With exactly a week until Destiny releases its second major DLC expansion, House of Wolves, players are likely counting down the hours with bated breath. It’s been quite a while since Destiny offered up any new content – the last major release was Crota’s End hard mode in January – but House of Wolves will put an end to that with new story missions, a new battle arena called Prison of Elders, and new gear.

House of Wolves will also introduce a new Crucible multiplayer event called Trials of Osiris. The event will run every Friday through Tuesday for Destiny players and is said to test their mettle in ways no other competitive Destiny experience can.

Having seen Trials of Osiris, we can only assume that players will need to do some preparing if they want to succeed. To that end, we’ve put together some handy tips for preparing for Trials of Osiris.

How Does Trials of Osiris Work?

Before getting into tips and tricks for how to prepare for Trials of Osiris, it’s best to lay the groundwork for Destiny’s new multiplayer event. Trials of Osiris features 3v3 team-based combat in a new mode called Elimination. What’s unique about Elimination is that it is round-based, with the first team to win 5 rounds taking the victory. Winning a round is easier said than done, though – requiring that the 3-player team take out the opposing trio without being dispatched themselves. Oh, and there are no respawns; players can only revive each other.

Packaged on top of the Elimination Mode is Trials of Osiris’ ‘Passage’ feature. Essentially, before entering the Trials of Osiris event, players must buy a Passage. This passage is like a scorecard, and it keeps track of a players’ success (or lack thereof) while in the Trials of Osiris. For every Trials win, players earn a mark on their Passage that, in turn, unlocks new items in Brother Vance’s selection. The more wins a player has, the better gear Brother Vance has for sale in The Reef. However, accumulating three losses in the Trials of Osiris voids that particular Passage and players have to start again. So, there’s a risk reward in terms of how far players want to go in Trials of Osiris in the hopes of earning better gear.

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Page 2: Bounties & Gear

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Stockpile Bounties

While most of the preparation one can make for a new Destiny experience involves a fair bit of luck (i.e. finding the right gear), all players can start stockpiling their bounties right now. Since there are only a handful of 5,000 XP bounties that appear within a given day, we’d recommend players accumulate and complete as many of those without turning them in. That way, when House of Wolves does activate and players can buy new gear, either Faction Gear or Vanguard Armor, they will be able to upgrade those pieces extremely fast.

Of course, if there are players out there who are still working on current gear, then those bounties need to go towards that. However, any Destiny players who are simply counting the days until House of Wolves releases on May 19th will be wise to invest their time in accumulating valuable bounties. Grind for the experience before getting the gear, that way all one needs do is put it on and fully level it. It’s what the first team to beat the Crota’s End raid did; have one player buy new gear, use saved bounties to level said gear, and then jump into to take down Crota at level 31. For Trials of Osiris this will be important because…

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Level Up Your Gear

Like with the Iron Banner multiplayer event, power levels in Trials of Osiris matter. That means if a player with low-level gear goes up against a max level opponent, they should have no chance of surviving. We say so because the “power levels matter” qualifier doesn’t always work as intended, but in most cases everyone is max level anyway.

However, because Trials of Osiris arrives alongside House of Wolves there will be a new max level of 34. So any players who jump into the event at the new level cap will likely have a slight advantage…for the time being.

That being said, leveling will work a little different in House of Wolves thanks to the introduction of Etheric Light. Using this new material, players will be able to take any piece of gear – even those from Vault of Glass – and bring it up to max level 34.

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Acquire the Right Gear

Thanks to Etheric Light, Bungie has made it so any piece of Destiny gear (Legendary and Exotic) is viable, but players will want to focus on armor pieces and weapons that work best in Trials of Osiris’ set-up. Since the teams are small and respawns are disabled, players should try and seek out gear that favors quicker revives or gives special buffs upon respawn. Even just a few extra seconds spent reviving a teammate can mean the difference between winning and losing a round.

It may seem obvious, but players will also want to focus on Crucible gear, or gear with abilities that favor Crucible play. The Iron Banner sets are sure to be the most readily used, but armor pieces like the Titan’s MK. 44 Stand Asides will also work in a pinch. Similarly, weapons that favor Crucible-specific traits like shotguns with good range, or primary guns that boost weapon speed or melee are highly recommended. We’d even say gear that helps build a players’ Super faster will be useful since most teams will be working in groups. Just one Nova Bomb or Titan Smash has the potential to clear out an entire team.

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Page 3: Practice & Teammates

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Find the Perfect Teammates

Like with all of Destiny’s raids, the Trials of Osiris will not support matchmaking for teammates. As a result, players will need to find friends or Destiny compatriots willing to enter the Crucible event with them. Obviously, players will want to be picky and only team up with Destiny players skilled in the Crucible, but that may not be an option. Some players simply don’t have friends who play Destiny, or they had friends who played Destiny but are no longer interested in the game.

The best solution we’ve found is to use an LFG site, like DestinyLFG.com. Using the site’s Looking For Group tool, players can post very specific requirements for teammates and hopefully find someone that works best with their play style. Want a Hunter who uses Golden Gun and has a Gjallarhorn? You can probably find a player like that on DestinyLFG.com.

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Practice Crucible

This last one may seem like a no-brainer, but practice makes perfect. Those players who already have a Crucible team should try their hand at Destiny’s 3v3 modes – either Salvage or Skirmish. Both will attempt to recreate the feel of the small team battles, albeit with respawns and, in Salvage’s case, objectives. But battling in that format should help players develop new strategies when thinking about matches in terms of Trials of Osiris. Teamwork is always encouraged in Destiny’s competitive multiplayer, but for Trials of Osiris it’s practically required. Teams are not going to be able to string together multiple wins in a row if they don’t work together.

How are you preparing for Trials of Osiris? Do you plan on investing a lot of time in the multiplayer event?

Destiny - House of Wolves releases May 19, 2015 for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.