All 15 Destiny 2 Strikes Ranked Easiest to Hardest

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Human Made

Penned by Kody Wirth

Kody is our expert Destiny 2 and shooter genre writer. He lives in Oregon.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

What makes for a good Strike in Destiny 2? Is it the aesthetic and boss design? The uniqueness of the encounters? Well, for most players, what defines a good Strike is the difficulty.

If a Strike is too easy, it just feels like a waste of time. Too hard, and you’re never encouraged to replay it when it’s active. That said, most Strikes in Destiny 2 are anywhere from good to excellent, with really just a few stinkers in the mix. 

Now, the best strikes don’t always stay the same. Some have been sunsetted; others have become better or worse due to later updates. So, which Destiny 2 Strikes are best in 2022? Let’s check out all Destiny 2 strikes ranked to find out!

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Best Strikes in Destiny 2 Ranked by Difficulty

There’s a lot that can dictate the difficulty of a Strike in Destiny 2. The length, enemy variety, encounter types, and boss phases are just a few things that can make a Strike instantly loved or forever loathed by the community. 

For our purposes, we’re mainly considering how difficult a strike is at Heroic difficulty or higher, or as a Nightfall. We’ll be taking all of those previous factors into account to help rank all fifteen current Destiny 2 Strikes. 

15. Exodus Crash

• Difficulty: 1
• Length: 15-20 minutes
• Enemy Types: Fallen, Vex 

First on our list of all Destiny 2 Strikes ranked is Exodus Crash.

Exodus Crash is one of the least complex Strikes out there. The beginning Arc Pulse collection puzzle is just a game of following the spotlight. The ghost defense encounter is weirdly well designed, with only exploding Shanks being much of a problem. And while the boss fight can be frustrating due to the boss being cloaked almost 70% of the time, it’s still a piece of cake as long as you keep moving around the map.

This Strike is built around movement. As long as you’re running, jumping, and firing, you can barrel your way through it. It’s a really easy one to run through but is honestly one of the most boring Strikes around.

14. The Insight Terminus

• Difficulty: 1
• Length: 15-20 minutes
• Enemy Types: Cabal, Vex

This Strike feels strangely close to where Bungie would go with Battlegrounds and the Proving Grounds Strike. The length is pretty short, the enemy encounters are excessive, and you can get creamed by random Cabal drop pods. Leading up to the horde-like Cabal encounter, and even the boss battle, later on, is nothing compared to this section.

Psions, Gladiators, and dogs can easily overwhelm you and your Fireteam here. If you can, stay on the outskirts and try to bring the Cabal to you. Once you clear this tricky middle section, the rest should be a simple but enjoyable run-through.

13. The Arms Dealer

• Difficulty: 2
• Length: 20-30 minutes
• Enemy Types: Cabal, Fallen

Modifiers can wildly shift the balance of this Strike. In its standard state, it’s one of the easiest Strikes out there. There are virtually no puzzles, just a handful of enemy-heavy encounters with turrets and tanks, and a boss battle where you can easily bypass every phase. 

However, if you’re running a harder difficulty that diminishes flinching, adds new Champions, or even boosts a Solar elemental burn, you’re going to have a bad time. The amount of enemies is excessive, the environments are cramped, and any shift that benefits your enemies just drastically cranks up the difficulty. Luckily, you’ll run this enough to where you’ll know this Strike inside and out, making the modifiers an added challenge over a barrier to winning.

12. The Hollowed Lair

• Difficulty: 2
• Length: 20-25 minutes
• Enemy Types: Scorn

The Scorn is a frustrating enemy type, but that doesn’t make this Strike any less enjoyable. The arenas are vast, the enemy quantity is excessive, and the boss battle makes the Minor enemy waves actually fun. When playing at lower difficulty, this can be the best Strike for kills.

However, if an Arc burn is active, these exciting encounters quickly turn you into a glorified lightning rod. The key here is to play from mid-to-long distance when fighting, and run any Mods that can activate Charged With Light or generally boost your Super regen stats. Aside from that, run your Raid builds to come in a bit more defensively and prepare yourself for a lot of enemy waves.

11. The Inverted Spire

• Difficulty: 2
• Length: 15-20 minutes
• Enemy Types: Vex, Cabal

Out of all the Destiny 2 strikes ranked, this may be one of the most iconic. Originally featured in the Destiny 2 beta, it’s still one of the only Strikes to feature an environmental hazard in the form of a giant drill. That set piece aside, the actual encounters can be incredibly frustrating at higher difficulties. 

The boss encounter works through multiple phases, meaning you have to deal with different actions and environmental damage. And any time you have to clear a room to proceed, it can take you a while to chip through shields if you don’t have the correct elemental burn. It’s still a fun Strike to run, but be sure to bring your A-game if playing past Heroic.

10. Lake of Shadows

• Difficulty: 2.5
• Length: 10-15 minutes
• Enemy Types: Taken

While Taken were a mainstay in the original Destiny, this remains one of the only Strikes to feature them as antagonists. And while this Strike is really simple and straightforward, it can also be one of the most frustrating at higher difficulties.

Taken become damage sponges, and any Legionnaires can quickly bop you off the map in a single hit. The final boss encounter is just overwhelming. With a sea of Taken Blight surrounding you and a near limitless amount of enemies spawning, you need to constantly jump around while firing on the boss. This isn’t a bad Strike, but it can feel unfair at times, especially with how rare you face Taken in-game anymore. 

9. The Corrupted

• Difficulty: 3
• Length: 25-30 minutes
• Enemy Types: Taken, Hive

At one point, this was by far the hardest of all the Destiny 2 Strikes ranked. The platforming sections alone could send you spinning into the void. Throw in several encounters, including the boss, where you have to disrupt shields by throwing orbs, and you suddenly have a Strike that requires coordination.

The slightest misstep or an overzealous teammate can stretch out your playtime in this already lengthy Strike. And the respawn points for the final boss encounter are so unfriendly that a team wipe can send you almost a third of the way back. To help make this manageable, use your Raid builds and play defensively. Yes, it’s a long Strike, but it will only get longer if you try to rush it.

8. Warden of Nothing

• Difficulty: 3
• Length: 15-20 minutes
• Enemy Types: Fallen, Hive, Cabal, Vex

Prison of Elders was a somewhat underrated element of the original Destiny. It was missing with the launch of Destiny 2 but made a unique return with this Strike. While not a traditional version of Prison of Elders, you do get to navigate the broken-down prison and play through a single round of this horde mode. 

Leading up to this encounter, you get to see areas of this iconic prison that were only briefly visible before. This includes traversing a tram system and avoiding out-of-control trains while riding your Sparrow. To cap it all off, the final boss battle against an insane Servitor, where it can ignite the arena, is an enjoyable challenge to take on. 

7. Broodhold

• Difficulty: 3
• Length: 10-15 minutes
• Enemy Types: Fallen, Hive

This is a quick Strike where you venture deep into the crashed Hive warship on the Tangled Shore. The main encounters are fairly straightforward, with the need to acquire and deposit Hive larva being the most challenging without a well-coordinated Fireteam. 

The truly interesting part of this Strike is the dual boss encounter when fighting the Brood Queen. Initially, she starts with a wave-based Solar burn, then splits into a ghostly apparition with Void traps. Near the end, both versions are active at the same time, meaning that you need to balance dodging Solar waves and avoiding floor traps while managing a small number of adds.

6. The Disgraced

• Difficulty: 3
• Length: 15-20 minutes
• Enemy Types: Fallen, Hive

Another original Destiny Strike that made its way into the sequel, The Disgraced has you taking on a pesky Wizard haunting the moon. This is a slightly remixed version, with the final encounter boss phases being more distinct and lengthy. 

The majority of this Strike is fairly easy. Just be aware that at higher difficulty levels, Knights and Ogres will gain elemental shields. This turns them into deadly bullet sponges that can easily take you out or cause Minor enemies to swarm in. Equip Mods that provide some sort of shield disruption and ensure that you have weapons that match the elemental burn to make these less of an issue.

5. Fallen S.A.B.E.R.

• Difficulty: 4
• Length: 15-20 minutes
• Enemy Types: Fallen

The reintroduction of the Fallen S.A.B.E.R. Strike during Season of the Chosen was a welcome surprise. A fan-favorite from the original Destiny, this Strike truly kicked off the mystery of the Rasputin AI all within one of the most well-designed mission structures of any Strike. Like many of the tougher options on this list, this Strike is made difficult by the number of enemies and shielded Majors.

This can make the initial Warsat defense, door disruption, and subsequent hallway encounters increasingly deadly. Without much room to navigate, you and your Fireteam need to work on coordinating fire to strip away enemy shields and minimize the number of active Minor enemies in a given arena. Do that, watch out for those Sniper Shanks, and this will be a fun Strike to run over and over again.

4. The Devil’s Lair

• Difficulty: 4
• Length: 20-25
• Enemy Types: Fallen, Hive

The path to take down Sepiks Prime isn’t a walk in the park. This classic Strike got new life last season and was a welcome reminder of how good some of the Cosmodrome level design is. Weaving through desolate buildings only for major firefights to open up means that you constantly have to balance your play style between long and short-range.

The laser grid hack, Fallen tank battlefield, and even the final boss encounter all require you to make the most of the environment. The number of Major enemies and largescale fire makes it impossible to stand still and turns each encounter into a combat puzzle you can optimize with each run.

3. The Glassway

• Difficulty: 4
• Length: 15-20 minutes
• Enemy Types: Fallen, Vex

As part of the Beyond Light campaign, The Glassway serves as the best Vex Strike currently available. The level design is relatively straightforward, but it does give you the chance to explore the beautiful environments of Eropa as you look to put a stop to the Vex escaping the system. And truly, the unique thing about this Strike is the enemy variety.

Stasis-wielding Fallen, pesky Wyvern reinforcements, and a doubled-up boss encounter ensure that you can’t relax. On harder difficulties, these mini-bosses and Major enemies gain additional shielding that can be tough to take down if you lack accuracy. In short, this Strike showcases what’s new in Destiny 2 and encourages you to bring everything you’ve got to run it successfully.

2. The Scarlet Keep

• Difficulty: 5
• Length: 25-40 minutes
• Enemy Types: Hive

The Scarlet Keep feels like less of a Strike and more like a miniature Raid encounter. Introduced as part of the Shadowkeep expansion, this was the first Strike to feature Champions and take advantage of the retooled Nightfall system. That means that even after a year, this Strike is laid out to deal pain if you lack coordination.

Multiple areas require you to split up and face enemies on your own. And even in spots like the long bridge crossing where you do work together, the mix of enemies is so challenging that you can easily spend 10-15 minutes trying to take them out. Add in a shooting range-esque elevator ride and a final boss with an obscene invincibility phase, and you have one of the toughest, longest, but most enjoyable Strikes in Destiny 2.

1. Proving Ground

• Difficulty: 5
• Length: 20-40 minutes
• Enemy Types: Cabal

Number one on our list of all Destiny 2 Strikes ranked? Proving Ground!

If you enjoyed playing Battlegrounds in Season of the Chosen, you’ll like the Proving Ground Strike. Picking up at the very end of the Earth-based Battleground, this Strike has you venture into a Cabal Tank to take out Caitl’s last Champion. Just like those missions, this Strike is packed with enemies at every turn, with at least three different scenarios testing your ability to proceed.

When this first launched as a Nightfall, it was honestly impossible. Modifiers severely swayed enemy difficulty, making these challenging arena battles all the worse with additional Champions and shielding. The boss itself is not a simple enemy to take down, with homing rockets and a ground pound that acts as an instant kill making it difficult to decide where to fight from. 

Like The Scarlet Keep, this is one of the most fun Strikes in the game, but it is ridiculously difficult without a good Fireteam. So be on the lookout for any adjustments before trying this out as a Nightfall.

Become a High Grounder

That’s it for our guide to all Destiny 2 Strikes ranked!

Running the right Strike can mean the difference between a smooth, enjoyable ride, a boring snoozefest, or an encounter so difficult you end up wanting to trash your console. To help your Fireteam know which Strikes to take on when they rotate into the Nightfall playlist, be sure to share this article on your favorite social platforms. For the latest on Destiny 2, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.

Happy gaming!

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