Destiny 2: Best Campaign Order

The story of Destiny 2 has been ongoing for many years now. The Light vs Dark Saga first began in 2014 with the release of the original Destiny, and with the release of The Final Shape in June 2024 the aforementioned story arc will come to a close. When a new player starts the game, they are thrown into a tutorial campaign that takes place in the Cosmodrome. After finishing this campaign, new players will find themselves in front of the Destinations menu with a bunch of planets they can go to and little to no guidance on what to do next. While there is a timeline menu in the upper-right corner, it gives very sparse details and isn't reliable.

Originally, the Destinations menu was very limited during the Red War campaign that Destiny 2 shipped with. You unlocked new planets as you progressed through the story, and the campaign took its time explaining things to new players so that they wouldn't feel completely lost. With the removal of the original Destiny 2 campaign back in 2020, new players are just thrown out and expected to know exactly where to go and what to do. So if you want to experience the story chronologically and be ready for the release of The Final Shape, here is the order in which the campaigns should be played.

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By Anastasia Maillot

What is the Best Campaign Order?

Once you are through the tutorial campaign and associated quests, you will want to head to the Moon. Start the activity called "A Mysterious Disturbance". This is the first campaign mission of Shadowkeep, the expansion that began the third year of Destiny 2. Shadowkeep was unique in that there were only a few campaign missions that were connected by a series of quests. This campaign ends abruptly after you beat "Beyond". At this point, you talk to Ikora and Zavala in the Tower to get an Exotic.

Once you've beaten Shadowkeep, some new quests unlock on the Moon. While they have nothing to do with the campaign, doing these quests is a good idea if you are interested in learning more about Eris Morn.

Between each expansion, there were four Seasons with their own story. Unfortunately, none of this content is in the game anymore. If you want to find out what happened between Shadowkeep and Beyond Light (as an example), your best option will be to watch the cutscene archives on YouTube. Doing this is recommended, as events from Seasons will often be referenced in the following campaigns.

Alternatively, you can go to Europa and start the activity "Darkness's Doorstep" to begin the Beyond Light campaign. Just like with Shadowkeep, Beyond Light also didn't have a traditional series of campaign missions. Once you've unlocked the Stasis subclass and can switch between it and other subclasses at will, you will be ready to move on to the next campaign.

Fortunately, The Witch Queen will be much easier to follow. This campaign is started by going to Savathun's Throne World. After a series of cutscenes, you select a difficulty for The Witch Queen campaign and then begin "The Arrival". The Witch Queen campaign consists of nine missions and concludes with The Ritual. Aside from the Strike that is part of the story, you never have to do random quests to progress the campaign.

Once you select a difficulty, you are not locked into it for the remainder of the campaign. You can switch between missions at any given time.

After you have beaten The Witch Queen, the only campaign left (at the time of writing) is Lightfall, which is started by selecting Neptune and starting "First Contact". Just like with The Witch Queen, Lightfall has its own Legendary Campaign and series of missions.