5 Useful Destiny Tips

As one of the best selling games of 2014, Bungie’s Destiny has a massive and highly active player base. Granted, some only put a few hours into the game and decided it was not for them, but they are still plenty of gamers who have turned Destiny into a regular routine.

Although there may be plenty of dedicated Destiny players out there, they may not know all the game has to offer and how to best take advantage of it. More specifically, they may not be aware of some of the useful tricks veteran players use to ensure they use their time efficiently.

To help get those players up to speed, we've listed 5 useful tips that have helped us take the daily Destiny routine and turn it into an efficient system. Yes, there’s still plenty of grinding at play in the game, but hopefully these tips will help players cut down on some of it.

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1. Power Leveling

Destiny Tips - Power Leveling

While most players will end up with several pieces of gear/weapons that they want to level, some take priority over others. Say, for example, you want to max out your Suros Regime first or that exotic helmet to reach level 32 before working on a sniper rifle or rocket launcher. For those situations it’s best to fill up all other armor and weapon slots with fully leveled gear (denoted with a yellow border around the item). That way, when you do turn in any bounties, all of the XP will go into the right weapons/gear. It’s a simple solution for focusing on the armor or weapons that will be most useful in raids or nightfall strikes, to get them maxed out the fastest.

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2. Double Up Bounties

Destiny Bounty Tracker

As most Destiny players know, every night at 1am PST the game resets with a new daily story mission, new bounties, and if it’s Tuesday, new raid and weekly strike loot. However, what some may not know is that by staying online during the reset players can complete the day’s bounties twice for double the XP. It’s important not to log out at any time during this, though, or else the bounties will not reappear.

Basically, all you need to do is stay logged into Destiny during the reset, visit the Bounty Tracker or Eris, pick up those bounties, complete them, and then turn them in. Then, when you log back in and visit the Bounty Tracker or Eris again, they will have the exact same bounties available. Like with the power leveling, this is a great way to put the most XP into an armor piece or weapon.

NOTE: If there are repeat bounties from the previous day, they will not show up when using this method.

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3. Majors Locations

Destiny Tips - Majors Locations

While we’re on the topic of bounties, let’s talk about Majors/Ultras. Majors are enemies of any race that have yellow health and Ultras are named enemies within that same race. For example, when you run a Nightfall Strike, the Majors are the stronger enemies peppered throughout the experience, and the Ultra is typically the final boss. There are also some Ultras in the story missions, but they are few and far between.

Since most days include a Kill 10 X Majors or Ultras bounty, most players should know how to easily find Majors of each race. In case you don’t, though, here’s a handy breakdown of the best spot to farm each:

  • Fallen Majors: Although there is no great spot for farming Fallen Majors, if you participate in a Warsat Public Event on the moon you will get the 10 during the event.
  • Hive Majors: Go to Earth patrol and turn to your left. Run down the stairs in the small shack and underneath the surface you will find three Hive Majors. Kill them, run back up the stairs, and then run back down. The Hive Majors should have respawned. Rinse and repeat.
  • Vex Majors: Go to Venus patrol and head to The Citadel (two areas to the left). This area typically has between 4 and 5 Vex Majors at a time, including two Minotaurs on the raised platform and one on the side.
  • Cabal Majors: Do the Exclusion Zone mission as if you are farming glimmer. Repeat the first fight once to get 10 Majors, but make sure not to kill the last Cabal to trigger the checkpoint.

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4. Save Checkpoints

Destiny Tips - Save Checkpoints

Alongside the typical Kill X Majors/Ultras bounty, most days usually include at least one bounty that asks players to seek out a particular Ultra and kill them. From the Divisive Mind to Frigoris, each of these enemies isn’t particularly tough to take out on the Heroic difficulty, but getting to them can sometimes be a pain. That’s why we recommend players save their checkpoints right after taking these guys out.

Although there are some exceptions, in most cases if you head to orbit right after killing the required foe the game will save the checkpoint right before the boss encounter. And so, when you resume the mission, you should be at or near the boss. This is a trick that will save you lots of time when running bounties.

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5. Nightfall Strike Safe Spots

Destiny Tips - Nightfall Strike Spots

Alongside running the Vault of Glass and Crota’s End, most Destiny players’ regular schedules include the Weekly Heroic and Nightfall Strikes. These are more challenging versions of the game’s main strikes, typically with some brutal modifiers. However, because the rewards are so great, most are willing to put themselves through the Strikes, even though the Nightfall modifier makes it so that if the whole fireteam dies they have to start over from the beginning.

In most cases, getting through a Nightfall Strike simply requires patience, as the team takes out one enemy at a time, but taking down the boss is a tough proposition. Depending on the ‘Burn’ modifier – which increases elemental damage of a specific type – players will oftentimes find that the final bosses are extremely difficult. But, there are some spots within each boss encounter, from Sepiks Prime to Valus Ta’aurc, that players can use to take cover while also dealing damage. Nightfall veterans know each of these spots very well, but most newcomers might not.

  • Sepiks Prime: The room on the left provides solid cover and a few windows from which to shoot. If things get too intense just head down the stairs and take a few seconds to recover.
  • Omnigul: Use the room before the boss room and  then carefully poke your head in to chip away at Omnigul and retreat as far back into the level as possible when in trouble.
  • Phogoth: Some players like to hang out in the room right before Phogoth's boss room, shooting from the doorway and retreating when the Shrieker spawns (it will despawn if you hide in the adjacent room), but if you feel brave enough head into the boss room and hide behind the rocks on the left. One player can use the stationary rock and pivot on either side, while two other players can use the cover shooting mechanics on the rock wall to hide from Phogoth's beam and to hit him.
  • Archon Priest: It's still possible to get undernearth the platform in the back of the boss area post-patch, but doing so risks death. Most players hang out in the first pathway into the area and retreat when necessary now.
Destiny Tips - Archon Priest Safe Spot
  • Nexus Mind: Do not jump down into the boss room, but pick off the enemies below using sniper rifles instead. Once the Nexus Mind spawns, pick away at his precision spot and take cover when necessary. Every minute or so a Vex Minotaur will spawn behind the team, so make sure to be on the look out for him and to take him out as quick as possible. Some teams even take shifts watching out for the Minotaur.
  • Valus Ta-aurc: You have two options for this fight. Either jump up to the chandelier hanging off the roof, which is a perfect spot to pick at Ta'aurc no matter where he moves, but is also somewhat vulnerable. The other option is to  hide behind the boxes on the far back right of the boss room. Here you can jump and pick off Valus until he moves, then take turns going out to hit him from range, and eventually he will move right in front of the boxes.

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With these 5 helpful tips, Destiny players should be able to get the most out of their daily routines. Granted, these aren’t the only tips for Destiny, but they are certainly some of the more useful ones.

What are some Destiny tips that helped improve your play? What is your favorite Destiny secret?