Destiny 2: The Witch Queen — 10 Legendary Campaign Tips

Image: Bungie & Activision via HGG

Human Made

Penned by Kody Wirth

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

Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

Destiny 2’s The Witch Queen is one of the best stories and overall expansion experiences in the history of the Destiny franchise. Weapon crafting, new Exotics, a captivating storyline, and plenty of new activities are all excellent additions that make for an invigorating experience. However, it may be the introduction of the Legendary Campaign difficulty that elevates this expansion the most.

Let’s take a look at how the team at Bungie is handling increased difficulty, how hard Legendary mode really is, and a few tips to help you crush Savathun at her best.

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What is the Witch Queen “Legendary” Campaign?

The Witch Queen campaign offers two difficulty options: Classic and Legendary. Classic is the traditional campaign experience, with far less challenging enemies and encounters in favor of a more cinematic and streamlined experience. The Legendary Campaign, on the other hand, is a far more difficult experience designed from the ground up.

That means you shouldn’t just expect a standard Power Level increase. Instead, you’ll come across far more aggressive enemies, more Powerful enemy types with increased damage resistance, and a limited amount of lives in Darkness sections. In short, this is a far more challenging experience designed to test your ability and resolve as you chase down the new level cap.

For longstanding fans of Bungie’s games, difficulty modes in campaigns should be very familiar. It was always a badge of honor to take on the absurdly difficult Legendary mode in Halo campaigns, especially with a few skulls activated. Now, while Destiny and Destiny 2 did have more difficult end-game content (such as Grandmaster Nightfalls, Dungeons, and Raids), they lacked this traditional difficulty spike. Until now.

How Hard is the Legendary Witch Queen Campaign?

Bungie mentioned in the original announcement that the difficulty level for the Legendary Campaign would sit above a Legendary Nightfall and below a solo Dungeon or Grandmaster Nightfall. As mentioned above, this comes from a fine-tuned mix of buffs and debuffs, as well as specific switches to encounters that may include things like adding a boss where an Elite was before. 

Luckily, the primary debuffs for the Legendary Campaign do not change between levels. Here is what modifiers you can expect:

• Mettle: The activity is at a fixed difficulty.
• Legendary: Heavily shielded and highly aggressive combatants appear in great numbers.
• Chaff: Radar is disabled.
• Galvanized: Combatants have more health and are more difficult to stun.
• Fire Pit: Acolytes when defeated spawn fire pools that cause damage over time. 
• Empath: Enhanced radar. Take increased damage from melee attacks.

Can You Solo the Legendary Witch Queen Campaign?

So, if you don’t have a consistent Fireteam to play with, you may be wondering — can I beat the Legendary Campaign solo?

The short answer is yes. The campaign will actually adjust in difficulty and change up encounters based on the number of players running a given mission to give solo players an equal chance. 

10 Tips to Beat the Witch Queen Campaign on Legendary

Now, that doesn’t mean this will be a cakewalk. The Legendary Campaign is just as difficult when playing solo, as a duo, or with a full Fireteam. Playing solo also means that you will lose the ability to revive in Darkness zones. Just be prepared for a lot of trial and error, as well as some heavy frustration. 

Luckily, we’ve finished the Legendary Campaign and have a few tips to share to help make your experience hopefully a bit less frustrating. Here are our top tips to beat The Witch Queen Legendary Campaign.

1. Keep Your Distance and Take Your Time

For those that have played Destiny 2 campaigns before, or honestly a recent Standard Strike, you likely know how easy it is to rush in and crush it. That playstyle in the Legendary Campaign will unfortunately get you killed over and over again. 

In almost every encounter, you’ll come across enemies that one shot you or large groups that overwhelm you. If you rush up and get caught out in the open, you’ll have a difficult time making it out alive. So, throw that muscle memory out and focus on taking out enemies from a distance. 

While most of the level design is fairly open, you’ll typically be able to find plenty of cover surrounding the arena and scattered throughout it. Move between them. Focus your fire on more difficult enemies, and be ready to duck out of the way. The only thing to keep in mind when playing far away is that Hive Guardians will not die unless you finish their Ghosts. Try to keep them for last so that you can easily ditch your cover and get up close to finish the job.

2. Aim for Checkpoints

Destiny 2 campaigns tend to have fairly lengthy levels. This made for some incredibly frustrating encounters when a particularly difficult boss or platforming section would lead to death and stretch out your playtime. Thankfully, it seems that some adjustments made during the 30th Anniversary were a testing ground for the inclusion of more consistent and friendly checkpoints.

Basically, any lengthy encounter, massive story moment, or boss fight will start and end with a checkpoint. While in the past, this would only dictate your immediate spawn point, it now allows you to leave the Campaign and come back. That means if you’re really struggling, you can quit out without fear of losing your progress. 

Don’t be afraid to do this. Leave, take a break, and come back with a fresh perspective to give it another shot.

3. Try Playing Solo and With a Fireteam

As we mentioned before, the difficulty and encounters will adjust based on the number of players present. That means that a full Fireteam will likely experience more Powerful enemies, potentially additional boss encounters, and of course, spongier health pools. A solo player, on the other hand, will have to deal with the Darkness zones without dying in exchange for far fewer enemies that don’t take as much damage.

These differences are fairly substantial. So much so that it honestly can make some campaign missions easier to play solo or with members of a Fireteam. The mission that ends with an Ahamkara vision boss, for example, is much easier to finish solo since you can easily play behind the pillars and take out enemies from a distance. The Scorn boss fight that’s reminiscent of the Presage mission, on the other hand, is much easier with a friend who can help distract.

All we’re saying here is that it’s worth mixing up playing by yourself and with a team. If you’re struggling with a mission, it may just take gaining or losing a player to finally finish it.

4. Embrace the Glaive

When the Glaive was first introduced, it really felt strange to play with. Up to this point, there’s been nothing like it. It’s a weapon that can simultaneously defend and attack from a distance, and the closest thing to it is a Sword that obviously has no long-range capabilities (outside of the few that have a ranged power attack). 

Now, don’t let that odd playstyle turn you away from the Glaive. Instead, if you stick with it and learn how to manage the shield and fine-tune your crafted build, you’ll soon find that the Glaive is your secret weapon in Legendary encounters. The number of times you can save your skin with a well-placed shield, or finish an enemy with a melee stab to conserve ammo is immeasurable.

It’s absolutely an odd weapon. But if you’re willing to equip specific Glaive Mods and get a bit of practice in, it can be your best defensive and mid-range offensive weapon in your arsenal. 

5. Drop Rally Banners

The ability to drop Rally Banners has become a regular thing in anything that’s semi-challenging in Destiny 2. The only limitation is that you have a specific amount in your inventory that can run out over time. That same feature does extend to the Legendary Campaign, but it’s not tied to the amount you hold in your inventory.

That means, you should be dropping a Rally Banner at any point it becomes available — it’s free! This will refill all of your ammo and fully fill all of your abilities, which can change your entire strategy when entering an encounter. It makes it much easier to go on the offensive and spend more resources that would otherwise run out and potentially leave you high and dry after dying. 

Thankfully, these are typically positioned around checkpoints, so you can feel free to unleash your best at all times.

6. Infuse Your Armor and Weapons

It’s been somewhat a rule of thumb that whenever you gain higher-level weapons and armor, you switch to it. It’s typically not worth infusing your favorite gear until you reach at least the soft level cap, since you’ll be gaining higher level gear basically all the time. That is not the case during the Legendary Campaign.

Thanks to your increased rewards, and the Seasonal rewards, you’ll be constantly gaining Upgrade Modules on such a regular basis that you’ll be forced to use them. This means that you don’t need to worry about conserving resources and can instead just keep your favorite gear at the highest level possible.

7. Test Out Void 3.0

Void 3.0 provides plenty of new options to finetune your playstyle. It’s worth understanding what your Class is focused on to be sure you’re fine-tuning your build and synergizing with your Fireteam. Hunters, for example, can become perpetually invisible. Warlocks can focus on DPS and drain energy from affected enemies. Titans are focused on providing overshields and buffs that can make all the difference in a tight encounter.

The key here is to test out the different Void Aspects and Fragments and match up with what your Fireteam is playing with. You may find that the tethering ability that boosts DPS, combined with the protective barrier and weapon buffs of Ward of Dawn, is all you need to take out Savathun.

8. Use Ammo Finder and Protective Armor Mods

The right Armor Mods can make all the difference in how effective your Guardian plays. In the case of the Legendary Campaign, being able to maintain ammo and minimize damage can make all the difference. That means you should focus on equipping Ammo Finder mods for Power and Special weapons, as well as any Protective Mods that can minimize the area of effect, close quarters, or long-range. 

The only limitation here is the number of Armor Mod slots you have available. You’ll have to be somewhat choosy in which Mods you equip and potentially make some tradeoffs depending on your playstyle. As a tip, it may be best to focus on gaining ammo drops for your Power weapon and long-distance damage mitigation. Being able to take on Powerful enemies with a full clip and avoid the one-shot kills of most Void snipers can make all the difference.

9. Pay Attention to the Level Cap

While you can and should continuously upgrade your Guardian’s gear, it’s also worth paying attention to the level cap. Every mission will feature specific buffs and debuffs, along with a Power Level limitation that caps your gear. That means that you don’t always have to bring your favorite gear up to the highest level.

Instead, you just need to meet the level cap for a given mission to get the greatest benefit from your general power level. This ensures that you won’t run out of upgrade resources but can still use your go-to gear and have it work as effectively as possible.

10. Switch the Difficulty and Replay

The last tip when tackling the Legendary Campaign is to not play it if you’re struggling. If you’ve been dying over and over again, tried with a Fireteam and solo, and just can’t finish a mission, just switch the difficulty to Classic. Yes, that means you won’t get the mark-off for completing this specific Legendary mission, but it’s not the end of the world.

The benefit of The Witch Queen is that the overall structure of the campaign is far more accessible. It’s easier to go back and play levels and choose the appropriate difficulty type. In this case, you can keep track of the Legendary missions you’ve finished through your Triumphs, and go back and replay the ones you haven’t.

This ensures that you actually complete the campaign and can run through every mission. It will give you a glimpse into how the level will play out and provide an idea of how long and difficult each mission can be. So, don’t think of it as giving up, and instead, treat it as research. The more you know about a given mission, the easier it will be to complete it.

Rewards for Completing the Legendary Witch Queen Campaign

Still not convinced that you should take on the Legendary Campaign? Well, maybe this list of rewards will change your mind.

• A new exclusive emblem. 
• A Triumph that is required for the newest title for Throne World. 
• A set of armor and weapons at 1520 Power Level. 
• Eight upgrade modules. 
• A choice between the two new Class-specific The Witch Queen Exotic armor. 

On top of that, throughout the campaign, you’ll earn increased rewards and get to open two chests after major encounters. This means you’ll get more of the new gear and level up faster in the process. To give you an idea of how much this can benefit you, I jumped up 17 Power Levels and reached 1528 immediately after completing the campaign. That alone made the entire challenge of sticking out the Legendary campaign all worth it.

Join the High Ground

The Legendary Campaign in Destiny 2 feels like somewhat of a homecoming for the Bungie team. It makes for a far more challenging experience that is equaled out with how valuable the rewards and overall experience are. It may kick you in the teeth at times, but the challenge honestly elevates one of the best Destiny campaigns even more.

Be sure to let your Fireteam know how to get through the Legendary Campaign by sharing this article on your favorite social channels, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest on Destiny 2. 

Happy gaming!

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Weapon Crafting in Destiny 2 Witch Queen