GET APPEVERYTHING CHANGING IN NIGHTFALL
Season 2 lands June 2, 2026. Night descends on Dire Marsh, Sentinel joins the lineup, two new guns and eight new chips hit the sandbox, implants are fully reworked, and the Cradle hands you real control over your shell's stats. This is the TL;DR.
Sourced from Bungie's Welcome to Season 2 and Season 2 Combat Tuning Preview articles.
NIGHT_MARSH
Dire Marsh after the lights go out
Pitch-dark interiors
Multiple areas of the zone feature pitch darkness. Even the exterior wayfinding lights you rely on are reduced — quiet steps, maximum awareness, and a quick trigger finger matter more than ever.
The anomaly stirs
New enemies appear in Night Marsh as the anomaly grows restless. What's out there in the dark is for you to find out.
New gear for surviving the dark
- ▸Flashlights — A new tool all Runners have access to on Night Marsh.
- ▸Vector Rounds — Sandbox-wide new perk that ships by default on one Superior magazine mod in every family — see New Mod Families below for details. Particularly useful in the dark.
- ▸Vector Grenade — A new throwable. Not for damage — it creates a field of revealing pulses that linger and highlight enemies and terrain in a large radius. Essential in the dark.
- ▸Darksight Scopes — A brand-new optic mod archetype available game-wide — see New Mod Families below. Particularly useful on Night Marsh.
- ▸Signal Flares — Come in red, green, and blue with distinct lens flare shapes. Lingering light source — Bungie pitches them as non-verbal communication tools between Runners.
- ▸Frost Mine — Placeable equipment that detonates when enemies approach. Moderate spherical blast damage plus spreads the Frost debuff to everything caught in it.
COMPLEX_CONTROL
The UESC is locking down Night Marsh
UESC Certs gate the map
The UESC has secured their resources on Night Marsh with advanced encryption. Kill UESC to gather encryption certificates (Certs), then hack into Network Towers across the map to access stockpiles of weapons, healing supplies, and other loot.
Cert-gated exfils
The UESC has locked down the exfils on Night Marsh. You'll need to collect Certs to activate exfils on the map — no Certs, no extraction.
Closed-off doors on Marsh
Those staircases on Marsh that led to closed-off doors? Anomalous energy is flowing from Complex. Gather enough UESC Certs to open the doors and hunt down what awaits in the upper rooms.
Marsh map rotation
Dire Marsh and Night Marsh are both available at all times for at least the first week of the season. After that, the maps rotate availability every 90 minutes. Most existing Dire Marsh contracts work on either zone, with new Night Marsh-exclusive MIDA and Traxus contracts coming.
If you unlocked and completed a run on Dire Marsh in Season 1, both Marshes are unlocked at Season 2 launch (same rule as Outpost). Otherwise both unlock at Runner Level 3.
SENTINEL
The new defensive Runner shell
A defensive specialist made for carving out pockets of space within the battlefield and securing them with clever traps and lethal force. Built around area control and adaptability under pressure.
Deploy a defensive platform that harmlessly neutralizes incoming explosives. You and your allies gain increased weapon stability and reload speed when standing near the device. Limited number of projectiles — keep a steady eye on it.
Toss a proximity-triggered mine which detonates into several Immobilizing submunitions when enemies get too close.
Motion-tracking HUD that shows moving enemies on radar within a conical zone in front of you.
Ready and reload SMGs, Pistols, and Shotguns more quickly based on the number of nearby hostiles. When you take splash damage, your Hardware, Firewall, and Self-Repair Speed are increased for a short time.
Confirmed Sentinel Cores (3 of 10)
Defeating an Immobilized target heals you over time. Adds sustain when you don't have a Triage in your crew.
While standing near your Defender System, you and your allies use medical items more quickly.
Runner grenades neutralized by your Defender System fall to the floor and become lootable. Throw their grenades back at them.
THE_CRADLE
Empower your WEAVEworms — raise stats and unlock perks
The Cradle lets you empower the WEAVEworms that create your biocybernetic body, raising your Runner shell's stats across six categories and unlocking powerful perks.
- ▸Matter Converter is your primary progression tool — feed it weapons, equipment, and other items to turn them into Cradle experience. Better items give more XP.
- ▸Leveling up the Cradle earns Energy that you allocate to any of the six stat categories.
- ▸Hitting certain breakpoints unlocks additional perks for your Runner shells.
- ▸Reset anytime during the season — your Energy is fully refunded so you can rebuild around a different playstyle.
NEW_WEAPONS
Two new guns in the sandbox
KKV-9SD
SMGPistol-frame SMG with an integrated suppressor and the fastest fire rate Bungie has ever shipped — 1200 RPM. Excels at close range and specifically counters shotgun rushers. Takes pistol optic and pistol magazine mods plus chips.
Prestige mod — Flechette Drum: heals you when you break a hostile's shield. Ships with a built-in folding stock mod.
D54 Battle Pistol
PISTOLFully automatic 3-round burst handgun designed to flex between Pistol and Magnum archetypes with advantage in 1v1 duels. High-handling, medium rate of fire — perfect side-arm for snipers and shotguns.
Prestige mod — Daredevil Stock: while folded, enemy defeats build up to 2 stacks; when unfolded, fire converts into a super burst of 9 rounds per stack.
NEW_MOD_FAMILIES
Two new mod families and a new magazine perk available game-wide
Folding Stocks
First present on the KKV-9SD and D54 Battle Pistol. Initially collapsed — boosts hip-fire accuracy and movement speed. Press alternate weapon action to unfold, trading those for ADS accuracy and range. Designed to let you swap strategies on the fly during combat. Similar in concept to Shield Mods for LMGs.
Darksight Scopes
An entirely new optic mod archetype. Every weapon archetype gets one in Deluxe and Superior rarities. Full-screen vignette while ADS (like sniper optics, but for every weapon). Press the toggle optic input while ADS to activate a night vision effect that lights up the world — wider and longer-range on Superior. Useful on Night Marsh and game-wide.
Vector Rounds
Comes by default on one Superior magazine mod in every family. After aiming down sights for a short duration, your next projectile impact creates a revealing pulse — similar to the Darksight effect — highlighting enemies caught in the detonation for a brief duration. Designed as an information tool: mark space, track enemy movement, create visibility in dark corners.
NEW_CHIPS
Eight new chip families — three previewed by name
Alarmist
All rarities
After aiming down sights for a brief duration, projectile impacts create a terrifying scan drone alert. Bungie nods to Ornithologist on Cryo — this is the new equivalent that fits the setting.
Scrapyard
All rarities
Defeating hostiles with this weapon has a chance to spawn depleted health items or standard materials.
Brain Freeze
Superior only
Precision downs or kills with this weapon create a small explosion that spreads Frost to nearby hostiles.
Notable existing-chip rebalances
Bounty Hunter
Credits per UESC kill significantly increased: Standard 10→25, Enhanced 15→50, Deluxe 20→75, Superior 25→100. Also fixed a bug where Bounty Hunter wasn't awarding credits for UESC scan drone kills.
Cloudborn
Perk benefits entirely redesigned. New: while in smoke, this weapon passively gains increased stability, accuracy, handling, and movement speed. Old: overflowed the magazine on reload while in smoke.
Every optic and magazine mod also received a full stat balance pass. Thermal scopes are being removed from snipers (only) for Season 2 — Bungie says this is temporary while they cook on broader thermal changes.
IMPLANT_REWORK
Perk-first naming, fixed stats, eight new perks
Implants are being restructured from the ground up. The Season 1 system bolted random perks onto stat-named items, which made Vault management and on-the-floor reading miserable. Season 2 flips it: the perk is the implant.
- ▸Every implant grants a single fixed perk reflected directly in the item name, plus a fixed stat package.
- ▸Example: a Tox Injectors head implant gives Firewall + Heat Capacity + Fall Resistance.
- ▸Example: a Triage Cloaking Device torso implant gives Revive Speed + Tactical Recovery + Hardware.
- ▸All Season 1 perks (including Prestige perks) carry over, plus eight brand-new perks — including Going Dark: invisible while using healing consumables.
- ▸Some implants only drop at higher rarities — Bungie is using rarity to gate high-utility perks like Logic Bomb and Triage Cloaking Device. You can find them in challenging zones or pick them off other Runners.
- ▸Bungie says this isn't the final form — readable implant icons are next on their radar.
EQUIPMENT_CHANGES
Grenade tuning, Signal Jammer rework, new throwables
Grenade ready animations +0.2s
All grenades take 0.2s longer to prime. The throw after release is unchanged. Measurable effect on how many grenades can be rapid-fired.
Frag Grenade nerf
Max damage reduced from 135 to 115 (-15%).
Heat Grenade nerf
Damage reduced from 40 to 20 (-50%).
Signal Jammer rework
Visual and detection jamming temporarily flicker off when you act, use abilities, shoot, or take damage. No longer blocks detection by Early Warning System (Recon Prestige Core) or Vital Intel (Stryder M1T Prestige Optic). Rewards stealth movement, not running into firefights.
New: Vector Grenade
Information tool, not damage. Detonation creates a field of revealing pulses that linger and highlight terrain and enemies in a large radius. Essential on Night Marsh.
New: Frost Mine
Placeable proximity mine. Spherical blast deals moderate damage and spreads the Frost debuff to enemies caught in it.
WEAPON_BALANCE
Headline tuning previewed — full patch notes on June 2
Misriah 2442 retuned
Slick Mag rate-of-fire bonuses removed entirely from the Slick Mag family. Misriah base RPM raised 58 → 72 to compensate. Pellet spread +10% hip / +5% ADS. Damage falloff windowed (10m → 16m). Min mag rolls now always give at least +1 round.
Full-Auto Selector reworked
Misriah's Prestige mod: RPM bonus 150 → 90. +50 ADS Speed and +50 ADS Accuracy added. Hip-fire becomes full auto with massive stability; ADS keeps tighter pellet spread and longer range but loses full auto.
Overrun lower tiers buffed
Horizontal recoil reduced ~50%, vertical recoil reduced ~12%. Aimed at making lower-tier Overruns in budget builds and Sponsored Kits less painful while leaving Superior Overrun where it is.
CE Tactical Sidearm overhaul
Recoil settle speed +15%, ADS accuracy error halved. Major rebalance to aim assist cone, magnetism falloff, and crouch/moving accuracy bonuses. Designed to reward headshot players who build into it.
Plus a full balance pass on every optic and magazine mod, chip family changes (Bounty Hunter credits buffed, Cloudborn redesigned), and additional weapon-specific tunings. Full patch notes drop on June 2.
QUEUES
Duos Queue, experimental queues, and PvE explorations
Duos Queue rotation
Duos Queue arrives with a rotating daily queue across Perimeter, Dire Marsh, Night Marsh, and Outpost. Bungie is being judicious about matchmaking divisions to keep queue health up.
More PvE content explorations
Experimental queues continue from Season 1, with new explorations into more PvE-focused content.
RANKED_UPDATES
Returns June 14 with new rewards and simplified queues
- ▸Low and High Stakes merged into a single queue with a 5,000 Loadout value minimum.
- ▸Players must now bring a Holotag that matches their current rank.
- ▸Progression adjusted to feel faster across all ranks.
- ▸Win/loss points now scale by average rank of the lobby vs. your rank — smaller losses against higher-ranked players, bigger wins.
- ▸New daily Ranked Sponsored Kit scales with your rank — higher rank, better gear.
- ▸Players can earn Arachne reputation by exfiling with a Tag Chip.
- ▸A new system to make it harder for ill-intended players to coordinate and team up across runs is coming as the season progresses.
CONTRACTS
Rough edges shaved off — less linear, more organic
Priority Contracts loosened
No longer gated behind faction reputation levels, and reformulated so they don't feel like a blocker. Focused more on granting loot rewards than being hard reputation requirements.
Standard & Liaison refresh
Both Standard and Liaison contracts refreshed to shave off rough edges. If you completed Liaison contracts and unlocked a faction in Season 1, that faction stays unlocked in Season 2.
Heavy traversal toned down
Less emphasis on heavy traversal and 'in a single run' requirements across the board.
Cryo Archive contracts reworked
Reworked so progress can be made over multiple runs without forcing a key for every contract — though the seventh contract still requires taking down the Compiler.
RUNNER_TUNING
Bugfixes, movement smoothing, and recovery scaling
Mantle system improvements
Climbing rough terrain is more consistent. General movement is smoother and instances of desync are reduced.
Deathbox spawn fixes
Addressed deathbox spawning to prevent them from ending up in inaccessible areas.
Recovery stat scaling reduced at max
Prime Recovery and Tactical Recovery accelerate ability cooldowns less aggressively at 100 stat — preserves counterplay in high-level engagements.
QUALITY_OF_LIFE
Big list of quality-of-life updates
- ▸Vault expanded to 512 grid spaces when fully upgraded, plus batch select for Vault items.
- ▸New loot filter — select a missing loadout slot and only see loot that fits it.
- ▸Lobby UI simplified — Loadout and Vault menus combined for faster, more intuitive run prep.
- ▸UI access during matchmaking now includes factions, Codex, settings, and more.
- ▸New PC and console cursor speed settings.
- ▸New privacy settings: name obfuscation and matchmaking timer offset.
- ▸Additional game security features to speed up cheat detection and reduce effectiveness.
- ▸CPU performance pass, plus frame generation support on PC.
- ▸Network improvements to reduce disconnections, especially for players outside the United States.