The Best Destiny Expansions: All 5 Ranked

Destiny 1.0

There’s no denying it: when Destiny first released in 2014, it wasn’t the best it could be. The shooting mechanics were fun, the leveling and powers were awesome, and the co-op and multiplayer worked like like a charm. That said, it was also clear that stuff that was supposed to be in the game was cut out for whatever reason. The most glaring example of this, besides the obvious one, would have to be the Patrols, which largely had you schlepping from devoid area to devoid area to have an enemy encounter. And having to grind for worthwhile content in the endgame is not fun.

It also doesn’t help that the story for the game is incredibly lacking, somehow both barely there and also incredibly impenetrable. That in and of itself would’ve been fine, if it also weren’t for the fact that it’s bogged down by some not so stellar writing. Yes, it improved later on, but you’re never truly going to be able to escape such groanworthy lines like “I don’t even have time to explain why I don’t have time to explain.”

Dark Below

The first expansion for Destiny brought with it some sizable new content to the Bungie shared world shooter. Centered on the weird looking aliens known as the Hive, Guardians traveled to the moon to take down the Hive prince Crota with the help of former Guardian Eris Morn. That sounds pretty cool, but there’s actually not much here that’s worth talking about.

It doesn’t help that the content provided for the story missions was just areas from the base game recycled. Grinding, a problem that was in the base game (particularly near the end), returns in Dark and was just as fun then as it was back in September 2014. The redeeming factor here is the “Crota’s End” raid (at least at the time, now it’s considered the worst), but that isn’t enough to make you really not wanna travel down to the caverns of the moon.

House of Wolves

The second expansion for Destiny was House of Wolves, which was more of an outlaw story. The Awoken’s queen, Mara Sov, invites any and all Guardians to the Reef in order to bring her Fallen subjects back in line after they rebel under the lead of Skolas. He wants to bring all of the Fallen houses under his command, and that just won’t do for anyone. So in addition to saving the galaxy, you’re now basically a space cop. Fun!

Jokes aside, it’s a pretty fun story campaign with some solid enemy encounters. Variks and Petra Venj are much better people to listen to than Constant Downer Eris Morn, and not just because they’re well-written and have a solid dynamic. The background info they provide on Skolas and the different Houses is interesting to listen to and helps give a good reason to wipe these guys off the map.

Wolves’ story campaign is just one piece of a really fun puzzle. The Shadow Thief Strike is a blast to play through with friends, but it’s the Trials of Osiris and Prison of Elders that make the package all the sweeter. Elders may just be Destiny’s equivalent of Horde mode, but the modifiers and Supers make it one of the best kinds, and the rewards are really damn cool. Plus, the Skolas fight is really damn awesome, and easily one of the best in the entire game. Going through each event every weekend is fun to go through with friends, and you certainly walk away feeling like a boss if you manage to make it to the Lighthouse.

Rise of Iron

The newest Destiny adventure was already going to be awesome on the pure basis of inviting Guardians to become part of the new generations of Iron Lords with the help of Crucible vendor Lord Saladin. And if that wasn’t enough, you also get a badass fire ax. That would be well worth the price of admission, but it’s great because of the insight it adds to the overall lore and fun gameplay that Destiny’s been honing for the past two years.

Rise of Iron comes packed with not just the requisite new story missions, gear, and Strikes, but also a wholly new Raid and social space. We’re still getting ready to prepare for the Raid ourselves, but what we’ve played so far holds up as some of the best example of what Destiny can be. The gear is all awesome, especially the new guns, and there’s a great sense of history as you travel through the Plaguelands and Felwinter Peak.

If you haven’t grabbed all of the previous expansions yet, it’d be wise to grab the Collection pack, which comes with the previous four and Rise. It makes for a complete experience and shows just how far Bungie has come since 2014. With Rise of Iron as a great end to the first installment of this franchise, there’s nowhere to go but way, way up for the sequel.

The Taken King

While House of Wolves was a step in the right direction for Destiny, and Rise of Iron was a side step of cool, Taken King was a motorcycle ride to awesomeness. The 2.0 update that launched before the expansion’s release provided plenty of additional changes, from showing who’s talking to you over the radio to providing descriptions and steps for quest lines, that helped the base game feel like a real and completed game. And yes, that does indeed mean the sad departure of our ever loving Dinklebot.

The first two expansions were fairly bare bones in terms of story, but that’s not the case here. Taken doesn’t skip the requisite mission briefings as you fly to your destination, but the cutscenes provided help give a sense of growing tension as the battle with the titular villain comes to its inevitable conclusion. Bringing back Eris Morn actually proves to be a wise choice, as her fear serves as a reminder of what someone in Hive royalty is capable of, and she’s got a good dynamic with Cayde-6, which allows Bungie to flex the awesomeness that is Nathan Fillion.

Going up against Oryx meant a bevy of new content for Destiny, and Taken King certainly provided on that front. Whether it was the new Strikes or random occurrences of Taken popping up where you go, Bungie made sure to deliver content on a frequent schedule. And the “King’s Fall” raid is the icing on the cake, providing a fitting end to the Taken campaign.