New exotics, strikes and secrets are coming in Bungie’s next expansion
Destiny 2 ’s new expansion, Warmind, launches this week. Like previous Destiny add-ons, Warmind promises a host of new activities for players and loot for them to earn. Warmind has players returning to Mars to fight against the Hive and the great Warmind, Rasputin.
To get you ready for the launch of Bungie’s latest add-on, here are 10 new things coming to Destiny 2 with the Warmind DLC.
This is always a given for Destiny, but the Warmind campaign could hold a lot of interesting secrets about the world of Destiny. The story will follow Ana Bray, an offspring of the people who made the Warminds and SIVA. Warminds are the all-knowing computers of the Destiny universe, and SIVA is a powerful, mechanical virus of nano-machines. The Warmind known as Rasputin has been a big force in Destiny since the first game, so this DLC will hopefully allow players to explore its history a bit more.
It wouldn’t be Destiny without new loot to collect. There are tons of new weapons and armor pieces for players to grab once Warmind launches, including at least two new sets of armor and weapons. The first is a snow-camo style set that presumably comes from Ana Bray and strikes. The second is the super cool Warmind-themed loot that comes from Escalation Protocol, the new game mode. It’s also pretty safe to assume that we’ll be getting new armor and weapons in Warmind ’s new raid lair.
New maps are almost always the most exciting additions to PvP. They force players to completely rethink stale competitive strategies for new environments. This is especially evident in Trials of the Nine, which asks for the most coordinated play players can muster. Warmind will add two new Mars-based crucible maps: Meltdown and Solitude. The best part about the new Warmind maps is that they’re free to everyone, even if you didn’t buy the expansion. There will simply be one hopper for all players to use.
One of the biggest new things in Warmind is the new Escalation Protocol mode. The cooperative mode is like a mix of Destiny: The Taken King ’s Court of Oryx and Destiny: Rise of Iron ’s Archon’s Forge. It’s essentially a big, wave-based public event set in the center of the world. Players of all kinds can gather here and slam into the horde of Hive as a team. There are new bosses and Escalation Protocol-exclusive rewards saved for the final wave if you can make it that far.
For returning Destiny players, the prospect of going back to Mars is an exciting one. But unlike Destiny, we won’t be exploring the planet’s red sand dunes this time around. Instead, we’re going to a region of Mars frozen over with ice. It’s the same red planet with a new aesthetic, a new land mass for players to explore and Frozen Hive to fight.
We already have a good idea of the exotics coming in Destiny 2: Warmind. There are several returning armor pieces and fan favorite weapons like the Suros Regime auto rifle. But that doesn’t mean Warmind is devoid of new exotics. The Huckleberry submachine gun looks to be an interesting new weapon from Tex Mechanica, the people who made the Last Word hand cannon from Destiny. Bungie is also updating almost all of the Destiny 2 exotics to make them more powerful.
Raiding in Destiny is one of the community’s most beloved features. After the Leviathan released alongside Destiny 2, players were given the Eater of Worlds lair — a shorter, raid-like experience — a few months later. Now, the story of the Leviathan concludes in a new raid lair, Spire of Stars, which will go live on Friday, May 11. This smaller version of a raid will see players enter a new area and fight off a few small encounters before facing a big, final boss.
Destiny 2 and its first expansion, Curse of Osiris, felt pretty light on secrets. But Bungie promised its player base that secrets will return in Warmind. Thanks to some promotional images, players are already pretty sure that the return of the Sleeper Simulant, a fusion rifle from Destiny that players earned via a quest, is being teased. Players will have to go on a quest to find it for themselves when Warmind arrives.
Warmind will come with two brand-new strikes: Strange Terrain and Will of Thousands. While we don’t know much about Will of Thousands, Strange Terrain will pit players against Prince Nokris, son of Destiny bad guy Oryx and brother to Crota. These new strikes will also become Nightfall strikes as the weeks go on, giving players more reasons to go back and grind for loot.
With secrets come collectibles. Like the Calcified Fragments of Destiny: The Taken King, Warmind will add Data for players to collect throughout the world. There appears to be 45 of these new items to hunt. We don’t know what players will actually get from hunting all of these Data points, but Destiny ’s long history of collectibles promises something worthwhile.
Destiny 2: Warmind will be released May 8 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.
