The annual class competition of Destiny 2, Guardian Games, has returned for 2021 and players will need to get involved in all the activities to earn enough medals if they want their class to take home the win. Players have until May 11 to hand in medals, after which Season 14 will begin.
Guardian Games remains mostly the same this year except Bungie has made a few tweaks to the scoring system to ensure the competition is much tighter than last year. Plenty of new Eververse cosmetics from armor, shaders, emotes, finishers, and ships are also available for Destiny 2 players to grab.
During the Guardian Games, players will need to earn medals worth varying amounts of points and hand them in to have them count towards their class’s collective score total. The class with the highest score at the end of the three-week event will win a golden trophy that will remain next to Commander Zavala until next year, as well as glory and bragging rights.
Because Hunters are the most popular class in Destiny 2, there will still be some balancing to even the competition. The class that places third at the end of each day will receive a permanent 10% boost to their scoring.
Every weekend, there will also be a Podium Ceremony to celebrate the competition so far. Players’ Guardian Games class items will also receive a special glow depending on their class’s position when the ceremony starts. Third place class players get a bronze glow, second place gets a silver glow, and first place players get a gold glow. Any players that complete a Platinum Card objective and hand in their platinum medal will achieve All-Star status and get a platinum class item glow.
How to Score Points For a Class:
To score any points for a class to hopefully increase their Guardian Games standing, players need to hand in medals at the podium in the middle of the Tower Courtyard. There are four types of medals and each one is worth a different number of points:
- Platinum = 15 points
- Gold = 5 points
- Silver = 2 points
- Bronze = 1 point
Medals can be earned in lots of different ways, however. Players will also need to earn a special Guardian Games currency called Laurels to buy cards that award gold and platinum medals.
Getting Started:
To get involved in the 2021 Guardian Games, Destiny 2 players will need to speak to Commander Zavala in the Tower. Once he is done reminding players of the Titans’ domination last year, he will offer players three of the same Guardian Games 2021 class items. The only difference between them is the elemental energy type for slotting specific mods.
Once players have chosen their class item, they should equip it and keep it on for the rest of the event. The class item has a special perk on it that allows players to generate Laurels and earn bronze and silver medals.
Players then need to pay a visit to Eva Levante to pick up a Medal Case, which tracks the number of Laurels and each type of medal they currently have, and the ‘The Games Begin’ quest. This is a very straightforward quest and tasks players with collecting 100 Laurels, which players can easily do while playing the new class-specific Strike playlist found on the Tower map.
Once players have completed this step, they need to return to Eva and spend their Laurels on a Contender Card. Completing cards and activities will award players with various types of medals that need to be handed in to score points for a player’s current class.
Earning and Spending Laurels:
Laurels are very easy to earn, but players can only hold 500 at a time which is not very much, given how expensive some items can be. To create Laurels, players need to wear their Guardian Games class item and defeat enemies with abilities. Walking over the dropped Laurels will collect them.
Players can then spend their Laurels on Eva’s Guardian Games stock. The main item players should spend their Laurels on is Contender Cards as these are what players need to complete to earn the big Players can also buy last year’s class-themed Ghost Shells if they did not get them for 350 Laurels each.
How to Earn Medals:
The four types of medals can be earned in several different ways in this year’s Guardian Games. The main way to earn gold medals is by buying and completing Contender Cards from Eva Levante for 100 Laurels.
There are three types of Contender Cards: Vanguard Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit. Each card will give players a random objective to complete that is relevant to the card’s activity. Upon completing a Contender Card, players will be awarded a gold medal. There are also Platinum Cards for Trials of Osiris and Nightfall Strikes which cost 200 Laurels and award players with a platinum medal upon completion.
Silver and bronze medals are awarded to players for completing core activities while wearing their Guardian Games 2021 class item. Destiny 2 players will get a bronze medal for every Strike, Crucible match, or Gambit match that they complete while wearing the class item. Likewise, silver medals are earned for every Nightfall Strike, Competitive Crucible Survival match, or Trials of Osiris match completion.
One-off medals can also be earned by completing some of the Guardian Games 2021 Triumphs found under the Season of the Chosen tab of the Triumphs menu. All medals are stored in a player’s Medal Case. The case’s capacity is limited, however, and any items earned after a particular item slot is filled will be lost forever so players should be regularly spending their Laurels and handing in medals at the podium to avoid this.
The Guardian Games Strike Playlist:
New for this year’s Games is the event-specific Strike playlist. This playlist is at a very low power level, so the Strikes are quick and easy to complete. The playlist will also only match players of the same class. This makes collecting Laurels far easier as players of the same class can work together to generate far more Laurels than a player would be able to with fireteam members of different classes.
Players will also find that classes gain specific modifiers for this playlist depending on their performance the previous day. Each class will get a small beneficial modifier and up to two class-specific negative modifiers. For example, a class that places first on the previous day will have a beneficial modifier that increases kinetic weapon damage, health, shields, and recovery, and two negative modifiers.
To help their class the most, players need to make sure they always have their class item equipped to earn medals and generate Laurels whenever possible. Regularly visiting the Tower to hand in medals and spend Laurels on cards for more medals is also crucial to helping a class succeed.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light and the new Season of the Chosen are available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.