Ultimate 30th Anniversary Prep Guide in Destiny 2

Bungie’s 30th Anniversary is less than a week away and on the 7th of December we’re going to be diving into a new Dungeon, wielding Gjallarhorn once again, and working towards that Thorn armor, plus collecting returning Destiny 1 weapons including Eysluna and 1000 Yard Stare. I think Bungie is going to have a few surprises up their sleeve too, so today I’m going to check out what we’re getting for the 30th Anniversary, and then look at what weapons and armor we should be getting to hit the ground running come the 30th Anniversary.

Bungie 30th Anniversary Contents

First of all, let’s have a look at the free elements of the 30th Anniversary. At the top section, there’s a headline saying “Everyone’s invited”, so it’s relatively safe to assume we all get this.

New 6-player matchmade activity (Dares of Eternity), weapons, secrets, and collectibles.

Next, let’s have a look at the paid content

New Dungeon (Grasp of Avarice) – A new Dungeon inspired by famed Cosmodrome loot caves of yore has drawn the interest of many a treasure hunter. Spelunk into the unknown, earn the new Thorn armor set, and watch your step as you hunt for lost relics. This is leaning pretty hard into the loot cave meme of years gone by.

Gjallarhorn – Bungie says “Complete a quest to unlock the classic Exotic Rocket Launcher and use it to plunder the new Dungeon. Then charge the catalyst and face the power that has made this iconic weapon stand the test of time”.

More loot – Iconic weapons, armor, ornaments, emotes, Sparrows, Ghost Shells, and more. The phrasing of iconic weapons makes me think the D1 weapons are going in here, like Eysluna (Hand Cannon) and 1000 Yard Stare (Sniper Rifle). We don’t yet know how many total weapons are coming back from Destiny 1, but there are also weapons based on other games like the Claymore from Myth, also the Shotgun from Marathon.

Ornament Sets – Unlock the Marathon-inspired ornament set as well as the 30th Anniversary streetwear-inspired ornament set.

30th Anniversary Pack owners also gain access to additional reward chests in the free Dares of Eternity activity.

That’s what is coming, next let’s have a look at some recommendations in order to prepare.

Get these exotics

Here are a few exotic weapons you will want to get your hands on, given the buffs coming.

Arbalest – Now has intrinsic anti-barrier. This is going to be great for Nightfalls and other endgame PVE content next season.

Sleeper Simulant – Increased magazine size from 3 to 4, increased PvE damage by 6%.

Suros Regime – Dual Mode Receiver mode now grants the following in addition to its current effects: +30 range, +3 zoom.

Cryosthesia 77K

Removed Variable Trigger completely. Now fires on trigger press instead of release (this will make it feel much more responsive).

Charged Shot moved to special reload. Getting a final blow with the Sidearm enables access to the special reload.

Once the Charged Shot is fired, the weapon reverts back to standard Sidearm mode.
This does NOT cost your entire magazine.

Charged Shot now causes an AOE which freezes AI and slows players (direct hits still freeze).

Whisper of the Worm

Reduced delay on activating Whispered Breathing from the catalyst from 2.1s to 1.2s.
White Nail magazine refill changed. Was 3 from inventory but now pulls 2 from inventory and 1 from thin air.

Increased damage in PvE by 10%.

D.A.R.C.I. – Increase damage in PvE by 20%.

Get these weapons

Here’s some important sandbox info, plus some good weapons to take advantage of the buffs.

Linear Fusion Rifles – Increased PvE damage by 10%.

Sleeper Simulant, Threaded Needle, Arbelast.

Caster Swords – Reduced Heavy attack ammo cost from 8 to 5.

Sola’s Scar, Temptations Hook

Bows – Increased damage vs rank-and-file enemies by ~10%.

Biting Winds, Le Monarque, Ticcu’s and Trinity Ghoul

Get these perks

Adrenaline Junkie – Eliminations with the weapon can add single damage stacks or extend existing ones. Grenade eliminations boost the stacks immediately to x5. Lowered the duration to compensate for weapon activation.

Pulse Monitor – The changed threshold for activation from 90% health to 30% shield (i.e., this now requires much less damage to trigger).

Get a decent stasis build

Stasis is going to be a little more potent in PVE, especially when it comes to Stasis crystals.

Stasis crystals do a lot. On top of freezing players when they’re created, they also block line-of-sight, block movement, and act as explosive barrels. It’s all a bit too much for PvP. With this release, Stasis crystals will now slow players instead of freezing them, and they’ll do much less damage to players when they detonate.

As far as PvE is concerned, Stasis crystals will still freeze combatants, and we’ve increased Stasis crystal detonation damage vs PvE combatants. Looking at the numbers, it was almost always better to shoot directly at a combatant instead of at a crystal near a combatant. This change should help crystals better live out their explosive-barrel dreams.

• While forming, Stasis crystals now slow nearby players instead of freezing them.
• They still freeze PvE combatants while forming.
• Increased slow/freeze radius while forming from 1.75m to 2.6m.
• Reduced crystal detonation damage vs players by ~55%.
• Increased crystal detonation damage vs. PvE combatants by ~60%.
• Increased crystal detonation radius from 6m to 8m.

PVP changes

Huge changes are coming to PVP, it’s worth being aware of the changes, because if you rely on abilities in PVP, things are about to be retuned towards gunplay. Here’s some of the changes.

Variable Ability Cooldown

Up until now, cooldowns across individual ability types (grenade, melee, class, Super) have generally been identical between all abilities of the same type. For example, all the grenades in today’s Destiny 2 share the same cooldown time (with the exception of Stasis grenades). This shared cooldown means that all grenades need to have roughly the same power output because they have the same time “cost.” For the 30th Anniversary, we’ve made a change that allows us to tune the cooldown of each ability separately. This gives us a new knob to turn when balancing abilities that are too powerful or not powerful enough. Now that we have this new system in place, we’ve done a cooldown-tuning pass of all the subclass abilities in the game, tuning each ability’s cooldown time against its power output. We’ve also tuned ability power outputs and assigned cooldown times accordingly.

Super Regeneration Changes

Since Destiny’s launch in 2014, Super energy gain has been almost entirely passive. Your Intellect stat dictates how quickly your Super regenerates, with a few other elements like Orbs of Power, armor and weapon perks, and defeating targets as active sources. This system worked well for a long time but has issues that have grown more obvious as the game has evolved and overall player skill—especially skill in evaluating how to play around their character build—has increased.

On top of your passive regeneration, you will also gain Super energy by dealing and taking damage to or from opponents.

Let me know how you are preparing for the 30th anniversary.

That’s it for this Ultimate 30th Anniversary Prep Guide in Destiny 2. For more This Week In Video Games content like this check out This Week In Video Games on YouTube and subscribe today.