The annual Destiny 2 Guardian Games event has returned for 2023, and it comes with some adjustments, new rewards to earn, and an event card. As always, this is a class-based event that pits Titans vs. Warlocks vs. Hunters for bragging rights over the next year. Here’s the full rundown on what you need to know about earning medallions, scoring in Supremacy mode, and obtaining the new scout rifle, Exotic sparrow, and Heir Apparent catalyst.
How to start Guardian Games
To get underway, visit the Tower and speak with Eva Levante. The Tower has been adorned with a bunch of vaguely Olympics-y decorations, and Eva will be the key vendor throughout the event.
Eva will give you a new Guardian Games class item, and you should keep it equipped during the event. Completing activities with this class item equipped will earn you medallions, which is the currency used to push your class toward victory and earn yourself rewards. You should also note that the class item is required to make progress on certain bounties offered by Eva.
Eva will eventually have you speak with Zavala and Shaxx to round out the breadth of the event, but you’ll want to make sure you buy your first Card from Eva. This will unlock the ability to purchase Guardian Games bounties and get you started on the core of the event.
Your first real task is an event challenge to earn a medallion and then redeem it at the kiosk at the Tower. You can jump into a quick Crucible match or whatever activity you wish. Once that’s done, head back to the Tower and visit the podium behind Eva. Visit the corresponding node for your class to bank any medallions you’ve earned to complete this quest step and contribute to your class’s progress–all players of the same class will be contributing to the cause during the event.
This first event challenge should earn you some rewards (more on those below) and unlock access to the other 16 event challenges.
How to earn gold and platinum medallions
Completing activities
As noted above, you’ll earn medallions regardless of the activity you’re playing, so long as you’re wearing your Guardian Games class item. But while you’ll primarily earn bronze medallions through standard activity completions, there are a few other ways to obtain higher rarity medallions as well.
Contender/Platinum Cards
The primary method of obtaining gold and platinum medallions is through the Contender Cards (1,000 Glimmer) and Platinum Cards (1,500 Glimmer) that Eva sells. These grant you a random objective tied to the specific variety of Card you buy–a Crucible one might ask you to earn Void or Solar blows in the Crucible, for instance. These Cards can be repeatedly purchased, but the catch is that you can only hold one PvE one and one that covers Crucible and Gambit at a time, meaning you can’t stack these. For the most part, these Cards cover distinct activities, anyway; you wouldn’t be able to work on Lost Sector objectives while doing a raid, for instance.
Contender Cards grant a gold medallion upon completion, while Platinum Cards reward platinum medallions. You can stack bounties from Eva and other vendors, but those will only reward a mixture of XP and Bright Dust, rather than anything that specifically advances your progress in Guardian Games.
Event challenges
Event challenges provide another route to medallions, though only a limited number of them.
Event challenges with gold medallion rewards:
- Bronze – Bank medallions; higher-ranked ones grant more progress
- Silver – Bank medallions; higher-ranked ones grant more progress
- In The Cards – Complete 15 Contender and Platinum Cards from Eva
- Pull Some Strings – Defeat targets or assist teammates with Strand damage and abilities
- Friendly Rivalry – Complete Crucible, Gambit, or Supremacy matches
- Cloudrunning – Complete activities on Neptune
Event challenges with platinum medallion rewards:
- Good Games – Defeat targets in Supremacy matches or Guardian Games playlists
- Up For The Challenge – Complete Guardians Games Ops Nightfalls
- Crest Collector – Earn points in Supremacy by collecting crests from defeated opponents
Scoring torches
As an extra incentive, you can work through the Vying for Supremacy quest. This involves earning score in Guardian Games activities, beginning with Supremacy matches, to reach certain thresholds–starting at bronze and working upwards. By completing these steps, you can light the scoring torches at the Tower, which will earn you rewards and glows, helping you to stand out in the crowd and showcase your contributions to your class.
Event card
As in the past, the event card is an optional aspect of this seasonal event. Everyone receives the event card and can work on the associated event challenges and triumphs, the latter of which can unlock the new Champ title (as well as the Reveler title, which involves completing all 16 challenges from the four seasonal events).
But you can also opt to upgrade your event card for 1,000 Silver, which immediately grants you three rewards: the Championship Dance emote, Barnstormer sparrow, and Coronal Bloom shader. Beyond that, you can then use the event tickets you earn from completing event challenges to unlock other rewards: the Gridiron Shell ghost shell, Darts emote, Colorful Motes Effects transmat effect, and Medal Collector Projection. All of these items available as part of the event card are cosmetic-only in nature. If you’re unsure how much progress you’ll make, you can wait to upgrade the event card until later in the event.
Rewards: New scout rifle, armor, Exotic, and more
Separately from the event card, you can earn a number of rewards by just playing. There are the various rewards tied to each event challenge, as outlined above, and two weapons available as part of Guardian Games.
The first is the returning Void submachine gun The Title. Although it isn’t a new weapon, it does have new perk possibilities, the most noteworthy of which is Repulsor Brace.
The other weapon is a brand-new one: Taraxippos. This is Destiny 2’s first Strand scout rifle and is housed in the kinetic weapon slot.
Both guns have an optional fifth-column origin trait choice that includes a new option, Classy Contender. This causes kills with the weapon to grant class ability energy. You should receive both guns shortly into beginning the Guardian Games activities, but you’ll want to keep grinding away in order to obtain your ideal perk rolls.
As part of Guardian Games, there is a new Exotic sparrow to earn called Luminous Paragon. This is obtained by completing the Platinum event challenge, which involves banking a significant number of medallions at the podium during the course of the event.
Cashing in enough medallions will earn you the Competitive Catalyst quest. This will set you on the path to unlocking the Heir Apparent catalyst, which can apparently only be obtained during Guardian Games.
Also new is a set of armor ornaments for each class. These can be purchased outright from the Eververse store for 1,500 Silver, as can the equivalent Guardian Games ornament sets from 2021 and 2022. Alternatively, each of these three sets per class can be purchased for 6,000 Bright Dust–a hefty sum, but a nice way to obtain these cosmetics with currency earned by playing the game.
Finally, there are some other rewards you can earn from challenges located in the Director. Completing five matches of Supremacy in a given week will earn you a Pinnacle drop, with progress doubled if you join via the Supremacy playlist. (Your standard weekly “play three Crucible matches” Pinnacle challenge is also advanced through these matches.) Additionally, you can earn a Powerful Tier 1 reward by redeeming 25 medallions at the podium each week.
Supremacy
Supremacy is a new game mode in Destiny 2 that returns from the original Destiny. Those who have played Call of Duty’s Kill Confirmed or its many imitators will be right at home here. This is a team-based, deathmatch-style mode in which points are only scored by collecting an item dropped by slain enemies. Enemies can be denied those points by collecting the items dropped by your fallen teammates, making it essential to not just kill and avoid dying, but make tactical decisions on how and when to collect these crests.
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