Destiny 2: Revisiting the Sol System – Returning and New Players Guide (2026 and Onward)

What to Do First?

If your goal is to start progressing upward from 300 power to the soft cap, you can really just do anything. Any activity will give you more powerful gear than you already have, so make sure not to just randomly dismantle it all. Any gear that is higher-level than the rest of what you have is worth keeping. Here are a few relatively easy activities that I recommend doing to make your way to the soft power cap:

• Follow the Guardian Ranks (Best for Brand New Players)
• Upgrade Old Weapons (Returning Players Only)
• Play Vanguard, Crucible, or Gambit Activities until Level 440

For brand new players, I’d highly recommend following the Guardian Rank path until around rank 4. The first few ranks are meant to introduce you to the game, the various characters around the universe, and show you how to progress. This game sort of just throws you in the deep end, but doing whatever is next in the Guardian Rank path is always a way to go.

If you’re returning to Destiny 2 after a while, you probably already have lots of weapons you like. You can upgrade any of your crafted weapons from before tiered weapons were a thing. To do this, just inspect the weapon and look at the new slot on the “weapon mods” section. It allows you to upgrade any crafted weapon into a tiered weapon, and you can level it up to tier 5 for free if you already had it at a high level.

From there, the first thing to do is just play the game. Vanguard Ops, Crucible, and Gambit activities all award valuable gear for anyone under level 440. Once you’re at that point, you’ll want to focus on endgame content.

Tiered Weapons & Armor + Armor Sets

Tiered Weapons & Armor

If you’re new to Destiny as a whole or haven’t played much since the Edge of Fate expansion, then you’ll need to know about how tiered gear works, as well as armor set bonuses. Tiered weapons and armor are now the norm. Every piece of gear you get will have a tier between 1-5, noted by a visual on its icon. You want to go for tier 5 gear, and it’s actually not hard to get. You’ll probably be showered with tier 5 gear long before you hit the 440 soft power cap, and if not you can level your other gear up, so just pay attention to all of it to see what the stat rolls look like. Speaking of stats, those are different now too.

Armor Stats

Armor stats have been entirely reworked, so you’ll no longer see stats like Mobility, Recovery, etc. The new system is very similar to the old one though. There are still 6 stats, but you can now have up to 200 total points in any one stat. At 100 points you get the first major bonus, then from 101-200 you get an increasingly-stronger second bonus as you get closer to 200 points. Here are the new stats and their bonuses:

• Health:
  • 0-100: Increases health when picking up Orbs of Power and increases flinch resistance while ADS.
  • 101-200: Shields recharge quicker and have bonus HP when facing combatants.
• Melee:
  • 0-100: Reduces melee cooldown and increases the amount of melee energy received from all sources.
  • 101-200: Increases melee damage.
• Grenade:
  • 0-100: Reduces grenade cooldown and increase the amount of grenade energy received from all sources.
  • 101-200: Increases grenade damage.
• Super:
  • 0-100: Increases the amount of super energy received from all sources.
  • 101-200: Increases super damage.
• Class:
  • 0-100: Reduces class ability cooldown and increases the amount of class ability energy received from all sources.
  • 101-200: Gain an overshield when you use your class ability.
• Weapons:
  • 0-100: Increases weapon reload speed and handling and increases weapon damage against minor/major combatants.
  • 101-200: Ammo bricks have a chance to contain more ammo. Increases weapon damage against bosses and Guardians.

Armor Set Bonuses

Another new addition to Destiny 2 are armor set bonuses. Each piece of armor now has an associated armor set and two different bonuses. You get a bonus when you have two pieces of a single set equipped and a stronger one when you have four pieces equipped. Some people mix sets to get two 2-piece bonuses, while most people just go for a single 4-piece bonus.

The way you accumulate stat points across your armor is also a bit different now. Instead of getting points in each stat category like in the past, armor now has one main stat where most of the points go and one or two secondary ones. The other ones will be at 0 points. Each armor piece has an archetype which determines where the points go (Gunner, Bulwark, Specialist, etc.).

Story Content & Expansions

So you know what’s worth buying and what isn’t, here’s a rundown of the available expansions and other purchasable content (just remember to always try to wait until they’re on sale, as they go on sale for very high discounts often):

• Renegades Expansion: Gives access to the Lawless Frontier, the Renegades campaign, the Equilibrium dungeon, and many new Exotics. Also required to participate in Trials of Osiris, since it is the newest expansion.
• The Edge of Fate Expansion: Gives access to Kepler, the Edge of Fate campaign, the Desert Perpetual raid, and many new Exotics.
• The Final Shape Expansion: Gives access to The Pale Heart, the Final Shape campaign, the Salvation’s Edge raid, and many new Exotics.
• Lightfall Expansion: Gives access to Neptune, the Lightfall campaign, the Root of Nightmares raid, and many Exotics.
• The Witch Queen Expansion: Gives access to Savathun’s Throne World, the Witch Queen campaign, the Vow of the Disciple raid, and many Exotic weapons.
• Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack: Gives access to the Grasp of Avarice dungeon, a bunch of cosmetic rewards from Dares of Eternity, and other content such as Gjallarhorn, ornaments, sparrows, and more.
• Beyond Light Pack: Gives access to the Deep Stone Crypt raid, 2 nightfall strikes (The Glassway and Proving Grounds), and Exotic weapons originally from the Beyond Light expansion. (The Beyond Light campaign is free now.)
• Shadowkeep Pack: Gives access to the Garden of Salvation raid, Pit of Heresy dungeon, the Scarlet Keep nightfall strike, and Exotic weapons originally from the Shadowkeep expansion. (The Shadowkeep campaign is free now.)
• Forsaken Pack: Gives access to the Last Wish raid, Shattered Throne dungeon, and Exotic weapons originally from the Forsaken expansion.
• Dungeon Key: Gives access to all dungeons that are not already free.

How to Play Through Destiny 2’s Story

Unfortunately, the first two years of Destiny 2’s story are no longer playable. The first year’s content (usually referred to as the Red War) and the Forsaken campaign were all vaulted (which means removed from the game). So, if you want to play through the Destiny 2 story, here’s the current best way to do so, considering some content has been removed (including the seasonal content that built up the primary expansions):

• Shadowkeep campaign (free) –> Beyond Light campaign (free) –> The Witch Queen campaign (paid expansion) –> Lightfall campaign (paid expansion) –> The Final Shape campaign (paid expansion) –> Excision Mission (TFS Epilogue)

In my opinion, that is the core of Destiny 2’s story as it currently exists. The Final Shape finishes the primary story that has been building since the first Destiny released in 2013. I think it is best to end there, but there is more afterwards. Who knows where the “Fate saga” (everything after The Final Shape) was headed, but since it ended abruptly after only two years and with no proper conclusion, I don’t see it as worth purchasing. If you want to, though, The Edge of Fate and Renegades both have their own campaigns and some endgame content associated with each that are worth playing for completionists and die-hard fans.