Destiny 2 Rite Of The Nine: How It Works, Loot, And Rotations Here's what we know about Rite of the Nine including how it works, what you can earn, and how long it might last
A new limited-time event is coming to Destiny 2
When does Rite of the Nine come out?
Rite of the Nine doesn't have an exact release date as of yet, but it will be launching sometime after the start of Episode Heresy Act III, which is now live, having launched on April 1, 2025. This will be a limited-time event that likely will last until the launch of the new expansion of Destiny 2, currently only known as "Project Apollo" from Bungie's 2025-2026 roadmap. But the specific end date is unconfirmed.
Despite these three featured dungeons previously requiring a Dungeon Key from their respective expansions, Rite of the Nine will be free for all players. That means anyone with a base copy of Destiny 2 can play the event while it is live.
What is the Rite of the Nine event in Destiny 2?
Rite of the Nine will be focused solely on dungeons in a similar vein to the Pantheon challenges from Into the Light. Three dungeons will be featured on rotation: Prophecy, Spire of the Watcher, and Ghosts of the Deep. The Rite of the Nine event adds a slew of new difficulty modes, updated loot, and a revamped farming system to earn loot on repeated runs.
Players will also have access to a new social space called The Third Spire, which is a revised version of the old victory space from Trials of the Nine when players completed a Flawless run. Here, players can visit an old ally, the Emissary of the Nine, for access to all the new rewards.
Each week, one dungeon will be listed as the featured dungeon and players will engage in various challenges in that one dungeon. There will be three difficulty options available, allowing players of all skill levels to earn something. For players willing to take on the highest difficulty, special loot is up for grabs.
Destiny 2 Rite of the Nine Loot
Rite of the Nine will feature 12 revised weapons from past encounters with an all-new selection of perks. Adept versions will be available earned if dungeons are completed on the highest difficulty.
A new Origin trait called Gravity Well will be exclusive to these weapons. Along with the initial Origin perk in the fifth column, Gravity Well will also be able to be chosen as an option. Gravity Well's effects are listed as "Reloading this weapon automatically gathers nearby ammo." It's not known exactly how far away this takes effect, but the perk seems to gather any nearby ammo bricks on the ground, Heavy or Special, and pull them to your character on a reload.
Players can also visit the Emissary of the Nine in the Third Spire space to attune their loot drops from dungeon completions. Similar to how the Brave Arsenal worked in Into the Light, only one attunement can be active per run, and this will increase the likelihood of obtaining that weapon as a reward.
Players who finish a dungeon on the highest difficulty, Ultimatum, will be able to earn an Adept weapon. These weapons have a unique shader effect on them making them glow and shimmer. Adept versions of weapons will also have boosted stats over the normal versions, so they will have an upper hand over normal drops.
Here are the 12 weapons coming with Rite of the Nine:
- Prosecutor Auto Rifle
- Relentless Pulse Rifle
- Judgment Hand Cannon
- A Sudden Death Shotgun
- Wilderflight Grenade Launcher
- Long Arm Scout Rifle
- Liminal Vigil Sidearm
- Terminus Horizon Machine Gun
- New Pacific Epitaph Breach-loaded Grenade Launcher
- No Survivors Submachine Gun
- Greasy Luck Glaive
- Cold Comfort Rocket Launcher
Other rewards from Rite of the Nine also include five new Emblems, a new Title/Seal, and weapon ornaments.
Destiny 2 Rite of the Nine Difficulty Modes
Rite of the Nine's rotating dungeons are broken up into three difficulty tiers, allowing players of any skill level to earn something and experience a challenge. Each mode changes aspects of the dungeon, such as displaying helpful tips to the rather difficult "Notswap" modifier. Here's how each one is broken down.
Explorer Mode
This mode is essentially "Beginner Mode" with an incredibly forgiving difficulty level and much less harsh punishments for wipes and party deaths. While we don't know the maximum Power level for these dungeons yet, we can assume it will be a low bar to clear. The rules for Explorer Mode are:
- No Darkness Zones. Normally when players come across a Darkness Zone, if the full time dies with no revives available, the encounter resets back to the start of the last checkpoint. In Explorer Mode, Darkness Zones are completely disabled.
- Revive timer is only five seconds. Revive Timers in dungeons typically range from 20 seconds to 45 seconds. In Explorer Mode, they are much more forgiving so players can be revived more quickly.
- Tooltips explain mechanics. Before beginning the encounter, tooltips will be visible that explain how each encounter basically functions. New players will be able to immediately pick up on these tips and execute their mechanics.
- Waypoints guide players during more open sections of dungeons. These will constantly be visible to guide players to the next objective.
- Helper platforms appear when a player reaches a checkpoint, helping those who struggle with jumping puzzles.
Eternity Mode
Bungie has not shared the full details on how this mode will work, but it is likely more geared towards casual players seeking a challenge. It's possible most of the standard rules for dungeons will be present here such as Darkness Zones, longer revive timers, and possibly even more strict timers on certain encounters.
There will also be a scoring mechanic live in Eternity Mode that will gauge players' performance based on time spent on an encounter, enemies killed, and revives remaining after an encounter is completed.
Ultimatum Mode
This is the highest difficulty level for Rite of the Nine. Basically this is only where the best of the best can thrive. It's likely this will have a lower power cap and feature lots of extra modifiers to make the encounters much more unforgiving and difficult to navigate. The rules that we know of so far are:
- Contest Mode difficulty. Much like when a raid is live for the first time, players will be at least 20 levels below the Power level of all enemies in the dungeons. Enemies will also be much more aggressive, shooting more often and running towards players whenever possible. Limited revives will prevent players from completing encounters if they run out.
- "Notswap" Modifier. Notswap is a new modifier where, if a player swaps an Exotic armor, a weapon, or a class, all of their energy is drained to zero. All cooldowns will be reactivated, the Super gauge will be set to zero, and they will have to regain all energy to use abilities again.
Scoring will be based on deaths.The fewer deaths accumulated through an entire run, the higher the score will be. If players achieve a Platinum score, they will receive an Adept weapon at the end.
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Destiny 2 PC Xbox One Xbox Series X PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5This story originally appeared on: GameSpot - Author:UK GAG
