Since its release in 2017, Destiny 2 has always been better with friends. Cooperative play has been encouraged as far back as the initial release of Destiny back in 2014, but Destiny 2 goes a step further by putting systems in place to encourage players to come together to take down the extrasolar threats that bear down on humanity while hunting for loot. Primarily, players are encouraged to play together through the Clan system to get extra rewards. But for players who just want to play with friends and not a clan, that is where the Shared Wisdom buff comes into play.
What is the Shared Wisdom Buff in Destiny 2?
Shared Wisdom is a buff (a buff is an effect that provides an increase of some sort to players) that is applied to players when they join a Fireteam, which is what Destiny 2 calls it when players form a party. One important thing to know is that this buff only gets applied to Fireteams that are made by players through invitation/joining a forming Fireteam.
Players who join together through matchmaking on playlists will not have this buff applied to them. The buff also requires at least one player in the Fireteam to have unlocked the first rank of the Small Fireteam XP Boost on the season pass. Players do not need to do anything to activate the buff, as it automatically applies once players group up and only expires when a Season ends.
How Does the Shared Wisdom Buff work?
Shared Wisdom increases all XP gains by Fireteam members by 2%. This only works if players in the Fireteam are actively playing the game and not just sitting at the Orbit Screen.
While 2% may not be much, the amount can be increased by unlocking additional ranks of Small Fireteam XP Boost. As of Season 18, the Seasonal Ranks that provide Small Fireteam XP Boost are ranks 5, 26, 56, and 86. Each one that is unlocked will increase a Fireteam member's XP gains by an additional 2%, up to a maximum of 8%.
There are other Small XP Boosts on the Season Pass, but these provide additional XP exclusively for the player that unlocked them. It is also important for players to know that the bonus provided by Shared Wisdom does not stack.
The XP increase will match whichever player in the Fireteam has the highest rank of Small Fireteam XP Boost unlocked. So if one player in a Fireteam is Rank 56 on the Season Pass, then the Shared Wisdom buff will provide a 6% increase in XP gains over another player who might only be Rank 26 (their Shared Wisdom buff would only apply an increase 4%). But if all players are at Rank 86 or higher on the Season Pass, they get an 8% increase in XP gains, regardless of who has the higher seasonal rank.
While 8% may not sound like much on paper, it applies to every single method in the game that players can earn XP from. So if players are in a Fireteam with their friends and play for a few hours, they will notice the difference.
Destiny 2 is available now on Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Steam, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.
