Okay, Guardians, buckle up for a wild ride! We’re diving headfirst into Destiny 2’s brand new expansion, The Edge of Fate. After some serious retooling behind the scenes post-The Final Shape DLC, Bungie’s taking a slightly different turn, focusing on smaller, punchier expansions instead of giant yearly expansions, and this one’s the first out of the gate! Landing on July 15th for your favorite platforms (Xbox, PlayStation, PC), this 40$ adventure whisks us off to a fresh location packed with shiny new content and challenges. But The Edge of Fate is more than just a new chapter; it’s bringing some major shake-ups to Destiny 2 overall, impacting the core gameplay. So, let’s get you prepped to what’s what in this exciting new season! This is essentially the first episode of a new structure, moving away from the traditional seasonal model.
Alright, Guardians, Buckle Up for the New Season of Destiny 2!
Get ready for The Edge of Fate, the newest chapter in Destiny 2. It marks a bit of a departure in release strategy following the events of The Final Shape, focusing on a more contained expansion experience. Launching on July 15th, it brings a load of new content and introduces significant changes to core systems that will redefine your experience.
Embracing the Mystery: A Core Shift for This Destiny 2 Season
One of the most exciting underlying changes seems to be Bungie’s commitment to injecting more unpredictability and unique experiences back into the game. For a good chunk of time, Destiny’s rhythm became quite predictable – you knew what to expect from previous seasons and expansions. Now, there appears to be a push to break that mold, making things less routine and more surprising.
Think Pantheon’s unique challenge, the evolving exotic mission in Heresy, or the puzzle-laden depths of The Coil. This shift suggests a desire to keep players guessing and to push the boundaries of what a Destiny activity or narrative can be. This push for unique experiences is something the developers seem keen to continue, hopefully mixing genres and redefining what’s “acceptable” for Destiny content. The more the game can change and become less predictable, the more engaging it can be!
A strong focus for this current season appears to be bringing back a sense of mystery, perhaps reminiscent of the early days of the original game or even the Dreaming City. The narrative is playing its cards close to the chest, and community speculation about characters like Lodi potentially being time travelers is being confirmed! There’s a renewed focus on in-game puzzles and secrets, encouraging players to theory craft and engage with the world in different ways. This includes community puzzles and environmental secrets on Kepler that unfold as you explore and unlock abilities.
The goal seems to be empowering those who love digging into mysteries while still allowing players to find guides if they prefer.
Greetings from Kepler: A Wildly New Destiny Destination!
Prepare to leave the solar system behind for Kepler! This new Destiny destination is our planetoid, and its purpose is shrouded in delightful mystery. It’s decidedly not around our cosmic block!
On Kepler, you’ll encounter the House of Exile, along with some new enemy types that might just make you exclaim, “They fly now!” This place is also home to some Golden Age human survivors called Ionians and a peculiar new NPC named Lodi, who’s described as being far from home. His role is unknown, adding another layer to the unfolding narrative within this episode.
Kepler itself is said to have an aesthetic reminiscent of Venus, which is a visual treat. You might even discover some free roam activities on Kepler, described as similar to Lost Sectors but with more complex mechanics and tailored specifically to the destination. There will also be a daily focus for different regions on Kepler, similar to Overthrow in the Pale Heart, giving you a reason to revisit different spots.
Sequence Breaking on Kepler: It’s Not a Glitch, It’s Fun!
The campaign in The Edge of Fate is being compared to Destiny 1’s Rise of Iron in terms of its depth, promising secrets and puzzles. But here’s where it gets fun: it sounds like the campaign is designed to allow for “sequence breaking.” This could mean tackling missions out of order, potentially finishing the campaign earlier than intended, or finding ways into areas you weren’t necessarily meant to access early on. Bungie has confirmed this is intentional, encouraging players to think outside the box and explore. The campaign offers Brave and Legendary difficulties to start, unlocking Fabled and Mythic after completion, where power level caps are enabled. Higher difficulties come with better gear and unique post-game quests, like one unlocking a variant armor set and shader for the Kepler gear!
Getting Around Just Got Wilder
While there’s no new class or subclass, you’re getting three snazzy new traversal abilities powered by Dark Matter energy on Kepler:
- Matterspark: Transform into an Arc energy ball for zippy movement and exploring new spots.
- Mattermorph: Create platforms mid-air to reach new heights.
- Relocator: Access the Fallen’s teleportation network via a cannon for quick travel.
These abilities can be upgraded to be useful in combat or even grant infinite use for smoother exploration after completing the campaign. These abilities are earned as you play through the campaign, and post-campaign upgrades can even change the way old puzzles are solved, further encouraging that intentional sequence breaking within this major expansion.
Dive into the New Kepler Activity Blend!
Get ready for a new three-player matchmade activity on Kepler, described as a mix of Vex Incursions and Wellspring. Expect waves of enemies, mechanics tied to your new abilities, and boss encounters. It’s a good source for new exotic armor drops, and is considered one of the best places to earn rerolls of the new exotic armor pieces. Notably, this activity is described as technically “time-limited,” which is a bit unusual, as it appears on a timed cadence or rotation rather than being available constantly. This is one of the new seasonal activities available.
Power Up… By Powering Down to the New Power Cap!
Time for a power level reset! Everyone starts at 10 power. The new soft cap for gear is 200, with a maximum of 450. Earning gear above 200 will come from tougher endgame content. A big change is that seasonal power is no longer tied to the seasonal artifact. Instead, players will earn gear with seasonal bonus power by completing challenges across all modes, including PvP. This bonus power is what lets you push past the new power cap for gear, and it resets each season. While that might sound like a bit of a chore, the upside is that you can grind for power without weekly limits. There are also challenges that act as “accelerators,” providing more powerful gear drops, and players can target farm gear that may be lacking in power more consistently. Infusion now uses a new currency called unstable cores, which expire at the end date of each season, so you can’t hoard them forever! The previous pinnacle limit is also gone – no weekly cap on earning higher-level pinnacle gear.
Armor Gets a Quirky Makeover (Armor 3.0!)
Brace yourselves, because armor is getting a massive refresh! New armor sets will have set bonuses that activate based on how many pieces you equip. For example, a two-piece bonus might boost kinetic damage against shields, while a four-piece bonus could trigger a disorienting kinetic shockwave. Armor will also have six archetypes, each emphasizing certain stats, and introduces tiers (up to Tier 5) affecting total stat range and benefits. You can find a breakdown of what each tier offers below. While you can stick with old armor from previous seasons or the base game, new gear provides a sweet 10% weapon damage and 15% damage resistance bonus. This bonus stacks if you wear multiple pieces of new gear and applies in PvE, but does not apply in PvP against other Guardians. This makes the switch pretty appealing for optimizing builds.
| Gear Tier | Key Benefits/Features |
| Tier 1 | Baseline quality gear. |
| Tier 2 | Slightly higher stat totals or possibly an extra perk. |
| Tier 3 | Multiple enhanced perks (weapons) or higher stat rolls. |
| Tier 4 | More enhanced perks (weapons) or even higher stat rolls. |
| Tier 5 | Highest stat totals, ability to “tune” stats (armor), 3 selectable perks (weapons), unique cosmetic! |
Stats: Renamed, Reworked, and Ready to Go!
Damage numbers are getting compressed, but the stats themselves are seeing bigger changes:
- Mobility is now Weapons (reload speed, handling, damage).
- Resilience is now Health (health gained from Orbs, flinch resistance, potentially shield health/recharge over 100).
- Recovery is now Class (class ability cooldown/energy, overshield potential over 100).
- Discipline is Grenade.
- Intellect is Super (damage increase over 100).
- Strength is Melee (damage increase in PvE/PvP over 100).
Stats cap at 200, and every point matters, with extra perks unlocking once you cross the 100 threshold in a stat. This means focusing on a few key stats is important, and reaching over 100 provides significant benefits for your Guardian in all forms of endgame content.
The Portal to Pretty Much All Your New Content Needs!
Getting lost in Destiny 2’s menus can be a challenge. The Portal aims to fix that by being the new streamlined front page. It organizes activities into various categories, allowing for easier matchmaking, visibility of rewards, and bonus drops. This is where you’ll spend a lot of time leveling up, with a rotation of activities that could include returning seasonal content like The Coil and Savathûn‘s Spire. The idea is for activities to rotate in and out seasonally, preventing content from being permanently lost while keeping things fresh within this new seasonal model. There’s also a seasonal hub within The Portal for tracking challenges and ranks. Kepler itself will only be accessible through The Portal, highlighting its importance as the new central activity hub. This system is designed to facilitate focused light grinding and targeted loot farming. Pinnacle Ops will also house old exotic missions with all the new Portal features applied, offering a new way to earn pinnacle gear. This system is a major update to how players will interact with the base game.
| Portal Category | Content Types/Examples |
| Solo Ops | Legend Lost Sectors, short Story Missions, Patrol missions – content tailored for playing alone. |
| Fireteam Ops | Strikes, new Kepler 3-player activity, campaign missions – your go-to for matchmade co-op. |
| Pinnacle Ops | Raids, Dungeons, Nightfalls, rotating Exotic Missions – challenging endgame and long-form content. |
| Crucible Ops | All your favorite PvP modes – standard playlists, Iron Banner, Trials. |
Customize Your Challenge (and Rewards!) with Difficulty Modifiers!
Activities in The Portal can be customized with difficulty modifiers. You can select standard difficulties (Normal to Ultimate) which affect combatant power. But beyond that, you can stack on layers of extra challenge to really crank up the heat and boost your potential rewards!
Get ready for Challenge modifiers (like banes that make enemies tougher) which increase your potential score and reward tier. Examples of these include Rage (combatants deal more damage/are more resistant at low health), Front Shielding (shield blocks frontal damage – sneak attack!), Threaded (non-critical damage spawns hostile threadlings – yikes!), Cawdrops (combatants drop damaging elemental pools), and Avalanche (combatants release seeking Stasis crystals – brr!). You’ll even find more difficult versions of existing threats, like Difficult Stasis Threats, to really test your mettle.
Feeling brave? Player Stakes modifiers can also alter gameplay by giving you handicaps without directly buffing enemies. Think Locked Loadouts, No HUD (good luck!), No Starting Ammo, or the truly thematic Avant Garde (only new gear usable). These Player Stakes are described as making the game feel like playing with a hand tied behind your back – a true test of skill!
On the flip side, you can also add Boon modifiers that make things easier. These are for fun or when you need a little help, but they will lower your score. Examples include helpful effects like Surges, Stasis Slide, Healing Finishers, Volatile Pickpocket, Hypercritical (more crit damage!), Air Superiority (damage while airborne), Livewire (Amplified fun!), or even a triple Strand Grapple for pure movement bliss.
An Event Modifiers section will also offer rotating buffs like Double Bonus Focus or specific weapon buffs, changing weekly or daily to shake things up across The Portal. This entire system provides a deep new layer of depth to endgame content, allowing you to tailor the experience and rewards exactly how you like it.
Finally, a Target Range in the Tower!
After much request, a dedicated shooting range is finally being added to the Tower! This dedicated space lets you test out weapons and abilities on different enemy types and champions (stationary or aggressive), seeing actual damage numbers that should reflect in-game activities. It’s a great spot to really see what your loadout can do before tackling challenging endgame content!
Shiny New Toys: Exotic Weapons to Chase!
A few intriguing new exotic weapons are on the horizon, adding more new content to chase:
- Graviton Spike: An Exotic Hand Cannon that swaps between Arc and Stasis modes. Kills with one mode overcharge the other element’s effect, leading to elemental explosions or chain reactions. This will be earned through an exotic quest on Kepler.
- Third Iteration: An Exotic Scout Rifle that fires a Void spread from the hip, which condenses into a single marking projectile when aiming down sights. Marking enemies provides bonus damage from the gun and potentially True Sight and Invisibility on defeat. It recharges by venting its core instead of reloading. This will be a season pass reward, available for season pass holders.
- New Land Beyond: The beloved Exotic Sniper Rifle from Original Destiny returns for Ultimate Edition owners, complete with its unique firing and animation cancelling. Its perk boosts damage with consecutive precision hits until death.
New Exotic Threads to Deck Out Your Guardian!
One new exotic armor piece is coming for each class:
- Melas Panoplia (Titan): For Solar throwing hammer Titans! Rapid Solar kills or picking up a Firesprite grants the Forgemaster buff, letting you recall your hammer. A perfect recall causes an explosion and extends the buff.
- Eunoia (Warlock): For Song of the Flame Warlocks, this piece boosts Hellion damage based on distance and causes it to explode into scorching shrapnel.
- Moirai (Hunter): For Strand Hunters! Throwing a Threaded Spike at a Tangle causes it to detonate, and you immediately get both the Tangle and the Spike back. Sounds like some serious Tangle “yo-yoing” potential. These new exotics are also available as rerolls from the new Kepler activity.
Artifact Perks: Elemental Synergy Unleashed!
This season’s artifact is focusing on Solar, Strand, and Stasis, offering perks that enhance interactions between these elements. These perks are tied to the seasonal artifact for this episode, and some examples of their effects are outlined in the table below.
| Artifact Perk Name | Effect Summary |
| Fever and Chill | Solar precision grants Radiant; Stasis precision grants Frost Armor. |
| Frost Renewal | Taking critical damage with Frost Armor freezes nearby enemies and refreshes Frost Armor. |
| Tangled Web | Defeating a Strand-debuffed enemy that spawns a Tangle causes the Tangle to suspend nearby enemies. |
Wild New Weapon Frames to Experiment With!
Get ready for some experimental weapon types hitting the loot pool as part of the new content:
- Rocket Pulse Rifles: Yes, they’re a thing! Sounds like they hit hard but chew through special ammo.
- Longbows: Bows with longer draw times but potentially greater damage and overpenetration.
- Spread Hand Cannons: Essentially hand cannon-shotgun hybrids that excel up close.
- Crossbow: A Legendary Heavy weapon that packs a punch and deals area damage on impact. The cool part? The bolt can be picked up afterward, offering a potential alternative to weapons like Leviathan’s Breath from the first game. It looks and sounds pretty awesome.
Side Quests and Story Missions: More Tales from the Fate Saga
To flesh out the world and characters on Kepler, Side Quests are being introduced. These are tied to specific regions and unlock as you progress through the campaign, offering lore and context for the destination and delving deeper into the overarching fate saga. They can be tackled at any time. Additionally, smaller-scale Story Missions (around 10-15 minutes) will provide narrative beats and are a source for new abilities. A playlist for these missions will be available at higher world tiers and are described as one of the best ways to earn the new Theta Cipher material needed for the destination vendor.
The Desert Perpetual Raid and Included Dungeon: Kicking Off the New Saga!
A new saga in Destiny 2 kicks off with a new raid! Called The Desert Perpetual, it launches on July 19th, four days after the expansion’s release date, specifically on a Saturday. This gives players a bit more time to get raid-ready for contest mode and chase pinnacle gear. Completing the legendary campaign is said to make you power-ready for the raid. The expansion also includes a new dungeon, which is now part of the major expansion purchase, moving away from a separate dungeon pass. There’s also mention of an “Epic Raid” coming later (perhaps with the Ash and Iron update), which is intended to be more than just a difficulty bump. It’s teased to potentially include narrative extensions, new mechanics, or even extra encounters, reminiscent of Original Destiny’s challenging raid versions. The raid team has had a fantastic run with recent endgame content like Salvation’s Edge and Pantheon, so excitement is high for what they’ll do next! This raid will feature a challenging final boss encounter.
The Grind Spectrum: Something for Everyone!
The new systems – The Portal, power leveling changes, tiered armor/weapons, difficulty modifiers – seem designed to cater to different player investment levels within this new seasonal model. It sounds like players can complete most content without needing the absolute top-tier gear, offering a more accessible experience for even New Light players.
However, for players who love the grind and pushing the limits, there are new avenues for pursuing that “perfect” Tier 5 roll, shiny weapons, or the ultimate challenge through difficult modifiers and conquests. Conquests are described as fixed-power, fixed-modifier challenges in The Portal that act as a Grandmaster replacement and offer strong rewards, while the Conqueror seal is now earned through completing these each season. This approach aims to find a middle ground that appeals to both casual and dedicated players looking for endgame content.
Guardian Ranks are also seeing a slight rework, with challenges now revolving more around The Portal, removing requirements like commendations or expansion gates for certain levels. Everyone will be set to Guardian Rank 2 with the launch of Edge of Fate. This provides new goals for endgame content.
Looking Ahead to Future Episodes and the Next Expansion
Beyond The Edge of Fate, the year of content will include future updates like Ash and Iron, which is said to take players back to the Plaguelands and introduce a brand new activity type. This will be the next season of content following Edge of Fate, acting as a future episode. The Renegades expansion is also on the horizon, representing the next expansion in this new structure of two expansions forming the paid content alongside potentially three episodes of ongoing story and activities.
A Note on Value: Comparing to The Final Shape and Past Expansions like Witch Queen.
There’s been some chatter about the price of The Edge of Fate compared to past expansions like The Final Shape DLC or the highly-regarded Witch Queen. It’s worth considering the shift in release strategy to smaller, more frequent paid content alongside more free content, a departure from the traditional seasonal model. The Edge of Fate provides a campaign and a raid upfront for its price point, alongside significant systemic overhauls like Armor 3.0, stats, and the Portal. While past expansions might have included more strikes or lost sectors with the initial purchase, some of that content appears to be shifting into the free seasonal activities available through The Portal, or being spread out over the year. Comparing it to Witch Queen, Edge of Fate includes the dungeon with the base purchase, whereas Witch Queen had a separate dungeon pass. The scale of Kepler is said to be comparable to Witch Queen’s Throne World, and the campaign length similar. Ultimately, whether it feels “worth it” is subjective and depends on what aspects of the game are most important to you as a player, but the breadth of changes and new systems introduced is substantial.
So, there you have it! The Edge of Fate new saga brings a new location, tweaked core systems, a new dungeon, and a renewed focus on mystery and unique experiences. Get ready to dive in on July 15th!
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is “The Edge of Fate”?
Think of it as the absolute first episode and a major expansion kicking off the brand new “Year of Prophecy” for Destiny 2! It’s dropping on July 15th and represents a big shift in how Bungie delivers content after wrapping up the long Darkness Saga with The Final Shape. Instead of one massive yearly expansion followed by separate paid seasons, this starts a model with two paid expansions a year and free updates in between, meaning seasonal content will now be free for everyone who owns the expansion. It’s a fresh start for new Destiny!
When does “The Edge of Fate” release?
Clear your schedule for July 15th! That’s the official release date when “The Edge of Fate” becomes available for all Guardians on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Get ready to dive into this exciting new season right away!
Where does the expansion take us?
Prepare for liftoff, because we’re traveling beyond the solar system for the first time in a major expansion! “The Edge of Fate” takes us to Kepler, a mysterious new planetoid. Its purpose there is unknown, and it’s home to some Golden Age human survivors and a peculiar new NPC named Lodi. Visually, it’s said to have an aesthetic reminiscent of Venus – a cosmic treat!
Are there new abilities or a new subclass?
No completely new subclass this time, but you get some seriously cool new ways to zip around and interact with the world! “The Edge of Fate” introduces three Dark Matter traversal abilities on Kepler: Matter Spark turns you into a zippy Arc energy ball, Matter Morph lets you conjure platforms out of thin air, and the Relocator uses Fallen tech to teleport you through networks. These are earned during the campaign and can be upgraded for combat use or even infinite movement on Kepler after the story, adding a fun Metroidvania-style element to exploration!
What’s the campaign like?
The campaign in “The Edge of Fate” is a full-length story, promising a depth comparable to Destiny 1’s “Rise of Iron,” complete with plenty of secrets and puzzles. One really neat feature Bungie revealed is that they designed it to allow intentional sequence breaking! As you unlock those new traversal abilities, you can go back to earlier areas and potentially find different paths or complete objectives out of order, encouraging exploration and clever use of your new tools. It’s a chance to get delightfully lost!
What’s happening to my Power Level?
Brace yourself, Guardian, your Power Level is getting a universal reset! When you first log in after Edge of Fate launches, every player’s Power Level will be set to a base of 10, regardless of how high it was before. All your existing gear will also be reset to Power 10, giving everyone a truly fresh start on the power grind.
What are the new Power Level caps?
With the reset, the new soft cap for gear (where general activities drop relevant loot) is 200 Power. Beyond that, the initial maximum power you can reach through seasonal bonuses earned on gear is 450 during the Edge of Fate launch window. Later in the year, with the “Ash & Iron” free update, this cap will extend further to 550 total power as harder content is introduced.
How do I level up power now?
This is a big shift from the old seasonal model! Seasonal bonus power is no longer tied to grinding XP for the seasonal artifact. Instead, you earn gear drops that have seasonal bonus power attached to them by completing challenges across ALL modes, including PvP and the new activities in The Portal. The amazing part is there are no weekly limits on how much bonus power gear you can earn – you can grind away as much as you like! You’ll also use a new currency called unstable cores (which expire at the end date of each season) to infuse this earned seasonal power into your favorite gear pieces. Pinnacle gear is now earned through various activities in The Portal without a weekly limit, and there are Bonus Focus rewards to help target specific gear slots.
Tell me about Armor 3.0!
Armor is getting a massive refresh, probably the biggest overhaul since the initial Armor 2.0 back in Shadowkeep! Bungie revealed new armor sets will have Set Bonuses that activate when you wear multiple pieces, adding unique perks. There’s also a new gear tier system (from Tier 1 up to Tier 5!), where higher tiers earned from tougher activities offer better base stats and benefits like the ability to “tune” your stats at Tier 5. While your old armor isn’t useless, new gear provides a sweet inherent 10% weapon damage and 15% damage resistance bonus (which stacks!) in PvE, making it pretty appealing to switch over for optimization.
How are the stats changing?
Get ready for a renaming convention! Mobility is now called Weapons (affects handling, reload speed, and gets a damage bonus at high levels). Resilience is now Health (adds to damage resistance, flinch, and how much you heal from Orbs of Power, potentially boosting shields over 100). Recovery becomes Class (boosts class ability cooldown and grants overshields over 100). Discipline, Intellect, and Strength keep their names but now scale up to 200, with significant extra benefits unlocked when you reach over 100 points in them (like noticeable increases to Super damage or Melee damage in PvE and PvP!). It offers much more granularity for buildcrafting in endgame content.
What is “The Portal”?
The Portal is a major update to the Director UI, designed to be the new streamlined “front page” of Destiny 2. It organizes almost all activities into clear categories: Solo Ops (Lost Sectors, short Story Missions), Fireteam Ops (Strikes, new Kepler activity, campaign co-op), Pinnacles (Raids, Dungeons, Nightfalls, and rotating older Exotic Missions!), and Crucible Ops (all PvP). It makes finding activities easier, allows more flexible matchmaking options (solo a Strike!), and will rotate content in and out seasonally to prevent activities from ever being permanently vaulted under this new seasonal model. Kepler itself is only accessible through The Portal, showing how central it is!
How do the new difficulty modifiers work?
This system lets you craft your challenge through The Portal! After selecting a base difficulty, you can add Challenge modifiers (like Banes that make enemies tougher with effects like Rage, Front Shielding, Threaded, Cawdrops, Avalanche) and Player Stakes (handicaps like Locked Loadouts, No HUD, Avant Garde) to increase your potential score and reward tier. Alternatively, add Boon modifiers (like Surges, Stasis Slide, Healing Finishers, Triple Strand Grapple) to make it easier, but this lowers your score. An Event Modifiers section adds rotating global buffs. It’s a deep new layer for customizing endgame content and chasing pinnacle gear.
Is there a firing range in the Tower now?!
YES! After years of asking, a dedicated shooting range is finally being added to the Tower a few weeks after launch. It’s a space where you can spawn different enemy types (including Champions), see actual damage numbers, and properly test out your weapons and abilities without needing to find specific spots in patrol or Strikes. It’s huge for buildcrafters!
What are the new Exotic weapons?
We know of three exciting ones coming with Edge of Fate! Graviton Spike is an Arc/Stasis Hand Cannon where kills with one element overcharge the other for explosions. Third Iteration is a unique Void Scout Rifle that spreads from the hip but focuses when aiming, marking targets for bonus damage and granting True Sight and Invisibility on kill. And New Land Beyond, the iconic bolt-action Primary Sniper from Original Destiny, is returning for Ultimate Edition owners!
How do I get the new Exotic weapons?
Each new Exotic weapon has a specific acquisition method. Graviton Spike will be earned through a dedicated exotic quest found on Kepler. Third Iteration is a guaranteed reward for season pass holders progressing through the season pass track. And New Land Beyond is an instant unlock right at the release date for players who purchase the Ultimate Edition of the “Year of Prophecy.” There’s often a secret raid exotic or other unannounced ones too!
Are there new Exotic armor pieces?
Absolutely! One brand new exotic armor piece is coming for each class, designed to enhance specific subclass playstyles. Solar Titans get Melas Panoplia to supercharge their throwing hammer game with explosive recalls. Solar Warlocks get Eunoia to make their Hellion Daybreak swords explode into scorching shrapnel at range. And Strand Hunters get Moirai to create devastating chain reactions by throwing their Threaded Spike at Tangles. These can drop from activities like the new Kepler 3-player activity or Lost Sectors.
What elemental focus does the seasonal artifact have?
The seasonal artifact for this episode is heavily focused on creating synergy between Solar, Strand, and Stasis. Its perks are designed to grant buffs like Radiant or Frost Armor, or trigger effects like freezing bursts or Tangle suspensions, based on using combinations of these three elements in combat. Perks like Fever and Chill, Frost Renewal, and Tangled Web showcase this cross-elemental focus.
Are there any completely new weapon types or frames?
Yes, Bungie is introducing some wild new ways to shoot stuff as part of the new content! Get ready for Rocket Pulse Rifles (bursts of mini-rockets!), Longbow Bows (high damage, overpenetrating), Spread Hand Cannons (like a Hand Cannon shotgun hybrid for close range), and a Legendary Heavy Crossbow that deals big area damage and lets you potentially pick up fired bolts!
Is there a new raid or dungeon?
Great news – yes to both included with the major expansion! A new raid called The Desert Perpetual launches on July 19th, four days after the expansion’s release date, specifically on a Saturday to allow more players to compete in contest mode and chase pinnacle gear. Completing the legendary campaign is said to get you power-ready. A new dungeon is also included with the base Edge of Fate purchase, moving away from separate dungeon passes. There’s also the exciting prospect of “Epic” raid and dungeon variants coming later in the year (potentially with the Ash & Iron update) that will add new mechanics and even continue the story, making these activities even more rewarding endgame content.
How does this new structure compare to previous seasons or The Witch Queen?
It’s a pretty big shift from the traditional seasonal model seen in previous seasons like Season of the Wish, and changes how yearly expansions function. Instead of a big expansion (like The Witch Queen) followed by four paid seasons and a separate dungeon pass, Bungie is moving to two paid expansions per year (Edge of Fate and Renegades) that include the dungeon, alongside two major free updates. This means all seasonal activities and content throughout the year will be free for those who own the base game or Edge of Fate, aiming for more unified community engagement and preventing content silos that sometimes occurred for season pass holders. The guide suggests Edge of Fate offers comparable value to past expansions like Witch Queen when you factor in the included dungeon, the scale of systemic overhauls (Armor 3.0, stats, Portal), and the new approach to free seasonal content. It’s the start of a new saga and a different rhythm for Destiny 2.
