Destiny 2's Renegades expansion brings back proper seasonal structure after Edge of Fate's minimal gameplay loop. This season focuses on two main features: Lawless Frontiers activities and the Praxic Blade exotic sword. You'll spend most of your time grinding faction reputation through territory control mechanics while dealing with Gambit-style PVP invasions mixed with extraction shooter elements.
This guide walks you through everything from campaign completion to endgame farming, covering syndicate progression, Praxic Blade customization, and the best strategies for getting high-tier loot from Lawless Frontiers.
Getting Started: Campaign and First Quests
What You Need to Complete First
You can't access the full Renegades endgame until you finish the campaign. The story missions introduce you to Lawless Frontiers and unlock two quest chains when you're done:
Fire and Ice Exotic Mission: You'll play this during the campaign to get the Praxic Blade exotic sword. This lightsaber becomes central to the season's identity, so make it a priority if you skipped it somehow. The blade ties into multiple progression systems you'll need later.
Post-Campaign Quests: Finishing the campaign gives you two quests:
- An upgrade path for your Praxic Blade with catalysts and customization
- Territory Wars Begins, which teaches you how Lawless Frontiers and syndicates work
Understanding Lawless Frontiers Activities
Lawless Frontiers is your main endgame activity this season. It takes place across three planets with different mission types and a territory control system that affects which faction owns what.
Destinations and What You'll Be Doing
Three Locations:
- Venus (left on the map)
- Mars (center)
- Europa (right)
Each planet has rotating missions that change daily. When you open the map, you'll see activity nodes showing mission type, which faction controls it, and territory status.
Mission Types Explained
| Mission Type | Description | Key Tips |
|---|---|---|
| Sabotage | Destroy enemy supplies or disable equipment through objective-based encounters | Straightforward objectives with varied tasks |
| Bounty Hunt | Combat missions ending with a boss fight | Expect tougher encounters leading to final target |
| Smuggle | Carry cargo to specific spots while movement slows | Use Praxic Blade jump-slash for faster movement |
How Territory Control Works
The Lawless Frontiers map shows who controls what through different visual markers:
Controlled Territory: Standard missions run by one of the three syndicates. No PVP here, just regular PVE.
Contested Territory: Shows up red on your map. These are active war zones where syndicates fight for control. Invasions happen here, and your priority contracts usually send you to these zones.
Fortified Locations: After you complete priority contracts in contested zones, the next day those spots might show up smaller and grayed out with special bonuses. Run activities there for extra resources.
Difficulty and Matchmaking Options
Matchmade Activities: These have preset modifiers and fill your fireteam automatically. Convenient for solo players, but you might not hit A+ scores consistently.
Expert Difficulty: Turns off invasions completely. If you hate PVP while farming, Expert lets you focus on PVE only. Invasions aren't as bad as you'd think though, and they drop extra loot.
Custom Fireteams: Launch activities solo or with your own group for full control over modifiers and difficulty settings.
Contracts System: Getting Reputation and Currency Fast
Contracts are how you earn syndicate reputation and most of your currencies. Learning to stack multiple contract completions in one run makes progression way faster.
Finding Your Contracts
Open the Renegades map and look at the left panel. Your active contracts show up here and refresh as you complete them.
Types of Contracts
Priority contracts work the same every time: finish two exfils in territories controlled by the syndicates you're NOT allied with, then do one more in a contested zone. Blue arrow symbols next to activities tell you which ones count for your priority contract.
Standard Contracts: Three at a time, one for each syndicate. Each gives reputation to its specific syndicate no matter who you're allied with. Refreshes instantly when you finish it, giving 100 reputation (240 with ally bonus), 4 dark matter ingots (6 with bonus), and 200 credits (300 with bonus).
Invasion Contracts: One daily contract for invasion activities. Needs you to score points by killing guardians and grabbing crests. Awards 20 dark matter ingots, gives 3 death marks for future invasions, and drops Tier 3-4 gear.
Making Contracts Work Together
The smart play is finishing multiple contracts with one activity. Contract requirements overlap often enough that you can clear several at once:
Priority contract requires contested territory in Tharsis-controlled area
Totality Division standard contract requires using a Totality renegade ability
Piker standard contract requires completing a Bounty Hunt mission
Tharsis standard contract requires an activity in enemy territory
By selecting a Bounty Hunt mission in contested Tharsis territory while equipping a Totality ability, you complete all four contracts in one run.
Syndicate Factions: Picking One and Ranking Up
Three syndicates control Lawless Frontiers territory. Each offers different rewards, abilities, and Praxic Blade mods. Knowing the differences helps you pick which one to max out first.
The Three Factions
Abilities: Imperium Drop Pod, Imperium Behemoth
Blade Mods: Crystal Strength (charge rate)
Weapon: Modified B-7 Hand Cannon
Colors: Red and orange
Abilities: Vex Deflector, Vex Stun Field
Blade Mods: Forceful Blade (impact and damage)
Weapon: All or Nothing Pulse Rifle
Colors: Bronze and copper
Abilities: Falcon (vehicle), Piker Mortar (unlocks at Rank 3)
Blade Mods: Blade Focus (guard efficiency)
Weapon: Refurbished A-499 Heavy Sniper
Colors: Purple and blue
Syndicate Ranks and What They Give You
| Rank | Unlocks | Key Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Rank 1 | Dark matter deposit system, first ability upgrade to level 4, small weekly shipments | 10 ingots = 100 rep + gear |
| Rank 2 | Gear shop, Praxic Blade mods, access codes | Buy syndicate weapons with credits |
| Rank 3 | Second exclusive ability, large weekly shipments | Both abilities upgrade to level 4 |
| Rank 4 | Extra discounted bazaar purchases, next tier blade mods | Abilities upgrade to level 6 |
| Rank 5 | Third tier blade mods, massive shipments, unique shader | Spider's Tier upgrade, abilities max at level 7 |
Hit rank 5 with any syndicate and you can buy an upgrade from Spider that bumps all your Lawless Frontiers drops up one tier. This is the single most important thing you'll do this season.
Before the Upgrade: Your drops range from Tier 1-4, with Tier 4 being pretty rare.
After the Upgrade: Tier 3 drops become Tier 4. Tier 4 drops become Tier 5. At endgame power, you'll get Tier 5 drops from almost everything.
How the Ally Bonus Works
Finish a priority contract while allied with one syndicate. At the next daily reset, the other two syndicates will offer a +50% bonus if you switch to them. This bonus applies to all contracts for that syndicate. Priority contracts jump from 320 to 480 reputation, dark matter ingots go from 10 to 15, and credits increase from 1,000 to 1,500.
Push for rank 5 with your first syndicate without worrying about bonuses yet. After getting Spider's upgrade, switch syndicates daily to maximize bonuses.
Renegade Abilities: Extra Combat Tools
Renegade abilities work like special gear you can only use in Lawless Frontiers. They give you offensive, defensive, and utility options on top of your normal guardian abilities. You need credits to unlock and upgrade them, and syndicate-specific ones need rank progression too.
Spider's Abilities (Everyone Gets These)
Spider sells three abilities that anyone can use regardless of syndicate. You just need credits, no reputation grinding.
Strafing Run: Calls in an air strike on your target area. Early levels boost damage and area of effect, with level 3 adding multi-strike capability. Level 5 gives you two charges, and by level 7 you'll have four charges with maximum damage and an additional multi-strike. Maxed out Strafing Run melts bosses and large groups instantly.
Revitalize: Drops in a healing shank that restores health and ability energy for nearby allies. Critical in Lawless Frontiers since you don't passively regenerate health here. You start with two charges and basic Cure. Level 6 adds super energy restoration, and level 7 maxes everything at four charges with full ability energy suite and super energy x2.
Recon Shank: Sends out a drone that marks enemies, high-value targets, and objects of interest. Pretty much required for efficient farming. Level 3 is the big one for PVE, revealing key card doors and saving you tons of time searching. Level 5 becomes important in contested territory because it pings where invaders are, letting you respond fast.
Totality Division Abilities
Imperium Drop Pod: Calls down a Cabal drop pod that slams the ground for damage while restocking your ammo. Starting with two charges and special ammo, each level increases ammo quantities and impact area. Level 4 adds heavy ammo drops, level 5 gives you three charges, and level 7 maxes out at four charges with maximum area and ammo. Good for refilling ammo during long encounters, though the damage is secondary to the utility.
Imperium Behemoth: Probably the strongest ability in Renegades. Summons a pilotable walker with huge firepower and tankiness. The walker goes through three model upgrades as you level it: Missile Behemoth at level 3, Mortar Behemoth at level 5, and Seismic Behemoth at level 7. Behemoth dominates both PVE add clear and PVP invasions. Most failed invasions happen because people don't use Behemoth.
Tharsis Reformation Abilities
Vex Deflector: Creates a dome shield that absorbs and reflects incoming fire while giving offensive buffs too. Enemies walking through the dome take damage and get jolted. Allies walking in get amplified. Great for defending against invasions and creating safe zones during tough fights.
Vex Stun Field: Drops a damaging field that blinds and hurts targets inside it. Less popular than Vex Deflector but still useful for area denial and crowd control. The blind effect works well against invaders or when you're getting swarmed in PVE.
The Pikers Abilities
Falcon: Calls in an attack vehicle for mobility and combat support. Basically a souped-up Pike that fits the Eliksni biker gang theme. You get two charges initially with the base model. The vehicle upgrades to its Strand model at level 4, then you get a third charge at level 5. Level 7 transforms it into the Paragon Interceptor with four charges and ramming capability.
Piker Mortar: Unlocks at Rank 3. Puts down a stationary mortar that fires homing missiles at targets. Level 4 is a big upgrade, switching to Stasis Slow missiles. You get a third charge at level 5, and level 7 upgrades the missiles to Stasis Crystals with maximum ammo and damage.
Lawless Frontiers has special ammo chests that refill your ability charges. They look different from loot chests. Invaders can use these too, which explains multiple Behemoth summons in one invasion.
Maxing abilities costs a lot of credits, so focus on what you'll actually use instead of upgrading everything at once.
Praxic Blade Customization and Upgrades
The Praxic Blade exotic sword is this season's signature weapon. You can customize it heavily through various activities and syndicate progression.
Getting Your First Catalyst
After finishing the campaign, you'll get a quest to replay Fire and Ice. This run gives you a dark matter crystal in the opposite color from what you got during the campaign (green or blue). This starts your catalyst collection.
Dark Matter Crystals (Blade Colors)
These crystals change your Praxic Blade's color. Basically lightsaber customization. Hover over crystals in your menu to see where they come from.
| Crystal Color | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Green/Blue | Campaign completion | Starting colors from Fire and Ice |
| Red | Invasions only | Can drop even from failed invasions |
| Orange | Mars Lawless Frontiers | Random end-of-activity reward |
| Magenta | Venus Lawless Frontiers | Random end-of-activity reward |
| Indigo | Europa Lawless Frontiers | Random end-of-activity reward |
| Yellow | Exotic order system | Through seasonal hub orders |
Core Components
Cores add elemental effects to your Praxic Blade based on your subclass. Effects can apply to blocking, attacking, or thrown hits depending on which core you use.
First Core Method (Sleeping Dreg): A sleeping Dreg NPC spawns in different spots around Tharsus Outpost. You have to spam interactions, paying 100 credits each time until you get the core.
Second Core Method (Weekend Vendor): On weekends, Queen's Guard NPCs appear in the cantina to the right of another vendor. They sell the Praxic Blade core, new Renegades exotic weapon, Ascended Shards, and other stuff.
Third Core (Dungeon): One core comes from the dungeon.
Praxic Blade Mods
Each syndicate has different mods that boost specific aspects of the blade. Higher ranks unlock better versions.
Invasion System: PVP in Lawless Frontiers
Invasions mix PVP into Lawless Frontiers through Gambit-style encounters in contested zones. Knowing how invasions work helps whether you're invading or defending.
Basic Invasion Info
Where They Happen: Only in contested territory (red zones). Controlled territory and Expert difficulty never have invasions.
When They Happen: Usually early in a run, often during the first or second encounter.
What You Need: At least one death mark to queue for invasions. Spider gives you 5 free death marks after the campaign.
Death Mark System
Death marks work as invasion currency with a wagering system.
Getting Death Marks:
- Finish invasion-enabled activities in contested territory
- Spider's one-time gift of 5 marks
- Successful invasions (gives back at least 1 mark)
- Daily invasion contracts (gives 3 marks)
How Wagering Works: Open your wallet and wager up to 3 death marks before matchmaking. More marks wagered means better rewards if you win, but bigger losses if you fail.
Invasion Types and Goals
Team Invasion (1v3): You invade a three-player fireteam running Lawless Frontiers in contested territory.
Goals:
- Get 6 points in roughly 6 minutes
- Kills worth 1 point
- Picking up a dropped crest worth 1 point
- You get three lives (respawns)
- The time limit is generous so don't rush
- Early aggression often works because defenders don't have supers yet
- Behemoth walker has the highest success rate
- Revitalize gives instant super for overwhelming pressure
- Vex Deflector plus Behemoth gives maximum survivability
- Keep running the activity normally while the invader looks for you
- Recon Shank (Level 5+) pings invader location
- Group up with teammates for coordinated defense
- Use Vex Deflector for safe zones
- Don't panic and waste revive tokens on risky resurrections
1v1 Invasion: If matchmaking can't find a PVE team, you fight another invader in an arena. First to 5 points wins with the same 6-minute limit. All abilities and weapons work, and kills and crests both give points.
Invasion Loot
Standard Rewards:
- Tier 5 gear (reports of 2 Tier 5 pieces from 3-minute invasions)
- Dark matter ingots
- Lock boxes
- Credits
Exclusive Drop: Red Praxic Blade crystal (invasion-only, can drop from failed invasions, wagering probably boosts drop rates)
Currency Systems and the Wallet
Lawless Frontiers has multiple currency types that all serve different purposes. Understanding how to get them and when to spend them speeds up your progression.
Currency Breakdown
| Currency | Primary Use | How to Get |
|---|---|---|
| Credits (Green) | Buy weapons, upgrades, abilities | Activity completions (2,000+ per run), lock boxes, contracts |
| Salvage | Buy weapons and armor from bazaar | One salvage per dismantled Renegades gear (10 = 1 purchase) |
| Dark Matter Ingots | Syndicate reputation | Contracts, activity completions, lock boxes (10 = 100 rep + 1 gear) |
| Death Marks | Invasion matchmaking and wagering | Completed invasions, contracts, Spider's one-time gift |
| Exotic Key Cards | Unlock special rooms | Random drops from chests (single-use, map-specific) |
Lock Box System
Lock boxes are extractable loot that only pays out if you successfully exfil.
Lock Box Types:
- Weapon boxes (purple) → gear at activity end
- Dark matter boxes → ingots
- Credit boxes → credits
How to Get Lock Boxes: Opening chests during runs, finishing hidden objectives (glimmer extraction, etc.), destroying enemy jammers, secret chest spots
Cashing In Lock Boxes: At the end of each run, interact with a terminal before the main chest explodes. This deposits all your lock boxes and gives you their rewards. More boxes means more currency and gear.
Chasing every lock box makes runs way longer. Focus on boxes near your main path, quick side objectives without major detours, and learning efficient chest spots through repeated runs.
Leveling Systems and Power Progression
Renegades removed the old leveling limits. You can grind as hard as you want now.
Power Level Info
- Starting Point: Players under 300 power get quickly bumped to 300 when starting activities
- Maximum Power: 550 cap
- No Time Gates: Unlike old seasons, you can level as fast as you're willing to play
Best Leveling Methods
Portal Activities: The Portal is your main leveling path with various activities and score-based progression. Higher scores give better rewards, but the relationship between score and power isn't straightforward. A-grades are good enough for pure leveling.
Bonus Drop System: The seasonal hub shows daily and weekly objectives that add bonus drops to specific Portal activities. Complete daily and weekly objectives for stacking bonuses. Rotate between activities with the most bonus drops.
Other Leveling Options:
- Lawless Frontiers: You can run this almost exclusively for leveling
- Raids: The newest raid gives leveling gear but not as efficiently
- Dungeons: Once the new dungeon drops, it'll have leveling opportunities
The Order System
The seasonal hub has a new order system that replaced seasonal challenges.
How It Works:
- Auto-generating objectives show up on the left side of the hub
- Complete objectives to claim basic loot crates
- Claiming makes that objective instantly replace with a new one
- No manual pickup needed, they're always active
Order Rarities: Basic orders give standard crates. After several basics, legendary orders appear with better rewards. Legendaries can upgrade into exotic orders.
Tharsus Outpost Hub and Vendors
Tharsus Outpost is the social hub for Renegades with multiple vendor areas and special NPCs.
Main Bazaar
The central bazaar has vendors selling weapons and armor for credits. After hitting rank 4+ with syndicates, these vendors give one extra discounted purchase daily.
Bazaar Vendor: Center location, trades 10 salvage for your choice of weapon or armor. This vendor's gear quality scales with your power and benefits from Spider's Tier upgrade.
Syndicate Areas
Three separate areas in Tharsus represent each syndicate. Each has:
- Weapon Vendor: Sells that faction's signature weapon for credits (Rank 4: Two discounted purchases daily, Rank 5: Three discounted purchases daily)
- Dark Matter Chest: Deposit 10 ingots for 100 rep and one gear drop
- Ability Terminal: Buy and upgrade that syndicate's exclusive abilities
Spider's Area
Spider offers various services:
- Universal ability upgrades
- Critical tier upgrade purchase (needs rank 5 with any syndicate)
- Bad exchange rates for death marks to ingots (skip this)
Special Weekend Vendor
On weekends (possibly tied to Xûr's schedule), Queen's Guard NPCs show up in the cantina to the right of another vendor. They sell new Renegades exotic weapon, Praxic Blade core, Ascended Shards, and other premium stuff.
Secrets, Hidden Content, and Exploration
Lawless Frontiers has tons of secrets and optional stuff beyond the main encounters.
Hidden Objectives
Glimmer Extraction: Marked by colored light beams shooting up. These are capture points where you hold a position to complete them. Usually rewards lock boxes and loot chests.
Panel Doors: Special doors with destructible panels on each side. Destroy the panels to open the door and find loot chests and often a renegade ability chest for refilling charges.
Access Code Barriers
Hit rank 2 with any syndicate and you get that faction's access codes, which unlock shielded rooms in Lawless Frontiers.
How This Works:
- Shielded rooms only open on maps controlled by the syndicate you have codes for
- You don't need to be pledged to that syndicate, just rank 2+
- Multiple shielded rooms per destination
- Each room has chests with lock boxes, key cards, and credits
Hidden Chests
Standard hidden chests appear all over Lawless Frontiers maps in obvious and hidden spots.
What's Usually Inside:
- Lock boxes (weapon, dark matter, credits)
- Revive tokens
- Dark matter ingots
- Exotic key cards
How to Find Them: Detector mods on Ghost highlight nearby chests, explore side areas, vents, caves, learn common chest spawns through repeated runs
Collectibles
- Ghost Shells: Hidden shells in various spots, tied to Renegade triumphs
- Audio Tapes: Lore collectibles found during activities, also connected to triumphs
- Planetary Materials: Scattered resources that give credits when picked up
Focus on: Access code rooms (guaranteed good rewards), key card rooms (when you have the right card), hidden objectives on your main path, quick side rooms near main encounters
Skip: Full map exploration for every chest, long detours for single regular chests, planetary material farming (minimal rewards for time spent)
Weapons and Origin Traits
Renegades introduces heat-based weapons with unique mechanics and special double origin trait versions.
Heat Weapon Mechanics
Renegades weapons use heat instead of regular ammo:
- Continuous fire builds heat
- Overheating causes a cooldown before you can fire again
- No traditional reloading
Masterworked Drops and Double Origin Traits
Standard Drops: Come with "Air Cooled Core" origin trait for standard heat management.
Masterworked Drops: Sometimes drop already masterworked (gold border, maxed stats). These special versions have a second origin trait:
Dealing sustained damage with this weapon loads a small amount of ammo from reserves or removes heat and slightly increases damage.
Getting Double Origin Trait Weapons
Confirmed Sources:
- Lawless Frontiers activity completions
- Dark matter ingot chest deposits
Might Have Higher Drop Rates (Unconfirmed):
- Contested territory activities
- Invasion completions
- Key card room exotic chests
Doesn't Drop From: Direct weapon purchases from syndicate vendors
Syndicate Weapons
| Syndicate | Weapon | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Totality Division | Modified B-7 | Hand Cannon |
| Tharsis Reformation | All or Nothing | Pulse Rifle |
| The Pikers | Refurbished A-499 | Heavy Sniper |
Best Progression Path
For maximum efficiency, follow this roadmap:
Phase 1: First Syndicate to Rank 5
- Finish Renegades campaign and get Praxic Blade from Fire and Ice
- Pick starting syndicate based on weapon or ability preference
- Start Territory Wars quest to unlock full Lawless Frontiers
- Buy and upgrade Recon Shank to level 3 minimum
- Do priority contracts daily on all three characters
- Put ALL dark matter ingots into your chosen syndicate
- Keep going until rank 5
Phase 2: Getting Spider's Upgrade
- Complete "Fellow Friend" triumph (max rank with a syndicate)
- Buy Spider's Tier upgrade immediately
- This bumps all Lawless Frontiers loot up one tier
Phase 3: After the Upgrade
- Switch syndicates daily to maximize ally bonuses (+50% rep and currency)
- Complete priority contracts on all three characters before switching
- Use your credits to buy syndicate weapons for god rolls
- Spend salvage at bazaar for targeted gear
- Focus contested territory if chasing double origin trait weapons
Phase 4: Second and Third Syndicates
- Use ally bonuses to rapidly level your second syndicate
- Rank 5 progression goes way faster with established resources
- Repeat for third syndicate
- After all three hit rank 5, keep rotating for daily bonuses
Phase 5: Endgame God Roll Farming
- Farm Lawless Frontiers in contested territory for double origin trait weapons
- Use key cards strategically for possible better drops
- Buy syndicate weapons with accumulated credits
- Do invasion contracts for red crystal if you want it
Advanced Tips and Strategy
Contract Stacking
Check all your contracts before launching activities. The best runs finish 3-4 contracts at once. For example, run Bounty Hunt in contested Tharsis territory with a Totality ability equipped to clear priority, Totality, Piker, and Tharsis contracts simultaneously.
Using All Three Characters
Priority contracts reset per character, not per account. Running priority contracts on all three characters triples your daily reputation. With ally bonuses, you can earn 1,440+ rep daily just from priority contracts.
Invasion Strategies
For Winning Invasions: Equip Behemoth as your main ability and bring Revitalize for instant super. Drop Revitalize right when you spawn, then call in Behemoth with full super ready. Attack early before defenders organize.
For Defending: Upgrade Recon Shank to level 5 for invader pinging. Group up when invasion announced and drop Vex Deflector for a safe zone. Don't waste revive tokens on risky resurrections.
Credit Spending
Early Game: Spend on essential abilities like Recon Shank to level 3+ and your main offensive ability, then save the rest.
Mid Game (before Spider's upgrade): Keep upgrading abilities you use most while saving for post-upgrade weapon buying.
Late Game (after Spider's upgrade): Buy syndicate weapons repeatedly for god rolls, upgrade remaining abilities if chasing the title, get Praxic Blade cores and mods when available.
Activity Selection by Goal
| Goal | Best Activity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pure Leveling | Portal activities | Focus on highest bonus drops |
| Currency Farming | Lawless Frontiers | Fast clear times maximize returns |
| Double Origin Traits | Contested Territory | Higher drop rates in contested zones |
| Syndicate Progress | Contract Stacking | Complete multiple contracts per run |
| Casual Play | Expert Difficulty | Avoid invasions entirely |
Time Investment Options
Minimal Daily Commitment (30-45 minutes):
- Run priority contract on main character
- Claim seasonal hub orders
- Do a quick Lawless Frontiers run for dailies
Moderate Daily Commitment (1-2 hours):
- Priority contracts on all three characters
- Standard contracts for allied syndicate
- Invasion contract if hunting red crystal
Extended Sessions (3+ hours):
- All priority contracts across characters
- Standard contract farming for multiple syndicates
- God roll weapon buying with credits and salvage
- Exploration for key cards and hidden stuff
- Invasion farming for exclusive rewards
Conclusion and What's Next
This guide covers the full Renegades gameplay loop at season launch. More content arrives with the dungeon release, possibly bringing new progression paths, weapons, or Praxic Blade upgrades.
The main loop involves ranking syndicates to get Spider's tier upgrade, farming Lawless Frontiers for god roll weapons with double origin traits, customizing your Praxic Blade with colors, cores, and mods, and collecting exclusive rewards through invasions and key card rooms.
Renegades brings way more seasonal structure than Edge of Fate while offering both PVE and PVP options. The invasion system gives optional PVP content without forcing participation if you prefer Expert difficulty.
For returning players, note the big quality of life improvements: expanded vault space, universal vault access, and flexible exotic ornament system. Combined with removed leveling time gates, Renegades works for both casual and hardcore playstyles.
Focus on getting that first syndicate to rank 5 for Spider's upgrade, then use ally bonuses to rapidly progress the others. The initial grind is hardest, with later progressions going much faster. Stack your contract completions, use all three characters for priority contracts, and rotate syndicate allegiances strategically for maximum efficiency.
Chasing the Renegades title, collecting every Praxic Blade customization, farming perfect double origin trait god rolls, or just experiencing the new content all work better when you understand these systems and can make smart decisions about time investment and progression priorities.