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Destiny 2‘s Guardian Games are back for their second year, showing up in the game with its weekly reset on April 20. Like last year’s version, the event pits Destiny’s three character classes against each other in a battle of supremacy that will include special rewards, including last year’s Exotic machine gun, Heir Apparent, and new armor and cosmetics. But this year’s Guardian Games will function a little differently than last year’s, with additions that could make the battle less of a blowout.
Bungie released most of the details about the Guardian Games on its website, with the information on how the Games will actually work contained in a guide. The biggest change is the addition of a weekly playlist that’ll help you take on the competition by putting you together with other members of your class, adding to the team effort feel the Guardian Games are evoking. There are also more steps to earning medals to advance your team, which might make the whole competition a bit more fair.
Like last year, you’ll visit Eva Levante in the Tower and collect a special Guardian Games class item that you’ll then wear to participate in the event. Whenever you kill enemies in Destiny 2’s various activities, you’ll drop class-specific motes called Laurels. Other players can pick up those Laurels and use them to participate in the Games, and you’ll need to pick them up from other players as well. The guide doesn’t mention this, but we expect that Laurels you earn from players of the same class as you will count for more than the ones you pick up from players of a differing class.
Once you have Laurels, you’ll take them back to Eva Levante and spend them as a currency. You’ll be able to buy bounties from Eva that you can complete to earn things like experience points, Bright Dust, and medals. But the more important thing to purchase will be Contender Cards for specific activities: the Trials of Osiris, Nightfall Strikes, playlist Strikes, Gambit, and the Crucible. Completing the objectives on the Contender Card will earn you a medal–Gold for Strikes, Gambit, and the Crucible, and Platinum for Trials and Nightfalls. You’ll then take those medals back to the Guardian Games podium in the Tower and turn them in to add points for your class. The class with the most points at the end of the Guardian Games wins, with the closing ceremony taking place May 7-11. Here’s the rundown of how many points each medal will earn your class:
Bronze: 1 PointSilver: 2 PointsGold: 5 PointsPlatinum: 15 Points
That’s a little different than last year’s Guardian Games, which also had you collecting Laurels, but which distributed medals a little differently. Essentially, you purchased everything, including medals, with Laurels–so effectively, whichever class played the most won (and it turned out to be the Titans by a landslide). This year’s addition of Contender Cards seems like it’ll greatly incentivize players to take on tougher activities, which could level the playing field some. Then again, you should absolutely expect players to figure out how to game the system very early, so who knows how things will actually play out.
Bungie gave a few more details about the event in its This Week At Bungie blog post. This year’s Guardian Games will feature a new weekly Strike playlist where you team up with only other members of your class. Depending on the day’s standings for each class, the playlist will also come with special modifiers:
Gold: Health, shields, and recovery are increased. Kinetic weapons deal more damage.Silver: Melee abilities recharge faster. Elemental damage increased from Guardian sources. More Heavy ammo available.Bronze: Grenade abilities deal more damage and recharge much faster. Elemental damage increased from Guardian sources.
But there are also negative modifiers so that the winners of the Guardian Games don’t just keep winning:
“There are also negative modifiers added to the playlist to make things a little more challenging for the leaders,” Bungie writes. “The gold class gets two modifiers, and the silver class gets one. These modifiers are themed around the classes that finished lower on the podium:
Titan
Bronze: Combatant melee attacks deal more damageSilver: Combatant melee attacks deal significantly more damage
Warlock
Bronze: Incoming damage increased while airborneSilver: Incoming damage increased significantly while airborne
Hunter
Bronze: Radar is disabledSilver: Radar is disabled and combatants don’t flinch when damaged
“Silver classes only get the modifier from the bronze class below them. Gold classes get a combination of both silver and bronze.”
The Guardian Games will also include its own set of Triumphs, which will dish out medals. Like last year, you’ll be able to earn the Heir Apparent Exotic machine gun by completing a specific quest as part of the Guardian Games. If you’ve already got that machine gun, you can try for its new Exotic catalyst–there’s a chance of it dropping every time you deposit a medal into the podium for the Games in the Tower.
There is also a mess of cosmetic items associated with the Games you can earn. Last year’s class-specific Ghost shells, the Rival Titan, Rival Warlock, and Rival Hunter shells, are all back and can be purchased from Eva with Laurels. There’s the new Color of Speed sparrow, which you’ll unlock by earning points for your class and completing Triumphs. And there’s a new set of armor and other new Ghost shells, which you’ll grab from Eververse Store.
The Guardian Games kick off on April 20 and run until May 11, and they look like they’ll make for a good opportunity to wrap up your Seasonal Challenges for the Season of the Chosen, which can earn you a whole lot of Bright Dust. Check out our Seasonal Challenges guide to see what you have in store.
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