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Destiny 2: Forsaken release date, annual pass, raid, supers, and modes – all the latest details

Everything you need to know about the next Destiny 2 expansion, from Forsaken supers to the new raid

Destiny 2 Forsaken header

Destiny 2: Forsaken is the first major expansion coming to Bungie’s hobby shooter, and it promises to revitalise the game’s universe. Unlike Curse of Osiris and Warmind, this is no small trinket: Forsaken introduces new weapons, areas, modes, skill trees, a full-size raid, and dozens of gameplay changes that improve the overall experience and promise to make Destiny 2 a more exciting place to be.

After a solid start, Destiny 2 has had a lackluster first year, with players quickly burning out and finding the game’s systems provide little in the form of worthwhile longevity. As such, Forsaken has a lot of work to do. But changes like weapon randomisation, which returns from the first game, promise to keep fans happy and offer reasons to return week after week.

If you’re looking for the latest Destiny 2 news on the Forsaken expansion, look no further, as we have all the details right here. From the ambitious new PvPvE Gambit mode to the new season-spanning annual pass, here’s everything you need to know about Destiny 2: Forsaken.

Destiny 2: Forsaken release date

Destiny 2: Forsaken releases on September 4, 2018 and will be available exclusively through Battle.net. If you’re looking to express your interest now, Destiny 2: Forsaken pre-orders are open for business over at the Blizzard shop. Three versions are available: the standard edition, the digital deluxe edition, and the standard version bundled with the annual pass (more on that later.) These cost $39.99/£34.99, $79.99/£69.99, and $69.99/£59.99 respectively.

It’s worth noting that in order to play Destiny 2: Forsaken, you will need to own everything released so far for the game: Destiny 2, Curse of Osiris, and Warmind. This was also the case back in the days of Destiny 1, but Bungie offered a complete pack containing everything you needed to play The Taken King for around the price of a full triple-A game. Bungie is offering a similar bundle this time around: the Destiny 2: Forsaken – Legendary Collection.

Destiny 2: Forsaken trailer

Destiny 2 annual pass

In year one, Destiny 2 had an Expansion Pass which unlocked two DLC packs; Curse of Osiris in December 2017, and Warmind in May 2018. Bungie won’t be doing the same thing for year two. The Expansion Pass is being replaced with a Destiny 2 Annual Pass, which works on a new seasonal system.

Rather than story-focused expansions with plenty of cutscenes and cinematic leanings, each season will have a theme and, instead, revolve around the acquisition of power. New endgame challenges and high-level items will help facilitate this.

The Annual Pass is made up of three seasons: Black Armory in winter 2018, Joker’s Wild in spring 2019, and Penumbra in summer 2019. Each will be slightly smaller than either Curse of Osiris or Warmind, but Bungie hopes that more regular content will trump bigger, less often DLC. Each will provide new weapons, armour, vanity items, new and returning exotics, new pinnacle activities, and some amount of lore to uncover. These will all fit into a specific theme that should give an event-like feel to Destiny 2’s second year.

Destiny 2 Forsaken Dreaming City

Destiny 2: Forsaken Dreaming City raid

Forsaken will introduce a brand new Destiny 2 raid and it appears to blend a traditional fan-favourite approach with something fresh. The Dreaming City has been compared by Bungie to the Vault of Glass – Destiny’s first and most beloved raid – and The Taken King’s Dreadnaught, with raid design lead Joe Blackburn promising that it will have “more bosses than any raid we’ve ever had before.” That means a boss-led structure, rather than the challenge system used for Leviathan.

A Destiny 2: Forsaken leak suggests that the raid will be called Last Wish, and will be capped off by a boss called Dul Incaru, the Eternal Return.

That’s not to say that the Dreaming City won’t contain puzzles, though. The location is said to be filled with hidden corners and passages, and areas that will demand thought to progress through.

Most interesting of all, however, is the fact that raiding will have an impact on the world. The Dreaming City is more than a raid; it’s a whole endgame location. Bungie claims that, as people play the raid, the area will change for everyone. Apparently, the Dreaming City will be a different place in week three than it will be at launch. Quite how things will change is being kept under wraps, but it’s an exciting idea.

The leaker who revealed the Last Wish name of the raid believes that there will be a one-time challenge to finish the raid on the day of launch, which if true will no doubt become a bragging point for hard-core Destiny players.

As for the city itself, anyone familiar with Destiny 1’s The Reef will find the ethereal aesthetic instantly recognisable. The purple haze and floating rocks identify the Dreaming City as part of the Awoken’s homeworld. It’s a place we’ll be exploring a lot over the course of Forsaken.

The raid won’t be the only challenge; you can expect a series of new Strikes, too. The leak suggests these will be called Warden of Nothing, The Hollowed Lair, Broodhold, and The Corrupted, although no details have yet surfaced about their design.

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Destiny 2: Forsaken Gambit mode

A new competitive mode is coming to Destiny 2, but in a very different guise to the PvP games seen in the Crucible. Gambit is a PvPvE mode that sees two teams compete in a gameshow-like arena, battling to be the first to defeat a boss.

A Gambit match begins with both four-player teams taunting each other from their respective arenas before heading into battle. Teams kill attacking enemies to collect motes, which must be banked in a large vault in order to eventually summon the ‘Prime Evil’ boss. The first team to summon and kill their Prime Evil are crowned the victors.

It sounds simple enough, but there are a few complications to enhance the competition element. Banking enough motes will spawn a blocker enemy in your opponent’s arena, which must killed before they can continue to bank motes. If that’s not disruptive enough, you’ll also get the opportunity to send one of your team into the opponent’s arena to cause havoc and slow them down.

If you’re curious about Gambit, all Destiny 2 players can play the mode for free on September 1 as part of a Destiny 2 Gambit free trial. It’s strictly 24 hours though; any more and you’ll need to buy and play Forsaken from September 4.

Destiny 2: Forsaken gameplay changes

Several impactful changes are being made to Destiny 2: Forsaken’s gameplay, with the most exciting being randomised weapon rolls. This system returns from Destiny 1, and means that every weapon you pick up will have its stats dictated by RNG. At current, every weapon of a specific type is the same – all Better Devils hand cannons have the same stats. Under the new system, every Better Devils you find could have different stats. This offers a reason to continue hunting for new gear: every new piece of loot is a suprise, and there will always be something better to find.

Alongside weapon randomisation is reworked Destiny 2 weapons slots. Your three slots are now completely unlocked so you can put any weapon in any slot. This means that you can roll with an auto rifle, a sniper rifle, and a rocket launcher should you so wish, or even three shotguns. This is now possible thanks to ammo type being a weapon property rather than being tied to weapon slots. The Kinetic, Energy, and Power slots still exist but – as promised – you’ll have a lot more opportunity to spread out similar weapon types across each of those slots. So, for example, you can get a shotgun that fires kinetic bullets and thus can go into slot one, whereas previously it would always have to be in the third slot reserved for power weapons.

There is also a new Masterworks system being implemented, which promises to allow you to level up your weapons and improve them over time. Hopefully, this will allow you to really invest in a single gun, especially if the new mods system provides meaningful benefits.

Destiny 2 Forsaken Void Hunter

Finally in weapons, a new weapon type is being added: bows. Available in three different variations – short, medium, and long-range – they’re promised to feel godly to use and hold their own against even the most sci-fi guns in the game.

In addition to weapon changes, there will be new Destiny 2: Forsaken supers for every Guardian subclass. That means nine new supers in total. So far we’ve seen a few of them in action: the Hunter Gunslinger is able to trade their gun for flaming throwing knives, while the Arcstrider can spin their staff to deflect cannon fire. A screenshot also reveals that the Nightstalker can now use two Void knives, suggesting a new form of the Bladedancer. The Titan Sunbreaker gets a huge two-handed warhammer that not only causes a flaming shockwave, but also a fiery tornado. The Striker appears to do a touchdown dive with an arc-charged football, causing a huge electrified explosion. The Warlock Voidwalker can quickly teleport and release an AOE blast, and the Stormcaller can produce a damaging beam that looks a lot like Moira’s Coalescence from Overwatch. Learn more over at our newly updated Destiny 2 classes guide.

Destiny 2 Collections

Forsaken adds a new progress-tracking system called Collections to Destiny 2. This acts almost as if a sticker book, filling up as you gather more of Destiny’s 2,000 in-game items. For those looking to set their own targets, Collections allow you to plan what you’re aiming for next, and chart your progress to acquiring every armour, weapon, sparrow, shell… the list goes on.

Collections also include Triumphs, so you can see how far you’ve progressed through Destiny 2’s major milestones and achievements. It’s very much like the stats you can find on Bungie.net, just brought into the game itself.

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Destiny 2: Forsaken story

Destiny 2: Forsaken’s story begins with a huge prison break. The numerous pirates, thieves, and bad guys that Cayde-6 and the Guardians have been locking up over time have run loose and taken over the Tangled Shore – this is a new area of The Reef that will be Forsaken’s main zone. It has become a lawless frontier and home to the Scorn: a group of the galaxy’s meanest bandits.

One of Forsaken’s major goals will be to round up Scorn’s top dogs – the Barons – who must be hunted down in special missions called Baron Hunts. Each Baron will be a unique boss fight, and so far we’ve seen one equipped with a sniper rifle, promising a long-range engagement, and another swinging a huge melee weapon.

Oh, and Cayde-6 bites the bullet. Literally. He’s gonna die. Sorry.

That is all Bungie has revealed so far, but the name Forsaken in itself is a pretty big hint. Chiefly, it points to a unique Fallen Captain named Mithrax, the Forsaken, who you may remember from the Chances and Choices adventure on Titan.

Mithrax is an uncommonly clever, non-hostile Fallen, whose existence is especially interesting after voice lines mentioning an alliance with the Fallen were datamined. A second datamine has Ikora mentioning the House of Dusk– a new Fallen house who worship the Darkness.

Destiny 2 Forsaken prison

The previously mentioned Destiny 2: Forsaken leak contains some datamined story, although it’s very rough. It’s believed that Uldren’s sister, Queen Mara, is alive and trapped in the Dreaming City by the Techeun Illyn. There’s she’s sending Uldren visions, asking him to open the gates to the city and rescue her.

Uldren decides to get those gates open and parties up with the denizens of the Prison of Elders to make it happen. Cayde-6’s death occurs as he’s trying to retake the prison along with Petra Venj.

Ultimately, Uldren succeeds in getting the gates open, but is immediately killed by some kind of “creature.” That puts Petra Venj in charge of the Dreaming City’s defence, and she’ll charge Guardians – that’s you – with helping to protect the Awoken artefacts and secrets.

So it all seems to be coming together this autumn. Those voice lines together with Mithrax’s appearance seed an exciting plot thread which has yet to be picked up, and now the expansion’s apparent title is the same as Mithrax’s epithet. Plus, the Fallen haven’t featured in a Destiny story since the Rise of Iron expansion, so it’s kinda their turn.

If you need further convincing, it would make a lot of sense if our return to the Reef were to tie in with a Fallen story. The Reef were allied with the Fallen houses Judgement and Wolves (who later betrayed them), and at the end of the first game, a Grimoire cardindicated that its Prince Uldren was negotiating another alliance with the House of Kings. There’s a voice line in Destiny 2 where your Ghost indicates that all Fallen comm frequencies are now derived from the Kings’, so we’re guessing Uldren has done the job and is proposing to ally with the Guardians once again in opposing the House of Dusk.

As we know from Destiny 2’s post-credits sting (spoiler alert, if somehow you still haven’t finished the campaign), the Darkness has responded to the Traveler’s reawakening. Tussling with a new Fallen house that worships the Traveler’s enemy would be suitably epic for a large-scale expansion, and a perfect way to set up Destiny 3 in 2019 or 2020.