Check out our Destiny 2 Leviathan Raid Guide.
Trials of the Nine is Destiny 2’s competitive endgame activity. Trials runs during the weekend, starting Friday and ending at the weekly reset on Tuesday morning. Here’s everything you need to know about Destiny 2 Trials of the Nine, including how to start it, rewards, and how the wins and losses work.
Trials of the Nine is a 4v4 activity but is not matchmade, so you will need to bring in your own four-person fireteam. Each weekend, the map and mode for Trials will rotate to present new challenges for players, but will remain the same single map and mode for the duration of the weekend so that teams can work out strategies and learn the call outs. Other teams will be doing the same, so prepare for some tough fights.
To access Trials of the Nine, players must complete the Destiny 2 campaign, finish Shaxx’s Call to Arms milestone at least one time, and be a power level of 260 or greater.
Players must complete the Destiny 2 campaign, the Call to Arms Milestone at least once, and have 260 Power for access to Trials of the Nine.
— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) September 15, 2017
Loadouts are locked for Destiny 2 Trials of the Nine, so make sure you enter the activity with the weapons and subclass that you intend to use. You won’t be able to change them mid-match. Level advantages are disabled, so don’t worry if you don’t have the best endgame gear. Just go in with weapons you feel comfortable with. This makes Trials more about individual player skill than powerful gear. MIDA Multi-Tool seems to be the meta for Destiny 2 Crucible right now, so it’s a safe bet many will be taking the popular exotic scout rifle into Trials.
There is no Trials Passage that you need to acquire from a vendor in order to play. The game history can be viewed in the Director by clicking on Crucible and highlighting Trials of the Nine. This is the same node you will click on to start the game once you have a full fireteam of four people ready to enter the arena.
A card is completed at either seven wins or three losses, whichever comes first. There are no Boons available due to the smaller number of ins needed (Trials of Osiris in Destiny required nine wins, but boons could be purchased to grant a couple of free wins and negate a loss). You can reset your card at any time, so if you are going for flawless, you don’t have to throw two more matches after losing the first.
Trials will highlight each players loadout pre-game so that teams can go in fully knowing what they are up against. It’s a much more professional, eSports-level style of competitive mode that should help to put the two teams on a more even footing, because as GI Joe says, “Knowledge is the power to complete at least half of the battle!” Or something like that.
Trials of the Nine wins reward tokens for the vendor in the Spire, a new social space that awaits those who win at least one match in Trials. Turning in tokens rewards Trials gear. There are additional vendors with rewards for getting three wins, five wins, seven wins, and going flawless.
This week’s Trials is Countdown on Eternity, a new crucible map being added for the release of Destiny 2 Trials of the Nine.
Stand together and be judged. Succeed and be rewarded! Trials of the Nine is now live. This week you will be playing Countdown on Eternity. pic.twitter.com/zWCGNB5w3y
— Bungie (@Bungie) September 15, 2017
Gather your fireteam and fight for victory, Guardians! Check out our Destiny 2 endgame guide for more on what to do after the campaign is done, and how to trigger heroic public events in every patrol.
