What Are Ritual Activities In Destiny 2?

Destiny 2 is a game filled with proper nouns and strange terminology that can prove confusing to newer players. One of the most common phrases you’ll see in the game’s seasonal challenges and bounties is “ritual activity.” But what exactly is a ritual activity?

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Bungie clumps the game’s repeatable, evergreen content—Vanguard, Crucible, and Gambit—as ritual content. Participating in any of these playlist types will progress these challenges and award you with some unique weapons and armor. Today, we’ll be going over how ritual activities work in Destiny 2, breaking down the playlist variants in each activity group, and giving some recommendations on which ritual activities to farm if you’re a new or returning player.

What Is A Ritual Activity?

A ritual activity refers to the Vanguard Ops, Crucible, and Gambit playlists. You can find all three of these playlists at the top of the Director map. They’re called ritual activities since they’re evergreen content that will never be sunset—a term for removing content from Destiny 2 at the start of each yearly expansion cycle. Any quest or objective that states “ritual activity” means you can make progress in any of the three listed activity types, not just one.

For example, some seasonal challenges ask you to land kills in ritual playlists. Kills made in Vanguard Ops, Crucible, and Gambit would all count. You could get a few kills in Vanguard Ops, hop onto Crucible, and then get back on Vanguard Ops to finish the challenge. Unless otherwise noted by the challenge or bounty, progress is cumulative across all ritual content.

Vanguard Ops

Vanguard Ops, displayed as “Vanguard” on the Director map, is the primary PvE branch of Destiny 2. Commander Zavala oversees the Vanguard operations of the Last City, awarding players with strong PvE weapons and themed apparel for participating in the Vanguard’s various activities.

There are three playlists you can find in the Vanguard tab:

1. Vanguard Ops: Three-player matchmade activity where you complete a random strike or battleground. Missions take roughly 10–15 minutes and lack negative modifiers.
   • Awards weapons from the Vanguard loot pool.
2. Nightfalls: Tougher variants of Vanguard Ops, focused on one mission per week. Buildcraft modifiers are present, and matchmaking is disabled.
   • Awards weapons from the Nightfall loot pool.
   • Includes multiple difficulty variants, capping at Grandmaster.
3. Onslaught: A three-player match-made activity where you must fight against waves of increasingly difficult enemies
   • Awards weapons from the Brave arsenal.
   • Playlist: Goes up to 10 waves. No difficulty scaling is present.
   • Onslaught: Goes up to 50 waves. Gets harder every ten waves, but you receive more loot in later waves.

Newer players can get some decent starting weapons through Vanguard Ops, as each clear will award a random piece of Vanguard gear. You can then redeem Vanguard Engrams at Commander Zavala at the Tower to get specific weapons you want. Once you get a stronger build, you can hop into the Nightfall playlist to earn stronger weapons like Scintillation and Lotus-Eater.

Onslaught is technically a Vanguard playlist but functions differently than the rest. This is a wave-based defense mode that drops weapons from the Brave arsenal, featuring a dozen weapons from Destiny’s previous expansions that have been reprised with new perk pools. Every weapon from this playlist is powerful; some are considered meta. If you’re completely new to Destiny and need some good guns, farm the ten-wave Onslaught playlist.

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Crucible

All PvP content in Destiny 2 is run through The Crucible, a combat arena overseen by Lord Shaxx to test a Guardian’s mettle. Most PvP playlists in Destiny 2 are either 3v3 or 6v6. More casual playlists, such as Control and Supremacy, tend to be 6v6 modes. More competitive playlists, including the Comp playlist itself, are 3v3.

Unlike the Vanguard playlist, the Crucible frequently hosts limited-time PvP modes that include their own loot pools. This includes Iron Bannerand Trials of OsirisBoth playlists will progress Lord Shaxx’s Crucible reputation track and that event’s respective reward track. For example, if you farm Trials of Osiris on the weekend, you’ll receive rewards from Trials of Osiris’ loot pool and earn reputation with Lord Shaxx.

Here’s a brief overview of each core playlist:

1. Control (6v6): Destiny’s take on Domination. Three flags are on the map you must capture. Kills grant points based on how many flags your team is holding.
2. Supremacy (6v6): Kill Confirmed. Defeat Guardians and pick up their crests to score points.
3. Competitive (3v3): A ranked playlist that includes multiple limited-life modes.

4. Iron Banner (Event, 6v6): A variant of Control where a triple capture initiates The Hunt, locking all points for 30 seconds. A second game mode is also available, which rotates each event.
   • Awards Iron Banner loot.
   • Iron Banner has a second reputation track with Lord Saladin, who appears in the Tower Courtyard whenever Iron Banner is active.
5. Trials of Osiris (Event, 3v3): A tougher version of Elimination that tracks match wins throughout the weekend. The more wins you manage, the better loot you’ll receive.
   • Awards Trials of Osiris loot.
   • Trials of Osiris has a second reputation track with Saint-14, located in the Tower Hangar.

Gambit

Gambit is Destiny 2’s third ritual activity type, and it’s arguably the least supported of the bunch. This is a 4v4 boss rush playlist with optional PvP. Two teams are competing to summon and kill a boss as fast as possible. Teams can disrupt one another by summoning Blockers and invading the enemy team’s side, acting as a form of opt-in PvP. The first team to slay their boss wins the game.

Bungie has reeled away from updating Gambit in recent years, but it does receive new weapons to chase each season. Matches you complete will also award Gambit Engrams, which you can redeem at The Drifter in the Tower to focus specific weapons. It has the least variety of the three ritual activities, yet it’s arguably the best playlist for farming ritual activity challenges. Matches are quick, enemy density is fairly high, and invasions allow you to get Guardian kills at your own pace.

What Ritual Activities Are Worth Playing?

If you’re a new or returning player, we highly recommend you farm the Onslaught playlist in the Vanguard tab first. The Brave arsenal includes some of the strongest weapons in the game, including the likes of Edge Transit, Mountaintop, Succession, and Falling Guillotine. These guns are stacked with good perks and compete with some of the game’s meta choices. Fighting against waves of enemies is also quite fun if you want a chill playlist to farm.

For ritual challenges, you can either farm Vanguard Ops or Gambit. Gambit is better suited for players with strong builds, although its mix of PvE and PvP elements makes it a great way to complete a wide range of seasonal challenges quickly. Vanguard Ops is usually worth playing for newer players looking to expand their arsenal of weapons.

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