Why Using New Gear in Destiny 2 Is Essential for Completing and Solving

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Destiny 2’s sandbox received significant updates in the Edge of Fate expansion. Items are now classified by tiers, the Power grind system has been changed, and content is accessed through the Portal directory. As a result, navigating the game has become more complex than before.

One important update that many players overlook is the New Gear system. This system labels new expansion drops as high-value items, giving them bonuses that last for the next six months. New Gear provides a clear boost in PvE performance and is necessary for tackling some of the game’s toughest challenges. Here’s a simple guide explaining how the New Gear system works and what advantages it offers.

What Is New Gear?

New Gear refers to items released during the latest expansion, including new weapons, armor pieces, and Exotics. Sometimes, Bungie designates older Exotics as New Gear during a particular expansion to promote diverse loadouts in both PvE and PvP.

All items marked as New Gear have a teal icon in the top-left corner of their icon. If an item doesn’t have this teal background, it’s from an earlier season and doesn’t count as New Gear for your build. You can view which Exotics are tagged as New Gear in the Collections menu under the “Featured Gear” section.

Note: New Gear tags change with each new expansion.

Benefits of New Gear

New Gear items come with built-in benefits that enhance gameplay:

• Weapons deal increased damage
• Armor provides extra damage resistance
• All New Gear grants an additional score multiplier during Portal activities, plus the option to use the Avant Garde modifier for even higher scores

Increased Weapon Damage

Weapons with the New Gear tag do more damage in all PvE activities. The amount of bonus damage depends on the weapon’s tier, with Exotics flagged as Tier 5. Higher-tier weapons provide bigger damage boosts, going from 2% at Tier 1 to 10% at Tier 5.

Damage Resistance

Armor tagged as New Gear offers damage resistance based on its tier. At Tier 5, each piece provides a 3% reduction in damage, including Exotics, which count as Tier 5 armor. Wearing a full set of Tier 5 New Gear results in a 15% damage reduction during PvE content, stacking with other damage reduction effects.

Avant Garde Modifier

Most Portal activities allow the Avant Garde mode, which limits your loadout to only New Gear. This can earn you a moderate score bonus but is usually less effective than using Equipment Lock. For Conquests—activities that raise your Guardian Rank—you’ll want at least one build set up strictly with New Gear to maximize efficiency.

Sources of New Gear

New Gear mostly drops from featured portal content and new expansion activities. For the Edge of Fate expansion, this includes all content on Kepler, the Desert Perpetual raid, and other portal activities. When a new expansion arrives, the current New Gear rotates to new items associated with the latest expansion, and older New Gear is no longer tagged as such.

Exotics tagged as New Gear will rotate every six months with each expansion release. Bungie highlights new Exotics and also includes select older Exotics to encourage experimentation with different builds.

All Exotic New Gear Options

Below is a list of current Exotics marked as New Gear, organized by class and weapon type:

This list is updated regularly as Bungie introduces new Exotics during expansions, with each item’s New Gear status lasting about six months.

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