If you’re getting started in Destiny for the first time or perhaps returning to the
series after a long hiatus we have you covered with everything you need to know from which
class to choose, the best ways to level up, how to deal additional damage to enemies and
most importantly, how to get the best loot for
your Guardian!
First things first you need to pick a class.
Titan, Hunter or Warlock.
Titans are able to protect their allies or crush their enemies in equal measure.
Traditionally you might think of them as Tanks from other games, but they are a lot more
than that.
While they are able to protect allies and often have more health than other classes
Titans are also able to hold their own when it comes to dishing out the damage.
Hunters are reminiscent of Rogues or Rangers from other games.
They generally considered the most mobile of the classes and wear cool capes!
Their main focus is to boost their own power as well as that of their allies by providing
added damage or faster reload speeds.
Warlocks are basically space wizards, they are the closest things you will find to a
mage.
They generally recover health more quickly than other classes meaning less time spent
hiding behind cover and they can also support their fellow Guardians with buffs.
Their abilities often hit wide areas with either massive impacts or chained effects
jumping between targets.
Each class also has 3 subclasses that allow you to customise further into a chosen playstyle,
they will effect your options for grenades, jump styles and super abilities as well as
various perks which apply another layer of customisation to that particular subclass.
You’ll start with of these classes and unlock the others as you play.
Also keep in mind there are 3 character slots, so you can always make one of each class,
or if you really love those hunter capes you can just make 3 of them...
Before we jump into all the different things you can do in Destiny 2 let's go over some
basics and things you might not know.
First of all there are many ways to deal additional damage to enemies.
If you’ve ever played a First Person Shooter before you'll know headshots deal more damage,
but that isn't the case for every enemy in Destiny 2.
Certain foes like the Vex for example actually have their weak spot located in
their stomach’s, this white glowing part.
Other units might have weak areas on their legs or require you to break off armor to
deal additional damage.
The general rule is if you're not seeing yellow damage numbers you're not hitting the weak
spot.
Another way to deal additional damage is to hit enemies with the correct elemental weapons
and skills.
There are 3 elements in Destiny 2, Void, Lighting and Solar.
You'll notice that your subclass will actually be tied to this so for example Sentinel Titans
are Void and Gunslinger Hunters are Solar.
Your grenades, special melee attacks and supers will deal damage based on this element.
You will also have an element attached to your Energy and Heavy Weapons.
It's important to understand elements as some enemies will have elemental shields, if you
shoot them with normal kinetic weapons your damage will be quite low, but hit them with
the matching elemental damage and it will be way more effective.
You’ll also find energy weapons deal more damage to enemies using Supers in the Crucible.
Here there is no need to match elements, any energy weapon will hit harder against Guardians
using their supers than a normal kinetic gun.
Destiny 2 has 2 types of level you need to know about, the first is normal experience
based leveling that you will be used to from most games.
You perform activities such as the main story and are rewarded with experience, collect
enough and you level up, but this will only take you so far.
Once at level 20 it will stop and now you will only gain more levels through the gear
you have equipped, known as Power Levels.
Your power level will increase as you acquire and equip better gear up, you will notice
this number slowly go up as you play as the game always rewards you with gear slightly
better than that you have.
The score is based on an average of all your equipments Attack and Defence stats.
It will continue to climb quite easily until around power level 260.
This is about as far as normal gameplay will take you.
At this point you will need to complete weekly milestones to progress further.
Milestones are basically objectives like participating in a certain amount of crucible games or completing
specific challenges.
Its advised to avoid doing these Milestones until you are around 260 if you want to level
as fast as possible.
Because the drops are based of your power level the higher you are when you complete
them the higher the level the loot will be, but how are you going to get to 260 in the
first place?
The first experience based levels can be completed however you wish, play the main story, run
around completing objectives, whatever takes your fancy, then at level 20 you can start
to focus on your power level.
Once at 20 there are a few things you can do.
Its possible to get Legendary gear from vendors.
To do this you need to build reputation with the vendor, you can do this in a number of
ways including bringing them tokens and materials which you can find scattered on Destiny's
various planets.
This is all done in patrols along with other players where you can complete things like
Public Events, randomly generated activities involving things like defending or attacking
objectives.
These will reward you with loot and tokens to exchange for reputation.
Public Events come in 2 forms, normal and heroic with the heroic version needing to
be triggered in a specific way and being much tougher but offering better loot.
Something else to keep in mind is that each week a Flashpoint event will occur on one
particular planet, this is one of the Milestones that awards high level loot.
Once there you will find things like treasure maps, events and special enemies.
Completing the Flashpoints provides very high level loot, if you're a solo player this is
something you will want to make sure you do each week as the nature of the event will
bring players together.
There are also Lost Sectors, these are hidden caves that contain various enemies and a boss
at the end, defeat the boss and you unlock a chest of rare loot.
The Lost Sectors can be hard to find but NPCs may direct you in the right location and you
can also look out for this marking indicating a cave is nearby, you’ll just have to find
it!
Lastly there are adventures, there are extensions of the main story that are relatively quick
to complete as well as World Quests which expand on the story of the specific planet
you're on.
Another aspect of Destiny 2’s PvE experience are strikes.
Strikes are 3 player missions which you can either enter solo and be matchmade with allies
or bring your friends along.
These missions take you on a journey through a instanced environment which is a little
bit more challenging than most other areas of the game.
If you successfully clear the strike you’ll be rewarded with loot, but if you want to
get even better items you’ll need to try out the Nightfall strike.
Nightfall strikes are much tougher versions of normal strikes that reset each week.
They have special modifiers like enemies having more shields or Guardians taking more damage
while in the air.
They also have a time limit so you're going to need to work as a team if you want any
hope of victory.
However if you do succeed some of the best loot in the game is up for grabs.
The next step on from Nightfall strikes are Raids.
These are specially created instances designed to be some of the toughest content in the
game.
They require a 6 player team to enter but if you don't have 5 friends to bring along
with you don't despair, Destiny 2 has a new system called Guided Games which can help
you out.
Essentially this will allow you to find a group of players to team up with, that group
will be comprised of various members of a Clan who all know each other and work together
well but are in need of an extra player.
You can join up and go into the raid with a team who can all work together.
Raids contain unique gear you can't get anywhere else as well as various other pieces of outstanding
loot.
There is one other major element of Destiny 2 and that's the Crucible, its player versus
player section of the game.
In PvP you will work with 3 other players to either control objectives or just slaughter
the opposition.
You can bring your gear from your adventures in the rest of the game into the Crucible,
but levels are balanced out meaning you won't be one shotting everyone you run into.
However things like weapon and armor perks will still apply.
Here you need to work together with your teammates, try to stick near them and shoot the same
targets for best results.
Win or lose you will be rewarded with some new loot.
There are various modes to the Crucible, Quickplay is more casual with modes like Control, Clash
and Supremacy while Competitive contains modes like Countdown that are more heavily objective
focused and will require much greater degrees of teamwork.
So hopefully you now feel more prepared to take on everything Destiny 2 has to throw
at you but if you have any tips to share with other new players leave them in the comments
below and help out your fellow Guardians!
As always this is James for Curse saying thanks for watching, and enjoy the game!