Winter has finally arrived in Destiny 2, as the popular Dawning event from the previous game has made its first appearance in the new Tower and also on the oft-forgotten Farm. In addition to a wintery look and feel, The Dawning brings new gameplay and content for players as well, including the fan favorite Crucible mode, Mayhem. Players can also find snow piles to throw snowballs at each other or at enemies to stun them leading to big damage.

Since Destiny is a loot based franchise, The Dawning also features new winter-themed loot to obtain. Through new Dawning engrams, players can find new ships, sparrows, ghost shells, armor, and much more each week until the event ends next month. Players can also pick up a Dawning Gift Schematic from the Bazaar, and then create unique gifts for NPC vendors each day. Giving a gift to a vendor will also result in them giving the player a gift in return, providing another chance at finding event gear.

the dawning tower destiny 2 bungie

Before heading out to throw some snowballs, the Destiny 2 world has also been refreshed for the week, which means players have a new set of milestones to wrap up over the next seven days. It's going to be a busy week for players, so here's a handy guide to all of the new content including the Nightfall, Flashpoint, and everything else in between for the week of December 19, 2017.

Weekly Nightfall Strike

This week in the Nightfall, players are going after Braccus Zahn in The Arms Dealer. It's been a while since this one has turned up once again, but it gives players a break from the re-appearance of Savuthun's Song, a strike which has quickly become an internet meme thanks to how often it appears as the weekly Nightfall.

Players will be seeing plenty of Fallen and Cabal enemies in this mission, with most of the first section seeing both sides fighting amongst each other. Considering Zero Hour is one of the modifiers this week, players are advised to pick their battles carefully as the mission timer cannot be extended. Let both sides battle each other, stopping to fight only when need be. Concentrate on planting the various charges around the ship, while continuing to chase Zahn.

destiny 2 concept art cabal

By the end of the mission, Zahn appears at the top of the ship, in a large room with plenty of places to duck behind for cover. Unfortunately, in addition to waves of Cabal reinforcements, this room also features automated turrets and a Thresher ship flying around dealing damage from the air. During this phase, players should make a point to keep Zahn’s shields down as much as possible as the fight is much easier to get through when he’s unable to stop incoming damage from players. Use the structure of the room to recover when needed and before long, the Cabal will fall.

The modifiers and challenges this week are:

  • Torrent: Player abilities recharge much faster than normal.
  • Timewarp: Zero Hour: Mission timer cannot be extended.

The player challenges for this week are:

  • Speed of Dark requires the fireteam to finish the Nightfall with at least 5 minutes remaining on the clock.
  • To earn Unbroken, the fireteam needs to complete the Nightfall with fewer than three deaths.
  • Trash the Thresher requires players to shoot down a Thresher while fighting Bracus Zahn.

Flashpoint Location and Treasure Maps

After an interesting week which saw the Flashpoint move to the DLC planet of Mercury for the first time, the Flashpoint and Cayde's treasures have finally moved back to Saturn's moon, Titan. The Flashpoint grind is a little more intense this week than in certain area, as Titan only has two public event zones available. As usual, just participating in these events goes towards finishing the milestone, though triggering heroic events will get the job done much faster. Return to Cayde once the milestone is finished to get a luminous planetary engram.

destiny 2 cayde rubble

As previously mentioned, the treasure chests are once again available to all players for this week and are back to the original number of five since the location is a little bigger. Before starting, visit Cayde at the Tower to purchase the treasure maps, and an icon will then appear on the Titan map with the general locations.

To assist in the treasure hunting process here's a little more information on each chest location for this week:

  • The first chest can be found back through the starting section of the world known as The Sinking Docks. Without a spawn point, players should fast travel to Siren's Watch and work their way back. Following the winding tunnels and hallways until an open deck under a main building is reached. There's a lot of red color and swarms of Hive patrol there, but the chest can be opened towards the back of the platform around a corner.
  • Chest number 2 sits right between Siren's Watch and The Rig. After fast traveling to Siren's Watch, head through to the first tower connecting the zones. The chest can be found on the backside of the Tower before heading outside.
  • Cayde's third stash is also in The Rig, so fast travel or continue moving into that zone from chest 2. Run through the hive infested building where a public event typically takes place, and take the first door on the right back outside. Look over the ledge on the left to see the glowing trail of chest 3.
  • The final two chests are in the Solarium, which unfortunately does not have a fast travel point. After this zone is reached and players run through the crack in the colored glass, run left through the open door and follow the path past the room with the windows into a neon blue room. The chest is above the entrance on a small ledge.
  • The last chest for this week is on the opposite end of the Solarium, so head back to the cracked color glass and this time go to the door on the far right side of the room. Head through to the Festering Halls and the chest is found hiding behind a large pipe on the left just as players go through a futuristic turnstile. There's also a Roomba style robot vacuum nearby as well.

Leviathan Raid Encounter Order/Weekly Challenge

Once again, the Leviathan Raid encounter order has changed alongside the weekly reset. While this not only helps to keep the experience fresh for veteran players, it also helps players new to the experience get used to the Raid while also giving them an opportunity to play each part even if struggling.

The active Raid Challenge for this week is in the Pools. Don't forget to consult our Royal Pool guide for tips and tricks on completing this challenge.

This week, the order is as follows:

  • Gauntlet
  • Baths (Royal Pools)
  • Pleasure Gardens
  • Emperor Calus

Heroic Strike Milestone

For players looking for more of a challenge when playing strikes, Bungie has finally added Heroic Strikes to Destiny 2. Even with a bigger minimum recommended power level of 270, players have an opportunity to score better loot at the end of the mission. Complete three of these this week to earn a powerful loot engram.

Heroic Strikes - Complete 3 heroic strikes.

Lord Shaxx Crucible Milestone

Call to Arms - Win glory by participating, getting kills, and finishing PvP matches from either the Quickplay or Competitive playlists. Finish the milestone and return to Shaxx to earn his weekly engram.

And that's all for this week, Guardians. Enjoy!

Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.