‘Destiny: Rise of Iron’ adds a harder version of its Raid on October 18

Ever since Destiny launched back in 2014, its Raids have been gated off separately to the rest of its content. The Vault of Glass opened a week after the game released, with its harder variant being made accessible seven days later.

Bungie continued that tradition with Wrath of the Machine, the Raid that was introduced alongside the Rise of Iron expansion. However, players didn’t have to wait quite as long — the DLC launched on September 20, and Guardians could try their hand at the Raid on September 23.

Wrath of the Machine takes place in the Plaguelands, a new area linked to Earth’s Cosmodrome that was added to the game by Rise of Iron. The challenging six-player dungeon offers up several deadly combat encounters, devious jumping puzzles, and the prospect of new loot — if your Fireteam can take care of the fearsome Aksis.

Rolling out the harder variant of the new Raid a few weeks after the standard mode is one way for Bungie to stretch out its Destiny content and keep players engaged with the game. However, it’s also an opportunity for the studio to throw the spotlight on the most dedicated and skilled members of the community.

Bungie community manage DeeJ references the high level of friendly competition that new content inspires in the blog post announcing the Wrath of the Machine Heroic Mode release date. While there’s no physical reward for being first past the post, the studio will no doubt give public props to whichever Fireteam beats out the rest.