In Destiny 2, the toughest PvE challenge of Season 13 begins: the Grandmaster difficulty of the Nightfall. How do you participate and what is the reward for the pain?
This challenge is about: Destiny 2 lets Guardians sweat starting today. On March 16, the Nightfall: Grandmaster goes live. This is a particularly difficult version of the renowned Nightfall Strikes, which also lure with exclusive weapons and a prestigious title that can now even be gilded.
The Grandmaster difficulty is not new and always goes live later in a season. The mode was originally conceived by Bungie as the PvE counterpart to the Trials, specifically catering to streamers who enjoy suffering on camera.
In Season 13, the changes to loot are meant to refresh the playlist. However, anyone planning an outing should know what they are getting into.
Nightfall: Grandmaster – This is the currently hardest PvE mode of Destiny 2
This is why it’s so difficult:
- The power level for the Nightfall: Grandmaster sits at 1,350.
- To even participate, you must have a level of 1,325 (with artifact).
- The maximum regular power level of gear in Season 13 is 1,310. So, you are inevitably required to push your artifact significantly. But no matter how much you grind, in Grandmaster, your effective power is always capped at 1,325 – Bungie calls this competitive mode.
- Additionally, more than 10 modifiers at once ensure that enemies deal more damage, more champions appear, you cannot change your loadouts during the mission, you have limited respawns, and so on…
- Each of the 6 strikes that receive Grandmaster difficulty in Season 13 has handpicked modifiers.
- There is of course no automatic matchmaking – you have to find 2 other Guardians yourself.
If you’ve already dismissed this mode due to level requirements, hold on! Starting April 20, all 6 strikes will be active at once. You can then catch up on the missions that you are not strong enough for yet.
A rather torturous experience awaits. The numerous champions require well-coordinated equipment from your fireteam. You should be able to defeat all 3 champion types, otherwise, you will hardly progress on this difficulty. Alternatively, you might try using invisibility, but without fighting the annoying enemies, your chances of exclusive loot drop significantly.
Master weapons are the loot carrot in front of your nose
These weapons await: In the normal Nightfall, 3 playlist weapons rotate weekly (in the title image). Only through the Grandmaster difficulty can you get these as master versions (also called adept weapons). Elsewhere in PvE, there are none of these special weapons. Only in the Trials are there master weapons – however, the trials were discontinued after just one day.
The 3 master weapons of the Nightfall:
- The Palindrome: 140 hand cannon with void damage
- Shadow Price: 450 auto rifle with arc damage
- The Swarm: 360 heavy machine gun with arc damage
It is currently unknown whether all 3 weapons are in the loot pool or whether only the weekly weapon from the normal Nightfall can be obtained. The drop of a master weapon is also not guaranteed when you complete the Grandmaster, but again, nothing is officially confirmed. As always, if you achieve platinum in the mission, your loot chances increase.
What advantages do master weapons bring?
- As a fully leveled masterwork, the weapon receives +10 on one stat (like every weapon) and +3 on the other stats.
- An exclusive shader, which only the master version possesses.
- Access to special master mods like “Master Range” (+10 range) or “Master Icarus” (+5 range and better accuracy in the air) – the mods are only available from the Nightfall on Grandmaster and the Trials of Osiris.
The base stat values and perk pool are identical between the normal and master versions. However, as a masterwork and through the special mods, the hard-earned rewards have noticeable advantages. Not to mention, the weapons are prestigious items that not many Guardians should earn.
Is there a gold version?
This also shows off: As in the past, you can only earn the title “Conqueror” through Grandmaster completions. You then wear it proudly above your character’s head, so everyone in the Tower can see what a tough cookie you are. You must complete all 6 featured strikes on Grandmaster before Season 13 ends in May 2021.
To make it even more decadent, you can now gild the title in Season 13. To do this, you need to unlock the Conqueror title once and then complete additional tasks.
At the end of the season, this resets and you will have to sweat again next season. As a thank you, you will receive a number next to the gilded title, indicating how many times you have gone through the torture:
Have you already leveled up diligently, refined your loadouts, and are you ready for Grandmaster? Or do you still need to pump up your Guardian a bit to take on the challenge? What do you think of gilded titles and master weapons? Would such a Guardian impress you in the Tower? Let us know in the comments.
We will keep an eye out on MeinMMO for strategies to tackle the Nightfall: Grandmaster on its brutal difficulty. In the meantime, you can draw inspiration from these top weapons: 3 loadouts from the pros that will smash everything in Season 13 of Destiny 2
