Every new season or episode within the world of Destiny 2 brings a new activity (or in some cases, activities) for players to grind for loot. Renegades, the new Star Wars-inspired expansion that releases next month, will debut the Lawless Frontier, a mode that seems, in part, inspired by an extraction mode.
Bungie was reticent to refer to Lawless Frontier as an extraction activity because so little of it revolves around that idea of escaping with your rewards, but the parallels are hard to ignore. The Best War Games went hands-on with Lawless Frontier as part of a larger Destiny 2: Renegades preview event earlier this month to see what this new activity will offer players. It’s a challenging piece of new content that is going to put even the most coordinated fireteams to the test, but if the hints of Lawless Frontier’s rewards system are any indication of what it will actually offer, this could be a huge boon for those looking to grind in Destiny 2.
Picking a Faction and Pledging Your Allegiance
The meta progression for the Lawless Frontier activity is pledging allegiance to a faction. There are three factions in Renegades: The Pikers (Fallen), Tharsis Reformation (Vex), and Totality Division (Cabal). Each faction has its own Reputation Rank with a rewards track, Renegade Abilities to unlock, and a Rewards Shipment to earn gear. Based on which faction you’re aligned with, you will unlock different contract orders, which are basically quests to complete for the faction in return for rewards.
The faction concept fits well within the new Tharsis Outpost destination, which is like a den of scum and villainy with a Destiny 2 twist. It’s not anything you likely haven’t seen before in a video game, but it is new to Bungie’s world. It also feels like a lot of ranks to fill and rewards to collect, so if you’re looking for reasons to grind, they are here.
How Lawless Frontier Works in Destiny 2: Renegades
The Preparation Phase
Lawless Frontier activities can take place on Mars, Venus, or Europa and are split into three different core objectives that we saw: Bounty Hunt, Sabotage, and Smuggle. Players can choose which destination they want to load into and what objective they want, but there is an incentive pulling their attention towards one specific locale.
Within the Lawless Frontier maps, there will be a Contested Territory wherein the factions are vying for control. It’s here where the most action is, and if you complete a Priority Contract in a Contested Territory, you will earn it for your aligned faction. It behooves you to seek out these Contested Territories (they do rotate), but it is not required to jump into a contested destination; you can pick anywhere you like.
Once you have a destination selected, you and your fireteam will load into a hangar where you can use Spider’s Shank to select your two Renegade Abilities for use in the Lawless Frontier. There is a mixture of offensive, defensive, and support tools at your disposal, so you can focus on what will benefit you or the team. Things like a healing drone or a debuff zone are good for objectives where you need to occupy a single zone, while something like the Behemoth vehicle or a strafing run will make quick work of a group of enemies. After the fireteam has picked its kit, jump onto the ship and head to the Lawless Frontier.
Renegade Abilities are the Key to Success
The Renegade Abilities are at the core of the Lawless Frontier, called down via a flashy animation that involves loading up a coin that looks a lot like The Drifter’s Gambit coin and calling down a “care package.” Players will select two of them to take into each job, and they will become an indispensable form of support. Some are certainly more viable than others, like the Behemoth, but there are situations where each can benefit the fireteam’s goals. If ammo is scarce, for example, there is a Renegade Ability that calls down a drop pod that both offers ammo and damages the enemies it lands on.
These Renegade Abilities are limited in that you only have access to a certain number of "charges" for each one you take into the job. You can earn more charges through chests scattered around the destination, but those are also few and far between. Renegade Ability use must be carefully considered, similar to the Strategems in Helldivers 2. They can turn the tide of a losing battle, which is crucial since you want to exfiltrate with your loot intact.
Renegade Abilities also have different upgrades that you unlock, like giving the Behemoth a Stasis AOE bomb in addition to its primary blaster fire. These upgrades will presumably unlock throughout the upcoming season, but that’s not confirmed yet.
Completing Objectives and Collecting Loot
Depending on the job, the objective is different for each trip into the Lawless Frontier. During each of these jobs, you can complete optional, side objectives that will reward Lockboxes (more on that later), but the main focus is basically completing three steps before exfiltrating.
Sabotage
First, you deposit charges (collected by defeated key targets) to sabotage a generator, then clear 4 waves in an area, and then plant explosives and detonate them.
Smuggle
Smuggle starts with the 4-wave clearing portion, then you excavate resources and turn those into cargo, then you carry the cargo to a transport ship.
Bounty Hunt
As the name implies, Bounty Hunt has you seeking out a target and eliminating it. First, you must gather intel on the target (collectibles dropped by defeating enemies), clear an area of four waves of enemies, and then finally eliminate the boss.
There is a familiar cadence to the three different jobs, with some similar objectives in each. Destiny 2 fans will recognize the foundation of other activities within Lawless Frontier, but there are some fun twists on those ideas as well. Smuggle, perhaps the most unique of the jobs, was initially my least favorite because of how tedious it can be slowly moving cargo from one spot to the next. Then, a Bungie dev told us that you can transport using the Behemoth, and that was a game-changer. I can still see this being the least popular of the jobs and one that players avoid, but perhaps Bungie can smooth out some of the pain points before launch.
Extracting to Safety Amidst Oncoming Enemy Hordes
After completing the core objectives of the job, the fireteam then calls its exfiltration, which, as you might expect, attracts a ton of enemies to the area. It’s a fight for survival and the most chaotic element of the Lawless Frontier, but it does result in some pretty incredible moments when your fireteam barely makes it out alive. Also, the first player in the exfil ship gets to fire its canons to help teammates get to safety, which is pretty awesome.
Lawless Frontier Rewards: Is It Worth It?
Since Edge of Fate and Ash and Iron, Destiny 2 has been a lot more forthcoming with loot, and Lawless Frontier is no exception. While I can’t speak to how worthwhile the actual gear will be, there was an abundance available after each run. During the course of a Lawless Frontier activity, you will collect lockboxes that can be opened for loot if you successfully extract, as well as Dark Matter Ingots to be spent at your aligned faction, and that’s on top of a bunch of post-activity rewards.
Ultimately, if you make it out alive, then Lawless Frontier has the most to offer, but there are seemingly a lot of additional loot sources like different tiers of lockboxes, special keycards that can unlock areas within certain Lawless Frontier destinations, and plain old drops from enemy defeats. Lawless Frontier looks to be a grind well worth doing, especially if your fireteam synergizes Renegade Abilities and is efficient in completing the job.
Yes, There Are Invasions, But They Are Optional
Getting that job done carries risks, though, because invasions are a part of the Lawless Frontier. If you have a currency called a Deathmark, you can spend it and load into the invader role for the Lawless Frontier. Playing Lawless Frontier with invasions is completely optional, mind you, but Bungie likes a little spice in its Destiny 2 activities, and this has the potential to make each job unique.
While my experience in the Lawless Frontier saw neither an invasion nor an opportunity to invade, the idea behind the invasions sounds like a fun wrinkle for an activity that has a lot going on already. In talking to Bungie, they think there will be a lot of strategy involved in how the invaders will use their Renegade Abilities to wreak havoc on a seemingly successful run.
I asked whether the invader could help, but they said there was no way to do so currently. With the friendly nature of PvE players in games like ARC Raiders, I was surprised that there wasn’t a way to ingratiate yourself to the invader, but as Gambit has shown us, most invaders simply enjoy the thrill of making a fireteam’s job a little harder.
The New Behemoth Vehicle is Destiny 2's AT-ST and It is STRONG
Although the sample size was small, there was no denying how dominant the Behemoth is in Lawless Frontier. It felt practically essential at the highest difficulty, to the point that my other two fireteam members brought it with them as well. It’s great for add clear, it’s great for keeping a teammate protected, and it does big damage to boss enemies. I would imagine it would also be useful in fighting off invaders, but I didn’t get to experience an invasion during my preview.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see that the Behemoth is not as strong when Renegades launches in December, but I hope that Destiny 2 players do get to see how powerful the pseudo-AT-ST is. Because you can’t take any of the Renegades upgrades into any other activity, it would be nice for the Behemoth to stay as potent as it was during the preview.
Lawless Frontier: Final Impressions
Because there is a linear progression from objective to objective, I can see why Bungie isn’t willing to call Lawless Frontier an extraction mode. In most extraction modes, the player takes risks in completing additional objectives or seeking out more loot, but here, Destiny 2 players follow a familiar path and then try to get out with their rewards.
Still, there is that thrill of going into a hostile zone and working together to complete those objectives that works so well in the Lawless Frontier. For a first impression, it felt familiar but packaged with enough new wrinkles to make it exciting each time. As you unlock new Renegade Abilities and upgrade those abilities, I can only imagine how Lawless Frontier will expand for players. But with everything unlocked, there was a feeling of having a ton of toys to play with and not knowing which to choose, besides the Behemoth, of course. I’m curious to see how the Destiny 2 community responds to Lawless Frontier and if the loot will be worth the grind, because if the gear ends up being good for new builds and the weapons have solid perk pools, then this could be an activity players spend a lot of time in.
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The Best War Games was provided travel and lodging for this preview event.