While all eyes are on show-stopping The Final Shape expansion to deliver on a decade of Destiny, the Pathfinder update shouldn’t be overlooked. By completely changing how you complete bounties, challenges, and other side objectives, the Destiny 2 Pathfinder feature is a massive makeover.
With different types of Pathfinders and heaps of new objectives and rewards up for grabs, it certainly pays to be in the know. After all, collecting loot is the aim of the game, at least for Guardians who are looking to take on the hardest content in Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 Pathfinder Explained
Destiny 2’s Pathfinder system features 20 different objectives divided into five, progressively narrower tiers, with a reward at the end. To claim your reward, you have to complete objectives to form a path from left to right, with each objective challenging you to complete a specific task, similar to the old bounty system.
Pathfinder is a new challenge system in Destiny 2 The Final Shape that consolidates bounties, patrols, and weekly vendor challenges into a single system that can be accessed through the Director menu. Like the old, separate systems, you’ll be sent to various planets and playlists to beat simple tasks.
Although you can beat every challenge in the Pathfinder if you so wish, with each giving you a small bundle of rewards, you only need to complete one in each tier before you can claim the grand prize.
Once you have built a path and claimed the final reward, you are given the opportunity to reset your Pathfinder to get new objectives and a fresh slate of rewards. As you might have figured out, you then get to do it all over again. There’s nothing we love more than loot though, eh?
You can also manually reset your Pathfinder using Glimmer to reroll objectives if you’re stuck, or would simply rather a different set of tasks.
There are two different types of Pathfinder to be aware of, both with different objectives and rewards.
Destiny 2 Rituals Pathfinder
The Rituals Pathfinder provides challenges related to the ritual activity playlists: Vanguard Strikes, Nightfalls, Onslaught, Gambit, and Crucible. While some of the tasks in this Pathfinder can be completed in any activity, others are more specific.
How are weekly reputation boosts impacted by this change? Well, in weeks when there is an active reputation booster, your first three full completions of your Pathfinder will contain more objectives associated with that ritual activity. For example, if the Vanguard reputation booster is active, Pathfinder will contain more Vanguard-specific objectives until after your third reset of the week.
Much like individual bounty completion, completing an objective node awards experience. However, completing a full path is akin to completing a weekly vendor bounty challenge. As such, you’ll be rewarded with items like Prime Engrams, Bright Dust, and more.
However, where vendor challenges are limited to three per week per character, Pathfinder progress is shared across all characters and is infinitely repeatable. Due to these differences, the reward amounts have been redistributed accordingly.
Bungie explains that an update later in the year of The Final Shape is planned to make the Rituals Pathfinder easier to access while in an activity.
Destiny 2 Pale Heart Pathfinder
As the name suggests, The Pale Heart Pathfinder is focused solely on the new destination in The Final Shape expansion. This Destination Pathfinder provides objectives similar to the old system of Destination Bounties, with the addition of new location-based tasks called Field Assignments.
Field Assignments from your Pathfinder will be marked on the destination map, which can then be tracked using the waypoint navigation system.
Objective Type | Objective Description | Example Tasks |
|---|---|---|
Calibrations | Directly replace bounties.
Most common objective category on The Pale Heart Pathfinder. | In The Pale Heart, defeat combatants of a certain faction.
In The Pale Heart, defeat combatants using weapons that match your subclass damage type. |
Field Assignments | Players must go to locations in The Pale Heart and complete a custom encounter that only appears while the objective is active.
This is the second-most common objective category on The Pale Heart Pathfinder. | In The Pale Heart, travel to [REDACTED] and claim a reward for defeating [REDACTED].
In The Pale Heart, travel to [REDACTED] and complete the [REDACTED] event. |
Ventures | Destination-focused activities and objectives
Only two per The Pale Heart Pathfinder.
Only appear in the tier before the final reward. | In The Pale Heart, progress through the [REDACTED] activity and loot the chests.
Completing the [REDACTED] objective grants additional progress. |
Destiny 2 Pathfinder Rewards
The Pathfinder rewards in Destiny 2 depend on which type of Pathfinder you are completing. Rewards are also account-wide, as Pathfinder progress is shared between all characters.
The Pale Heart Pathfinder rewards are as follows:
Completion Type | Completion State | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
Objective Reward | Individual Task Completed | 25 Vendor Reputation
4000 XP |
Path Completion | First Path Completion | [Redacted] Exotic
Powerful Tier 3 engram (The Pale Heart gear)
1 Rank of vendor reputation
25,000 XP |
Path Completion | Second Path Completion | [Redacted] Exotic
The Pale Heart engram (Focusable)
375 vendor reputation
25,000 XP |
Path Completion (1 through 3) | Third Path Completion | The Pale Heart engram (Focusable)
375 vendor reputation
25,000 XP |
Path Completion (1 through 3) | Repeatable Completion | World Legendary engram
150 Vendor Reputation
4000 XP |
The Rituals Pathfinder rewards are as follows:
Number of Completions | Rewards |
|---|---|
Completions 1-3 | Prime Engram
Enhancement Prism
150 Bright Dust
25000 XP |
Completions 4-10 | Enhancement Prism
150 Bright Dust
4000 XP |
Completions 11+ | Enhancement Core
30 Bright Dust
4000 XP |
So, that covers the Destiny 2 Pathfinder system, including how it works and all the Pathfinder rewards you can get. Now get out there and get grinding in one of the best FPS games, Guardian.