Last-Minute Witch Queen Preparation Guide in Destiny 2
Witch Queen is only a few days away, so we’re getting down to crunch time, with only a few hours left until the next expansion is released. Today I’m going to run through some last-minute preparation, so you are 100% ready headed into the next Destiny 2 expansion.
Witch Queen releases on February 22nd at reset time, although be aware there is a significant amount of downtime before that, so there are only a few hours to go to get some last-minute prep work done to be ready for Witch Queen. Without further delay let’s dive into that checklist right now.
Get the seasonal weapons
Beyond Light’s seasonal content is going away in Witch Queen, so now is your last chance to get a few weapons before they disappear. There are a few weapons worth getting, so let’s have a look.
Deafening Whisper
Deafening Whisper is a Legendary Energy Grenade Launcher. This is a Wave Frame, a One-shot handheld Grenade Launcher. Projectiles release a wave of energy when they contact the ground. This is a void grenade launcher and takes special ammo. For PVE Lead from Gold was picking up heavy ammo also grants ammo and Rampage is a good pick. For PVP Killing Wind and Wellspring would be a nice pick. The most popular roll for this at the moment is Ambitious Assassin and Wellspring. To get this weapon you have to run Wrathborn Hunts from Season of the Hunt. This can be a drop from the end, or ranking up at The Crow.
Threaded Needle
Threaded Needle is a Legendary Power Linear Fusion Rifle which is a Precision Frame meaning it fires a long-range precision energy bolt. This weapon’s recoil pattern is more predictably vertical. For PVE Clown Cartridge and Dragonfly would be a decent roll, plus this one is the most popular roll out there in the community at the moment. Clown Cartridge randomly overfills the ammo on reloading and Dragonfly creates elemental damage explosions on kills. For PVP Killing Wind and Vorpal Weapon would be good, giving you that boost to mobility, range, and handling for a short duration through Killing Wind. Vorpal Weapon is great for taking out Guardians in their supers. Rangefinder is another good perk for PVP. To get Threaded Needle it’s a random drop from the end of Battlegrounds. You can also focus engrams at the prismatic recaster to get it.
Extraordinary Rendition
Extraordinary Rendition is a Legendary Kinetic Submachine Gun with an Aggressive Frame meaning it has High damage, high recoil. Popular rolls out there include Overflow where picking up special or Heavy ammo reloads capacity and Frenzy (which is a new perk) where being in combat for an extended period of time increases damage, handling, and reload for the weapon until you are out of combat. Outlaw and Rampage is another possible combination, which is pretty good for PVE. Surplus increases handling, reload speed, and stability for each fully charged ability, and Multikill Clip is another good roll to look out for related to PVP. Finally, Zen Moment and Demolitionist would be good for PVE. You can get this one from Battlegrounds as a random drop.
Chroma Rush
Chroma Rush is a Legendary Kinetic Auto Rifle with a Rapid-Fire Frame meaning deeper ammo reserves. Slightly faster reload when the magazine is empty. For PVE Feeding Frenzy and Rampage would be good. Another good one for PVE would be Heating Up and Kill Clip. For PVP Moving Target and Tap The Trigger would be good, or Dynamic Sway Reduction and Kill Clip. This is a Splicer weapon, so it’s found through the Override activity found in the H.E.L.M. This is a great all-purpose Auto Rifle, and definitely one I go back to all the time.
Dead Man’s Tale
Dead Man’s Tale comes from the Presage Mission, which is going away with the Tangled Shore. This is somewhat of a tragedy, given it’s one of the best pieces of content in the game hands down. Plus you get DMT as a reward. DMT is going to be added to Xur’s inventory next season, so if you want to avoid the cost of buying from Xur, as it’s going to be very expensive, then I would do one more run to get that Vorpal Weapon DMT if you can.
Turn in weapon parts
Weapon parts are going away at the end of the season, so if you are like me then you probably have thousands of them. You can hand these into Banshee-44 and you’ll get world loot pool weapons, which are being refreshed next season. However, you can also get important upgrade materials, or you can dismantle the loot you get for legendary shards, which could be important next season given we have weapon crafting coming, and it’s likely going help us burn through our existing materials crafting all that new Witch Queen Loot. Go to Banshee-44 in the Tower, see how many materials you have, and get that loot.
Clean out your vault
Your vault is likely full of either junk, rolls you don’t need, or sunset weapons. You don’t want to be worrying about cleaning out your vault as we head into the Witch Queen, you want to be focused on that new campaign, collecting that new loot, or the new activity for Season of the Risen. If you have more space in your vault, then it’s more space for that new Witch Queen loot. Bungie revealed there is going to be near 50 new weapons coming with the expansion, so make an effort to clear your vault before the Witch Queen begins.
Grab your playlist vendor rewards
Zavala, Shaxx, and Drifter’s engrams and rank-up rewards are going to be reset at the end of the season. I don’t really collect these as I go along for some reason, but there’s going to either be some useful loot in her for you, or it’s going to be good fuel for materials. Visit the vendors, check out what they have for you, and save it or shard it depending on the roll.
Save up some bounties
The more bounties you have, the more XP you’re going to be able to get early in the Witch Queen, which means season pass rewards early. Bounties are available from loads of vendors on the planets and the moons, so try and hoard as many as possible before witch queen, then open them up with the guiding light or blinding light ghost mod on for more XP gains when witch queen comes out.
Get some materials
The nightfall this week is Lake of Shadows, which means easy materials. The harder the nightfall you complete the more materials you’ll get. You want things like enhancement prisms and ascendant shards. Nightfalls and Grandmaster Nightfalls are good for ascendant shards, and also Iron Banner is a good source of Enhancement Prisms due to the new armor.
Sort out your gear
- Before the new season starts take off the Season of the Lost mods. This is just in case we have another issue with mods like last season, so it’s best to take off all the seasonal mods.
- It’s probably a good idea to get your best weapons out of the vault and onto your characters. Useful tools like DIM tend to be down when the expansion comes out, so swapping things around between your guardians is going to be tricky.
- Finally, put on your best gear, as you know we’re going to have a cut scene and there’s nothing worse than being under dressed for the occasion.
Downtime and preload
The scheduled timeline for The Witch Queen launch will see servers go offline from 18:45 PM PT / 21:45 PM ET on February 21, and maintenance is expected to last until 9:00 AM PT / 12:00 PM ET on February 22.
The full timeline will look like this:
February 21, 18:45 PM PT / 21:45 PM ET: Destiny 2 is brought offline.
February 21, 19:00 PM PT / 22:00 PM ET: Pre-load for Update 4.0.0.1 will be available on all platforms.
February 22, 9:00 AM PT / 12:00 PM ET: Destiny 2 will be brought back online. Update 4.0.0.1 will be playable on all platforms and regions.
February 22, 10:00 AM PT / 13:00 PM ET: Destiny 2 maintenance is scheduled to complete.
Destiny 2 players on PS4 will be required to download all associated Destiny 2 required content before playing The Witch Queen, which can be done by launching Destiny 2 after the 4.0.0.1 patch is released. This will essentially reinstall the entire game and its related content, but Bungie noted that the game will have a smaller installation size once the download is complete, which in turn will help improve the download and installation of future PS4 patches.
Let me know in the comments what you are doing for last-minute prep.
That’s it for this guide for Last-Minute Witch Queen Preparation in Destiny 2. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out This Week In Video Games on YouTube and subscribe today.