Destiny 2 The Reckoning guide: How to beat Tiers 1, 2, and 3

After you finish your first Gambit Prime match in Destiny 2: Season of the Drifter, The Drifter will give you a Mote Synthesizer. He’ll then send you on a mission to board his ship, The Derelict. It’s hauling a giant ball of ice through space, and that’s where the The Reckoning takes place.

You’ll need to complete different tiers of The Reckoning to earn powerful Gambit Prime armor. The gear pieces give you perks that help you stay competitive. But getting through the upper tiers of The Reckoning isn’t easy.

In this guide, we’ll teach you how to beat The Reckoning Tiers, and claim that sweet new loot from Season of the Drifter.

Tier 1

Tier 1 of The Reckoning is short and easy. After you deposit your Weak Mote, jump into the pit under the inverted pyramid to get started.

You’ll find yourself in a giant arena filled with Taken enemies of different flavors. Start killing them with whatever you have equipped. As you kill, you’ll fill up your Dominance percentage on the left side of your screen. If you stop killing, the percentage goes down.

If you and your Fireteam hit 100 percent Dominance before the minute timer ends, you’ll advance to a boss stage. Kill the boss, teleport back to the bank, and collect your reward.

This part of The Reckoning is easy if you’re close to Power 650. It gets more difficult when you factor in the daily modifiers like Blackout, which increases enemy melee damage. But if you prepare like you would for a Strike, you’ll do fine.

Like with any Reckoning tier, Tier 1 is much easier in a group of friends you can communicate with.

Bungie

Tier 2

Tier 2 of The Reckoning is harder and longer than Tier 1. Make sure you’re close to 670 Power and have a group of friends you can communicate with. Pay attention to the modifiers, and exploit or avoid them as much as possible. Take a long-range build if Blackout is active. Make sure your team has multiple elements during Prism (because only certain elements are effective at certain times).

After you deposit your Mote, you’ll drop in and do Tier 1 as normal, though the enemies will be more difficult in this section. It’s nothing you can’t handle if you’re used to Tier 1 and have high enough Power. After you hit 100 percent Dominance, a door in the back of the arena will open (in place of a boss). Gather your team and run through.

The bridge

You’re now on a bridge floating above a chasm. You need to hold down six points across the bridge to reach the other side. As you stand in each point, waves of Taken will attack.

We recommend taking a Hunter with Tether and a Well of Radiance Warlock to help you survive. Chain Supers and use heavy ammo to get through each section.

After you’ve captured all six pieces of the bridge, the enemies will de-spawn and a portal will open on the far end. Jump through and prepare to run.

Knights and the Hermit

You’ll be in some kind of Ascendant Plane, and ax-swinging Knights will be following you. The map looks like a plus symbol, and each of the four ends can spawn an enemy called the Hermit. Ignore the Knights and chase down The Hermit, who has a green symbol above its head.

Remove the Hermit’s elemental shield with your weapons or abilities, and kill it. When the Hermit dies, a well will spawn in the area. Standing in it will increase your damage against the Knights, who should be your new focus. Use everything you have on the Knights. We recommend Tether and Well of Radiance here. Take a rocket launcher like Wardcliff Coil in your heavy slot.

When the Knights go down, you’ll teleport back to the bank and collect your Tier 2 Gambit Prime armor.

Shade of Oryx

The Shade of Oryx can also appear as a boss in this section, and has exclusively since Tier 3 released. If you end up facing the Shade, scroll down to our Tier 3 section. The boss is the same in Tier 2, just easier.

We’re currently not sure if the Knights and Hermit event will be back.

Tier 3

Bungie

Tier 3 has a high chance of dropping certain new Season of the Drifter weapons like the Spare Rations hand cannon. Running Tier 3 on repeat seems to be the best way to farm these guns.

You’ll need to take the same precautions with Tier 3 that you did with Tier 2. The difference is that this encounter requires higher Power. Pay attention to the modifiers, and exploit or avoid them as much as possible. Take a long-range build if Blackout is active. Make sure your team has multiple elements during Prism (because only certain elements are effective at certain times).

If you aren’t 680, you can’t even queue for this activity. Enemies are Power 690, so it’ll still be difficult at the minimum level. Make sure your Power is up to the task before you jump in and find a group.

When you start Tier 3, you’ll complete the first two phases (the arena and bridge) like you would in Tier 1 and Tier 2. At the end of the bridge, the inverted pyramid will open up, and a jump pad will appear in front of you. Walk onto the pad, and leap over to the new arena.

In the Inverted Pyramid is the Shade of Oryx — a boss you may have also run into in Tier 2. The Tier 3 version of the fight is much more difficult and requires teamwork to chain Supers and deal damage. Take a heavy weapon that matches The Reckoning’s daily burn element. Whisper of the Worm will be useful regardless of the burn.

Until your Power is above 690 and you’re punching down at Oryx, outfit your Fireteam with support Supers. Well of Radiance with the Phoenix Protocol Exotic for Warlocks, Nightstalker Tether with the Orpheus Rig Exotic for Hunters, and Sentinel Shield with the Ursa Furiosa Exotic for Titans is a great setup. If you can run all three, you’ll have a much easier time. If not, any combination will be useful. But if you’re under 680, we can’t recommend doing this if you don’t have at least one of these Super and Exotic combinations.

There are enemies everywhere in the arena. Set up under the golden pillar in the middle. Use your Tether Hunter to keep the enemies off of you, while Well of Radiance and Sentinel Shield keep you safe. From your position, shoot the Shade of Oryx until it dies. Ignore the other enemies unless they become a problem.

When Oryx dies, you’ll teleport back to the bank to do it over again.