Destiny 2 Into the Light release date, time and roadmap
What to expect from the upcoming update including a horde mode, Exotic mission reprisals and more.
Capping off the game’s sixth year, Destiny 2 Into the Light is the final content release before its delayed The Final Shape expansion launches in early June.
Split across two months with multiple new additions and release timings, there’s a lot of different aspects worth knowing about ahead of Destiny 2 Into the Light’s launch.
To get you up to speed on everything to expect on this update, we’ll be running through Destiny 2 Into the Light release date and time, the full Into the Light roadmap including new PvP maps, reprised Exotic missions, a new wave-based activity, and more.
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Destiny 2 Into the Light release date and time
Destiny 2 Into the Light launches on Tuesday 9th April at 6pm (BST) / 10am (PT).
For other time zones, check out the list for others below:
- West Coast US: Tuesday 9th April, 9am (PT)
- Central US: Tuesday 9th April, 11am (CT)
- East Coast US: Tuesday 9th April, 1pm (ET)
- UK: Tuesday 9th April, 6pm (BST)
- Europe: Tuesday 9th April, 7pm (CET)
- Australia: Wednesday 10th April, 3am (AET)
- Japan: Tuesday 9th April, 2am (JST)
Before the update releases, if you’re returning to Destiny to catch up ahead of The Final Shape, be sure to check out our pages covering what the currently-featured Raids and Dungeons are, or how to beat the latest Warlord's Ruin dungeon.
What is Destiny 2 Into the Light?
Destiny 2 Into the Light is a two-month content update beginning Tuesday 9th April, and continuing with various updates and additions throughout the month and into May, with new and returning content for both PVE and PVP, and is entirely free for all players.
The intent of this release is to help fill the gap created by the delay of Destiny’s upcoming The Final Shape expansion, which now is releasing Tuesday 4th June.
Acting as a celebration of sorts, this update is aimed at both veteran and new players as a way to get them ready for the expansion’s release which will - as Bungie puts it - conclude Destiny’s first saga.
It’s worth noting this is not classed as a new seasonal release, meaning you’ll still be able to earn Season of the Wish’s season rank rewards, and play any of the seasonal content since the launch of Lightfall.
Additionally, unlike each year's seasonal content, all of Into the Light's content will remain in the game, even after The Final Shape's launch.
Keep reading to learn more about what’s in this update, as well as how Bungie plans to help re-introduce returning and onboard new players into the game.
Destiny 2 Into the Light roadmap
When Into the Light launches on Tuesday 9th April, the bulk of its content and features will be available to play right away, with a couple of aspects releasing later in the month or in early May.
For new or returning players, you’ll have a chance to jump up to the current Power levels for this content, as well as a couple of additional onboarding features to be released with this update too.
Before delving into specifics, here’s a list of everything that’s releasing as part of Into the Light beginning Tuesday 9th April:
- Onslaught, a new 3-player wave-based activity
- BRAVE Arsenal, a selection of 12 fan-favourite weapons returning
- Destiny 2 Year 1-inspired armour set for all classes
- The return of the Superblack shader, and a new title and seal to earn
- New Social Space, Hall of Champions and reputation rewards
- The Whisper and Zero Hour Exotic missions return with craftable Exotics
- Pantheon, a weekly-rotating Raid boss gauntlet
- Three new PVP maps and 3v3 playlist for those maps
- New player onboarding changes and character re-customisation
- The release of update 7.3.6 featuring sandbox and quality of life changes
To learn more about each of these headlines, be sure to keep reading.
Onslaught, a new 3-player wave-based activity
The primary headline of this entire release is Onslaught, a new 3-player wave-based activity that sees players defending the Last City against oncoming forces of the Witness.
Narratively, the idea here is that, before players make the eventual journey into the heart of the Traveler to search for the Witness, it has sent its forces to push back in an attempt to stop Guardians from following it. This is, of course, no doubt in the hopes it can complete its goal of enacting the final shape - aptly the same name of the upcoming expansion.
When it comes to how this transitions to the gameplay, what we’re looking at is seemingly the closest Destiny has gotten to a true horde mode, and whilst it doesn’t appear like it can go on indefinitely, there are two variants and higher difficulties to the mode that should make it last a pretty substantial amount of time.
For example, as confirmed in one of Bungie's developer livestreams, there will 10-wave and 50-wave variants, with the latter featuring an escalating difficulty on top of a baseline player-elected difficulty.
The core activity itself involves players fighting waves of enemies, completing mechanics, and defeating bosses as the rounds progress, with the main goal being to protect the ADU (Advanced Defence Unit) and survive all the way to the end of the activity.
By defeating enemies and completing waves and optional objectives within the activity, you’ll also be earning Scrap, an in-activity currency that’ll allow you to place and upgrade various defences, like automated turrets, Sweeper Bot decoys, and laser traps.
As mentioned during one of the reveal livestreams showcasing this activity, whilst you won’t be able to share Scrap, you do earn it as a group, with each player having their own individual pool to spend from. You're then able to use that to buy and upgrade either your own defences, or upgrade another player's existing defences.
As the activity progresses, after five waves, you’ll find yourself boarding one of the Witness’ Pyramid ships and executing a Rift-like dunk-the-spark mechanic before returning back to the core activity space to continue the defence. Following this, after every ten waves, you’ll face a boss.
In the ritual playlist version - which features matchmaking - the boss fight would mark the end of the activity, however on the separate Standard and Legend difficulty variants, this is only one-fifth of the way to the end.
If playing one of those other versions, after defeating the boss, you'll return to the map and instead be defending from a different point of the map.
The Legend version - as Bungie notes in a This Week in Destiny blog post - 'will have everything you’ve come to expect with the more challenging difficulty modes, including champions and weekly modifiers'.
By progressing through waves, you’ll also be earning rewards from the BRAVE Arsenal - more on that in the next section - and on higher difficulties, you’ll receive multiple chests for bonus rewards, making it more rewarding than the Standard and ritual playlist versions of the activity.
When it comes to where this activity is set, from all that's been shown and described, it's entirely focused on defending the Last City. The gameplay we've seen thus far showed it taking place on a reworked version of the Midtown PVP map, with some new environmental aspects to make it flow better. We know there are other locations for this actvitiy too, however, we've yet to see or hear where they may be.
Whether that means it’ll be on other Last City or Tower-based maps like Bannerfall, new locations we haven’t seen before, or if we will head to other destinations as part of this activity hasn't yet been revealed.
BRAVE Arsenal, fan-favourite weapons returning
As is the norm for Destiny, each slice of new content or release has to come with a new set of rewards to hunt down - most commonly in the form of weapons, and this release doesn’t disappoint in that regard.
Featuring a selection of 12 weapons, Into the Light is reprising some of the most-requested and fan-favourite weapons from throughout Destiny’s history - each of which have a 'limited-edition' variant that comes with a unique Ornament weapon skin and double perks. Whilst the base weapons can be acquired at any time, the unique variants can only be earned until the launch of The Final Shape.
In terms of how all of this rolls out, on day one of Into the Light, six of these weapons will be available and the other six will drop two at a time on a weekly basis, with the last batch releasing on Tuesday 30th April.
This is a change from the initial plan whereby only one weapon was going to release each week - due to community response, this rollout is now happening quicker.
Below is the full list of returning weapons in Destiny 2 Into the Light:
Primary weapons
- Succession (Kinetic Sniper Rifle)
- The Mountaintop (Kinetic Grenade Launcher)
- Blast Furnace (Kinetic Pulse Rifle)
- Midnight Coup (Kinetic Hand Cannon)
- Hung Jury SR4 (Kinetic Scout Rifle)
Energy weapons
- Forbearance (Arc Grenade Launcher)
- The Recluse (Void Submachine Gun)
- Luna’s Howl (Solar Hand Cannon)
- Elsie’s Rifle (Void Pulse Rifle)
Power weapons
- Falling Guillotine (Void Sword)
- Hammerhead (Void Machine Gun)
- Edge Transit (Void Grenade Launcher)
Each of these have also had their full perk combinations listed which you can read about in Bungie’s deep dive page here, but the short of the long is that they can come with some really great perk combinations that’ll no doubt rank them among some of the best weapons in the game upon their release.
Furthermore, these weapons are earned by playing Onslaught, completing bounties and quests, spending Trophies of Bravery via a chest in the Hall of Champions, and by 'attuning' to a particular weapon.
Attunement is a new system for Into the Light that can allow you to more easily target farm a particular drop, since by attuning to a specific weapon, you'll be increasing the chance of that weapon dropping - and thus, a better chance at its limited-edition variant too.
Speaking of, the limited-edition variants are earned through two methods - the first is a guarantee through an associated quest acquired via Arcite, and this will reward the curated version. If it's versions of the weapon with random perk combinations you're after however, these will instead be acquired entirely at random whenever that particular weapon drops - so keep your eye out whenever one drops!
When it comes to the curated versions, these feature a fixed perk set and are the only one of their kind - on the second reveal stream for Into the Light, senior design lead Chris Proctor describes these as around 70-80% of the way to a 'god roll', but not as good as you can get on the random drop versions of them.
So if you want the absolute best version of a weapon, it looks set to be potentially a bit of a grind unless you have the RNG gods' blessings. That said, it does appear like drop rates of these new weapons will be fairly generous overall, especially with the Attunment system in play.
Finally, all of these returning weapons will have access to Enhanced Perks when The Final Shape launches, meaning you’ll be able to make them even better. Not just that, but there’ll be an additional 100 Vault slots when that expansion launches, so that should help a bit for anyone who wants to hold onto as many weapons as possible.
New Armour set, Title, and Superblack shader makes its Destiny 2 debut
When it comes to other rewards, the main ones we’ve heard about shipping as part of Into the Light thus far, are a new armour set for each class, a new seal and title, as well as the return of a fan-favourite Destiny 1 shader.
Each class will have an armour set purchasable with Trophies of Bravery earned from various sources game-wide - though you’ll also need to increase your reputation and rank by playing Onslaught and completing new bounties to reach various thresholds for this purchase option to become available.
By reaching the maximum rank, you’ll also unlock one half of a key needed to unlock the Superblack shader. The other half of the key you’ll need will be unlocked by acquiring all of the weapons - or completing all twelve weapon pursuits. This means you won’t be able to acquire this shader until at least Tuesday 30th April, when the last two weapons are added to the pool of drops.
Beyond this, there are also new Triumphs alongside a new Seal and Title arriving with Into the Light - completing the requirements will unlock you the 'Brave' title.
Whether there are more rewards and/or cosmetics to be unlocked as part of this content drop - outside of the returning Exotic missions - has yet to be revealed, but this is what’s been confirmed thus far.
Hall of Champions social space and reputation rewards
In between your Onslaught missions and the other content you’ll be playing as part of Into the Light, you’re able to head on down to a new area within the Tower known as the Hall of Champions.
Long-time players may notice this area is reminiscent of an area seen in the Destiny 1 Tower as part of the Zero Hour mission, but it appears this may be a different spot that just looks very familiar - in fact, here it’s being used as a storage of sorts for all the backdrops and props for seasonal events like Festival of the Lost and The Dawning.
In this release, this hall is where you’ll find Lord Shaxx and Arcite 99-40, who act as the two vendors for Into the Light, and who you’ll go to when ranking up, acquiring reputation rewards, and collecting bounties and other pursuits - like the aforementioned weapon quests that net you a curated version of the limited-edition weapons from the BRAVE Arsenal.
Bungie also mentioned there are some secrets to find in this social space, so there seems like there’ll be easter eggs and more to find in this area once it becomes available with Into the Light.
Exotic missions returning with craftable Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected
As part of Into the Light, the game will also see the return of two classic Exotic missions with their main weapon rewards being accessible in crafting form for the first time.
The first of these two missions is The Whisper, returning on Tuesday 9th April alongside the bulk of Into the Light’s content, and will reward a craftable Whisper of the Worm Sniper Rifle upon completion.
Following that, in May, Zero Hour will return along with the Outbreak Perfected Exotic Pulse Rifle, also craftable.
Both missions have had reworked encounters to stand up to Guardians’ current day power, and will launch with Standard and Legend difficulty options, as well as new Exotic ship rewards and unlockable upgrades for the craftable weapons through weekly quests - similar to that of the recent Exotic missions.
In terms of the weapons, they’ll feature all the same options and function of their current day counterparts, alongside a selectable bonus perk and tweakable barrels and magazines for extra stat tweaking. This is on top of a ammo reserves bump that Whisper will be receiving as part of the update on Tuesday 9th April.
Bungie also teased reworked secrets for these missions - perhaps once again related to their respective Exotic ships and Catalysts like before - as well as interactions with both Eris Morn and Ada-1 that players will discover before embarking on these missions.
Pantheon, a weekly-rotating Raid boss gauntlet
Perhaps one of the more surprising reveals about Into the Light was an activity - or 'PVE challenge' as Bungie referred to it as - called Pantheon.
Specific details on this are still rather light, but what we do know is that it’s a weekly 'Raid boss gauntlet' - or 'boss rush' as an email sent out to players mentions - that will feature 'escalating difficulties and rewards'.
There’s supposed to be a This Week in Destiny post explaining more about it before its release, but other than that - and that it launches on Tuesday 30th April - we don’t know anymore right now.
Still, it’s nice to have a bonus part of this release to look forward to alongside the rest of the new and returning content.
Three new PVP maps and exclusive 3v3 Playlist
Releasing as part of the May content coming with Into the Light, the Crucible will be seeing a set of three new maps set across various locations yet untouched by the PVP realm.
Specifically they are set on Europa, Neomuna, and Essence - the Traveler-terraformed Pyramid ship - and are as follows:
- Eventide Labs (Europa)
- Cirrus Plaza (Neomuna)
- Dissonance (Terraformed Pyramid)
Bungie said these maps were built to function best as 3v3 competitive playgrounds, and so there’ll be a 3v3 playlist featuring these maps exclusively when they launch on Tuesday 7th May.
However, they’ll also be playable through the usual 6v6 core playlists, and have the potential to be featured in other modes and events like Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris.
Improved New Light onboarding and tutorial skip
To assist new players in jumping into Destiny, with the update that’s launching alongside Into the Light, several changes and additions are being made.
First up, when completing the game’s second opening mission, players will have the ability to continue with the New Light introductory quests, or skip directly to the Tower and get into the core and main content of Destiny 2.
Additionally, to help jump into the endgame aspects of the game, all players - whether new or returning - can visit Ikora Rey in the Tower to select one of three pre-made builds focused on the three Light-based elements.
Each of these bundles comes with two Legendary weapons, one Exotic weapon, four Rare armour pieces and a Legendary class item, as well as several Subclass abilities like Aspects and Fragments.
After claiming one of these 'New Light Kits', you’ll also be given a quest that rewards a piece of Exotic armour.
Finally, within the new Hall of Champions social space, there'll also be a 'Gift of the Thunder Gods' chest with further rewards that'll increase a player's level to the Powerful level cap, allowing them to jump into higher-end content throughout the game.
With all of this, it’ll help jumpstart any new or returning players into the endgame and buildcrafting aspects of Destiny 2.
Sandbox balancing, Crucible, and Guardian customisation changes
When Into the Light launches on Tuesday 9th April, so too does Update 7.3.6 which comes with it a variety of sandbox balancing and quality of life updates and changes.
Guardian re-customisation updates
One of the headlines of this is the ability to change your Guardian’s base appearance, letting you rework various features like body type, hair, and markings. Note that you won’t be able to change your character’s origin – that is Human, Exo, or Awoken.
With this update, players will also be given another name change token – if you never used one before, Bungie says you’ll actually have two to spend now.
Sandbox balancing changes
As is customary for larger, content-based updates like this one, there’ll also be a slew of sandbox balancing updates coming to both the PVE and PVP side of the game.
Specifics have been discussed across a variety of This Week in Destiny posts over the last few weeks, but you can look forward to various buffs to Exotic weapons such as Whisper of the Worm, One Thousand Voices, The Last Word, and more.
There are also various blanket buffs to weapon archetypes such as Bread-Loaded Grenade Launchers, Lightweight Bows, and several sub-archetypes in the Hand Cannon and Pulse Rifle families.
Crucible updates
As per some recent PVP Strike Team updates, there’s a slew of changes coming to Competitive, Trials of Osiris, and more.
Below is a quick rundown of the main headlines:
- Countdown Rush and Survival will be substituted out for 3v3 Class and Collision as the modes for the Competitive playlist
- The first two weekends of Trials of Osiris post-update 7.3.6 will be used to test out different economies for Special ammo
- The Notswap PVP modifier will now drain ability energy when swapping weapons out mid-life that have different ammo types – aka swapping a Primary weapon out for a Special or vice versa
- Post-game Trials weapon rewards will now reward weapon drops of that week’s featured weapon only, to help with target farming
- Competitive point values have been tweaked to be more predictable
These changes are all incoming and will be present from Into the Light’s launch, and then a month later - on Tuesday 7th May - the Crucible will see a further shakeup thanks to the new PVP map pack.
Additionally, as mentioned in a This Week in Destiny blog from 22nd February, Bungie said that Checkmate will be returning to Crucible Labs, and new modifier Hardware – a no-ability-focused sandbox – will be tested too.
As per usual, you can look forward to the full compilation of changes and updates on launch day which will no doubt be listed in the patch notes that’ll release around the same time Into the Light goes live on Tuesday 9th April.
That’s all the main headlines and key details for Into the Light’s release on April 9th. For more on Destiny 2, be sure to check out how to get the Wish-Keeper Exotic bow, or Raid and Dungeon rotation schedules, as well as what you'll need to do to complete all challenges for Moments of Triumph 2023.