Destiny Weekly Reset: What's New For February 21, 2016
By Derek Nichols 19 February 2017
Destiny: Rise of Iron kicks off another new week of content for players with the weekly playlist reset, and here is everything that Guardians needs to know for February 21, 2017.
The past week was a big one for Destiny, as the popular online shooter received its first big update of 2017. While not focused on new content, Hot Fix 2.5.0.2 did address a number of lingering issues within the game, such as weapon balance and how shotguns and certain guns like The Clever Dragon are far and away the most popular choices for players within the Crucible.
Subclass updates were also part of the update, as changes were made to Striker Titans, Stormcaller Warlocks, and both Bladedancer and Gunslinger Hunters. Interestingly enough, a health oriented glitch was also introduced thanks to a change in the way Hungering Blade works for Hunters. The change was accidentally applied game wide to all health related class perks, though Bungie admitted it was interested in seeing how things played out in Destiny rather than jumping to fix the new behavior.
After observing the community, the developer has decided to roll back some of the changes, while leaving others alone completely. Bungie isn’t ruling out further changes down the road, but the studio did learn a few things about how the glitch had a positive impact on the game as a whole.
While fans wait for that to happen, another Tuesday has come around, signalling a reset of content in the world of Destiny. Here’s a closer look at all of the new bounties, items, and quests for players to complete during the week of February 21, 2017.
Weekly Nightfall
For this week in the Nightfall, players are heading back to the Moon to put an end to Fallen Splicer experiments on the Hive and preventing the group from stealing an abomination. The Abomination Heist is one of the newer strikes available in Destiny, having been introduced last year as part of the Rise of Iron expansion pack.
Players should immediately realize that this newly added strike is actually a remixed version of the classic Summoning Pits strike originally included in the first DLC expansion for Destiny called The Dark Below. New content has been peppered throughout including Devil Splicers, SIVA nodes, and SIVA enhanced enemies as well. Taking place inside of the Hellmouth on the Moon, players should expect to see a fair amount of Hive enemies as well.
For the most part, the Strike plays out fairly normally as players run through the familiar confines of the Hellmouth until the Circle of Bones is reached. This is the end point of the strike and it’s here that players will find an angry and tied up Hive abomination. As expected, the creature breaks free and the final fight begins. Players will need to stay active and mobile, not only dodging the damaging laser shots from the Abomination, but avoid the enemies now pouring into the room. Standing still in any spot for too long will likely result in a game over screen.
Unlike last week, a new burn modifier is currently active, which may be a good or bad thing for certain players. The other active modifiers in the Nightfall strike this week are: Epic, Arc Burn, Juggler, Specialist, and Exposure.
- Epic adds heavily shielded enemies that are more aggressive and appear in greater numbers.
- Arc Burn greatly increases arc based damage from all sources.
- Juggler prevents ammo from dropping for the currently equipped weapon. Make sure to constantly switch between all three weapons to get ammunition to drop.
- Specialist favors special weapon damage.
- Exposure significantly increases player shields, but removes the ability to recharge them.
SIVA Crisis Heroic Strike Playlist
In an effort to not be outdone by the Nightfall, the SIVA Crisis Heroic Strike playlist also has the Arc Burn modifier active as well, so it may be a good week to take the Zhalo Supercell out of storage along with using any Arc-based subclass as well. Along with Arc Burn, players will also run into the following modifiers this week: Heroic, Brawler, and Ironclad.
- Like every week, Heroic buffs enemies, making them more aggressive and in greater numbers than normal.
- Arc Burn amplifies damage from all arc sources.
- Brawler significantly increases Guardian melee damage.
- Ironclad provides more shields to enemies.
Players looking to complete their set or armor from the successful Dawning event earlier this year can do so here as the Heroic playlist is a great way to earn valuable high level light loot, 30 Legendary Marks and a Treasure of the Dawning box. Also, don’t forget that those rare Skeleton Keys have a better chance at dropping in the SIVA Heroic Crisis playlist outside of finishing the Nightfall, which grants one automatically each week.
Crucible Playlist
Mayhem and chaos has once again returned to the weekly playlist in the Crucible. Players looking for a little insanity this week can take part in Mayhem Clash, which is a team deathmatch based variant that reduces the cool down on all player abilities and supers, enabling them to be used much more often than normal. In addition, heavy and special ammo cool downs are significantly reduced as well.
For those who prefer a little more structure to their online fights, Rumble Supremacy is the other weekly playlist option. While traditionally a team based mode, this version is a free-for-all, where players will need to pick up a crest to essentially confirm the kill on opposing players. In addition, getting killed will drop a crest which can be picked up by the same player to deny opposing players credit.
Tower and Iron Temple Bounties
As it is every week, The Iron Temple on Felwinter Peak features a ton of new activities for players looking for things do to. Tyra Karn, the local Cryptarch within this social space, has her weekly Artifacts quest available, where she asks players to perform good deeds around the Plaguelands by finishing patrols, taking out Fallen Splicers, and besting enemies within Archon’s Forge. In exchange for the heroic deeds, Tyra will grant players a token to exchange for one of three Iron Lord Artifacts. This week she has the following in stock: Memory of Felwinter, Memory of Timur, and Memory of Perun.
- Memory of Felwinter removes the super ability, but grants an extra grenade and melee charge, and provides a small boost to all stats. Not only that, picking up orbs grant melee and grenade energy.
- Memory of Timur has a chance to turn minor enemies of the darkness against their allies after getting hit with a melee attack.
- Memory of Perun highlights enemies that have low health and other players with full super meters.
Before leaving the safe confines of the mountain top, visit Shiro-4 to pick up his weekly Plaguelander quest to handle various patrols in and around the Plaguelands. In addition, the exo scout has four new Iron Lord bounties to pick up as well. It’s a rough week for players who don’t care much for the arena style battles of Archon’s Forge as all four bounties this week need to be done inside the arena. It’s something that Shiro has never done before, so players looking for Plaguelands related bounties will have to wait until next week. The four Archon’s Forge bounties this week are for: Dregs, Shanks, Servitors, and Captains.
- Archon’s Forge: Dregs requires players to complete four Dreg encounters inside of Archon’s Forge.
- Archon’s Forge: Shanks requires players to complete four Shank encounters inside of Archon’s Forge.
- Archon’s Forge: Servitors requires players to complete four Servitor encounters inside of Archon’s Forge.
- Archon’s Forge: Captains requires players to complete four Captain encounters inside of Archon’s Forge.
Don’t forget that finishing these bounties are the only way to have a slight chance at starting the Thorn exotic quest line. It’s one of four that is needed to finish off the four exotic quests in the Rise of Iron record book.
Next up, players should head over to the Tower if they have not yet done so. Lord Shaxx is featuring the Clash playlist in his weekly Crucible bounty. Here’s what players need to do to complete this bounty:
- Back to Basics requires players to finish seven clash matches, get 50 kills with a primary weapon, 25 assists, and 25 ability kills.
For players not interested in the Nightfall, these weekly Crucible bounties are an alternative way to earn Nightfall tier rewards and loot that will help get closer to that maximum light level of 400.
Before leaving, head over to the sacred Vanguard table and speak with Commander Zavala to see his three Strike bounties this week. As expected, Sunrise and Strike Elite are once again available along with Simply Perfect. Here’s what players need to do this week:
- Sunrise – Earn a Gold Tier Medal before time expires in the Nightfall Strike.
- Simply Perfect – Complete strikes in the SIVA Crisis playlist without any Fireteam members dying to earn a Flawless medal. Do this three times to complete the bounty.
- Strike Elite – Earn 9 Gold Tier, Silver Tier, or Bronze Tier Medals.
Don’t forget, the Icebreaker exotic quest has a small chance to be started by turning in the Sunrise bounty each week.
Challenge of the Elders
Finally, the Prison of Elders is still the best place for players to earn more Sterling Treasure, House of Wolves specific loot, and other Prison of Elders gear. Head over to the Reef and speak to Variks, who will get players everything they need to start. For Guardians working on the Elder’s Sigil in the Challenge of the Elders, the modifiers for this week are: Solar Burn, Catapult, and a bonus for getting melee kills.
- Solar Burn increases solar based damage from all sources.
- Catapult greatly increases the recharge rate of player grenades.
- All Melee Kills award bonus points.
Events
There is still nothing out of the ordinary this week in Destiny, and the Wrath of the Machine raid challenge this week rests with the Archpriest Vosik and activating all of those safe rooms. Players looking for some tips, tricks, or a general walkthrough of how to complete this challenge can find our guide here.
Stay safe out there Guardians!
Destiny: Rise of Iron is available now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
