Destiny 2 The Final Shape release date – When did the expansion arrive?

Good things come to Guardians who wait.

Image via Bungie

The conclusion to Destiny 2‘s Light and Darkness saga is finally here. After a significant delay, The Final Shape arrived in 2024. Guardians banded together and headed into the portal inside the Traveler to stop The Witness’s attempt to twist the universe into their vision—the Final Shape.

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This moment has been building for a decade since the original Destiny launched on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Now, the long wait for its end has come. Here’s when players first dropped into The Final Shape in Destiny 2.

Destiny 2 The Final Shape release date

Destiny 2 Guardians in The Final Shape.
Band together for one final fight. Image via Bungie

Destiny 2: The Final Shape launched on June 4, 2024. The expansion was pushed back from its original release date of Feb. 27, 2024, which was announced during the showcase in the summer of 2023. The final season of Lightfall ran a little longer than its predecessors, but new content was added to the schedule as part of an April 2024 update.

Destiny 2 was brought down for maintenance a full 24 hours before the launch of The Final Shape. Despite Bungie’s best efforts to maintain server stability on launch day, many players encountered severe issues and constant error codes, preventing them from logging into the game. Most of these issues cleared up 24 to 36 hours post-launch.

What is in The Final Shape?

As is the case with every Destiny 2 expansion, plenty of content and pursuits for Guardians to chase were added, including new weapons, new armor, and all-new experiences like a new destination, raid, and even new super abilities within the existing Light subclasses.

New destination: The Pale Heart

Destiny 2 Guardians make their way through The Pale Heart destination in The Final Shape.
The Pale Heart is twisted. Image via Bungie

“There is a place where we will find eternity being torn asunder. An unraveling landscape that echoes with the deeds of our past. Persevere in this impossible place and uncover what lies at the heart of this war.”

The new destination in The Final Shape is inside the Traveler, called The Pale Heart. It’s here where reality shifts and changes, shaping itself as a reflection of the Guardian’s journey and getting more and more odd and disturbing as players approach the Witness’s Monolith inside.

It’s here where the bulk of The Final Shape’s story missions take place, leading into the story’s conclusion in the Salvation’s Edge raid shortly after launch.

New supers

Warlock: Song of Flame (Solar)

“Unleash your inner phoenix with every attack. Buff your weapons, allies, and harness the living Solar flame.” The Warlock calls on the power of a phoenix, buffing their grenade and melee abilities significantly for a short time. Using these abilities deals incredible damage to enemies nearby and buffs allies’ Solar weapon damage output.

Titan: Twilight Arsenal (Void)

“Blades honed by the Void cut through the air. Lift them from the feet of your felled foes and continue the attack.” The Titan summons three axes made of Void light and throws them at the battlefield, sucking in enemies and weakening them. Guardians can pick up, swing, and throw the axes for a short time.

Hunter: Storm’s Edge (Arc)

“Dagger in hand, become the Arc flashing in the darkness; the edge of the storm your enemies cannot outrun.” The Hunter throws an Arc dagger at range, then blinks to the blade’s location before performing an AoE hit. The super comes with three daggers.

New subclass: Prismatic

Three guardians using Prismatic walk through the bowels of the Pale Heart.
Ascend. Image via Bungie

Guardians can now access a higher level of power with a new subclass, Prismatic. This subclass combines the best of both Light and Darkness abilities, granting the Guardian access to abilities from the other subclasses that can be combined. After dealing significant damage with both the Light and Darkness, the Guardian can use Transcendence.

Transcendence is the Prismatic “Super,” which converts the grenade into an overpowered vessel of energy that combines multiple other elements into one depending on the guardian’s class: Titan, Hunter, or Warlock.

New raid: Salvation’s Edge

Destiny 2 Raid logo icon.
Could this be the pinnacle of raids? Image via Bungie

“Calling all Guardians. The time has come to confront the Witness.”

It all comes down to this. The Final Shape is not messing around, teasing this expansion’s raid as a showdown with The Witness, the architect and leader of the Pyramid fleet and archenemy of the Traveler and Light. The Witness seeks to use the Traveler’s Light with the Darkness it has conquered to completely reshape the universe as we know it into the Final Shape.

Salvation’s Edge is the activity’s name, and it broke records as teams from around the globe raced to become World’s First on June 7. It took nearly 19 hours, but Team Parabellum ultimately walked away the victors. And in doing so, unlocked a special campaign-ending mission.

What is in The Final Shape Annual Pass?

Along with several pre-order bonuses, the Annual Pass for The Final Shape includes numerous pieces of content that will be deployed throughout 2024.

Three new Episodes

A graphic depicting information about Destiny 2's new Episode system. Three Episodes - Echoes, Revenant and Heresy - are listed here. Each comes with three acts that last six weeks each and introduce new content.
Each Episode comes stocked with a plethora of content. Screengrab via Bungie

Seasons, as Guardians know them, are being traded for a new content deployment system called Episodes. Instead of four three-month seasons, there will instead be three four-month Episodes, allowing more development time and the ability to include more content than before.

From March to June will be episode one, Echoes, followed by episode two, Revenant from July to October, and then episode three, Heresy, from November to February.

The Final Shape Dungeon Key

This can be purchased within the Annual Pass or separately, but it includes access to two Dungeon activities within the year of The Final Shape, set to release in subsequent episodes in 2024.

Tessellation

An image showing the Tesselation, a sharp, triangular fusion rifle with patches of rocks in multiple colors, similar to a stained glass technique.
Grab it now. Image via Bungie

With a pre-order of the Annual Pass, players gain instant access to the Tessellation exotic fusion rifle and its two unique traits.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape Collector’s Edition

Destiny 2 The Final Shape's collector's edition, including a replica of the original Tower.
It will cost you. Image via Bungie

“As the final confrontation with the Witness draws near, Eido scours the solar system looking for clues, messages, and intel on the origins of the Witness to share with Guardians. During her travels, she finds a gift to honor your service—a Light to accompany the Darkness.”

The $275 Collector’s Edition for The Final Shape included physical items such as a recreation of the original Tower and an interactive statue that contains secrets that were unlocked by placing the figurines of Zavala, Ikora, and Cayde-6 on top.

Author
Image of Scott Duwe
Scott Duwe
Senior Staff Writer & Call of Duty lead. Professional writer for over 10 years. Lover of all things Marvel, Destiny 2, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and more. Previous bylines include PC Gamer, Red Bull Esports, Fanbyte, and Esports Nation. DogDad to corgis Yogi and Mickey, sports fan (NY Yankees, NY Jets, NY Rangers, NY Knicks), Paramore fanatic, cardio enthusiast.
Author
Image of Nicholas Taifalos
Nicholas Taifalos
Weekend editor for Dot Esports. Nick, better known as Taffy, began his esports career in commentary, switching to journalism with a focus on Oceanic esports, particularly Counter-Strike and Dota. Email: nicholas@dotesports.com