The gambit game mode in Destiny 2 has had a rocky life cycle. It’s not exactly the horde mode that many players would like to see in the game, but its different iterations have still been fun to play. Despite the entertainment that Gambit can provide for Destiny 2 players, it continues to see a weak performance when compared to other activities. This has been highlighted especially well as Destiny 2 players began to get their Destiny 2 Year in Review stats.
The Destiny 2 Year in Review is mostly an opportunity for players to look over everything they’ve done, and it provides a pretty in-depth breakdown of how each Guardian’s time has been spent in the game. While some hardcore PvP players saw most of their time in the Crucible and plenty of Guardians helped fight the Darkness throughout the system, very few saw a considerable amount of their time spent in Gambit. For many players, it looks like even hitting 10% of playtime was a lot. While the upcoming Gambit changes in Destiny 2 could help change this in the future, there are quite a few reasons this is the case right now.
Gambit's Gameplay
Possibly the biggest reason that players have for not participating in Gambit is its balance. Gambit’s PvPvE format is pretty unique and stands out in Destiny 2. Most would think this is a good thing but the way this format has been balanced in the past has negatively affected gameplay. Problematic Titan builds in Gambit have taken center stage in the past and being able to come back in the game mode when already down is difficult, at best. This is amplified when premade teams and matchmade teams face one another, with the premade teams often outperforming their opponents by a significant margin.
The expectations set by the rework for Gambit should provide some fixes to this after The Witch Queen releases. The Gambit mode will be going through significant balance changes aimed at reducing the frequency of strong individual builds being able to melt bosses as well as other tweaks. Some of the most prominent relate to when invasions take place with a focus on making sure strong teammates and mote collection is as rewarding for the team as a skilled invader is.
Other steps include invincibility phases for Gambit bosses, which should help reduce the impact that Destiny 2’s boss melting Titan builds have in the game mode. Bursting bosses down is fun and key for getting different endgames activities completed quickly, but it feels out of place in Gambit. Especially since players can swap gear in the game mode, making Guardians able to switch from a build that’s focused on clearing out mobs to one designed to defeat a boss in a matter of seconds. This is one of the primary things that affect Gambit matches later in the game with some teams not even realizing they’ve almost lost even though both sides summoned their primeval at almost the same time.
Gambit Loot
Gambit’s struggle with balance might be its biggest, but it isn’t the only problem facing the game mode. Many of the other activities in Destiny 2 are home to flashy rewards, something that Gambit often struggles with as well. Its featured weapons can be lackluster with Bottom Dollar commonly being the only Gambit weapon that players are concerned about chasing. Its other gear, like Bad Omens, for example, might be useful, but there are better options available to Guardians that want to wield a rocket launcher. On top of this, despite the focus on Gambit as a core game mode, it lacks any Adept weapons.
Adept weapons are a major draw for hardcore players and are available in some fashion through multiple activities. The Trials of Osiris has its Adept weapons as well as the weekly Grandmaster Nightfall strike. These weapons come with more options for perk rolls on them as well as the special perks Celerity or Bottomless Grief. Adept weapons also carry the ability to use Adept mods which can be incredibly useful for endgame activities, further adding to the value and prestige fans see in Adept weapons.
While the logistics of adding Adept weapons to Gambit might be difficult, as they’re designed to reward players that invest significant amounts of time into Destiny 2, their absence is likely a contributing factor. Without any weapons that players feel are significant Gambit has been seen as a tertiary option whose value primarily comes from completing bounties. In the past, it has had quests and rewards like Gambit Jadestone for players to chase but as it has stood in Year 4 of Destiny 2 there’s no major draw to Gambit when it comes to weapons, armor, or aesthetics.
In a loot-focused game like Destiny 2, this is a noticeable flaw. The story for Destiny 2 is engaging but there’s no denying that many players are invested in the grind for loot and being able to collect as many goods as they can. Gambit has some of this but without them being fleshed out significantly in the future players will likely continue to avoid the game mode. Many of the changes that have been announced for the Gambit rework are good, like adding a solo queue similar to the Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner, but it still needs more to draw the community in.
Even the Iron Banner, which is an extension of the Crucible, generates hype from the community because it incorporates loot that players enjoy and want to collect. The visual effects that the Iron Banner armor introduced in Season 15 is a great example of this, and it resulted in many players investing their time simply so that they could wear it. In the future Gambit could benefit from something similar after its reworks in The Witch Queen expansion go through. Its focus on the Taken could be leveraged to reintroduce the Taken armor sets from the first Destiny game, or entirely different loot concepts could be explored. Regardless, Gambit’s new reworks only look like a start and for the mode to grow in popularity it will likely need to explore more options in the future.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
