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Destiny 2 Black Armory Annual Pass update: All you need to know

Destiny 2 Black Armory content was today detailed by developer Bungie.

Available from 5 December AEDT, the Black Armory expansion is the first piece of the game’s Annual Pass content and includes the following:

  • Access to the new Black Armory vendor, Ada-1
  • A new Activity: four Lost Forges
  • A new Raid
  • New Exotic Weapons
  • New Quests, Triumphs, and Collections

We’ve detailed the content further, using a fact sheet provided by Bungie alongside a recent chat with Bungie’s David ‘DeeJ’ Dague.

According to DeeJ, Bungie wants to continue to provide Guardians with the same renewed experience that Forsaken brought to the game.

“Since the launch of Forsaken, our path of vengeance for Cayde led us to the Tangled Shore and the Dreaming City and into the depths of the Last Wish Raid,” he told Stevivor. “We have enjoyed the fact that the Destiny conversation has changed week over week. We didn’t just drop a lot of content and then sit back and see how long it would take people to get through it.

“We’ve had this curated experience where we’ve been able to change the conversation from one week to the next. If the community discovered new things to do, and banded together to understand the challenges. What we’d like to do as we come into the Season of the Forge is to duplicate that phenomenon, where Destiny is this interesting experience that evolves over time.”

With Black ArmoryDestiny 2 will continue to do just that.

Increase to the Power cap

DeeJ confirmed that every Guardian will benefit from a Power cap increase, to 650 from 600, regardless of Annual Pass ownership.

“Every player of Destiny 2 also gets to raid the level 650, up to 650,” DeeJ confirmed.

“The Annual Pass is an additional layer of activity and reward, that doesn’t disrupt the base game. If someone bought Destiny 2 and never acquired anything else, they will still get to come along on this journey into the Season of the Forge. They’ll still get to rank up in the Crucible, they’ll still get to acquire emotes, or any of the other things that will aid them in their create expression of their inner hero,” he continued.

“For the hardcore players who want to maximise their potential and get everything the game has to offer to them to challenge themselves in new ways, they can grab the annual pass, they can experience the Black Armory and the new race, and the Exotic quest, and they can do so without disrupting the gameplay experience for the core community who is just sort of, oh getting their weekly ritual and doing the things they do to level up.”

The Black Armory, Lost Forges and Ada-1

The Black Armory was created by three families — representing Norse, French and Japanese lineages — during Earth’s Golden Age. Ada-1 (shown above, top), found inside The Tower, will guide Guardians on a quest to locate and reignite multiple Lost Forges from that same period.

“The Black Armory is not a campaign, it’s a place,” DeeJ told us. “When [Guardians] go into this place, they’re going to meet Ada-1, and Ada is going to be their story agent. She will give them quests that will send them back out into the wild — to destinations that they know — to discover new settings that we’ve placed on those destinations where they’re going to find Lost Forges.”

“The Lost Forges are going to be a source of new rewards, and power, and guns, and gear, and even weapon mods. These are secrets of the Golden Age that were lost to time and war, and the Guardians have been welcomed to rediscover these things and to help them reclaim their lost technology.”

There will be four Lost Forges in total, suitable for completion by 3-player fireteams. Each Forge will be accessible from orbit and each will provide matchmaking if you don’t already have a team.

You read that right: there’ll be matchmaking.

“[Lost Forges] were inspired by things like The Blind Well and Escalation Protocol, but we’ve added matchmaking to satisfy the feedback of many solo players who felt like we were punishing them for lacking a healthy friends list,” DeeJ told Stevivor.

But before you ask: no — old activities like Escalation Protocol haven’t been reworked to add in similar-style matchmaking.

“We’re not retrofitting old activities,” DeeJ told us. “We’re deploying new content into the ecosystem of the game. The four different Lost Forges will be their own separate activities. You can launch into them from orbit, and before you descend down to them, if you don’t have a prior team, we’ll equip you with one, comprised of other players who are also seeking.”

A new Raid: Scourge of the Past

We don’t know much about the new Raid — including when it will launch — but we do know its name: Scourge of the Past.

We also know where it’s located: “the ruins of the Last City,” according to Bungie’s fact sheet.

We’ll have more on Scourge of the Past as it’s made available.

New weaponry

Bungie confirmed that we’ll see the return of Heavy Machine Guns with the Black Armory expansion.

According to DeeJ, the co-founding Black Armory lineages will have a direct impact on weapon design.

“From these Lost Forges, players are going to be able to acquire a whole suite of weapons that come from three lineages, three families that helped co-found The Black Armory,” he said. “So these will be weapons of Norse, French, and Japanese design — giving Guardians the opportunity to understand some of that lost culture of the Golden Age and to reclaim its secrets through the lore that they’re collecting.”

These weapons are in addition to the new Pinnacle Weaponry detailed by Bungie earlier this week.

The return of a beloved Exotic (& 4 new ones)

While DeeJ wouldn’t tell us what which Exotic would be returning with Black Armory, we won’t have to wait long to find out.

“Season of the Forge will grant players an Exotic quest that will let them reclaim an old Exotic weapon that they’ve been missing for a while,” he said. “I will give you a hint tomorrow.”

Our money’s on The Last Word, but we’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

Four new Exotics will also be added: Anarchy, Le Monarch, Izanagi’s Burden and Jotun — they’re detailed in Bungie’s new ViDoc, below.

Destiny 2 is available now on Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4. Season of the Forge begins today, while Black Armory is available from 6 December.


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Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.