Destiny 2 Expansions Guide

Resources

The Final Shape

Last Updated:July 26, 2024|Change Log

Welcome to the Destiny 2 Expansions guide. Recently risen, Guardian? You might be wondering which Expansions to buy, or what do you even get out of them once purchased. The game doesn't do a great job of telling you this stuff, so let this Expansions guide lend you a hand. Even if you're a veteran Guardian, the information here helps you play around Crossplay restrictions, or get a friend into the game.

This guide explains how item access works, what all players have for free, and what do you get for purchasing each and every Expansion.

All of this is to help you figure out what Destiny 2 Expansions, Packs, or Dungeon Keys you should buy, a question only you can answer. Additionally;

Expansions - and the 30th Anniversary Pack - go on sale decently often, especially before a major release.
Some older Expansions are included in Legacy Collection bundles, allowing you to get a large batch of content for a reduced price.
- These also go on Sale sometimes.
Silver, the currency used to purchase Episodes and Dungeon Keys, has only gone on sale once within the entire game's lifespan.
- Episodes and Dungeon Keys are included in Expansion Deluxe Editions.
The Epic Games Store and Playstation Plus have given out (platform locked) Expansions in the past.
Destiny 2 occasionally has Expansion Trial Periods, where the entirety of an Expansion's content is made available for all players for a limited time.
- Loot earned within this time is kept and can be used freely, but players lose access to paid-subclasses associated with that Expansion afterwards.

Item Access Mechanics

To truly understand what you get from purchasing a Destiny 2 Expansion, you need to know how Loot is accessed.

For Veteran players, this information may be important to you if you use or plan to use Destiny 2's Cross-Save functionality. Purchasing an Expansion only gives you access to that Expansion for one platform, while Seasons and Dungeon Passes are account bound and available to you on all platforms.

All Weapons and Armor are always usable, if you've already obtained them. Owning Expansions gives you access to new content and new ways to acquire loot.
- Tarnation is normally sourced from content within The Witch Queen Expansion, but if you obtained a copy of it through the limited time Gift of the Thunder Gods, you can use that specific copy without restrictions.
The ability to Craft or Reshape certain Weapons is locked behind Expansion ownership.
For Exotic Weapons that do not need to be Shaped at the Enclave, previously obtaining a copy of that Weapon allows you to pull more copies of it out of Collections.
Obtaining an Exotic Armor piece permanently adds that Armor to your pool of possible Exotic Armor drops.
- Free-to-access events like Riven's Wishes and the Gift of the Thunder Gods allows players to obtain Exotic Armor that would normally be locked behind Expansion ownership.

Strand and Prismatic cannot be equipped without owning Lightfall and The Final Shape respectively.
- Equipping Hunter's Arc Ascension Aspect or Storm's Edge Super requires ownership of The Final Shape.
- Equipping Titan's Void Unbreakable Aspect or Twilight Arsenal Super requires ownership of The Final Shape
- Equipping Warlock's Solar Hellion Aspect or Song of Flame Super requires ownership of The Final Shape.

Free to Play content

3 Raids
1 Dungeon
8 - 9 as of The Final Shape - worlds to explore
2 Exotic Missions
PvP game modes
A PvEvP game mode
PvE game modes like Strikes, Onslaught, and Dares of Eternity.
2 Campaigns!

Explore the Worlds

Every World in Destiny 2 is free to explore. Every Patrol, Public Event, and Lost Sector are always available to you. There's also...

Vex Incursions on Neomuna, complete them to easily unlock many new Exotics.
The Blind Well in the Dreaming City, which allows anyone to freely obtain a suite of Armor and Weapons from the Dreaming City.
The Altars of Sorrow on the Moon, complete them to earn Blasphemer, Apostate, and Heretic.

Xur. He appears in the Tower’s Bazaar every Friday and stays until the following weekly reset on Tuesday. He offers a random selection of freely obtainable Legendary Weapons and Armor, as well as currencies and various bizarre curios, all in exchange for Strange Coins, which are earned from Playlist activities.
- He also offers Exotic Armor, Weapons, and Catalysts, but some of those require expansions.

Every single World Drop Legendary Weapon or Piece of Armor.

Exotic Gear

Sweet Business
Sturm
Vigilance Wing
Rat King
MIDA Multi-Tool
Crimson
The Jade Rabbit
The Huckleberry
Monte Carlo (Quest)
Forerunner (Quest)
Outbreak Perfected (Quest)
Touch of Malice (Raid)
Necrochasm (Raid)

Graviton Lance, Destiny 2's classic explosive Pulse Rifle.

Merciless
Fighting Lion
Sunshot
Graviton Lance
Skyburner's Oath
Borealis
Riskrunner
Hard Light
Prometheus Lens
Telesto
Polaris Lance
Vex Mythoclast (Raid)

The Prospector
The Wardcliff Coil
Tractor Cannon
Legend of Acrius (Spoils of Conquest)
D.A.R.C.I.
The Colony
Worldline Zero
Sleeper Simulant
Whisper of the Worm (Quest)
Thunderlord (Gift of the Thundergods)
Heir Apparent (Annual Guardian Games)

Hunter Exotic Armor

Warlock Exotic Armor

Titan Exotic Armor

Beyond Light Campaign

Darkness has just consumed Mercury, Mars, Titan, and Io. Now, a Pyramid Ship on Europa offers unimaginable power and control with Stasis. Eramis and her House Salvation got there first, and now they threaten to destroy Humanity. Work with old friend and traitor Variks, the mysterious Exo Stranger, and the Darkness? To stop Eramis.

Completing this free Campaign unlocks the Stasis Subclass for that character, and No Time to Explain with Beyond Light Pack ownership.
Owning the Beyond Light Pack is required to access other activities, quests, and loot related to Beyond Light.

Shadowkeep Campaign

The Moon's haunted, and the Hive made a really large red tower, that's bad! Your investigations lead you to an unseen relic of Humanity's Collapse hundreds of years ago, and Eris Morn. Work together with her to end the spread of Nightmarish apparitions and confront whatever's creating them.

Completing this free Campaign while owning the Shadowkeep Pack unlocks a Class-dependent piece of Exotic Armor that cannot be unlocked in any other way.
Owning the Shadowkeep Pack is required to access other activities, quests, and loot related to Shadowkeep.

Vanguard Operations*

Vanguard Operations include the Strike Playlist, Nightfalls, Grandmaster Nightfalls, and content from Into The Light like Onslaught.

Complete Strikes to earn reputation with Zavala and earn Vanguard Engrams, allowing anyone to access tons of different Legendary Weapons & Armor.

While the Strike Playlist is free and randomly selects any Strike in the game, Nightfalls and Grandmaster Nightfalls rotate Strikes weekly. Expansion ownership is required to enter certain Nightfall Strikes.

Strikes & Expansions Required to Access their Nightfall

Onslaught

The Witness' forces remaining in the Sol System make one final push against Humanity before the events of The Final Shape unfold.

In Onslaught, work with Lord Shaxx to protect the ADU (Advanced Defense Unit) from up to 50 waves of enemy forces. Fortify the ADU with friendly Cabal Turrets, explosive Tripwires, and Decoy projections.

Shaxx authorizes access to the Brave arsenal. Earn a suite of extremely powerful and canonically illegal Weapons from the past.

Onslaught Loot

The Whisper

Eris Morn advises you to reflect on the past. Earn a Craftable Whisper of the Worm in this reprised Exotic Mission which hasn't lost even a little bit of charm. Xol, Will of the Thousands awaits. Will you Drown in the Deep?

Zero Hour

Ada-1 made a simulation of the foiled heist within the Old Tower’s Ruins from years past. Earn a Craftable Outbreak Perfected and prevent Eramis from obtaining SIVA in this reprised Exotic Mission. Trevor is still there and also significantly faster now, I'm so sorry.

Compete In (Most) of the Crucible

The Crucible encompasses all PvP activities in Destiny 2. There's a variety of modes in a variety of playlists. Many players play more PvP than anything else. The Crucible's very active population is regularly catered to with PvP oriented balance changes, new Weapons and Armor, new Modes, and even new maps!

Base Crucible

Standard Crucible playlists are maintained by Shaxx. Play games to win Crucible Engrams and earn reputation, allowing anyone to obtain tons of different Legendary Weapons & Armor.

Competitive

Maintained by Shaxx, the Competitive playlist is a great place to test your Skill and get better at the game. Unlock it by completing a quest Shaxx gives you when your Crucible Reputation reaches Rank 4. Win matches to reach new divisions, earning Ascendant Alloys, the ONLY Artifice Armor you can earn as a free to play, and Competitive exclusive Weapons like Rose and Mercurial Overreach.

Trials of Osiris

Access to Trials of Osiris requires ownership of the currently active Expansion. You also need to complete a quest given by Saint-14 to enter. As of June 4th, that is The Final Shape. This massively mitigates the impact cheaters have on this Playlist.

For information regarding Trials of Osiris Loot, check out our dedicated guide to it!

Iron Banner

Iron Banner is a regularly occurring limited time PvP event, hosted by Valus Forge - AKA Lord Saladin. Play games in the Iron Banner playlist to earn Iron Banner reputation and Engrams used to purchase a wide variety of Legendary Weapons & Armor.

Some People Actually Like Gambit!

Gambit is a PvEvP mode with teams of 4 competing to slay combatants, collect motes, and put them in the Bank. Banking motes opens up your Portal, allowing someone from your side to invade theirs. Kill opposing guardians to slow them down.

Banking 100 Motes summons the Primeval, burn it to the ground after killing nearby Primeval Envoys.

Gambit is free to access, but it's quite unpopular and not well maintained. That being said, Gambit has tons of Legendary Weapons & Armor exclusive to it, and it gets more with every release.

Dares of Eternity

The Paraversal entity of infinite power, Star Horse, has kidnapped Xur, you, and all of your friends. It's a really big fan of old gameshows. Appease it by putting on a good show, Guardian.

Dares of Eternity Loot

Raid: Vault of Glass

The franchise's very first Raid, reprised from Destiny 1. Open the Vault, avoid deletion at the hands of Vex Oracles, evade Gorgons, and slay Atheon in his Glass Throne.

Vault of Glass Loot

Raid: King's Fall

Reprised from Destiny 1 Year 2, board the Dreadnought to challenge the Hive God Oryx - The Taken King - in his Throne World. He'll grant you an audience and the fight of a lifetime if you can prove your worth.

King's Fall Loot

Raid: Crota's End

Reprised from Destiny 1's first Expansion, dive into the Moon's Hellmouth and survive crushing Darkness and songs of death to slay the Hive God Crota, Son of Oryx, archnemesis of Eris Morn.

Crota's End Loot

Dungeon: Prophecy

Drifter, Eris Morn, and the Guardians have a question for the Nine. What is the nature of the Darkness? The ever-changing trials ahead of you are the Nine's incomprehensible answer.

Prophecy Loot

Episodes

Episodes are an evolution of Destiny 2’s previous Season model, releasing alongside The Final Shape expansion. They are self-contained stories that explore different aspects of the universe. Unlike Seasons, episodes can be enjoyed without a firm understanding of the greater narrative.

There are 3 Episodes releasing within the year of The Final Shape. Each is split into a prologue and 3 Acts that release within an Episode’s 4 month span. As the narrative evolves over time, players gain access to new activities and rewards.
- Episodes are purchased for 1500 Silver ($15 USD). The base edition of The Final Shape includes Episode 1, Echoes. The Deluxe Edition of The Final Shape includes all 3 Episodes.

Every Episode features a Season Pass, a Battlepass with a paid and free track. The Season Pass has 200 Levels, though the latter half is timegated behind Acts 2 and 3 of an Episode releasing. All Season Passes include an Exotic Weapon and its Catalyst.
- Owning a Episode grants access to the paid track, which includes Episode-limited small progression or loot buffs, immediate access to the Season Pass Exotic Weapon, and a variety of exclusive cosmetics and handy resources.
- Reaching level 35 in the free track unlocks the Season Pass Exotic Weapon. If not obtained this way, players need ownership of that Episode's associated Expansion to unlock past Season Pass Exotic Weapons from the Monument to Lost Lights in the Tower.

Episodes have a story that evolves over time, taking place in multiple Episodes-exclusive activities.
- Earn a suite of Legendary Weapons and Armor from these activities.
Episodes include access to an Exotic Mission, allowing players to obtain a Craftable Exotic Weapon and Seasonal Legendary Gear.

Warning: We don’t know what happens to the content within existing Episodes when a new Destiny 2 Expansion releases. Previously, most content from the Seasons model would be Vaulted - or removed from the game - with the release of the newest Expansion.

Forsaken Pack

Year 2 of Destiny 2 launched Forsaken. This Expansion's Campaign was Vaulted, but a few activities exclusive to it remain. This Pack unlocks more Exotic Weapons and Armor than all other Expansions. Purchasing it also grants you 3 Forsaken Ciphers, allowing you to instantly obtain any 3 Exotic Weapons from Year 2 (some exceptions apply).

Raid: Last Wish

Do you Wish to kill an Ahamkara, O Guardian mine? Riven of a Thousand Voices - a powerful Wish Dragon - has been Taken, perhaps with her death, the Dreaming City may finally see peace...

Last Wish Loot

Dungeon: Shattered Throne

Riven's death brought a curse upon the Dreaming City. Slay Dul Incaru to prevent the destruction of the Dreaming City and reset the 3-week time-loop once more...

Shattered Throne Loot