Rite of the Nine is one of the most exciting events Destiny 2 has had in the past year. Since last year’s Into the Light event and Pantheon mode, fans have been clamouring for a sequel — and the time is almost upon us.
Releasing on May 6th, it’s a matter of days until we can experience this new event and get our teeth into everything it offers. Featuring revamps of some fan-favourite Dungeons, a new social space, and a lot of loot for players to pick up, Rite of the Nine is going to be a great time for everyone, and has lots of options available, no matter your proficiency in the game.
In this article, we’ll take a look at everything you need to know about Rite of the Nine. From the basic information about the event to what you can expect during the event, as well as some tips and ideas on how to prepare for these exciting times.
What is Rite of the Nine?
Rite of the Nine is a new event during Act III of Episode Heresy, which focuses on three iconic dungeons in the game — Prophecy, Spire of the Watcher, and Ghosts of the Deep. It’s similar to Into the Light’s legendary Pantheon mode, but offers more than just an endgame option for the highest level of players.
Rite of the Nine will have three different difficulty levels, all of them designed to cater to different skill levels and approaches to play the game:
- Explorer: Explorer mode is designed to help newer players progress throughout these dungeons for the first time, with no darkness zones and visual tooltips and waypoints to help teach mechanics and encounters.
- Eternity: Eternity mode is the ‘standard’ mode, providing a revamp and new challenge to these classic dungeons but without the extra challenge that comes with the hardest mode.
- Ultimatum: Ultimatum mode is the peak of Rite of the Nine, essentially acting as Contest Mode in a bottle and with a higher chance of better loot. Encounters give rewards based on a number of deaths (the fewer, the better), and offer adept loot with double perks.
There will also be a social space called The Third Spire, which is the return of the beloved Flawless Victory Zone from the original Trials of the Nine gamemode, with the Emissary of the Nine acting as vendor to gain rewards from.
What’s in Rite of the Nine?
Dungeons
Rite of the Nine contains three dungeons, all of which have been changed and adjusted to add more variety and difficulty:
- Prophecy: The original IX dungeon, Prophecy, is a beloved classic that has needed a rework for years, both in difficulty and loot. Having played through most of the pre-released version myself, the Ultimatum version of this dungeon has rekindled my love for it, and there are some interesting changes (that may not be in the final version).
- Spire of the Watcher: Hailing from The Witch Queen’s dungeon key, Spire of the Watcher is known for its fun and unique mechanics, as well as its ability to drop some nice-looking cowboy armor for transmog purposes. This dungeon has a lot of potential for a rework, as the mechanics are incredibly fun and also complex enough to weave new difficulty options into.
- Ghosts of the Deep: Known for its infamously difficult solo flawless, Lightfall’s Ghosts of the Deep is loved by many, and endured by many more. It’ll be interesting to see how this dungeon changes, as the Master version already provides a massive difficulty spike.
Luckily, even if you do not own the original dungeon keys for these dungeons, you’ll be able to access them for free, giving you a chance to try your hand at them for the first time. All of them will remain accessible presumably till the end of Episode Heresy, at some point in the summer.
Weapons
Rite of the Nine has a host of reworked weapons from these dungeons, all of which come with their original origin traits as well as a new origin trait, Gravity Well (Reloading this weapon automatically grabs nearby ammo).
There will be four per dungeon, all of which are also available as Adept weapons that drop with double perks, provided you drop them in Ultimatum mode. While these weapons were leaked during the accidental Rite of the Nine release during Act II of Heresy, there were a lot of glitched rolls, and so it’s difficult to know what rolls are available.
But once we have access to the event, we’ll be posting everything that you need to know about every dungeon in detail, so keep an eye out for our Rite of the Nine dungeon guides so you know exactly what to look for.
Prophecy
A Sudden Death
Ammo Type: Special
Weapon Type: Shotgun
Element: Void
A Sudden Death is a decent Aggressive Frame Void shotgun that can roll Threat Detector and Trench Barrel/One-Two Punch, which are all decent perks. While Aggressive Frame shotguns are great when it comes to general shotgun usage, taking full advantage of the frame would be much better with a pure damage/major clear roll.
A perk like Recombination or Redirection would be massive here to allow for A Sudden Death to sit closer to an Aggressive Frame version of Sundered Doctrine’s Unvoiced, especially if combined with Lead from Gold to help keep ammo sustain up.
Prosecutor
Ammo Type: Primary
Weapon Type: Auto Rifle
Element: Arc
Prosecutor can already roll some great perks like Dragonfly and Voltshot, and unfortunately, only suffers because autos aren’t in a great spot right now in PvE. Voltshot isn’t as good as it would be with a sidearm or SMG, though, so seeing newer perks like Jolting Feedback might make this an even better option.
Relentless
Ammo Type: Primary
Weapon Type: Pulse Rifle
Element: Strand
Relentless is unfortunately already quite weak due to Strand’s weakness in relevant perks, as well as the general irrelevance of primary weapons in general. Not a lot could turn this into an incredible option, but I’d be happy to eat my words.
Judgment
Ammo Type: Primary
Weapon Type: Hand Cannon
Element: Stasis
While not the best Hand Cannon by any means, Judgment is still a classic and feels incredible to use. A lack of relevant perks in the second column stops it from reaching its full potential, and even a combination like Headstone and Rimestealer will make it better.
However, for this really to shine, an AoE perk like Dragonfly or Explosive Payload would be so good, as well as combining it with Headstone for increased AoE. Ultimately, though, I don’t see it making waves past simply just being beloved, and on the list of ‘Primaries I could use’ for most.
Spire of the Watcher
Liminal Vigil
Ammo Type: Primary
Weapon Type: Sidearm
Element: Stasis
Similarly to Judgment, Liminal Vigil falls into the sad reality of not having enough relevant second column perks already. A new perk would make it better, but nothing groundbreaking — just up to personal preference.
Long Arm
Ammo Type: Primary
Weapon Type: Scout Rifle
Element: Arc
Long Arm is, unfortunately, another primary that just doesn’t serve much purpose past preference. Rapid Hit and Dragonfly are fine perks already, but the gun doesn’t fill a niche, and so it’s just a primary that can be used.
Terminus Horizon
Ammo Type: Heavy
Weapon Type: Machine Gun
Element: Arc
Terminus Horizon provides an interesting discussion about whether we need another good arc LMG after just receiving Watchful Eye, which is a pocket Thunderlord. However, for those who prefer High Impact LMGs, a roll that has a reload perk + Jolting Feedback might take the throne as the best non-Song of Ir Yut Arc LMG.
Wilderflight
Ammo Type: Special
Weapon Type: Breech-Loaded Grenade Launcher
Element: Void
Wilderflight has a lot of potential, as a better damage perk than Frenzy and a better reload perk than Auto Loading Holster might make this one of the best damage rotation BGLs in the game — especially if Area Denial Frame launchers get nerfed.
Ghosts of the Deep
Cold Comfort
Ammo Type: Heavy
Weapon Type: Rocket Launcher
Element: Void
Cold Comfort is a pretty good Rocket Launcher, with the best frame in the game as well as a Bait and Switch/Bipod option available. A reload perk would make this perfect, though, as Envious Assassin is the only thing stopping this from being a valid DPS option.
Greasy Luck
Ammo Type: Special
Weapon Type: Glaive
Element: Solar
Glaives are in a really interesting spot, with recent buffs. However, Greasy Luck is just a poor void. Even a new AoE/damage perk to pair with Incandescent would go a long way in helping improve its usage, or a utility perk like Heal Clip. Its issue currently is just that it doesn’t have any great first column options.
New Pacific Epitaph
Ammo Type: Special
Weapon Type: Breech-Loaded Grenade Launcher
Element: Stasis
New Pacific Epitaph is a wave frame launcher, which already has to compete for attention with Area Denial and Double Fire launchers in the current sandbox. On top of this, for a Wave Frame, it has nothing that makes it worth running over Forbearance, and so a new focus on a Stasis-related perk might be necessary.
No Survivors
Ammo Type: Primary
Weapon Type: Sub-Machine Gun
Element: Solar
No Survivors is a pretty decent SMG, being able to roll Incandescent already. The obvious addition here is Heal Clip, making it a great option that rivals my beloved Heliocentric QSc in how useful it can be.
How to Prepare for Each Dungeon
Prophecy
Prophecy is a dungeon that has had a lot of time for people to learn and optimise, so a lot of this will already be known. But, here are a few tips if you’re new to the dungeon and want some pre-warning:
- Be Aware of Taken: This dungeon is full of Taken, meaning that Arc resist is good as well as options like Riskrunner or its Ergo Sum variant for extra Arc Conductor resist. Malfeasance can also be good here, if used correctly.
- Bosses: The first boss, Phalanx Echo, has a pretty easy DPS phase in which you can use pretty much anything to deal damage. Kell Echo is very tricky, however, due to its mechanics and massive health pool. The Queenbreaker is good here, as is Choir of One.
- Rainbow Road: Make sure to bring a Skimmer, if you have one. The ‘Rainbow Road’ segment of the dungeon is made far easier with one.
Spire of the Watcher
Spire of the Watcher is an incredibly fast-moving dungeon, with mechanics that require you to be quick on your feet and to shoot targets as quickly as possible:
- Mechanics: The mechanics are the trickiest part of Spire of the Watcher, and so taking a look beforehand and remembering where every switch is that you have to shoot, especially on Persys, will make sure that you can easily get through the mechanics phase.
- Bosses: For Akelous, The Queenbreaker is a great choice. For Persys, though, its crit spot is difficult to consistently hit, and so an option like Choir of One or a more damage-heavy DPS rotation will do the trick instead of crit.
- Trace Rifles: Having a Trace Rifle that you like will save so much time in this encounter, and make shooting switches far easier.
Ghosts of the Deep
Ghosts of the Deep is difficult, complex, and a challenge to beat on harder difficulties especially. Here are some tips for it:
- Bosses: Importantly, bring Arbalest if you can. It breaks the shield of the boss in one shot, giving a far easier way to crack into DPS. Otherwise, Icthar is a sword + Well of Radiance DPS phase, and the final boss is a Well + The Queenbreaker damage phase (if you can hit crits).
- Moths: Be very aware of moths. They will kill you if you are not looking around and making sure they’re killed before they can.
- Survivability: Survivability is key in this dungeon, especially. Everything hurts more than you’d expect, and it’s difficult to stay alive throughout an encounter with so much happening.
Closing Time
Rite of the Nine is an exciting activity, with three well-picked dungeons that provide unique experiences for all levels of players. So, get involved! Even if it’s just in Explorer mode, explore and discover the atmosphere and the world.
If you’re looking for a guide on how to get good gear for Endgame Content, check out our guide on Gear for New Endgame Players.
Otherwise, I’ll see you on Tuesday for the release of Rite of the Nine and the reveal of The Edge of Fate.