Bungie releases a new update for Destiny 2 bringing back The Dawning limited time event, making further balance updates to weapons and gear, while also officially putting an end to a fan favorite glitch used in the Fire and Ice exotic mission for the Praxic Blade. Even though Destiny 2 hasn’t seen the player boost Bungie was likely hoping for with the Star Wars-inspired Renegades expansion, the content itself has been much better received by players than the launch of The Edge of Fate 6 months prior.
While technically fully licensed, Destiny 2 Renegades doesn’t actually utilize any actual Star Wars content, only adding locations, enemies, and gear that are heavily inspired by the IP, such as the Praxic Blade being a clear stand-in for the Lightsaber. Alongside replayable activities in the Lawless Frontier as well as unlocking numerous upgrades for the previously mentioned Praxic Blade, Bungie continues to push new content into Destiny 2, having just launched the Equilibrium dungeon activity this past weekend, including a contest mode for those who wanted an even greater challenge. Now, the studio has released its latest update, also bringing back the annual Winter event known as The Dawning.
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The latest update for Destiny 2 is one of the bigger ones as of late, headlined by the annual Dawning event, which adds a winter and holiday-themed atmosphere to the sci-fi shooter. For longtime players, there’s a lot of familiarity here, as Eve Levante, or “Space Grandma” as she is known throughout the community, has once again set up shop in the Tower, offering quests and rewards for players who not only bake cookie treats, but deliver them to the various NPCs throughout the game.
Snowballs are also back and dotted around the game, letting players damage enemies while also slowing them down. For something a bit different, Bungie has also added a Snowball Fight PvP mode, removing all abilities and weapons in favor of snow, which will be available through the next few weeks until The Dawning takes off on January 6, 2026.
In terms of rewards, the Dawning is getting its own dedicated space in Destiny 2‘s Event Home and will have a reward track featuring a shader, ship, emblem, and more. Portal activities will also have a chance to drop special weapons like the Mistral Rift linear fusion rifle, Permafrost grenade launcher, and Fimbulwinter Stitch sidearm.
Outside of the Dawning, the update also brought about tons of fixes and improvements to the core experience, including making the Cyan crystal for the Praxic Blade more available as it apparently had a lower drop rate than the rest of the crystals. Balance adjustments were alsoi included here, adjusting the smoke effect from Void subclasses like the Nightstalker, which Bungie described as being inconsistent for the victim. Some exotic armor like the Mataiodoxia, Celestial Nighthawk, and Graviton Forfeit also saw positive adjustments, and the Moebius Quiver Hunter Super was also improved.
Unfortunately for players, this update also brought an end to a popular glitch that players had been using in the legendary version of Destiny 2‘s Fire and Ice exotic mission. In order to help earn all three Praxic Blade catalysts, players found a way to essentially break the mission timer based on how the pyramid activators were interacted with at the start of the mission. This let players have as much time as they needed to take on enemies and figure out the puzzles in the mission to earn each of the catalysts in one go without any sort of timer stress. As of this update, that loophole has now been closed completely.
Destiny 2 Update 9.5.0.3 Patch Notes
Renegades
- Fixed an issue where players could become soft-locked early in the Renegades campaign after talking to Drifter in the Cantina.
- Fixed an issue where the Cyan Crystal for the Praxic Blade had a lower drop chance from Exotic Contracts than intended.
- Fixed an issue where credits earned from lockboxes did not count toward the Make a Killing Triumph.
- Fixed an issue where kills with the Falcon were not progressing the Resourceful Renegade Triumph.
- Fixed an issue where some Renegades campaign cinematics would not allow players to go into their inventory or other menus.
Lawless Frontier
- Updated activity behavior so that Invasions can occur at various points during a Lawless Frontier run.
- Fixed an issue where fireteams could duplicate heavy cargo crates by all picking up the same one simultaneously.
- Fixed an issue where optional objectives would not appear on Venus in higher-difficulty Smuggle and Sabotage activities.
- Fixed an issue where a Sabotage boss could spawn under terrain on Mars.
- Fixed an issue where the antenna Sabotage encounter could not recover if the antenna was dropped in an unreachable location.
- Fixed an issue where Invasion Doublecross sessions abandoned by the enemy player would wait for the encounter to end. They will now end immediately.
- Fixed an issue where Invaders weren’t sent back to the hangar if they died immediately after completing their objective.
- Fixed an issue where the Strafing Run Renegade ability would show different damage between players and invaders.
- Fixed a visual issue where the blue Faction names when previewing Venus activities could be incorrect.
- Fixed an issue where some player-created visual effects would not apply to enemies in Lawless Frontier.
- Fixed an issue where spawning a Falcon under water would make it unusable.
- Fixed an issue where invaders would not get teleported back to the ready room if they ended their invasion timers while in a vehicle.
Fire and Ice
- Reduced the time required to interact with the pyramid activators in the boss arena to one second.
- Changed platforms in the boss arena to be solid on Legendary difficulty and adjusted their positioning to offer more protection on both difficulties.
- Fixed an issue where players who did not earn all catalysts for the Praxic Blade in one run were prevented from acquiring additional catalysts.
- Fixed an issue where players could disable the activity timer.
- Fixed an issue where players who died at the same time as they completed the final encounter would not be taken to the final reward room.
Raid and Dungeon
Equilibrium
- Fixed an issue where the combatants that spawn Shadow pools could fall off the map, causing the pools to be unreachable.
Conquests
- Fixed an issue where the Conductor’s Keep Master Conquest could not be completed. This activity has now been re-enabled.
Crucible
Trials of Osiris
- Fixed an issue where the Dazzling Iridescence emblem could not be earned.
- Updated the Dazzling Iridescence emblem description to display the correct earn requirements.
Gameplay and Investment
Exotic Armor
Hunter
Graviton Forfeit
- Fixed an issue where Stylish Executioner was not triggering Graviton Forfeit’s Vanishing Shadow perk.
Celestial Nighthawk
- Celestial Nighthawk shots now combine the scorch stacks from all three Marksman Golden Gun shots to cause an Ignition.
Warlock
Mataiodoxia
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Fixed an issue where the Stylostixis suspending burst was scaling off the Grenade stat.
- Now scales based on Melee or Super stat depending on what activates the explosion.
Weapons
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Fixed an issue where the Refurbished A499 Sniper Rifle could drop with Backup Mag installed.
- Instances that dropped with this mod will be updated to have no mod equipped.
- Fixed an issue where the Kinetic Rupture Artifact mod was not scaling based on Power.
- Fixed an issue where Anti-Barrier Sniper could increase Sniper Rifle damage against all targets in many activities.
- Fixed an issue where the thrown Praxic Blade was not consistently playing impact audio when hitting metallic combatants such as Vex.
- Fixed an issue where the Sharp Harvest weapon trait would not grant ammo to burst fire weapons when running double special.
Abilities
General
- Fixed an issue where Void smoke visual effects were inconsistently darkening the victim’s screen. We’ve reverted the screen darkening to its pre-Renegades state.
- Fixed an issue where Grapple Tangles could be used to unintentionally cancel some ability animations.
- Fixed an issue where instantly canceling a free Grapple from a Grapple Tangle could refund non-Grapple grenade energy.
Hunter
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Shadowshot: Moebius Quiver Super
- While Moebius Quiver is active, increased damage-boost charge rate by 60%.
Orders
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Redesigned the Praxic Professional Order so it can now be completed in Solo, Fireteam, Arena and Pinnacle Ops activities, and the total kills required has been reduced.
- We are aware of an issue with the Order’s description where it does not list being completable in Arena Ops and does not mention the ammo regeneration for all activity types. This will be fixed in a future update.
- Fixed an issue where the Praxic Professional Order was granting two Exotic Payouts upon completion instead of one.
- Fixed an issue where the Free For All Order was rolling when the Rumble (FFA) mode was not active in the Portal.
- Reduced the chances to roll Crucible Orders (if you are a high enough Crucible rank) when not in a Crucible match.
- Reduced the chances to roll activity completion Objective Orders when not in a Portal activity.
Collections
- Fixed an issue that occasionally caused Scout Rifle views in Collections to not properly display all pages on PC platforms.
- Fixed an issue where the Tower Pamphlet emblem could not be reclaimed from Collections.
Quests and Pursuits
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Fixed an issue where players could lose access to Lawless Frontier activities due to alternate characters acquiring the “The Territory War Begins” quest earlier than intended.
- As part of this fix, all ineligible characters (those that have not yet completed the ‘Renegades’ quest) will have the quest removed when they log in.
Audio
- Fixed an issue where audio dropouts could occur in the Crucible or the Shooting Range.
Localization
- Fixed an issue where Korean VO was missing in Solo Ops.
- Added missing French and Spanish (Spain) voice-over for The Edge of Fate content.
Player Identity and Expression
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Adjusted the unique sound effects on the Executive Aide D.A.R.C.I. Weapon ornament and the Exquisite Weapon Display head armor ornament.
- Using the head armor ornament will now play the unique lock on audio when aiming at a target with D.A.R.C.I. as well as the unique catalyst audio when the personal catalyst damage buff is triggered.
- Using the Executive Aide D.A.R.C.I. Weapon ornament will trigger the unique catalyst audio when the personal catalyst damage buff is triggered. We are aware of an issue where the sound effects will still not play with D.A.R.C.I.’s Cleans Up Good and Mind of Its Own ornaments. This will be fixed in a future update.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Reclamation Rewards Pass Emote Worm Brulee to inadvertently take on the visuals of the newly introduced Bee Wary emote.
- Fixed an issue with the Bee Wary emote that caused the flower on the emoter’s hat to orbit their head in Tharsis Junction.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Prismscatter Plate’s intended interactions from working as expected with the Heart’s Pledge and Heart’s Purity ornaments.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the Noble Partisan’s jetpack animations and visuals from properly playing when any Exotic Arms items were equipped.
General
- Fixed an issue where the Dungeon Key Bundle could still be purchased after all dungeon keys were acquired. Any players who accidentally purchased in this state will receive a Silver refund at a later date.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Hunters from claiming the Wild Anthem Vest armor item from Rank 56 on the Lawless Rewards Pass.
- Fixed an issue that prevented players who had earned progression materials through participation in creator campaigns from claiming those materials at the Special Deliveries kiosk.
- Fixed an issue where entries 7-10 in the Sintering lore book were all duplicates of entry 6.
- Released
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August 28, 2017
- ESRB
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T For TEEN for Blood, Language, and Violence
