This Week in Destiny - 08/21/2025

This Week in Destiny, we are sharing more details about new content coming to The Desert Perpetual raid, as well as some changes we have planned for The Portal in September. It might look like that's still very far away, but nope: the Ash & Iron update is dropping on September 9. That's just a bit over two weeks! But let's stay focused on the present for now; here are the topics for today:

• Introducing the epic raid
• Updates coming to The Portal in Ash & Iron
• A Monument to Seasons Past
• Complete your Seasonal Challenges soon
• Mayhem, Mayhem, Mayhem

The Desert Perpetual Expands Soon

On July 19, The Desert Perpetual raid was released to the world. We wanted to deliver a unique experience that allowed for replayability, challenging encounters, and more customizable difficulty thanks to the new feats system. But that was not all.

Get ready for the epic version of The Desert Perpetual which will permute and expand on the original starting September 20, 10am PT.

Building on the original experience, the epic version introduces new challenges, rewards, and pursuits. Changes to the mechanics of each encounter will test the coordination of your fireteam. Complete them to earn new Legendary weapons and new set bonuses on armor drops. A new quest further unravels the mysteries of space and time, unlocks an attunement system for the raid vendor, and rewards a catalyst for the raid's Exotic weapon, Whirling Ovation. 

All this and more, but we aren't going to spoil it all here, you'll have to dive in for yourself on September 20.

Contest Mode On

For the first 48 hours after the epic raid version of The Desert Perpetual has launched, Contest Mode will be active. During this time, enemies are a lot tougher and more aggressive, and you'll be playing at a fixed Power level disadvantage, so teamplay, good strategies, and inventive approaches are key for success.

We've updated loot for Contest Mode, so now your first clear of each encounter in Contest will drop Tier 5 gear, and if you complete all of them, you can claim an exclusive emblem, the raid Exotic, and its catalyst. Also, you'd better start organizing your fireteam if you want to compete in our World First Race!

World First Race Info

CbGray and Evanf1997 are returning to Bungie studios to host the World First Race for the epic version of The Desert Perpetual. Many will try their hand, but just one will be crowned winner. Here's some entry requirements to know beforehand.

• Completion of The Edge of Fate campaign.
• Fireteam leader must have completed the regular version of The Desert Perpetual.
• A fireteam of six players.

Once the first team has completed the epic version of The Desert Perpetual in Contest Mode, the normal version will be unlocked for the players that just want to experience the new content without the extra difficulty. Totally understandable!

Not Swap Update

With the release of the Epic Raid, to keep success in encounters focused on action gameplay and create a level playing field for players across platforms, we are rolling out a new version of Not Swap for Contest mode.

This modifier will now reset your Super and ability energy, Special ammo, and Heavy ammo, as well as remove all ammo and orbs on the ground, when you change Exotic or Legendary Armor or weapon ammo types. This modifier will also take effect when 3 or more feats are activated in the standard difficulty of the epic raid. The experience has been tuned around this modifier. We'll share more information in a future TWID.

Featured Gear and Seasonal Mods

The bonuses to damage and damage resistance granted by the Artifact when using currently Featured Gear will be active this time during the Contest Mode weekend. Similarly, Seasonal Mods that can be slotted into featured Weapons will be also available during this time.

We know this will impact your buildcrafting plans, so we wanted to share this info a bit early. We can't share a list of banned items yet, though. This will be available on a date closer to the raid release, but it might look a bit different to last time given the changes to build swapping we are implementing .

Integrity of the Challenge

The launch weekend of a raid is a unique moment for Destiny 2 players. Teams all over the world will face one of our toughest challenges, so we want a clean competition. That's why our Security team will be watching closely, analyzing every encounter and raid completion, to find any player that's breaking our Terms of Service.

We won't hesitate to remove players during the race and issue bans as needed to defend the integrity of the World First Race. In other words, don't cheat and don't play with cheaters, or you will face the consequences.

Upcoming Raid Reward Changes

Since we are talking about the raid, let's share some new information about the updated rewards that will be available after the Destiny 2 Update 9.1.0 dropping along with Ash & Iron.

• You can earn extra rewards from clearing all encounters of The Desert Perpetual.
  • Defeat all three bosses before beating Koregos to earn an extra piece of gear.
• In addition to this, we are introducing two weekly challenges.
  • The first challenge gives an extra piece of loot from your first clear of an encounter each week in either version of the raid.
  • Completing this challenge will unlock an additional one that provides bonus loot from just the epic raid.
  • The loot from these challenges drops has bonus Seasonal Power and drops at an upgraded Tier based on the number of active feats

We're also making some improvements to Gear Tier in The Desert Perpetual.

• We're removing the requirement to complete the "Combined Mastery" Triumph to increase your gear drop tier.
  • Now, all Desert Perpetual gear will now drop at Tier 2 in the standard version and Tier 3 in the epic raid, no matter your current Power level.
• In addition, we have added a chance for all gear earned during a full clear to drop at up to +2 from your base Tier.
  • Add feats to increase your chances!

And last, an often-requested feature for raids is arriving with Ash & Iron.

• Players who complete the "Map and Compass" quest as well as the epic raid can then approach the Simulant Ansible to receive a new quest.
• Completing this new quest will unlock the ability to attune to any previously acquired piece of gear from The Desert Perpetual, improving its chances of dropping from any encounter.

Bungie Rewards Extension

The Desert Perpetual Bungie Rewards dates have been extended! Players now have until Dec. 5th 9:59am PT to complete The Desert Perpetual raid, regular or epic, and unlock the raid jacket and raid sling bag Bungie Rewards. These Bungie Rewards will be available for purchase until Jan. 6, 2026 9:59am PT.

Launch The Desert Perpetual and earn your Bungie Rewards today!

The Portal Updates

Hey Guardians! The Portal dev team here. We see that you are all loving [checks notes] Caldera and K1 Logistics! A lot! Maybe too much? [...] What do they mean by the mines? The Salt Mines? [...] Oh. [...] Oh no... Either way, in Ash & Iron we are adding more variety to the Portal, keeping all activities worthwhile, but also making them more time-equivalent and risk and challenge-equivalent while you progress your Power.

Incoming Improvements

The Portal is a better place when there are more options to play that are optimal, or close enough that you don't feel constrained to a handful of missions to play. We need Fireteam Ops to be a better place to play, either with your friends, with new friends via Fireteam Finder, through matchmaking, or even as a solo Guardian wishing to solo a strike! So, some Ops categories are going to get increased rewards, and some Ops categories/activities are going to get slightly reduced rewards.

The Solo Ops dominance is especially stark between 400 and 450, where the best way to attain Prime engrams is to get A grades as fast as possible. We want to make this a more interesting portion of the game, one that makes attaining Prime engrams in The Portal more rewarding.

Starting next week with Destiny 2 Update 9.0.0.8, we are increasing the time limits in Fireteam Ops direct launch matchmaking tiers, giving players significantly more time to complete challenging matchmade Grandmasters. This should help players reach A grades more consistently, resulting in better rewards.

Additionally, we have some other improvements planned for The Portal in Ash & Iron and forward:

• The time bonus system should give more value in trading off speed vs. killing everything in kill-based activities in Fireteam Ops and have a meaningful role in earning scores in Solo and Pinnacle Ops.
• Good grades in Fireteam Ops should be less risky and less challenging to get than they are now, and closer to Solo and Pinnacle Ops activities.
• Fireteam Ops should be at least as good a place to earn Power as Solo or Pinnacle Ops, and matchmade Fireteam Ops should be more viable at high Power levels.
• The way that equipped Power and Account Power work is confusing. We are fixing that.
• We would like more variety in Pinnacle Ops, including a way to earn Pinnacle Ops gear via matchmaking.
• We would like to give more regular opportunities to matchmake into marquee activities like Onslaught and The Coil.
• We want to make it easier and more obvious for everyone in the fireteam to get the best rewards, even at wide Power differentials.
• We think various banes, challenges, and boons should be well-balanced against each other.
• We also think there should be more things to do in general! As we add brand new activities to The Portal, and bring older legacy activities in, we want to be able to feature these more effectively for daily Power gain.
• It would be great if Conquests were repeatable for Portal rewards.

Ash & Iron Updates

In the Ash & Iron release, we have more substantial changes and additions. These are by no means final, so expect more in the future. Let's go over them.

Ultimate Difficulty

• Ultimate difficulty will be available when Ash & Iron launches.
• Ultimate difficulty is available starting at Power 451.
• Ultimate includes two new player stakes:
  • Pressure Cooker: Finish under the time limit or get kicked to orbit.
  • Extinction: All players are limited to a single life - there are no revives.
  • These optional stakes are intended to provide the most significant challenge to even the most experienced Guardians, and include score boosts to match.
• Ultimate Fireteam Ops matchmaking will open in Week 10, the week after Ash & Iron launches.

Platinum and Diamond Reward ranks

• Players can reach Platinum and Diamond Reward ranks, which run from 450-499 Power, and 500-550 power respectively.
• While in Platinum and Diamond, you can earn an A+ grade in PvE.
  • You need an A+ to qualify for Tier 5 Gear until Platinum III, where A grades start giving Tier 5.
  • Once you reach Diamond I, B+ qualifies you for Tier 5, and at Platinum III, even a B will get you Tier 5.

Reward Multiplier Changes

• We are changing the Reward Multiplier to use Account Highest Power rather than Equipped Power to determine the basis of the multiplier.
  • This applies to PvP in the Portal also!
  • You will still need to have new or featured armor on to get up to a 10% scoring bonus.
    • No swapping at the end of the activity however - we track this value for the entirety of the activity.
  • There are five new Portal score boosters in the Ash & Iron reward pass, but you don't lose your score boosts if you got them the Reclamation Pass!
    • You can still earn three percent for each of the new boosts, to 15 percent total score bonus.
    • If you are already at 15 percent score boost, you get ten Enhancement Cores instead of the boost.

Time Limit Adjustments

• All activities have had their time limit adjusted based on actual play data from the past few weeks, rather than pre-The Edge of Fate times.
  • Many things are coming down to a reasonable level (looking at you, "35-minute Starcrossed timer," and you too "Eight-minute Caldera timer").
  • Other things are increasing (Liminality! Inverted Spire! Onslaught!) to give you more time to get those bonus points.
• Bonus Timer will award a minimum of five percent score bonus for coming in under the timer.
  • In the future, we are looking at ways to help you visualize this in the Customize screen when looking at your projected score.

Loadout Restrictions

• When we launched The Edge of Fate, we were worried about the effects of loadout swapping in The Portal with Armor 3.0, so we significantly increased the scoring value for Locked Loadout, making it very advantageous to play with it.
  • This made it a bit too easy to earn good scores in Expert difficulty, compared to adding banes and challenges and raising the combat level of the activity.
• We are bringing Locked Loadout back down to where we originally imagined it and are opening up some design space for some new Loadout modifiers.
  • We are adding a new Loadout Player stake called "Touche'' which combines Locked Loadout and Avant Garde restrictions, as well as the scoring for both.
• We are also adding a selection of new Loadout Restrictions modifiers alongside these, starting at the Expert tier.
  • Just three examples
    • Explosive weapons, including rocket-assisted ones.
    • Medieval weapons; you can guess which.
    • Old West weapons. Yeehaw.
  • All of these also include restrictions for new and featured armor, similar to Avant Garde, but the weapons can come from anywhere and anytime (even from 1963).
  • Initially these just include appropriate weapon categories, but eventually we want to expand the value of these by taking into account specialized frames (like we do for Rocket Pistol/Pulse above), perks like Dragonfly or Full Auto Retrofit, and special-case Exotic weapons like Vex Mythoclast or Sunshot.
  • Now, if you are thinking that these restrictions are going to make it challenging to counter Champions in Master missions and above, we agree.
    • That's why they come with a really juicy scoring bonus to compensate you for your troubles.
    • Also, you won't see any of these as randomized modifiers in matchmade activities; these are just for customized activities.

Data, Experience, and Rewards

Our goal for individual activity rewards was to create a consistent value across all activities. While each activity is unique in its own way and can be preferred by different players, we created groupings based on length and difficulty to reward players effort. As we've been analyzing activity data, and seeing players become more familiar with the activities, buffs, and creating new strategies, it's clear that some activities are harder than what we expected (ex: Widow's Court) and others are easier (ex: Encore).

Colorblind friendly version here.

We can see that some activities (Solo Ops, Crucible) have a narrow distribution and there is significantly less variation in duration. Activities with lower, wider shapes (Fireteam Ops and Pinnacle Ops) have a significantly higher variation in duration, usually meaning the activity is harder and separates players by skill more effectively. We already expected some of this to happen due to the inclusion of longer activities like Onslaught and The Coil, but we want to make sure that activities that are more challenging and longer still feel meaningfully rewarding.

As a part of that, we also want to make sure that activities that are easier than anticipated don't become the only activities that you should run. Looking at Pinnacle Ops:

Colorblind friendly version here.

It's clear that there are two general groups, the short ops like Whisper and Starcrossed, and the longer ones in Encore and Kell's Fall, which lead us to the following changes:

• Encore
  • End-activity engrams reduced to two.
  • Mid-activity chests reduced to two.
• Starcrossed
  • End-activity engrams reduced to one.
  • Mid-activity chests reduced to one.
• Whisper
  • Mid-activity chest removed.

Fireteam Ops have a lot of activities so we expect a lot more variance:

Colorblind friendly version here.

We can generally see four activity groups, including both Inverted Spire and Liminality being harder than anticipated as compared to shorter Fireteam Ops, and Widow's Court consistently being the longest activity.

As such we will be making the following changes for their rewards:

• Liminality is increased to two.
• Inverted Spire is also getting increased to two.
• Onslaught: Widow's Court is increased to four.

Last, we are making some category changes when Destiny 2 Update 9.1.5 arrives. We will be moving Onslaught/Crawls to Pinnacle Ops, both to create more activities to gain Pinnacle loot from, and to unify Fireteam Ops to be 10-to 15-minute activities.

We do not want to constantly be updating activities because it would create uncertainty in the rewards for them, but we will review this data with every major release and update activity rewards where appropriate. Newly introduced activities that are significantly harder or easier will still be updated in a patch so you don't have to wait for their experiences to be brought in line.

Power and Rewards

New weapons and armor are coming to The Portal with Ash & Iron - so there will be new gear to earn in each of The Portal categories. Look for a preview in a future TWID.

As mentioned in the July 3 TWID, 400-450 will no longer be limited by Prime engrams. You will be able to level up to 500 via any Portal activity. Once you reach 500, you will again be required to get Prime engrams to level to 550.

Prime Engrams

Prime engrams have two real functions right now. They are a random, rare chance to get a Gear Tier boost over what you would normally get, and they are the primary way of earning Power once you get to 500. However, because they slide into your loot stream without any fanfare, they can sometimes get lost. Starting in Ash & Iron, these engrams will no longer automatically decrypt once they hit your inventory, instead you will need to take them to Master Rahool to find out what you got. Just like Destiny 1! Additionally, rather than just giving you a single chance at a Prime engram at the end of each Portal activity, you will now get multiple chances based on the number of completion rewards from the activity.

New Activities and Bonuses

Now, let's focus on the activities coming to The Portal with Ash & Iron on September 9.

Fireteam Ops Activities

• A brand-new activity type called [REDACTED]
  • More details in a future TWID.
• Two Battlegrounds
  • Behemoth
  • Echo: Core
• Three Strikes
  • HyperNet Current
  • The Insight Terminus
  • Fallen S.A.B.E.R.
• Three expeditions from Season of Plunder
  • Nessus
  • Cosmodrome
  • Europa
• Tomb of Elders

The daily Bonus Focus mission will be more predictable:

• Bonus Slot 1: Random choice of [REDACTED] missions.
• Bonus Slot 2: Random choice from the newly converted Battlegrounds, strikes, expeditions.
• Bonus Slot 3: Random choice from Onslaughts/Crawls.

We are increasing the score multiplier for all kill-scored activities by five percent to give players some breathing room. In addition to this, matchmade kill-scored activities are boosted by an additional five percent.

Pinnacle Ops Activities

• Three dungeon lairs
  • More info on a future TWID.
• Two Exotic missions
  • Presage
  • Avalon

Pinnacle Ops will also have two daily bonus focus activities:

• Bonus Slot 1: Random choice from the dungeon lairs
• Bonus Slot 2: Alternating between Presage and Avalon

Solo Ops Bonuses

Solo Ops is intended be a quick, reliable way to earn Power when you have time to kill at the start or end of a session or need to complete a few objectives in a low-stress, low-commitment venue. It was never intended to be the above-all best method of levelling for all player types.

But right now, the speed, ease, and consistency of earning top rewards is drowning out most of the other options, especially at 400+. To start balancing this with other Portal activities, we are using a relatively light touch.

• Reduced Power earned for a given grade in Solo Ops by one compared to Fireteam Ops, Pinnacle Ops and Crucible.

Paired with changes to Fireteam Ops scoring and other rewards tuning, we may need to make further adjustments as needed.  

Conquests Update

• We are adding four additional Grandmaster Conquests, and two Ultimate Conquests.
  • The Grandmaster Conquests round out the requirements for the Conqueror Title, and the Ultimate Conquests are needed to complete Guardian Rank 11, and also get you a sweet new seasonal Ultimate Conquest emblem
• All Conquests will be repayable.
  • You will earn normal scored Portal loot for additional completions.

Future Changes

We know The Portal needs even more tuning, and some things just take longer to build. Expect the following in the weeks after Ash & Iron's launch:

• A scoring tuning pass on all modifiers.
• Onslaught, The Coil, and Tomb of Elders will be moving from Fireteam Ops to Pinnacle Ops.
  • They will get their own bonus focus slot in Pinnacle Ops.
  • Just like in Fireteam Ops, the featured activity in this slot will get matchmaking.
  • Bonus Slot 3 in Fireteam Ops will be replaced by a random coice from t he rest of the Fireteam Ops.
• A new 'solo operative' score boost in Fireteam and Pinnacle Ops for solo players.

The launch of Renegades and Season: Lawless will feature even more improvements and tuning to the Portal, plus bunches of other exciting changes. We'll be back to talk more about those soon!

Get Rewards from Past Seasons

With the Ash & Iron Major Update, we're introducing a new way to acquire cosmetics from expired Season and Rewards Passes. Located in the Tower next to the Monument to Lost Lights, you'll be able to visit the Monument to Seasons Past AKA the Seasonal Archive, the home of "Archived Passes." These Archived Passes give you access to armor ornaments, accessories, and much more from their respective Season or Rewards Pass.

If you owned a Pass when it was first available, you will have instant access to its Archived Pass when it becomes available on the Seasonal Archive. At launch, all Season Passes released up to and including Season 26 will be available. Going forward, new Archived Passes will be added to the Seasonal Archive one Pass period after its end. For example, the Reclamation Archived Pass will be added to the Seasonal Archive with the launch of the Lawless Reward Pass in Renegades.

If you did not purchase a Pass while it was active, it can be acquired at the Seasonal Archive as an Archived Pass for the discounted cost of 600 Silver. However, if you purchased an item from one of the Eververse Flashback Sales, the corresponding Archived Pass can be unlocked at the Seasonal Archive for no additional cost.

Along with Archived Passes, the Seasonal Archive introduces "Chronologs," a new currency that can presently be spent to acquire the Archive's items. Starting with the Ash & Iron Rewards Pass, Chronologs are earned from the active Rewards Pass and are distributed across both the free and paid tracks. Additionally, any newly purchased Archived Pass will also include 500 Chronologs - enough to claim a handful of items from your new Pass.

No matter how or when you acquire a Pass, however, you won't need to spend Chronologs for items you had earned. If you reached the required rank to claim an item in the past and either forgot to claim it or didn't own the corresponding Pass while it was active, that item will be claimable immediately with Archived Pass ownership for no additional cost.

Lastly, we know it's possible that you might end up with Chronologs, but have no Archived Pass items left to spend them on, or maybe there are no remaining items that interest you. To ensure Chronologs are always valuable, the Seasonal Archive offers an Exchange for a variety of evergreen currencies and materials, including Deepsight Harmonizers, Synthweave Templates, and more. This Exchange is available to all players, even if you've never owned a Pass.

Complete your Seasonal Challenges

The current list of Seasonal Challenges will reset when Ash & Iron arrives on September 9, so this is a general call for everyone that aiming to earn some extra Bright Dust and XP: complete them soon! Destiny 2 Update 9.0.0.7 reduced the requirements for the Top Challenger Triumph from the previous 102 to the actual 42 needed. That means you can actually earn the rewards this very week if you want to. So, what are you waiting for?

Mayhem Now, Trials of Osiris Tomorrow

Did you hear that? It's not the sky falling: it's Mayhem being featured in The Portal as the weekly rotating Crucible game mode. You know how this works: invest into your Super stat, get it incredibly quick thanks to the active Mayhem modifier, and defeat your opponents with your Super ability. Just don't forget to also use your abilities, and maybe even your weapons, to score some extra defeats. 

Starting tomorrow and until reset day, Trials of Osiris will be available. Guardians who dare will be playing against each other in Cirrus Plaza for the newest set of weapons we introduced when The Edge of Fate launched last month. All of them are earnable at the moment, so don't hesitate to jump into PvP to get them. Do so with a complete fireteam for a higher chance!

Player Support Report

Known Issues List | Help Forums | Destiny 2 Team Bluesky

Known Issues List

• A small volume of players are unable to integrate Strangelet Capsules and progress the Edge of Fate campaign.
• The Class armor stat is scaling in increments instead of per point.
• The combatant difficulty in the Malfeascence quest version of The Corrupted strike is incorrect.
• The Slow and Small challenge modifier is causing persistent audio to be present in activities.
• Kepler Weekly missions are incorrectly displaying that they will always reward Kepler Gear.
• The Photogalvanic set bonus from the Lustrous set will loop its activation audio continuously while active
• Due to an issue where the Cross Counter perk on Liar's Handshake can activate from all damage sources, it has been disabled in all Crucible activities.
• The daily Portal activity modifiers sometimes rotate after the normal daily reset time.

Why Friend Shaped...

Look, Imps are a bit annoying, but maybe it's because they are misunderstood? They just look like a group of Ghosts looking for their Guardians. More or less. How about we have a friendly chat? No explosions allowed.

By TeruTeru. Via Twitter/X

You Beat My Boss!

I can't promise I'll feature a video of you beating this dmg04 guy in Trials every single time, but I do promise that I'll watch it, share it with him, and that several people from several teams at Bungie will enjoy a good laugh. Every single time.

And there you have it, another TWID is complete. We hope the news about The Portal and the incoming additions to The Desert Perpetual got you all excited. We are working hard on our next update, as well as Renegades, so the systems we implemented with The Edge of Fate keep growing and work better. Your feedback is very valuable, so don't hesitate to let us know your takes on the news we shared today.

Keep it coming!

Destiny 2 Community Team