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Destiny 2’s Season of Dawn introduces new 6-player mode, The Sundial

Giovanni Colantonio
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Bungie has revealed details about Destiny 2’s next big update, which will kick off for all players on December 10th. Coming off the heels of the game’s recent Shadowkeep expansion, the new Season of Dawn event will bring a host of new activities and rewards to Destiny players, including a brand-new 6-player PVE activity for season pass holders.

The season’s story picks up right from where the game’s current Season of the Undying ends. As a direct result of The Undying Mind’s death during this season’s Vex Offensive activity, time has broken on Mercury.

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Players will have to stop the Cabal from using the time discrepancy to rewrite the ending of the Red War, which was the focus of Destiny 2’s initial campaign. The story will include some familiar faces from the series’ lore, including Osiris and the legendary, pigeon-loving Titan Saint-14.

Destiny 2 - Season of Dawn Reveal

The centerpiece of the update is a 6-player activity dubbed The Sundial. In this PVE mode, players will work together to wipe out hordes of Cabal on Mercury. The mode contains elements of the game’s previously released Menagerie mode, utilizing a similar progress bar mechanic and a no-fail state. 

Unlike Season of the Undying’s Vex Offensive mode, The Sundial will also introduce new bosses every week. Matchmaking will be available in the activity’s standard mode, but players will need to assemble a full fireteam to tackle its hard mode.

While The Sundial will only be available to season pass holders, the update will feature new free content for all Destiny players. Season of Dawn will bring a new Elimination PVP mode, a solar subclass overhaul, and the return of Destiny 1’s fan favorite Rusted Lands map in the Crucible. 

The update will also include the game’s traditional holiday event, The Dawning, and the Valentine’s Day-themed Crimson Days PvP playlist, which will be available to all players.

The update will also bring a new seasonal artifact to the game, replacing the Gate Lord’s Eye. The new Lantern of Osiris will once again allow players to boost past the game’s 960 max power level, resetting at the end of the season. The artifact will feature several tweaks to its modifiers, most notably making Champion modifiers the first ones players can unlock.

As always, Season of Dawn will also bring new loot for players to collect. The season 9 calendar reveals two new exotic weapon quests, which will allow players to unlock Devil’s Run and Bastion. The reveal stream also showed off new finishers and special Saint-14-themed armor.

Destiny 2 Season of Dawn Calendar

While the season calendar reveals everything that’s coming from now through February, there are still a few question marks on the roadmap. Most notably, something called Empyrean Foundation is listed for February 4th, but there was no explanation of it during Bungie’s stream. Similarly, the roadmap mentions “obelisks” opening on the Tangled Shore and Mars, though it’s unclear what those are. 

The reveal may be a bit of a disappointment for players who were predicting the return of Trials of Osiris, a high-level PVP mode that’s been on hiatus since 2018. But hopefully, the revelation that players can now use their sparrows on Mercury will help soften the blow.

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