Destiny 2: Into The Light - Onslaught Activity Guide And Rewards

Destiny 2: Into the Light has added a tower defense mode to the game that all players can experience, including New Lights. Help the Vanguard defend the Last City from the Witness with the help of ADU defenses and Lord Shaxx's banned arsenal.

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Throw enough grenades, and Shaxx will bless you with some of Destiny 2's strongest weapons. Mountaintop, Recluse, Luna's Howl, Hammerhead, and Blast Furnace are just a few weapons you can farm for in this activity. Push your builds to their absolute limit, and be rewarded with some fan-favorite weapons and the fashionable Superblack Shader from the original Desitny.

What Is Onslaught?

Onslaught is a three-player matchmade activity where players must defend the Last City against the Witness' forces. It is effectively a tower defense mode, complete with purchasable emplacements and defense objectives. This game mode is available to all players and doesn't require any DLC ownership.

There are two variants of Onslaught you can choose from, although the Legend variant is only available once you complete the "Feats of Bravery" quest.

Difficulty

Power Level

Modifiers

Normal

1,600 Power

• Champions: All
• Surges: Active.
• Overcharge: Active
• Power Delta: Starts at 0. Grows by -4 per wave set.
• Waves: Ends at Wave 10 for playlist, Wave 50 for elective.

Legend

1,810 Power

• Champions: All
• Surges: Active.
• Overcharge: Active
• Power Delta: Starts at -10. Grows by -5 per wave set.
• Waves: Ends at Wave 50.

Hall Of Champions

The Hall of Champions serves a similar purpose to Xur's Treasure Hoard. This is where you'll be redeeming Onslaught activity currency for new weapons and cosmetics. You should automatically load into this area upon booting up Destiny 2, but if you don't, you can find it in the "Into the Light" node on the Director.

Shaxx will introduce you to his personal armory and give you the "Feats of Bravery" quest, which requires you to complete a game of Onslaught and a subsequent weapon quest. You can launch the Onslaught playlist from the same Director node.

Before you leave, walk around the Hall of Champions and get familiar with the various terminals here. Each hologram of Shaxx represents a weapon type you can focus. While active, all Onslaught chests have a 50% chance of dropping your focused weapon. You unlock the ability to focus weapon drops by completing quests from Arcite 99-40, the robot standing beside Shaxx. Only one weapon may be your active focus at a time.

Lord Shaxx is also standing next to a couple of chests. The Fallen one is the Gift of the Thunder Gods, a bundle of items that instantly level your character to the current Powerful cap of 1,800. This chest is available to all players and doesn't require any DLC ownership, so new players should grab these items as soon as possible. The second chest is your Bravery Chest. Redeem your Tokens of Bravery here to earn any of this activity's Bravery weapons.

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Defending the ADU

Your main goal in Onslaught is simple: defend the ADU from enemy forces. The ADU is a stationary objective that allows for the deployment of Vanguard emplacements. Keep the ADU alive, and you'll be able to deploy gun turrets, trip mines, and decoy sweeper bots to keep the Witness' forces at bay. Fail to defend the ADU, and the activity ends.

Onslaught is broken up into multiple waves that get progressively more difficult. The start of the match will require you to clear out a wave of enemies, similar to any typical Destiny activity. These enemies will grant Scrap when slain, an Onslaught currency type that's used to purchase Vanguard emplacements like turrets and trip mines. Certain enemies will also drop ADU Cores when slain. Throw these into the ADU to restore its HP.

Earning Scrap

Scrap is earned from all fireteam kills, not just your own. Any defense you purchase will drain Scrap from your personal reserves; each person gets their own Scrap wallet.

There is currently no way to drop or trade Scrap with your fireteam.

Emplacements

Before the start of each wave, your team will have 60 seconds to create emplacements. The ADU will project holograms of each defense that you can purchase. The stronger the emplacement, the more Scrap it'll cost. All defenses may also be upgraded for a hefty sum of Scrap, although the cost is usually worth it. All three emplacement types are showcased below.

If an emplacement is destroyed, all invested Scrap will be lost. You'll need to rebuild the emplacement from scratch.

You can heal Emplacements by throwing ADU Cores at them.

Emplacement

Effect

Upgrades

Trip Mine

Detonates when enemies approach, dealing heavy damage. Has limited charges before the emplacement breaks.

Upgrades increase the emplacement's damage output and maximum charges.

• 1,000 Scrap - Creates the emplacement.
• 1,500 Scrap - Moderate damage increase. Adds additional charges.
• 2,000 Scrap - Substantial damage increase. Adds additional charges.

Sweeper Bot

Distracts nearby enemies, forcing them to shoot the sweeper bot. Enemies can break this emplacement.

Upgrades increase the emplacement's HP.

• 2,000 Scrap - Creates the emplacement.
• 4,000 Scrap - Moderate HP increase.
• 6,000 Scrap - Substantial HP increase.

Scorpio Turret

Creates a stationary turret that shoots targets within its line of sight. Enemies can break this emplacement.

Upgrades increase the emplacement's HP and damage output.

• 2,000 Scrap - Creates the emplacement.
• 4,000 Scrap - Moderate damage and HP increase.
• 6,000 Scrap - Substantial damage and HP increase.

Bonus Objectives

Periodically throughout your run, Lord Shaxx will give your fireteam a bonus objective that must be completed for the current wave. If you complete the bonus objective, a Heavy Ammo Stash will spawn next to the ADU.

Most side objectives in this activity are rather easy, but they draw your fireteam's attention away from the ADU. You should dedicate a fireteam member to defend the ADU while the other players complete the bonus objective. On Legend difficulty, assign one player to complete the objective instead.

Some potential bonus objectives include:

• Completing the wave in 90 seconds.
• Destroying three Darkness objects hidden on the map.
• Disarming mines on the edges of the map.
• Collecting a certain number of Darkness fragments from slain foes.

Pyramid Rounds

As any Crucible veteran knows, an effective offensive is sometimes the best defense. Some waves will require you to enter a Pyramid ship and defeat a certain number of enemies. The objective will require you to escort a Spark charge (similar to Rift) or to kill a boss. Boss rounds will always spawn loot when completed, but this will also cause your effective Power level to drop for the rest of the run.

Playlist runs end once the boss is slain, but the elective difficulty variant of Onslaught will keep going until you either hit Wave 50 or fail. Stay as long as you can, but if the activity grows too punishing, you can leave at any time. Progress is not saved, so you'll need to start from the first wave.

Onslaught Rewards

Successfully completing the boss round of Onslaught will spawn a chest that awards Brave weapons. These are reissued variants of Destiny 2's most iconic weapons, including the likes of Recluse, Mountaintop, and even Edge Transit. You can find a full breakdown of these rewards in our Into the Light weapons guide.

Additionally, completing Onslaught matches will accumulate Hype, Lord Shaxx's reputation system for this activity. Speak with him at the Hall of Champions to exchange your Hype for Brave Engrams, a new armor set, and even the fan-favorite Superblack Shader from the original Destiny.

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