Do you want to get the best loot in Destiny 2 from the new Nightfall mode “Dusk: The Trial by Fire”? You should aim for the Nightfall on Platinum difficulty. What that means and what you need to pay attention to is explained here.
What is the new Nightfall all about? With Shadowkeep, in addition to the regular Nightfall, the new format “Dusk: The Trial by Fire” was introduced. There, you can collect more and better loot in the Dusk Strike as the difficulty level increases.
The Trial by Fire is one of the few sources for certain materials or high-tier gear that can push you above the power level of 950.
This is how Dusk: The Trial by Fire works: In the Trial by Fire, you can tackle a weekly rotating Nightfall Strike at 4 total difficulty levels:
- Master: recommended power level 750, 1 modifier
- Hero: recommended power level 920, 4 modifiers
- Legend: recommended power level 950, 6 modifiers
- Grandmaster: recommended power level 980, 8 modifiers
As the difficulty level increases, the number of modifiers also increases, but the loot gets better. Unfortunately, the enemies also become tougher. You earn more points per enemy accordingly.
Additionally, there are new special enemies – the Champions. These foes are particularly tough, have special abilities, and can deal significant damage:
- The Trial by Fire levels Master and Hero feature automated matchmaking.
- In Legend and Grandmaster, you still rely on a pre-made fireteam.
What is Platinum anyway? The difficulty levels determine the quantity and type of loot you can receive there. However, there are also further tiers within the Nightfall, such as Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. These are based on your performance – but not on points, rather on your performance against the Champions.
These tiers determine your chance for loot based on the chosen difficulty level – thus the drop probability.
Why should you aim for Platinum? If you achieve a Platinum completion, you have the best chances for the best loot – including Exotics.
You can also find loot in the other tiers, but rewards are significantly less impressive and with lower probability than in Platinum.
By the way, at 100,000 points, there is guaranteed high-tier gear in the Trial by Fire.
This is what you should keep in mind if you want the best loot in the Trial by Fire:
- Play preferably on Legend or Grandmaster
- You earn points by defeating enemies
- You have a 20-minute timer. If it runs out, your points decrease. If you drop below 100,000, forget about the high-tier reward – even if you were over 100k during the match.
- The more of the new Champion enemies you kill, the better your final rewards will be.
- There are 3 types of Champions: Barrier, Unstoppable, and Overload. Be sure to use appropriate artifact mods against these foes.
- Barrier Champions have an additional Overshield that can only be broken with appropriate artifact mods (and Eriana’s Vow). Unstoppable foes have significantly more health and take less damage per shot. Overload Champions are very aggressive, pursue the Guardians, and can essentially only be stopped with abilities or artifact mods that disrupt enemies.
- What many do not know: While Platinum gives you the best chances for the best rewards, ALL Champions in a Trial by Fire Nightfall must be killed.
- If you skip any or if your teammates rush too far ahead causing Champions to possibly despawn, your chances for the best loot decrease and you can forget about Platinum.
- If you do not kill all Champions, you will still get loot, but of a lower quality. Because the chances of the best items like Ascendant Shards and Exotics decrease without Platinum.
So keep an eye on the timer, the right mods for the respective Champions, as well as the Champions themselves. Then, nothing should stand between you and the Trial by Fire on Platinum with corresponding loot (aside from the required power level).
You can find more information in this video by Ninja Pups:
The Trial by Fire offers some of the few sources of high-tier gear as a reward. However, even so, getting to the new max power level isn’t easy – at least not without the seasonal artifact:
