Alongside Destiny 2’s Episode: Revenant content drop comes Vesper’s Host, a three-player dungeon that, like previous dungeons, is sure to offer some intense challenge to endgame players. That challenge is going to be more intense than usual for the first weekend of Vesper’s Host, because for the first time, Bungie is running a world’s first completion race similar to those it puts on for its raids. As players compete to be the first in the world to finish Vesper’s Host, they’ll have to deal with “contest mode,” which amps up the difficulty of the activity to level the playing field.
There’s a lot going on with Vesper’s Host, from its race to its new Exotic weapon, Ice Breaker, a returning favorite from the original Destiny. Here’s everything you need to know about Vesper’s Host, from when it launches, to race info and contest mode details, and more.
Vesper’s Host trailer
First, check out Bungie’s trailer for the dungeon, which gives a sense of what you’ll face within it. It also seems to tease the return of Atraks, a boss from the Deep Stone Crypt raid. More on that when we talk about story below.
When does Vesper’s Host launch?
Vesper’s Host becomes available in Destiny 2 starting at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on Friday, October 11. At that point, you’ll be able to jump into the dungeon in a fireteam of three, as long as everyone has the Final Shape Dungeon Key. You will also need to stop by Spider in the Last City hub area (formerly the HELM) and pick up the “Rogue Network” quest to get access to the dungeon.
How does contest mode work?
As with raids, Vesper’s Host will include a contest mode that last through the first 48 hours of its launch, which means the mode will stay in effect until 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on Sunday, October 13.
Contest mode works by capping player levels at a certain point beneath the recommended level for an activity’s encounters, essentially normalizing the challenge so that a team can’t gain an advantage by scrambling to level up their characters in the days before the activity’s launch. In the case of Vesper’s Host, players need to be at Power level of 1985 to meet the cap for all activities.
Completing contest mode is the best way to get Ice Breaker, the Exotic sniper rifle available within the dungeon. As in other dungeons, it seems like Ice Breaker will be a random drop for completing the dungeon, meaning it won’t be guaranteed–but if other dungeons are any indication, it’s likely that you’ll be able to increase the chance of receiving the gun by completing Triumphs within it. You can skip that whole rigmarole, however, by finishing the dungeon in contest mode.
You’ll also get the exclusive emblem, Orbital Tournament, if you complete contest mode.
If you want to play Vesper’s Host in the opening weekend but don’t want the increased challenge of contest mode, don’t worry–you’re not forced into it. Normal mode will become available as soon as the first three teams clear it, and with a dungeon, that should be within the first few hours of its release. For the rest of the weekend, you’ll be free to choose between the two modes.
What weapons and armor are disabled in contest mode?
Bungie has noted that it’ll be disabling some gear during Vesper’s Host’s contest mode, something that often happens during raid races, as well. We don’t know exactly what Bungie is disabling, but the developer announced it’ll release the list at approximately 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET on Friday on its @BungieHelp Twitter/X account.
How to watch the dungeon Race
Even if you’re not playing, you can take part in the Vesper’s Host race by watching teams take it on on Twitch on the Twitch Rivals channel. Coverage starts at 9:30 PT / 12:30 ET on Friday. Watching the dungeon coverage can also get you two emblems through Twitch Drops.
Watching two hours of any Destiny 2 streamer with Twitch Drops enabled gets you the Effortless Flow emblem.
If you subscribe to a Destiny 2 streamer who has Twitch Drops enabled, you get the Broadcasting from the Dark emblem.
Vesper’s Host Exotic weapon: Ice Breaker
Ice Breaker is going to be a pretty good reason to head into Vesper’s Host, especially in contest mode. The Solar sniper rifle was originally released in Destiny 1, where it was a bit broken–you couldn’t reload it, but it would automatically regenerate its own ammo, meaning it was almost always ready to put some big damage on bosses.
The Destiny 2 version of Ice Breaker, a Special ammo sniper, has been tweaked a bit so it’s not quite so game-breaking, but it’s still pretty powerful. It has a chance to regenerate ammo whenever you get kills with your other weapons, and kills on tougher combatants offer the chance to generate multiple rounds. Like the original, kills with Ice Breaker cause enemies to explode. Precision kills and shattering a frozen enemy get added benefits, causing a Solar Ignition, which spread Scorch around the explosion to do burning damage to nearby targets.
What s Vesper’s Host’s story?
We’re a little thin on details about what exactly is happening in Vesper’s Host, but with the trailer and some other hints, we’re starting to form a picture of what’s going on. (We’ll also update this section with more details once the dungeon is released and we know more.)
The kick off for Vesper’s Host is investigating a strange signal coming from a seemingly defunct Braytech facility. The trailer suggests there’s a connection between this facility and the Deep Stone Crypt, the location of the raid from the Beyond Light expansion. In that facility, Clovis Bray, the leader of the company that bore his name, worked on the Exo program, where he created robots into which human brains could be downloaded–but he did that through a bunch of horrific experiments on humans, using Vex technology, and with the help of one of the Darkness statues utilized by The Witness. So generally, it was all pretty bad news.
One major element of the Deep Stone Crypt was that Clovis used instructions from the Darkness statue to create a big portal to a strange Vex world, where he was able to capture Vex constructs to experiment on. You see that portal in the Glassway Strike–it’s the means by which the Vex invaded Europa in the past, and continue to do so on occasion now. It’s not exactly clear, but it seems like the Braytech facility we’re dealing with could be related to that initiative to steal Vex, and possibly is even a staging area Clovis created near the Vex world to study it. That big ring floating in space feels related to this whole idea.
The connections with the Deep Stone Crypt are intentional, in any event. Guardians in the trailer are wearing Deep Stone Crypt raid armor, for one thing, and Exos and Vex can be seen throughout the environment. The trailer teases the return of a DSC raid boss: Atraks, the first Eliksni Exo. Players defeated Atraks in the orbital station above the Crypt during that raid, but with Exos being robots, it seems as though another copy of Atraks might exist. What she’s up to is not particularly clear, nor do we know if she’s working with the Fanatic, Fikrul, the major villain of Revenant.
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