cayde-6, reborn as Crow; a Guardian in the Spider’s employ. The Guardian folied Xivu’s plans and bargained with the Spider to buy Crow’s freedom.
Season of the Chosen
Caiatl, Empress of the Cabal, led her fleet to the Sol system and offered a deal to Zavala: swear fealty, and defeat the Hive together. The commander refused.
The Guardians undermined Caiatl’s attempts to form a war council, defeating her champions in ritual combat. Cabal renegades attempted to kill Zavala, but Crow foiled the plot, revealing his identity in the process. Zavala and Caiatl agreed on a truce.
Season of the Splicer
As a Vex simulation plunged the Last City into darkness, the Vanguard turned to the Eliksni Splicer, Mithrax, for aid. In return, Ikora offered to shelter House Light within the City’s walls – a controversial decision. With Mithrax’s help, the Guardians learned to delve deep into the Vex network. There, they discovered the true mastermind behind the Endless Night: Quria, Blade Transform.
After defeating Quria as well as a treasonous Vex invasion of the Last City led by faction leader Lakshmi-2, the Guardians successfully lifted the Endless Night. Mithrax and House Light remain in the Elksni Quarter as allies of the Vanguard.
Season of the Lost
After Saint-14, Crow, and the Guardian raced to the Dreaming City to confront Osiris, Savathun revealed the truth: for months, she has assumed Osiris’s identity, sowing distrust and chaos within the Vanguard and beyond. After a confrontation, the Witch Queen restored Crow’s memories of his days as Uldren Sov. Now faced with his past, Crow retreated into solitude.
Queen Mara Sov struck a bargain where, in exchange for being freed from her worm, Savathun would reveal the secrets of the Darkness. Intent on lifting the curse form the Dreaming City, Mara planned to kill her nemesis but just as the separation ceremony completed, Savathun escaped, her whereabouts unknown.
The Witch Queen
Delve into Savathun’s twisted throne world to uncover the mystery of how she and her Lucent Brood stole the Light.
Learn the secrets required to craft all-new weapons, a new weapon archetype, and take back the Light.
Season of the Risen
Savathun emerged with an army of Lucent Hive and threatened the source of the Guardian’s power. To contend with the Witch Queen, the Vanguard relied on their fragile alliance with Empress Caiatl.
Wielding the Cabal’s Light-suppressing technology, Guardians explored the minds of the Witch Queen’s soldiers to find the intel needed to prevent her plans from coming to fruition.
Season of the Haunted
The Leviathan has returned, its sights set on the Pyramid ship lying dormant on the Moon. Guardians must seek the council of Eris Morn and intervene before Calus claims the Pyramid’s power.
Experience the new story, weekly missions, and a new public event as your explore the once-opulent vessel, now twisted and corrupted by the Nightmares that haunt its halls.