Destiny Weekly Reset: What's New For December 27, 2016
By Derek Nichols 29 December 2016
Destiny: Rise of Iron kicks off another new week of content for players with the weekly playlist reset, and here is everything that one needs to know for December 27.
Not only is it the last week in 2016, but it’s also the last week for The Dawning event in Destiny: Rise of Iron. With Bungie out on holiday leave, it’s been fairly slow in terms of news and updates. Even still, it appears that The Dawning has been a big time success for the studio who took some time to post impressive numbers and statistics on its Instagram account.
The first seven days of the holiday event saw a lot of activity if these numbers are anything to go by. Between the second season of the popular Sparrow Racing League and the newly added Strike Scoring feature, players managed to kill over 3 billion enemies. Not only that, players have managed to rack up over 500 million strike medals, complete over 32 million races, and clear almost 2 billion gates. It also seems Guardians are big fans of the Iron Gjallarwing, which was introduced as a pre-order bonus for Rise of Iron, as it is the most used Sparrow in the SRL races.
With only a week left until The Dawning closes for another year, fans have started to look towards 2017, which promises to be another huge year for the franchise. Outside of more planned events for current players such as the Valentine’s Day inspired Crimson Days, Activision has already confirmed an actual sequel is planned for launch sometime later in the year.
Before the exciting times of 2017 in Destiny can kick off however, there’s one last weekly reset to get to. Here’s a closer look at all the new playlists, bounties, and everything in between for the week of December 27, 2016.
Weekly Nightfall
The screeching horror that is Omnigul is up this week at the featured Nightfall strike. The Will of Crota takes players back to the depths of the Cosmodrome to confront the newly revived Hive general and her gathering army.
With the addition of Strike Scoring, this strike is one of three to have been remastered by Bungie along with The Shadow Thief and Nexus. For players who have not played through this mission in a while, things may be a little different than previously remembered.
Right off the bat, the Fallen have been removed in favor of the Hive along with three ogres to get through. Traps and green plumes of smoke are also scattered about, providing a debuff which will slow the player down considerably for a few seconds. After battling through additional Hive Wizard, players wilol reach the Array where players will fight a mix of Hive and Fallen splicers this time around. Once the waves are completed, the journey to the Jovian Complex begins.
The upward hill climb is still a tough section with waves of cursed thralls, orges, and other Hive enemies rushing players, though with the addition of slow traps, the fight promises to be even more difficult. Upon entering into Omnigul’s final chamber, the doors shut behind the player, completely removing an earlier strategy of staying out in the hallway for extra protection. Each wave adds more and more enemies so players should continue to stay mobile, especially during Omnigul’s appearances as a mixture of cursed and regular thralls will spawn on the bridge area.
Since this is a Nightfall strike, here are the active modifiers for this week: Epic, Void Burn, Juggler, Catapult, and Exposure.
- Epic adds heavily shielded enemies that are more aggressive and appear in greater numbers.
- Void Burn greatly increases void based damage from any source. Remember that this goes both ways and is not only for Guardians so equip Nightstalker, Defender, or Voidwalker subclasses for best results.
- Juggler prevents enemies from dropping ammo for the weapon that the player has equipped. Therefore, players should constantly switch weapons to ensure a steady supply of ammo is dropped for all weapons.
- Catapult increases grenade recharge rate.
- Exposure increases Guardian shields but it does not recharge after taking damage.
SIVA Crisis Heroic Strike Playlist
Players looking for a burn modifier are in luck with the Heroic strike playlist this week. Solar Burn is the active damage modifier this week, making certain weapons like the newly added Abbadon heavy machine gun. In addition to Solar Burn, the playlist also features the following modifiers: Heroic, Brawler, and Ironclad.
- Like every week, Heroic buffs enemies, making them more aggressive and in greater numbers than normal.
- Solar Burn greatly increases solar (fire) based damage from any source. The damage goes both ways however from enemies as well, so it is recommended that Guardians equip their solar based subclasses such as the Gunslinger, Sunsinger, or Sunbreaker.
- Brawler increases Guardian melee damage.
- Lastly, Ironclad gives enemies a large shield.
Like each and every week, the SIVA Crisis playlist is a great way to earn valuable high level light loot and score an easy 30 Legendary Marks. The new Radiant Treasure boxes are also a main draw and the easiest way to acquire Silver Dust and new weapon ornaments. Keep in mind that The Dawning tweaked the drop rate of those incredibly rare Skeleton Keys, giving them a small boost. The SIVA Crisis playlist is still the best way to obtain a key, though finishing the Nightfall once per week now guarantees a drop.
Crucible Playlist
Sparrow Racing is still the featured Crucible event on the main page of the director, but players looking for something a little more traditional should select the Crucible icon to find more weekly playlists to pick from.
This week lists Salvage and Inferno Supremacy as the weekly playlist types. Salvage has been a core mode for a very long time at this point and sees two teams fighting to control a point on the map.
Inferno Supremacy on the other hand is a different take on the newly added mode with Rise of Iron. While players are still required to collect crests from fallen enemies, the inferno modifier completely removes the radar, adding a little twist to the normal proceedings of the mode.
Tower and Iron Temple Bounties
While most players will be hanging out at the Tower thanks to The Dawning event which is in full swing, the Iron Temple at Felwinter Peak is still a great place to visit as both Tyra Karn and Shiro-4 have new bounties and quests to complete. Tyra Karn has her weekly Artifacts of the Iron Lords quest where players finish patrols and other actions to earn a token that can be redeemed for one of three artifacts. The artifacts this week are: Memory of Timur, Memory of Radegast, and Memory of Gheleon.
- Memory of Timur gives a small chance to convert a minor enemy of the darkness against its enemies after getting hit by a melee strike.
- Memory of Radegast increases sword ammo capacity and grants the ability to deflect energy projectiles away with a sword. This includes most projectiles as well including grenades, rockets, and supers like Nova Bomb.
- Memory of Gheleon grants a detailed radar similar to Keen Scout with Nightstalker hunters and keeps the radar active when aiming down the sights. For players without MIDA Multi-Tool, this can be a very valuable artifact.
The Vanguard scout Shiro-4 has has a number of things for players to take care of as well including his weekly Plaguelander quest which puts a focus on patrol activities around The Plaguelands. In addition, the vendor has his usual four bounties to pick up including: Pull The Plug, Archon’s Forge: Dregs, Archon’s Forge: Captains, and Archon’s Forge: Servitors.
As usual, these bounties are the only way to have a chance at earning the Thorn exotic quest line, one of four that is needed to finish off the four exotic quests in the Rise of Iron record book.
- Pull The Plug tasks players with killing a specific amount of elite and ultra Fallen splicers. These include any Fallen enemies in The Plaguelands with yellow health bars.
- Archon’s Forge: Dregs requires players to complete four Dreg encounters inside of Archon’s Forge.
- Archon’s Forge: Captains requires players to complete four Captain encounters inside of Archon’s Forge.
- Archon’s Forge: Vandals requires players to complete four Servitor encounters inside of Archon’s Forge.
Once finished at the Iron Temple, head over to The Tower as there are more things than usual to check out. In addition to opening the four free daily Dawning presents, Lord Shaxx has a new Crucible weekly bounty. Since the weekly playlist type features Supremacy, Shaxx has a bounty to go along with it. Here’s how to finish it:
- A Hunt for Glory requires that players finish seven supremacy matches, earn 50 primary kills, grab 30 kill crests, and deny the other team 20 crests.
As always, finishing thee weekly Crucible bounty grants Nightfall tier rewards, helping players get closer to that maximum light level of 400.
With The Dawning, Commander Zavala is now a more important NPC and should be a weekly visit as well. The Titan has his usual Strike Elite and Sunrise strike bounties as well as one new one to finish as well.
- Sunrise – Earn a Gold Tier Medal before time expires in the Nightfall Strike.
- Simply Perfect – Complete SIVA Crisis strikes without any member of the fire team dying to earn the Flawless medal. Do this three times.
- Strike Elite – Earn 9 Gold Tier, Silver Tier, or Bronze Tier Medals.
Don’t forget that finishing these bounties gives players a chance to start the new exotic quest line for the Icebreaker sniper rifle.
Challenge of the Elders
Players in search of Sterling Treasure should head to the Reef to speak with Variks and enter his Prison of Elders. For Guardians working on the Elder’s Sigil in the Challenge of the Elders, the modifiers for this week are: Small Arms, Airborne, and a bonus for grenade kills.
- Small Arms favors primary weapon damage.
- Airborne increases the damage done to enemies while players are in the air.
- Lastly, all Grenade Kills award bonus points.
Events
As previously mentioned, this is the final week for players to take care of any outstanding business they have left to do in The Dawning seasonal event. Once the event expires at next week’s reset, SRL fades into the background for what may be another year. Fans can still create their own races through private matches however, but whether or not the Record Book will continue to be active isn’t known for sure quite yet. The good news is that Strike Scoring is here to stay and will be something players can continue to play going forward.
Vosik is up this week as the Wrath of the Machine Raid challenge. For more on this challenge, check out our guide.
Have a safe and Happy New Year, Guardians!
Destiny: Rise of Iron is available now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
