Bungie increases Destiny 2’s Onslaught rewards to prevent early leavers

Bungie is keeping an ear close to the ground, even after the four streams and the Into the Light update that completely turned around the Destiny 2 community. The studio announced some changes to Onslaught on Twitter, targeting rewards. Players will now earn more weapon drops from sticking it out through wave 50, a tactic that Bungie hopes will incentivize players to stop quitting the activity after ten rounds.

Onslaught is a new horde mode activity introduced with the Into the Light update. It is the primary way players earn the new Brave Arsenal weapons, rewarding players with weapons every ten rounds. While the boss gives an extra chest and running the activity on Legend difficulty offers two chests for every ten rounds, players often leave after the first reward. Thankfully, Bungie’s upcoming loot changes for Onslaught seem generous, with the potential to reward more weapons than ten-round farming.

Why were players leaving after Wave 10?

With the launch of Onslaught, a definite number of weapons could be earned through a complete run of the activity. On Normal difficulty, players earn one chest every ten rounds and two at the final boss. Altogether, a Normal run will net players six Brave weapons. On Legend, players get two chests for every ten waves and three at the final boss. There, players can open a maximum of 11 chests, so long as Guardians survive until the end.

It wasn’t long before players discovered a more efficient way to farm Brave weapons. This method boiled down to running the first ten waves on Legend and resetting after earning the two rewards. The idea was that players could earn two chests in around ten minutes, which could be repeated to earn more chests in the same amount of time as it would take to clear the increasingly difficult waves.

How is loot changing in Onslaught?

In a post, Bungie acknowledged that players have found more lucrative ways to earn Brave weapons than by playing Onslaught as intended. The studio then moved on to how it’s making the activity more rewarding, remarking, “Change 1: A chance for one additional weapon to drop when you complete a wave. The drop chance will increase per wave until you get your weapon, and the drop will be guaranteed on wave 50.” This change comes alongside another, offering an additional weapon when wave 50 is cleared.

This puts the loot-to-time ratio right around where Legend farming had players. With these changes, players can earn a guaranteed 13 weapons for completing a Legend Onslaught, and there are more benefits on top of that. Bungie also pointed out that the drops for Trophies of Bravery would increase the longer players were in Onslaught. On Normal difficulty, waves 40 through 50 provide extra Trophies of Bravery, extending to 30 through 50 on Legend difficulty.

Between more Trophies of Bravery to exchange for Brave weapons in the Hall of Champions and the extra rewards Onslaught offers, players have more reason to lock in and complete a full 50 waves. With luck, the increased rewards will result in a coveted shiny Brave weapon.