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One of the coolest things included with Destiny 2‘s latest expansion, The Witch Queen, is a story campaign that includes adjustable difficulty levels. The campaign itself is a good time, with a story that digs deep into some of Destiny 2’s best lore, and a ton of really memorable moments and encounters. Legendary really feels like the way the campaign is meant to be played, though, ratcheting up the difficulty just enough to make those fights against Lightbearer Hive warriors feel like serious battles for survival.
If you’re taking on the Legendary campaign, though, you should know a few things before you begin. You’re not going to breeze through these missions, whether playing alone or with a team–the difficulty scales dynamically based on the size of your fireteam, so adding more players to your squad won’t necessarily give you an advantage. We’ve put together a few tips that might help you survive and a few tidbits of information that might help you overcome the might of Savathun and her Lucent Brood.
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Now Playing: Opinion: The Witch Queen Is Destiny 2's Best Campaign Yet
Stay at range and use cover
You’re likely to find lots of different weapons in the campaign, but it’s a good idea to mostly stick with the ones that allow you to find cover and deal with enemies from a solid distance. The campaign has a lot of big arenas and often throws many enemies at you at once, so the ability to find cover and clear the field a bit with a pulse or scout rifle can be extremely handy. Enemies are tough to stagger in the Legendary campaign, so you usually need to commit to taking them down in order to stop them from shooting back at you. Something with some range that’ll allow you to duck out of harm’s way can be very helpful, but in any event, plan for your safety and avoid overextending yourself–the campaign will punish you for it.
If you’ve got Arbalest, try it
Lots of Exotics are extremely useful in the Legendary campaign, especially since primary Exotics were buffed significantly in PvE activities–which means they rip through minor enemies much more than in the past. But while there are many good options, personally, I found Arbalest to be indispensable. The Kinetic linear fusion rifle rips through enemy shields, usually popping them in one blast. It also does serious precision damage, making it great for taking out any tough, shielded enemies as quickly as possible. Arbalest is also great against Hive Guardians; even the toughest go down after a few headshots, provided you can land them. It’s a great secondary weapon for those situations when you have priority targets that need quick eliminations.
Suppression grenades are your friend
Void 3.0 blows the doors off the Void subclasses, allowing you to mix elements from the Titan, Warlock, and Hunter classes that previously were off-limits. One thing you should absolutely take advantage of in the Legendary campaign is Suppression grenades, which all classes can now access. These grenades are excellent against Hive Lightbearers; they can instantly shut down an enemy’s abilities, including their Super attacks. They make Hive Guardians a whole lot less deadly, and they can get you out of a jam against tougher enemies by slowing and blinding them briefly. Just make sure you check in with Ikora in the Tower to purchase grenades for your class.
Do big damage fast with rocket launchers
The Legendary campaign is filled with tough enemies that need to be eliminated as quickly as possible, and for those jobs, rocket launchers are key. Whether you’re fighting Hive Guardians, other bosses, or just big numbers of enemies, you’re going to want the means to do massive damage as quickly as you can. Rocket launchers are great for this point, especially if you have something like Gjallarhorn. They can help you clear out problematic targets before they can hassle you, like Ogres, or help you slam through Lightbearers fast so they don’t take up too much of your attention. Keep in mind how handy it can be to knock out tough enemies in one or two shots when choosing your weapons.
Shield yourself with the Glaive
The story campaign starts with you unlocking the new weapon type found in The Witch Queen, the Glaive. This is a powerful and versatile weapon that can be used up close with melee attacks and at mid-range with energy blasts. Don’t discount its slightly less-clear feature, though: The Glaive can generate a shield in front of you to block incoming fire. That can make it great for getting around and creating mobile cover in tough fights, allowing you to close ground on enemies or find your way to a safer position. The Glaive can be very powerful, so make sure you’re making the most of it. You can activate the shield after powering up the Glaive by landing some shots with it, but watch the meter under your crosshair to keep track of how long the shield will last.
Don’t be afraid to die
Bungie has dramatically changed the design of its story campaigns with The Witch Queen. This one is filled with new “major encounters,” which are big fights that clearly mark your progress through a mission. These are also “Darkness zones” where players can’t automatically respawn if they’re killed. In these places, you want to try to stay alive–but you also shouldn’t be afraid to die.
Because of the way the campaign has been revamped, every major encounter also comes with a checkpoint. In fact, you can head to orbit at any point in the campaign and return to the last major encounter you reached. If you die during one of these fights, you’ll need to retry the encounter–but only the encounter. The checkpoint system is an excellent new approach that keeps deaths from being especially punishing, so don’t be afraid to use up a few lives learning the ropes of a given fight, exploring the corners of the space so you know what you’re dealing with, or trying different strategies.
Feel free to infuse your gear
The Legendary campaign comes with all the leveling rewards you’d expect from a normal Destiny 2 campaign, plus a second set of rewards. After every major encounter, you receive two treasure chests worth of gear that can help you level up. The Legendary chest also drops a whole bunch of Enhancement Cores after every encounter, giving you an income of infusion materials that allow you to enhance your existing gear, rather than switch to the new stuff that just dropped. There are a lot of Enhancement Cores to be grabbed throughout the course of the Legendary campaign, so don’t be afraid to infuse high-level drops into your best stuff. Enhancing your good gear can be a great way to give yourself the advantage during the campaign, and Bungie clearly intended for players to do so along the way.
Always drop a Rally Banner–they’re free
At the start of each major encounter, you’ll find a white circle on the ground that will prompt you to drop a Rally Banner. These special flags refill all your ammo, your ability energy, and your Super energy, giving you the best possible start to a fight. Veterans will recognize these from higher-level activities such as Nightfalls, dungeons, and raids. In the Legendary campaign, however, Rally Banners are free–they aren’t consumed from the stock that’s in your inventory. That means you should absolutely drop a banner before every single major encounter. You don’t have to go to Hawthorne in the Tower and buy more banners to get through the campaign, so make sure you give yourself a leg-up with full ammo and Super energy.
Check the Power level cap
Each mission in the Legendary campaign has a suggested Power level, just like every other activity, but it also comes with an additional caveat: in the Legendary campaign, player Power levels are capped at 15 below the suggested level. This handicap increases the campaign’s difficulty, and it also means that if a mission has a Power level of, say, 1450, your Power for that mission can’t go higher than 1435, no matter what gear you equip. Keep this in mind when choosing your loadout, because if you’re capped at 1435, there’s no reason not to use your favorite gear that will get you 1435, rather than just your highest-level gear. This can also save you the time and effort of infusing a bunch of gear to push your level as high as you can, when the cap means it won’t matter for the mission you’re facing.
Adjust your loadout to the mission
Different missions have different requirements, and it’s worth messing with your gear if a major encounter is beating you down over and over. If snipers are ripping you up, put on some mods that will protect you from sniper fire; if a boss is pummeling you with an Arc cannon, use Arc defense mods. Spend a few minutes getting the right tools for the job as you’re moving through the campaign to save yourself some frustration, and don’t be afraid to try a different subclass, gun combination, or slate of armor mods. Experiment to find what’s most effective so you don’t stall on your way through the throne world.
Use your class’s specific abilities
With Void 3.0, you have a lot of new options at your disposal, and it’s important to use them. Titans can spec to provide themselves with overshields that can get them out of bad situations and protect them in the heat of battle. Warlocks are able to drain energy from enemies and restore themselves. Hunters can become invisible to slip away from some foes and get the drop on others. The changes to the Void subclass can help you make it through the Legendary campaign, as can the other subclasses in the game–but only if you spend some time thinking about what your capabilities are and how best to utilize them. Mess around with different combinations, like using a Shadowshot tether as a Hunter to control a crowd, then pairing the attack with invisibility to get yourself to better cover. These strategies are essential to staying alive, so don’t sleep on them or ignore your specific abilities.
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