New Nightfall, Challenges, and Rewards

Updated December 15, 2023: Another week has come for Destiny 2, which means missions, challenges, and rewards have been reset. Winter has arrived as Destiny 2 kicks off the 2023 Dawning event for players. As Destiny 2 players have seen in years past, Eva Levante and her little baking oven returns, so cookies can be made and handed out to the various NPC characters. New this year is the ability to purchase upgrades using Dawning Spirit and range from granting bonus rewards and weapon focusing, to better Stasis Snowballs and Dawning weapons with additional perks.

Similar to the Festival of the Lost, Destiny 2 is introducing a new Memento for Dawning players to chase this year. Unlike the all-black shader, the Dawning Memento gives weapons a unique shade of icy blue and it will likely need to be acquired multiple times, similar to how the Twilight Keepsake functioned.

Alongside Week 1 of the Dawning, it’s also time to kick off the Destiny 2 weekly reset which brings updated weekly challenges, content, and rewards to hunt. For a complete look at all the new content available for the week of December 12 including Nightfalls, Crucible modes, and challenges. Here is everything players need to know.

Weekly Nightfall and Modifiers

Nightfall Strike: HyperNet Current

Hero Modifiers:

• Champions: Unstoppable and Overload
• Hero Modifiers: Extra Shields. Arc, Void, and Solar.
• Galvanized: Combatants have more health and are more difficult to stun.
• Overcharge: Grenade Launcher and Kinetic Weapons when the player’s subclass matches an active Surge element.
• Epitaph: Taken combatants generate blight geysers when defeated.
• Threat: Arc
• Surge: Stasis and Solar

Legend Modifiers:

• All previous modifiers.
• Equipment Locked: Unable to change equipment once the mission starts.

Master Modifiers:

• All previous modifiers.
• Chaff: Radar is disabled.
• Master Modifiers: Locked Loadout, Extra Champions, and Extra Shields.

Grandmaster Modifiers:

• All previous modifiers.
• Chaff: Radar is disabled.
• Fire Pit: When defeated, Acolytes spawn fire pools that cause damage over time.
• Grandmaster Modifiers: Extinguish, Limited Revives, Contest, Join In Progress, Disabled, Extra Champions, Locked Loadout, and Extra Shields.

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• Nightfall Weapon: Pre Astyanax IV (Adept Combat Bow)

Vanguard Ops Elemental Modifiers: Void

Season of the Wish Activities

With Season of the Wish, the Vanguard discovered the fifteenth wish, though with the last Ahamkara being killed, there didn’t seem to be a way to utilize it to open the way through the Traveler portal. However, Mara Sov and her Techeun used Awoken magic to commune with Riven’s spirit, though she is not thrilled to see her killers once more. Alongside a seasonal story line involving Riven and the Ahamkara, new activities are available to play through, including the three-player activity called Riven’s Lair. Taking place under the Dreaming City, players will need to work together to claim the last remaining uncorrupted Ahamkara Eggs while fighting off powerful enemies and claiming loot.

Season 23 also features a new Battle Pass to work through, the return of the Dragon’s Breath exotic rocket launcher, as well as a brand-new dungeon called Warlord’s Ruin kicking off at 9am PT on December 1. .

Neomuna Activities

The Weekly Mission offers a rotating activity from the campaign, offering a Pinnacle reward for completing the team score of 100,000 points or better. Vex Incursion Zone rotates each week. Players can earn a Terminal Overload Key and exotic gear.

• Incursion Zone: Ahimsa Park
• Campaign Mission: Downfall

Partition missions reset each week as players dive into VexNet to chase down a major target.

Exotic Mission Rotation

Bungie brought back various exotic missions for players to run through to earn new rewards, gear, as well as craftable versions of exotic weapons. Like the Raid and Dungeon rotator, this one changes on a weekly basis.

Featured Exotic Mission: Vox Obscura (Dead Messenger exotic scout rifle)

Raid and Dungeon Rotation

Originally introduced during Season 17, Bungie has moved older Raids and Dungeons to a weekly rotation to make them farmable with updated rewards.

Featured Raid: Deep Stone Crypt

Featured Dungeon: Pit of Heresy

Raid Challenges

Deep Stone Crypt: The Core Four, Red Rover, Copies of Copies, Of All Trades

Vow of the Disciple: Defenses Down

Vault of Glass: Wait for it…

King’s Fall: Hands Off

Crota’s End: Conservation of Energy

Root of Nightmares: Crossfire

Garden of Salvation: To The Top

Last Wish: Strength of Memory

Throne World Activities

Weekly Story Mission: The Last Chance. Fire Pit modifier as well as Overload and Unstoppable champions.

Altars of Reflection: Weekly activity that players can take on through specifically marked icons within the Throne World. These missions typically involving light puzzle solving as well as battling enemy combatants.

Europa: Exo Challenge, Eclipsed Zone, and Empire Hunt

• Exo Challenge: Simulation: Agility
• Eclipsed Zone: Asterion Abyss
• Empire Hunt: Phylaks, The Warrior

Season of the Wish Weekly Challenges

Season 23 brings new challenges for players to work on over the course of 10 weeks. As players have found in season’s past, objective range from finishing seasonal story content, getting a certain number of kills, completing various activities, and more. Rewards for these objectives include engrams, Bright Dust, seasonal gear, and, on occasion, items or resources.

Week 3:

1. Wishseeker III – Complete week 3 of the seasonal Wishing All The Best quest.
2. Elemental Extremes – Get 250 Solar, Arc, or Stasis final blows. Bonus progression for jolt, ignite, or shatter final blows.
3. Dragon’s Defender III – Defeat 125 combatants with Pulse Rifles or Fusion Rifles. Bonus progress for Guardian final blows or final blows within Riven’s Lair or The Coil.
4. Foes of the Dragon: Scorn – Defeat 125 Scorn anywhere in the system with Riven’s Lair or The Coil granting bonus progress. Also, complete 8 pathways in Riven’s Lair and The Coil. Additionally, defeat 3 Glass Collectors in The Coil.
5. Round and Round We Go – Generate 1,000 Orbs of Power in Vanguard, Gambit, or Crucible playlists.
6. Trial by Firing Squad – Win 10 rounds in the Trials of Osiris.

Crucible and Gambit

Play three matches to earn a Pinnacle/Exotic engram:

• Weekly Crucible Modes: Elimination, Checkmate Control, and Zone Control
• Gambit – Bonus Ranks!

Legacy Content

Trove Guardian: Anchor of Light

Wandering Nightmare: Fallen Council (Archer’s Line).

Moon Nightmare Activities:

• Fanatic (Insanity)
• Phogoth (Fear)
• Crota (Despair)

Dares of Eternity Legend Contestants Rotation:

• Round 1: Taken
• Round 2: Cabal
• Final Round: Zydron

The Dreaming City Curse Level: Rising – The Oracle Engine mission

Petra Venj Location: The Strand

The Blind Well: Hive enemies – Plague: Cragur

Finally, the Ascendant Challenge is the Cimmerian Garrison through the Chamber of Starlight in Rheasilvia.

Xur Details

Xur, the exotic merchant of Destiny 2, arrives every weekend until reset, giving players a short window to check out what he has in stock. Here’s what the merchant had for the weekend of 12/15:

• Winter’s Guile (Warlock gauntlets) – 23 Legendary Shards
• Liar’s Handshake (Hunter gauntlets) – 23 Legendary Shards
• Armamentarium (Titan chest armor) – 23 Legendary Shards
• Black Talon (Heavy Sword) – 29 Legendary Shards
• Hawkmoon (Hand Cannon) – 125,000 Glimmer, 200 Legendary Shards, 1 Exotic Cipher, 1 Ascendant Shard
• Chroma Rush (Kinetic Auto Rifle)
• Legal Action II (Kinetic Pulse Rifle)
• Fractethyst (Kinetic Shotgun)
• CALUS Mini-Tool (Energy Submachine gun)
• The Vision (Energy Sidearm)
• Quickfang (Heavy Sword)
• Canis Major (Heavy Grenade Launcher)
• Pathfinder’s Armor Set

Make sure to check back every Friday for a comprehensive breakdown of all the new exotic gear and rolls that Xur brings to Destiny 2.

Trials of Osiris Map and Weekly Adept Weapon

As Bungie previously revealed, Trials of Osiris has undergone a makeover to not only make it more accessible, but to make it more rewarding as well. Gone are the win requirements tied to specific rewards as Saint-14 now has a reputation system that rewards players for ranking up through playing and completing bounties.

Trials of Osiris for 12/15:

Map: Javelin-4

Weapon: Incisor (Adept Legendary Trace Rifle)

Destiny 2

Bungie’s Destiny 2 is an online FPS that blends single-player and multiplayer content. Constantly evolving, the shooter has established a strong following since its 2017 debut. 

Released

August 28, 2017

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer , Online Co-Op

Engine

Tiger Engine

ESRB

T For TEEN for Blood, Language, and Violence

Expansions

Destiny 2: Forsaken , Destiny 2: Shadowkeep , Destiny 2: Beyond Light , Destiny 2: The Witch Queen , Destiny 2: Lightfall

How Long To Beat

100+

Metascore

85

Platforms That Support Crossplay

PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

Number of Players

1-6 (Co-Op)

PS Plus Availability

Extra & Premium