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DESTINY 2 DASHBOARD
FOR MOBILE
VANGUARD OPERATIONS
September 26, 2023 - October 3, 2023
Weekly Nightfall: Heist Battlegrounds: Mars
SOLAR
SEASONAL SURGE
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Vanguard Cooperative Missions
Quick Information
What are Strikes?
What are Strikes?
Vanguard Strikes are replayable PVE activities designed to be tackled by a fireteam of one to three players, and they feature a series of objectives that culminate in a battle against an Ultra enemy or boss. Individual Strikes, Vanguard Ops Playlist, and Adept/Hero Nightfalls are also matchmaking enabled, meaning you can team up with Guardians even if you’re playing solo!
Vanguard Reputation System
Completing Vanguard Strikes, Nightfalls and Battlegrounds provides reputation gains that will unlock rewards when you rank up certain levels. Expect to receive upgrade materials, shaders, emblems and exotic rewards. Vanguard Reputation Ranks are managed by Commander Zavala in the Tower.
For those looking to take on a challenge, Nightfall Strikes give different bonuses based on completion medals, which can be earned through high scores and defeating all Champions. Bronze, silver, gold, and platinum medals grant reputation bonuses, and Nightfalls grant reputation multipliers depending on the difficulty of Nightfall selected. The more difficult the Nightfall, the higher the multiplier will be!
Activity Streaks & Reputation Bonuses
Activity Streaks and Reputation Bonuses
Activity Streaks provide additional rewards and reputation gains. Here is a quick overview:
- The longer you stay in Vanguard activities (playlists or direct launch), the larger your streak bonus is.
- Guardians can leave the matchmaking queue to snag bounties from Social Spaces (Tower/H.E.L.M.) without the worry of losing their activity streaks.
- Quitting activities or going AFK for extended periods of time will invalidate your streak, so be ready to play if you’re looking to keep yours going.
As with Crucible and Gambit, Zavala will be looking to host weeklong reputation bonuses throughout a given Season. Stay tuned for in-game announcements.
What are the Surge and Threat modifiers? What do they mean?
- Added in Season 20, the featured Element Burns (ex: Solar, Void, etc.) in high-level activities are now split into Surges and Threats.
- Surges increase your outgoing damage:
- Surges increase elemental damage dealt by 25%.
- Surges for high-difficulty activities change every Season based on featured damage types.
- Threats increase elemental damage coming from enemies by 25%.
- Surges increase your outgoing damage:
What does 'Overcharged Weapon' mean?
- Overcharged Weapons is a new modifier added in Season 20 that provides bonus damage when requirements are met:
- An Overcharged weapon deals 25% more damage.
- Kinetic damage is also increased by 25% if using a Surging subclass.
- Overcharged weapons can come from several sources. Currently:
- Weapons set per activity.
- Weapons featured as Champion counters on the Seasonal Artifact.
Endgame Activities
Vanguard Reputation & Inventory
- Like other vendors, Commander Zavala and his inventory have a Rank-up System. When completing Vanguard Ops or Nightfall activities, you will earn reputation that contributes toward your rank.
- Higher-difficulty activities, such as Legend, Master or Grandmaster Nightfalls offer the most reputation!
- Stay in the queue to create an Activity Streak that provides a bonus to reputation gains as you continue to play.
- Going to the Tower, the H.E.L.M or to orbit will NOT impact your Activity Streak; going AFK or going to a destination other than Social Spaces, Orbit or Strikes WILL end your Activity Streak.
- Once your Vanguard Rank is maxed out at Rank 17, you can reset it. This will allow you to gain additional tiered rewards while ranking up again!
Engram Focusing
- Added in Season 20, Zavala offers the ability for players to focus Vanguard Ops and Nightfall weapons and armour using the Vanguard Engrams earned while ranking up.
- Vanguard Engrams are virtual currency and live exclusively in the Rank progress bar.
- You can focus the Vanguard Engrams directly into either armour or weapons.
- Brand-new Vanguard Ops and Nightfall weapons are only available as drops during their introductory Season and are then available for focusing on the following Season.
- In addition, players will be able to focus Legacy Gear, even if they haven’t yet obtained it!
Learn More about Focusing
Nightfall Focusing & Costs
- Starting in Season 20, Zavala will offer Nightfall weapon focusing:
- Nightfall weapons must have been acquired from Nightfall strikes at least once before being available for focusing.
- Nightfall weapon focusing cost:
- 1 Vanguard Engram
- 20,000 Glimmer
- 25 Legendary Shards
- Nightfall Weapons available for focusing in Season 20:
- The Militia’s Birthright
- Mindbender’s Ambition
- Wendigo GL-3
- Hung Jury SR-4
- The Swarm
- Buzzard
Adept Nightfall Focusing & Adept Nightfall Ciphers
- When completing Grandmaster Nightfalls, in addition to previously existing rewards, players will also acquire Adept Nightfall Ciphers.
- The number of Ciphers that players earn depends on whether players qualify for Platinum, Gold, or Silver rewards at the end of the Nightfall.
- Number of Ciphers awarded per GM Nightfall completion score:
- Platinum = 2
- Gold = 1
- Silver = 0
- Zavala will offer a single Adept Nightfall weapon for focusing each week, matching the Nightfall weapon currently in rotation.
- Adept Nightfall weapons available for focusing in Season 20:
- The Militia’s Birthright (Adept)
- Mindbender’s Ambition (AAdept)
- Wendigo GL-3 (Adept)
- Hung Jury SR-4 (Adept)
- The Swarm (Adept)
- Buzzard (Adept)
Keep an eye out for reputation boosts! A notification will be posted in-game. Our Destiny 2 Dashboard will also provide a banner notification when reputation boosts are in effect!
Vanguard Operations Playlist
- Jump into the Vanguard Ops Playlist to play random strikes and battlegrounds with a fireteam!
- Complete Vanguard Challenges to earn Pinnacle Rewards:
- Complete 5 Vanguard Activities while having the subclass matching the Seasonal or Weekly Surge equipped.
- Increased progress is made by completing higher-level Nightfalls if you so choose.
- Complete 5 Vanguard Activities while having the subclass matching the Seasonal or Weekly Surge equipped.
- There will always be one Weekly Surge, one Daily Threat and one Daily Modifier.
- This can be viewed when selecting the activity playlist.
- This playlist is Power-Disabled, like Gambit and Crucible.
- Pick up daily Vanguard Bounties offered by Commander Zavala to earn extra XP!
- Purchase additional bounties for 3000 glimmer. They reward XP and Bright Dust!
- In orbit? Use the Destiny Companion App to purchase additional bounties right from your phone!
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Vanguard Ops Playlist Exclusive Loot
Learn more!
Origin Trait: Vanguard's Vindication
Final blows with this weapon grant a small amount of health.
Found on any Vanguard Ops weapon obtained after Season 16.
Nightfall Strikes
- Each week, there will be a featured Nightfall Strike that Guardians can complete to earn new gear.
- Nightfalls are higher-level activities with additional modifiers, champions, and exclusive rewards.
- All Nightfall Difficulty Tiers have a Power Level Disadvantage and a MaximumEffectiveness Target, meaning that your Guardian’s power effectiveness is capped to a specific level.
- Complete the Nightfall Weekly Challenge by earning 200,000 points across multiple Nightfalls to earn a Pinnacle Reward!
- You can also complete the Vanguard Weekly Challenge while playing Nightfalls too!
- Nightfall Strikes have a chance to drop Exclusive Weapons. Each week, one specific Nightfall weapon will be available.
- Vanguard Ops Exclusive weapons can also drop in Nightfall strikes!
- Grandmaster Nightfalls can drop Adept versions of the Exclusive Weapons. Adept weapons have unique shaders, mods, and additional perks.
Nightfall-Specific Loot & Rotation
Learn more!
Origin Trait: Stunning Recovery
Stunning a Champion partially refills your magazine, triggers health regeneration, and improves recovery for a short duration.
Found on any new Nightfall-Specific weapon obtained after Season 16. Nightfall weapons will also have the Vanguard Strike Origin Trait, “Vanguard’s Vindication.”
Weapons outlined in red are leaving the loot pool at the end of the season. Weapons that are grey are currently unattainable. Weapons that are grey with white borders are being reprised or added in the upcoming season.
Understanding Nightfall Difficulty Tiers
Grandmaster Nightfalls in Season 21 arrives later this season!
Hero (1770)
Legend (1830)
Master (1840)
Grandmaster (1840)
Hero (1770)
- Matchmaking enabled activity with some Champions and base modifiers.
- You will need anti-champion mods for this activity.
- There is a -5 Power Level Disadvantage.
- Be the hero you were born to be.
REWARDS:
Legend (1830)
- Matchmaking is disabled. Form a fireteam to complete this activity.
- Champions and heroic modifiers will challenge you.
- You will need anti-champion mods for this activity.
- There is a -15 Power Level Disadvantage.
- Equipment will be locked during this activity. Once you’ve loaded into this activity, you won’t be able to adjust your loadout, not even your emotes!
- Become Legend!
REWARDS:
Master (1840)
- Matchmaking is disabled. Form a fireteam to complete this activity.
- Many Champions and heroic modifiers will challenge you, which will make this activity a worthy challenge.
- You will need anti-champion mods for this activity.
- There is a -20 Power Level Disadvantage.
- Equipment will be locked during this activity. Once you’ve loaded into this activity, you won’t be able to adjust your loadout, not even your emotes!
- Only the most powerful Guardians will not find instant defeat in this challenge.
REWARDS:
Grandmaster (1840)
- Arrives later in seasons.
- Select the activity from the Director to see the launch date for the current season.
- Matchmaking is disabled. Form a fireteam to complete this activity.
- You will face a horde of Champions and Grandmaster modifiers will be enabled…this won’t be easy. Like, at all.
- You will need anti-champion mods for this activity.
- Complete this activity to earn Adept Nightfall Weapons.
- There is a -25 Power Level Disadvantage. You’re going to feel paper thin.
- Equipment will be locked during this activity. Once you’ve loaded into this activity, you won’t be able to adjust your loadout, not even your emotes!
- Hmm, there are limited revives available.
- Join-in progress is also disabled.
- Oh, and if your team dies, you are all sent back to orbit.
- You got this, you…
REWARDS:
Featured Nightfalls & Video Guides
- The following strikes are the featured Nightfalls for this season
- As community members post updated video guides, we will add them to this section.
- Starting in Season 20, a collection of videos will be featured, so you can review any strike video guide.
