With only a week to go before Bungie launches it's final major update to Destiny, players are starting to learn more about what to expect within Age of Triumph. Previously, it was revealed that every old raid, from Vault of Glass to King's Fall, would be getting updated and brought in line alongside the most recent one, Wrath of the Machine. This meant more challenge modes, old raid gear finally being updated and brought back, and even old Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner gear as well.

This past week, it was also revealed that the Crucible in Destiny would also be receiving some changes, as available playlists will drop from 12 to just six. This means that classic playlists are being removed completely, while traditional core playlists will start rotating on a weekly basis. So standard 6v6 modes like Clash and Control may rotate to other 6v6 modes like Supremacy or Rift week to week. Shaxx will also offer two Crucible bounties each week to coincide with each mode that is offered.

While that may be disappointing for some, there's no question that the player base in Destiny has declined after three years, causing matchmaking wait times to increase as the player population is more spread out. These moves will hopefully fix many of the issues, keeping the player base back together and playing the more popular modes. Perhaps the population will get another bump next week with the new content highlighted yesterday in a brand new trailer for the upcoming content update.

Fans are now just a week away until the last major content update arrives for Destiny. Until then however, a new content reset has arrived bringing with it a whole new set of new things to do from bounties, to quests, and more. Here's a closer look at what players can expect when they log in during the week of March 21, 2017.


Weekly Nightfall


The Nightfall this week takes players back to Venus to have another go with The Shadow Thief. Specifically, this is the SIVA enhanced version of the strike, adding Taniks Perfected to the mix, after being introduced last year in the Rise of Iron expansion pack.

While the majority of the strike plays out like it always had since it was introduced in the House of Wolves DLC, This Rise of Iron version changes the formula just a bit. The Hive now have a bigger presence here as not only do shriekers and acolytes storm the arena, but players should be careful to avoid traps placed in various locations through out the level as well. Getting caught in one traps the player in place until they are broken out.

When moving up to Taniks' ketch ship, players will now be greeted by a mix of Hive and Fallen Splicers along with Taniks Perfected himself. Thought he enemies may have changed, the tactics remain the same as shooting at Taniks will cause him to retreat eventually allowing players to continue down the corridor until they reach the new Perfected Walker blocking the path. Hive, splicers, and explosive shanks continue to spawn in, making this fight a little frantic so players will need to hang back and plan to revive each other, otherwise be forced to restart.

Once the walker is down and the enemy waves cleared, players then follow Taniks Perfected into the final chamber. The fight plays out similarly where Taniks spawns into the middle of the room, but this time, once his health reaches certain points, SIVA nodes and Devil Splicers spawn into the room. Not only that, Taniks now actually teleports to the top of the room and elsewhere more often than he traditionally did in the normal version of the strike. Continue to move and take cover for a breather until the enhanced boss is no more.

For the full breakdown as to how this strike has changed since it was first introduced, check out our guide here.

Once again this week, there is no burn modifier present, so players will have to work together to overcome the odds. The active modifiers for the Nightfall this week are: Epic, Fresh Troops, Match Game, Catapult, and Exposure.

  • Epic adds heavily shielded enemies that are more aggressive and appear in greater numbers.
  • Fresh Troops adds more enemies to certain locations in the strike.
  • Match Game makes enemy shields resistant to all non-matching elemental damage.
  • Catapult greatly increases the recharge rate for player grenades.
  • Exposure greatly increases player shields, but they no longer respawn.

SIVA Crisis Heroic Strike Playlist


This week, arc burn is back as the feature modifier in the SIVA Crisis Heroic Strike playlist this week. As such, it's recommended that players switch to an arc-based subclass, either the Striker Titan, Bladedancer Hunter, or Stormcaller Warlock, while using arc infused weapons such as the Zhalo Supercell or Trespasser sidearm. In addition to Arc Burn, the other active modifiers this week are Heroic, Chaff, and Catapult.

  • Like every week, Heroic buffs enemies, making them more aggressive and in greater numbers than normal.
  • Arc Burn amplifies damage from all arc sources.
  • Chaff completely disables player radar.
  • Catapult greatly increases the recharge rate for player grenades.

Don't forget that Dawning armor sets, Lantern, Crystalline, and Snow Angel, can be obtained here in the Treasure of the Dawning loot box, other high level gear, and up to 30 Legendary marks as well. Those rare Skeleton Keys have a better chance at dropping in the SIVA Heroic Crisis playlist outside of finishing the Nightfall, which grants one automatically each week.


Crucible Playlist


Agents of chaos, this is your week once more as Mayhem Clash has returned to the featured Crucible playlist. The team deathmatch variant adds in significantly reduced cooldown timers for just about everything including super abilities, melee strikes, grenades, and heavy and special ammo drops.

For something a little more straightforward, Inferno Rumble is the other featured playlist this week. This free for all mode adds a twist by removing player radars. Kills equal points, and earning the most points wins the game.


Tower and Iron Temple Bounties


Starting off at The Iron Temple, Cryptarch Tyra Karn is once again offering up one of three Iron Lord Artifacts for players  to pick up. Before that however, they'll need to complete a simple quest, tasking players with doing things around the Plaguelands either for killing enemies or finishing off patrols. In exchange she offers a token to redeem on: Memory of Gheleon, Memory of Timur, and Memory of Radegast.

  • Memory of Gheleon gives the players an enhanced radar, even when aiming down the sights.
  • Memory of Timur has a chance to turn minor enemies of the darkness against their allies after getting hit with a melee attack.
  • Memory of Radegast enables players to reflect energy-based projectiles when guarding with a sword in addition to increased ammo capacity. With this artifact, players are able to reflect a lot of projectiles including a Warlock nova bomb, rockets, grenades, and much more.

Shiro-4 is also an important stop before heading out as players can pick up the weekly Plaguelander quest, which goes hand in hand with Tyra's task as well. TO complete this quest, players need to complete various patrol missions in and around the Plaguelands. In addition, four Iron Lord bounties can also be picked up here as well and this week including: Anti-Splicer, Pull The Plug, Archon's Forge: Servitors, and Archon's Forge: Captains.

  • Anti-Splicer tasks players with finishing 10 patrol missions.
  • Pull the Plug requires that players kill a certain percentage of Fallen Splicer major and ultra enemies. Look for the yellow health bar on this one.
  • Archon's Forge: Servitors requires players to complete four Servitor encounters inside of Archon's Forge.
  • Archon's Forge: Captains requires players to complete four Captain encounters inside of Archon's Forge.

Don't forget that finishing these bounties are the only way to have a slight chance at starting the Thorn exotic quest line. It's one of four that is needed to finish off the four exotic quests in the Rise of Iron record book.

At the Tower, Lord Shaxx is putting the spotlight on Clash for Crucible players. Here's how to finish it up this week:

  • Back to Basics requires players to finish seven Clash matches, earn 50 primary kills, get 25 assists, and 25 ability kills either with supers, melee, or grenades.

Last but certainly not least, Commander Zavala has three more strike bounties for players to wrap up in the Vanguard Hall. The usual suspects of Sunrise and Strike Elite are once again there, but the third option for players this week is Simply Perfect. Here's what is required:

  • Sunrise - Earn a Gold Tier Medal before time expires in the Nightfall Strike.
  • Simply Perfect -  Earn Flawless medals for finishing SIVA Crisis Strikes without any member of the fireteam going down.
  • Strike Elite - Earn 9 Gold Tier, Silver Tier, or Bronze Tier Medals.

For players not interested in the Nightfall, these weekly Strike and Crucible bounties are alternative ways to earn Nightfall tier rewards and loot that will help get closer to that maximum light level of 400. As always, the Icebreaker exotic quest has a small chance to be started by turning in the Sunrise bounty each week.


 Challenge of the Elders


Before it's likely updated next week, make sure to head over to the Prison of Elders at the Reef, for a chance to earn House of Wolves gear, weapons and even Sterling Treasure boxes. For Guardians working on the Elder's Sigil in the Challenge of the Elders, the modifiers for this week are: Exposure, Airborne, and a bonus for getting kills using super abilities.

  • Exposure increases player shields but won't recharge them.
  • Airborne grants double damage to enemies when players are in the air.
  • All Super Kills award bonus points.

Events


As expected, everything is fairly quiet in terms of new events, though that'll change next week once the new content in Age of Triumph arrives.

Like clockwork, the Wrath of the Machine challenge mode has rotated once again this week, featuring the one and only Vosik. As usual, players looking for more help or other tips and tricks should consult our walkthrough guide.

As always, stay safe out there Guardians!

Destiny: Rise of Iron is available now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.