History of Battlegrounds

Revision 1185 by archivist at 2026-10-01 18:14:44

Overview

Battlegrounds are three-player Strike-style activities in which Guardians assault a fortified Cabal position and hunt down a commander in a Cabal "Rite of Proving". They launched in Season of the Chosen and were added to the Vanguard playlist with The Witch Queen. The original four are Battleground: Behemoth, Battleground: Foothold, Battleground: Hailstone and Battleground: Oracle. The Episode: Echoes set reused the name for three Vex/Taken missions on Nessus: Battleground: Delve, Battleground: Conduit and Battleground: Core, launched as Battleground: Echoes with a harder Battleground: Echoes (Expert) version.

Original Battlegrounds

| Battleground | Destination | Final boss |

|---|---|---|

| Battleground: Behemoth | Arcadian Valley, Nessus | Commander Dracus |

| Battleground: Foothold | Cosmodrome, Earth | Val Ma'rag |

| Battleground: Hailstone | Rathmore Chaos, Europa | Basilius the Golem |

| Battleground: Oracle | Arcadian Valley, Nessus | Ixel, the Far-Reaching |

Echoes Battlegrounds

| Battleground | Boss(es) |

|---|---|

| Battleground: Delve | Kalliks, Baron of House Dusk and Hypolydron, Captive Mind |

| Battleground: Conduit | Kamarian, Radial Overseer |

| Battleground: Core | Antioptes, Hypogean Sentinel |

Structure

The original missions play like strikes with two initial objectives, then a boss phase where the boss becomes immune and moves to another section until Shield Bearers are killed. Enemy spawns ramp up through the fight. Missions have Customize and Matchmade variants; the Echoes ones also have an Expert variant (no matchmaking per search listings).

Rewards

Completions drop seasonal/playlist loot such as the Luminopotent set, plus Umbral Engrams and Glimmer from Cabal Tribute Chests opened with charged Hammers of Proving (per Destinypedia summary; older seasonal details may be outdated).