In addition to all the exciting things revealed at Destiny 2’s showcase, Bungie announced players can freely access Shadowkeep, Beyond Light and The Witch Queen until Aug. 30. Not only is this the perfect opportunity to experience all the content currently in the game, repeated reports suggest weapons, armor, cosmetics and more unlocked during this period of time will remain unlocked.
For this reason, the free week can also be your gateway to get some of the best items without having to worry about buying the expansion. Given there is a lot of possible routes, we wanted to make this easier by highlighting what to grind during Destiny 2’s free week of DLC.
Editor’s Note: To keep this simple, this guide is simply an outline of key items in each expansion to focus on or notable information to guide your grind.
What to Grind During Destiny 2’s Free Week of DLC
General Advice
The best suggestion I can give is understanding the best way to accomplish everything. For example, Shadowkeep has two exotics in the general exotic engram pool that can be unlocked through the Season Pass exotics, purchasing engrams from Xur, dumb luck or doing Lost Sectors. Depending on what you need, it might help to just wait and purchase them or focus on getting shards to buy them that way. In my case, Raiju’s Harness was sold by Xur, so I wouldn’t need to grind that and then could purchase my single exotic engram to get the other.
In addition to that, a lot of quests eventually result in doing optional activities. Like, beating Shadowkeep involves the Lost Sectors and strike and Xenophage requires about half of the Pit of Heresy.
As a final bit, you only get one exotic cipher, so I strongly suggest picking the weapon that will help the most. Thankfully (?), outside of Witherhoard, there really isn’t a must have exotic from the kiosk.
Shadowkeep
- Campaign Reward – Phoenix Cradle, Assassin’s Cowl, Stormdancer’s Brace
- Exotic Armor – The Bombardiers (PVP)
- Destiny 2 Monument to Lost Lights Weapons – Witherhoard
- Quest Exotic Weapons – Xenophage, Deathbringer
- Raid Exotic (it’s a quest) – Divinity
Shadowkeep is a great expansion to play for free, as it’s one of the more divisive experiences with a raid that is generally disliked. Instead, almost everything of note is an exotic, meaning enough of these can eliminate the need to get the expansion.
My personal suggestion is to get at least one of the campaign exotics. Please note, unlike every other expansion, these exotics need to be obtained through the campaign before they appear in your general pool. After doing that, it helps to do Xenophage and Deathbringer.
Xenopage is a tricky mission, but doing it will also take you through the Pit of Heresy, making it worth doing the extra steps for an hour or so prior. Deathbringer isn’t really that valuable of a weapon, though the quest can be completed solo in roughly two hours. From there, I suggest getting Witherhoard from the Monument to Lost Lights, as it’s easily one of the most popular weapons in the game.
Finally, if there is any piece of content that is probably worth doing excessively out of the whole set of DLC it’s Divinity. While I don’t want to suggest you spend your time doing the raid and then doing it again under the harder puzzle mechanics, it’s unique in that it’s a support weapon. As a result, it has consistently remained a common choice for various raids, higher tier content and more. Plus, most people seem to dislike using this gun, making it the perfect addition to anyone that wants to do this content, but doesn’t have the time to unlock everything mentioned here.
Beyond Light
- Campaign Reward – Stasis Subclass
- Lost Sector Exotic Armor – Boots of the Assembler (PVE), Star-Eater Scales (PVE), Omnioculus (PVE), Cuirass of the Falling Star (PVE),
- Destiny 2 Monument to Lost Lights Weapons – Ticuu’s Divination
- Quest Exotic Weapons – The Lament
- Raid Weapons – Most things with Reconstruction
Unlike Shadowkeep, there isn’t as much to unlock in Beyond Light, though all it will take some time. I would suggest unlocking Stasis once and if you’re still motivated, going for the subclass on other classes. I don’t think Stasis is the most useful subclass in the game, nor do I think it will make or break anything, it does offer a lot of options. Plus, it can be tricky to deal with in PVP.
Update: Some people note that while gear remains unlocked, Stasis will not. I still suggest doing Beyond Light, but it might not be as worthwhile as three Shadowkeep runs.
The big draw for this expansion is going to be the Lost Sector exotics. While Cuirass of the Falling Star seems to still be a go to choice for Arc 3.0, this could change sometime in the future. However, I still suggest it because it’s hard to beat that damage boost. Similar things can be said about Star-Eater Scales, which apparently got a stealth nerf, though still provides a lot of value. Omnioculus is a great exotic for abusing invisibility, perfect for a tense GM or just having a backup plan. Finally, I wouldn’t say Boots of the Assembler is a must, though it absolutely has a use for Warlocks.
I personally don’t think any of the Lost Light weapons are worth it, if you need one from this expansion it’s probably Ticuu’s Divination. It’s a really fun bow that uses a unique mechanic to blow up enemies.
The Lament isn’t quite the powerhouse it was, though it remains the best sword in the game. The damage output is fantastic and a common choice in a lot of encounters, especially in Duality and Deep Stone Crypt.
Unfortunately, the raid exotic is a random drop, though the good news is that it’s practically unused. However, the raid weapons are generally well liked, especially due to the unique trait reconstruction. Basically, it makes the gun regenerate ammo over time. Even if there are more commonly used weapons, some of these are really handy to have, especially the shotgun Heritage.
Finally, if you have some free time and don’t know what to do, Empire Hunts can randomly drop Cloudstrike. It’s a rarely used gun, but unlike a lot of things, it’s one of the few that can easily be unlocked without doing much or insane RNG, though the rate is still fairly low (takes like 20 attempts).
The Witch Queen
- Campaign Reward – Your choice of The Witch Queen Lost Sector exotic armor
- Lost Sector Exotic Armor – Loreley Splendor Helm (PVE), Secant Filaments (Both), Hoarfrost-Z (Both)
- Quest Exotic Weapons – Parasite, Dead Messenger
- Craftable Exotic – Osteo Striga
- Raid Weapons – Cataclysmic
Out of all the expansions, I would say The Witch Queen is a must to play through. It involves some great storytelling and a wonderful conclusion to that story arc. Unfortunately, it is also one of the longer sets, especially if you do it on hard. Still, it’s the one I suggest for story alone.
After finishing you’ll also get one of the exotic armor pieces exclusive to the base game like Loreley Spendor Helm. I personally suggest picking this up after unlocking it through the lost sector or the one you want less unless this is among your last unlocks. This is because the roll, at least previously, is pretty bad. Still, any roll is going to beat no roll.
Parasite is another exotic that isn’t used in a ton of things, but it packs a punch and absolutely has its place. The same is true for Dead Messenger, though it’s another exotic that is quick to unlock. What you want to make sure you get is Osteo Striga, which is one of the most powerful and fun SMGs in the game. Seriously, it will be a huge step towards getting into the world of Destiny, if you haven’t already.
I wouldn’t say either of the Destiny 2 Monument to Lost Lights Weapons are worth getting unless you have everything else. In that event, Grand Overture is a neat machine gun that fits an odd niche. It’s more of a neat gimmick than a must have tool. Trespasser is another more gimmicky weapon. It has its niche in PVE and can be really good in PVP with enough skill.
Vow is another raid where you’ll probably not get the exotic. However, Cataclysmic is a fantastic linear fusion rifle that is worth trying to obtain. It’s second only to Stormchaser and while it’s a fairly big gap, Stormchaser requires the dungeon pass and not included here.
30th Anniversary Pack
For those with a computer strong enough to run Destiny 2, you can get the 30th Anniversary Pack for free this week from Epic Game Store. This follows the same logic and, thankfully, you can unlock Gjallarhorn in a couple hours. Even the catalyst is pretty straightforward. Well worth the time to access this content or at least pick it up to enjoy later.
