Destiny 2 has a variety of DLC expansions that have been released since 2017. As a result, it can get really confusing keeping track of them, especially for New Lights since there are so many.
Destiny 2 DLCs offer plenty of content for Guardians to play. Each DLC features a brand new story, new raids, and lots of activities to partake in. Additionally, the main story is connected across every DLC in conjunction with smaller seasonal stories, and as of The Final Shape, episodes too.
So, if you want to get an idea of what is going on, you need to play everything. Unfortunately, that would mean Destiny becoming a massive game that would be hard to store. Hence, Bungie introduced a system called Vaulting, where some of the older DLCs were removed.
It isn’t an ideal situation, but you can at least keep on top of which DLCs and expansions are still available by using this comprehensive guide.
Full expansion list
Destiny 2 has a total of nine expansions, starting from Red War up to The Final Shape. Here is a list of all the expansions including their release dates:
| Expansion | Release date |
|---|---|
| Red War | September 6, 2017 |
| Curse of Osiris | December 5, 2017 |
| Warmind | May 8, 2018 |
| Forsaken | September 4, 2018 |
| Shadowkeep | October 1, 2019 |
| Beyond Light | November 10, 2020 |
| Witch Queen | February 22, 2022 |
| Lightfall | February 28, 2023 |
| The Final Shape | June 4, 2024 |
Vaulted Destiny 2 DLC
Here are all of the Destiny 2 expansions that have been vaulted, plus a breakdown of what content is no longer available following their removal:
Red War
Red War was the campaign during Vanilla Destiny 2. This is not a DLC but since it is part of the main storyline, it is important we mention this as well. This story takes place on Earth where you fight against the Cabal General Dominus Ghaul.
He tries to take over the Traveler and thereby put an end to Guardians and humanity. The Speaker also ends up falling during the Red War campaign. In fact, the Guardians end up losing their Light abilities and Ghaul sends a powerful message to everyone.
Fortunately, we gain back our powers and eventually fight and defeat Ghaul. However, this campaign was not the end of Vanilla Destiny 2. After the campaign, the “Leviathan raid” was released where fought against a robotic version of Calus.
This was the first time we got in touch with the exiled Cabal emperor and thereby started a long-standing power struggle that would come to an end in Lightfall. Unfortunately, this was not the best of times for Destiny 2, since the game had a complete reboot, and a lot of things that made the previous iteration good were missing.
The campaign was good and the raid was decent. However, the meta was very stale and there was very little to do in the game. Double primary, slow super recharge, and no random rolls made the game a poor experience.
Curse of Osiris
Curse of Osiris was the first Destiny 2 DLC to be released but sadly isn’t remembered fondly. It’s also since been vaulted and can’t be accessed anymore.
Along with the typical additions such as new crucible maps and strikes, this expansion finally introduced players to the legendary Warlock, Osiris. The main storyline followed the Guardian’s mission of rescuing Osiris from the Vex on a newly introduced location, Mercury. Through a series of events and battles against the Vex, the final story mission takes place in an epic battle on Mercury against Panoptes, Infinite Mind.
In addition to the main storyline, Curse of Osiris introduced two new strikes, three new Crucible maps, and a new ‘Raid Lair’ activity on The Leviathan. It’s considered to be one of the weakest Destiny 2 expansions, though, as Mercury was a minuscule zone, and the campaign could be completed in only an hour or two.
Warmind
Warmind was the second piece of Destiny 2 DLC and was a short but fairly sweet affair. Mars was the latest playable destination (a different part of it from the area we saw in the first game), and the story saw Guardians battle with a new Hive army while attempting to understand the AI Warmind — Rasputin.
One of the biggest additions that came was the introduction of a wave-based public event, Escalation Protocol. Warmind also introduced the second and final Raid Lair to Destiny 2, “Spire of Stars”, as well as a new crucible ranking system with Valor and Glory ranks.
There were also a fair number of puzzles to solve, with exotics including the returning Suros Regime auto rifle. Those weapons, and the changes to exotics that came alongside the expansion, have meant its legacy is still felt today.
Forsaken
Forsaken is the first “major” expansion for Destiny 2, and while it is another piece of vaulted content, its influence is still felt in the community today.
It introduced two new playable areas – The Dreaming City & The Tangled Shore, the former of which acted as a post-campaign surprise. This expansion also boasted a substantial campaign that followed the journey of your Guardian as you were tasked with defeating a new corrupted Fallen enemy, The Scorn, after Cayde-6 was killed in the opening mission.
Bungie’s third expansion also introduced brand new subclasses, a new bow weapon type, the raid entitled “Last Wish“, the first dungeon, and even the Gambit game mode. It was a fairly sizable expansion, to say the least.
With the release of Forsaken, Destiny 2 also adopted the seasonal content model. As a result, it was accompanied by an annual pass that added three additional content drops to see players through to the Shadowkeep DLC.
Forsaken can’t be played now, but remains one of Destiny 2’s high points, with many of its weapons added to the game as it exists today.
Current Destiny 2 DLC
Here are all of the Destiny 2 expansions that are still available, with all of their campaigns, Exotics, Raids, and Dungeons still playable:
Shadowkeep
Destiny 2’s fourth expansion, Shadowkeep, was the developer’s first major venture after splitting with Activision.
This Destiny 2 DLC reintroduced the Moon as a playable location as well as a story that follows your Guardian as you fight to defeat previous foes. The foes are called Nightmares, resurrected by the Darkness. As you embark on this journey, you are also reunited with a familiar ally, Eris Morn. After completing the main story, players could also participate in Nightmare Hunts — a new PvE experience.
Shadowkeep introduced two new strikes, a new dungeon and a raid entitled “Garden of Salvation“. However, one of the most notable changes to the Destiny 2 sandbox came in the form of an overhauled Armor 2.0 system that added additional RPG elements.
Shadowkeep also saw the game pivot from three seasons to four per year and began the process of bridging annual releases with additional content drops and extra story.
Shadowkeep was the first step in bringing the “Pyramid Ships” closer to the game, heralding the eventual arrival of The Witness, but its short campaign and array of “busywork” quests afterward mean it’s often forgotten.
Beyond Light
Beyond Light is the fifth piece of Destiny 2 DLC, and provided quite a shakeup to the established formula.
This Destiny 2 DLC saw the introduction of the new playable location Europa, as well as the new element – Stasis. The story involved Guardians traveling to Europa, in an attempt to defeat the Fallen Kell Eramis, who planned to harness the power of the Darkness to seek revenge on the Traveler. This introduced the new raid, “Deep Stone Crypt” as well as two strikes (one of which is a reprised Destiny 1 mission).
A new free-to-play version of Destiny 2 called “New Light” was also released alongside the new expansion. This allowed new players to easily jump into Destiny 2, without paying for some of the originally released DLC content. The expansion also saw the start of the Destiny Content Vault, where older content would be removed, temporarily in some cases, so as to not overburden the game with excess bloat.
Beyond Light is a solid expansion, and mandatory for anyone that wants to unlock the Stasis ability.
The Witch Queen
Bungie’s best expansion yet (we said so in our review), Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, features an excellent campaign set predominantly on Savathun’s Throne World — where nothing is as it seems.
The expansion adds a new raid, too, “Vow of the Disciple“, and a new weapon type: The Glaive. It also overhauled the Void subclass with more customization and added weapon crafting. Solar and Arc subclasses were overhauled in the seasons after, too.
Between the new campaign, a wealth of post-game content, and plenty of fine-tuning of in-game systems, The Witch Queen is the easiest place to jump into Destiny 2 to catch up.
Lightfall
Announced prior to Beyond Light, Destiny 2: Lightfall launched on February 28, 2023. The expansion takes Guardians to a new location on Neptune called Neomuna where they fight alongside Cloudstriders to tackle Calus’ new Shadow Legion.
We also get access to a new subclass called Strand, which lets players manipulate the connections between living things in Destiny 2: Lightfall. You also get access to the raid “Root of Nightmares” where you defeat the boss Nezarec, Final God of Pain.
In this DLC you get to unravel the secrets of the Veil, learn the Witness’s origins, and fight against the army of Xivu Arath. You also get access to the reprised “Crota’s End” raid and two brand-new dungeons.
The Final Shape
The Final Shape is the final expansion for Destiny 2. This expansion was released on June 4, 2024, and it marks the end of a 10-year journey for the game all the way from vanilla Destiny.
In this expansion, the Guardians fight against the Witness and defeat it for good. The campaign received worldwide acclaim (read our review) from fans and critics for being quite gripping and maintaining a very strong narrative overall.
Following the campaign, players got to experience the Salvation’s Edge raid, which broke the record for the longest day 1 raid race since The Last Wish in 2018. Following the raid, a first-ever 12-player activity was unlocked where players had one final encounter with the Witness.
After the completion of the campaign and raid, the first Episode of The Final Shape was released, called Destiny 2: Echoes. This is a new take on how Bungie is looking to handle content as they finally bid goodbye to seasons.
Every Episode is broken down into three Acts which mainly focus on the followers of the Witness who are trying to make ends meet in the absence of a leader. These Acts will focus on individual stories, exotic missions, activities, and much more.
The Future of Destiny 2
The Final Shape is the final expansion for Destiny 2, but it is not the end of the game by any means. Bungie has announced that Codename Frontiers will take us far beyond what we know about the game, including a new core theme aside from Dark and Light.
With the changes to Bungie’s content plans for Destiny 2, they’re releasing two expansions for each year. The first being codenamed Apollo and launching sometime during Summer 2025.
Looking for a meta Destiny 2 loadout to pair with these meta Exotic Weapons? Check out the best Hunter builds, Titan builds, and Warlock builds to use in The Final Shape. You’ll also want to keep on top of the current Dungeon and Raid rotation to make sure you don’t miss out on Exotics from those encounters.
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