Destiny 2: Season of the Haunted beginner’s guide

Season of the Haunted is Destiny 2’s 17th season. The Leviathan has appeared above the Moon, but it’s not the same as it was before. Darkness has spread across the ship, corrupting it and some of its passengers. This season also brings back some fan-favorite weapons including Austringer and Beloved.

In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll go over everything new with Season of the Haunted and how the seasonal loop works.

Return of the Leviathan

This season brings back an old location, the Derelict Leviathan, a dark and corrupted version of the Leviathan ship (which housed Destiny 2’s first raid, but was removed in Beyond Light). You can explore the Castellum, Baths, and the Pleasure Gardens through the director via the Moon.

New currencies

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There are five new currencies for you to use throughout the Season of the Haunted.

Vestiges of Dread drop from completing general activities, completing patrols, killing enemies, and opening chests on the Leviathan. You can use them at the end of a tier-three Nightmare Containment to get bonus loot, which costs 500 Vestiges (you can hold a max of 2500, but you can hold more after a seasonal upgrade).

While you’ll fill up on these naturally once you finish the weekly quest, the fastest way to get 500 is to complete patrols and loot chests in the Castellum.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Bound Presence drops from bosses in the Nightmare Containment activity. You can use them to open a bonus chest at the end of the Sever activity. The first tier three Nightmare Containment you complete each week will guarantee one Bound Presence. After that they are a random drop.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

You’ll get Opulent Umbral Energy from spending 500 Vestiges of Dread at the end of a tier-three Nightmare Containment, or from the season pass. You can use them to focus Umbral Engrams in the HELM at the Crown of Sorrow.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Opulent Keys drop from activities and chests throughout the Leviathan. You can use them to open chests hidden throughout the Leviathan’s zones. Each key gives a hint as to where it’s located.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Figments of Darkness are used to unlock upgrades in the Crown of Sorrow. You can earn them through certain seasonal challenges and through the rewards track at the Crown of Sorrow.

New weapons

Image: Bungie via Polygon

This season brings 10 new craftable weapons. Six are directly tied to the season (the Haunted weapons), and four are returning weapons from Season of the Opulence (Opulent weapons).

Haunted weapons:

• Kinetic Auto Rifle – Firefright
• Solar Shotgun – Without Remorse
• Arc Glaive – Nezarec’s Whisper
• Kinetic Scout Rifle – Tears of Contrition
• Void Trace Rifle – Hollow Denial
• Stasis Rocket Launcher – Bump in the Night

Opulent weapons:

• Kinetic Hand Cannon – Austringer
• Solar Sidearm – Drang (Baroque)
• Solar Sniper – Beloved
• Solar Submachine gun – Calus Mini-Tool

All of these weapons are craftable, but you’ll need to complete five Deepsight Resonance weapons to unlock each pattern. If you need a crafting refresher, you can read up on it here.

You can earn Haunted weapons through the Nightmare Containment activity, which we outline below. You can earn the Opulent weapons through Opulent chests, which are the chests that use the Opulent Keys, described above.

Once you unlock a certain seasonal upgrade at the Crown of Sorrow using Figments of Darkness, you can focus these weapons using umbral engrams and Opulent Umbral Energy.

Nightmare Containment

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Nightmare Containment is this season’s primary activity. It takes place in the Castellum on the Derelict Leviathan and is a Public Event. There are three tiers that take you around the Castellum to fight enemies and bind Shards of Dread — a fancy, in-game way of saying “kill enemies to progress the event.” Each tier has different tasks you need to complete, so keep an eye on the left side of your screen to see the game’s instructions.

Sever

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Sever is the weekly mission that takes you through the underbelly of the Leviathan and has some fun puzzles to solve. You can use a Bound Presence to open an extra chest of seasonal loot at the end of the mission.

If you’re struggling with where to go in Sever, keep looking around. If you take too long, the game will point you in the right direction.