Even 10 years into the franchise, Destiny is still capable of firsts. This time, it’s the first-ever Contest Mode race for a new dungeon. Welcome to Vesper’s Host in Destiny 2.
The new dungeon, releasing during Episode: Revenant in Destiny 2: The Final Shape, tasks Guardians to “investigate unknown transmissions intercepted from a derelict Braytech station.” The trailer for Vesper’s Host definitely evokes vibes of the Deep Stone Crypt raid, and it may even show a returning enemy.
Now that Fikrul, the Fanatic, has found an Echo that allows him to turn Eliksni (Fallen) into Scorn without having to reanimate their corpses, we can take some guesses as to what the dungeon will entail. But what’s important here is that a race is going on, and the competition will heat up.
Raid races are all the rage in Destiny 2, as tens of thousands of viewers tune in to watch their favorite streamers and top teams try to figure out mechanics, puzzles, and defeat bosses along the way to attempting to be the first to clear the difficult endgame activity.
Now, a dungeon World First title is up for grabs, and we will be offering live updates until a winner is crowned.
Who won World First Vesper’s Host in Destiny 2?
- Oct. 17, 1:45pm CT: Nearly one week later, Bungie has confirmed the top three teams that won the race:
First place
- Tides
- Pine
- SpecialHero
Second place
- 柠柠
- 事没有与愿违
- jingxinyo
Third place
- Dragon
- Grumm
- Soto
- Oct. 11, 7:20pm CT: Indebted has been confirmed as the official winner of the dungeon race. The other two winning teams will be announced next week. Congrats to them!
- 4:53pm CT: It’s over. A third team has finished, and now Bungie will work on verifying the players involved.
- 4:37pm CT: Bungie has confirmed a second team has cleared Contest Mode.
- 4:30pm CT: While it seems that Indebted has won the race, the top three teams will earn prizes, and Normal mode won’t be unlocked until the third team has cleared. It’s a “podium finish” so that means there will be three winners total.
- 4:25pm CT: A clip of the winning moment can be found below. Bungie has posted that the team is attempting to confirm the victory, but Indebted has equipped their winning emblems in orbit.
- 4:23pm CT: That was INTENSE! aTides and their clan Indebted did it! The Corrupted Puppeteer is dead. We now wait for Bungie to confirm the victory.
- 4:15pm CT: “We won,” says a teammate of aTides as they bring The Corrupted Puppeteer down to about 20 percent health with one more damage phase left before Enrage begins. This could be it.
- 4:10pm CT: Another streamer has entered the fold. aTides is consistently dealing strong damage before dying, and has forced themself into the conversation for potential winners.
- 3:50pm CT: Elysium has had the best run I’ve seen so far, using the Anarchy Exotic grenade launcher, sniper rifles, and other grenade launchers to deal damage while standing in Well of Radiance to buff damage. But the damage still needs to be upped dramatically for any team to win this fight and race.
- 3:35pm CT: As this is likely the final phase of the dungeon, progress has ground to a halt as players maximize damage of the boss’s tremendous healthpool and attempt to survive the enemy’s onslaught.
- 3:19pm CT: The weapon experimentation continues, with players using everything from Xenophage, Dragon’s Breath, Whisper of the Worm, and more. The difficult part is dealing enough damage while staying alive as they are barraged by adds and electric damage.
- 3:09pm CT: To enter DPS phase, teams need to take down the boss’s shield first by shooting more panels and dunking a nuke in a disposal slot. Once the shield is down, teams go to the top of the ship where the boss stands on a platform in the middle of the area for DPS phase, all while adds spawn in and lightning damage rains down.
- 3:03pm CT: The DPS phase looks incredibly hectic. The battle takes place on top of the Braytech facility in space, and it includes the boss and multiple clones to fight while trying to stay alive. Teams are still trying to figure out what the best loadouts for damage execution will be. Elysium, for example, is about to try Whisper of the Worm.
- 2:50pm CT: DPS phase has been discovered by All_The_Players and team. Once word spreads how to do it, the fight will then be about maximizing damage by changing up loadouts. I don’t want to jinx things, but we may be in the home stretch of this race pretty soon. With that in mind, check out the loot table for Vesper’s Host to see what new weapons and gear are available in this dungeon.
- 2:32pm CT: Teams are locked in, playing through the encounter to try and figure out mechanics. It appears that none of the streamers close to the end have unlocked DPS phase yet. The fight involves the Puppeteer summoning Major enemies that players must use the Viral Suppressor buff to make them able to take damage. The grind continues.
- 2:20pm CT: According to in-game triumphs, this encounter should be the final boss, so we could be finding a winner relatively soon.
- 2:10pm CT: The next encounter, after some platforming, is another boss named The Corrupted Puppeteer…and it looks A LOT like Atraks, a boss fight from the Deep Stone Crypt raid. A streamer named NAPainter_ was among the first to reach the fight.
- 2:08pm CT: Saltagreppo and Elysium have conquered Raneiks! They are one of the first teams to move on to the next phase. A clip of the moment can be seen below.
- 1:55pm CT: Two hours into this dungeon race and many teams are now battling Raneiks Unified. This is the meat and potatoes of a race, where teams are battling, trying to survive long enough to figure out mechanics or deal damage, and racing to be the first to beat the boss and move on to whatever is next.
- 1:35pm CT: This boss fight is classic Destiny mechanics. The numbered servitors tell the players which numbered monitors for the player carrying Viral Operator buff to shoot in an area behind the boss to begin the DPS phase. Elysium is doing decent damage for now, getting the boss down to about half health.
- 1:25pm CT: Other teams and streamers, such as Aztecross, have joined Elysium in the Raneiks fight. Things are heating up.
- 1:20pm CT: Elysium has figured out how to reach DPS phase on Raneiks, but have yet to have much success dealing any serious amounts of DPS yet. Most, if not all other teams are still stuck on the first encounter.
- 1:10pm CT: This boss fight looks wild. The giant servitor breaks off into about 10 smaller servitors, all of which have their own numbered name (Raneiks-1, Raneiks-2, etc.), some of which are marked with red lights for some reason. Salt and his Elysium teammates are working to figure out how to begin damage phase.
- 1:00pm CT: Saltagreppo, multiple raid race winner with Clan Elysium, has made it to the next encounter: a boss fight with an enemy named Raneiks Unified, a giant servitor. Salt and co. are currently battling the boss and figuring out mechanics.
- 12:50pm CT: The Enrage timer is also a big culprit here, likely a debuff exclusive to Contest Mode, as players are struggling to survive or advance before the countdown ends.
- 12:35pm CT: Over a half hour into the dungeon, many teams believe they’ve figured out the mechanics to continue, but are having a difficult time surviving the onslaught of enemies with Contest Mode’s power cap.
- 12:20pm CT: Viral Operator and Viral Scanner are being passed back and forth at the Augmentation Terminals, just like in Deep Stone Crypt, as players shoot panels and attempt to solve the first encounter’s mechanic.
- 12:13pm CT: Several teams have passed the entrance area and have begun the first encounter, and it includes a Brig mech and lots of Fallen enemies with a beautiful backdrop, which can be seen in the image above.
- 12:05pm CT: So, this dungeon is more than just similar to Deep Stone Crypt in appearance. It looks like the mechanics are similar, too. The Braytech facility in Vesper’s Host is reminiscent of the Beyond Light raid in many ways, including terminals and picking up items like the Scanner.
- 12pm CT: We have begun. Fireteams are grabbing the quest from Spider, and the race is on!
- 11:35am CT: The Twitch Rivals stream is now live! The race is just over 20 minutes away, and teams are waiting in orbit for the green light to begin.
- 10:45am CT: Time is moving slowly as streamers fire up their PCs to get ready to broadcast their perspective of the race, which is just over an hour away from beginning at 12pm CT. The Destiny 2 directory on Twitch is slowly climbing in viewer count, but it should be exploding shortly.
- Oct. 11, 9:00am CT: Hello Guardians. We’re here bright and early on the day of the Vesper’s Host race with info on the rules going in to the competition. In the latest iteration of This Week in Destiny blog post yesterday, Bungie pulled back the curtain a bit on what to expect for the game’s first-ever dungeon race. Read on below for all of the pertinent info, keeping in mind that some items and perks are disabled for the race.
What is Contest Mode in Destiny 2 Vesper’s Host?
Lasting 48 hours, Contest Mode in Vesper’s Host is similar to how it works in raid races, like Salvation’s Edge earlier this year. All Guardian power will be capped at 1985, which is the base power required to enter the dungeon during Contest Mode, so any power beyond that means nothing. But if a team clears the dungeon before the 48 hours is up, Normal mode will unlock for everyone, enabling the easier difficulty where power matters.
For the race, each team will require a three-member fireteam to start the Vesper’s Host dungeon in Contest Mode. The requirements beyond that are owning The Final Shape Dungeon Key and acquiring the quest “Rogue Network” from Spider in The Last City beforehand.
Finally, to finish the race properly, all fireteam members need to finish the final encounter and loot the chest. Once the final member loots the chest, their finish is recorded. But, “at least one member of the fireteam must have completed and received loot for every encounter and it must be the first time completing the activity for all members of the fireteam,” according to Bungie.
Destiny 2: Vesper’s Host Contest Mode rewards
Clearing Vesper’s Host during Contest Mode, which ends at 12pm CT on Sunday, Oct. 13, includes a guaranteed drop of the dungeon Exotic sniper rifle Ice Breaker, which is a returning weapon from Destiny 1, along with the Orbital Tournament emblem, seen above.
Additionally, the first three teams to finish the dungeon will receive a bundle that includes the Vesper’s Host bracelet and a Vesper’s Host activewear hoodie that’s customized to include the player’s name, seen below.
Anyone who clears the dungeon can also purchase these items as part of the Bungie Rewards program.
Destiny 2 Vesper’s Host: Contest Mode disabled items
Bungie revealed on the morning of the race that the following items have been disabled:
- Weapons
- Wardcliff Coil
- Salvation’s Grip
- One Thousand Voices
- Alethonym
- Tomorrow’s Answer
- Yesterday’s Question
- Hunter
- Shadowshot: Moebius Quiver
- Shadowshot: Deadfall
- Titan
- Unbreakable
- Peacekeepers
- Artifact mods
- Hail of the Storm
How to watch Vesper’s Host dungeon race
Like with raid races, Vesper’s Host’s race will be live streamed all over Twitch, starting with a hub on TwitchRivals, which will jump between perspectives of teams who are close to the finish line.
Otherwise, you can check out the Destiny 2 directory on Twitch to find live streamers, such as:
- Datto
- Aztecross
- Leopard
- Saltagreppo
- All_The_Players
- Butters
- Lanza
- GernaderJake
- IFrostBolt
- Sweatcicle
- and many more
