Where to begin?
There are many DLCs for Destiny 2 it can be difficult to know where to start. In this guide we’ll explain the order they were released and the content they bring to the game.
Destiny 2’s chock-full of downloadable content and it can be overwhelming for new players who want to know where to start at a glance. There’s simply so much content melding into one another, even returning players will have a nightmare knowing where to begin.
Below we’ve put together a list of all the Destiny 2 expansions in order and broken down the content they bring to the game. As new content is revealed, we’ll update this page accordingly. Keep your eyes peeled for all the latest.
Destiny 2: Expansion List
Here’s a quick look at all of the expansions in order of release:
- Curse of Osiris (December 5th, 2017)
- Warmind (May 8th, 2018)
- Forsaken (September 4th, 2018)
- Shadowkeep (October 1st, 2019)
- Beyond Light (November 10th, 2020)
- The Witch Queen (2021)
- Lightfall (Working title, 2022)
Curse of Osiris
This expansion takes players to the sandswept – and incredibly small – planet of Mercury. On top of the usual story content, level cap raise, and the like, the Curse of Osiris introduced Raid Lairs to the Leviathan Raid. A smaller offshoot of the original which smaller fireteams can take on and complete without having to invest many, many hours.
Lost Prophecy weapons also made their debut. You craft these guns by collecting and using unique materials obtained by completing specific activities, for example, Strikes and Public Events.
Perhaps it’s most notorious addition is The Infinite Forest, a randomly generated succession of stages which quickly becomes a chore. So much so, players will often just run through them without attacking enemies unless forced to.
Let’s just say, the expansion was received poorly as it simply didn’t offer enough of a compelling gameplay loop. Mercury remains tiny, the Infinite Forest is a slog, the Lost Prophecy weapons aren’t actually that great…the list goes on.
Warmind
Warmind brought with it a new planet, Hellas Basin, Mars and plenty of horrible Hive nasties.
As always, a new story campaign, Adventures, and Strikes were added. The second Raid Lair, Leviathan, Spire of Stars opened up too.
Escalation Protocol was easily the most significant addition. It’s a unique public event which challenges players to survive seven waves, each increasing in difficulty as time goes by. There’s a big final boss at the end as well as some really juicy rewards too. Plus, it’s insanely fun to grind, or at least we think so.
Forsaken
Ah Forsaken, the reason we jumped back into Destiny having lapsed a bit after Warmind. This expansion poured a tonne of great content into the game and reworked a few things for the better as well.
There’s almost too much to dig into, so here’s a quick list of the key points:
- Expansive new campaign.
- Weapon system overhaul. Players could equip any mixture of weapons, as opposed to some guns being restricted to primary or secondary.
- Random rolls returned.
- Bows made their debut.
- Nine new Super Abilities for each subclass.
- A new PVE/PVP mode Gambit launched.
- Two new destinations: The Reef and the Tangled Shore.
- A new Raid, The Last Wish.
Forsaken also kickstarted the Annual Pass which included three premium DLC packages released across 2018-2019. These were effectively mini-expansions or seasons which brought one or two replayable activities to the game, alongside new cosmetics, Exotic quests, and missions.
These three DLCs were Season of the Forge (otherwise known as Black Armory), Season of the Drifter, and the Season of Opulence.
Shadowkeep
Another pretty substantial one, Shadowkeep introduced the Moon as a new planet filled with activities to crack on with. Nightmare Hunts, a new Raid called the Garden of Salvation, plenty of new Exotic weapon quests, campaign missions, and more.
You could purchase Shadowkeep and it wouldn’t require you to own any of the previous content which was a nice touch for those looking to get into the game.
Shadowkeep also saw the beginning of cross-save support between platforms and a ‘foundational’ version of Destiny 2 as a free-to-play title under the name “New Light” which included the first two expansions.
Finally, four new Seasons were revealed: Season of the Undying, Season of Dawn, Season of the Worthy, and Season of Arrivals.
Beyond Light
Yet to release, but sure to be a big one. Beyond Light will introduce a brand new element called Stasis, a new planet to explore called Europa, a new Raid, and plenty more. Of course, we imagine even more Seasons will be announced too. It also marks the first proper expansion since Bungie’s split from Activision, so perhaps we’ll see more of what the community wants – here’s hoping.
Definitely something worth noting, though, is the DCV (Destiny Content Vault) that’s arriving with Beyond Light. Essentially, a number of planets and their activities will be chucked into the Vault for a while. This should make for a much cleaner onboarding experience for new players. Oh, and updated Destiny 1 content will also return including the Vault of Glass Raid.
Our Beyond Light page has everything we know so far about the upcoming expansion, so make sure you give it a glance to get up to speed.
The Witch Queen and Lightfall
During Bungie’s Beyond Light announcement it also teased the next couple of content drops. It made clear we aren’t getting a Destiny 3 and that it’ll continue supporting the game when next-gen drops and, well, beyond.
