Season of the Chosen 

Destiny 2 – Battlegrounds and the Hammer of Proving Guide

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With a new season comes a new seasonal activity and this time we have Battlegrounds. Today I am going to have a look at Battlegrounds, the new hub called H.E.L.M in the Tower, The Hammer of Proving, currencies and loot in Season of the Chosen. There’s a whole bunch of new information here, so let’s get into it.

The main focus for the season is the new activity called Battlegrounds, which is a new PVE activity where 3 players engage in combat with Cabal Generals. Along with Battlegrounds, there’s a new social space called H.E.L.M which has a number of new features which includes something called the Hammer of Proving which allows us to track our progression throughout the season as well as unlock new rewards as we go.

Before we jump into things, let me know down in the comments your hot takes on Season of the Chosen and what you think so far. Give me one thing you really like, and one thing you think could be improved.

First of all, let’s have a look at Battlegrounds.

Battlegrounds

Battlegrounds is a new 3 player matchmade activity which pits you against the Cabal on a number of locations. The basic format is you face waves of Cabal, then have to destroy some generators, then you move through the environment to face a boss at the end. There’s some mild mechanics in here including killing champions throughout the event, which drop orbs, which you have to destroy generators with.

Bosses tend to have a few phases who become invincible in the middle of the battle, allowing more waves of enemies. They can also introduce a big shield, which you have to destroy by smashing the middle. It’s fairly light mechanics, but more involved than last season which is an improvement.

At the start of the season, there are two Battlegrounds – Behemoth on Nessus and Hailstone on Europa. Over the whole season, two more are going to open up in other locations – there’s the Cleansing Battleground on the EDZ and then the Oracle Battleground will open up later.

Battlegrounds are available for season pass owners, but free-to-play players will have access to a sample of Battlegrounds before being asked to buy the Season Pass for Season of the Chosen.

H.E.L.M

H.E.L.M stands for Hub for Emergency Logistics and Maneuvers. This is a new social space which can be accessed from the Tower Director menu.

Here you can access:

  • War Table seasonal vendor to upgrade the Hammer of Proving
  • Prismatic Recaster to decode Umbral Engrams
  • Vault
  • Postmaster

As well as the features, you also have charcters and NPCs here too. If you head down the stairs Crow is there, hanging out, but he doesn’t have any options at the moment so it’s likely something will pen up with him later on in the season.

H.E.L.M is a pretty cool new space in the Tower. All it needs is some kind of firing range in the basement for us to test our weapons since we lost the Tribute Hall in Beyond Light.

War Table

The War Table is in the middle of the H.E.L.M and provides us with narrative updates, there are some cool scenes with Crow, Osiris, Zavala and Lord Saladin in the opening hour or so. To increase reputation rank at the War Table we’re directed to do seasonal challenges in Season of the Chosen, these are new activities allowing us to rank up throughout the season.

We also have access to bounties, rewards including some new mods and the Hammer of Proving upgrade table.

Hammer of Proving

The Hammer of Proving is an item you’re going to receive as you complete the first few Battlegrounds and is a way to track progress through Season of the Chosen and also unlock more rewards and allow you to target specific loot.

When you receive the Hammer of Proving it sits in your quest tab, and it’s similar to the Crytolith Lure from last season. It’s disappointingly not a heavy weapon you can wield, it’s something you’ll need to access loot from the end of Battlegrounds. The important thing is to receive the Hammer of Proving, and once it’s in your quests tab you don’t really need to do anything else. Once you have access to the Hammer, you’ll be able to get Cabal Gold.

Once you have the Hammer you’ll need to collect Cabal Gold by completing activities around the Solar System. This includes Strikes, Gambit, Public Events, Dungeons, Nightmare Hunts and Blind well. Once you have the Cabal Gold to forge into Challenger Medallions which slot into the Hammer of Proving. To do this you’ll need to access the Hammer in your quests tab, convert the gold into a Challenger Medallion and then you are ready to go.

Once you have slotted a mediallion into the Hammer, you’re ready to head off onto another Battleground and get some more loot at the end. You can open up te reward chest at the end of the battleground where you literally smash open the reward chests with the Hammer.

That’s not all, as once you use the Hammer to open the loot chest, you’ll then have a Hammer Charge which you can use to focus Umbral Engrams and target your loot back at the H.E.L.M.

Seasonal Activity Summary

  • Gather Cabal Gold from activities like Strikes, Cruicble, Gambit etc
  • Forge Challenger Mediallions with Cabal Gold and The Hammer of Proving
  • Run Battlegrounds to get the loot
  • Use Hammer Charges to focus Umbral Engrams through the Prismatic Recaster
  • Complete Seasonal Challenges to upgrade the Wartable to open up more rewards

Loot

Why do all of this you may ask? Well, there’s some prety good loot available from the Battlegrounds activity itself, plus through the Prismatic Recaster and Umbral Decoder too allowing you to focus your loot to be very specific.

Here’s some of the weapons that have caught my eye early on in the season and some you should be looking out for.

EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION is a Legendary Kinetic Submachine Gun with an Aggressive Frame meaning high damage, high recoil. This can roll with a new perk called Frenzy, where being in comabt for an extended period of time increases damage, handling and reload.

FAR FUTURE is a Legendary Energy Sniper Rifle which is an Adaptive Frame meaning it has a well-rounded grip, reliable and sturdy. This one can roll with Wellspring – Kills with this weapon generate ability energy. This energy is divided between your uncharged abilities. This is a 90 rpm sniper, which is like Adored and has similar stats.

IMPERIAL NEEDLE is a Legendary Energy Combat Bow with a Lightweight Frame. Draw quickly and move faster while this weapon is equipped. It can roll with Thresh – Killing combatants with this weapon generates a small amount of Super energy.

Let me know what you think of the new loot down in the comments.

It’s still very early on in the season and it’s going to take a few days to settle into the acitvities, systems, currencies etc. I’m enjoying what I have seen so far. I really like the new social space in the H.E.L.M, there’s definitely a lot of room for expanding on that idea.

The way Bungie are delivering narrative content through there is very cool. So far I like Battlegrounds. They remind me of Escalation Protocol, big wide open spaces for battles rather than the small confined spaces of Wrathborn Hunts.

Let me know what you think of Battlegrounds, H.E.L.M and The Hammer of Proving. Do you think it’s an improvement this season, or is it more of the same?

That’s it for this guide on Battlegrounds in Season of the Chosen. For more Destiny 2 Beyond Light content check out the full guide and subscribe on YouTube to This Week In Video Games today.