Welcome. You have joined the chosen dead, revived by your Ghost to reclaim the Golden Age and heal the Traveller who brought us to that era of prosperity. There is much for you to learn, and much advice I can give. Pay attention and you will have valuable tools to defeat the Darkness. General Advice: - Know what you want your Guardian to do. Titans are built for Close- to Mid-Range frontline combat. Warlocks are built for Mid-Range combat and support with area attacks. Hunters are meant for Long-Range combat and precision support. Abilities can be modified for different playstyles, however… - Your Guardian’s base stats aren’t set in stone. Your Guardian’s subclass will initially boost your stats a certain way, but as you get further down the skill tree you can change how the Guardian actually works, making them more balanced or focused on another stat. - Use whatever guns you like. There are 4 types of Standard Weapons, 3 types of Special Weapons, and 2 types of Heavy weapons, and all are available to each and every class. This means you can be a sniping Titan or a CQC Warlock, among other things. - Use weapons that compliment one-another. With the ability to hold 3 different weapons at a time, you should have a selection that works for all ranges or that fills in the weakness of your selected class. - Need to quickly switch from your Heavy weapon to your Special weapon? Just double-tap Triangle/Y to instantly switch from Heavy to Special. - Fight smarter, not harder. Always aim for the weak point on the enemy for massive damage with Critical Hits. Almost all enemies have some kind of weak point, but there ARE a few who don’t. - Use momentum to get the most vertical movement from your Movement Ability. Press the Jump button, then before you reach the top of your jump you need to press Jump again to use your movement ability. Warlocks can get the most from Glide by simply double-tapping the Jump button for the best momentum boost. - Your Movement Ability can be cancelled if you’re a Titan or Warlock. While using your ability, press Jump to stop it, and then you can press Jump again to activate it once more. This can be more important for Titans than Warlocks, because a Titan’s Lift ability has a shorter active period than a Warlock’s Glide. - Need to get close to an enemy quickly? Slide to avoid damage! While sprinting, press the Crouch button to instantly slide a couple meters and maintain momentum from sprint while making for a smaller target. You’ll need to press Crouch again to stand back up. - Get the most agility out of your Sparrow by utilizing BOTH analog sticks when driving. Left stick is used for minor adjustments while right stick is used for major directional changes. - Check with Special Requisitions (Awoken woman to left of Tower spawn) when you get to the tower to see if she has anything for you. She’ll probably have some emblems to use. - Press Select/Back on the controller to summon your Ghost and see the direction you need to go with an icon on the screen. Useful during Story and Patrols. - You can compare weapons/armor with what you have equipped by moving the cursor over the item and holding R2/Right Trigger. - Use emotes to greet other Guardians and point things out with the D-Pad. Up is wave, Left is point, Right is dance, and Down is sit. - Turn in mission rewards to the Vanguard as soon as you get them for better gear. - Use cover! Get behind objects you can see over and crouch, then aim down sights for your character to automatically pop up over cover to fire. Just don’t toss a grenade while doing this because your character will drop down to toss the grenade at your feet. - Know when to run away. Enemies 4 Levels above you or higher show up as Level “???” and are immune to your attacks, but can one-shot you with ease. Don’t try to fight them! - Beware of Randal the Vandal in the Forgotten Shore. Near a cave at the furthest right side of the area, there is a Level 8 Vandal Major that is far more powerful than he appears. - Always have Bounties in stock. Bounties can be accepted at Level 4 and beyond, and are a great way to earn Experience and Vanguard Reputation as you play normally. - If you have a bounty to kill a specific enemy, you need to be in their mission to do it. Strike Playlists don’t count toward Elite kills, only the heroic Strike itself will. - Enemy shields are color-coded! Red shields are weak to Solar Damage, Blue shields are weak to Arc Damage, and Purple shields are weak to Void Damage. - Make sure you’re at the same level or higher for Story missions. Maximum level is 20 without gear buffs. These missions can be difficult if you’re under-leveled, especially if you’re playing solo. - Dropship guns can be destroyed, with enough firepower. If you want to be quick about taking out a group of enemies from a Dropship, then rockets do quite the trick… - If a player in the field shoots at you and then dances or waves, they’re trying to get your attention to something good. Get to the fellow Guardian and see what they want to show you! - Don’t feel cocky because your level is far higher than the enemies around you. Enemy strength is balanced to your level to always provide some kind of challenge, though your abilities will do more serious damage the higher your level in comparison. - Those pillars by the Cryptarch and Gunsmith at the Tower are vaults for you to place gear and items for storage AND transfer between characters. - Not all Ghosts find their Guardians, and some have died in their search. Pulsing blue lights signal the location of a Dead Ghost. Collect the remains of any Dead Ghosts you find, and you’ll be rewarded with knowledge of the Destiny universe. - The Fallen have a spider tank called a Walker. You can make fights against it far easier by targeting the Plasma Cannon on the side of the main gun. Disable this, and the Fallen Walker loses a powerful splash-damage attack, leaving you with just the main gun to contend with. - You can only dismantle obsolete gear, which will get you weapon parts (guns), glimmer, and armor parts (depending on class-type armor). To dismantle, select the gear, then hold Square/X. - Later on in the game you will find gear with different perks that improve performance and abilities. It may be a good idea to go for some gear that has less defense/attack but has perks that would aid you. - Each of the worlds you visit have materials to get for later use. Grab them as often as you can early on, so you don’t have to worry later. Location spoilers follow: [spoiler]Earth – Spinmetal (metal leaves coming out of red cylinders) Moon – Helium Filaments (Glowing yellow cylinders) Venus – Spirit Bloom (Glowing blue orbs) Mars – Relic Iron (Metallic red boulders jutting out of the ground)[/spoiler] - Look all around for Loot Chests on each world. There are no end of strange and sometimes dangerous locations to find Loot Chests that can carry materials, weapons, armor, glimmer, emblems, and ship schematics. Loot Chests can be located in caves, on ledges and buildings, in dark corners, etc. - Materials and Loot Chests all have a shimmering sound. Listen for a quiet shimmering as you explore the various worlds, and you can find many useful items and gear. Be aware though, some lights can give a similar shimmering sound. Also be aware that Materials and Loot Chests can respawn in previously searched areas while you’re on a long Patrol. - Look out at the skyboxes of each area on each world. There are amazing sights to witness out there. - Something of note, but not very useful, is that you can point out directions on your Sparrow using the D-Pad. Left points left, Up points forward, Right points right, and Down motions to stop. - Gear comes in several grades: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Legendary, and Exotic. You can only equip one Exotic weapon and one Exotic armor at a time. The higher the rarity, the more abilities the gear has. - You have 3 stats that armor can boost, those being Intellect, Discipline, and Strength. Intellect is for Super, Discipline is for Grenade, and Strength is for Melee. The more points you have toward any of these stats, the quicker the cooldown timer runs. - In the field you can find what are called “Encrypted Engrams” which are grab-bag items that can become armor, weapons, or class items depending on what the icon shows. Go to the Cryptarch (Awoken to right of Tower spawn) to get these decrypted. I promise Master Rahool is no longer a dick. - On weekends a shady-looking man with no face visits the Tower, selling Exotic equipment and rare goods you can't find anywhere else. The man's name is Xur, and he can be found on Friday and Saturday at different locations throughout the Tower. Xur is never in the same place twice, so you'll have to look for him for check the forums for his location. - Don’t trust Eva Levante. That “artist” is up to something… - - - - - - - - - - That’s about all I can advise at this moment. When you get through the story and reach max level, more of the game will open up for you, and you’ll have more that you need to know to succeed. If you’re just starting out and would like some help, then below you can find a list of players you can message for assistance on the various consoles. You need to send them a message stating that you are a newbie needing help BEFORE you send a fireteam invite, because they won't know what you want otherwise. [u]Xbox One Mentors[/u]: Black Mammoth25, DefiantWALLY, Southwardyeti, ScrapParts, Legend of Wyatt, Negiyo, satan5381, ThamaJama, THE MIGHTY NATO [u]Xbox 360 Mentors[/u]: SHADOWSWISH33, PRA3TORIAN53, imperfectdesire, juggernot42, heyitsbrooke93, RobWillWin1, snipereye2010, Captain Rain6ow [u]PS3 Mentors[/u]: mannanime, thun-45, SynMarguZ, AceofSpades8889 [u]PS4 Mentors[/u]: NitrousAcid, amos201, EcKo_Blakrain67, Flash31MMA, SteelingPlague2, King_Eli95, Mmircky, E--Dub--U Good luck out there, Guardians.