History of Contest of Elders

Revision 15168 by d2-activities at 2026-10-09 05:45:52

Overview

Contest of Elders is the enhanced, replayable version of Tomb of Elders, a 1-3 player activity introduced in Episode: Revenant (Act 2) and set in the Prison of Elders. A rampant Warden Servitor runs a gauntlet of challenges and enemies. The game's description calls it the Warden's sadistic game, enhanced: survive multiple laps through the prison, each harder than the last. Destinypedia lists recommended power as 1955 for Tomb of Elders, 2020 for Contest of Elders and 2040 for the 2-3 player Kell's Vengeance variant (values may have changed since).

How to launch

Select it from the activity list in the Portal / Director (Matchmade, Private and Customize variants). Contest of Elders is a Nightfall-style activity under the seasonal activity destination.

Structure and mechanics

Four loops (laps), each with encounters, jumping puzzles and a boss, with rewards at the end of each. A coordinated team can finish in around 30 minutes (Blueberries).
Warden's Judgment: completing bonus objectives grants stacks of Warden's Favor (max three), which raises difficulty (more traps, shorter timers, frequent elites) but increases chest rewards (one chest per stack). Failing objectives removes stacks, and going negative applies Warden's Punishment, which lowers difficulty but blocks treasure access.
Limited revives (start at 20); full wipe with no revives fails the run. Killing Model Prisoners gives a revive token.
Rotating enemy sets: Scorn, Hive, Cabal and Dread, with minibosses such as the Scorn Scrap-Walker and Machinist, and bosses including the Lucent Fireteam, Psion Commander and Sylok, the Defiled; Skolas appears in Kell's Vengeance.

Rewards

Revenant and reissued Splicer weapons, tonic ingredients (including the exclusive Tomb Flake), and the listed armor sets (Bushido, Eutechnology) and weapons.

Prison of the Elders original activity from Destiny 1.

Sources