Developer Insight - Raids and Dungeons

Welcome to one of many Developer Insight articles for Codename: Frontiers. Over the weeks and months to come, we will be covering a lot of different topics about changes coming to Destiny 2 next year with these deeper dives. Check back with our Paving the Way for New Frontiers article for more information on our plans and an always-updated list of these articles as they are published.

Now let’s talk about our plans for upcoming raid and dungeon content.

Each Expansion will continue to offer aspirational endgame content, either a new raid or a new dungeon, with additional content coming in subsequent Major Updates.

TLDR

• Every year will kick off with a brand new raid, as part of the first Expansion.
• The following Major Update will then expand on this raid, adding new challenge, twists, and rewards.
• The second Expansion each year will deliver a new dungeon, with an expanded reward offering.
• The fourth and final Major Update of the year will launch an Event that leverages legacy raid and dungeon content along the lines of The Pantheon.

Endgame Aspirational Content: Raids and Dungeons

New Raids

Raids are a cornerstone of Destiny, they bring fireteams together to tackle overwhelming odds and create legendary moments with the World First Race. So, we’re still kicking off every year with a new raid, starting with a new raid in Codename: Apollo that will stack up against the rich and varied history of experiences in this space.

Raids will continue to offer a complete pool of exclusive weapons, armor, and Exotics, and these can be obtained at higher tiers by taking on additional challenge.

Facing the tall task of following up Salvation's Edge, we are exploring some unique twists on the raid format. This is one area where we will not be giving very much information about in the future, as we don’t want to risk spoiling the Day 1 experience for the Raid Race.

Raid Feats

Our current iteration of Master Raids and Challenges have followed a similar format for a few years now so it’s time to change the formula.

Starting with Codename: Apollo, new raids will support a raid-specific form of Challenge Customization, where players can select modifiers called Feats.

Feats will expose and enforce rules, such as Time Trials, Contest Combatants, or other mode-modifiers unique to the raid. The more Feats active during a run, the better the chance to earn higher tiered rewards.

Raid Challenge Update

In the first Major Update following Codename: Apollo, the raid will receive a Challenge Update, adding new rewards, new mechanics, new Feats, and potentially even new encounters. This update will kick off with a Raid Race event and be a venue for experienced raiders to further challenge their skills.

In addition to the highest tiers of the raid rewards being available from these challenges, new and exclusive rewards will be added as well, including new weapons and a catalyst for the raid’s Exotic Weapon.

New Dungeons

Dungeons are an important part of our endgame activity ecosystem; they provide an accessible raid-like experience that feature unique encounters and mechanics that demand less social coordination and scheduling . So, Codename: Behemoth, the second Expansion of the year, will include a brand-new dungeon.

Also, because the dungeon will be launching as part of our Codename: Behemoth Expansion, there will no longer be a separate Dungeon Key. Additionally, the reward offering for new dungeons will be expanded to include full weapon and armor sets, on par with raids.

New RAD Event

Destiny 2: Into the Light introduced a raid boss rush event called The Pantheon that put fireteams’ capabilities to the test. This event showed us that our community is hungry for new experiences that break out of the mold of our traditional raids and dungeons.

So, in the fourth Major Update of the year, we’re planning for another Event that introduces novelty and allows our team to experiment with legacy raid and dungeon offerings to create surprising aspirational challenges. We are very early in the design stages of this Event, so more details as we develop them!

Raids and Dungeons in the Core Game

Dungeon content will also figure prominently in the new Portal, as part of the Pinnacle Ops category.

For more information on the Portal, see the Deep Dive here:  https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/article/theportal

Several updated dungeons will be available to launch and play with full Challenge Customization.

While raid content will not initially be part of the Portal categories, we are exploring ways to incorporate it in a future release. Until then, new and legacy raid content will continue to be available in their current locations, along with their exclusive reward pools.