New to Destiny 2? Start here.

Get up to speed quickly with our introduction to Destiny 2's core systems, classes and game modes.

Guardian classes

Guard and defend the Last City of humanity as a member of one of three classes.

Warning: Contains spoilers for previous expansions!

The story so far

While each expansion forms part of a larger narrative, they all tell self-contained stories that can be enjoyed without a deep knowledge of the game’s expansive lore. Here’s a quick summary of the major events in Destiny 2's eventful history.

2018

The galaxy’s most wanted criminals—the Barons and Uldren Sov—organised a jailbreak at the Prison of Elders. You and Cayde-6 were dispatched to the prison to restore law and order, but the mission went horribly wrong. Overwhelmed and outgunned, Cayde-6 ended up paying the ultimate price.

Distraught, you headed to the Reef to hunt down the eight Barons and avenge Cayde-6’s death. During this deadly journey, you encountered the Scorn, a new type of Fallen tainted and corrupted by the Darkness. After much struggle and bloodshed, you finally defeated the eight Barons and the evil Uldren, delivering justice once and for all.

2019

As the heroes of the Last City turned their attention to new frontiers, the Darkness summoned new Nightmares from the shadows of the Moon. As the Darkness’s power grew, it resurrected a horde of familiar, deadly threats.

Faced with the return of vanquished villains like Crota and Dominus Ghaul, elite Guardian Eris Morn tasked you with vanquishing this rising terror before it was too late. Following a series of dramatic showdowns, you come face to face with an entity that reveals itself as our salvation and learn that the Light may not be powerful enough to stop the Darkness.

2020

A new power was born out of the ancient Pyramid stationed above Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, and a dark empire rose beneath. With the stakes graver than ever, you took down the empire at great cost - even harnessing the deadly power of the Darkness when necessary.

As the Darkness spread, the Guardians finds themselves entering into an impossible deal with Savathun, the Hive Witch Queen: remove her hive worm and she will guarantee the return of the infamous warlock Osiris. With the forces of light upholding their end of the deal, Savathun narrowly escapes, free from her worm and now mortal.

2022

After the Witch Queen’s great escape, the Guardians went to her Throne World to pursue Savathûn. As you and Warlock Vanguard Ikora Rey fought the Witch Queen’s forces, you discovered that Osiris was being impersonated by Savathûn for the past year. Worse yet, your journey through her Throne World yielded another harrowing revelation: the Witness was responsible for all the atrocities attributed to the Darkness.

With the Witness now flanked by a new Disciple in the exiled emperor Calus, the Darkness’s grip on the galaxy only grew tighter. Yet, not all hope was lost. As Osiris awakened from his coma, he revealed that the key to defeating the Witness could be found on Neptune.

2023

In Destiny 2: Lightfall, Guardians venture to Neptune to explore Neomuna, a hidden city where a splinter of humanity has thrived in the aftermath of the Collapse. While the rest of the Solar System has been embroiled in years of bitter conflict, Neomuna has quietly stayed under the radar. Now, however, the Witness has set its sights on Neptune, as the conflicts of the past have finally found their way to Neomuna’s door…

2024

The Final Shape looms—a nightmarish calcification of reality into the Witness's twisted design. Embark on a perilous journey into the heart of the Traveler, rally the Vanguard and end the War of Light and Darkness.

Tips for starting out in Destiny 2

Looking for advice on where to get started? Try out these tips, direct from Bungie.

Give yourself a boost

Apply armour pieces and mods to boost your stats. There are six traits that can be improved:

  • Mobility: Increases your movement speed and maximum jump height. Ideal for Hunters.
  • Resilience: Reduces the cooldown of your class ability, increases how much damage you can take before dying and increases your shield capacity. Ideal for Titans.
  • Recovery: Increases the speed at which you regain lost health. Ideal for Warlocks. 
  • Discipline: Decreases your grenade cooldown. 
  • Intellect: Decreases your Super cooldown. 
  • Strength: Decreases your melee ability cooldown. 

Equip the Seasonal Artifact

The Seasonal Artifact is your key to unlocking powerful mods for your weapons and armour. Earn XP as you play to get bonuses that increase your Power alongside your armour mods and abilities. You can earn the Artifact by completing the opening mission of the Episode.

Play at your own pace

There are a lot of different playstyles and it's easy to get caught up in the rush and excitement of Episode launches, but don't feel like you have to zip through content. Take your time and find your own playstyle.

Get the app

Download the Destiny Companion mobile app to manage your gear and bounties, find Guardians for your fireteam, and keep track of all the latest news about the game. 

Destiny 2 FAQ

The Vanguard is a faction that consists of high-ranking Guardians who are considered the best of their respective classes, including legendary Destiny characters Commander Zavala and Ikora Rey.

Strikes are matchmade activities with three-person fireteams that culminate in a challenging final boss encounter and the reward of high-quality loot. In a strike you’ll fight your way through a set path on one of the available destinations, encountering enemies as you progress. Strikes can be completed in about fifteen minutes depending on the mission and skills of the fireteam.

The Vanguard Ops playlist is a set of strikes and Battlegrounds that is a great starting point for players to get into the action with a variety of enemies and areas.

Think of raids as more challenging and elaborate adventures, featuring teams of six players. They usually take longer to complete, but there are checkpoints where your progress is saved so you can come back and finish them later.

In a raid, there will be specific steps you need to complete to progress, and you’ll need to figure out what to do and where to go as there are no objective markers. Boss battles are extremely challenging, but worth it for the experience and chance of unique items that are often only available in raids.

Dungeons are shorter raid type activities that are built for teams of three players, featuring more puzzle-based elements that need to be completed while engaging with enemies.

New players can find raids and dungeons challenging, with strong enemies, routes to discover and puzzles to figure out.

Strikes have several difficulty levels available with the lowest difficulty being a great entry point for new players and Grandmaster versions serving as the ultimate challenge to aspire to.

While a well-coordinated fireteam of veteran players can make things easier, discovering how to complete any of these activities with a fireteam of beginners can be a highly rewarding experience.

Most activities in Destiny 2 have a recommended Power level. You can easily boost your Power by collecting new weapons and gear with a higher Power level. Some activities, like strikes, have optional higher difficulty levels.

Players without PlayStation Plus can play any of the expansion campaigns they have purchased. You’ll need a PlayStation Plus subscription to play anything that requires other players such as strikes, raids, PvP modes and dungeons.

Buy Destiny 2 expansions and Silver on PlayStation Store

Standard Edition
The Final Shape + Annual Pass

Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Standard Edition

Includes:

  • The Final Shape campaign
  • New Prismatic subclass
  • Three new Supers
  • New destination - The Pale Heart

Destiny 2 The Final Shape + Annual Pass

Includes:

  • Destiny 2: The Final Shape Standard Edition
  • The Final Shape Dungeon Key
  • New and instantly unlocked Tessellation Exotic Fusion Rifle
  • Exotic Sparrow
  • All three Episodes in the year of The Final Shape
  • One Secret Stash delivered during each Episode

Pre-order for the following bonus items:

  • *New* Prismatic Horizon Emblem
  • *New* Pyramidic Vessel Exotic ship 
  • Tessellation Exotic Fusion Rifle
  • Abstract Meditation Exotic emote
  • Final Shell Exotic Ghost shell
  • Paracausal Path Legendary emblem

Anyone with an existing pre-order will receive new items automatically