Destiny 2 is in a different place in late 2026 than it was even a year ago. Bungie released its last planned content update in June 2026, so the game has stopped growing, but it is still online and you can still download it and play for free. That makes now a good time to start: nothing new will be added, and you can work through everything at your own pace.
This guide covers what the game looks like today, what you get for free, what costs money, and how to spend your first few evenings so you don’t get lost in menus.
Where Destiny 2 stands in 2026
On May 21, 2026, Bungie announced that active development of Destiny 2 would end. The final update, Monument of Triumph (update 9.7.0), arrived on June 9, 2026. Bungie has said there will be no more planned live-service content after it. The servers stay up and the game remains playable, much like the original Destiny, which Bungie also kept online after it stopped adding content. Hotfixes for stability may still appear.
Monument of Triumph was built as a send-off. Its main feature is a set of game-wide Triumphs that earn Legendary Marks, which you spend on armor ornaments, accessories and weapon engrams. It also added a permanent Pantheon boss-rush activity, made Sparrow Racing League a permanent mode, and retired the yearly seasonal events.
For a new player, this means the game you install today will not get new content, so what you learn now stays useful.
What is free and what costs money
Destiny 2 has been free-to-play since October 1, 2019, when the free version (then called New Light) launched alongside Shadowkeep and the PC version moved to Steam. It is available on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S, and cross-play works across all of them.
Free
- The core game, including its shared destinations and matchmade activities.
- Vanguard and Crucible playlists, which you reach from the in-game map.
- Monument of Triumph rewards, plus the Pantheon and Sparrow Racing League additions from the final update.
Paid
- Expansion campaigns, such as The Witch Queen, Lightfall, The Final Shape, The Edge of Fate and Renegades.
- Raids and dungeons, which require the matching expansion or a Dungeon Key.
- Destiny 2: The Collection, released on June 9, 2026, which bundles the available expansions, content packs and Dungeon Keys into one purchase. Individual expansions also got permanent price cuts around the same time.
One thing to know before you buy: some older story content no longer exists in the game. In November 2020 Bungie moved the original Red War campaign, Curse of Osiris and Warmind into the Destiny Content Vault, and Forsaken’s campaign followed in 2022. You cannot buy your way back into those, so don’t expect to start the story from 2017.
Our advice is to play the free content for a week first. If you like the shooting and the loot loop, The Collection is the simplest way to own everything. If you only want the newest systems, start with The Edge of Fate.
How the game is structured after The Edge of Fate and Renegades
The Light and Darkness saga, which ran from the first game through The Final Shape (June 2024), is finished. Year 8, called the Year of Prophecy, changed how Destiny 2 was released: instead of one big expansion a year, it had two mid-sized expansions, each followed by a free major update.
- The Edge of Fate (July 15, 2025) took players to Kepler, a planetoid in the Oort Cloud built around solo exploration and new Matterspark abilities, and introduced the Nine as the new threat.
- Ash & Iron (September 9, 2025) was the free update for that half of the year, returning to the Plaguelands on Earth.
- Renegades (December 2, 2025) is a Star Wars-inspired expansion set on the Lawless Frontier across Mars, Venus and Europa, with a new villain, Dredgen Bael.
- Monument of Triumph (June 9, 2026) closed out development.
The multi-year Fate saga that The Edge of Fate started was never completed, because development ended before it could continue. If story matters to you, The Final Shape is the most complete ending the game has.
The Director and the Portal
You will see both names in guides, so it helps to know the history. The Edge of Fate replaced the old Director map with a menu called the Portal, which grouped activities into solo, fireteam, pinnacle and Crucible categories and let you add modifiers for better rewards. Many players disliked it, and Monument of Triumph brought the Director’s solar system map back, with the Portal’s activity lists moved into node menus.
In practice: open your map, pick a node, choose a difficulty, and launch. Harder difficulties and extra modifiers pay out better loot.
Power and gear basics
Power is the number that shows how strong your gear is. The Edge of Fate rebuilt this system from scratch, resetting every player to Power 10. Under that system, the base cap is 200, and seasonal bonus Power from harder activities pushes you beyond it, up to 550 after the Ash & Iron update. You raise Power by equipping the higher-rated gear that drops as you play.
Gear tiers
Newer weapons and armor drop in tiers from 1 to 5. Higher tiers come from harder activities and need a higher Power level to drop reliably. Tier 5 weapons get extra perk options and a unique look, and higher-tier armor rolls with better stats. As a beginner you will mostly see Tier 1 and 2 items, which is normal. Our gear tiers guide explains each tier in detail.
Armor stats
Armor now uses six stats: Weapons, Health, Class, Grenade, Super and Melee. Each one does what its name says. Every armor piece has an archetype that favors two of these stats, and newer armor sets give bonuses when you wear two or more pieces from the same set. Our armor stats guide goes deeper. You can browse every piece in our armor database and every weapon in the weapons database.
Choosing a class: Titan, Hunter or Warlock
Your class decides your abilities, not your weapons. Any class can use any gun, so pick the one whose playstyle sounds most fun. You can make up to three characters, so you can try the others later.
- Titan is the sturdy frontline class, with shields and barricades that suit players who like to stand their ground.
- Hunter is the agile, aggressive class, with plenty of tools for stealth and high damage.
- Warlock is the space-wizard class, with strong support options such as the healing Well of Radiance super.
Each class has subclasses tied to an element. The Light subclasses are Arc, Solar and Void. Stasis arrived with Beyond Light, Strand with Lightfall, and Prismatic, which mixes Light and Darkness abilities, with The Final Shape. Some of these are unlocked through expansion content. Our subclass pages list what each one does, the abilities, aspects and fragments database covers the pieces you use to customize them, and the elements and verbs guide explains the keywords.
Your first goals
- Finish the introduction and learn the map. Get comfortable launching activities from the Director and find where Monument of Triumph progress is tracked.
- Play the free playlists. Vanguard activities teach you to fight in a group, and you will collect your first useful weapons along the way.
- Work on Monument of Triumph. The Triumphs give clear goals and the Legendary Marks they award buy real rewards.
- Settle on one subclass. Stick with it until you understand how its grenade, melee and class ability work together before you experiment.
- Pick up an expansion if you are enjoying it. A campaign gives you story, a new area and better gear.
Where to go next
Once you are comfortable, the hardest group content is waiting. Dungeons are built for three players and make a good first step, and raids are six-player activities with mechanics you have to learn as a team. Both need the matching expansion or a Dungeon Key. Our raids vs dungeons guide helps you prepare. For solo challenges, our Lost Sectors database lists every one we have documented.
When you start caring about builds, the mods database and our build planner let you plan a loadout before you farm for it. Everything else lives in the main Destiny 2 database, and if you want to know how the series got here, our Destiny timeline and Destiny 1 hub cover the history.