Destiny 2 Season of Defiance: New activities, changes, battle pass & more about season 20

Destiny 2 Season of Defiance continues the story beyond the events of Lightfall. Destiny 2 players have a lot to do while completing Lightfall, but the weekly seasonal content has not stopped.

Season of Defiance brings the story back to the war on Earth, and keep the game's player base busy for the months to come until Season 21. Here is everything we know so far about Destiny 2 Season of Defiance.

• Learn about the new  Destiny 2 build crafting features in Lightfall.

Destiny 2 Season of Defiance: Start and end date

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Although have all been busy with Lightfall, the start date for Season of Defiance was of course 28 February, the same as the Destiny 2 Lightfall release date. The content of the season will be available from that day, but only once you have completed the Lightfall campaign.

The season will last 12 weeks, meaning that season 21, which we know to be called Season of the Deep, will begin, and Season of Defiance will end on 23 May.

• For tips on the new Neomuna public activity, check out our Destiny 2 Terminal Overload guide.

Destiny 2 Season of Defiance: Changes to seasonal activities

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There are a lot of changes coming to the seasonal activities over the course of this year, and some of those changes are coming in Season of Defiance. Bungie has expressed interest in revamping and reorganising the way seasonal content works, and first on the list are seasonal vendors as per a recent blog post. 

Each season has a particular NPC who acts as the vendor for that season. From Season of Defiance onwards, focusing weapons and armour at these vendors will be simplified. Umbral engrams and energies are going away, and the process will simply require Glimmer and a seasonal engram.

Speaking of, you will no longer need to carry as many engrams around as the seasonal engrams will all be stored on the vendor. Another change coming to seasonal vendors is the upgrade system, with vendor upgrades being streamlined - there will be fewer of them but each upgrade will be more impactful.

Further streamlining is also coming to seasonal currencies. The currencies players have been gathering in each recent season will be replaced with keys. Instead of extra rewards costing certain amounts of specific currencies, they will now use treasure keys. These will be a bit rarer, but if you have a key, then you will be able to get those extra seasonal rewards from activities.

• Destiny 2 Strand subclass is finally here, and we have all the details you need to know.

Destiny 2 Season of Defiance: Defiant battlegrounds

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New battlegrounds are here, as part of the story of the Season of Defiance. These new Defiant Battlegrounds will act as the main activity for the season, taking players into Shadow Legion strongholds to rescue prisoners and take out key enemies.

Along the way, we will be working with the likes of Crow, Amanda Holliday, Misraaks, Devrim Kay, and of course, Mara Sov. Queen Mara is the key figure here, as she attempts to combine her powers with ours to fight back against the Witness. As part of the season, we will be honorary members of her Queensguard.

As is tradition with seasonal content, you simply need to follow the seasonal quest line to keep up with what is happening. Be sure to check your quest log each week for updates on the seasonal story.

• Click here to learn about all the Destiny 2 Lightfall exotics, as well as how to get each one.

Destiny 2 Season of Defiance: Battle pass & how to level up

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A season isn't a season without a battle pass full of items for us to unlock. The battle pass for Season of Defiance contains much of the type of content we have come to expect, including some spiffy new Queensguard armour and weaponry.

Season pass holders will be able to pick up the Verglas Curve exotic bow at level one, others will be able to earn it by reaching level 35 on the free track. There are plenty more useful and purely cosmetic items throughout the battle pass, so we will need to put in some work.

Earning items on the battle pass is fairly simple, and can be done quite passively. The best advice to give on how to level up is to just keep playing. Consistent play throughout the season, whether it be Crucible, Vanguard, or seasonal content, will get you plenty of experience.

For those who can't wait and want to make progress quickly, bounties and seasonal challenges should be your focus. Seasonal challenges give the biggest experience rewards but can take a long time to complete. Challenges persist throughout the season and more challenges are added every week, so don't feel like you need to rush to get them done.

The optimal strategy here is to pick up any bounties you can, especially weekly bounties which grant the largest experience boosts, and tick off any seasonal challenges you can while playing as you normally would.

Those are all the details we have to share with you on Destiny 2 Season of Defiance. For more on the game, check out our Destiny 2 Neomuna guide.