Destiny 2 Lightfall is here and it brings a whole host of new quests, activities, and loot for players to chase in Neomuna and beyond. The new Strand Subclasses are exciting and one of the best features of the expansion, but you’ll only be able to unlock them if you complete the campaign. However, you can also take on all sorts of Exotic quests and challenges in Neomuna to get new weapons and armor that might fit into some of your most powerful loadouts and builds. These are just a few of the features and improvements that Lightfall has brought to Destiny 2, and it maintains its position as one of the best FPS games in recent history.
With that said, Destiny 2 does still remain quite inscrutable in places, and there’s a lot to learn with so many new activities and features from Lightfall. If you need help with particular campaign missions on Legendary difficulty, want to some good Strand builds to mess around with, or need some tips on how to complete some of the Exotic quests quickly, we’ve got you covered in our Destiny 2 Lightfall guide.
Destiny 2 Lightfall review
Lightfall seemed like an exciting expansion but as the verdict from our Destiny 2 Lightfall review shows, it proves to be a bit lackluster, especially in comparison to Destiny 2 The Witch Queen. This is largely due to the confusing campaign that leaves many new story threads unexplained – not what we had hoped as we near the end of the Light and Darkness saga. However, there are plenty of standout elements, mainly in the form of Strand, which has proven to be an incredibly fun set of Subclasses with lots of potential. Make sure you read all our thoughts on the expansion in the full review.
Destiny 2 Lightfall release date
The Destiny 2 Lightfall release date was February 28, 2023 and coincided with the start of Season of Defiance. The expansion will be bolstered by more seasons throughout the year before the next expansion, The Final Shape, takes center stage.
Destiny 2 Strand Subclasses
Owners of Destiny 2 Lightfall can try out the new Strand subclasses as they play through the Lightfall campaign, getting to grips with the new Super abilities and, of course, the grapple! However, you won’t have the psychic weaving powers of Strand permanently unlocked until the end of the story, and even then, you’ll only have the basics available. Make sure you know how to unlock Strand in Destiny 2 Lightfall, including all the Aspects and Fragments.
With your new Strand Subclass unlocked – whether that’s the Broodweaver for Warlocks, the Threadrunner for Hunters, or the Berserker for Titans – you’ll need to set up one of these top-tier Destiny 2 Strand builds. With so many powerful new abilities, such as Woven Mail and Suspend, Strand builds can work nicely in the full range of Destiny 2 activities.
Destiny 2 Lightfall campaign missions and quests
Lightfall features a fully-fledged campaign that takes place over the course of eight missions and one Strike. Check out the full Destiny 2 Lightfall campaign mission list and Legendary rewards if you’re stepping up to the added challenge of Legendary difficulty. There are a couple of missions that are especially tough on this difficulty, so you’ll find guides packed with tips and walkthroughs for those below:
- Struggling to beat the final boss encounter at the end of the Destiny 2 Headlong mission? Use our advice in the guide to ensure you survive to bring down all the Vex.
- The end of the Lightfall campaign is in sight when you start the Destiny 2 Desperate Measures mission, but there are some tough combat encounters and an often brutal final boss fight to overcome.
- During and after your time with the Lightfall campaign you can also complete the Destiny 2 From Zero and To Hero quests for Nimbus, aiding the people of Neomuna against the invading forces of the Shadow Legion and the Vex.
Destiny 2 Tormentors
Calus’s Shadow Legion have been empowered with Darkness technology, but they’re also reinforced by deadly Destiny 2 Tormentors. These hulking foes hit hard with a range of attacks, so it’s important that you know exactly how to bring them down effectively. They also pop up in quite a few activities too, including all sorts of Lightfall missions, and even the new Root of Nightmares Raid.
Destiny 2 Lightfall Exotic Quests
There are several Destiny 2 Lightfall Exotic quests to play through once you’ve completed the campaign, with each one offering a unique Exotic weapon. We’ve got some guides for them below:
- Continue Rohan’s research in the Destiny 2 Unfinished Business Exotic Quest to get the Deterministic Chaos Void Machine Gun.
- Begin a multi-part Exotic questline at the Hall of Heroes to get the heavy Stasis Glaive, Winterbite. During this questline you’ll need to complete the Destiny 2 Maelstrom and Destiny 2 Bluejay quests before completing the final Strider quest
Of course, there’s also new Exotic armor for each Class and you can get the Quicksilver Storm Exotic Catalyst if you have the weapon from pre-ordering the expansion.
Destiny 2 Lightfall Neomuna destination activities
Neomuna is the capital city of Neptune - a highly advanced, neon-lit city built by an alternate version of humanity that has been around since the Collapse, although no one knew about it until now. It’s also the new destination that arrived with Destiny 2 Lightfall and is packed with load so different activities and things to check out:
- Destiny 2 Terminal Overload is a new public activity exclusive to Neomuna that pitches players against hordes of Shadow Legion and Vex enemies. It also changes locations each day and offers unique weapons!
- Destiny 2 Cloud Accretions are the destination material for Neomuna, and you’ll need to collect a lot of them for some of the quests listed above. They’re also a great source of Neomuna Rank to help you level up your standing with Nimbus.
Destiny 2 Lightfall Raid and future Dungeons
Root of Nightmares is Lightfall’s Raid and it sees a team of Guardians head inside the hull of the Witness’s Pyramid ship, which was blasted by the Traveler. This unfortunately unleashed one of the Witness’s oldest disciples, Nezarec, so it’s up to you to bring him down. There is of course a whole suite of themed loot, including weapons with some unique rolls and new perks. Players can also get enhanced perks on the adept versions of these weapons, which are only obtainable on Master difficulty.
Looking beyond Lightfall, Destiny 2 will also be getting two more Dungeons, with one dropping in Season of the Deep and the next in Season 23. Obviously, we don’t know anything about these yet, but you do need the Lightfall Annual Pass to access to them as it includes the Year 6 Dungeon Key. That leaves a mystery endgame activity for Season 22, which will likely be a reprised Raid of some kind, although who knows if it’ll be a classic from Destiny 1 or a Destiny 2 Raid that got sent to the content vault.
Destiny 2 Lightfall gameplay changes
Lightfall brought in a lot of significant gameplay and quality-of-life changes for Destiny 2, so here’s a quick rundown of the major features for returning players - make sure you click the links to Bungie articles to get a detailed explanation of some of these changes:
- Loadouts: With the new loadout system, you can craft your perfect builds in-game and then permanently save them, allowing you to instantly switch between Subclasses, gear, and mods with a couple of button presses. No need for third-party apps either!
- Guardian Ranks: A new challenge-based levelling system that tasks players with completing challenges and engage with certain aspects of Destiny 2 to increase their rank. One of its main aims is to guide new players through their first steps in Destiny 2, but it’s also something new for veteran players to chase and reach higher ranks.
- Commendations: At the end of multiplayer activities, players can award Commendations to others in recognition of their performance in the activity – whether they displayed a thorough knowledge of a Raid and its mechanics, or kept a positive attitude during a tough Trials of Osiris match.
- Economy changes: Umbral Engrams have been replaced by Seasonal Engrams, Ada-1 now sells old and currently unobtainable shaders, and new gear focusing options have been added for most activities, including Vanguard and even Iron Banner, allowing you to get old or currently unobtainable weapons and armor.
- Overhauled mod system: Mods have been consolidated and adjusted to fit the new Armor Charge system that focuses on generating, collecting, and consuming Orbs of Power to gain particular benefits. Furthermore, Artifact Mods are now passive and do not need to be applied to armor and Subclasses have new ways of stunning Champions.
- Subclass rebalancing: New Fragments for Solar, Arc, and Void Subclasses are available from Ikora Rey, adding new powers and opportunities to benefit from new Subclass pickups that provide extra ability energy.
- Weapon crafting changes: Simplified weapon crafting by removing Deepsight Resonance objectives (you can get weapon pattern progress from a red-border by extracting the Deepsight Resonance or by dismantling it) and by removing certain currencies and replacing them with existing ones. Importantly, weapons that have crafting patterns available are the only ones that will drop with Deepsight, so a red border on a weapon always means something good.
- Difficulty rebalancing: New and updated Subclasses and powerful mods led to some serious power creep over the last year in Destiny 2, so Bungie has rebalanced the difficulty levels of activities such as Nightmare Hunts, Nightfall Strikes, Lost Sectors, and Raids.
