Everything We Know About Destiny 2 Episode Revenant
Destiny 2 continues to evolve, and next week’s new episode, Revenant, promises to take Guardians on one of the wildest rides yet. During a developer live stream this week, we got a look at what’s coming, from revamps of game modes to new storylines, weapons, and an interesting future for Destiny 2 expansions.
Episode Revenant
The developer livestream began with a recap of The Final Shape and what we learned in Episode Echoes, followed up by a brief preview of the story for Revenant. The Scorn, led by Fikrul, have evolved thanks to the echoes that spread throughout the Sol system with the death of The Witness. Based on what the developers described with Fikrul and this season, he sounds a bit like a necromancer, and his growing influence will make the Scorn even more dangerous, and players will need to team up with characters Mithrax and Eido to stop them.
This episode has been described by the developers as “metal,” and with the dark themes of necromancy, twisted evolution, and vampire hunting, it certainly lives up to that promise. Even the new episodic armor has a very Bloodborne influence to it.
Potion Crafting
In a unique twist, Revenant introduces potion and tonic crafting, courtesy of Eido. The crafting system features two types of potions: combat and reward. Combat potions will enhance artifact perks, giving players an edge in battle, while reward tonics will attune specific seasonal weapons. One caveat: weapons themselves won’t be craftable this season, which is a notable change. Attuning isn’t anything new, players had the opportunity to attune to specific weapons during the Into the Light event.
Onslaught Salvation
Perhaps the biggest game mode update in Revenant is the overhaul of Onslaught, now called Onslaught Salvation. This revamp introduces three new maps, new enemy factions, and additional defenses like new turrets, stasis tripwires, and airstrikes. Unlike its previous iteration, Onslaught Salvation will be “power-enabled,” because another change that Revenant brings is an increase to the power cap. While some players see this as a grind to inflate player engagement, I’m personally okay with it because it gives me something to work for.
To sweeten the deal, higher wave tiers in Onslaught Salvation will offer fully masterworked double-perk weapons, a significant incentive for those willing to push through the mode’s most difficult levels.
New Weapons and Returning Favorites
The live stream also showed off a few new weapons coming in Episode Revenant. Among the highlights are a new primary exotic grenade launcher, reminiscent of the Mountaintop, and a new arc shotgun. Notably, the infamous Icebreaker sniper rifle from Destiny 1 is also making its return. This version of Icebreaker regenerates ammo through kills made with other weapons instead of passively regenerating ammo like in Destiny 1.
This season’s artifact is heavily stasis-focused, featuring mods like anti-barrier scout rifle, overload submachine gun, and unstoppable pulse rifle. Sorry handcannon and sidearm fans, but no anti champion mods for you this time. There’s also a new variant of the popular Breach and Clear perk which weakens enemies hit by grenade launchers.
The Inverted Spire strike is making a comeback with revamped encounters, more Vex enemies, and according to the developers, “plenty of deadly lasers.” In addition, the developers teased the return of a fan-favorite activity with Act 2 of Revenant. While they didn’t confirm what this activity is, many suspect it could be the Menagerie or Prison of Elders.
Festival of the Lost
The live stream also touched on some fun extras, like a new earnable skimmer called the Xurfboard, purchasable from Xur with Strange Coins, and a new dungeon titled Vesper’s Host, which will come with a World’s First race on October 11th.
For fans of spooky season, Festival of the Lost is also returning. This time, Hunters and Warlocks will don the “Evil Wizards” armor set, while Titans will sport the contrasting “Good Wizards” set as voted on by the community earlier this year.
Codename Frontiers
Looking beyond Revenant, Destiny 2 is shifting its approach to expansions with what they;ve been calling “Codename Frontiers”. Instead of large-scale, annual campaigns, expansions will now be medium-sized, arriving twice a year. According to narrative director Alison Luhrs and assistant game director Robbie Stevens, these expansions will have unique campaign structures and post-game experiences, designed to be deeply replayable.
The next expansion, Codename Apollo, will introduce a non-linear, metroidvania-style destination where players can unlock new areas and abilities as they explore. With 25-30 different story threads, this expansion promises to offer a fresh take on Destiny 2‘s gameplay, emphasizing exploration and discovery. It’ll be interesting to see how this actually plays out next year, but from what they have described I am certainly interested.
Revamping Armor and Stats
The developers also revealed significant changes coming to armor and armor stats. Next-generation armor will include set bonuses and a reworked stat system that removes “dump stats” and goes beyond the current stat cap of 100. For example, a strength stat exceeding 100 could grant a second melee charge. These changes are aimed at making armor builds more valuable and easily understandable. Instead of having all five stats on an armor piece sharing a 70 stat roll, armor pieces might come with three stats. You can go into much deeper detail here in the developer blog post.
Evolving Weapon Chases
Weapon chasing will also see an evolution, and a new tier of weapons, similar to adept and raid weapons, is being introduced. According to Robbie Stevens, the team is focused on creating “exclusive chases at the top of the aspirational mountain,” giving high-end players more reasons to pursue top-tier loot.
Why It Matters
As Destiny 2 enters into a post-Final Shape era, it’s clear that Revenant and future expansions like what’s coming in Codename Apollo aim to evolve both the narrative and some of the core mechanics of the game. I’ve been playing Destiny for over ten years now, and since I finished The Final Shape in June and played through some of Episode Echoes, I thought maybe it was time to hang up my Hunter cloak and Timelost Fatebringer and move on. H
owever, what Bungie showed today with Episode Revenant, and what’s coming in the future with the new expansion model, I feel more excited about the future of Destiny than ever before. I really hope it all works out, and that both Revenant, the following episode, and the next expansion are well-received so that we can continue to play one of the very best live-service games on the market. So, what do you think? Will you be diving back into Destiny 2 with Episode Revenant?