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Destiny 2 season 19 guide: new dungeon, weapons, and story

Destiny 2 season 19 has arrived with a slew of updates, including weapon balancing changes and more, so here's everything you need to know

Destiny 2 season 19 guide: new dungeon, weapons, and story: A Guardian being attacked by a defense system.

Destiny 2 season 19 has arrived after what some players are calling a relatively slow period, with a slew of updates including weapon and subclass balance changes, a brand new dungeon, developments on the story, and more.

As the FPS game wraps up the events leading to the forthcoming Lightfall expansion, here’s everything you need to know about Destiny 2 season 19.

Destiny 2 season 19 guide: new dungeon, weapons, and story: A Guardian carries a piece of Rasputin's submind.

Destiny 2 season 19 release date, time, and cost

Destiny 2 season 19 began on December 6, 2022, and will last until the forthcoming Destiny 2 Lightfall release date on February 28 2023.

Players who own The Witch Queen expansion do not need to pay for season 19 content as it is included in the DLC. However, players who do not have the expansion can purchase the seasonal content for £10 or $12. Players who own The Witch Queen Deluxe Edition already have access to the dungeon. Those who do not will have to purchase a Dungeon Key, which will grant access to the Duality dungeon and the season 19 dungeon, for around £17 or $20.

Destiny 2 season 19 guide: new dungeon, weapons, and story: A depicturion of the Heist Battleground event.

Destiny 2 season 19 subclass balancing

Now that Bungie has introduced the Arc 3.0, Solar 3.0, and Void 3.0 subclass reworks into the game, it seems season 19 will balance these changes. Bungie outlined those changes in a lengthy recent post in the company’s This Week at Bungie (TWAB) series. However, the game developer made it clear that this is not intended to constitute large-scale energy economy tuning, as the team plans to wait until the launch of the Strand subclass to ensure all subclasses balance against one another.

However, Bungie introduced a variety of tweaks to the existing subclasses, including some changes to class-based abilities, Aspects, and Fragments.

Destiny 2 season 19 story, activity, dungeon, and events

Destiny 2 season 19 is titled Season of the Seraph. Following Osiris’s reawakening, the story now follows Ana Bray’s efforts to put Rasputin, a powerful AI Warmind, into an Exo body. However, Ana is not alone in her efforts, as The Witness, aided by Hive God Xivu Arath, appears to also seek control of Rasputin.

The game’s seasonal artefact is called the Seraph Cipher, which emphasises the use of Stasis. It follows a similar upgrade progression as players have seen in previous seasons, meaning players can unlock artefact mods as they progress the season.

The seasonal activity is called Heist Battlegrounds, and it involves exploring lost Warsat bunkers to recover subminds of Rasputin. Throughout the season, players can farm Seraph Key Codes and Resonant Stems for rewards. The seasonal content follows a similar structure to past seasons, including weekly story missions, artefact unlocks, and an upgrade path for focusing armour and weapons that grants additional perks throughout the season.

Developers also confirmed Devrim Kay and Failsafe received minor changes as the Bungie team works to overhaul the game’s reputation system. Players can no longer be able to purchase sunset weapons from these vendors.

Season 19 also grants players access to a new Vex-themed dungeon, which is available as of December 9. The dungeon, titled Spire of the Watcher, is located on Mars. Guardians who complete it can earn the Hierarchy of Needs Exotic bow, a Western-themed Tex Machina armour set, an Exotic sparrow, and several Legendary weapons.

A new weapon titled Revision Zero appears to be tied to an Exotic Quest and is not unlockable until December 20. This suggests the game’s storyline must progress before players can pursue the weapon.

For season 19, the Bungie team also announced a major Destiny 2 PvP overhaul that will include ranked Crucible. Players can now focus Crucible engrams with Lord Shaxx. Bungie also brought back a Legendary hand cannon called Rose, which players can earn by completing the season’s initial Crucible quest line and then can continue to farm for ideal rolls throughout the season. Bungie also implemented changes to Crucible matchmaking.

Starting in season 17, Bungie limited Iron Banner to twice per season. Bungie has yet to announce an intention to make the activity more frequent, so players can expect two Iron Banner weeks throughout the season. The first will take place on January 3, 2023.

For Iron Banner season 19, the Bungie team will incorporate a new mode called Fortress, described as Control with an added twist. Players will also have the chance to earn a legacy armour set that appeared in the original Destiny’s The Taken King expansion.

The season also introduces a seasonal armour set and new ornaments, including an Arc-inspired set.

Players can also anticipate The Dawning, an annual event hosted by “space grandma” Eva Levante. Guardians will receive rewards for earning “Dawning Spirit.” However, as Bungie has recently introduced changes to longtime event formats, including additional opportunities for cosmetics via event cards, players can expect at least some minor changes to The Dawning.

Destiny 2 season 19 guide: new dungeon, weapons, and story: Destiny 2 season 19 weapons.

Destiny 2 season 19 Exotics and weapon overhauls

Bungie promised at least two new Exotic weapons in season 19.,

The season 19 Exotics are as follows:

  • The Manticore Exotic submachine gun (available to all season pass holders)
  • Revision Zero Exotic pulse rifle
    • This appears to be tied to a quest available on December 20. According to Bungie, this weapon will also have “multiple catalysts,” which will make it more powerful as you unlock these upgrades.
  • Hierarchy of Needs Exotic bow (available from the final chest of the Spire of the Watcher dungeon.

Destiny 2 season 19 also introduces several new IKELOS weapons. Players must finish the initial season quest titled More Than a Weapon to begin farming these weapons. Once you get the Resonant Amp, you can begin collecting Resonant Stems to produce an Override Frequency. Each one of these will offer an IKELOS weapon. Note that IKELOS weapons drop Warmind Cells, which can make them incredibly powerful for your build.

The available IKELOS weapons are as follows:

  • IKELOS_HC_V1.0.3 Legendary hand cannon
  • IKELOS_SMG_V1.0.3 Legendary submachine gun
  • IKELOS_SG_V1.0.3 Legendary shotgun
  • IKELOS_SR_V1.0.3 Legendary sniper rifle

IKELOS and Seventh Seraph weapons are now craftable. To craft such weapons, players must extract patterns from five red border weapons of the same type. Extracting five patterns will allow you to begin crafting them so you can curate your own perks.

The season also grants players the opportunity to earn the following Seraph weapons, though note that these do not grant Warmind Cells:

  • Disparity Legendary pulse rifle
  • Tripwire Canary Legendary combat bow
  • Path of Least Resistance Legendary trace rifle
  • Judgment of Kelgorath Legendary glaive
  • Fire and Forget linear fusion rifle
  • Retrofit Escapade machine gun

New general loot pool weapons are as follows:

  • Lodbroc-C Legendary auto rifle
  • Jararaca-3SR Legendary scout rifle
  • Aurvanfil FR6 Legendary fusion rifle
  • Fioritura-59 Legendary sidearm

Playlist and activity weapons include the following:

  • Prolonged Engagement Legendary submachine gun (Vanguard weapon)
  • Blowout Legendary rocket launcher (Crucible weapon)
  • Albruna-D Legendary sniper rifle (Gambit weapon)
  • Rose Legendary hand cannon (Competitive Crucible weapon)

In addition to the season’s Exotic bow, the Spire of the Watcher dungeon also gives players the chance to earn the following Legendary weapons:

  • Wilderflight Legendary grenade launcher
  • Long Arm Legendary scout rifle
  • Liminal Vigil Legendary sidearm
  • Terminus Horizon Legendary machine gun

Finally, the Season of the Seraph ritual weapon, which players can earn by reseting ranks in Vanguard, Gambit, or Crucible:

  • Veles-X Legendary pulse rifle

With season 19, Bungie now lets players craft weapons from Deep Stone Crypt. Crafting also includes a reissued perk pool. Every Deep Stone Crypt raid encounter has a chance to award a Deepsight weapon. Players can also access a guaranteed Deepsight weapon of their choice every week by buying it off the chest at the end of the final encounter. Players can farm Deep Stone Crypt if it’s in the raid rotation that week. Bungie will also reissue these weapons with more recent perks added to some of them, such as Focused Fury and Fourth Time’s the Charm. These Deep Stone Crypt weapons also now drop with the Bray Inheritance Origin Trait, which grants a small amount of ability when damaging opponents.

Destiny 2 season 19 also introduced significant weapon balancing changes. The team reworked 26 weapons, including both buffs and nerfs. Notable changes include a substantial Lord of Wolves rework and a minor but impactful change to Legend of Acrius. Players can also expect a tweak to the One Quiet Moment perk, as it appears it only seems to work for some players’ playstyles. Bungie also reworked 20 weapon perks, improved glaive hit detection, and will removed some shotgun randomness.

The Bungie team removed some weapons from its activity loot pool. Here are the changes to these weapons.

Iron Banner:

Added:

  • Dark Decider Legendary auto rifle
  • Gunnora’s Axe Legendary shotgun

Removed:

  • Forge’s Pledge Legendary pulse rifle
  • Riiswalker Legendary shotgun

Trials of Osiris:

Added:

  • Exalted Trush Legendary hand cannon
  • Unwavering Duty Legendary machine gun

Removed:

  • Aisha’s Embrace Scout Rifle
  • Reed’s Regret Linear Fusion Rifle

Nightfall:

Added:

  • Wendigo GL3 Legendary grenade launcher
  • Hung Jury SR4 Legendary scout rifle

Removed

  • Silicon Neuroma Sniper Rifle
  • Duty Bound Auto Rifle

The game also introduced at least two new catalysts at the start of the season.

  • Cloudstrike catalyst (random drop from playlist activities.
  • The Manticore catalyst (available to season pass owners and must be picked up from Banshee-44)

Destiny 2 season 19 guide: new dungeon, weapons, and story: Approaching Rasputin, also called The Warmind.

Destiny 2 material economy updates

Bungie previously announced its intention to do away with planetary materials such as Dusklight Shards and Baryon Boughs. Players can no longer be able to acquire these currencies as of season 19.

To compensate for the lack of destination materials now needed for certain materials exchanges, Bungie will increase the amount of Glimmer earned from public events to the following:

Public Events: 3300 to 4645 Glimmer
Heroic Public 10K to 12.5K Glimmer

New costs of upgrade materials are as follows:

Materials Received Amount Received Material A Material A Cost Material B Material B Cost Material C Material C Cost
Enhancement Prism 1 Enhancement Core 10 Legendary Shards 10 Glimmer 10,000
Ascendant Shard 1 Enhancement Prism 10 Legendary Shards 50 Glimmer 50,000

Rahool now accepts Dark Fragments, Phantasmal Fragments, and Herealways Pieces.

Some items that require destination materials were replaced with Legendary Shard costs. The team removed Materialism mods for Crucible, Gambit, and Vanguard and replaced the materials gained from Bountiful Harvest with additional Glimmer.

That’s everything you need to know about Destiny 2 season 19. As you check out the new season, check out our guides to the best Destiny 2 Warlock builds, best Destiny 2 Hunter builds, and best Destiny 2 Titan builds to cruise through all the game’s newest content.