Welcome to the purely subjective game of what is the best Destiny 2 expansion. I’m going to rank all the Destiny 2 expansions from best to worst and you’ll agree or disagree. Let’s get into it!
All Destiny 2 expansions ranked best to worst
To clear the air, I’ll start by stating my bias, because we all have one. I played Destiny 1 and Destiny 2 what felt like lifetimes ago, bounced off, and came back with The Witch Queen. Since then, I’ve played Beyond Light and Lightfall. I’ve yet to play Forsaken and Shadowkeep, but this list will consist of my personal preference mixed with community consensus so you get the most accurate representation of where each Destiny 2 expansion lies.
Related: Best Exotic Weapons in Destiny 2
This list contains only the major expansions in Destiny 2 as those are the only ones currently available.
- The Witch Queen
- Forsaken
- Lightfall
- Beyond Light
- Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack
- Shadow keep
The Witch Queen
When I first played through The Witch Queen, I thought the fact that I was returning to Destiny 2 after a long time swayed me into loving the expansion, but that wasn’t the truth. The truth is The Witch Queen is the best Destiny 2 expansion to date because of its tight storytelling, beautiful location, and innovative new gameplay features.
The Witch Queen features some of the best story missions to date in Destiny 2 and brought Light 3.0 which revamped Solar, Arc, and Void. If I had to recommend anyone to buy one Destiny 2 expansion, it would be The Witch Queen.
Forsaken
Though I have yet to play it, Forspoken is many OG Destiny 2 players’ favorite expansion. The story is one of the best told and many people love it because it brought in new strong Exotic weapons and armor and fixed a lot of issues with the game.
If you want to see the story of Cayde-6 before getting into The Final Shape, you need to experience Forsaken. I would wait til it goes on sale, as it often does, before getting Forsaken.
Lightfall
Lightfall gets a bad rap because everyone expected Bungie to deliver an incredible expansion the size and scale of The Witch Queen but Lightfall fell short. I think it’s better than people give it credit for, but I do admit that the story is one of the weakest, featuring heartless moments and utter confusion.
What redeems Lightfall for me is Strand — it’s the most fun Subclass so far — and Neomuna which is a gorgeous city with an amazing tone. Also, I think a lot of the missions are fun even if the heart of the story is lacking.
Related: Best Strand Fragments in Destiny 2, ranked
Beyond Light
Beyond Light isn’t a bad Destiny 2 expansion; I’d say it’s just average. Europa is a fine map and the story itself is better than Lightfall, although the missions aren’t as fun.
The best part about Beyond Light is getting Stasis, but until recently, unlocking it and all the Aspects and Fragments was a huge grind. Because of that, people don’t think back too fondly on Beyond Light.
Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack
Bungie’s 30th Anniversary Pack isn’t as full of an expansion as the others on this list. All it did was celebrate 30 years of Bungie by giving players who bought the pack the Gjallarhorn Exotic Rocket Launcher which is still one of the best in the game, really good weapons inspired by Halo, the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon, and a collection of armors. Sadly, this not-so-expansive expansion is better than Shadowkeep, which says a lot.
Shadowkeep
Shadowkeep is agreed to be one of the worst expansions in Destiny 2 history, and that’s because of its short and underwhelming story, recycled areas, and introduction of spreading story and activities across four quarterly Seasons.
While Shadowkeep was grindy and lackluster, it gave us some great Exotic weapons and armor that are still in the meta rotation today, including Leviathan’s Breath, Witherhoard, Divinity, and Assassin’s Cowl.
What is your favorite Destiny 2 expansion? Are you excited or nervous for The Final Shape? Personally, I can’t wait. Until then, learn how to get the Wish-Keeper Exotic Strand Bow by completing the Starcrossed Exotic mission.
