Vault of Glass – the original Destiny’s first ever raid, and arguably Bungie’s best – is returning to Destiny 2 this week.
Vault of Glass will be available for all players, and for those looking to play it right away, can take part in a Contest Mode and compete to be the world’s first in clearing the raid.
While you wait, you can read our original Vault of Glass walkthrough for when it debuted back in 2014 to refresh yourself ahead of its return.
On this page:
Destiny 2: Beyond Light – Season of the Splicer Trailer
Destiny 2 Vault of Glass release date and release time: When is Vault of Glass coming to Destiny 2?
The Destiny 2 Vault of Glass release date is Saturday, May 22nd, with the update going live at the following release times:
- UK: 6pm (BST)
- Europe: 7pm (CEST)
- East Coast US: 1pm (EDT)
- West Coast US: 10am (PDT)
One hour before the above times, Bungie will begin hosting a launch party on ProfessorBroman’s Twitch channel, allowing you to watch the race to become the World’s First…
Vault of Glass’s World’s First Contest Mode and Challenge Mode explained
For 24 hours from launch, Contest Mode will be active, allowing players to unlock a unique Triumph – Tempo’s Edge – and compete to be the World’s First, i.e. the team who completes the raid before anyone else.
How this works is as follows: Once you complete the Raid when Contest Mode is active, a new Challenge Mode is available within the Director. This is where you can complete the Tempo’s Edge objectives within the raid. Doing so will net you the Triumph, and doing it before anyone else gives you the World’s First title, and the following rather snazzy belt in real life:
This is a smart way to add a layer of competition to a familiar raid, even if there might be some surprises in-store (which we discuss more about towards the end of the page).
When the Contest Mode ends, the raid should go back to ‘normal’ – including the Challenge Mode elements disappearing, possibly until later in the season.
Destiny 2 Vault of Glass power level and other requirements explained
Vault of Glass in Destiny 2 is free for all players – meaning you don’t need to own the Beyond Light expansion or the Season of the Splicer season pass to play.
In terms of Vault of Glass level recommendations, each encounter is at 1300 Power during Contest Mode, which means if you are above that, the extra levels won’t make a difference the difficulty. On the flip side, this is not a mandatory requirement; you are allowed to attempt the raid at a lower level, but it will be more challenging.
That said, in our experience with raids in general, provided only one or two players are slightly under-levelled, the rest of the team can carry them – usually by putting them in non-combat heavy roles during certain encounters.
Assuming it’s the same as previous Contest Modes, once it ends – i.e. 24 hours after its debut – being at a higher Power than the recommendation will give you an advantage as normal.
This means being above the encounter recommendation – which is likely to remain at 1300 Power – can give you an edge, and is recommended, especially if you are attempting for the first time, or hoping to clear it quickly.
Season of the Splicer has arrived!
This week sees the return of Iron Banner and Vault of Glass.
New features include transmog and materials Synthstrand, Synthcord and Synthweave, the Splicer Gauntlet and Decrypted Data used to upgrade it, the Aspect of Interference quest, and several new Exotics and a new max level cap.
As well as XP farm and Glimmer farm suggestions, looking to the year ahead, we explain everything we know about Destiny 2 crossplay.
Destiny 2 Vault of Glass differences and changes: Everything we know – and don’t know – so far
For all intents and purposes, Vault of Glass in Destiny 2 is the raid we know and love (and occasionally rage quit at) back when it debuted in late 2014.
That said, there will be some small changes. To quote Bungie: “The story isn’t changing, but you may notice other differences”.
Though the encounters should largely be the same, we do know that:
- Vault of Glass will not be launched from a planet, as Venus isn’t in the game – instead, you must go to the Legends area of the Director.
- As such, don’t expect random players to help you open the entrance to the raid (in the original, the first encounter was situated in the Venus patrol zone).
- Datamines have given us a good idea of the Vault of Glass loot table, showing many returning weapons and armour pieces – though as noted by the following image’s creator Testifye on reddit that it could be incorrect, early signs suggest each encounter’s pool features two armour pieces and three weapons:
- As well as this, we can expect a ‘vendor’ chest after the final encounter where you can spend Spoils of Conquest to purchase new rolls of acquired gear, as with Deep Stone Crypt.
- Datamines have also suggested the Vex Mythoclast Exotic will be returning in Season of the Splicer, and there’s a decent chance it’ll be part of the Vault of Glass at some point.
- Finally, datamines suggest the addition of collectables, an upcoming Master difficulty, and a variety of challenges for Triumphs.
- At launch, Vault of Glass will be the only Raid in Destiny 2 to offer Pinnacle drops, with Beyond Light’s Deep Stone Crypt demoting its drops to Powerful Gear on the launch of Season of the Splicer.
As well as this, we don’t know things such as:
- Whether Vault of Glass chest locations will remain the same, or if there are any new ones to find. For example, when the raid was reintroduced towards the end of the original Destiny as part of the Age of Triumph update, another chest was introduced:
- What exactly has changed in encounters, such as enemy placements or mechanics being tweaked, or whether it’ll factor in many of Destiny 2’s specific mechanics, such as the introduction of Champions and so on. This is perhaps the most interesting part – and one that could really shape our experience of the raid over time!
If you are in need of a level boost ahead of the raid’s debut, remember Iron Banner is happening this week – which is a great place to earn Pinnacle drops.
