Destiny 2: Deep Dives [Objectives, Rewards & Loadout]

Learn everything there is about Destiny 2's deep dives, obtaining its keys in it as well as different difficulty tiers such as 3, 4, and 5.

In the recently launched Season of the Deep, Bungie introduced the brand-new Deep Dives, an exclusive seasonal activity. It offers two different matchmade modes with varying objectives, rewards, and, most importantly, difficulty tiers that gradually increase after each consecutive tier’s completion. There are quite a few factors to note here before you tackle Deep Dives, such as a viable loadout, acquiring keys for the chests, and whether the activity itself will be worth your time grinding.

Key Takeaways
  • Deep Dive, introduced in Destiny 2 Season 21, is a 3-player activity involving defeating enemies and completing varied objectives.
  • Each level corresponds to a Tier, increasing in difficulty and reward chances as you progress.
  • Deep Dive keys are crucial for additional loot from final boss chests.
  • Objectives are diverse and randomized, reminiscent of Rogue-like game levels.
  • Tasks generally involve defeating special enemies to repair and defend drills.
  • Recommended loadouts: ad-clearing builds and heavy weapons like Hothead for boss DPS.
  • Rewards include Deepsight weapon patterns and exotic armor at higher tiers, but whether it’s worth farming depends on personal preference.
Before You Start: The recommended Power Level for the Deep Dive activity is 1800 for the matchmade version and 1810 for the private version.

What Is The Deep Dive In Destiny 2

destiny 2 deep dive
What are Deep Dives? (Image Captured by Us)

To go more in-depth, the Deep Dive is a 3-man activity in Season 21 that allows you and your fireteam members to dive under the oceanic depths of Titan and face enemies in a horde mode-like battle for treasured loot.

You start at the first tier, completing different objectives, slaying multiple enemies such as Hive or Taken, and racing against time. Successfully completing each tier will progress you to the next one and vice versa.

destiny 2 deep dive
ahsa’s gift (Image Captured by Us)

Before starting each encounter, you can choose between one of two of Ahsa’s gifts, as shown in the image above. These are essentially buffs that will either provide benefits such as increased grenades or class energy to even decrease the resistances of normal enemies. These gifts will be presented to you before moving on to every new tier in the Deep Dive activity.

Tiers

destiny 2 tiers
Tiers (Image Captured by Us)
Important: As of Week 4 In Season of the Deep, players can complete seven tiers in the Deep Dive activity for the highest tier rewards.

Tiers in the Deep Dive represent increasing difficulty levels, introducing progressively tougher enemies while maintaining changing objectives. Higher tiers offer better rewards from the final boss. Completing the required tier within a set time is crucial; otherwise, you’ll be instantly teleported to the current tier’s final boss.

  • As you ascend through tiers, enemies gain more resistance, requiring strategic approaches to complete encounters.
  • The tier range spans from Tier 1 to Tier 7, with rewards ranging from enhancement cores to Deep engrams, providing a diverse set of materials.

How To Get Deep Dive Keys

destiny 2 deep dive keys
Deep Dive keys (Image Captured by Us)

These keys are relatively similar to the Salvage ones in that they require you to complete different kinds of ritual activities throughout the world, but in layman’s terms, you can obtain these deep dive keys through the following:

destiny 2 keys
Getting keys through the weekly quest (Image Captured by Us)
  • Obtain Deep Dive keys easily through weekly story quest missions, offering a choice between salvage or a deep dive key.
  • Earn keys by completing playlist activities like strikes, Crucible matches, and Gambit.
  • Some fish deposited in the Aquarium may occasionally yield Deep Dive keys, according to clan members.
  • Regardless of the Annual Pass for the Lightfall expansion, you receive a few Deep Dive keys.

Collectibles

destiny 2 alkane dust
Alkane dust (Screenshot Grab: eXputer)

On the short end of the spectrum in Deep Dives, you can also collect a few resources as well as specific underwater plants to harvest for your aquarium in Destiny 2. First things first, you can find these familiar resources called Alkane Dust which formerly existed as resource crops on Titan, but now collecting these in Deep Dives will reward you with reputation XP.

destiny 2 collectibles
The collectibles (Image by eXputer)

Collecting all of these plants also ties in with a triumph called “Aquarium Vivarium.” I have listed each of the six flora you need for the triumph’s completion in the list below:

Important: The Twilight plants can be found on the route to the first level, Midnight before the 2nd level, and lastly, the Abyss plants can be found harvested before the third level.
  • Twilight plant
  • Twilight flora
  • Midnight plant
  • Midnight flora
  • Abyss plant
  • Abyss flora

Rewards And Loot

deep dive rewards
Rewards (Screenshot Grab: eXputer)

Fair warning, the activity can last up to 20 minutes or longer if you are trying to get the highest tier 7 done with your fireteam. But, the loot is equally good for your efforts, well, in most cases.

It is mostly RNG on what you get, so despite completing Deep Dives on Tier 3 or even Tier 7, you might get the same rewards on Tier 7 as the former, making your hard-earned efforts feel a little pointless. That aside, here is the list of the possible and attainable rewards in Deep Dives:

  • Season of the Deep Weapons & Armor
  • Season of the Deep Engrams
  • Deepsight weapon patterns
  • Enhancement Cores
  • Enhancement Prisms
  • Exotic Armor

List Of Deep Dive Objectives And Encounters

deep dive objectives
The different objectives (Screenshot Grab: eXputer)
Important: Throughout each of the Tiers and their objectives, you will face a few Wrathful Predator enemies, which, when defeated, will increase your timer by +15 seconds, so prioritize to kill them as soon as possible.

Each Tier completion will require you to clear a specific encounter and objective at every activity level, which occasionally might repeat. For instance, you may face the same objectives as Tier 1 Deep Dive with Tier 3 and so on, with later encounters in Destiny 2.

The following are the known objectives so far in Week 4 of Deep Dive:

  1. Defend the Egregore Drills: You will be tasked with defending two drills located on either side of the arena.
  2. Egregore Vein Drill: Your primary objective will be to watch over a drill and make sure to refuel it timely using the fuel cells dropped by enemies.
  3. Repair And Reboot the Extractor / Refit The Extractor’s Power Cells: You will be will required to fetch two different items and bring them over to a console located in the arena, which controls the extractor drills.
  4. Defend And Reclaim Vanguard Machinery: You will need to activate four different consoles across the arena using your Ghost and defend them from enemies.
  5. Clear Combatants And Collect Fossilized Coral: You will face off against a horde of enemies, along with major-type ones who will be guarding different Fossilized coral crystals, as shown in the image above.
  6. Extinguish The Coral Siphoner: You must take down a mini-boss enemy called the Coral Siphoner, which will summon once you have defeated major-type enemies.

The Best Loadout And Weapons

destiny 2 loadout
The best loadout (Screenshot Grab: eXputer)

Before I start, I am not an expert on Hunters or Warlocks, but from what I could gather from my clanmates and their load-outs, I strongly recommend using Well of Radiance on Warlocks due to the heavy survivability it provides, as well as Void Tethers on Hunters to easily defeat and control trash mobs and weaken bosses.

However, moving on to Titans, I personally used my Solar and Strand builds. The Solar one comprises of using Synthoceps and using it to create sunspots for my allies and to increase my melee damage using them so much that it can easily take out major-type enemies while keeping my Guardian’s HP constantly regenerating. Now moving on to the best weapons to use in this activity:

Is The Deep Dive Activity Worth Grinding in Destiny 2?

If you ask me, as someone who is strongly invested in the game’s seasonal content updates, then that answer is almost self-preference. The Deep Dive activity is great for farming the Deepsight weapon patterns for the new seasonal exclusive weapons in Destiny 2, and if you manage to complete it on the highest tiers from 5-7, then you have a good chance to receive exotic armor as well as random weapon patterns.

But aside from that, if you’re not a fan of any of these weapons, then you’re better off doing other weekly endgame content, such as raids or even Grandmaster Nightfalls, to farm for rare resources and high-stat exotic armor in a more conventional way. You’re also not going to reap most of the benefits from the chests at the end if you do not have a deep dive key, so it all comes down to your choice here.

This wraps up my guide to the Deep Dives and how the activity functions in Destiny 2. Season 21 is the latest content update with the Lightfall expansion, but despite moving onto more substory arcs, I personally hope Bungie addresses the controversial ending of the Lightfall campaign itself. On the brighter side, despite being shorter than expected, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Root Of Nightmares raid.

If you have any other questions regarding the article, please comment below, and I’ll try to answer anything as quickly as possible. I hope you enjoy farming the Deep Dives and checking out the new overall updates with your friends and clanmates! As always eXputer wishes you luck!

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Usama Mehmood is a Games Specialist, and writer on eXputer who's either hunting for the richest loot in Destiny 2 or endlessly playing his favorite games such as Yakuza or Final Fantasy. Usama has been gaming for 15+ years during which he has accumulated 4000+ hours on Destiny 1 & 2. His constant adoration for video games has allowed him to pursue eXputer as a platform to showcase his striving talents in writing helpful articles. Get familiar with Usama's extensive gaming library on his Steam, PSN, and Xbox profiles.

Experience: 2+ Years || Mainly Covers Reviews And Guides || Education: Bachelors in Physiotherapy.

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