Field manual

New agents

1. Play the campaign. It unlocks the Base of Operations upgrades, skills, crafting and the systems you'll use at endgame. Leveling gear is replaced constantly, so equip the higher number and keep moving.
2. Try every skill family once. Turrets, drones, hives, shields, pulses, seekers, chem launchers and more each have variants. Knowing what they do makes endgame builds much easier to read.
3. At level 40, pick one build and farm for it. The build picker will point you to one. Use targeted loot (Countdown, the Summit, or a zone's bonus category) to narrow the drops.
4. Keep good rolls, not just good items. A mediocre piece with a perfect roll is worth extracting to your recalibration library before you dismantle it.
5. Leave Optimization and Expertise for later. They make good gear slightly better. They can't fix gear with the wrong attributes.

Returning agents

1. Don't dismantle yet. Look through your stash and library first; old named items and exotics are hard to replace.
2. Read what changed. The season guide and update log cover everything since August. The big ones: Determined no longer chains headshots, red-core gear sets were rebalanced, and brand bonuses were reshuffled.
3. Test before you rebuild. The Shooting Range can now switch to PvP normalization and balance, so you can check both versions of a build without queuing.
4. Grab the free season pass items. The free track includes Fafnir and the Iron Will chest, two of the season's new build pieces.
5. Crossplay changes things in November. Your character and clan move to the crossplay environment automatically. You can turn crossplay off at character selection.

Staying alive

Armor first, then health

Your armor bar soaks damage before health. Break line of sight and repair before armor runs out, not after. A safer firing angle usually beats a longer burst in the open.

Use cover as a tool

Move cover to cover rather than sprinting through open ground, and watch for flanking rushers, which are built to push you out. Keep an exit route in mind before you commit to a position.

Break weak points on purpose

Many elites carry weak points and armor plates. Breaking them usually removes a threat, but this season's Achilles' Heal hostile modifier heals the enemy and its allies when you do. If you see it, set the target on fire first; fire is the only way to strip a hostile modifier.

Status effects cut both ways

Burn, bleed, shock, disorient and ensnare are strong on you and on enemies. Red Horizon's Pressure Gauge boosts Status Effects by default, so status builds are unusually strong this season, and so are enemies that stack them on you.

Match the difficulty to the goal

Higher difficulty improves loot only when you clear efficiently. Farm on the highest setting your build handles cleanly, and go harder when you're chasing a specific achievement or reward.

Playing in a group

• Agree on roles before hard content: sustained damage, burst or crowd control, and at least one person who can heal or revive.
• Incursions and raids are about mechanics first. Broken Rain rewards speed with gold, silver and bronze patches, but a flawless clear earns more (a mask and a backpack trophy).
• Group kills fill everyone's Pressure Gauge this season, so coordinated fights build modifiers faster.