How does the Pathfinder work in Destiny 2: The Final Shape?

One of the biggest quality-of-life changes in Destiny 2: The Final Shape is the addition of the Pathfinder system. If you have been looking for bounties from Zavala, The Drifter, or Shaxx in the Tower and haven't been finding them, that is because the Pathfinder has replaced that system. But, that isn't the only thing that's changing.

Gone are the days of running around the Tower grabbing bounties from all sorts of different vendors. Now, Destiny 2 players must use the Pathfinder to get rewards for completing different activities such as Gambit, Crucible, and Vanguard Ops.

In the above screenshot, there are 20 objectives broken down into five different tiers. Players need to do different activities to fulfill these various objectives for things like loading heavy ammo on Gambit, or getting grenade kills in Vanguard missions. These can be completed asynchronously, but you'll need to move from left to right to complete the full path.

As you play Gambit, Crucible, and Vanguard playlists, your board will likely start to look like the one above, with some nodes completed, some untouched, and others only partially full. In order to claim Destiny 2 Pathfinder rewards and earn valuable vendor XP, players must move from left to right. As you can see in the image above, we still need to complete three Vanguard Ops activities to finish the far left-hand column to move on.

The Ritual Pathfinder is only the first of two in Destiny 2: The Final Shape. There is also a second Destination Pathfinder that unlocks after the completion of the campaign, which will take players through various tasks at The Pale Heart destination in things called Calibrations, Field Assignments, and Ventures.

This Pathfinder has different rewards than the Ritual Pathfinder, including exotics and new seasonal gear. Keep an eye out for this after the completion of the campaign.

Since the Pathfinder is a set of weekly rewards and is reset each week, what happens when you complete the entire tree before the weekly reset? Well, lucky for you, there are more rewards available.

For both the Ritual Pathfinder and the Destination Pathfinder, players can earn more rewards for multiple completions, however, there are diminishing returns after the first 2-3 runs. Exact details of the loot table and when this drops off were laid out in detail in a developer update just before the release of The Final Shape.

That's everything you need to know about Pathfinders in Destiny 2: The Final Shape. Hopefully, this new streamlined system is an improvement for players and reduces the amount of wasted time picking up bounties from all across the galaxy.

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