Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate – Everything You Need to Know

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It’s no exaggeration to say that Bungie and Destiny 2 have experienced substantial transformations and challenges following the release of The Final Shape – and let’s not forget about Marathon. After a series of layoffs, the developer is now focusing on smaller additions rather than large yearly releases or episodes. This shift begins with The Edge of Fate.

Set to debut on July 15th across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC platforms, the $40 expansion takes players to a fresh location with novel skills and rewards up for grabs. Yet, this release also brings about a series of updates and modifications to Destiny 2 as a comprehensive package. Here’s a rundown of 15 essential facts to consider before diving in.

New Planet

In the game Kepler, players will venture beyond our Solar System for the first time. They’ll stumble upon the House of Exile, a unique location featuring fresh unit types that will undoubtedly astonish you with their flight capabilities. This dwelling is home to survivors from the Golden Age, called Aionions, and an enigmatic new character named Lodi. Lodi appears to be far from his origin, described as being “a long way from home.” The specific part he’ll play remains a mystery, but for now, Kepler boasts visuals that resemble Venus more than The Pale Heart or Savathun’s Throne World.

Sequence-Breaking Missions

Essentially, Bungie refers to Kepler as being akin to the expansion “Rise of Iron” from the original Destiny, in terms of its richness and variety. This means you’ll encounter hidden mysteries and challenges to solve. One unique feature about Kepler is that players can intentionally deviate from the intended sequence, allowing them to finish the campaign ahead of schedule, mix up mission orders, or explore areas earlier than planned – all of which Bungie acknowledges as deliberate design choices.

New Traversal Mechanics

In “The Edge of Fate”, there are no fresh class or subclasses introduced, but players will acquire three unique traversal skills: Matterspark, Mattermorph, and the Relocator. The Matterspark ability transforms you into an Arc energy ball to explore hidden locations, while Mattermorph generates platforms in mid-air for additional mobility. The Relocator serves as a cannon, allowing access to the Fallen’s teleportation system for faster travel throughout Kepler. These skills can be enhanced for tactical use in battles and optimized travel solutions.

New Three-Player Activity

As a gamer, I’m excited to dive into a fresh three-player challenge that shares similarities with Vex Incursions and Wellspring, where we face off against endless hordes of foes and formidable bosses across Kepler. This new adventure offers an opportunity to test out some snazzy, freshly minted abilities for engaging game mechanics. Completing this challenge could potentially reward me with awe-inspiring Exotic armor! However, it seems there’s a technical catch – it might not be available all the time, so I’d better jump in while I can!

Power Changes

If you’re excited about your 2020 setup, complete with the boost from the seasonal Artifact, here’s some news that might alter your excitement – it’s all getting reset! Specifically, Bungie is restarting the Power level grind for everyone. You’ll begin at a Power level of 10, and the new soft cap or power band is set at 200 (with a maximum of 450). However, engaging in harder difficulties will yield gear with Power levels exceeding 200. But that’s not all! The Seasonal Power previously linked to the Artifact is now earned by completing challenges across all game modes, including PvP. This new Seasonal Bonus Power allows you to surpass the soft cap.

While this might seem a bit repetitive, the advantage lies in the fact that you can accumulate Power without restrictions every week. Keep in mind that the Seasonal Bonus Power refreshes with each new season. On the bright side, a fresh currency called Unstable Cores can be used to enhance your existing equipment setup by infusing it, so you won’t need to start from scratch and grind for an entirely optimized set.

Armor 3.0

In addition, when The Edge of Fate launches, armor will undergo a significant transformation. New armor sets will now come with Set Bonuses based on the number of matching pieces you have equipped. For instance, having two pieces of TecSec’s set grants “increased Kinetic damage to overshields, combatant shields and constructs.” But if you manage to equip four pieces, it will trigger a disorienting Kinetic shockwave whenever you break an enemy’s shield or defeat them with Kinetic damage. There are six types of armor archetypes in total. Each one emphasizes a primary and secondary stat, while the other four stats (which we’ll discuss later) are less significant. If you prefer using grenades, opt for the Grenadier set; if it’s melee damage you’re after, go for the Brawler set. However, be aware that the archetype is randomly assigned, so you might not always get the archetype that corresponds to your preferred set bonus.

You might want to hang on for a moment. Aside from its standard features, armor will come in tiers, which influence the overall stat range when considering Masterworking. By tackling progressively difficult tasks, you can acquire Tier 4 and 5 armor. The former provides additional mod energy, while the latter allows you to “Adjust” or “Fine-tune” the armor, meaning moving numbers from one stat to another or boosting the three lower stats by +1. Although you can continue using your existing armor configuration, the new equipment will grant a 10% bonus weapon damage and a 15% bonus damage resistance, making it quite advantageous to switch over.

Stats Revamp

With a shift in power dynamics, the numerical representation of damage has noticeably decreased, going from tens of thousands to just a few dozen or hundred (it’s possible that it might even reach the thousands at higher power levels). However, the stat overhaul is much more significant. Mobility, Resilience, and Recovery are being renamed as Weapons, Health, and Class, while Discipline, Intellect, and Strength will be known as Grenade, Super, and Melee respectively. Health determines the amount of health gained per Orb of Light and your resistance to being startled; Class reduces the cooldown time for your Class Ability and increases energy gained from all sources for the same; Weapons improves weapon reload speed, handling, and damage.

In this game, the maximum number of stats you can accumulate is 200, and there are no further stat tiers with unique benefits attached to them. However, reaching the 100 mark for each stat offers additional perks. For instance, if your Health stat exceeds 100, it boosts your Shield Health and Recharge Rate. Similarly, a Melee stat over 100 increases the damage you deal in both Player versus Environment (PvE) and Player versus Player (PvP) scenarios. This means that instead of focusing on all stats, you’ll need to concentrate on a few key ones, but reaching the 100 threshold will bring extra advantages.

The Portal

The role of the Director, as well as Destiny 2 itself, has been a source of frustration for both newcomers and veterans, particularly in terms of deciding what to engage with. The Portal seeks to simplify this by dividing content into categories such as Solo Operations, Fireteam Operations, Pinnacles, and Crucible. This way, you can join playlists based on varying difficulties, view the rewards on offer, and even see how many bonus drops are up for grabs. Here, you’ll spend your time boosting your Power level with a variety of activities, some of which include previously released content like the Coil and Savathun’s Spire. Additionally, there’s a Seasonal Hub that will monitor challenges, weekly rankings, and other related matters.

Difficulty Modifiers

In the latest update, you’ll notice that each activity now comes with adjustable difficulty levels. You can choose a difficulty level when selecting an activity, ranging from Normal (the easiest) to Ultimate (the hardest). Each difficulty level corresponds to a specific Power level for combatants.

You can run the activity as usual, or even boost it with positive modifiers. However, increasing the difficulty will make the activity more challenging and potentially more rewarding. Some of these difficulty modifiers include Avante Garde, which limits you to using only new gear and weapons. The more Avante Garde modifiers you add, the harder the challenge becomes (but adding positive modifiers makes it easier).

Activities with higher difficulties are generally more lucrative, dropping higher-tier weapons as rewards. Higher tiers come with various benefits, such as a fully enhanced Adept weapon at Tier 3, an enhanced Origin Trait at Tier 4, and enhanced perks at Tier 5.

Shooting Range

As a long-time fan, I’ve been eagerly waiting for this moment: Bungie is finally incorporating a shooting range into the Tower! This means I can now spawn various enemy types or Champions, set them to be stationary or attacking me, allowing me to thoroughly test out different weapons with damage numbers that mirror real-world activities. Plus, if I want to test my Supers and abilities, that’s definitely an option too!

New Exotic Weapons

To date, only two unique exotic weapons have been unveiled, and they’re captivating in their distinct qualities. The Graviton Spike is a novel hand cannon with dual firing modes – one for Arc ammunition and another for Stasis ammunition. By landing precise hits and final blows, you can overcharge the other mode, which then releases either a lightning blast or a Stasis explosion and crystal generation. On the other hand, Third Iteration is an intriguing scout rifle that fires a spread of void projectiles when fired from the hip. Aiming down the sights reduces the spread, but after some time, the projectiles will combine into a single Amalgamation Round, which marks damaged enemies for further damage by the weapon. Landing precision final blows with the round or eliminating marked targets grants Truesight and invisibility. Additionally, instead of reloading, you essentially discharge its core to recharge it, although it also recharges when not in use or stored.

Additionally, there’s a new expansion called “No Land Beyond” that’s currently accessible for Ultimate Edition owners. This expansion shares many similarities with “Destiny’s” original, such as the bolt action firing and animation cancelling to speed up shot sequences. However, what sets it apart is its unique perk, The Master. This perk enhances the weapon’s power each time you land a precision hit, boosting its damage until your character dies.

New Exotic Gear

Concerning Exotic equipment, only three items have been revealed so far, one for each class. Melas Panoplia is designed for Solar Titans, especially Throwing Hammer specialists. Rapidly defeating targets with Solar damage or collecting a Firesprite grants the Forge Master buff. This allows you to retrieve a Throwing Hammer, and performing a Perfect Recall causes an explosion while extending the Forge Master timer. Eunoia is similar to Getaway Artist for Song of Flame Warlocks, as Helion deals more damage at greater distances and detonates into shrapnel that burns enemies. Lastly, Moirai is intended for Strand Hunters. By throwing a Threaded Spike at a Tangle, it explodes and returns to your hands instantly, along with the Spike. This should work well with Whirling Maelstrom.

New Artifact Perks

In this game’s current season, Artifact highlights Solar, Strand, and Stasis elements. For instance, taking significant damage while wearing Frost Armor triggers a chilling explosion that also fortifies you and nearby allies with Frost Armor (similar to Frost Renewal). Moreover, Fever and Chill abilities are activated when you rapidly land precision shots with Solar weapons (granting Radiant and Frost Armor if using Stasis weapons). The Tangled Web ability enables you to entangle enemies in close proximity if you defeat a Strand-debuffed target and create a Tangle. As a Warlock, numerous valuable Solar perks make it hard to overlook them, such as Radiant Shrapnel that releases damaging Solar projectiles when dealing damage while Radiant or eliminating a scorched enemy with a weapon, which also ignites them (likewise Scorch). However, even if you’re using Sunshot, there are still plenty of options to explore.

New Weapon Frames

In Destiny 2, Rocket Sidearms continue to be a thrilling gameplay style, prompting Bungie’s weapon designers to push the boundaries even more with an exciting new twist – Rocket Pulse Rifles. These weapons consume Special Ammo at an alarming rate, but based on recent streams, their damage seems promising. Besides these, you have Longbows that can pierce through targets and deal extra damage, but they come with longer reload times, and Spread Hand Cannons which function similarly to shotguns, dealing the highest damage in close quarters. However, the most intriguing new entry is the Crossbow. It’s a Legendary Heavy weapon type, capable of dishing out significant damage even after hitting a target (in an area). What’s more, you can recover the bolt following each shot, making it an alternative to Leviathan’s Breath and a visually stunning addition to your arsenal.

New Raid

It’s only fitting for a new Destiny 2 expansion to include a new raid, though it remains unclear if the Renegades will feature one. What we do know is that it will be available starting July 19th, four days post the expansion launch. Bungie has hinted that completing the Legendary Campaign should prepare your Power level, but it’s on you to ensure your gear is up to par, particularly for Contest Mode.

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2025-07-14 14:18