Destiny 2 Season 18 release date, new raid, and other details

Destiny 2 Season of the Haunted is soon coming to a close. While the season has been nothing short of stunning in terms of lore and mechanics, it's been slightly dull. There's been just one Seasonal activity that happens in the same location, and the boss for that activity spawns in the same location on every run as well.

However, all this might change in Destiny 2 Season 18. Bungie has been secretive about the upcoming season for the most part, and the only thing known about the next season is the fact that the Arc subclass will receive a long-awaited rework.

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When does Destiny 2 Season 18 go live?

The Season of the Haunted is set to run until August 23. Since Bungie doesn't really include live events at the end of every season, Destiny 2 Season 18 is all set to go live on August 23 itself after the regular weekly reset. The game servers are taken offline at around 10 am PDT/1 pm EDT/7 pm CET. Once the servers are back up again, Guardians will be ushered into Destiny 2 Season 18.

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Everything new in the upcoming season

As mentioned before, the Arc 3.0 rework will arrive with the upcoming season. While there is not much information about it till now, it is believed that speed shall be the focus of the rework.

It's also believed that Arc 3.0 will give the Hunters a new super. The vanishing assassins have been wielding an Arc Staff for a while now, and it's time they got an upgrade.

Other than that, there will be a plethora of new weapons and interesting new seasonal missions for all Guardians to complete. There will also be an Arc-based perk just like the Incandescent perk that was seen this season.

While a host of new weapons will be joining the game, some will also be out of circulation from the beginning of Destiny 2 Season 18. The weapons that will be taken out of circulation are as follows:

• Peacebond (Iron Banner sidearm)
• Archon's Thunder (Iron Banner machine gun)
• PLUG ONE.1 (Nightfall fusion rifle)
• Hothead (Nightfall rocket launcher)
• Eye of Sol (Trials of Osiris sniper rifle)
• The Summoner (Trials of Osiris auto rifle)

The Crucible will also see some new changes. Bungie will include Skill Based Match Making for one of the modes in the Crucible. Rift, one of the game's most controversial PvP modes, will also be coming to the Crucible. The Iron Banner will return with a new game mode as well. Finally, there's a new raid on the cards too.

While it's unclear which raid will be unvaulted, the Kings Fall raid has the highest chance of returning. Bungie will be announcing more details about the raid and the new season at a showcase happening on August 23 itself. While the timing for this showcase is still unknown, it is safe to assume that the showcase will take place a few hours before the new season launches.

However, the raid will be released on August 25, something the community didn't appreciate. The raid will have contest mode available for the first 24 hours, following which Guardians will be able to access it normally.