There are still a few weeks left of Season 17: Season of the Haunted of Destiny 2. Nevertheless, Guardians are now anticipating the arrival of Season 18 despite Bungie’s insistence on keeping radio silence regarding upcoming season updates. Of course, there will be a lot to consider and accomplish with a new season. Let’s take a peek at everything known about Season 18 of Destiny 2, including gameplay reworks and when it replaces Season of the Haunted, below.

Oh, and don’t forget to complete and claim any Event Challenges and Rewards from the Solstice Event Card before they expired on August 9!

Table of contents:

  • Destiny 2 Season 18 Release Date
  • Weapons Added to and Leaving Loot Pool
  • Gunsmith Reputation Rework
  • How Much Does Destiny Season 18 Cost?
  • Additions and Changes to Raid Activities
  • PvP SBMM in Destiny Season 18
  • Arc 3.0 Reworks
  • Are Rasputin and SIVA Coming Back to Destiny 2 Season 18 Story?

Destiny 2 Season 18 Release Date

Witness what’s next.

August 23, 2022 pic.twitter.com/3oO2piSJHe

— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame) July 21, 2022

The Witch Queen‘s second season, Season 17: Season of the Haunted, is currently running from May 24th to August 23rd, 2022. With that in mind, Season 18 will begin when the current season ends, on August 24th, 2022. Below we have a complete list of the previous and upcoming Destiny 2 seasons, so don’t forget to take notes.

Unfortunately, we still don’t know the Season’s name yet but the developer has promised to reveal more information during the Destiny 2 Showcase on August 23, including the Lightfall expansion.

Weapons Added to and Leaving Loot Pool

Bungie is yet to announce which weapons are leaving the loot pool, but some guns have been confirmed to be withdrawn in Destiny 2 Season 18:

Gunsmith Reputation Rework

Talking about guns, Banshe-44 The Tower’s Gunsmith is getting two important reworks for Destiny 2 Season 18:

  • Daily Gunsmith Bounties: Awards 50 Reputation instead of 25. Guardians can now earn 200 Reputation per day.
  • Legendary or Exotic gear dismantling: Reputation gained is changed from 3 to 5.

How Much Does Destiny Season 18 Cost?

Destiny 2 Season 18 will continue to use the Season Pass model, which is priced at 1,000 Silver or $9.99 per season. Season 17 (Season of the Haunted), 18, and 19 are already included if you own the Witch Queen Deluxe Edition.

Additions and Changes to Raid Activities

Previously, Bungie has promised that it might add a new Raid every three months. One thing for sure though, there’s going to be a returning Raid for Destiny 2 in Season 18, which goes live on August 26, 2022, at 10 AM Pacific. Most Guardians (and a trustworthy leak) are speculating that it’s going to be the King’s Fall Raid from the first game. Others said it might be the Wrath of the Machine instead.

Like with Vault of Glass, there will be changes to the World First Raid Race:

  • The Raid will launch with Contest Mode enabled for 24 hours.
  • Clearing the Raid with Contest Mode active is the first step to accessing the new Challenge Mode in the Director and the special Triumph for completing all of the challenge Triumphs for each encounter.
  • However, Challenge Mode and a secret Triumph will also only be available during the first 24 hours.
  • To claim the World First prize (including the coveted Raid belts), a Fireteam needs to complete the secret Triumph.
  • Your Fireteam, however, will wipe, if you fail the success conditions during any encounter.
  • The minimum Power Level required is 1,560 Power.

PvP SBMM in Destiny Season 18

In Season 18, the company is going to introduce a new system for Crucible’s matchmaking back-end and will be a part of a “larger plan” going through Season 19. In addition to Connection-Based Matchmaking, Destiny 2 will also be getting (the dreaded) Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM) to the Control playlist at the start of Season 18. In future seasons, SBMM will be expanded to other playlists as well, but Bungie said that the team isn’t planning to add SBMM to every matchmade Crucible playlist.

Bungie believes this will help all players (including New Light players) to regularly get proper competitive matches in the Crucible with a “reasonable chance” of winning. For all the technical details, don’t forget to check out the July 28 TWAB.

Arc 3.0 Reworks

Sandbox Lead Kevin Yanes (in the now deleted tweet) has suggested that parts of Synaptic Spear attacks back in Season 16: Season of the Risen were actually a “testing ground” for Arc 3.0, which will focus on fast attacks and area-of-effects.

While no other info about Arc 3.0 reworks has been mentioned again so far, Bungie previously stated that Arc 3.0 will focus on chain-lightning attacks, which should be effective to deal with groups of enemies.

Are Rasputin and SIVA Coming Back to Destiny 2 Season 18’s Story?

It’s obvious that Season 18 is going to build up the story for the Lightfall expansion. One theory suggests that the Warmind called Rasputin could be coming back with a new Exo body and name, Archangel. The Witch Queen expansion also teased Nefele Stronghold, a secret outpost that Rasputin has managed to keep hidden all this time. Meanwhile, Bungie has taken notes regarding how the fans wanted more SIVA-related content and gave nods through the Outbreak Prime Pulse Rifle. Now Destiny 2 players believe that Rasputin could show up again to help the Guardians fend off the latest threat in Lightfall.

We’ll keep you updated once Bungie has dropped more info regarding Destiny 2 Season 18.

Destiny 2 is available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms.