True to its word, on Tuesday evening Bungie revealed details about its forthcoming expansion for the fifth year of Destiny 2 – The Witch Queen.

There is a lot to unpack here so let’s begin our dive into the details with a trailer.

In The Witch Queen Guardians will travel to Savathûn’s Throne World, a sort of pocket dimension within our own where the rules are governed by The Witch Queen herself. As you might’ve noted from the trailer, the Hive now have access to the Light and players will face a new enemy type in the Lucent Brood.

But a new enemy type and Savathûn are just the tip of the iceberg.

As part of The Witch Queen, Bungie will introduce weapon crafting to Destiny 2 starting with a new weapon archetype called the Glaive. The Glaive is a melee weapon that can also fire projectiles and deploy an energy shield. Unlike Swords, Glaives are used in first-person view. Bungie said during its stream that the first Glaive you access will be crafted but it’s not the only weapon.

“You’ll also be able to forge all of The Witch Queen and Seasonal weapons with your own two hands. Crafting is more versatile than the Umbral system and will even allow you to hunt for specific perks,” explained Bungie.

As you use crafted weapons to defeat enemies they will level up. Whether this levelling system is the same or similar to the system in the original Destiny game is unclear at this stage.

Weapons can still be found, the crafting system appears to be more focused for those searching for a specific weapon roll.

Light and Dark

While Bungie didn’t reveal a new Darkness based sub-class, we did learn that Light sub-classes are being reworked to function more like Stasis. This means Light based sub-classes will likely get access to something like Aspects and Fragments.

The first Light sub-class to get this treatment will be Void and each sub-class will be updated every season starting with The Witch Queen.

Something worth noting is a change, or rather an addition to the story content Destiny releases with expansions. The Witch Queen campaign will feature a Legendary difficulty mode where revives are limited and enemies smack you a lot harder. Hopefully this means the campaign will be replayable and isn’t a one and done affair.

There will of course be a Raid that goes along with The Witch Queen and said Raid will take place in a Pyramid ship located in the swamps of Savathûn’s Throne World.

In addition to the Raid, there will be two dungeons added to Destiny 2 in Year 5 as well as one remastered Raid from Destiny. According to Bungie players should have a new dungeon or Raid every three months in Year 5 of Destiny 2.

But wait, there’s more

With Bungie celebrating it’s 30th Anniversary the developer has revealed some DLC that it will make available to players later this year, 7th December to be accurate.

The 30th Anniversary event will include a new Dungeon in the infamous Loot Cave in the Cosmodrome, a Thorn-themed armour set and many more cosmetics. Oh and Gjallarhorn is back.

This is what you can expect from the 30th Anniversary pack:

• Treasure-themed three-player Dungeon in the Cosmodrome
• Gjallarhorn Exotic Rocket Launcher’s debut in Destiny 2
• Thorn armor set
• Marathon and Bungie 30th Anniversary streetwear-inspired ornament sets
• Collection of favorite Destiny 1 weapons, including Eyasluna and 1000-Yard Stare
• Claymore Sword inspired by Myth
• Shotgun inspired by Marathon
• Unique Helmet Ornament
• Exotic Sparrows
• Exotic ship
• Emblems, shaders, emotes

The 30th Anniversary pack is a separate purchase and is not included in the Standard or Deluxe Editions of The Witch Queen.

Speaking of which, there are three editions of The Witch Queen up for pre-order at time of writing namely the Standard Edition, the Deluxe Edition and the Deluxe Edition 30th Anniversary Bundle.

We’ve created a table to help you find the edition you want. All pre-orders will get access to the Throne World Exotic Ghost shell, Enigma Exotic Emote and a Legendary Emblem.

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen will be available on 22nd February 2022 on Xbox, PlayStation, Steam and Stadia.

Season of the Lost, which is a build-up to The Witch Queen, is live in Destiny 2 right now.