Destiny 2 Releases New Update for January 2026

Bungie has launched a major update for Destiny 2, kicking off 2026 with numerous bug fixes and enhancements to the often-criticized Portal. 2025 was a challenging year for Destiny 2, as the game faced a decline in players while also trying to revitalize the experience. The Renegades update did offer a positive boost, but players are now looking ahead to see what the future holds for the game.

While the Star Warsthemed Renegades expansion for Destiny 2* hasn’t brought a huge surge in players as Bungie expected, players seem to like it much more than the previous Edge of Fate expansion. Players are especially enjoying the new weapons, like the Praxic Blade – a customizable weapon similar to a lightsaber. Fans are optimistic that Bungie will continue improving on this success in future updates planned for 2026.

Bungie recently launched a major update for Destiny 2 in 2026, fixing several bugs and problems players were experiencing. The update also includes further adjustments to the Portal, a feature introduced with Edge of Fate. While meant to be a faster way to access activities, the Portal has received a lot of criticism from players who find it less engaging than the previous Director menu. They’ve pointed out that it requires repeatedly adding modifiers to earn specific rewards, making the process feel tedious.

Player feedback has clearly been heard, as the Portal activity in Destiny 2 has received numerous updates. Recently, Bungie prioritized improvements to the Portal alongside the introduction of the Lawless Frontier menu and the new Vanguard Alerts system. Vanguard Alerts recreated the feeling of weekly resets from before the Edge of Fate expansion, bringing back challenging GM Nightfalls. With an update in January 2026, Bungie addressed popular requests for the Portal, specifically increasing the time limit for the difficult Derealize Master Conquest. They also increased the number of revive tokens available at the start of both higher-difficulty Arena Ops and matchmade Fireteam Ops.

Players are enjoying the new Lawless Frontier activity in Renegades. Its randomly generated goals keep the gameplay fresh and exciting, particularly when another player invades. The recent update fixed several problems with the activity, including issues that could stop players from progressing, glitches that trapped them, and rare bugs during invasions – like players getting stuck in unreachable spots. Also, the Salaried Mercenary Triumph now tracks progress across all characters on your account instead of just one.

Image via Bungie

This update includes fixes for several weapons and gear items, including the popular Praxic Blade in Destiny 2. Players discovered a way to activate the Hyperblade perk without using the guard function, and that’s now been corrected. The Warlock’s Mataiodoxia chest piece had a bug that allowed its suspending burst to chain endlessly, which wasn’t the intended behavior, so it’s been fixed. Bugs affecting Service of Luzaku, Wish-Keeper, and the Armamentarium have also been addressed, and the Armamentarium now works properly with weapons that deal heat damage.

Destiny 2 Version 9.5.0.5 Patch Notes

Activities

Renegades

Fixed an issue where the mission Welcome to the Frontier could sometimes soft-lock when returning to the hangar under poor networking conditions.
Fixed an issue where claiming engrams from Syndicate Quartermasters generated an empty engram in the “wrapped items” section of the Inventory screen.
Fixed an issue where claiming rank up reward engrams from Syndicate Quartermasters required The Witch Queen ownership.
Fixed an issue where players logging into multiple characters of the same class in one week could progress or lose Syndicate Weekly Shipment progress.
The Salaried Mercenary Triumph is now tracked per account, not per class.
- Players must log in once on each class for previously earned progress to be counted.
Reduced the number of Guardian multikills required for the Knock ‘Em Down Triumph to five (previously 15).

Lawless Frontier

Fixed an issue where certain Smuggle encounters could be blocked from completion if relic items were accidentally dropped in inaccessible locations.
Fixed a rare issue where Smuggle runs could soft-lock at the start of exfil.
Fixed an issue in Sabotage activities where sniping or killing the initial antenna holder extremely fast would cause the encounter to not progress.
Fixed an issue in the Venus Grotto Doublecross arena where some Invaders could hide from the other team at the top of the PvP dome. They can’t hide anymore.
Fixed a rare bug where the Invasion teleporter remained open and allowed Invaders to reuse after returning to the ready room to collect rewards.
Fixed an issue where non-invader Walkers would sometimes not have correct damage reduction.
Fixed an issue where combatants could teleport inside Sabotage objectives with shields and become unreachable.
Fixed a visual issue where Forging Matrix Europa: Sabotage would display the description for a Bounty Hunt activity.

Raids and Dungeons

Equilibrium

Reduced the cooldown and increased damage for shadow power to improve its utility.
Fixed an issue where the shadow power tutorial would continually resurface on alternate characters.
Fixed an issue where the Harrow Apprentice would not pursue players and not progress the encounter.
Fixed an issue where the Harrow Apprentice’s shields could not be removed to begin a second DPS phase.
Fixed an issue where the shadow power pools visual state was incorrect.
Fixed an issue in the final encounter where some pools in the shadow realm were granting less shadow power than intended when gathered quickly after teleporting in.
Fixed an issue allowing sunspots and the Kill Shot mod to break Taken Captain immunity shields intended to require shadow power.
Fixed an issue where the third puzzle would not reset correctly after a failed completion attempt.

The Desert Perpetual

Fixed an issue where the laser attack from Koregos was not activating as intended.
Fixed an issue where players would not be granted the Death-Defiant II Triumph upon completing The Desert Perpetual Epic Raid without any fireteam member dying or returning to orbit.

Portal

Increased the activity timer in Master Conquest: Derealize.
Increased the starting number of revive tokens available in higher-difficulty Arena Ops and higher-difficulty matchmade/playlist Fireteam Ops activities.
Fixed an issue in the Heliostat Pinnacle Op where the name of the Psionic Protection buff was not displaying.
Fixed an issue where Grandmaster Vanguard Alerts were not available in Fireteam Finder.

Crucible

Fixed an issue where Crucible Ops match completions did not contribute to the B Greater weekly objective.
Fixed an issue where Trials of Osiris Lighthouse chest would not award shaders as intended.
Fixed an issue that allowed players with an active PvP restriction to still access Trials of Osiris.
Fixed an issue where lobby balancing was enabled for Trials of Osiris.
Fixed an issue where the latest Trials of Osiris Ghost shell was unobtainable for some players.

Gameplay and Investment

Exotic Armor

Titan

Armamentarium

Fixed an issue where grenade throws with this Exotic equipped were not reloading Heat frame weapons.

Warlock

Mataiodoxia

Fixed an issue where the suspending burst from Stylostixis could chain indefinitely.
- The weave settles once more…

Weapons

Exotic Weapons

Service of Luzaku

Fixed an issue causing threadling nests to lose health more quickly in some activities. Threadling nest lifetime now should not change from activity to activity.

Wish-Keeper

Fixed an issue where ensnaring lines were not generating when hitting a target directly.

Praxic Blade

Fixed an issue where players could activate the Hyperblade perk without guarding as intended.

Weapon perks

Fixed an issue where the Accelerated Assault origin trait would lose ammo on burst weapons.
Fixed an issue where the Gutshot Straight perk was doing more damage than intended to Divinity cages.

Quests and Pursuits

Fixed an issue where the Solo Ops step of the Exalting the Flame, Taming the Storm, and Into the Abyss New Light quests could not be completed on difficulties higher than Advanced.

General

Fixed an issue with the Digi-Teal shader that resulted in a different shade of cyan being applied when compared to the rest of the Aquamarine Assistant pack’s contents.
Fixed an issue in the Eververse Archive where the Oracular weapon ornament for Conditional Finality incorrectly displayed that it required players to have reached the Lighthouse.
Fixed an issue where the final cinematic in The Final Shape campaign lost some visual effects.

2026-01-14 17:35