When Does Destiny 2 Season 19 Begin?

Destiny 2 Season 19 is the final season of the Witch Queen expansion. This season is somewhat important because whatever happens during this season will ultimately set the tone for Lightfall.

The next season is a little over a month away. So keeping that in mind, here’s everything we know about Destiny 2 Season 19.

Destiny 2 Season 19 Start Date, New Dungeon, Weapon Reworks, and More

As of now, Destiny 2 Season 19 is scheduled to start on December 6, 2022. The season is scheduled to go live at 6 PM BST/10 AM PT/1 PM ET, alongside the weekly reset.

The season is expected to conclude on February 28, 2022. Once the season concludes, the servers will be taken down, and when the come back up, the Lightfall expansion along with Season 20 will go live.

New Activities

We’ll be seeing a brand new dungeon in Destiny 2 Season 19. Not much is known about this dungeon. However, Bungie confirmed that the dungeon will be going live on December 9, which is three days after the new season drops.

This staggered launch can probably be attributed to the subclass reworks that we’ll be seeing in the game in the next season.

Subclass Reworks

While the Arc subclass is exactly where Bungie wants it to be, the other subclasses are still slightly out of balance. To make sure that everything is on the same page, the following changes will be seen in Destiny 2 Season 19.

Solar

• Restoration’s 1x healing rate will be reduced from 25 to 20 (40 HP heal in PvE). Restoration’s 2x healing rate will be reduced from 40 to 32.5 (65 HP Heal in PvE). The healing won’t stack with the healing received from a healing rift.
• Ember of Torches will come with a -10 Discipline penalty and the Radiant buff this applies will last for 8 seconds compared to the previous 10 seconds.
• Ember of Solace will now provide a flat 50% Radiant duration extension over the previous 5 second extension.
• Solar Hunters have some changes coming down their way too. These changes are with respect to the Knock ‘Em Down Aspect. They are as follows:
  • Golden Gun
    • Now provides 15% bonus damage resistance to Deadshot Golden Gun but the bonus duration is removed.
    • The 15% bonus damage resistance that came with the Marksman Golden Gun has been removed. 
  • Blade Barrage
    • Blade Barrage bonus projectiles were reduced from 5 to 3 per group. It now releases a total of 20 knives, down from the previous 24.
• Solar Warlocks who used Celestial Fire are in luck because the close-range melee damage will be buffed to 100.

When it comes to Blade Barrage, while the projectiles have been removed, the DPS rating might just remain the same, provided the damage dealt by each knife receives a buff.

Void

• The Void overshield which can be triggered through various ways will be dealing the intended 50% damage resistance in PvE compared to the 25% its been dealing now.
• The Nova Bomb: Vortex will be receiving the following changes as well:
  • Increased initial projectile speed by 21%.  Increased radius of the inward pull on impact by approximately 17% and an increase in the strength of the inward pull on impact by approximately 20%.
• The Titan Shield Bash will now be more reliable while applying suppression.
• The tether lifetime for Shadowshot: Deadfall will be increased from 8 seconds to 12 seconds.
• The tether lifetime for Shadowshot: Moebius Quiver will be reduced to 6 seconds from 8 seconds.

Arc

This is more or less in a stable state. The developers haven’t announced too many changes with this just yet. There is, however, one small change that we’ll be seeing in Destiny 2 Season 19.

• The Touch of Thunder Storm Grenade is being nerfed slightly. The roaming duration is being reduced to 4 seconds.
• The extended duration to the Storm Grenade granted by the Spark of Magnitude will be reduced to 1.5 seconds.
• A new VFX layer will be added to allow Guardians to distinguish if the grenade was tossed by a friend or an ally.

While these are the changes that the subclasses will be receiving, some Exotic Weapons will be reworked too. They are as follows:

• No Time to Explain
  • Recoil direction reduced to 73 from 90.
  • Aim Assist reduced to 40 from 45.
• Jade Rabbit
  • Aim Assist reduced by 20 points.
• Lord of the Wolves (The changes below will be visible when the “Release the wolves” buff is active)
  • Aim down sight (ADS) accuracy penalty reduced to 3x.
  • 25% universal base damage buff removed.
  • Weapon gets a 40% damage buff in PvE.
  • The critical hit multiplier penalty will be removed.
  • Full auto is now an intrinsic perk.
• Riskrunner
  • Damage resistance reduced to 15% in PvP.

These are all the changes that we’ll be seeing in Destiny 2 Season 19. With a little less than a month for the season to go live, Bungie might be dropping a few more changes in the upcoming weeks.

While that concludes everything that we know about the next season, there’s something rather interesting going on in the game right now. Telesto has broken the game once again but in a weird way! Moreover, Stadia owners will have until January 18 to back up all their accounts. Some planetary materials will be leaving the game in the upcoming season as well.

Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.