What does KWTD mean in Destiny 2?

Love it or hate it, it’s a simple statement of fact that Bungie’s Destiny 2 is one of the most popular and successful modern games as a service. Having officially started its life in the mid-2010s, the Destiny franchise has slowly but certainly developed its own unique culture of sorts. Whether it’s the way the developer interacts with its player base or the communication between players themselves, there’s some unique stuff to peruse here, and knowing what each of the many acronyms means, like KWTD, is a crucial part of this whole schtick.

So, if you’ve found yourself perusing the official Destiny 2 LFG system completely oblivious as to what on earth KWTD means, you’re at the right place.

Destiny 2’s KWTD: what the heck is it?

Quite simply, ‘KWTD’ stands for ‘know what to do’. This goes for Destiny, in particular, but also for a variety of other games that have some semblance of mechanical difficulty in their core gameplay loop. The pervasiveness of this acronym can be sourced back to Destiny 2‘s raid content, in broad terms, as players often need to be able to do more than just running and gunning.

Destiny‘s raid boss encounters, for example, can be downright impossible if everyone’s not chipping in, to some extent. Being oblivious of the mechanics involved in keeping the encounter going could lead to massive frustration for everyone involved, and it’s not unheard of that even the simplest raids could turn into hours-long gauntlets if players do not KWTD.

Why is KWTD so important?

Destiny 2 players are sometimes quite eager to get newcomers into the game’s most difficult content, teaching them mechanics and tactics for particular raids as they go. This is decidedly not the case if they are looking for a full fireteam’s worth of players that KWTD.

Seeing ‘KWTD’ as part of a looking-for-games post means that the team is hoping to get through the given content quickly and, perhaps, effortlessly, and that they’re not looking to interact with newcomers at the time. Newcomers can use the KWTD tag as a quick way to filter out fireteams that are not interested in mentoring them, then, and seek out other matches that are more newbie-friendly, instead.

This might sound a tad elitist at face value, but it’s really just a time and effort-saving measure in most cases. Being aware of what ‘KWTD’ means in the first place is obviously important, as you don’t want to be the one person who goes off into the distance to hunt for the third secret chest in Crota’s End in the middle of a key encounter.

How do you KWTD, though?

Getting to the point where you know what to do is no mean feat, given how much content there is in Destiny 2 in this day and age. The fastest way to start catching up is to join a clan or come across an LFG post looking to sherpa you through a given raid or dungeon.

Reading and watching guides is, obviously, a good idea early on, but the best way to learn what to do in endgame Destiny 2 content is to give it a shot in a safe and encouraging context. Naturally, finding a fireteam keen on helping you onboard is no mean feat, but it’s hardly impossible, and we recommend checking out Destiny Discord communities and the official LFG system, to begin with. There’s a bunch of newbie-focused clans out and about, and it’s only a matter of time before one recruits you, too.

Bungie has also announced that Destiny 2 will be getting an in-game LFG system at some point before The Final Shape comes out in February 2024. Word is that it might be coming in Season 23, but official confirmation is pending still at this time.