Destiny 2’s Shadowkeep expansion is only a few weeks away it’s time for players to start prepping for the release. With major changes coming to everything from armor to activities, it can be difficult to know what to do beforehand.
This guide will be for both new and veteran players, however, we will be focusing a bit more on those who have stuck with the game. If you are looking to hop into Shadowkeep, here are a few things you should consider leading up to the release.
1. Finish the Solstice of Heroes Armor Set
Along with introducing a new activity, the Solstice of Heroes event offered players a chance to grind for flashy, exclusive armor sets. Broken up across three rarities, users will need to complete a variety of tasks to upgrade their gear to the Legendary tier. Obtaining the final armor set will automatically give you a free Armor 2.0 variation when Shadowkeep releases.
This will be the first full armor set you can earn when Shadowkeep drops, allowing you to instantly mod and upgrade it. We strongly suggest obtaining at least one full Legendary Solstice of Heroes armor set before Shadowkeep releases. Plus, all the armor glow effects will transfer and work with the new system.
2. Clean Out Your Vault
It’s time once again to go through your vault and start throwing out items you don’t need. With Armor 2.0 on the way, all of your old armor sets are about to become irrelevant. Every piece of armor you can earn in Destiny 2, regardless of what year it released, will be obtainable in an Armor 2.0 variation. With the exception of Trials of the Nine and Faction Rally gear, you can delete any Legendary armor pieces you don’t want or need.
Additionally, Exotics will be moved over to the Armor 2.0 system and will have static rolls with this feature in your collection. Any Exotic armor pieces you have now can be deleted if you don’t want them anymore. We suggest waiting until the new system rolls out for this, just in case you end up needing one before October 1st.
Weapons will not change in Shadowkeep, so feel free to hold onto all your curated rolls and favorite guns. Just focus on cleaning up the armor and any cosmetic items that you won’t need.
3. Save Your Materials
If you’re like me then you’ll probably be low on a lot of materials following the release of Bad Juju. Before Shadowkeep releases, we recommend hoarding all of your Planetary Materials, Legendary Shards, Enhancement Cores, and Gunsmith Materials. There will be another power grind, so you’ll want to make sure you have enough items to upgrade your gear.
Make sure to not spend your Gunsmith Materials, as these will be used in Shadowkeep to obtain armor mods. Since you only need one of each mod, having an abundance of Gunsmith Materials will ensure you have access to a lot of mods right away. Don’t worry about Glimmer, since the maximum capacity is getting raised from 100k to 250k in October.
We still don’t know how many extra sources will be added for obtaining Enhancement Cores, so try to hoard at least 100. You can gain 21 a week from completing Hawthorne’s challenge on all three characters and 9 a day via the Gunsmith bounties. These are a fantastic way to farm Enhancement Cores and you should be utilizing the Daily Bounties every day to ensure a steady supply of cores.
Make sure to stop infusing your gear from this point forward. Revealed in a post by Bungie’s Luke Smith, all items will drop at 750 when Shadowkeep launches. So don’t bother wasting materials on enhancing random Exotics or non-essential weapons,
4. Invest in the Right Weapons
There have been a ton of rumors swirling around about the Sandbox changes coming with Shadowkeep. With grenade launchers currently dominating the meta, we expect a nerf to their PvE damage in the future. Because of this, we recommend grinding for a solid PvE rocket launcher and linear fusion rifle. Look for rocket launchers that posses Cluster Bombs, Tracking Module, and Alloy Casings. As for linear fusion rifles, Box Breathing, High-Impact Reserves, and Ionized Battery.
We also suggest grinding for the One Thousand Voices and Tarrabah raid Exotics. Given how insanely powerful the Recluse is, we suspect it will suffer a nerf to its PvE damage. Since the Tarrabah could easily take Recluse’s spot post-update, it’s certainly hunting for. However, a solid alternative is the Huckleberry, which is a superb submachine gun – especially if you own the catalyst.
5. Dismantle Your Extra Eververse Items
With Shadowkeep’s release, Eververse is once again changing. Post-expansion, any Eververse item you dismantle will be converted into Glimmer and Legendary Shards. Since a lot of the new Eververse items will be obtainable via Bright Dust, you’ll want to collect as much of this as possible.
Every Exotic Ship, Sparrow, and Ghost rewards 500 Bright Dust so start taking apart those extra cosmetics you never use. If you have any interest in not spending real-world money then start getting rid of those Sparrows you never use. Besides, does anyone need anything else besides the Micro Sparrow?