We (mother and I) were coming back from a movie tonight/yesterday evening, and she told me about how she goes to the casinos nearby my house, and how she only wins at specific time periods (late evening, early morning; and only on the weekdays). She then made a statment that implied that casinos are rigged for the house to always win. I, as a minor, have never gambled, and would not know. However, I do know that the odds are always in favor of the house; perhaps maybe Lady Luck was not in favor of her that particular night. I just want your opinions, and for you to not crush me (first post).

PATCH IS LIVE
Please keep all discussion in the mega thread for now, we dont want new spammed with multiples of the same topic.
All posts about the update will be redirected here for the next couple of days.
Learn more here:
TarkovTV LIVE Special Edition Episode! Watch it live today on December 23, on official channel twitch.tv/battlestategames at 19.00 MSK (8am PT, 4pm GMT)

• Updated some quests: changed execution conditions, starting conditions, rewards.
• Reduced bonus of recoil reduction from the recoil control skill and weapon mastering.
• Now character overweight starts at 35 kg. Used to be 40.
• Increased purchase limits for some ammo from dealers.

New weapons and ammunition:

• KRISS Vector SMG in both 9х19 and .45.
• SIG MCX Assault rifle in .300 Blackout.
• UMP SMG in .45.
• Mk-18 mod 1 Mjölnir DMR in .338 LM.
• .300 blk, .338 Lapua Magnum ammunition.
• Various new weapon mods.

AI:

• Fixed bots hanging behind stationary weapons.
• Fixed a bug where Killa could not hear the enemies approaching from behind.
• Other various bot fixes and optimizations.

Optimization:

• Animation optimizations for interfaces.
• Optimizations of sounds in RAM.
• Server optimizations. Escapers, here are the patch notes for update 0.12.9: @news

Added and changed:

• “Woods” expansion.
• Reworked PMC initial gear sets.
• Added customization of head and voice when creating character: for now it’s only two new heads for each faction added. You can’t change head and voice after the character is created. You will be able to do it only after profile reset or wipe.
• Added skill “Immunity”.
• Reworked “Metabolism”.
• Reduced the volume of steps and interaction with vegetation.
• Added chance to cause bleedings to the ammunition. Now some ammo can cause heavy or light bleeding more often than other rounds.
• Now some face shields and glasses will reduce the time of blindness effect from flashbang rounds and grenades.
• Players will be receiving letters with a supply package for the first 7 days of playing.
• Added “All” button in the purchasing menu when buying from dealers via Flea market. Now you can select all available items with a single click.
• Filters in the W-List tab are now modified separately and do not affect other Flea market tabs.
• “Enter” button now confirms the action in most dialogue windows.
• Slot highlighting when dragging items in your inventory can now be turned off.
• Equipped armbands are now unlootable and can’t be lost upon death.
• The letter with the reward for the exit in cooperation with the scav will now come with a slight delay.
• Containers will apply restriction filters to mods installed on the transported object. I.e., putting a mount with a thermal sight installed on it into a secured container is no longer allowed.
• New equipment and clothing is added: PMC tops and bottoms, body armor, rigs, Smoke balaclava, and tops for the Scavs.
• Changed the characteristics of a large number of weapon mods.
• Simplified the Jaeger quests. Fixed:
  
• Aiming a GL40 with Reflex sights.
  
• The position of the character's body when blind firing was not reset after opening the inventory.
  
• Blinding was imposed even if the player used a thermal imager.
  
• The stationary machine gun was removed from its mount if the player used it while in the blindfiring position.
  
• It was possible to use the tops and bottoms of the opposite faction.
  
• The nickname could not be changed if the new nickname was 15 characters long.
  
• The range value of the sight did not change immediately after alignment if the weapon had two sights on it.
  
• A duplicate weapon could hang behind the player's back for a few seconds after changing weapons.
  
• Some pants had the equipped gun hanging outside the holster during the fitting on the Ragman service screen.
  
• The observer did not see the player checking the fire mode on his weapon.
  
• Weapon presets:
  

It was impossible to delete the overwritten preset. Wrong mods were installed on the weapon if the build was initiated during a save process.

• Failed to redeem all available items in the lot if the player attempted to purchase items over the limit.
• Failed to interact with the inventory in a raid if the player had previously disassembled the weapon via the context menu.
• When reactivating the exit with the hermetic door at the location Reserve, the siren stopped working earlier than it should have.
• The sensitivity while aiming down sights changed when putting and removing sights from the weapon.
• A character was performing a light grenade throw only by double-pressing the RMB.
• Uninformative message about the lack of space in the stash when transferring items from the letter on "Receive all".
• The “Found in raid” status for the weapon would not update if you would put non-found in raid weapon mod on the gun.
• Incorrect information about the level of mastering in the weapon inspector.
• The price of 1 item decreased by 1 ruble if a player bought several of the same items from a dealer.
• The azimuth was missing if the player opened the pause menu with a compass in his hands.
• The camera could go through the body of another player.
• Missing messages in group chat.
• Various server errors.
• Various minor fixes.
• Various localization fixes.
• Various location fixes.

THERE WILL BE A WIPE!
WIKI TEAM POST REGARDING THE WIPE:
https://www.reddit.com/EscapefromTarkov/comments/kixevi/wiki_information_regarding_patch_0129/
Also, please stop spamming new with wipe related qs. Thanks.

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A Great Herd Main Battle Tank Type XIX. IXTB-38A8r4. One hundred fifty tons of armor, molecular circuitry, guns, and hoverfans. Designed 638 thousand years ago and never having needed a single upgrade. A 180mm main gun that fires an eight pound plasma shell. Two rows of 80mm vertical launch systems capable of delivering a variety of variable fuzed munitions. A driver's, tank commander's, communication's officer's, and an electronic warfare officer's external 18mm quad barreled plasma machinegun that could be controlled inside or manually by partially exiting the appropriate hatch. Capable of reaching a top speed of nearly forty miles an hour. The crew can survive inside the compartment for up to 11 hours without discomfort. Single layer medium grade battlescreens often used on light frigate naval vessels. Waterproof, soundproof, able to be piloted and operated even in vacuum thanks to sixteen antigravity pods, although at a much slower speed and slower response.
The mighty armored fist of the Unified Military Council, in support of the Unified Civilized Council.
According to my trainers, the last time a single tank had been damaged to the point that it could not fight, excluding operator error or sabotage, was nearly 23 thousand years prior to my introduction to my first tank.
I was excited as I inprocessed. I was to be assigned to one of the most modern tank designs around, military war machine made manifest. Perfection achieved and domination assured. I was almost eager the day I was allowed to enter the motorpool and taken to where the tank I would be a crew member of was parked.
It was love at first sight.
My fellow crewbeings thought I was a bit insane, to be honest. I worked on my tank, learning everything about it that I could from the neo-sapient mechanics. The driver was happy I could start it up for maintenance, meaning he could continue on with his long running alcohol related binge.
Within a month I could tear apart my gunner's sight, even the firing mechanism, and rebuild it from spare parts found in the motor pool supply shed. I even knew workarounds and field repairs that existed only in esoteric manuals and passed down in whispers between mechanics.
I earned my "gunner's bite" at my first live-fire range, where I learned that it was best if I let my helmet push back a little instead of pushing it against the padded sight. Pushing my face against the padding, using only my forward eyes, concentrating on putting each shot right where I wanted it.
Everyone took notice when I scored a perfect 1,200 points.
Some were happy for me, considered what I'd done proof of the Great Herd's might.
Others were jealous, starting whisper campaigns that I had somehow rigged my software to give me an illegal edge during live fire gunnery practice.
My fellow gunners led the campaign to have my accomplishment gone over with a fine toothed comb, many of them accusing me, to my face, of cheating.
My gunner's station was pulled apart, each block of circuitry examined, each byte of firmware and software gone over, even the gearing examined closely to see if I had somehow pulled off the shroud at the base of the barrel and adjusted the microgears that did the minute changes to barrel angle and elevation.
In the end, my score would have been stricken from the record, since my gunner's sight had gotten early maintenance, the neo-sapient maintenance crew replacing it twenty years before necessary. I would have been sent to do manual labor as punishment, or perhaps worse.
There was even talk of a court martial to put me in my place.
Mil-Sec officers had arrived in our motor pool to place me under arrest when the sirens began to wail. Everyone looked around confused, even the Mil-Sec officers, at the tone of the siren.
It came over my implant at the same time as everyone's else, my lockout being lifted.
ATTACK IMMINENT -- PRECURSOR VESSELS IN SYSTEM IN FORCE
My platoon Most High began rearing up and down, screaming at all of us to get into ranks for inspection. The platoon Second Most High began galloping in circles, shrieking that we were all going to die.
He was wrong.
Only most of us were going to die.
--Excerpt From: We Were the Lanaktallan of the Atomic Hooves, a Memoir.
"I hate landing into an ongoing fight," General No'Drak said, staring at the various holotanks. He had been in the same place for six hours, watching everything take place. The counter-attack, the first in the five days since Confederate forces had arrived, was moving in fits and jerks.
"It's a mess out there," General Moffeta said, watching a map of the megacontinent where her air support assets were spread around widely.
"Are you concerned, Most High?" Grand Most High Ge'ermo'o asked.
"Always when even a single one of my men are engaged in combat," No'Drak admitted, tapping a cigarette against the railing he was leaning against. "There are a million ways this can all go sideways on us."
"Sir, signal from Space Force!" came the cry from below.
"Throw it up here," General No'Drak snapped, bringing up a secure holo-port.
The twinkling cone resolved into a tired looking Rigellian female with admiral's pips on the brow of her armored vac-suit. She had bags under her eyes from stress and her eyes were bloodshot. Static kept rippling across the hologram and General No'Drak knew it was from phased wave plasma motion guns and C+ cannons firing.
"General No'Drak here, can you hear me, Admiral?" the Treana'ad said, slowly and distinctly.
She spoke for a second, obviously to someone outside of view, then looked forward. "Admiral HawGawk here, General," the rippling went over the hologram and she waited a second. "We've got a status change out here."
"Go for sitrep," No'Drak said.
Ge'ermo'o watched interestedly. He had seen how his fellow Lanaktallan reacted to a changing situation obviously getting worse and was curious as to how the lemurs would react.
"Eighty plus point sources just came in at the Hellspace limit. The stellar stabilizers and the Hellspace interdiction craft from the Crusade of Wrath helped. We have eighty plus Harvester Class, including what look like mostly new classes, out near the far gas giant," the Admiral said.
"I repeat back, Eighty plus Harvesters at the far gas giant, primarily Type-III," No'Drak said.
The Admiral nodded. "At least three hundred are coming straight at you. I've detached two Battlecruiser Groups to defend the planet, but the heavy hitters have to stop those Harvesters from spamming ancillary vehicles and swarming you under," she said. The lights around her flashed and she rocked slightly to the side. "We were right not to break up into hunter killer groups to go after the last of them, looks like the initial wave was simply to pull us out of position."
No'Drak nodded. "So, whatever gets through, we're on our own," he said gravely.
Ge'ermo'o felt a little bit of fear at that.
"Sorry, General. Space Force has its hands full up here," she said. "We've already sent out a distress beacon. The Crusade ships have sent out a call for reinforcements, but with the Case Omaha on TerraSol, options are limited for them."
"Understood. Have you tactical forward what they can. Good luck, Admiral, and Fight the Ship," No'Drak said.
"Pound the Ground, General," the Admiral said, and then she was gone.
No'Drak tapped the cigarette a few times against his bladearms and Ge'ermo'o could smell the scent of freshly cut grain. The Treana'ad stared at the holotanks down below as he slowly put the cigarette into his mouth and brought out the lighter.
Ge'ermo'o was slowly learning Confederate map symbols, he could see how the soldiers of V Corps were spread all over the planet, fighting the landing Precursors and their forces.
General No'Drak unfolded his lighter with a snap of his fingers, spinning the striker in the same motion and bringing up a yellow flame. He slowly lit the cigarette, staring down. He puffed on it for a moment and exhaled the smoke around his footpads as he put the lighter away.
"The Precursors have adjusted their tactics," he said softly. "Never count on the enemy staying stupid."
"How many of the next wave do you think will reach the planet?" Ge'ermo'o asked. In his opinion, the planet was lost and there was nothing anyone could do about it. But if the lemurs were willing to fight, he would stand right here next to them.
He'd come to like them.
"Just a little over a third. Sixty or so units," No'Drak said. He brought up the map. "We got lucky they didn't catch us out of position. We knew there were still Googly-Eyes in the Oort Cloud, which meant either they were going to come back in again or we'd missed something."
"Harvester-Twenty-Nine is breaking up," Someone called out from the floor below. "Harvester Thirty-Eight has dropped out of formation, looks like someone got a piece of his engines."
No'Drak nodded.
The icons for the lighter units, the Dreadnoughts and below, were burning brightly. Space Force was concentrating most of their firepower on the massive Harvester Class units that had been forced to drop out further from the gravity well of the stellar mass burning brightly at the center of the system.
The Treana'ad officer knew that every kill counted with the big Harvesters. They'd sit out there and keep producing lesser units until the sun burned out if given the chance.
He had ordered the BOLO units to switched targets, ordering them to engage the incoming planetary assault units, leaving the already planet-side units to the ground forces.
It was a calculated risk, and General No'Drak was an excellent mathematician.
General Moffeta's units were hitting the Precursors as soon as they made atmosphere, pushing through the leading wave of fire to attack the Precursors during the short time their battlescreens were down. The interference from entering the atmosphere was scrambling the Precursor's sensors, putting their point defense offline. That let General Moffeta's units take long strafing runs at the massive machines.
No'Drak winced when one of the incoming Jotuns broke up at 15,000 meters up, the huge chunks tumbling to the ground.
The planet was taking a pounding.
General No'Drak made a motion, bringing up the communications section. The PFC who answered was a Terran had oversized eyes and whiskers.
"Is the hypercom still functional?" he asked before she could speak.
"Yes, sir," she said.
"Contact the Telkan system. Tell them we're going to need a full elven court here," No'Drak said. He sighed. "Tell them we're going to have massive Precursor wreckage as well as..." he paused, took a deep drag and exhaled it.
Ge'ermo'o noticed that it was pushing back the smell of freshly cut grain.
"We're going atom smasher. We've got over two billion civilians in shelters. Put out a request for evac ships, even on the junker channels," he said.
"Yes, sir," the female Terran said. Ge'ermo'o wondered why her eyes were so big. If they helped with her job, if her parents had possessed big eyes in their DNA, or if she just had liked them.
No'Drak cut the link and looked at the surrounding officers. "I'd give my mandibles to have Tik-Tak here."
That got chuckles.
No'Drak knew that the elven queens could repair the damage he was about to order his troops to commit to.
But if his men couldn't get it under control, couldn't smash the Precursor threat, there wouldn't be a planet to fix. He could see that the Precursors had arrived to strip mine the planet, probably down to gravel.
Part of him wondered why they wanted the planet so bad. The asteroid belts had been mined to nothing over the last twenty thousand years. Most of the easily accessible minerals were gone.
Then he remembered that elements of Third Armor were engaged with mining machines.
He looked at the icons for the Treana'ad Infantry Hordes and Air Mobile Clouds and a small part of him wished he was a Lieutenant again, charging across the ground in armor with his heavy weapons on the top of his abdomen.
After a moment he made a decision.
"Order all personnel on planet into armor and to draw weapons from the armory," he said. He turned to the two Lanaktallan. "Gentlebeings, I'd advise you to prepare yourselves."
"You think we will be attacked here?" Ge'ermo'o asked.
"Can't discount it at this time," No'Drak said. "The reinforcements were a high probability and it looks like our cards weren't as good as we hoped."
"Surely you won't be defeated," Ge'ermo'o said. "You won't withdraw!"
No'Drak shook his head. "No. There's too many people in shelters, too many people in hiding. We'll fight to the last."
"The Confederacy doesn't leave civilians behind to die," General Pulgrak said. He stretched, his shoulders popping. "Glad I qualified on my armor and weapons two months ago."
General Vandu licked her lips, looking around, her eyes moving back and forth. "Are we staying here?"
General No'Drak put away his cigarette. "Yes. We will still coordinate the battle, but we must be ready to join the ever put upon lower enlisted and junior officers should the Precursors assault our command and control area."
General Vandu nodded, her lips twitching in a smile. "Just standard body armor, or can we..." she started to ask.
"Put on power armor?" No'Drak asked. He gave the equivalent of a shrug. "There are several companies of power armor troops here to defend this base, you know that. If you wish to lead them from the front, you have my blessing."
General Vandu hurried off.
"She will see if the taste of combat is as sweet as the fantasy of combat awards," No'Drak said softly. He turned to his aide. "Let's suit up."
The Colonel nodded. "This way to the armory, General."
A Terran captain next to Ge'ermo'o touched his lower right elbow. When Ge'ermo'o looked at him, he noted how grave the Terran looked.
"If you Lanaktallan gentlemen will follow me, we should have time to fab and fit you with armor."
Ge'ermo'o was proud of himself for how calm he knew he looked as he nodded.
----------------
Trucker dropped down into his tank, slamming the hatch shut over him.
He'd waited till almost the last second. The tank shuddered as the lead of the debris wave hit his tank. The wave was thick dust, formerly ferrocrete and asphalt, all ripped up by the massive Precursor combat machine going nose first into the suburbs beyond the city and scraping the bedrock for nearly eight miles before it had lost momentum and slammed down into the channel it had carved.
"Can't see shit, sir," his driver said.
"Tell all units to hold position, give the air a minute to clear," Trucker ordered. He heard his radioman passing the orders and looked at his sensor tech. "How many?"
"I saw four entering atmosphere before that big monster hit," he said. "Maybe more. The sky's on fire."
"331, how's it look in there?" Trucker asked.
--rough shape-- the Mantid Engineer Team Leader admitted. --try not to let them hit you--
"We're a tank. We're a little obvious," Trucker chuckled. He tapped his software and tossed a meme at the Mantid team of his tank, with great big googly eyes, trying to hide behind a tree, with meters of hull and an eye on each side of the tree. The caption "I R HIDYN!" at the bottom.
That got back giggling emojis.
"All Regimental Commanders, check in," Trucker said. He scooped out his dip and slung it into the can. He repacked it while he waited for his commo tech to get in touch with the different regiments.
"Trucker wants a sit-rep," Colonel Dremsal heard faintly over the roar of his quad-barrel.
"TELL HIM I'M BUSY!" Dremsal yelled back. As soon as they'd moved in between the two massive Precursors their air support had come out to play.
The sky above him was a whirling gnashing death snarl, with 19th Air Cavalry Regiment fighting six times their numbers with seemingly infinite reinforcements. So far they'd only lost three strikers, but each casualty counted.
"Told him you were still alive and we've still got tanks even if we're rolling coal," his commo tech said. He put his hand to his ear. "Most High A'armo'o wants to talk to you."
"Put him through," Dremsal said. He let go of the quad-barrel and ducked back into the tank, pulling the hatch shut. The last thing he wanted is some Precursor machine getting past the battlescreens, reaching down into the tank, and snatching his head off.
"Dremsal here, go ahead," he said.
"We're coming up on your rear. We've got 15th Sustainment inside our ranks. We had to drop back from the river, large machines were making landfall," A'armo'o said.
Dremsal closed his eyes, bringing up how his vehicles were arranged. He gave the orders and shot A'armo'o his plan.
"You keep 15th covered, we'll drop back to get refit," Dremsal said.
"What, may I ask, is our target?" A'armo'o asked. He glanced back at the half dozen Telkan Marines on the back deck of his tank. A quick glance showed his second in command had several Terrans on the back and it looked like they were doing something important.
"Juggernaut. It looks like it almost broke up, but if they get the auto-factories running we'll be in a lot of trouble if we let it just sit there without busting up its plans," Dremsal said. "We'll knock out the supply lines, get close, and open fire on it."
"What about the Great Gobbler back there?" A'armo'o asked.
"He can watch from behind us. He won't be able to catch up to us," Dremsal said. "We'll keep ahead of it close enough to keep its attention, keep it from diving, but we won't let it get close."
"I understand. Your warplan is loaded, my men are moving up," A'armo'o said.
The tanks of the Great Herd slowed for a moment as the Terran tanks widened the wedge they were in, giving room for A'armo'o to bring his brigade up tight to the formation and slot into the middle. Once the manuever was finished, the Lanaktallan tanks formed another layer of protection for the lightly armored and lightly shielded (for Terran vehicles) vehicles of 15th Sustainment.
A'armo'o looked through his laser designator ranger at the big vehicle behind him that his men were still 'teasing' with random shots. He frowned and dialed up the magnification.
Was that... people on top of it?
-------------------
Vuxten stared down at the grinders below him, kneeling down on the ten foot thick protective housing right above them. He stared right into a massive glowing eye that looked back.
"Howdy, sailor," he heard a female's voice over the radio. "Buy a girl a drink?"
Vuxten chuckled. "We thought you were dead," he said honestly.
"I'm stuck. I came up from under me, I got caught on the cables and conveyors, then sucked into the grinder," Glory said. She wiggled her fingers. "I'm OK, probably scuffed up real bad, but I'm definitely stuck."
The gears tried to reverse, jammed, then tried to pull the massive skull and shoulder in.
"My feet and shins are outside the grinders, but they're hung up on my hips and shoulder," Glory said.
"Gonna have some greenies check it out, see if we can help you out," Vuxten said.
--hopefully no fall whirr blarg dead-- 471 said.
"Can you move your arms?" Plunex asked.
Glory shifted slightly and the grinders howled, showering sparks everywhere. "Nope. My arms are at bad positions, I've got no leverage."
"Lemme look," Casey said. He grabbed onto the edge of the housing and swung down.
"Wait..." Plunex said.
Casey dropped down, landing agilely on Glory's face.
"Aw man, first date and you try to do me right in the face?" Glory laughed.
"Don't kinkshame me," Casey said, moving slowly and carefully. Vuxten could see his feet had the bluish purple of active graviton generators around them.
"Really? Graviton? Wow," Glory said. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to have you walk on my face with grav-stickied boots?"
"Don't kinkshame me," Casey said again, his voice slightly distant.
"Kinkshaming is my kink," Glory laughed. The grinders whined, clattered, and bucked. "Ow, it's starting to pinch."
"Enough leverage and pressure and they'll bend the warsteel," Casey knelt down, looking at the gears.
"What do you see, Sergeant?" Sergeant Addox asked.
"Drive shaft is exposed on two of them. Look about three to four meters of endosteel," he said.
"What..." Plunex started.
"Shh," Vuxten said, watching the Terran. "Listen and learn."
"Looks like she shattered one of the grinders and when it tried to bring up a new one it hung up on her shoulder armor," Casey said.
To Vuxten it just looked like a whirring nightmare of massive toothed screws. He started tracing the lines, looking at them. A small window in the upper right of his vision showed 471 was zooming in on sections.
--stress points here here here here-- 471 said, tossing the red dots. --bearing housing covers here here here here--
"Casey, my greenie's ID'd a bunch of stress points and stuff," Vuxten said.
"Pass it to me," Casey said.
"What if it sucks you inside?" Vuxten asked Glory.
"My arm's at a bad angle. It might rip it off," she answered. "Beyond that, I'll probably be inside a massive area where ore and rock are pulverized and I'd like to avoid that."
Vuxten remembered the First Telkan War. "How's your coolant?"
"Good. All my lobes are intact," she answered.
"All right. We can get her out," Casey said. He jumped up and grabbed the lip of the top of the housing and pulled himself up with the hiss of loading frame hydraulics. Vuxten noticed his eyes weren't amber any longer. "I'll mark the areas, in order. Those armor defeating missiles you Telkan's use should do the trick."
"Sergeant Canton, I need ten men," Plunex sent out. "All with rocket launchers."
"Roger that, sir," the section sergeant radioed back.
"We're going to free your right arm first. Once we do that, I want you to pull it out, brace yourself, and we're going to blow the driveshaft on the one on your left shoulder, then the one pressing against your chest," Casey said.
"With missiles?" Glory asked.
"Your warsteel hull could take a direct hit from them. They're forged up for Precursor armor," Vuxten said.
"Units on top of Precursor mega-structure mining vessel, fire green star cluster flare if friendly," came a voice across the command channel. It was staticy and full of pops and clicks.
"I read you," Vuxten said. He ordered the round in his grenade launcher to reconfigure to the right munition, aimed it straight up, and chugged out three, slightly spread apart.
"We validate three green star clusters. Mark with single red," the voice said. "No voice commo, IU say again, we are not receiving you."
Vuxten fired a single red flare into the sky. "This is first platoon, HHC, First Telkan Marine Division," he said.
"We read one single red flare. Signal with red white red star cluster flares. I say again, red, white, red star clusters, when in need of assistance," the voice continued. "One green flare if under operation."
Vuxten fired another green.
"We read green. Will designate spotter to overwatch. Pop orange smoke or two green star cluster if in need of assistance at later time," the voice said. "Dremsal out."
"Telkan out," Vuxten said.
Dremsal looked back at the massive vehicle. He could see the Telkan Marines plainly, and they were involved with something on the massive vehicle's port side, but the huge scoop wheels blocked whatever it was they were looking at.
"Can we even hurt that thing?" He asked. "Without killing them?"
His gunner shook his head. "Negative, sir. That thing's shields could match a BOLO."
Dremsal frowned.
Where the hell had it come from?
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Hello Reddit,
I have been experiencing something in my game and after talking to several friends and streamers I notice everyone is suffering from the same problem with different materials.
--------------------------
In my case I main Noelle and every Monday the first thing I do is hunt Dvalin for his Claw, just so I can level up my Noelle's Talents. I am even waiting to use the Crowns on her.
However, for several weeks now Dvalin have not dropped a single Claw and I cannot get the materials I need.
--------------------------
Below I am going to share some screenshots of my account showing my Noelle's Talent levels, the amount of Dvalin's Talent materials I have and other characters that use the Claw, just so you can see how little of the Claws I got:
https://imgur.com/a/4KVgzyL
https://i.imgur.com/bCX93vK.png
https://i.imgur.com/eIhautl.png
--------------------------
I work with a AAA game company and I know for sure that on the game I work with they have an algorithm that keeps track of your stats and purposely reduce the drop rate of the items you want to increase your "retention rate".
I want to know if this is the case with Genshin's Talent materials, cause if it is I am quitting this game. I am not a gambler and I don't want to spin a rigged slot machine once a week.
--------------------------
However, my sample size is too small. A couple of friends and some handful of streamers is not representative of the whole community.
Therefore, I need your help. Please tell me your experience below and tell me with your vote if you feel like the drop rates are rigged as well.
View Poll

So the Alienware Discord AMA happened this evening, and was well-attended. For those who missed it, here's a round-up of the questions asked by the community, and answers given by the Alienware team. There's a lot of them, but some really great questions and answers:
​

Q: Will the Area 51m R1 finally receive next gen Dgff upgrades along with heatsinks to support the layouts? And can they finally allow the rtx 2060 to run at 115w?

The Area-51m R1 / R2 will support GPU upgrades within the current generation of graphics. However, due to generational differences of the new graphics card, we are not able to extend support beyond the generation of GPU the Area-51m R1 / R2 was designed for.
​

Q: I just got an AGA for my 17R4 (1070 internal, non MaxQ)...I'm in the market for an Nvdia 3070/3080 but was wondering about compatibility. I see that people have been able to run non reference 3070s and 3080s...basically there's some boot up sequence to follow and I believe the case will likely need to remain open to fit these cards. Is that pretty much all I need to know? With the case open, I can fit cards wider than 2 slot right? Q: Can you tell us any more on why Nvidia 3000 GPUs do not work in the Alienware Graphics Amplifier—but Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs work fine? Q: Any updates on having the amplifier work with the Nvidia 30 series? Q: You've said the AGA will support the RTX3070 - does this need a separate driver update from somewhere, or should it "just work"? If it doesn't "just work", should people contact Alienware Support like usual?

(Ernie) The Graphics Amplifier will support 3070 graphics cards, but cannot support the RTX 3080 or RTX 3090, primarily due to wattage. The 460W PSU cannot sustain the power peaks. Mechanical fitment is also a concern. After confirming with our engineers the RTX 3070 is not working on AGA at the moment it is a issue on the driver side and will be getting it resolved shortly. (Eddy) In general if you have an issue with your system call support. That's just a standard rule. I know from what I've discussed with our engineers that the 3070 fits and works within the Amp.
​

Q: How do you get to forbidden rtx 3090?

You can find the RTX 3090 available today on the Aurora R11 https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/desktop-computers/alienware-aurora-r11-gaming-desktop/spd/alienware-aurora-r11-desktop
​

Q: Will the M15/M17 R4, and the Area 51M R2 successor receive new display options such as the 1440p 165Hz displays or 4k 120Hz displays that will be rolling out to various competing laptops like the Zephyrus Duo (etc.)? Though I guess we'll find out the answer to the first 2 devices at the launch event Q: Why did you not look to involve AMD CPU's in the M15/M17 R4? Just seems like the logical option given that these chips are noticeably faster and produce less heat. Q: Any plans on making new cases for better airflow and cooling any time soon? Does Alienware have any plans to include AMD Ryzen 5000 series CPUs in upcoming laptops? Q: Does Alienware have any plans to include AMD Ryzen 5000 series CPUs in upcoming laptops?

We do not share any details about future products and roadmaps, but well see what the future has in store
​

Any update on the Alienware UFO? When can I buy Concept UFO?

We’ve received this question a lot in the last few months! The version of Concept UFO you saw at CES in January 2020 was a just concept device, developed to gain better understanding of what our gamers want and look for in a gaming device. Concepts help us to explore innovative designs and form factors, potential components and materials, ecosystem opportunities, and the broader user experience. It was great to showcase some of our initial thoughts for Concept UFO and gain invaluable feedback from customers and members of the public. Innovation is a journey and a process. Different iterations enable the exploration and understanding of something, based upon which, another iteration is made, and so on. We don’t have any plans to announce Concept UFO as a formal product for now.
​

Q: Why alienware CPU not available in amazon and flip kart?

You can buy our Desktop and Notebook CPU's - they are Intel and AMD retail CPUs.
​

Q: Why can't we get OLED or 4K panels on the Dark Side of the Moon colored laptops?

Dark Side of the Moon is only offered on the lower end configs. When we came up with the Legend industrial design a bit part of the strategy was to be different than the competition. "black gaming PC" was the norm. That's why we chose to have Lunar Light enable more configs to let people "be different".
​

Q: What are the power limits for the GPUs in the M15 R4 and M17 R4?

I shouldn't say, but M17 R4 - RTX 3080 (150W) / 3070 (115W) ----M15 R4 = 115W
​

Q: At some point there were GPU upgrades available for the Area 51m laptops, then shortly those updates were discontinued on the Dell website, it's this a Covid reason and you are planing to get them back for in house installation after everything goes back to normal?

Here's the last official notice surrounding those upgrades. https://na.alienwarearena.com/ucf/show/2135841/boards/gaming-news/News/alienware-area-51m-upgrades-and-where-to-find-them
​

Q: Is the AW engineering team talking about resizeable BAR support? Resizeable BAR support is a Firmware feature that allows a GPU to access more system memory (>256 mb) than is traditionally available. It's also referred to (by AMD) as SAM.

(Ernie) I can not say what is coming in our future products (Eddy) SAM is not available on the Aurora R10.
​

Q: Will existing Aurora r10 motherboards with ryzen 3000 be able to support ryzen 5000 series? If so when will the bios get released? Q: Will Alienware Aurora R10 customers with Ryzen 3000-based systems be able to upgrade their rig with AMD Ryzen 5000 processors?

Currently it is not a supported path but our engineers are investigating other paths, stay tuned...
​

Q: Does AW work on Firmware for their products in-house?

It's a collaboration between our partners and our own engineers.
​

Q: Do you think future aurora machine will use all PCIe lanes (x16) in the machine for GPU. More things move in the GPU department, the more it becomes a bottleneck to use x8 lanes.

Today we do offer a slot with PCIe x16 and PCIe 4.0 in the Aurora R10
​

Q: Would you Would recommend the Aurora R10 with a Ryzen 9 5900X and the 3080 or Aurora R11 with a i9 10900F and a 3090

(Ernie) That is preference in choice my friend, but I'd get Ryzen 9 5900X for Multi application usage and 3080 (Eddy) This depends on what your priorities are. The 3090 obviously delivers more performance than a 3080 when gaming.
​

Q: Whats your favorite AW laptop of all time, and why?

(Ernie) AW13 because I enjoyed the mobility and that OLED screen (Eddy) I loved the Aurora mALX.... that's an old one. I love the paint job and the 19" screen.
​

Q: Can customers buy the CPUs from the store on Dell.com?

Individual processors are currently not available on Dell.com
​

Q: There has been a lot of talk with the current amplifier, is this something you guys can share with the whole AW team, on regards community demand for upcoming products/features?

The Amplifier has sold out. There is no more stock and there is no plan for a refresh at this time.
​

Q: Laptops have changed a LOT since the AGA was introduced. Laptop GPU's have come a lot ways since the AGA was introduced. I don't think they are as neccesary as they maybe once were.

Fact. Speaking of laptop GPUs, the new m15/m17 R4 all support 12-phase graphics voltage regulation. I don't think any of our competitors are offering anything similar.
​

Q: Any plans to bring back a 13" version of the laptops?

Can't speak to future roadmaps BUT we do investigate all shapes and sizes when considering future road maps so anything is possible. If the community is loud enough about it, that helps too.
​

Q: Do you plan on having a new design with better airflow? You advertise the airflow in marketing, but everything is quite cramped in the aurora. I'm sure there's a market for a very big computer with tons of fans. It's kinda the new trend.

(Ernie) Can't speak to future roadmaps BUT we do investigate airflow and chassis design so stay tuned to see what we got in store (Eddy) Great question ... and desktops are not going away anytime soon. You'll have to use your imagination since we can't share specifics.
​

Q: How much better is the cooling system in the R4 versions vs R3? Looks like a small improvement but there's not a lot of reviews out there currently to really get a good sense.

Well, ALL of the R4 configs include vapor chamber cooling. In R3 it depended on which GPU you got. So that's a plus. and don't forget the TCC Offset controller offered in the R4 now. It's like cruise control for your CPU temps.
​

Q: This one is maybe a little hard to answer, but we see a lot of variance on Reddit in regards to thermals. Lots of people get systems from factory that run perfect, no additional tuning required, but we also see some that do require users to repaste their systems in order to get them performing like they should. Also I don't think it's a big surprise to anyone here that undervolting can really help here. Has Alienware had any discussions regarding having the laptops come undervolted from the factory? And has there been any talk of having a way to make sure the stock paste maybe isn't quite such a variable for some users.

(Ernie) We won't be undervolting from factory but we leave that option open to the consumer, and now in R4 we are including a TCC offset Controller in the BIOS for improved thermals. (Eddy) The answer to your question is "yes"
​

Q: I know you said you can't comment specifically on future product roadmap etc, but have engineering been told that lots of us constantly ask for more USB ports to be added to laptops?

Yes correct we know ports is a big need in gaming systems or for professional creators and we have been researching for our next gen systems.
​

Q: Does the Alienware team work on the Dell branded gaming laptops? Is there any design crossovers between the two brands?

Yes if you have noticed Dell has a line of Gaming called Dell Gaming with the likes of the G5 and G7 products
​

Q: Do you guys use an specific internal Dell thermal paste or at some point you can offer the option for selecting an specific thermal paste at the moment of build the computer?

We have our own specific recipe, comparable to Arctic Silver but not the same. About making the grease selectable - its not impossible but when you think of the scale at which we ship products around the world, that small detail can mean a lot for the factories. We would have to see if it makes sense and how many people would opt-in.

Q: What is the difference between an Alienware and Dell G Series?

Well -- G and AW have very different designs. If you care about design and materials, it would be an easy choice. There's also the question of configurability, lighting, and other technologies. We don't have all the offerings from AW in G. There is a lot of Magnesium Alloy in our Alienware laptops. The R3 and R4 generation even have a High Endurance Clear Coat paint formula that is excellent against stains.
​

Q: requested feature for future laptops - trackpad centered in the middle! OCD lol

Inter(esting request. Today we have them positioned strategically centered to the keyboard. (vs. )centered to the system)
​

Q: To improve laptop cooling (it's a perennial complaint), has anyone considered fold-out legs similar to keyboard legs on the base?

Something about more moving parts feels wrong to me. Like, more things that can be at risk of breaking.
​

Q: Am still waiting for that pet apparel with Alienfx built in. Where dat at?

LOL great question I'll have to ask our merch teams
​

Q: To both of you: What's your favourite type of cake?

(Ernie) Carrot right now, but I love all cake (Eddy) This is a trap!!!
​

Q: Bucs or Chiefs?

(Ernie) Bucs - Tampa Bay Tom
​

Q: Sausages or burgers?

(Ernie) Burgers all day
​

Q: Have Alienware considered an RGB version of the light-up hoodie, rather than just cool blue?

(Ernie) I love that call out, it might have existed once. But we are always trying to renew our lifestyle branding clothing
​

Q: Do you guys sneak on Reddit/Alienware often to hear our "stories"?

(Eddy) of course! (Ernie) I do (DJUnreal) Trust me, they hear a lot of your stories. Mog and I make sure of that
​

Thank you for taking the time today Eddy & Ernie. It means a lot to the community to have their opinions listened to and questions answered.

(Eddy) Its been a blast! I may do this again sometime. (Ernie) Thank you all for hanging out with us and we appreciate all of you - stay tuned for the next one!

Timestamp/Album
Have you ever bought an entire Multicam Black rig on Reddit, NOT because it works but because you look cool as FUCK... go ahead and hit that subscribe button!
Welp, waiting on unemployment still and bored, so I decided to sell off pretty much all of my heavy rig and start over. Pay off a couple of things, buy some new shit from you all, convert my Gucci M17 to a St. Laurent M18, naw mean. More photos available if needed.
I’ll take X at asking gets it
Anyhow, all prices include shipping to the US. All are priced for a fast sale. PayPal F&F is accepted. Goods and services are cool, but that 3% is on you, big dog.
If you buy all the Multicam Black stuff (carrier, belts, 5 tacos) or the P320 setup (GGP slide/Sig barrel/recoil assembly/Safariland holster), I’ll knock 10% off the total cost.
EDIT: my dumbass forgot the Vortex mount. — $50 shipped sold.
I can’t remember the model number. It’s the one that sells for $99. It’s 30mm, cantilever. I believe 2”. Great shape, never shot. Mounted and removed.
Velocity Systems Scarab LT in MCB, Size XL — $250 shipped
Had this for a little over a year. Ran it in one course last summer, it has sat since. It’s an incredibly comfortable setup for the big and tall larper in you.
High Speed Gear Battle Belt (Laser Slim-Grip, Padded, Slotted), Size Large — $100 shipped sold.
Same thing as above. Bought them around the same time.
Klik Belts Size 36 Multicam Black Cobra Rigger Belt — $45 shipped.
Ditto x3. No d-ring. Edit: is 1.75”
THREE High Speed Gear Rifle Tacos in Multicam Black — $85 shipped
x4 — will come with the universal clips.
TWO High Speed Gear Pistol Tacos in Multicam Black — $55 shipped
x5 — also has universal clips.
Safariland 6390 RDS - 4502 Mid Ride Holster — $100 shipped.
Has been used a good amount but is in great shape. Biggest issue is a little inside wear from dry firing but that’s splitting hairs. Hasn’t been modified from factory. Fit my M17/P320 full size with an RMR and the TLR-7. Look it up, I know it fits other lights and red dots. Not sure about other P320 sizes. Look it up.
Grey Ghost Precision V1 Sig P320 Full Size Slide — $350 shipped
Has been used a fair amount, not a ton of firing. Probably 100 live rounds. It’s in great shape with the exception of typical wear from contact with the barrel. Note it will not come with the striker or extractor assembly. It’s just the slide.
Sig Sauer M17/P320 9mm Barrel (factory, used)/Recoil spring assembly — $115 shipped
Same use as the slide, used but in great shape. I kept each cleaned with an ultrasonic machine between uses.
Streamlight TLR-1 HL — ~~$95 $90 shipped sold~~
Same use as the above. I’ve changed the batteries several times. Has the strobe function. Is black. Lights up dark things. Edit: I have all of the rail keys except the Glock one. I’m pretty sure it’s here somewhere but for now, assume I don’t have it. I’m knocking it to $90 in light of this.
Thyrm Cell Vault (CR123A) — $20 shipped.
Holds 3 of these things. One for your Eotech and two for the TLR-1 you just bought from me.
Maxpedition Roly-Poly Dump Pouch (Black) — $20 shipped sold
Three range trips. Larped indoors. Does not smell like butt. Comes with High Speed Gear universal clips.

Season 12 Update: What’s New

· Updated mods section to reflect new mod structure
· A few updated thoughts on Stasis classes
· Significant update to Warmind Cell section, including information on Seventh Seraph weapons
· New recommendations for defensive and offensive mod loadouts
· Recommendations updated for Season 12 mods
· Weapons recommendations
Part 2 of this guide is here: https://www.reddit.com/DestinyTheGame/comments/k5fzne/moving_into_highlevel_pve_guide_for_beginners/

Before We Get Started

Why you should trust me

I’ve got a few hundred raid completions, including flawless completions of the post-year 1 raids, and I’ve soloed each of the dungeons flawlessly as well. But also: I’m not an amazing player; I’d say I’m above average but I am nowhere near as talented as some of the people whose videos you can watch online, or indeed who are in my clan. I am someone who has to work hard to get good and who makes up for a lack of talent with stubbornness and a willingness to learn from my mistakes.
So this advice is not for the amazing D2 player. It’s for someone who’s just starting to move into raiding or is thinking about working on raid triumphs, or soloing a dungeon for the first time, or maybe dreaming of earning the Conqueror title. My main goal is to help you become a better teammate—to know what weapons, mods, and armor you need in different situations, and to learn how to use them. Hopefully I’ll answer your basic questions and give you a starting point from which you can learn more.

What do I mean by high-level PvE content?

1. Raids: multi-encounter structures that require team coordination and adaptation to/knowledge of various raid-specific mechanics (ball throwing, buff swapping, tethering, cranium charging, etc.)
2. Sublight challenges: master and grandmaster nightfalls, master nightmare hunts, solo 1280 lost sectors, 1280 empire hunts, or any new content where players are likely to be 0-25 light levels below the enemies they face. This content includes raids and dungeons in their initial season of being offered.
3. Solo challenges: attempts to accomplish 1 and 2 by yourself or with a suboptimal team (like doing a raid with three people instead of six).

General Advice

As you begin to push into more challenging content, one lesson is key: dying is not good. That’s kind of a strange lesson to have to learn, but the reality is that Destiny does not punish you much for dying in ordinary content. That makes it easy to develop habits that will serve you poorly in raids and other situations, where dying can lead to a cascading series of mishaps that will cause a wipe or an extinguish mechanic. So one of your main goals as you start playing in these situations is to try to get better at not dying.
The other thing to begin to learn—and which the game does not really force you to learn—is how to make weapons, armor, and ability builds that synergize both internally, in relation to your own character, and externally, in relation to your teammates and the environment. Understanding, for instance, not only your role in a given raid encounter but the roles of your teammates, and knowing what classes or weapons they’re running so that you can communicate with them about what to do next, are both critical to becoming a stronger team player. And understanding how your armor and weapons, your mods and class abilities, all interact is critical to your being able to maximize your impact as a solo player.
All this advice is focused on building up the basic sets of gear that will help you through difficult PvE content. I have probably forgotten many things, and of course you can always do things with an off-meta or weird loadout, either because you’re a masochist or because you want to challenge yourself. What’s below focuses on the basics.

Part 1: Armor and Armor Mods

In general a good PvE build will be a fully masterworked set of armor with high recovery and discipline or intellect. (Resilience sounds good but has only a very small impact on PvE combat.) For raids you might end up using melee abilities, but for sublight content you will mostly be fighting at range, and meleeing only in a panic. Grenades have a wide variety of important uses (hence discipline), and supers (and super energy) are also always useful (hence intellect), so spec into one of those if you can. In general armor stats matter much less in PvE than PvP; your armor mods will almost certainly not be focused on other things, which we’ll discuss in a second.
For now it’s worth noting that high-end PvE content tends to feature a pretty limited set of class and subclass options, along with a certain number of key exotic armor pieces.
Hunters: (1) Top or bottom tree void, with Orpheus Rigs (especially top tree) or Sixth Coyote or Wormhusk Crown (the last two for solo especially). (2) Bottom tree solar with Celestial Nighthawk for one-shot boss damage, mainly in raids. (3) Middle tree solar with Assassin’s Cowl for heal on knife melee, for solo content. (4) Stasis, especially for solo content where the grenades and debuffs help with champions.
Titans: (1) Top tree void, for the bubble, along with the Helm of Saint-14 (in some circumstances), or (2) middle tree void, for the barrier, with Ursa Furiosas for orb generation. In some situations, particularly when using Xenophage, Titans will run with Actium War Rigs for the reload benefit.
Warlocks: (1) Top tree void with Contraverse Hold gauntlets for frequent charged grenade use, or (2) Bottom tree void with Nezarec’s Sin, for a devour-focused build especially useful for soloing content (in which case you would want to be running a void energy weapon). (3) Much more often, middle tree solar with either Phoenix Protocol for super regen or Lunafaction Boots for reload benefit, for almost any content involving groups. (4) Middle tree arc with Geomag Stabilizers for some high-end content like grandmaster nightfalls.
Season 12 has added stasis subclasses to all three groups. One of the huge advantages of all stasis supers is that they allow for significant crowd control—for slowing and stunning enemies to take them temporarily or permanently out of the fight. This is true for supers, melees, and grenades. Of the three stasis classes I find the Warlock and Titans supers a bit weak for high-end content, but the grenades and melees to be very strong (especially when paired with the correct seasonal mods).
Note that the most common subclasses for group content are the ones that boost the entire team (Titan bubble, Warlock well), protect the entire team (Titan barrier), make allies invisible (Hunter smoke grenade on bottom tree), or control/manage and debuff enemies (Hunter tether, the stasis classes). Solo players tend to focus intensely on survival abilities—the Warlock devour, the Hunter invis, or the healing melees of top tree void Titan, bottom tree arc Titan, or top tree Arc hunter.
The other thing to say is that roaming supers—arc Hunter, solar or arc Titan, top and bottom arc Warlock, middle void Warlock—are generally not good in high-end PvE, especially if you’re sublight. They simply don’t deal enough damage quickly enough to be viable. This kind of content emphasizes one-shot supers like Celestial/Golden Gun or Nova Bomb for damage, and supers like the well or Titan barriebubbles, for protection.
Must-have exotic armor: Hunter: Orpheus Rigs and Celestial Nighthawk (for group play), Sixth Coyote (solo). Titan: Helm of Saint-14, Ursa Furiosa, Actium War Rig (group), Synthoceps (solo). Warlock: Phoenix Protocol, Lunfaction Boots, and Contraverse Hold (group or solo), Nezarec’s Sin (solo). Of the new Season 12 armor exotics, three have some utility here: Icefall Mantle, which can allow a Titan to tank a single champion (at 10-15 light levels below, at 25 this becomes quite hard); Necrotic Grips, good for Warlocks doing low-level add clear in raids, and Precious Scars, the Titan helmet that gives an overshield when rezzing—very useful in grandmaster nightfalls where a rez can often be a deathtrap.
In season 12, changes to the seasonal artifact mean that only solar and stasis subclasses have the ability to stun Overload champions with their grenades; this means that those classes have suddenly become more viable (and void less dominant) for high-end PvE work. More on that later.

Armor Mods

The key difference between high-level PvE content and ordinary content or PvP content is the importance of armor mods. Where PvP builds tend to focus on statistics like Recovery or Mobility, PvE armor tends to focus on damage resistance.
The Destiny mod system is unfortunately pretty bewildering. There are many many choices and it’s not clear how much any of them matters. So let me cover a few things—all of these now updated for Season 12.

The first mod slot

This mod slot allows you to boost your character’s basic stats. For group PvE content, you’ll want to focus on Recovery (which affects how quickly your health begins to regen when you’re not being hit), Intellect (which increases super regen speed), and Discipline (for grenades). For solo content that relies heavily on a single ability to survive—like the Hunter’s dodge, which regens faster with high Mobility, or the Titan’s healing void melee, which regens faster with high Strength—you will want to focus on those things specifically.
In the previous seasons this mod slot could be used for resistance mods, which are central to many PvE builds. But that has all gone away with Season 12, which means that this slot is less interesting, and less important, than it used to be.

Legacy, Combat, and Raid mod slots

These should be focused on one or more of the following goals, in order of importance:

1. Resistance mods (on chest armor) that reduce incoming damage
2. Mods that stun or disrupt or otherwise affect champions (arms or class item)
3. Raid-specific mods (final mod slot only, and only on raid armor)
4. Charged with Light and Warmind Cell mods (fourth slot)
5. Ammo Finder (helmet) and Ammo Scavenger (boots) mods.
6. For grandmaster nightfalls in particular, finisher mods (mainly Special Finisher) that go on your class item and allow you to trade super energy for special ammo drops.

Resistance Mods

Resistance mods come in four types: energy, melee, sniper, and concussive dampener. They all go on your chest armor. Melee reduces any damage done within 5m (does not have to be melee damage) by 25%. Sniper does the same for damage done from 29m or farther. Concussive reduces splash damage from grenades/boomers. These mods stack, with the second mod getting you to 40% damage resistance. The same goes for the energy resist mods.
Since you only have two slots, you will probably want to change them depending on the activity. For Gambit or really any content where you’re at or above the appropriate power level, melee/concussive or melee/melee is quite strong, since you’ll probably be mixing it up with mobs on the regular. For grandmaster nightfalls and other sublight content, snipeconcussive is a good place to start.

Anti-Champion Mods

These mods come in two types: weapon-specific mods, which go on your arms, and grenade or melee mods, which go on your class item. These mods come from the seasonal artifact and therefore change each season (which is why I have to update this guide).
Most high-end content will have two kinds of champions, so you’ll want to go into encounters making sure that you or your fireteam can stun, disrupt, or stagger the appropriate champions with the appropriate weapons.
For season 12 these mods are: Unstoppable Schwarzschild Condenser (2-Cost, Class Item), which allows Void melees to stagger Unstoppables, and Thermal Overload (2-Cost, Class Item), which allows solar and stasis grenades to disrupt Overload champions.
Another very useful champion mod in season 12 is Surge Eater, which restores your grenade whenever you stagger or disrupt a champion. You can combine this with Thermal Overload to stun Overload champions and immediately get your grenade back, allowing you to stun them again as soon as that’s possible.
In general I would say that the most obvious/basic combo this season is Surge EateThermal Overload… the melee mods are going to be hard to use because it’s going to be hard to get close enough to champions (in sublight content) to actually land a melee hit. The same is true for the Unstoppable Shotgun mod, which is also very highly priced at 7 energy.

Raid and Other Activity-Specific Mods (5th slot)

These include mods that affect Last Wish, Garden of Salvation, and the Deep Stone Crypt, as well as Nightmare Hunts on the moon. For Last Wish Taken Barrier and Taken Armaments are both incredibly useful; for GoS you really only need Enhanced Relay Defender.
For Nightmare Hunts I find that only the Nightmare Breaker mods really come in handy; the others not so much. You can read more about them here: https://www.reddit.com/DestinyTheGame/comments/dkpssk/breakdown_of_the_nightmare_mods_banisher_breake.
In Year 2 and Year 3 armor, these mods go in the fourth slot. Year 4 (Beyond Light) armor has a fifth dedicated slot for these mods, which frees up the fourth slot for other things.
Early analysis of the DSC mods suggests that for most six-person content they are not really worthwhile. See here: https://www.reddit.com/DestinyTheGame/comments/k2mi9s/quick_look_at_the_dsc_raid_mods_minus_suppresso?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Charged with Light Mods

The CwL system works as follows: certain mods (colored in green) give you stacks of CwL, up to a maximum of two stacks. Other mods (yellow) spend those stacks. And a third set of mods (white) changes the number of stacks you get or can have (increases your stack maximum, up to five, or gives you two stacks instead of one each time you get a stack).
The basic system is this: (1) Get CwL (2) Spend CwL. The easiest way to get CwL is to use the Taking Charge mod, which gives you charges for picking up a light orb. Combined with a masterworked weapon that drops orbs on fast kills, you can pretty much guarantee that you’ll spend most of the time CwL. You can also get charges from mods that give charges on weapon damage (kills with a certain weapon give you charges) or action triggers (breaking a shield, doing a finisher). For Season 12, Abyssal Charge, in the sixth row of the artifact, will give you CwL for void melee final blows.
So now you have charges. How should you spend them? One option is to look for damage resistance or damage buffs. The best damage resist mod is Protective Light, an absolutely crucial choice that gives you 50% damage resistance when an enemy breaks your shield. I use it almost all the time. Useful damage boost mods include High-Energy Fire (generic 20% damage buff till you kill an enemy), Lucent Blade (for swords), and Surprise Attack (for sidearms).
Other CwL mods will give you chances to drop special ammo, return grenade or melee energy, heal you on grenade kills, and more.
For lower-level PvE content I tend to use damage mods like Lucent Blade or Surprise Attack. For scarier content I’m almost always on Protective Light.
If you have room for mods that increase your stacks, Stacks on Stacks (gives two stacks for each one you earn), Charged Up (increases total stacks by one), and Superpowered (increases total stacks by two) are all useful here.
TL:DR: if you do nothing else use Taking Charge (green) and Protective Light (yellow), and get more fancy once you understand more.

Warmind Cell mods

Like Charged with Light, this system involves creating an opportunity to affect the gameworld (by making a Warmind Cell), and then using that opportunity (the Cell) in a certain way. You create a cell by getting a kill using a Seraph weapon (which now are world drops; Ikelos 1.2 weapons also count as Seraph Weapons). Once the cell exists you can either pick it up or shoot it. Shooting it causes it to explode, and a number of WC mods increase the range of that explosion or add effects to it. Picking up the cell will allow you to throw or, or will (with a Warmind’s Light mod) Charge you with Light, or have some other effect.
Here are the Seraph weapons currently available. Names include “Seventh Seraph” except where noted:
Kinetic: auto rifle, hand cannon
Energy: smg (Seraph and Ikelos), sniper (Ikelos), sidearm, shotgun (Seraph and Ikelos)
Heavy: machine gun
When I’m playing I’ll tend to run an auto/shotgun/Xenophage loadout for max solar explosion damage, unless I’m running a void Warlock, in which case I use the sidearm (void) with Nezarec’s sin. For some explosion-oriented content I’ll run the hand cannon, Jotunn, and the machine gun.
The most basic way to use these cells is to create them and then shoot them. A mod like Global Reach will then give your cell explosions far greater range and effect. But you can also combine numbers of mods to create some pretty cool synergistic builds, as you see here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2020/03/27/a-destiny-2-solar-inferno-warlock-warmind-cell-build-for-more-room-clearing-fun/#5ec7d0c01c30
You can find a guide to all the Warmind Cell mods here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kqaf2MdmUm1Ll6jCh-Rt0k6j2-nYCwf5lbbRLtXyr7M/edit#
But here are the basics: Solar mods generally affect cell explosion damage; Void mods create buff and debuff effects that do not rely on exploding the cells; and Arc mods create effects upon mod pickup.
The key to Warmind Cell is to understand that cells, once created, belong to everyone. Effects from shooting or picking up the cells are pegged to the person who picks them up or shoots them. So if Person A has Rage of the Warmind on and shoots a cell created by Person B, who does not have it on, then the explosion will be affected by Rage of the Warmind. And if Person B has Warmind’s Protection on, they will get 50% damage protection from mobs standing near a cell created by Person A—even if Person A does not have that mod on.
What this means that an entire fireteam of 6 people can coordinate Warmind Cell mods to create synergistic effects. I describe some of those below.

Recommended Builds

Add-clear Explosion Fun Build
Global Reach (1 neutral), Wrath of Rasputin (1 solar), Rage of the Warmind (5 solar), Incinerating Light (3 Solar), Reactive Pulse (CwL, 3 Arc). Ideally paired with a weapon that causes solar splash damage (Ace of Spaces, Sunshot, Jotunn, Xenophage, Martyr’s Retribution; the Warlock exotic chest Chromatic Fire also causes explosions on kinetic precision kills) and/or a solar subclass.
This build involves creating cells and then using the explosions from the cells to create more cells, killing everything within 30m (that’s the range of the explosion, Rage of the Warmind doubles that). Wrath of Rasputin creates more cells from solar splash so you’ll be making cells from your non-Seraph weapons and your class abilities (if you’re running a solar class).
Incinerating Light charges you with light when you kill three or more things with a cell explosion, and the Reactive Pulse mod creates a 30m Arc explosion when you take damage while surrounded—essentially destroying red-bar enemies all around you.
This is a build for content where you’re higher or even in power level with your enemies; it’s super fun. In a perfect world it turns your character into the walking center of a series of explosions, and feels awesome.
Defensive Build
Global Reach (1 neutral), Wrath of Rasputin (1 solar), Taking Charge (CwL, 3 neutral), Protective Light (CwL, 2 void), Warmind’s Protection (2 void).
This build has a number of variations depending on whether you’re running a solar class and/or coordinating with a team. A maximum defensive build swaps out Wrath of Rasputin for Cellular Suppression (2 void); you generate fewer cells but the cells you make help more, since shooting cells when you have CS on will send out a stunning pulse that will stun red-bar enemies for 10 seconds. Warmind’s Protection gives you a 50% damage buff against enemies near a cell.
If you have a full fireteam with multiple people using Warmind builds you can coordinate some of these buffs (making sure a couple people have Cellular Suppression on, for instance, or having someone else run Grasp of the Warmind (3 void), which allows you to pick cells up and move them to better places.
Here's a list of some fun builds for you:
Neutral, good for anything

1. Taking Charge, Protective Light, Global Reach, Wrath of Rasputin, Fireteam Medic
   
2. Taking Charge, Protective Light, Stacks on Stacks, Global Reach, Wrath of Rasputin
   
3. Taking Charge, Protective Light, Reactive Pulse, Supercharged, Stacks on Stacks
   
4. Global Reach, Wrath of Rasputin, Fireteam Medic, Warmind’s Protection, Cellular Suppression (this is the build I use most often in non-challenging content)
   

Aggressive

1. Global Reach, Wrath of Rasputin, Rage of the Warmind, Fireteam Medic, Power of Rasputin
   
2. Taking Charge, High-Energy Fire, Reactive Pulse, Supercharged, Lucent Blade (sword) or Argent Ordnance (Rockets) or Surprise Attack (sidearms)
   
3. Fusion Rifle or Shotgun-focused build: Supercharged, Quick Charge, Heavy Handed, High-Energy Fire, Charged Up
   
4. Grenade-focused build: Taking Charge, Firepower, Heal Thyself, Supercharged, Stacks on Stacks
   

Defensive

1. Taking Charge, Protective Light, Global Reach, Wrath of Rasputin, Warmind’s Protection
   
2. Taking Charge, Protective Light, Reactive Pulse, Global Reach, Warmind’s Protection
   

​
Part 2 of this guide, on weapons and the current metas, is here: https://www.reddit.com/DestinyTheGame/comments/k5fzne/moving_into_highlevel_pve_guide_for_beginners/

See part 1 of the guide here: https://www.reddit.com/DestinyTheGame/comments/k5fxg5/moving_into_highlevel_pve_guide_for_beginners/

Part 2: Weapons and Weapons Mods

Though the weapons meta changes season by season, depending on buffs, nerfs, and other changes made by the Bungie gods, you can expect a few things to stay consistently true.

1. For both raids and nightfalls/nightmare hunts, you will want to fill out your seasonal artifact to make sure that you have access to any important mods that it makes available. For Season 12 the champion weapon mods are in the first row (except for the shotgun mod, in the last row). Thermal Overload (fourth row) is important, and Surge Eater is also quite good for grenade refresh on champion disruption.
2. Exotic weapons that affect champions matter a lot: Eriana’s Vow (affects Barrier champions), Lament (Barrier), and Divinity (Overload) and Leviathan’s Breath (Unstoppable). Of these three Eriana’s and Divinity are really important; Lament does great single-burst damage, but requires you to be awfully close to champions to use it.
3. High burst damage (single-shot) weapons will be important. Right now these include, among exotics, Izanagi’s Burden, Eyes of Tomorrow, and Wardcliff Coil, as well as the swords Fallen Guillotine and Lament.
4. Sustained DPS weapons will be important. These are weapons that do significant damge per shot and have a large magazine or reload perks that allow them to maximize the DPS they do. Given the current reload meta, Xenophage is crucial to have; Whisper of the Worm fits in this category as well. Prospector is a slightly off-meta weapon that also does good sustained DPS. Many slug shotguns are also very good—Bonechiller (void), Heritage (kinetic) are both new in Season 12 and do excellent damage. And snipers, especially snipers with large magazines and perks like Triple Tap, can also be viable in certain situations.
5. If an important weapon has a catalyst, you need to have it and complete it.
6. Certain perks are far more useful in PvE than PvP. These include auto-reloading holsters, especially for special and heavy weapons, Overflow, and Disruption Break, again useful for Barrier champions. Recuperation is a great perk on slug shotguns like Heritage as it can give you up to 12 in the magazine.
7. High-end content will usually include the Match Game modifier, which means that enemy shields must be broken by weapons of the same type (void, arc, or solar). Having a reasonable range of weapons in these types—especially in the weapons that help you deal with champions (autos, hand cannons, scouts, and pulses in Season 12)—is part of being a flexible and good teammate. Only being able to run one loadout is … suboptimal.

For right now, season 12, here are the top five must-have exotic weapons:
Divinity
Why it’s good: Divinity stuns Overload champions and produces a 30% damage debuff on any mob it hits. It combines very well with snipers since the damage field it creates means that you do not have to hit critical spots on mobs to get critical damage (especially nice on console). In six-person content having a Divinity effectively adds about 0.7 people’s worth of damage to the fireteam (5 people x 30% = 150%, plus the damage Divinity does which is worth another little bit). In three-person content Divinity allows hard-hitting weapons like Izanagi’s to quickly bring down Barrier, Overload, and Unstoppable champions.
How to get it: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-10-08-destiny-2-divinity-quest-divine-fragmentation-6007
What replaces it: the debuff function of Divnity can be replaced with a hunter tether or a top-tree solar Titan shoulder charge. The overload stunning function can be replaced with Overload grenades or a seasonal weapon mod. Debuffs caused by stasis do not benefit the entire fireteam, only the caster, and so replace it only partially.
Izanagi’s Burden
Why it’s good: with the catalyst, an Izanagi’s Honed Edge shot does the damage of six single shots instantly. Paired with Divinity this makes Izanagi’s the fastest/best burst damage weapon in the game. Unfortunately a major nerf in season 10 means that the weapon’s reload speed is not fast enough to make it ideal for sustained DPS damage. But it’s still good. Two Izanagi’s shots plus Divinity is enough to kill a champion in a master nightfall, and to bring one down to about 20% health in a grandmaster.
How to get it: from the exotic vendor in the tower.
What replaces it: nothing, though on PC, where controlling weapons is easier, you can get off six or seven shots on a Vorpal sniper fast enough to come close. Whisper of the Worm if you hit all your crits (to trigger auto reload) does very good damage but nothing like the instant burst of the Izanagi’s. Izanagi’s was for a while the meta for many raid boss fights but has been replaced by other weapons on this list, though it’s still pretty good.
Note that without the catalyst Izanagi’s only does 5x damage on Honed Edge shots, making it less good.
Eriana’s Vow
Why it’s good: it breaks barriers on Barrier champions at range; the buff it gets from hitting crits on your first and subsequent shots makes it a pretty decent damage-dealer as well. In seasons where anti-barrier mods are associated only with short-range weapons (as in Season 10, when they were on sidearms and SMGs) Eriana’s is a must for dealing with Barrier champions.
How to get it: from the exotic vendor in the tower.
What replaces it: anything with anti-barrier rounds. For season 12, that’s pulse rifles or SMGs (but the latter are hampered by having to be used close-range, especially on console), or you can use the heavy attack of the Lament exotic sword.
Without the catalyst Eriana’s does not autoreload and only has 6 (instead of 9) in the mag, making it much worse.
Xenophage
Why it’s good: it’s basically a grenade launcher combined with a machine gun. It does very good sustained DPS over the magazine, but suffers from two drawbacks: incredibly slow reload speed and a lack of critical damage. That means that Xeno combines well with the Titan exotic Actium War Rig (which reloads it as it fires) or the Hunter dodge reload, and also with Divinity, which gives it a nice damage boost. Xenophage is sustained boss DPS king right now, not because it does the absolute best damage but because it does great damage and is very easy to use.
How to get it: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-10-29-destiny-2-xenophage-quest-6007
What replaces it: Whisper of the Worm, in situations requiring sustained boss damage (final boss of Garden of Salvation, e.g.). Also fast-firing grenade launchers with autoreloading holsters.
Anarchy
Why it’s good: Set it and forget it! Anarchy is the best damage-over-time (DoT) weapon in the game. Put two grenades on a boss, walk around a corner, and emote as the health goes down. More generally Anarchy allows you to do boss damage while paying attention to your surroundings and dealing with adds. It’s especially useful in solo content as a result, where you can lay two Anarchy shots on a boss and then hide behind cover or deal with other adds. Anarchy also allows you to control space and quickly deal with low-level mobs by tracing patterns on the floor for them to walk into.
How to get it: exotic vendor in the Tower.
What replaces it: Witherhoard can do similar DoT and low-level add control work, though it’s much less powerful.
Some other weapons are important to have and very useful in limited situations. These include:
Lament
Why it’s good: Lament is a very fun exotic sword-slash-chainsaw that does the highest burst damage in the game. Over time the need to wait for the heavy attack to recharge brings its overall damage down, but if you need to do max damage in a second or two, then this is a great weapon for you. It’s useful, for instance, in the Atraks encounter of the Deep Stone Crypt raid that reason.
The downside of Lament is that it takes up an exotic slot that might better be used on something else. At reasonable light levels (1250 or so, relative to the 1230 Atraks encounter) Fallen Guillotine does enough damage in similar situations so that Lament can feel more like a luxury than a necessity.
Where to get it: https://www.fanbyte.com/guides/destiny-2-lost-lament-quest-guide-all-the-lament-exotic-quest-steps/
What replaces it: Fallen Guillotine or possibly another slightly less good sword with Whirlwind Blade perk.
Whisper of the Worm
Why it’s good: it’s a hard-hitting, three-round sniper that reloads automatically from reserves if you hit all three crit shots. That makes it very useful for sustained boss DPS in situations where you can be pretty sure of hitting your crits: Morgeth encounter in Last Wish (or, in season 11, the boss in Scourge, or the tanks in the Zero Hour mission). It also comes from doing one of the most fun missions in the game, which has now sadly been moved to the content vault.
How to get it: the exotic vendor in the Tower (actually not? Sadly.)
What replaces it: any number of things in the list above.
Without the catalyst Whisper is less good; with the catalyst you get a significant damage bonus after aiming down sights for a few seconds before firing.
Wardcliff Coil
Why it’s good: it’s basically a shotgun rocket launcher that does great close-range damage. It’s very useful when you can tackle a boss at short range, and when you don’t blow yourself up with it.
How to get it: world drop
What replaces it: a grenade launcher with auto-loading holster, kind of.
Eye of Tomorrow
What about this weapon? It sounds amazing but early data seems to show that it will not be great for boss damage. It might however turn out to be really good for killing champions. More research is needed.
How to get it: chance to drop from final encounter in DSC
What replaces it: ???
Useful Legendary Weapons
Having a good slug shotgun for damage in the Deep Stone Crypt raid is very nice. Options include Bonechiller and Heritage, as well as First In Last Out. Look for reload perks or perks that increase magazine size.
Likewise, a good sniper with Vorpal Weapon and Triple Tap can come in handy for certain boss damage situations. Against barrier champions, weapons with Disruption Break are useful; the Ikelos SMG can drop with this, as can the Jian-7 pulse rifle.
The other absolutely critical weapon to own is the sword Fallen Guillotine, ideally with Whirlwind and Relentless Strikes.
Exotic Primary Weapons that Heal
For raid encounters where you don’t need boss damage (Gauntlet in Leviathan, first and second encounters in Garden of Salvation, many others), you can also run exotic primary weapons that help keep you alive: Crimson (heal on kill), Rat King (heal/invis on kill, with catalyst), Suros Regime (occasional heal on kill, especially with catalyst), or Vigilance Wing (heals when a teammate dies). In general you don’t want to waste an exotic slot on a primary weapon but if you’re not doing boss damage that’s fine. These can all be useful for the first three encounters of Deep Stone Crypt, if you’re having trouble staying alive. In sublight content (1280 lost sectors, grandmaster nightfalls) you won’t kill things fast enough to make these kinds of weapons worth it, but they can be very useful when soloing dungeons (Rat King is great for the Totem encounter in the Pit of Heresy, for example).

Weapons Mods

The only enemy-specific weapons mod is Taken Spec, which comes in handy in all sorts of high-end content involving Taken enemies (it does 10% more damage). Other than that a good selection of Boss, Major, and Minor spec (each does 7.5% more damage) will tend to be the most useful.
Remember also (and see above) that your weapons are very much affected by your armor mods, and that you will need to set up your armor mods with reload, reserves, and/or dexterity perks that affect your current loadout.
Also, an important note: champions, though they are yellow-bar enemies, count as majors. So Major Spec is the way to go here.

The Current Metas (Season 12)

These are the dominant strategies, not the only strategies. But they’re what you can expect when joining an LFG group.
Last Wish: right now Fallen Guillotine or Lament work for essentially every encounter. With Shuro Chi it’s nice to have one person running Thunderlord for low-level add clear. Having at least one well is useful. For Morgeth encounter you can also use Whisper, especially if you are on a Petra’s Run and don’t want things to be as risky as they are behind the back. For the final encounter (not legit, but cheesed) having a debuff of some kind (Divinity, or a hunter tether) is very important.
Garden of Salvation: For the first two encounters anything goes, with swords doing some good work. For third encounter use Xenophage or Whisper plus a Divinity; for final encounter same thing, except that you can just tether the boss and skip the Divinity. Warlocks are better off using 1000 Voices for final encounter instead as the Xenophage reload is too slow.
Deep Stone Crypt: This raid is nice because it accepts a wide variety of loadouts. For the first encounter, fuses can be broken by one Celestial Nighthawk shot, by Xenophage, or by any slug or pellet shotgun (especially one with autofire). In the second, swords like Lament or Fallen Guillotine are the way to go for quick replicant damage; Jotunn is an easy way to kill servitors from afar. For the final stand encounter (upstairs in space) one Celestial Nighthawk shot is almost enough to end the encounter on the first replicant, saving you lots of panicked running around. For the third encounter anything goes; for the final encounter someone needs to be running Divinity, and then damage can be done with Xenophage, slug or pellet shotguns, and snipers. It’s nice to save a Celestial for the final stand mechanic.
Shattered Throne (solo): Sniper rifles for first encounter and second. Be patient! Vorgeth is the difficult piece here. Part of soloing dungeons is recognizing that Bungie puts in sections with trash mobs that are specifically designed for you to fill your special and heavy ammo reserves; use them accordingly. My warlock guide is here: https://www.reddit.com/DestinyTheGame/comments/cohz2w/solo_shattered_throne_flawless_onephase_vorgeth/. The guide is out of date as the mods have all changed; I would make sure you’re running Concussive Dampener and Sniper for the first couple encounters.
Pit of Heresy (solo): The difficult encounter is the third one. Having a way to heal (devour Warlock, punchy Titan) or be invis (Hunter) or both (use Rat King with catalyst) is crucial. Xenophage makes short work of boomers, as does Izanagi. For boss damage in final encounter groups use a well or bubble and swords; for solo I prefer Anarchy and Loaded Question. Hive mods a must. My guide for Hunters is here: https://www.reddit.com/DestinyTheGame/comments/f5lo0p/solo_flawless_pit_of_heresy_hunter_guide_fo The guide is out of date as the mods have all changed; I would make sure you’re running Concussive Dampener and Arc Resist for the first couple encounters, as the loss of Hive Armaments and Hive Barrier are going to make life a bit more difficult.
Prophecy (solo): The easiest loadout used to involve Mountaintop and Anarchy. Since Mountaintop has been sunset you will have to try other things, like Xenophage, Witherhoard, Riskrunner, Fallen Guillotine, and even Trinity Ghoul for certain sections. Jotunn can also work especially in groups. One thing we don’t know about Prophecy (which is expected to return sometime this year) is how it will be affected by the loss of several key mods, including Taken Barrier and Taken Armaments. Will Bungie adjust the difficulty to reflect the change in the ability to resist damage? We’ll have to see. For now begin with a plan to use Solar and Concussive resist mods, and work from there.
GM NFs: The key here is to adjust loadout and mods to mob type. Depending on the nightfall boss damage can involve Fallen Guillotine (Lake of Shadows) or Wardcliff Coil (Strange Terrain) or Izanagi’s Burden (Festering Core) or Xenophage (The Corrupted) … or something else. Plan accordingly. The loss of Mountaintop and Loaded Question mean that new metas will emerge this season, but it is not yet clear what they are. I will post a more detailed GM NF guide after we’ve had a chance to try things out.
For now: much of your loadout consideration here will depend on the type of champions. For Overload Champions, Divinity is incredibly useful. It combines well with Izanagi’s Burden so you’ll often see a two Izanagi’s, one Divinity loadout. Having a second person run a scout with Overload rounds can be a godsend here. For Unstoppable champions you’ll want a pulse r hand cannon (and probably two people with this). Since they don’t heal they are in some respects the easiest champion to deal with. As for Barriers, the Divinity/Izanagi combo works well as long as you have Pulse Rifles (season 12) to break the bubbles, unless it turns out that Eriana’s Vow works better than pulses for some champions. We’ll see.
The other thing to remember is that since Match Game is on you will have to be able to break whatever shields there are.
In terms of subclasses: it is very rare to see anything other than void Hunters, void Titans, and void and solar Warlocks. In season 11 that’s especially true because of the presence of the Oppressive Darkness buff, but even in season 10 you didn’t see much else. Remember that in season 12 stasis grenades stun Overload champions and also stop Barrier champions from putting up their shields, so those classes may turn out to be very useful.
Last note: one of the weird things about these nightfalls is that the strategy tends to be split into two very different experiences: getting to the boss fight, which involves dealing with lots of champions, and then the boss fight itself. So for example in Strange Terrain Wardcliff Coil allows you to three-phase the boss, which makes things much easier, but it’s more or less useless against champions, so you have to figure out a loadout that works for the champions (auto rifles for barriers, e..g), which occupy the first twenty minutes of the strike.
Nightmare Hunts (time-trial): Most of these don’t have void shields, so you can spec into arc and solar. If you commit to a full invisibility strategy (which probably requires two bottom-tree void Hunters) you can skip all the champions, but I always find it easier just to figure out how to kill them and move forward. Many of the hunts have a safe area in the final boss fight where you can hide or at least control the flow of enemies toward you. Having a well and a tether is very useful here, and the Nightmare Breaker mod is incredibly useful for getting rid of those pesky solar shields.
Solo Lost Sectors: Here Anarchy really is your best friend. There are other options but making sure you can break all the shields you need to break (usually arc and solar) and that you can get champions stunned or barriers broken before they heal (which often means making sure you won’t have to reload at a stupid time) will really help. I have found that stasis classes, because of the grenade mods and the fact that the duskfield grenade keeps barrier champions from popping their barriers, are easier than others. Most of these are doable, with some practice, once you’re 20 power levels below them (so, 1260 for the 1280), and become much easier as you level up.
Master Empire Hunts: With an organized fireteam of three people 20 levels below the activity you should be able to handle things. I’ve found Eriana’s Vow surprisingly useful in these; Anarchy also is great for putting damage on stuff and getting into cover. The auto rifle Overload rounds often put you too close to the action, and seem kind of finicky; I prefer Scout, at least for now, as it more reliably stuns Overloads and keeps them overloaded and not healing. Without Anarchy I think you want to look at Witherhoard as a useful damage over time weapon, or consider having someone run Lament as an invis Hunter so that you can get close to Barriers without dying. I do think that the Barrier champions are by far the most difficult to deal with. The fact that you can bait Overload champions towards you and around a corner, where they can be stunned and then quickly killed with swords, makes them much easier to handle.

Q&A

What’s one thing I should do differently in PvE?

Throw more grenades! Most people underuse their grenades because normal-level PvE content means that grenades kill most stuff too slowly relative to SMGs, sidearms, shotguns, fusions, and so on. But they’re really useful in high-level/sublight content, where you’re almost always going to be at auto-rifle range, or farther.

What’s the one thing I can do to improve in raids?

Stop dying. Especially in the more recent raids, from Scourge of the Past forward (including Crown of Sorrow and Garden of Salvation) one player death during the third or fourth encounters can lead to a cascading series of disasters from which it is very difficult to recover. Likewise in DSC an Operator death at the wrong time in the fourth encounter, or a Suppressor death at the wrong time in the third or fourth encounters, can quickly produce a wipe.
Learn the map so you can use cover as you move; learn the spawns so you know when an Ogre will appear and are ready to kill it (rather than get melted because you were not aware it was going to be there); learn to avoid Taken blights and phalanxes and boss stomps that will slam you into a wall and kill you.
Stop being surprised when you die… so often that I hear someone complaining that they don’t know how they died, or that it’s unfair that the stomp or the phalanx one-shot them by bumping them into a corner. First of all you need to know what killed you or you can’t improve. Second of all it should really not take too many times of being booped into a corner to realize that this kind of thing is part of the game… and it means that you need to know where the boss stomp radius is (as in the final encounter of the Pit of Heresy) and where the phalanxes are, so that you can avoid them.

What’s the second thing I can to improve in raids?

Learn all the roles. It’s very easy to get comfortable with whatever role you have the first time you run the raid, and never do anything else. But it makes it harder for everyone else if they have to adjust to you. Some roles are more mechanical or combat difficult than others (for instance holding down the fourth corner in the second encounter of Garden, or running upstairs Scanner during the Atraks encounter of DSC); you can work your way up to them. Knowing how to do everything means that it’s easier for you to cover for your teammates when something goes wrong (and it will go wrong). If you’ve never gathered motes in the GoS boss encounter, for instance, and all of a sudden someone needs to jump through the portal to get another 10 motes because you had a sacrifice, you want to be ready to do that job. And likewise if you’ve never built ground, you can’t help if one of the defenders goes down and the other one needs you. Being a good teammate means understanding other people’s jobs as well as your own.

What are the important weapons/damage synergies?

The most important one is the Divinity/Izanagi’s combo. Three people who can put a Divinity bubble on a champion and then hit it with two Izanagi’s crit shots within a second of each other will really be able to do well in high-end nightfall content. Less important but useful is knowing how and when to take advantage of debuffs like champion stuns or Titan Melting Points—making sure you’re in a position to use as much of the debuff time as possible as efficiently as possible.

What are some important class synergies?

Beyond the obvious super-based ones (wells, bubbles and tethers), many of these belong to Warlocks, who tend (in my experience) to underuse healing grenades and ought generally to throw them at their teammates more often. Similarly Warlocks tend to cast their healing rifts when they need them. Cast them when your teammates might need them! As for Titans, they heal their fireteam on melee kills (top tree void) or grenade damage (middle tree void); be aware that you can use these skills strategically to help your teammates survive. Likewise with barricades, which can be critical in securing a rez or keeping someone alive after they’re rezzed. As for Hunters, beyond the obvious invisibility perks, I would say that they tend really to underuse smoke bombs in PvE—they can be critical in add control by giving your group time to breathe and pick off adds one by one.
Part of the reason to get better at this game is to get good enough so that you’re not playing just for yourself, but for others—to master your class so that it not only keeps you alive and doing good damage but helps your fireteam do those things too.

Above-light raids and sublight nightfalls/nightmare hunts: which is harder?

Raids when you are higher light level than the enemies are mainly a matter of experience, teamwork, and communication. You will engage ordinary mobs at short ranges and can use a much wider range of weapons. Sublight and/or solo content requires you absolutely to prioritize your health, which means using cover and abilities to stay alive as much as possible, engaging enemies at range and using movement to avoid fire. The latter is definitely harder and requires a real focus on gear and mods to make sure you’re giving yourself every advantage you can.
That said, part of building up good PvE gear is to give you the bonuses and boosts you need to help you stay alive in raids so that you can focus on learning the mechanics and doing boss damage. So you want a good set, even if you’re above light, because that will help you focus on the important stuff you need to learn, instead of worrying about dying.

How do I get the materials I need to upgrade all my armor?

The easiest thing to do is to farm the final encounter of the Pit of Heresy three times a week. Dismantling the crappy armor you get there will give you 18 enhancement prisms, the equivalent of 1.8 ascendant shards (10 prisms + 50k glimmer + planetary mats gets you one shard from the Gunsmith). Since masterworking one piece of armor costs 1.5 shards (1 shard plus 5 prisms) that will allow you to masterwork six pieces of armor every five weeks. (Thanks to bundleman for this info.)
Otherwise, the best way to get Ascendant Shards is to do grandmaster nightfalls, or to farm master (1280) nightfalls once you’re close enough in light to that number to make those easy. The other way is go flawless in Trials. So you’re probably best off farming the 1280 nightfalls.

This guide didn’t talk about something I’d like to hear more about. Or you didn’t tell people about some weapon/class/ability situation I think is important!

Well, yes. It’s already 8,000 words long. But if you post in the comments people will read them, and if I edit the document to reflect your suggestion, I’ll make sure to credit you! So please give me feedback.
Ciborium616 / Journeyers clan / https://www.bungie.net/en/ClanV2/Chat?groupId=4442617

I created this list for new Kiddions users to answer the question "Is this mod safe".
Don't use the mod between Dec 8th - Dec 22nd because R* may do a ban wave before and after they drop the December 15th. According to u/kiddion bans don't exist, but his mod may not work after the update. I've started using it again myself and I have had no issues so far. I even got $47 million from the casino rig.
Don't be a douche bag. If you go around wrecking the environment for others, you will get reported, and that could lead to being banned.
Don't brag about your wealth. A lot of people, especially grinders seem to be really offended by people that use mods.
Be careful about who you give money drops to. I think R* can track that
Change your Social Club privacy settings so that no one can see how much money you have or where you got it from.
I have used the casino rig to get over 200 million. I usually use the "Empty session" option in Kiddions, and then disable the daily limit, and then do max bet on the slot machine. You can do up to 49 million at a time, and then there is a 25 minute cool down period. I've done this 3 times over the course of a couple hours. Keep an eye on the lobby and make sure no other users are in the casino if you do this. The one downside to using the casino method is that R* can tell where you got your money, so when it shows that you got 200 million from the casino, they could be suspicious. Someone suggested leaving the money as chips so they can't see it in your bank account. I started to do this myself for secondary bank account.
I think the bunker method might be safer way to get money because I think it would appear to R* that your just grinding.
If you're going to raise your RP, do it slowly. I usually raise mine a few points per day while I'm in an empty lobby.
I've heard from other other reddit users that because Kiddions is an "external" mod, it's harder to detect. Other mods are "internal" are easier. As of now, Kiddions has not been detected.