What Are Ritual Activities in Destiny 2?

No matter how long you’ve been playing Destiny 2, you’ve been participating in ritual activities in some form or another, even if you don’t know what the term means.

Bungie’s looter shooter is also an open-world title, so there’s a lot for you to explore across the different planets currently available. If you’re tired of these, you can always resort to some set playlists with activities of increasing difficulty. While these ritual activities can be accessed whenever you want to, some of them are also integral parts of the different storylines in Destiny 2.

Destiny 2 Ritual Activities Explained

The three core playlists that you see on top of your Director, namely the Vanguard Ops, the Crucible, and Gambit, are known as ritual activities. These are accessible to all, and each has its own perks, mechanics, and loot pool.

So, whenever you see a seasonal challenge that asks you to complete something specific in a ritual activity, then you’ll have to head into one of these modes to complete the challenge. If you’re new, here’s what you’ll get in each of these playlists:

• Vanguard Ops – This is primarily your PvE playlist where you can complete Strikes. You’ll also have access to the Nightfall node, which features only a few Strikes, but with additional difficulty modifiers and powerful rewards which include Adept weapons, Ascendant Shards, and more.
• Crucible – The Crucible is your PvP playlist, where you go toe to toe against other Guardians. You have the standard casual playlist, where you can enjoy laid-back games with your friends, or you can crank up the difficulty and visit the Competitive Playlist, Trials of Osiris, or even the Iron Banner. These three modes offer powerful rewards just like their Nightfall counterpart.
• Gambit – This is probably the most unloved of all the ritual activities. For some reason, Bungie hasn’t devoted enough time to this mode, making it monotonous. However, this is a goal-oriented PvEvP mode, where you need to bank motes to summon and then defeat a massive boss. However, at specific points, one player from your team can invade the enemy and hunt them down to halt their progress. It’s a two-way street, though, because just as you get to invade the enemy, they get to invade you, too. It’s unique and casual at the same time, but its reward pool isn’t as refined as its other counterparts.

Each ritual activity has its own vendor with a reward track. So, whenever you successfully complete an activity, you’ll earn points that count towards your rank with them. As you rank up, you’ll keep unlocking better rewards.

Apart from these three Destiny 2 features, there are no other ritual activities. And while in Episode Heresy, a lot of activities on the Dreadnaught involve Hive rituals, they’re still classified as seasonal activities.