Destiny 2 Dungeons in 2023: Ranked & Rewards

Raids have always been considered some of the best content Destiny 2 offers, but rounding up five other Guardians for over an hour can be difficult. That’s where dungeons come in: they’re a perfect combination between the mechanics of raids and the ease of access of Nightfalls.

There’s a lot to learn about dungeons. They have unique loot, complex puzzles, and vary significantly in difficulty. This article will cover what dungeon is featured this week, what unique loot you can obtain, and how each dungeon ranks against its competition.

Destiny 2 Dungeon This Week

Similar to raids, dungeons have a legacy weekly rotation system. One dungeon becomes infinitely farmable each week and grants a piece of Pinnacle gear upon completion. This week’s featured dungeon is:

PS: The week’s featured dungeon changes on Tuesdays at 10 am PDT. This page covers the weekly Raid and dungeon rotation in depth. 

If you’re looking for more information on weekly Raid and Dungeon rotation, check out this page.

Destiny 2 Dungeon Rewards

Dungeon loot is always top-tier and is sometimes even more unique than its raid counterparts. In fact, the two Year 5 dungeons (Duality and Spire of the Watcher) came with entirely new legendary weapon frames. 

Dungeon Weapons

Here are the weapons obtainable via this week’s featured Dungeon:

You can find a complete list featuring every Dungeon weapon here.

In addition to legendary weapons, Dungeons offer unique armor sets, emblems, cosmetics, and exotics. Loot tables for each Dungeon can be found here.

All Destiny 2 Dungeons, in order

These are all the Destiny 2 Dungeons available today:

Art	Dungeon	Location	Power Level	Loot	Requires
	Spire of the Watcher	Mars	1600	Loot Table	The Witch Queen Deluxe
	Duality	Moon	1600	Loot Table	The Witch Queen Deluxe
	Grasp of Avarice	Cosmodrome	1600	Loot Table	30th Anniversary
	Prophecy	Legends	1600	Loot Table	Free-to-Play
	Pit of Heresy	Moon	1600	Loot Table	Shadowkeep
	Shattered Throne	Dreaming City	1600	-	Forsaken Pack

While a significant amount of raids were removed from the game in 2020 due to the Destiny Content Vault, no dungeons have been affected thus far. That means there are currently 6 dungeons in Destiny 2, many of which provide entirely unique loot.

Destiny 2 free Dungeons

One dungeon, Prophecy, doesn’t require any purchase of expansions or seasons to play. If you’re looking to experience a dungeon as a free-to-play Guardian, Prophecy is the way to go.

Destiny 2 Dungeons Ranked by Difficulty in 2023

Ranked purely on difficulty, here’s our tier list of dungeons from easiest to hardest:

Easiest Destiny 2 Dungeon

The easiest dungeon in Destiny 2 is, by far, Shattered Throne. The first dungeon Bungie released, Shattered Throne is a relic of the past. The mechanics don’t hold up today, and it offers little combat challenge.

Pit of Heresy and Grasp of Averice are also relatively simple, but they do involve much more of a combat challenge.

What is the best Destiny 2 dungeon?

Difficulty isn’t everything—fun factor, uniqueness, and loot matter too! So, with all aspects considered, how do the dungeons compare? Let’s take a look.

6. Shattered Throne

Shattered Throne felt like a test run for what the “dungeon” category of activities has developed into today. It was remarkable for its time, but it just doesn’t hold up now.

Why is that? Well, the biggest reason is its loot. Besides a handful of cosmetics, Shattered Throne utilizes the same loot pool as generic Dreaming City activities. Sure, some weapons are keepers, but there aren’t any must-haves. And even if there were, farming Blind Well would probably be more efficient.

Shattered Throne also doesn’t hold up gameplay-wise. With few mechanics and combat encounters that have turned into cakewalks, the dungeon is a trip down memory lane more than anything else.

Visuals and environment also aren’t the most enticing here. While the sheer size of some rooms feels like they only could exist in the Destiny franchise, there isn’t anything visually complex about the Ascendant Plane.

Don’t get us wrong; like all other endgame activities, Shattered Throne is a fantastic experience. But this one leaves a bit to be desired compared to other dungeons.

5. Pit of Heresy

Released with Shadowkeep in 2019, Pit of Heresy was the second dungeon to enter Destiny 2. Was it an improvement to Shattered Throne? In some ways, definitely.

The main thing that stands out here is the visuals and environments. The first encounter takes place on a cliff of a seemingly-bottomless pit, while the final encounter has you battling inside it. For the relatively-boring textures that Bungie used in making these environments (just rockwork and generic hive structures), Pit of Heresy is stunning.

While the mechanics aren’t anything special, they’re more engaging than Shattered Throne. Pit of Heresy revolves around the Hive Sword relic weapon and uses it in ways we’ve never seen before.

Loot, however, isn’t any better. Like Shattered Throne uses the Dreaming City loot pool, Pit of Heresy uses the Moon’s.

Pit of Heresy is definitely worth running if you have Shadowkeep. No, it won’t give you much useful gear, but seeing the pit and getting squished by spike rollers never gets old.

4. Grasp of Averice

Whether you like Grasp of Averice or Spire of the Watcher more than the other comes down to personal preference, but we decided to put Grasp slightly lower on our list. Here’s why.

Starting with the positives, this dungeon is just a joy to run. From a sparrow race accompanied by swashbuckling music to using dead servitors as cannonballs, there’s no end to Grasp’s uniqueness. And with spike traps around every corner, the jumping puzzle segments will keep you on your toes, too.

The two main problems with Grasp of Averice are the loot and mechanics. While it has its fair share of S-Tier picks (including its exotic, Gjallarhorn), there isn’t much unique about any of the legendary weapons. The mechanics here aren’t too great either, primarily consisting of things we’ve seen before: picking up items enemies drop, and scorch cannons.

Grasp of Averice is an incredible experience and ranks miles above Pit and Shattered Throne. But compared to some of its competition, we can’t put it above average.

3. Spire of the Watcher

Season of the Seraph’s addition to the growing list of dungeons, Spire of the Watcher takes place on Mars. Along with Osiris, you’ll stop the Vex from gaining access to a pillory bunker.

You’ll need to repower some old machinery on the site through wires scattered around encounters. This mechanic, albeit creative, gets slightly bland run after run. The nodes on the wires never change position or order, which can create a sense of repetitiveness. That said, some people like this! It allows you to get better at the dungeon every time you play it and often results in each run being quicker than the last.

Mechanics aside, the main thing players are talking about here is the loot. Each class gets an armor piece with a cowboy hat (helmet for Titans and Warlocks, a cloak for Hunters), and the dungeon offers a legendary scout rifle that fires similarly to Dead Man’s Tale.

The encounters themselves are also some of the best that dungeons have to offer. All three are fast-paced, high-action, and fun with some friends.

While Spire of the Watcher doesn’t have the more complex mechanics or meta loot, there’s no denying that its fast-paced nature and cowboy-theming puts it above most other dungeons.

2. Prophecy

The free-to-play dungeon mentioned earlier, Prophecy has almost everything you could ask for in a dungeon experience.

Let’s start with what most people view as the highlight of this dungeon: its visuals. From the sparrow section across giant ribbons to the neon highlights featured everywhere, every single environment in this activity is stunning. We’d be remiss if we didn’t also mention the second and third encounters, which rotate their rooms as you progress (making what once was the wall now the floor).

Prophecy also has arguably the best music out of all the dungeons, fitting each encounter perfectly. The massive downside with this one is the loot. Especially now that the IKELOS weapons are craftable, there are few (if any) must-have weapons from Prophecy.

This dungeon is such a great experience, and you can play it for free right now. While the loot you get may not be the greatest, simply playing Prophecy is worth it. It’s an activity that can only exist in the Destiny franchise, meshing so much of the game’s strengths together.

1. Duality

Duality tops the charts for Destiny 2’s dungeons, taking most of what makes other dungeons outstanding and combining them into the ultimate endgame experience.

Mechanically, Duality is easily the most complex out of the currently available dungeons. All three players need to know what to do, and you’re on a time limit for half of every encounter. While it could be considered unforgiving for no good reason, Duality’s mechanical complexity makes it stand out among its competition.

Loot is great here, too; Unforgiven and Stormchaser are excellent picks for PVE. Lingering Dread also has recently seen a rise in popularity due to the Champion-stunning capabilities Slow and Freeze now have. And while it may not be the best, Heartshadow is a unique sword that can excel with most Void 3.0 builds.

Of course, every activity has downsides, and some of Duality’s are rather significant. The most popular criticism is its large amounts of bugs. Sometimes, the mechanics just don’t function, requiring a wipe to restart the encounter. While it has improved as time passed, it’s still the buggiest dungeon.

The environments of Duality are also often criticized, but keep in mind that’s compared to Prophecy (potentially the best-looking space in the game).

This list is highly subjective, so you may hear that Prophecy and Spire of the Watcher are the best instead. Each dungeon has strengths, but overall, we believe that Duality hasn’t been matched by its competition.

How do you complete dungeons in Destiny 2?

Now that we’ve covered each dungeon’s strengths, how do you complete one? These activities are known to be some of the hardest in the game, so being well-equipped can be beneficial. Here are some tips for completing your first Destiny 2 dungeon:

1. Find a team: Whether you ask your clan, LFG, or use Bungie’s companion app, finding a team is the first step. Bungie does ensure that each dungeon is soloable, but doing this for your first time can be rough. So don’t be afraid to make new friends and experience your first dungeon as a team! If you want to spend some extra time exploring environments or learning mechanics, make sure to specify that you’re new in the post.

2. Find a guide beforehand: Especially if you’ve had no previous raid or dungeon experience, the mechanics contained in one can be overwhelming. To reduce this stress, find a guide on how each encounter works before you look for a team. If you want to try Prophecy first, check out our guide here!

3. Have fun! As with all activities in Destiny 2, the primary goal is to have fun. Luckily, dungeons aren’t nearly as difficult as raids, meaning you can run whatever weapons or build you enjoy using. Assuming you found the right team willing to take their time, your first dungeon should be an unforgettable experience.

Before you go…

Dungeons are often the first taste of endgame content New Lights get. They’re an excellent step between Nightfalls and raids while also giving you unique loot and experiences. Once you’ve mastered Destiny 2’s dungeons, be sure to check out our complete guide on raids!